ii. These aspects of the working of the Divine Spirit must be sejiarately examined.
(«) Creative and cvnservatinc Operations in Nature. — In the cosmogony of Gn 1 the Spirit of God broods — nrnna — over the formle.ss cosmic matter, before the cosmos begins to emerge out of chaos. The Greek versions render the verb by iirecpipeTO or iirKpepdiiefov (Vulg. ferebatur), understandin'' by ri?v-;D 'n a wind sweeping over the abyss (ct. Ac 2-'). I5ut the verb suggests another image, that of the bird brooding over her nest: see Delitzsch, ad luc, and cf. Dt 32"; Chngigah, ed. Streane, p. 84 ; Basil. M. Horn, in Ilexaeni. 2, t6 4ir€<p4p€ro [ipTjalv [Zt'poj tis]) ^^TjyoOvTai clvtI too ^vf^daXTTf Kal i^woyhvn tt)v rCtv vdaruyv (ftvaiv Kdrk T^v (lK6va t^j 4irif)a^0L<aris dpvtdos ntxl ^writrqv ziva Svva.fj.ti' ^vicltnjs toTs v-jro&a\irojj.^vots. This metaphor suits the secondary rather than the prim.ary mean- ing of nn ; it is not the wind, but the divine energ'.y that is regarded as vitalizing the germs which the Divine Word is about to call forth. This concep- tion of the co-operation of the Spirit and the Word is 'speciallv cliaracteristie of the OT ' (Cheyne, Origin of' the I'snlter, p. 322 ; cf. Ps 33"). It rests on the relation of the breath to the voice, but its significance is not limited by that analogy. The Breath of God vitalizes what the Word creates. Moreover, its vitalizing energy is continuous ; it conserves, renews, or withdraws life, in the cea.se- less processes of nature (Job 33^ Ps 33" 104*^). Thus the OT already justifies the epithet rd s"uio- iroioi', applied to the Divine Spirit by the Church in the ' Nicene ' Creed.
(h) Bestowal of intellectual gifts. — 'The LoKD God . . . breathed into [man's] nostrils the breath of life' (D".nTc;fj, tkotji' fu^j), by virtue of which he ' became a living soul ' (n;n cjj, Gn 2'). This ^/i^wjjffis (cf. Jn 20") represents the Breath of God as originating the personal life of man, together with the intellectual and spiritual powers wliiib distingiiisli it from tlie life of the mere animal (ntnfn '•\ Ec 3'-'). As the sacre<l Books proceed, they reveal the same Eorco lying bcliind the special endowments wiiich mark oil' man from man. The Divine S|iirit is .said to bo 'in' (Gn 41*1, Nu 'IV') or 'upon' (Nu 11"'- 24'-) the man wli3 po.s.Mes.ses exceptional powers of any kind ; he is what he is, because he is filled with trie spirit of wisdom and understanding (trvdixa dilov aoipia^, E.x 3P ; wv. alcOiiatus, avv{<ttut. Ex 2.S' 35", Dt 34").
((•) Inspiration of the Prophets. — t>ne gift stands out OS pre eminently due to the presence in man of
• 'll '^, in fact. Iho divine working nthor tlmn tin* divine nnttiro that the Ilelirew Scripturva regard on spiritual' (W. It. Bniitli, I'rophtU I'/ Irrarl, ji. 81).
I * The ilolv Spirit ' is not an OT exprewion, and • Hit' or ■ Thy Ilolv Spirit' oi-cur* only in la 63'0 H, Vt 61".
the Spirit of God. The ' prophet ' (((•;;, LXX mostly irpoip-^T]! ; on the etj'mology of the Heb. word see \V. K. Smith, Prophets of Israel, p. 390 f.), or 'seer' (n^ti), as he wasjcalled till after the age of Samuel (1 S 9^), was in an especial sense the man of the Spirit (ri'ij O'tt, ivOpuwot 6 vvfv/iaro^dpos, Hos 9'), Vulg. vir spiritualis. It has been said that 'the ideal of the OT is a dispensation in which all are prophets' (W. R. Smith, OTJC p. 291, citing Nu 11--') ; and the title of prophet ia given to Abraham (Gn 20') and Moses (Dt 18"), while it is withheld from Balaam, in whom, though ' the Spirit of God came upon ' him (Nu 24-), the sacred writers recognize a diviner (rir ^ai'TO', Jos 13--) rather tlian a true seer. The true propliet is one who is lifted up by the Spirit of God into communion with Him, so that he is enabled to interpret the divine will, and to act as a medium of communication between God and men. The prophetic gift belonged to the nation, as the elect people ; but it was realized in its highest degree only by those whose charac- ters and lives fitted them for personal intercourse with God. The professional prophet seems some- times scarcely to ha\e risen above the level of IMimK-Q (1 S 10"- 19-^'); the change of 'heart' promised to Saul ( lO*"- ") is clearly not of a moral or spiritual kind. On the other hand, the prophets who tauglit Israel and Judah from the 8th cent, onwards have left us the clearest evidence of a genuine inspiration in the elevation and pene- tration of their teaching, and the revelation of a spiritual religion which their writings contain. No other national literature presents such a phe- nomenon. It is attributed by the prophets them- selves to the Spirit of God ; cf. e.g. 2 S 23- (where see Driver's note), Ezk 2- 3'-- '* etc., Mie 3', and the frequent appeals to a divine source, sudi as the repeated ni.T njx r\'2 of Is, and .ii.T-ij-i -.ti in Jer.
(d) Anointing the Messiah. — The Davidic King, in whom the elect nation was to hiid its crown and consummation, must, as the lirst Isaiah fore- .saw (Is 11'-), receive all the gifts of the Divine Spirit in their fulness : 'the spirit of wisdom and understanding (intellectual gifts), of counsel and power (practical powers), of the knowledge and tear of J '" (religious endowments). In the strength of this abiding presence {dvanai'ffCTai ^t' ai^dv wviOtia deoO) the Second David will show Himself to be the perfect King. It is remarkable that Deutero-Isaiah ioretells a similar equipment of the ' Servant of the Lord,' the ideal Israel. ' I have put my Spirit upon him ' is J"'s assurance (42'), and the Servant answers, 'The LouD God hath sent me, and his Spirit ' (48'", cf., however, Delitzsch, ad loc.) ; ' the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek ' (61"). The ideal Proiibet no less than the ideal King needs the fulness of the Spirit, and, wlien He comes, shall receive it. If, as some think (Kirkpatrick, Doctrine of the Prophets, p. 400), the propliet himself and not the Servant of J ' is the s^icaker in tlie last jia.ssage, the ultimate reference is stUl to the highest lullilment of the proiilietic ollice (Lk 4-'). The Spirit is the xp^a^a which makes the Christ ('nx n'l.T n;'c).