Category Archives: Passover to Pentecost

The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament – Lȃbash

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Labas or lȃbash; Strong’s #3847 He put on righteousness as his breastplate. ….. he put on garments of vengeance.  Isaiah 59: 17 (NIV)  The meaning of lȃbash is to put on garments or wrap up in something.  This verse, to me, is one of the “building stones” for the armor of the Spirit that is found in Ephesians 6.

Gideon – Judges 6:34

Amasai – 1 Chronicles 12: 18  He pledged his support to David in the form of a word of encouragement.  In this verse, Amasi is listed as the leader of the Thirty, but that name is not in the list of David’s Thirty.  It could be he had another name, or was in charge of David’s Thirty before or after the list in 2 Samuel 23: 24 was made.

Vine, in his dictionary, puts this “come upon” more along the line of being filled (as in living inside) with the Spirit, and thus helped the men (Gideon) from the inside out.  The way the Hebrew makes it sound is that the Spirit put Gideon on.  This thought may mess with your theology, but this is another level of relationship with the Spirit in the Old Testament.  Given what Gideon did and the amount of story that was written about him it must have been an impressive experience.

The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament – Hȃyȃ

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There are four words (hȃyȃ, lȃbash, mālē, tsȃlach) we will look at that are used in the Old Testament to convey that the Spirit “came upon” man.  The use of these different words seems to indicate different intensities of “anointing.”  Just to be clear, any anointing of the Holy Spirit is a big deal!

Hȃyȃ; Strong’s #1961 – Nehemiah 9:30 You were patient with them. By your Spirit, you admonished them through your prophets (NIV).

Balaam – Numbers 24:2

Othniel – Judges 3:10

Jephthah – Judges 11:29

King Saul’s men – 1 Samuel 19: 20

Azariah son of Oded for King Asa – 2 Chronicles 15:1

Jahaziel descendent of Asaph for King Jehoshaphat – 2 Chronicles 20:14, 20

According to Strong’s/Vines Concordance when used as a verb it emphasizes that a person is present.  This is also the word when God told Moses, “I am (hȃyȃ) that I am (hȃyȃ).  Most people will recognize Balaam, the deceiver, and Jephthah, a man of faith (Hebrews 11: 32), but the rest of these men are mentioned once and no more.  It would seem that this is the “lightest” connection with the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament; the reason I say this is because of duration, not intensity.  The word Hȃyȃ is a very interesting word that is used in many contexts (future study).

There are many men and women who were prophets in the Old Testament and most of them have no record as to when or how the Spirit moved on them to prophecy (or see visions/dreams).  Othniel and Jephthah were judges and their touch by the Spirit is in connection with them doing that task.  The last three on the list prophesied, once, and we never see them again.  Balaam’s (See The Lord Your/My God) words to Balak (Numbers 23, 24) are “good” words but his life and actions are wrong; still, he was used by the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament – Moses

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The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament – Moses

Psalm 106: 33  The people rebelled against what the Spirit of God was doing and Moses said things he should not have said.

Nehemiah 9: 20  The Spirit was given to instruct the people in the wilderness; You guided them, feed them, and took care of physical and health needs.

Isaiah 63: 10, 11, 14 (10 is about Isaiah’s time but still reflects the Exodus) The Spirit gave rest to the people but they rebelled against Him and grieved the Spirit; still they wanted to know where He was that had done miracles for them.

No definite moment; David had one, Jesus had the Dove come down, the 120 had tongues of fire rest on them, but we are not told the definite moment that Moses was given the Spirit!  It may have been at his calling in Exodus 3: 12, or at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19 or 24, it may have been in Exodus 33, but the fact is Moses was given the Spirit, we are just not told when or where.  Numbers 11 is the story of God taking some of the Spirit and putting it on the seventy elders; so, we know Moses had the Spirit and that His Spirit was transferable. Does the “definite moment” matter, no!

It seems that the Spirit was doing “His work” in the Exodus just like He did in Genesis.  He was giving life and instruction to these ex-slaves. It is just that they were not wanting it and kept complaining.  Even the elders (Exodus 24:10) that saw God were quick to go with the golden calf and not with the God they had seen.

The Holy Spirit was definitely active in the Exodus and in Moses.  If you reflect on Moses’ personal growth in the Exodus story you can see a Spirit-led walk.  Since “no definite” moment is mentioned, I will guess that it is a tsȃlach anointing.

I will cover the four words used to describe when the Spirit “came upon” people in the Old Testament.

The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

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The First We Knew of the Holy Spirit

Genesis 1:2 – The Holy Spirit was hovering over the waters. (He was waiting to start His work on Earth.)

                 6:3 – The Spirit will not contend with a man for more than 120 years. (Joseph Prince makes the point that this is because the seed of man – at that time- was contaminated by the spirits who were “marrying” women.)

Psalm 104: 30 – When the Spirit is sent He refreshes the earth and animals are born.

Job 33: 4 The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (NIV)

 34: 14 + 15 If He withdrew His breath all mankind would perish.

Having been a Christian a long time I have to admit that I was surprised when I started this study in the series Passover to Pentecost (see the tags at the top of the page).  I briefly touched on the topic of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.  It was interesting to see that there are at least seventy references to the Spirit and His work in the Old Testament.

The above verses reflect His work before His part in the birth of Jesus. They are very much the shadow of His work after the Day of Pentecost, which is giving life to the Church and bringing people to glorify Jesus.

Day of Pentecost

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Day of Pentecost       Day 50

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear.  Exodus 20: 18 (NIV)  This was the very first “Pentecost” at Mount Sinai.

The disciples were sitting (a resting/waiting position) in the Upper Room when it filled with a loud noise and fire started resting on their heads.  The Holy Spirit had come to man to do His work here on earth.  Contrast this to Exodus when a man is fighting in his own power to get to God; then when they saw Him they really did not want to go to Him.  One thing is certain, God knows how to make an entrance, and get man’s attention.

The roll call of nations shows just how spread out the Jews had become and tells us where the message was about to go to when the Feast of Weeks was over.  1 Corinthians 14: 22 + 23 could have been written that morning; some said they were out of their minds while others believed that God was doing something powerful.

Peter, when he stood (position to work), was outside of the Temple and not confined to the rules of religion or paradigms that wanted “God their way.”  The Spirit met the disciples in a place of prayer where they were waiting for Him.

Peter’s sermon was a masterpiece.  He talked about current events, explained the Gospel and God’s purpose what had happened just fifty days before, and then brought in David and how God spoke through him. The message about David brought all of the events together.  David supposedly was born and died on Pentecost so he would have been on the minds of everyone in Jerusalem.

Today, I have asked myself why the Spirit came on this Feast day.  I guess the typology of the crops will have to do for today.  At Passover, the barley was brought in (symbolizes the Jews), the wheat crop was brought in for Pentecost (the Gentiles), and in the seventh month the figs and other fruit were harvested (the final revival).

http://clipart.christiansunite.com/

Please visit this blog to see more about figs.  http://ferrelljenkins.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/zaccheus-climbed-up-into-a-sycamore-tree/  The fig pic is from – http://www.raysfiginfo.com/graphics/sycamore04.jpg