Tag Archives: Psalm 51

Seven Spirits

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Revelations 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. (KJV)

The phrase in this verse “the seven Spirits of God” has caused several Bible studies in the past, but I never found them explained or listed until now. I tried combing through the New Testament for seven distinct spirits or attributes of the Holy Spirit and even wrote a series on Him from the Old Testament. To be fair there are seven times “seven spirits” appear in the New Testament.

Seven – Because of Genesis 2:2 seven is associated with completeness or wholeness. That makes the eighth day a new beginning or another starting point. I keep those ideas in my mind as I read every verse or time 7 or 8 is used in Scripture. For this study, they work very well, so keep them in mind.

Ruach and Pneuma

These two words are translated into spirit in the Bible; ruach is Hebrew and pneuma is Greek. A confusing thing is that it is the same for good or evil spirits. Adjectives and context will determine if translators give it a capital letter for the Spirit of God. In both languages, they carry the idea of breath or wind. It will be pointed out that they come from the idea of something being immaterial in nature. If you use the Strong’s pneuma is G 4151 and ruach or ruah is H 7307.  

The evil ones – Matthew 12:45 and Luke 11:26 are Jesus’ teachings about when an evil spirit leaves a man. This block of teaching, in Matthew starts, in verse 22 where the Pharisees claim he drives demons out by the prince of demons. It actually reads that one leaves and brings back seven others making it a total of eight. The person is really bad off now. Jesus applies that concept to the entire generation; no wonder people are crazier now. Luke 8:2 tells of Mary Magdalene’s deliverance from seven demons or spirits. They did not come back.

The Good Ones

The “seven good ones” are in Revelations 1:4, 3:1, 4:5, and 5:6. Revelations 1:4 may refer to the spirits assigned to those particular seven churches, but the other three are “the seven spirits of God”.

  • 3:1 This is in the letter to the Church in Sardis. Jesus is holding the seven spirits and seven stars.
  • 4:5 In front of the throne, seven lamps are burning and these are referred to as the seven spirits of God.
  • 5:6 The Lamb’s seven horns and eyes are the seven spirits of God that have been sent out into the world.

Before this goes weird, I serve a triune God. There is one Holy Spirit. Some commentators use the term sevenfold nature of God. That is fine and if you look through the corpus on the Holy Spirit, I believe it is correct. Jesus said He would send the Comforter to be with us, the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. The term sevenfold is not used very much, but the King James and Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition had the most sevenfold entries listed for the ones I checked.

What I Found

Isaiah 11:1-4 is the text where I found seven attributes of the Spirit. In verse four “the breath of His mouth/lips” is ruach. I always stopped at the six listed in verse two. My study on wind is what did the trick for me. This chapter is a Christmas Connection as verse one is about Jesus (See the Root, Branch, and Fruit). Yes, it would also fit at His baptism.

The Seven Spirits of God or Yahweh in Isaiah 11:1-4 

  1. Wisdom H2451 chokmah, skill, wisdom
  2. Understanding H 998 binah, consideration, discernment, clearly, truth
  3. Counsel H 6098 etsah, advice, consultation
  4. Might H 1369 geburah, courage, strength, might  
  5. Knowledge H 1847 daath,  
  6. Fear of the Lord H 3374 yirah, awesome, fear, reverence  
  7. Judgment from His breath, shaphat or judgment is H8199, breath is H7307

Note – Elisha, the prophet, is the son of Shaphat (1 Kings 19:16).  

Ruach HaKodesh or Holy Spirit

The term “Holy Spirit” or Ruach Hakodesh appears three times in the Old Testament. In the Christian Bible, there are many Ruach’s that are capitalized. The three times are Isaiah 63: 10 and 11 and Psalm 51. The Christian concept of the Holy Spirit is different than the Jewish one, so you may see that if you continue this study. I used these references; may they serve you well.

Hebrew Names for God – Ruach HaKodesh (hebrew4christians.com)

Ruach HaKodesh: The Holy Spirit | Living Word Discovery (livingwordin3d.com)

Hebrew Bible – Wikipedia

The four Hebrew letters for Hakodesh each have a separate symbolic meaning. You will find them on the websites. Holy Spirit in Judaism – Wikipedia   

Psalm 51

This psalm has three different uses of rauch.  One of them is “holy”. The translation is the Orthodox Jewish Bible by way of Bible Gateway.

10 (12) Create in me a lev tahor, O Elohim; and renew a ruach nekhon (steadfast spirit [i.e., regeneration Ezek 36:26; Yn 3:3,6]) within me.

11 (13) Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy Ruach Hakodesh from me.

12 (14) Restore unto me the sasson of Thy salvation; and uphold me with a ruach nedivah (a willing spirit; see Jer 31:31-34).

Psalm 51 – Wikipedia

The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament – David

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Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.  1 Samuel 16:13 (KJV, bold added)

The word here for “came upon” is tsȃlach.  It seems that the Holy Spirit stayed with him and did not depart.  If we substitute the main uses of the word of tsȃlach; God prospered David all of his life, and it is not a problem to see that blessing throughout his life.

At first, it bothered me that the Holy Spirit is mentioned just six times in connection with David, but He is mentioned less with Moses!  Then I realized that it is in perfect harmony with the Holy Spirit.  His primary purpose is to bring attention to Jesus, not Himself.  So even though David, the writer, was led by the Spirit; the Spirit had him write about Jesus in the Psalms.

Below are the six verses that directly connect David and the Spirit.  I put them into a timeline in David’s life, even though the middle four do not have a defined time stamp in reference to the others.  Read the whole reference so that the verses are in context, I think they will show growth in knowing and understanding the importance of the Spirit in David’s walk with God.

  • 1 Samuel 16: 13 (the coming upon)
  • Psalm 139: 7 (a song of praise and thanks) To put this into after he acted crazy to escape the Philistines when he was hiding from Saul.
  • Psalm 51: 11 (Bathsheba and his cries for the Spirit to not leave him like He did Saul)
  • Psalm 143: 10 (a cry for mercy) If I would guess where/when this was written; I would put this during the time when David was running from Absalom after he crossed the Jordan near Lo Debar.
  • 1 Chronicles 28: 12 (plans for the Temple)
  • 2 Samuel 23: 2 (last words)

When you read about David’s life; we tend to think he was anointed by Samuel and then went to work for Saul right away.  If there was a gap then his ability to kill the lion and the bear compares very well to that of Samson, when the Spirit came upon him.