The "Soul" And "Eating Of Blood."
By William Robert West
Is the immortal "soul" [nehphesh] in the blood? Is a part of a person that many say it lives after the death of the body in the blood of both men and animals? Leviticus 17:10-15. In only six verses nehphesh is used ten times.
"I will even set my face against that SOUL [person - nehphesh, used referring to man] that eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the LIFE [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals] of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your SOULS: [nehphesh, used referring to man] for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the SOUL [nehphesh, used referring to man]. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No SOUL [nehphesh, used referring to man] of you shall eat blood...For it is the LIFE [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals] of all flesh; the blood of it is for the LIFE [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals] thereof; therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No SOUL [nehphesh, used referring to man] shall eat the blood of no manner offlesh: for the LIFE [soul - nehphesh, used referring to animals] of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eats it shall be cut off. And every SOUL [nehphesh, used referring to man] that eats that which died of itself...he shall wash his clothes, and bath himself in water" In this passage, the King James Version translated the same word "soul" six times when it used referring to man and "life" four times when it used referring too animals. Can anyone not see how the translators picked when they wanted "nehphesh" to be "soul" and when they wanted "nehphesh" to be "life"? They could not let an immortal soul be in the blood nor could they let animals have an immortal soul. Their theology said a man had to have a soul, but an animal could not, and they were not willing that their reader see that the word "nehphesh" is used referring to both, and that both do not have a soul but are a soul.
The vanishing use of soul in Leviticus 17:10-15.
"Soul" is not used in the New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, The New American Bible and others.
Leviticus 17:10-15 New Revised Standard Version. "If anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens who reside among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that PERSON [nehphesh] who eats blood, and will cut that PERSON [nehphesh] offfrom the people. For the LIFE [nehphesh] of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you for making atonement for your LIVES [nehphesh] on the altar; for, as LIFE, [nehphesh] it is the blood that makes atonement. Therefore I have said to the people of Israel: No PERSON [nehphesh] among you shall eat blood...For the LIFE [nehphesh] of every creature-its blood is its LIFE; [nehphesh] therefore I have said to the people of Israel: You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the LIFE [nehphesh] of every creature is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off. All PERSONS, [nehphesh] citizens or aliens, who eat what dies of itself...shall wash their clothes, and bathe themselves in water."
Leviticus 17:10-15 New International Version. "Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood-I will set my face against that PERSON [nehphesh] who eats blood and will cut HIM [nehphesh] offfrom his people. For the LIFE [nehphesh] of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for YOURSELVES [nehphesh] on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonements for one's LIFE [nehphesh]. Therefore I say to the Israelites, 'None of YOU [nehphesh] may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood'...because the LIFE [nehphesh] of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the LIFE [nehphesh] of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off. ANYONE [nehphesh], whether native-born or alien, who eats anything found dead or torn by wild animals must wash his clothes and bathe with water'."
MAN "BECAME A LIVING BEING" Genesis 1:26 "Then God said, 'Let Us make MAN in Our image.'" Not "Let Us make the soul of man in Our Image" Genesis 2:7. "Then the Lord formed MAN of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; [not breathed into the body an immortal undying no substance soul, but the breath of life, which both men and animals have], and MAN became a living being." Not a body + an immortal soul, but "a living being." Not two beings, a body being with an inter soul being living in it.
The body of dust + the breath of life = a living soul [a living being - nehphesh], Genesis 2:7, New American Standard. The breath of life without the body would not be a person or animal. It would not be a living being, not a nehphesh. ALL living creatures, whether they are animals or sea-dwelling creatures, are souls [nehpheshs].
MAN, not merely a body, is formed from the dust of the ground. MAN is in the image of God, not only an inter part of a person which has no substance. Adam might have lost possible immorality when he lost the tree of life, but this was not a loss of being made in the image of God.
The Bible says, "Man BECAME a living soul" is changed to, "Man OBTAINED a living soul" or "Man WAS GIVEN a soul." There is a world of difference in a person BEING a living soul and a person HAVING a soul. Both man and animals are a living soul. If the breath of life in his nostrils in Genesis 2:7 makes a person have an immortal part (spirit) living in him or her that cannot die, then "all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life" in Genesis 7:22 proves all beasts, birds, and fish have an immortal part (soul) living in them that cannot die, but that all, both man and animals that had "the breath of the spirit of life," died.