Ruach: Hebrew word for God

“One ancient Hebrew word for God, for example, was ruach. Literally, that word meant "wind," a natural and even an impersonal concept. The wind or ruach was observed not as a being, but as a vitalizing force. It had no boundaries and no recognizing destination. Among the Hebrews the ruach or wind of God was said to have brooded over the chaos in the story of creation in order to bring forth life. Slowly this ruach then evolved and became personalized and was called Spirit. But it is important to note that at its origin ruach was an impersonal life force, an experienced "what," not a "who." The ruach or wind of God was not external. It rather emerged from within the world and was understood as its very ground, its life-giving reality. . . .

The wind was also assumed by the Jewish mind to have come from God. "Thou didst blow with thy wind," said the book of Exodus (15:10), and "There went forth a wind from the Lord," said the book of Numbers (11:31). God might have been defined by these ancient people as a distant, theistic, personal power who lived beyond the sky, but in the very mysterious wind, which the Jews felt on their own faces, they believed they found themselves touched by God here and now.”

Bishop J. S. Spong
Why Christianity Must Change or Die


 

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