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NASB | John 11:11 This He said, and after that He *said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep." |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 11:11 He said this, and after that said, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him." |
Subject: Where was Lazarus for 4 days? |
Bible Note: Personifications? One brief thought before we look at the verses: There are some verses that seem to use "soul" and "spirit" in ways that harmonize with the common concept of the nature of man. How can this be? Is the Bible contradicting itself? Here is one suggestion: It was commonplace for the Bible writers to take parts of man’s being and personify them, give them attributes they did not in actuality possess. Perhaps sometimes they personified the "soul" and "spirit" as well. The most familiar example of a part of a person being personified is the heart. The heart, simply an organ that pumps blood, is said to have qualities that the mind does have, but that the heart definitely does not have. Another example which is not so familiar is the personification of the kidneys, called the "reins" (Ps. 7:9; 16:7; 26:2; 73:21; Prov. 23:16; Jer. 11:20; 12:2; 17:10; 20:12; Rev. 2:23). The kidneys seem to have been made the seat of the affections and emotions. Another example is the use of the words for "bowels" (Ps. 40:8 (translated "heart"); Cant. 5:4; Is. 16:11; 63:15; Jer. 4:19; 31:20; Lam. 1:20; 2:11; Luke 1:78 (translated "tender"); 2 Cor 7:15 (translated "inward affection"); Php. 2:1; Col. 3:12; Phm. 1:7, 20; 1 Jn. 3:17). In the light of these scriptures, the possibility that the Bible writers also occasionally personify the "soul" and "spirit" should be considered. In other words, the "soul" and the "spirit" may in some verses be given qualities that they do not in actuality possess. "There was no more spirit (ruach) in her" (2 Chr. 9:4). [Her "spirit" totally left, yet she was still alive.] "The Spirit (neshamah, pnoe) of God hath made me, and the breath (ruach, pneuma) of the Almighty hath given me life" (Job 33:4). [God's "spirit" gives us life.] "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath (ruach, pneuma) goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish" (Ps. 146:3, 4). [When the "spirit" leaves, the person can no longer think.] "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit (ruach, pneuma) shall return unto God who gave it" (Eccl. 12:7). [The "spirits" of all, both good and bad, go back to God.] "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath (ruach, pneuma); so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit (ruach, pneuma) of man that goeth upward, and the spirit (ruach, pneuma) of the beast that goeth downward to the earth" (Eccl. 3:19-21). [There is no difference between the "spirit" of animals and the "spirit" of people.] If our spirit indeed has a mind, when it is apart from the body then where are our memorys from before it was inserted into our body Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. |