The Bible struggles to find adequate vocabulary to speak about and name this unutterable, irresistible, undomesticated force that surges into history to liberate, heal, remake, and transform. We are left with this code term, rûaḥ, to speak about what we know but cannot say. All the poets were studying “the force” as poets are wont to do, gripped and driven by it. One finally said, “Let’s call it rûaḥ,” the strange, invasive mystery of God that keeps the world loose, at least around the edges. And then, when this poet wants to talk about “stump” become “shoot,” he must use that same carefully
...more
