I wouldn't think to jump in on all of the discussion about Vitamin C,
pseudo-genes, etc., but I just returned from a short vacation and see something
here that I might be able to contribute to.
Bill Hamilton has been talking about the breath of God in Genesis and the
uniqueness of humanity. Since I've done some work on the vocabulary there, let
me make a few suggestions.
In Genesis 2:7 the "breath of life" is "nishmat hayyim" in Hebrew. However,
several parallels demonstrate that this is essentially synonymous with "ruach,"
the word more commonly used for the Holy Spirit in the OT (and also used for
wind [Ex. 10:13], breath [Job 15:30], or the human spirit [Gen. 41:8]). In
Ezekiel's vision, which parallels Genesis 2 as a "re-creation," the "ruach" of
God (used throughout the book to refer to the Spirit of God) comes from the four
"winds" (also "ruach") to give life to the reconstituted bodies of Israel's
slain army (Ezek. 37:8-10). Job 27:3-4 uses "nishmat" and "ruach" in parallel to
speak of the animating breath/Spirit of God sustaining Job's life, as do Job
33:4 and Job 34:14-15. Psalm 104:29-30 also speaks of God's animating breath as
his "ruach" which sustains all animal (and human) life.
The point is that one cannot distinguish between the "nishmat hayyim" of Genesis
2:7 and the "Spirit (ruach) of God" in the Job passages or in Ezekiel 37. Since
Genesis 6:17 and 7:15 also speak of animals being animated by the "ruach hayyim"
("breath" or "Spirit" of life), it's best to say that people are not seen as
unique by virtue of the Spirit's animating presence, for God preserves the life
of all of his creatures through his animating breath, the life-giving Holy
Spirit. (Incidentally, this helps as well with Genesis 6:3, where a Qumran
manuscript reads "My Spirit shall not ABIDE IN man forever because he is
flesh"--in other words, God will not forever sustain humanity's physical life.)
The Spirit's presence as life-giver is not a doctrine to be taken lightly, for
it forms the basis for the New Testament doctrine of regeneration and
resurrection through the indwelling of the Spirit (Rom. 8:11).
That was rather long-winded, but the bottom line is that human uniqueness is
reflected not so much in the presence of God's animating breath in the OT as in
the fact that we alone are made in the image of God. I have some thoughts on
what that means, too, but that can wait.
_____
Robert_Pyne@dts.edu