Job
(Iyov) 33:4, in English:
"The Spirit (Breath) of G-d made me, the Breath of the Almighty (Breasted One) keeps me alive".
Two different words that both mean "breath" are used as synonyms here, with slightly different nuances - "ruach" (as we saw in a previous post, conveying the idea of soft, involuntary breathing, but also associated with speaking the things of the universe into existence) and "neshamah" (which in Gen. 2.7 is associated with the more voluntary action of G-d blowing the breath - neshamah - of life into Adam and not with speaking things into existence). One may envision the usage here as conveying that the Divine Breath both has been used to speak a creature into existence in the first place and also to silently continue to keep the creature alive. These two facets of the Divine Breath are presented as aspects of G-d since they doing the actions of making and life-sustaining here, and they are explicitly "Feminine", given the feminine nouns and verbal forms. This verse thus evokes the "Feminine" aspect of G-d.
"The Spirit (Breath) of G-d made me, the Breath of the Almighty (Breasted One) keeps me alive".
Two different words that both mean "breath" are used as synonyms here, with slightly different nuances - "ruach" (as we saw in a previous post, conveying the idea of soft, involuntary breathing, but also associated with speaking the things of the universe into existence) and "neshamah" (which in Gen. 2.7 is associated with the more voluntary action of G-d blowing the breath - neshamah - of life into Adam and not with speaking things into existence). One may envision the usage here as conveying that the Divine Breath both has been used to speak a creature into existence in the first place and also to silently continue to keep the creature alive. These two facets of the Divine Breath are presented as aspects of G-d since they doing the actions of making and life-sustaining here, and they are explicitly "Feminine", given the feminine nouns and verbal forms. This verse thus evokes the "Feminine" aspect of G-d.
Additionally,
the verb "made" ('asah) here literally conveys acting or doing - a
making from oneself, as in acting or doing in a certain way. So, the
assertion is that the "Feminine" Breath of G-d is the
"material" cause, which is particularly apt since the Divine Breath
is the very substance of the all-formative Divine Word, just as ordinary spoken
words are comprised entirely of breath driven through the vocal apparatus to
create sound.
One may also add that "Shaddai", usually translated as
"Almighty", has been credibly understood as "Breasted One"
(cf. http://www.academicroom.com/article/god-breasts-el-shaddai-bible) and even has been plausibly seen as an
archaic West Semitic grammatically feminine word (cf. Harriet Lutzky’s 1998 Vetus Testamentum article “Shadday as a
Goddess Epithet”), thereby reinforcing the "feminine" emphasis
here. In fact, if these interpretations of “Shaddai” are correct, then one
may comprehend that its use here is a reflection upon the truly “androgynous”
nature of the G-d Who possesses a “Feminine” Breath, i.e., this essential
(inherent) “Feminine” activity of G-d manifests the reality of G-d as El
(“Masculine”) Shaddai (“Feminine”). “He
is She and She is He”, which is to say:
the Divine Freedom from any limitation is the Divine Freedom to be all
limited things and vice versa, for without the
freedom to be all limited things, there is no freedom from that limitation, and
without the freedom from any limitation, there is no freedom to go beyond the
limits of self.
