The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

These are some (most?) of the passages in the Old Testament in which the Holy Spirit is referred to. Thus proving that the New Testament's teaching about the Holy Spirit is not a theological novum with no Old Testament precedent. In this blogpost I'm using the American Standard Version of 1901.

From the fact that BOTH the Old Testament and the New Testament have many references to the Holy Spirit, it should motivate a believer in the New Testament to pay more attention to and give a greater importance to the Holy Spirit. Those who believe in the New Testament but who do not believe the Holy Spirit is personal or divine, might do well to reconsider.

It should be noted that with all the references to the Spirit of Jehovah/Yahweh in the Old Testament, that the New Testament references to the "Spirit of Christ" or the "Spirit of Jesus" or the "Spirit of his [i.e. the Father's] Son" implies that Jesus is also fully God since we find Jesus having a Spirit and that Spirit performing the same type of functions as Jehovah's Spirit, emulates Jehovah Himself. Hence, it's no stretch to conclude that 1. Jesus is equal to the Father in divinity, and 2. the Spirit of the Father is the same Spirit of the Son (cf. Romans 8:9).

After I list some Old Testament references to the Holy Spirit, I'll list some New Testament references to the "Spirit of Christ/Jesus."


Genesis
1:2  And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.


Exodus

31:3  and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,

35:31  And he hath filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship;


Numbers

24:2  And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him.


Judges

3:10  And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Jehovah delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand: and his hand prevailed against Cushan-rishathaim.

6:34  But the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet; and Abiezer was gathered together after him.

11:29  Then the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.

13:25  And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

14:6  And the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid; and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

14:19  And the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and smote thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave the changes [of raiment] unto them that declared the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.

15:14  When he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him: and the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands.


1 Samuel

10:6  and the Spirit of Jehovah will come mightily upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.

10:10  And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he prophesied among them.

11:6  And the Spirit of God came mightily upon Saul when he heard those words, and his anger was kindled greatly.

 16:13  Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

16:14  Now the Spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Jehovah troubled him.

19:20  And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

19:23  And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.


2 Samuel

23:2  The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, And his word was upon my tongue.


1 Kings

18:12  And it will come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of Jehovah will carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he will slay me: but I thy servant fear Jehovah from my youth.

22:24  Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of Jehovah from me to speak unto thee?


2 Kings

2:16  And they said unto him, Behold now, there are with thy servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master, lest the Spirit of Jehovah hath taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send.


2 Chronicles

15:1  And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:

18:23  Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah upon the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of Jehovah from me to speak unto thee?

20:14  Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of Jehovah in the midst of the assembly;


24:20  And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of Jehovah, so that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken Jehovah, he hath also forsaken you.


Job

33:4  The Spirit of God hath made me, And the breath of the Almighty giveth me life.


Psalms

51:11  Cast me not away from thy presence; And take not thy holy Spirit from me.


Isaiah

11:2  And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.

40:13  Who hath directed the Spirit of Jehovah, or being his counsellor hath taught him?

61:1  The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening [of the prison] to them that are bound;

63:10  But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, [and] himself fought against them.
63:11  Then he remembered the days of old, Moses [and] his people, [saying], Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit in the midst of them?

63:14  As the cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of Jehovah caused them to rest; so didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name.


Ezekiel

11:5  And the Spirit of Jehovah fell upon me, and he said unto me, Speak, Thus saith Jehovah: Thus have ye said, O house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind.

11:24  And the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.

37:1  The hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of Jehovah, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.


Micah

2:7  Shall it be said, O house of Jacob, Is the Spirit of Jehovah straitened? are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?

3:8  But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

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New Testament References to the Spirit of Christ/Jesus

Acts

16:7  and when they were come over against Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia; and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not;

Romans

8:9  But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Galatians

4:6  And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

Philippians

1:19  For I know that this shall turn out to my salvation, through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,


1 Peter

1:11  searching what [time] or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did point unto, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should follow them.



I'm paraphrasing and adding to what I wrote above:

In Rom. 8:9 the "Spirit of God" and "the Spirit of Christ" seem to be the same Spirit. Thus identifying Christ as God, or at the very least making Christ equal with the Father. It should be noted that with all the references to the Spirit of Jehovah/Yahweh in the Old Testament, that the New Testament references to the "Spirit of Christ" or the "Spirit of Jesus" or the "Spirit of his [i.e. the Father's] Son" implies that Jesus is also fully God since we find Jesus having a Spirit and that that Spirit performs the same type of functions as Jehovah's Spirit. Hence emulating Jehovah Himself. Therefore, it's no stretch to conclude that 1. Jesus is equal to the Father in divinity, 2. the Spirit of the Father is the same Spirit of the Son (cf. Romans 8:9), 3. The person of the Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son (which makes sense if the doctrine of perichoresis/circumincession/interpenetration is true).

Even the personality of the Holy Spirit is taught in Romans 8. The Holy Spirit leads (Rom. 8:14); bears witness (Rom. 8:16); helps us in our weakness (Rom. 8:26); intercedes for us (Rom. 8:26); has a mind (Rom. 8:27).