The Spirit of YHWH as the Charism of the Pre-Monarchic Liberators of Israel and the Theological Symbol of God’s Salvific Activity in the Book of Judges

Abstract

One of the most characteristic and, at the same time, enigmatic formulas of the Book of Judges is syntagma rûaḥ YHWH, regarded as one of the oldest forms of the Old Testament pneumatology, which attempts to express the spiritual character of the salvific presence and activity of God YHWH in the history of the chosen people. This formula is used by both the authors of the original sources about the pre-monarchic liberators of Israel (Judg. 13:1; 14:6,19; 15:14), as well as their Deuteronomistic redactors (Judg. 3:10; 6:34; 11:29) who relying on the theology of the Sinai covenant and the principles of God’s retribution decided to reconstruct the era of judges. The article examines the origins and etymological and theological meaning of the Hebrew root rwḥ and the formula rûaḥ YHWH, as well as the biblical concept of God’s spirit in the broad context of ancient Middle Eastern literature and biblical traditions about judges.