According to deniers of the personhood of the Holy Spirit, are there any other examples of spirits devoid of sentience in the Bible?

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Accepted answer

Yes. The only word translated as "spirit" in Hebrew is רוּחַ, pronounced ruach. It has many meanings; it does not only refer to an "immaterial sentient entity", e.g. God(John 4:24), angels(Hebrews 1:14), demons(Luke 4:33), etc. Thus, the "Holy Spirit" is not necessarily a conscious spirit entity.

Let's see some places where רוּחַ does NOT refer to a conscious spirit being.

  • Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool[רוּחַ] of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

  • Genesis 6:17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath[רוּחַ] of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.

  • Genesis 7:15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath[רוּחַ] of life.

  • Genesis 7:22 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath[רוּחַ] of life.

  • Genesis 8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind[רוּחַ] blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.

  • Exodus 10:19 And the Lord turned the wind into a very strong west wind[רוּחַ], which lifted the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust was left in all the country of Egypt.

  • Exodus 15:8 At the blast[רוּחַ] of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

  • Numbers 5:14 and if the spirit[רוּחַ] of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself,

  • 2 Chronicles 9:4 the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, and their clothing, his cupbearers, and their clothing, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more breath[רוּחַ] in her.

  • 2 Chronicles 21:16 And the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the anger[רוּחַ] of the Philistines and of the Arabians who are near the Ethiopians.

  • Job 7:7 “Remember that my life is a breath[רוּחַ]; my eye will never again see good.

  • Job 41:16 One is so near to another that no air[רוּחַ] can come between them.

  • Psalm 33:6 By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath[רוּחַ] of His mouth all their host.

  • Proverbs 16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than a warrior, and he who controls his temper[רוּחַ] is greater than one who captures a city.

  • Proverbs 25:28 A man without self-control[רוּחַ] is like a city broken into and left without walls.

  • Isaiah 33:11 You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble; your breath[רוּחַ] is a fire that will consume you.

  • Jeremiah 14:6 The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; they pant for air[רוּחַ] like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no vegetation.

Hope this helps! Have a good day. :)

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