Exodus 31:1 ¶ And the LORD
spake unto Moses, saying, 2 See, I have
called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah:
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, 4 To devise cunning works,
to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, 5
And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber,
to work in all manner of workmanship. 6 And I, behold, I have given with him Aholiab,
the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are
wise hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded
thee; 7 The tabernacle of the
congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is
thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle, 8 And the table and his furniture, and the pure
candlestick with all his furniture, and the altar of incense, 9 And the altar of burnt offering with all his
furniture, and the laver and his foot, 10
And the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest,
and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest’s office, 11 And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for
the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.
In Old English there was no distinction between uppercase and
lowercase. By Middle English whether to capitalize the first letter was
inconsistent, I have read. By the time of the KJV, called Early Modern
English, capitalization of proper names and nouns had become more standard. See
Shakespeare’s use of capitalization. So, at the time of this translation
uppercase and lowercase had begun to mean something. Notice here that the word
spirit starts with a lowercase ‘s’. In a prophecy of Christ in Isaiah it is
written;
Isaiah 11:1 ¶ And there
shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of
his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD
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 the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in
the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the
poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the
earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay
the wicked.
The Holy Spirit, uppercase ‘S’, refers to the agency through which
God works in creation and in the hearts and minds of His people.
Genesis 1:2 And the earth
was without form, and void; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters.
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve
not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of
redemption.
The
Spirit of God can be referred to as an it.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children
of God…26 Likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we
ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered.
And can also be called the Spirit
of Christ, as God is one being containing three parts as I have previously
shown. See the following for the three parts of God mentioned in passages;
Matthew 28:19; 2Corinthians 13:14; 1John 5:7.
Romans 8:9 But ye are not
in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
of his.
This is in contrast to the Holy Ghost, which is a reference to the
third part of God, referred to, always, as he.
John 14:26 But the
Comforter, which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you
all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
unto you.
But, spirit with the lowercase ‘s’ is a reference to a trait, a
quality, a skill, an emotion, the foundation of an ability, or the spirit of
man, the part of man that God uses to know our thoughts and the function of our
bodies.
Proverbs 20:27 The spirit
of man is the candle of the
LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.
These men have been given talents and skills to serve the Lord’s
purpose and notice in verse 6 that God puts wisdom in those people whose hearts
are able to receive it. We must remember, as said
before, that wisdom and knowledge come from God. For instance, a scientist is
prepared by training to receive knowledge and he or she discovers something
useful as a result. The understanding came from God to a mind that was able to
bear it. This is an important point to consider.
Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to
seek the law of the LORD, and to do it,
and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
The way to receive
knowledge and wisdom and understanding is first to prepare the heart and mind.
Then, it is given. Someone who wants to be a mechanic just doesn’t pray to God
for the knowledge. God would say to him, “Study the trade and then I will give
you understanding. Learn how to do it and I will give you wisdom.” It is a fact
of life that if you want to do something of value you need to prepare yourself
for it. I don’t remember reading about any brain surgeons or rocket scientists
who said they woke up one day and just knew how to do their jobs to the best of
their ability without education or training.
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