1 Kings

In Genesis chapter thirty-five verse eighteen, for example, it is said in reference to Rachel, And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, for she died, that she called his name Ben-Oni.

Another interesting case is that in First Kings chapter seventeen verse twenty-one, where Elijah prays for the widow's dead child, saying, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.

And the Lord hearkened unto the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.

This belief in the material character of the soul, or nephesh, may be further illustrated by the curious idea of its tangibility, referred to in First Samuel chapter twenty-five verse twenty-nine, where Abigail says to David, And though man be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God.

Further, we find in a number of passages that importance is attached to the burying of bones.

In Genesis chapter fifty, verse twenty-five, it is said that Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, "God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry my bones from hence." See the sequel in Exodus chapter thirteen, verse nineteen, and in Joshua chapter twenty-four, verse thirty-two.

Compare First Samuel chapter thirty-one, verse thirteen; Second Samuel chapter twenty-one, verses thirteen and fourteen; First Kings chapter thirteen, verse thirty-one.

That in all these passages, bones is not used in a loose way for body is evident when one sees from certain other passages the importance which bones as such had in the eyes of men.

Amen.

A reading from the twenty-first chapter of First Kings.

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, "Go down to meet King Ahab of Israel, who rules in Samaria.

He is now in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession.

Amen.

A reading from the seventeenth chapter of First Kings.

Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." The word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself in the Wadi Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.

You shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." So he went and did according to the word of the Lord.