Nephesh Life
Nephesh (Biblical Hebrew: נֶ֫פֶשׁ, romanized: nép̄eš), also spelled nefesh, is a Biblical Hebrew word used to refer to human beings and some animals. Not all living organisms are referred to as "nefesh": arthropods ("bugs") and plants are not nephesh. When translated into English, nephesh is sometimes rendered as "soul" for humans and as "soulish" for animals.
The Bible puts life into three groups:
1) Body only, as in insects, fish, reptiles, and other lower animals. (purely physical life) (See Life page)
2) Body and soul (nephesh), as in birds and mammals (physical and soulish life) (crocodiles and alligators have weak nephesh, they have short nurturing time and are hard to tame)
3) Body, soul (nephesh), and spirit, as in humans. (physical , soulish and spirit life) 1 Thes 5:23 (Humans are not like the animals at all, see Human Uniqueness page)
In Genesis creation (Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 2:7), God did not make a human body and put a soul into it like a letter into an envelope of dust. Rather, he formed humans' body from the dust, then, by breathing divine breath into it, he made the body of dust live. In other words, the dust did not embody a soul, but it became a soul—a whole creature.
Nephesh, when put with another word, can detail aspects related to the concept of nephesh; with רוּחַ rūḥ “breath”, “wind,” or "spirit", it describes a part of humanity that is immaterial, like one's mind, emotions, will, intellect, personality, and conscience, as in Job 7:11.
Biblical use: The word nephesh occurs 754 times in the Hebrew Bible. The first four times nephesh is used in the Bible, it is used exclusively to describe animals: Gen 1:20 (sea life), Gen 1:21 (great sea life), Gen 1:24 (land creatures), Gen 1:30 (birds and land creatures). At Gen 2:7, nephesh is used as a description of man, with the addition of spirit also, as Humans are the only living beings made in the image of God.
Job 12:7–10 parallels the words רוח (ruah) and נפׁש (nephesh): “In His hand is the life (nephesh) of every living thing and the spirit (ruah) of every human being.”
The Hebrew term nephesh chayyah is often translated "living soul". Chayyah alone is often translated as "living thing" or "animal".
When referring to nonhuman animals, nephesh is associated with social animals, who also can bond with humans (e.g. able to be 'pets' or companion animals, or others). These tangible aspects are some of the psychosocial characteristics found in birds and mammals.
Nephesh Animals have:
Personality - mind
Will or volition, as in the capacity for making choices.
Emotions
Establish enduring bonds with others, including humans (especially if the bond is started at a young age).
Characteristics in many, but not all nephesh:
Nurturing of the young
Curiosity
Playfulness
Desire to please and serve others, including humans. (Some easy to domestication)
Passion
Some birds and mammals show strong nephesh-associated activities, such as: bonding for life and mourning.
Humans: While humans are also called nephesh, the Bible also states that humans have the characteristics of spirituality (Hebrew רוּחַ - Ruah), that is understood as 'created in God’s image. Spirit in Hebrew is ruach or ruah, which is capable of prayer, worship, and other spiritual activities.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 : May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The animals (nephesh animals, birds, and mammals) were given by God to teach us about Him. Job 12:7-8: “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you." (One lesson: Just as many animals are able to be tamed and bond to humans "a high being", so God has made us to be tamed and bonded to a higher being, the Creator of the universe. see Psalm 63:8, 1 Corinthians 6:17, John 17:21.) (sadly, in large cities, one cannot see the many animals that were given by God to teach us. But, Jesus is taught there.) A second lesson is that human sin and abuse severely damages our relationship with nephesh animals, humans, and God. Just nephesh animals can love humans, "a high being", Humans are designed to love a "a high being", the Creator of the universe. Just as our sin causes these animals to run away from us rather than toward us, so, too, our sin causes us to run away from God rather than toward him. As some nephesh species are more difficult for us humans to tame than others, so too are some humans more difficult to tame than others. Just as the full potential and capability of a bird or mammal is only realized when they are emotionally bonded and in submission to a human being, similarly the full potential and capability of a human is only fully realized when that human is emotionally bonded and in submission to God.
Ref:
Nephesh is found in Strong's Lexicon as # H5315.
Claudia Fugazza et al., “Presence and Lasting Effect of Social Referencing in Dog Puppies,” Animal Behaviour 141 (July 2018): 67–75, doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.05.007.
Tedra A. Walden and Tamra A. Ogan, “The Development of Social Referencing,” Child Development 59 (October 1988): 1230–40, doi:10.2307/1130486; Donna L. Mumme, Anne Fernald, and Carla Herrera, “Infants’ Responses to Facial and Vocal Emotional Signals in a Social Referencing Paradigm,” Child Development 67 (December 1996): 3219–37, doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01910.x.
I. Merola, E. Prato-Previde, and S. Marshall-Pescini, “Social Referencing in Dog-Owner Dyads?”, Animal Cognition 15 (August 2011): 175–85, doi:10.1007/s10071-011-0443-0; Isabella Merola, Emanuela Prato-Previde, and Sarah Marshall-Pescini, “Dogs’ Social Referencing towards Owners and Strangers,” PLOS One (October 11, 2012): doi.org:10.1371/journal.pone.0047653.
Laurence M. Hirshberg and Marilyn Svejda, “When Infants Look to Their Parents: I. Infants’ Social Referencing of Mothers Compared to Fathers,” Child Development 61 (August 1990): 1175–86, doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1990.tb02851.x.
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/animal-species-with-strong-family-bonds/ Family Bonds
https://www.treehugger.com/ways-animals-have-served-the-military-4869196 10 Ways Animals Have Served the Military By Laura Moss November 10, 2019
https://explore.britannica.com/explore/savingearth/service-animals-help-humans-live-fuller-lives
https://www.treehugger.com/animals-that-mate-for-life-4869332
https://www.audubon.org/magazine/till-death-do-them-part-8-birds-mate-life
https://www.thetorah.com/article/in-search-of-the-soul-between-torah-and-science
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1476993X241234908 Greek Soul
https://biblehub.com/hebrew/2421b.htm Living thing Dic.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h5315/kjv/wlc/0-1/ Nephesh