The Holy Spirit - God's Spirit
E-book and Audio series
PART 2 - The Roles and Activities of the Holy Spirit
Chapter 14 - The Work of the Spirit in OT - Pt 3 - A Guide
Summary: The role of the Holy Sprit as a Guide in OT times.
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Study Notes: No. 14 - The Work of the Holy Spirit in the OT - Pt 3 - A Guide
In the previous few studies, we have been considering the roles and activities of the Holy Spirit in OT times.
- An Enabler of extraordinary deeds (strength, interpretation of visions, healings, raisings from the dead, other miracles);
- A Revealer of God’s truths and messages, especially via the prophets.
In this study, we’re going to focus more on the third major role of the Holy Spirit in the OT – that of a Guide, especially concerning the leadership of God’s people Israel.
There were a number of different ways that God guided people in OT times:
- sometimes directly from God in a human form
- sometimes appearing to people in visions
- sometimes by angels (messengers)
- the pillar of cloud in the wilderness guided the people through the wilderness
- sometimes via prophets
- sometimes via urim and thummim (two stones used in making 50/50 yes/no decisions)
- sometimes via direct guidance of the Holy Spirit
It's this final aspect of guidance by God's Holy Spirit that we'll look at now. There is actually quite a bit of an overlap between prophecy and guidance, but we will focus especially on the guidance aspect in this study.
I must admit up front that there is less clarity about this aspect than the other two. There are a few passages we could speculate about that we may not get to, and I’d prefer to concentrate on those passages where we can establish some facts.
The Pentateuch
After creation, no real activity by the Spirit is spoken of in the earliest ages of the OT. We’ve already seen how God appeared to a number of
people early on in the OT. Not coincidentally, there is very little activity of the Holy Spirit mentioned during those times. God was more visible, and sometimes even tangible, in those earliest of times.
Joseph - The spirit of the Lord was upon Joseph, but to help him interpret dreams (Genesis 41:38). The Spirit was not really there to guide him as such. Gen 45:5-8 and 50:15-21 talk about how Joseph understood that God had caused him to be in Egypt and raise him to power there. There is no mention of the Spirit intervening and providing guidance, however.
Moses - The Lord (Jehovah) appeared regularly to Moses “face to face”, and he was guided by God in that way. We do read of some activity of the Spirit with Miriam, Aaron, and a few others prophesying, but spiritual guidance was really given directly to Moses by Jehovah appearing to Moses himself.
Moses wrote and spoke what God had spoken to him, though he was also called a prophet (2 Peter 1:21). Numbers 11 tells of an incident where the spirit that was upon Moses was put upon the 70 elders. This seems to have been for the purpose of sharing the burden of the people, not just for sharing the load in an administrative sense. Note that, some time earlier, Moses appointed "judges" for administrative purposes, and there is no mention of the spirit with their choosing (Exodus ch.18).
Joshua
Moses later laid his hands on Joshua ...
READ Deuteronomy 34:7-10 – is this the Holy Spirit? Or a wise spirit, a wise approach to things? Perhaps both are true? No spirit of any kind is mentioned again in the life of Joshua (even in the following book that bears his name), and he became the nation’s leader after Moses died.
Joshua had the spirit of wisdom upon him
READ Numbers 27:12-23
v.18 – the spirit = the Holy Spirit?
Or the spirit (attitude) spoken of in v.16,17 – i.e. “a man with that kind of attitude”?
v.21 – judgement by Urim, not direct guidance
cp. Exodus 28:30 - two stones, called the Urim and Thummim, held in a pouch within the high priest’s breastplate
You may like to refer to the interesting commentary by Mike Penny in his book “Miracles of the Apostles”, especially the chapter on making decisions by choosing lots.
The Lord appeared to Joshua (in a vision, I think cp. Numbers 12:6,7 Deuteronomy 34:10), and gave him some specific details about his time of leadership in particular (Joshua 1:1-6), and then reminded him about the importance of meditating on the Law (v.7,8).
Let’s remember that the Law was given through Moses as a guide to people during his time, but also in succeeding generations. Deuteronomy 4:1-14 gives this as one of the purposes of the Law, especially when they were to enter the land. The Law was to be the guide of the people, and they were to teach it to their children, and their children’s children, etc. It was the job of the Levites to teach the Law to the people (Deuteronomy 33:10).
All this helps to explain why (a) Joshua was told to meditate on the book of the Law “day and night” ; and (b) there is no further mention of a “spirit” of any kind in Joshua’s life after this, i.e. neither Holy Spirit, a spirit of wisdom, etc. Essentially, he had all the guidance he needed in the form of the written Word.
Judges
Judges 3:7-10 - The Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel, one of the judges or rulers after Joshua's time.
READ 4:1-5 Deborah was another judge of that era. The Spirit is not mentioned, but she was a prophetess, and her judging is particularly highlighted in that passage.
Bear in mind that there is a lot of overlap between the Spirit’s role in revealing prophecy, and the Spirit’s role as a Guide – often the same thing. After all, prophecy (i.e. speaking on behalf of God) was often in the form of guidance “now, go and do this…”
Several of the judges are said to have had the Spirit come upon them.
The Spirit also is said to have come upon the judges Gideon, Jephthah
and Samson.
Judges 6:34 - We are told the spirit came upon Gideon - who had previously been visited by an angel of the Lord.
Judges 11:29 - In the midst of going to battle, it is said that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, who had already done the Lord’s will and fought off Israel’s enemies; he had already been praying to God.
Judges ch 13 & 14 - the Spirit began to come upon Samson (13:24,25; 14:1-6), but in most cases, the mention of this is then followed by some mighty “act of God”. Perhaps the spirit was not upon each of them so much to guide them in their role of a judge who was to make decisions, but perhaps God’s spirit only came upon these people briefly, and for specific events in their lives (enabling, revealing, etc)? It's difficult to be really sure.
Samuel
Moving ahead in time, we come to Samuel, who was a judge and a prophet (cp 2 Peter 1:21 prophecy came as men were moved by the Holy Spirit). Samuel’s sons were appointed as judges by Samuel but were wayward, and there is no mention or implication of the Spirit being in their lives.
The people ask for a king in 1 Sam 8. Before this time, there is the occasional mention of the odd prophet or two, but after it, there is a multitude
of prophets.
Samuel’s guidance of Saul, via the Holy Spirit) took the form of "This is what will happen, and this is what you should do.” Let’s read it.
READ 1 Samuel 10:1,2a…3-9
We read here of a prophet guiding a king under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit – which will continue to be the case for some time.
This brings us to consider the period of the Kings during the single kingdom, a transitional period in terms of the Holy Spirit’s interaction with man. At this time, both the kings and the prophets were being influenced by God’s Spirit in different ways.
Saul
READ 1 Samuel 10:10 – the Spirit was upon Saul who prophesied.
Shortly after, there was threat of Ammonite invasion
READ 1 Samuel 11:6,7 – Was Saul being guided by the Spirit here? At the very least, he was prophesying. Again, there is a bit of an overlap between these two aspects.
Samuel continued to guide Saul - READ 1 Samuel 15:1-3. However, Saul didn’t actually heed all the instructions given to him by Samuel.
- READ v.26
God’s Spirit was not to remain upon Saul – READ 1 Samuel 16.14
(KEEP BOOKMARK IN ch16); note also 28:3-7 – by the time of these later events, God was no longer speaking to Saul by any means. (Interestingly, in 1 Samuel 19:19–24, we read how the Spirit came upon Saul again, but in very different circumstances this time, actually forcing him to do things he didn’t want to do.)
David
Go back to 1 Samuel 16:13 again. Note that the Spirit of the Lord came upon David “from that day forward”. This was the same David who was said to be a man after God’s own heart.
2 Sam 23:1-3 is a record of King David looking back over his life, and recognising that he received divine guidance for ruling Israel. David was still guided by prophets when necessary. For instance, he had conducted a census of the people, which he should not have
done, and was confronted by a prophet about this. READ 2 Samuel 24:11-13a
Obviously, the Spirit’s influence in David’s life did not make him perfect. Earlier, David had a man killed so he could take that man’s wife, an act that was clearly outside of God’s will. 2 Samuel 12:1 tells us that the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to confront him. David had seen what happened to Saul, and this was almost certainly on his mind when he penned the reflective and repentant Psalm 51, especially the phrase “do not take
your Holy Spirit from me” (v.11).
The Spirit’s influence in David’s life shines through in the previous chapter as well, I think.
READ 2 Samuel 22:(context 1-3a) … 18,19 … 29,30
There are parallels with the Spirit’s roles of comfort, support, enlightenment, help (NIV), etc. in the NT
1 Chronicles 28:11,12 - David passed on the plans for the temple courts, etc, to Solomon; i.e. the plans he had received "by the Spirit".
Solomon
READ 1 Kings 3:5-13a (cp 4:29 “God gave Solomon wisdom”) is this the same as the Spirit working in him? Perhaps, or perhaps not. Under the Spirit’s guidance he penned the book of Ecclesiastes, at least some of the proverbs, and a couple of the psalms (72, 127). Cp 2 Timothy 3:16 – “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God”. Nevertheless, there were prophets in Solomon’s time as well. (2 Chronicles 10:29)
Divided kingdom
Once the kingdom divided into North and South, no king after this time seems to have received direct guidance from God’s spirit. Here is a typical
example of how things worked during that time…
READ 2 Chronicles 20:1-6 …12-16a
- King Jehoshaphat sought God's will, and God spoke through a prophet (not directly to the king himself).
During exile
There was no prophet to guide the Jews REFER – Micah 3:4-7
“Then [i.e. during the exile] they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them … there is no answer from God”.
After exile
Once the opportunity to return to their homeland was given, prophets led by the Holy Spirit began to guide the leaders again.
In the book of Haggai, some exiles had returned from Babylon to Jerusalem, started rebuilding the temple, but then faced opposition, became discouraged, stopped work, and let the unfinished structure remain that way for about 20 years.
READ Haggai 1:1-4 … 12-15; 2:1-5 (v.5 – my Spirit remains among you)
A good summary passage to finish with is 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, which complements the diversities of gifts in the OT as well. Many of the same gifts are mentioned in this passage (not tongues, though, which had a specific purpose in NT times).
v.8 - the "word" / message (logos) of wisdom, knowledge. – related to guidance
v.11 - – (NIV) “all these are the work of one and the same Spirit”.
In the next study, we will consider the Spirit’s activities in the work between the Old and New Testament times, and then consider what the situation was in the earliest NT years.
In the previous few studies, we have been considering the roles and activities of the Holy Spirit in OT times.
- An Enabler of extraordinary deeds (strength, interpretation of visions, healings, raisings from the dead, other miracles);
- A Revealer of God’s truths and messages, especially via the prophets.
In this study, we’re going to focus more on the third major role of the Holy Spirit in the OT – that of a Guide, especially concerning the leadership of God’s people Israel.
There were a number of different ways that God guided people in OT times:
- sometimes directly from God in a human form
- sometimes appearing to people in visions
- sometimes by angels (messengers)
- the pillar of cloud in the wilderness guided the people through the wilderness
- sometimes via prophets
- sometimes via urim and thummim (two stones used in making 50/50 yes/no decisions)
- sometimes via direct guidance of the Holy Spirit
It's this final aspect of guidance by God's Holy Spirit that we'll look at now. There is actually quite a bit of an overlap between prophecy and guidance, but we will focus especially on the guidance aspect in this study.
I must admit up front that there is less clarity about this aspect than the other two. There are a few passages we could speculate about that we may not get to, and I’d prefer to concentrate on those passages where we can establish some facts.
The Pentateuch
After creation, no real activity by the Spirit is spoken of in the earliest ages of the OT. We’ve already seen how God appeared to a number of
people early on in the OT. Not coincidentally, there is very little activity of the Holy Spirit mentioned during those times. God was more visible, and sometimes even tangible, in those earliest of times.
Joseph - The spirit of the Lord was upon Joseph, but to help him interpret dreams (Genesis 41:38). The Spirit was not really there to guide him as such. Gen 45:5-8 and 50:15-21 talk about how Joseph understood that God had caused him to be in Egypt and raise him to power there. There is no mention of the Spirit intervening and providing guidance, however.
Moses - The Lord (Jehovah) appeared regularly to Moses “face to face”, and he was guided by God in that way. We do read of some activity of the Spirit with Miriam, Aaron, and a few others prophesying, but spiritual guidance was really given directly to Moses by Jehovah appearing to Moses himself.
Moses wrote and spoke what God had spoken to him, though he was also called a prophet (2 Peter 1:21). Numbers 11 tells of an incident where the spirit that was upon Moses was put upon the 70 elders. This seems to have been for the purpose of sharing the burden of the people, not just for sharing the load in an administrative sense. Note that, some time earlier, Moses appointed "judges" for administrative purposes, and there is no mention of the spirit with their choosing (Exodus ch.18).
Joshua
Moses later laid his hands on Joshua ...
READ Deuteronomy 34:7-10 – is this the Holy Spirit? Or a wise spirit, a wise approach to things? Perhaps both are true? No spirit of any kind is mentioned again in the life of Joshua (even in the following book that bears his name), and he became the nation’s leader after Moses died.
Joshua had the spirit of wisdom upon him
READ Numbers 27:12-23
v.18 – the spirit = the Holy Spirit?
Or the spirit (attitude) spoken of in v.16,17 – i.e. “a man with that kind of attitude”?
v.21 – judgement by Urim, not direct guidance
cp. Exodus 28:30 - two stones, called the Urim and Thummim, held in a pouch within the high priest’s breastplate
You may like to refer to the interesting commentary by Mike Penny in his book “Miracles of the Apostles”, especially the chapter on making decisions by choosing lots.
The Lord appeared to Joshua (in a vision, I think cp. Numbers 12:6,7 Deuteronomy 34:10), and gave him some specific details about his time of leadership in particular (Joshua 1:1-6), and then reminded him about the importance of meditating on the Law (v.7,8).
Let’s remember that the Law was given through Moses as a guide to people during his time, but also in succeeding generations. Deuteronomy 4:1-14 gives this as one of the purposes of the Law, especially when they were to enter the land. The Law was to be the guide of the people, and they were to teach it to their children, and their children’s children, etc. It was the job of the Levites to teach the Law to the people (Deuteronomy 33:10).
All this helps to explain why (a) Joshua was told to meditate on the book of the Law “day and night” ; and (b) there is no further mention of a “spirit” of any kind in Joshua’s life after this, i.e. neither Holy Spirit, a spirit of wisdom, etc. Essentially, he had all the guidance he needed in the form of the written Word.
Judges
Judges 3:7-10 - The Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel, one of the judges or rulers after Joshua's time.
READ 4:1-5 Deborah was another judge of that era. The Spirit is not mentioned, but she was a prophetess, and her judging is particularly highlighted in that passage.
Bear in mind that there is a lot of overlap between the Spirit’s role in revealing prophecy, and the Spirit’s role as a Guide – often the same thing. After all, prophecy (i.e. speaking on behalf of God) was often in the form of guidance “now, go and do this…”
Several of the judges are said to have had the Spirit come upon them.
The Spirit also is said to have come upon the judges Gideon, Jephthah
and Samson.
Judges 6:34 - We are told the spirit came upon Gideon - who had previously been visited by an angel of the Lord.
Judges 11:29 - In the midst of going to battle, it is said that the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah, who had already done the Lord’s will and fought off Israel’s enemies; he had already been praying to God.
Judges ch 13 & 14 - the Spirit began to come upon Samson (13:24,25; 14:1-6), but in most cases, the mention of this is then followed by some mighty “act of God”. Perhaps the spirit was not upon each of them so much to guide them in their role of a judge who was to make decisions, but perhaps God’s spirit only came upon these people briefly, and for specific events in their lives (enabling, revealing, etc)? It's difficult to be really sure.
Samuel
Moving ahead in time, we come to Samuel, who was a judge and a prophet (cp 2 Peter 1:21 prophecy came as men were moved by the Holy Spirit). Samuel’s sons were appointed as judges by Samuel but were wayward, and there is no mention or implication of the Spirit being in their lives.
The people ask for a king in 1 Sam 8. Before this time, there is the occasional mention of the odd prophet or two, but after it, there is a multitude
of prophets.
Samuel’s guidance of Saul, via the Holy Spirit) took the form of "This is what will happen, and this is what you should do.” Let’s read it.
READ 1 Samuel 10:1,2a…3-9
We read here of a prophet guiding a king under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit – which will continue to be the case for some time.
This brings us to consider the period of the Kings during the single kingdom, a transitional period in terms of the Holy Spirit’s interaction with man. At this time, both the kings and the prophets were being influenced by God’s Spirit in different ways.
Saul
READ 1 Samuel 10:10 – the Spirit was upon Saul who prophesied.
Shortly after, there was threat of Ammonite invasion
READ 1 Samuel 11:6,7 – Was Saul being guided by the Spirit here? At the very least, he was prophesying. Again, there is a bit of an overlap between these two aspects.
Samuel continued to guide Saul - READ 1 Samuel 15:1-3. However, Saul didn’t actually heed all the instructions given to him by Samuel.
- READ v.26
God’s Spirit was not to remain upon Saul – READ 1 Samuel 16.14
(KEEP BOOKMARK IN ch16); note also 28:3-7 – by the time of these later events, God was no longer speaking to Saul by any means. (Interestingly, in 1 Samuel 19:19–24, we read how the Spirit came upon Saul again, but in very different circumstances this time, actually forcing him to do things he didn’t want to do.)
David
Go back to 1 Samuel 16:13 again. Note that the Spirit of the Lord came upon David “from that day forward”. This was the same David who was said to be a man after God’s own heart.
2 Sam 23:1-3 is a record of King David looking back over his life, and recognising that he received divine guidance for ruling Israel. David was still guided by prophets when necessary. For instance, he had conducted a census of the people, which he should not have
done, and was confronted by a prophet about this. READ 2 Samuel 24:11-13a
Obviously, the Spirit’s influence in David’s life did not make him perfect. Earlier, David had a man killed so he could take that man’s wife, an act that was clearly outside of God’s will. 2 Samuel 12:1 tells us that the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to confront him. David had seen what happened to Saul, and this was almost certainly on his mind when he penned the reflective and repentant Psalm 51, especially the phrase “do not take
your Holy Spirit from me” (v.11).
The Spirit’s influence in David’s life shines through in the previous chapter as well, I think.
READ 2 Samuel 22:(context 1-3a) … 18,19 … 29,30
There are parallels with the Spirit’s roles of comfort, support, enlightenment, help (NIV), etc. in the NT
1 Chronicles 28:11,12 - David passed on the plans for the temple courts, etc, to Solomon; i.e. the plans he had received "by the Spirit".
Solomon
READ 1 Kings 3:5-13a (cp 4:29 “God gave Solomon wisdom”) is this the same as the Spirit working in him? Perhaps, or perhaps not. Under the Spirit’s guidance he penned the book of Ecclesiastes, at least some of the proverbs, and a couple of the psalms (72, 127). Cp 2 Timothy 3:16 – “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God”. Nevertheless, there were prophets in Solomon’s time as well. (2 Chronicles 10:29)
Divided kingdom
Once the kingdom divided into North and South, no king after this time seems to have received direct guidance from God’s spirit. Here is a typical
example of how things worked during that time…
READ 2 Chronicles 20:1-6 …12-16a
- King Jehoshaphat sought God's will, and God spoke through a prophet (not directly to the king himself).
During exile
There was no prophet to guide the Jews REFER – Micah 3:4-7
“Then [i.e. during the exile] they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them … there is no answer from God”.
After exile
Once the opportunity to return to their homeland was given, prophets led by the Holy Spirit began to guide the leaders again.
In the book of Haggai, some exiles had returned from Babylon to Jerusalem, started rebuilding the temple, but then faced opposition, became discouraged, stopped work, and let the unfinished structure remain that way for about 20 years.
READ Haggai 1:1-4 … 12-15; 2:1-5 (v.5 – my Spirit remains among you)
A good summary passage to finish with is 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, which complements the diversities of gifts in the OT as well. Many of the same gifts are mentioned in this passage (not tongues, though, which had a specific purpose in NT times).
v.8 - the "word" / message (logos) of wisdom, knowledge. – related to guidance
v.11 - – (NIV) “all these are the work of one and the same Spirit”.
In the next study, we will consider the Spirit’s activities in the work between the Old and New Testament times, and then consider what the situation was in the earliest NT years.
