"Spirit of your Holiness" in Psalm 51:13

Trinity Journal, Spring 1998 by Marlowe, W Creighton

B. The Use of tl in the OT

1. The use of(arabic text omitted) in All Contexts

A look at the use of n- in the OT may prove helpful for this discussion, but only a summary presentation of the data is possible.25 Leon Wood's The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament26 makes a strong case for some type of reconsideration and redefinition of the absolute assumption made by many that OT believers were not renewed or indwelt by the Holy Spirit, as NT believers were. One should not, consequently, merely cite this assumption-as some do-as a settled and unquestionable evangelical consensus that ought to prevent the interpreter from asking if the "spirit of holiness" in Psalm 51 is God's Spirit or David's spirituality. A desideratum for OT "spirit" is a comprehensive presentation of uses of (arabic text omitted): where it signifies an attitude in biblical and extra-biblical literature.27

A preliminary, chronological study of nlm in the OT reveals that the person of the Holy Spirit is referred to (where "Spirit" versus "spirit" is not debated) as follows:28 (1) "Spirit of God (Elohim)" is used in ca. twelve passages, in all the historical periods except the post-exilic; (2) "Spirit of the LORD (Yhwh)29 is used in ca. twenty passages from the Conquest of Canaan to the Exile (but not prior to the Conquest or in post-exilic writings); (3) "My Spirit" is used in ca. ten passages, only one of these (Gen 6:3) prior to the Divided Monarchy; and (4) "The/His/Your Spirit"30 is used in ca. twenty passages in all periods, but it is the only expression for God's Spirit used in the Psalms, unless Ps 51:13 is the sole exception.31 The phrase "holy spirit" is used in only two passages and three verses including the passage under discussion in this paper (Ps 51:13; Isa 63:10; 63:11).32 When these texts speak of the Spirit empowering someone for service it is not usually, if ever, clear if this is being done by a Spirit already and permanently present in the person or by a spirit that comes upon the person as an external, temporary force.

Most often the person of the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of God or Spirit of Yhwh (i.e., "the LORD" in most translations). This is also true of the Scriptures composed during or concerning the time of the United Monarchy of Israel (traditionally and roughly ca. 1050-930 BC). Of the poetic and wisdom books related at least in part or in some way to this period (Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon), (arabic text omitted) appears six times, five of these in the Psalms (Ps 51:11; 104:30; 106:33;139:7;143:10; Eccl 11:5). The verse in Ecclesiastes can be set aside for now since its context and parallelism, and therefore numerous commentaries and translations, indicate that "wind" and not "spirit" is the meaning of (arabic text omitted). Most interesting is that of all five uses of this term in the Psalms, all except Psalm 51 without any doubt refer to the person of God's Holy Spirit, but only Psalm 51 has the word (arabic text omitted) ("holy" or "holiness").