The Word was the Holy Spirit on Moses, and all of Israel.
In the Book of Numbers, we are told that God took of the Spirit on Moses and put it on the seventy elders (Numbers 11:17).
But when did Moses receive the Holy Spirit?
At the burning bush, the Messenger said to Moses, “I Will Be with you” (Exodus 3:12).
The Pseudo Jonathan Targum1Also known as the “Palestine Targum” or “Targum Jonathan” and Targum Onkelos, the official Targum of the Pentateuch, translated this as “My Word shall be your Helper.” The Word was the Holy Spirit in Moses.
The expression “I will be with you” was first spoken to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
In Genesis 28, Jacob vowed, “If He Will Be will be with me … then He Will Be, be my God” (Genesis 28:20-21).
The Targum Onkelos translated Jacob’s vow in Genesis 28, as “if the Word of the Lord will be my Help …. then the Word of the Lord2A variant in the critical apparatus of A. Sperberg’s Aramaic Bible has three yods in place of “the Word of the Lord,” giving us the same wording as Pseudo Targum Jonathan: “if the Word of the Lord be my Helper … then the Lord be my God.” be my God.”
Throughout the entire Old Testament, wherever the Hebrew text used the phrase, “the Lord is with you” or “I will be with you,” the Targumim translated this as “the Word of He WILL BE will be your helper.” This described the Spirit of Christ as the helper of Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon, Jeremiah, and all of Israel.
The Word was the Holy Spirit in the prophets. The Word brought God’s message and allowed the prophets to hear the speaking of the spirit of Yihvah.
Jesus identified Himself as the Word, when He said, “I will pray the Father and He will send you another Helper … He will be with you forever” (John 14:16, Matthew 28:19).
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