Human Souls
Finally, there is the question of
the immortal soul. Ancient Israelites, like ancient Mesopotamians and ancient
Greeks (and ancient Chinese and ancient Indians), believed that human beings
had multiple souls, some or all of which were immortal, that is, survived
death. In Mesopotamia and Israel, there were two of these immortal souls. In Mesopotamia,
these were the zaqīqu
and the e[emmu (Scurlock 1995a, 1892). The words in Hebrew for these
souls are ruab and nephesh. The former, since there was a ruaḥ of God, was obviously
immortal, as was the Mesopotamian zaqīqu. Hebrew nephesh, however, is cognate to Akkadian
napistu. Treacherously for etymologists, napistu, which is breath
and life and does not, obviously, survive death is not actually the equivalent Mesopotamian
term for nephesh. Instead, this was the eṭemmu and, yes, both nephesh
and eṭemmu survived
death. (Joann Scurlock, “Ghosts in Mesopotamia,” in The Oxford Handbook of
Biblical Monsters, ed. Brandon R. Grafius and John W. Morehead [Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2025], 78)
Further Reading:
Response to Douglas V. Pond on Biblical and LDS Anthropology and Eschatology
