Gen. xli. 38, Pharoah calleth the Wisdom of Joseph, the Spirit of God. For Joseph having advised him to look out a wise and discreet man, and to set him over the land of Egypt, he saith thus, Can we find such a man as this is, in whom is the Spirit of God? And Exod. xxviii. 3, Thou shalt speak, saith God, to all the wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, to make Aaron garments, to consecrate him: where extraordinary understanding, though but in making garments, as being the gift of God, is called the Spirit of God. The same is found again, Exod. xxxi. 3, 4, 5, 6, and xxxv. 31. And Isaiah xi. 2, 3, where the prophet speaking of the Messiah, saith, the Spirit of the Lord shall abide upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord. Where manifestly is meant, not so many ghosts, but so many eminent graces that God would give him.
Thirdly, for extraordinary affections.
In the book of Judges, an extraordinary zeal and courage in the defence of God’s people, is called the Spirit of God; as when it excited Othniel, Gideon, Jephtha, and Sampson to deliver them from servitude, Judges, iii. 10, vi. 34, xi. 29, xiii. 25, xiv. 6, 19. And of Saul, upon the news of the insolence of the Ammonites towards the men of Jabesh Gilead, it is said, (1 Sam. xi. 6) that the Spirit of God came upon Saul, and his anger, (or, as it is in the Latin, his fury), was kindled greatly. Where it is not probable was meant a ghost, but an extraordinary zeal to punish the cruelty of the Ammonites. In like manner by the Spirit of God, that came upon Saul, when he was amongst the prophets that praised God in songs and music, (1 Sam. xix. 23), is to be understood, not a ghost, but an unexpected and sudden zeal to join with them in their devotion.
Fourthly, for the gift of prediction by dreams and visions.
The false prophet Zedekiah saith to Micaiah (1 Kings xxii. 24), which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak to thee? Which can not be understood of a ghost; for Micaiah declared before the kings of Israel and Judah, the event of the battle, as from a vision, and not as from a spirit speaking in him.
In the same manner it appeareth in the books of the Prophets, that though they spake by the spirit of God, that is to say, by a special grace of prediction; yet their knowledge of the future, was not by a ghost within them, but by some supernatural dream or vision.
Fifthly, for life.
Gen. ii. 7, it is said, God made man of the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils (spiraculum vitæ) the breath of life, and man was made a living soul. There the breath of life inspired[inspired] by God, signifies no more, but that God gave him life; and (Job xxvii. 3) as long as the Spirit of God is in my nostrils, is no more than to say, as long as I live. So in Ezek. i. 20, the spirit of life was in the wheels, is equivalent to, the wheels were alive. And, (Ezek. ii. 2) the Spirit entered into me, and set me on my feet, that is, I recovered my vital strength; not that any ghost or incorporeal substance entered into, and possessed his body.
Sixthly, for a subordination to authority.
In the xith chap. of Numbers, v. 17, I will take, saith God, of the Spirit, which is upon thee, and will put it upon them, and they shall bear the burthen of the people with thee; that is, upon the seventy elders: whereupon two of the seventy are said to prophecy in the camp; of whom some complained, and Joshua desired Moses to forbid them; which Moses would not do. Whereby it appears, that Joshua knew not that they had received authority so to do, and prophecied according to the mind of Moses, that is to say, by a spirit, or authority subordinate to his own.