The breath of life is the thing God gives that causes a human (a soul) to live as covered in what is a soul? Adam was not a living soul (body) until God breath into his nostrils the breath [spirit] of life:
Genesis 2:7
“...the Lord God formed a man (Human) from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being (Soul).”
But what exactly is this breath of life that brought Adam's body to life? Does the Bible actually say?
But humans are not the only souls that were given the breath of life according to God himself: The next time the term "Breath of Life" is mentioned God mentions many other living bodies (souls) on earth that are powered with this "breath of life":
Genesis 1:30
“…all the beasts of the earth (land animals) and all the birds in the sky (flying birds) and all the creatures that move along the ground (insects)—everything (all these animals mentioned before) that has the breath of life in it—…”
So, God says there are clearly other living souls besides humans that have the breath of life he puts them in Three main categories of animals have the breath of life in them:
Land animals: cattle, canines, felines, reptiles etc.
Flying birds: Hawks, Eagles, Owls, songbirds etc.
Insects: Grasshoppers, beetles, butterfly etc.
Basically, all land animals seem to have the breath of life! Then it can be concluded that all land animals have the breath of life in them too!
The only category of animals left out by God is the ocean life (fish, porpoises, cephalopods etc.) but why? Let's read on to find out more: later God mentions the breath of life again, but this time he tells Noah he is going to destroy everything that has this breath of life in it with a massive flood:
Genesis 6:17
"I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy...life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it...on earth will perish (die)."
So, whatever the breath of life is, apparently, it's something only living creatures on land have.
This is made even more apparent when God told Noah to build an Ark to save not only himself but also a male and female
Genesis 7:15
"...Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark."
Genesis 7:22
"...Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died."
So, we know some things about the Breath of life now: Notice this breath of life is associated with being inside the nostrils (nose holes) of a living being. and the flood only killed the bodies (souls) with this breath of life and the bodies that had this breath of life are strongly associated with dry land (and all the animals [along with humans] that God names that has this breath of life all live on dry land).
All these strong hints prove the breath of life is the very act of breathing air!
And this is 100% true! Air is vital to all physical life on Earth that breathes it (mostly on land by some live in the water): When a living being (a soul) is physically breathing in and out air, it's a strong indication that it's alive! We now know why breathing in air is so important for life: there is a specific chemical in air called oxygen that is needed to fuel the body so when air is breathed into a living being's body it usually goes to either an air sack (lungs) or directly to circulation where the oxygen is transported to all cells of the body where inside the cell its used for energy in order to continue living. Therefore, the breath of life is literally air (oxygen) going into the air sack (or in some cases directly into the body) of a living creature to make it stay alive.
This is why Job said the breath from God (the breath of life) gives him life (it makes him alive!)
Job 33:4
“...the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”
But what about sea life; the only category of souls that were not said to have the breath of life? They are considered living beings (souls) but do not have the breath of life. That is because they do not “breath” air: or that is, breath in gas-oxygen like all other animals do. They breath in oxygen from the water (liquid oxygen) to get their oxygen to live, in a way, this is their “breath of life” but it can't be called that because breath is dealing with gas/air this is water so this could be called “The Water/current of life”. either way both of these living being having to have the oxygen to remain alive in some way.
So really it could be called the oxygen of life: because this is the real chemical that makes a body (soul) function and become alive.
This makes sense, because a flood would not necessarily kill a sea creature by suffocation that could breathe water: they could simply process the oxygen out of the water: but the same could not be said of a land creature which need oxygen to be in a gas not a liquid state! So, they would suffocate and without the breath of life they would die.
Although the breath of life (Oxygen) is what gives a soul (body: specifically, the cells of the body) life, God mentions another very important thing inside the body that also gives life to all the body:
the two elements of physical life:
The breath of life and lifeblood
God says the blood within a body also brings life to the entire body:
Leviticus 17:11
"...the life of a creature's flesh (body) is in the blood..."
Not only is the life in the blood but the life is the blood!
Leviticus 17:14
"…the life of every creature is its blood..."
in fact, the blood is so important that God calls it the LIFEblood of a body!
Genesis 9:5
"...for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting."
Genesis 9:4
“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it."
So apparently without the blood, a body cannot live! And this is found to also be absolutely true! Apart from just being a red liquid blood is really a mixture of water carrying nutrients to all the body's cells along with cells that only live in the blood, the most important being red blood cells which happen to absorb the oxygen [the breath of life] from the lungs in order to deliver it to the rest of the body. This is the massive connection to the breath of life and blood that God hints about: blood is also the life of the body because this is where the oxygen goes after it is breathed into the lungs: it is absorbed into the blood and distributed to the rest of the cells in the body: without the blood flowing to some part of the body the organ's cells will not be able to make energy/get nutrients and will unable to function in order to live and this will cause the cell to die!
So, breathing in Oxygen is what activates/makes a body/cells alive/functioning and having blood to carry that oxygen (plus nutrients and other vital cells) is what sustains that life for the body/cells: this of course is extremely scientifically accurate to what we now know about all human's and almost all animal's bodies.
So, in conclusion, the Breath of life God gave to Adam's body was oxygen entering his newly made lungs to be absorbed into his bloodstream to activate his cells so his body would begin working and he would be made conscious. So, gas Oxygen is the breath of life required for a soul (body) to live. But the blood within the soul (body) is also equally required for life because it transports this breath of life (as well as many other things) to individual cells to keep them healthy and alive themselves. So according to the Bible, both the breath of life and blood are the difference between a living soul (or body) and a dead soul (body).
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