(_a_) _The doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul._ That this is taken for granted is clear from the words in viii. 19, 20: Now I was a child good by nature, and a good soul fell to my lot; Nay, rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled. And again, in xv. 8, though here pre-existence is not necessarily implied: ... When the soul which was lent him shall again be demanded. And, once more, in reference to the foolish man who manufactures idols, it is said (xv. 11): Because he was ignorant of Him that moulded him, And of Him that inspired into him an active soul, And breathed into him a vital spirit. A great deal depends here upon the question of authorship, or at any rate upon the point of view of the writer; for it will be noticed that the first of these quotations comes from part i. of the book, while the last two are from part ii. We will speak of the point of view of the writer without assuming that either one or two writers is in question. There are two points of view represented in these verses; the ordinary Jewish belief is expressed by the words: “Now I was a child good by nature, and a good soul fell to my lot,” as well as by the two other quotations. On the other hand, a point of view influenced by Greek thought appears in the words: “Nay, rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled.” It is well to point out first that according to the ordinary Jewish belief there was no clear conception of any difference between soul and spirit; the Hebrew word for “soul” is _nĕphĕsh_; but this word does not correspond properly to “soul”; it means a man’s own self, his personality, including his body; what we understand by body and soul is expressed in Hebrew by this word _nĕphĕsh_, so that when this is translated by “soul” it is apt to cause misunderstanding; the Hebrews had no word corresponding to the Greek _sōma_ (body), nor did the Greek _psychē_ (soul) correspond with the Hebrew _nĕphĕsh_; the Hebrew word which comes nearest to _psychē_ would be _nĕshāmāh_ (breath), or possibly _rūach_ (spirit).[118] The words, therefore, “Now I was a child good by nature, and a good soul fell to my lot,” mean simply that he was by nature a good child and became also a good man, by God’s mercy is implied. This traditional faith the writer supplements, on account of the insight into Greek philosophy which he had gained, by adding: “Or, rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled”; he means thereby that his soul (in the Greek, not the Hebrew, sense, for he does not include the body) entered into a body undefiled; he thus expresses his belief in the pre-existence of the soul. But an interesting point to be noted here is that the writer, while accepting one Greek doctrine (the pre-existence of the soul) repudiates another in the same breath, for by speaking of a “body undefiled” he seems to be denying the Platonic doctrine of the body being a hindrance (see below). As to Plato’s teaching on