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. [Sidenote: 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_. [Sidenote: 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 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. [Sidenote: 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.