Nephesh
Moses, the writer of the Genesis creation account, used the word nephesh (Hebrew: soul, self, life, creature, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion) to describe the creation of the most advanced animal life next to man. These creatures are sometimes described as the “soulish” animals; those that display a mind, will, and emotion. They differ from humanity in the ways that are most important — they are not able to understand, relate to, or seek to communicate with the Creator Himself. But they seem to be perfectly suited to be in relationships with human beings. They seem to be made to please us.
They are sad when we are sad. They rejoice in our happiness. In fact, many of us have no doubt that they seem most content, and are indeed most determined, to seek to provide that happiness for us. They are designed to bring joy and comfort to us in ways that are completely inexplicable apart from what seems to be a deliberate creative act of God for that purpose.
How else do you explain an animal who runs to the window before you pull in the driveway; who cowers when you are angry; who fetches a ball until his tongue hangs down on his chest, covered with leaves and dirt; who licks your arm where it itches even if you cannot see or feel any physical reason for the itch; who senses cancer a doctor cannot see?
How else can pure evolutionary biology explain why a dog wags his tail?
Years ago our golden retriever, Hank, learned to be excited when we celebrated someone’s birthday. He would start to wiggle when we’d light the birthday candles. He would pant and jump when we sang “Happy Birthday.” When the song was over, he would beg the one whose birthday it was for one of their birthday card envelopes. He would take the envelope in his mouth and make his way around the house, wagging his tail and offering it to every person he could find.
None of us can explain why he started doing this. It seems he just wants to join us when we celebrate.
Today our family lost our favorite birthday party friend. Hank was the most kind, loving family pet we could ever imagine having. It was a joy to share our home with him and we will miss him greatly. When we remember Hank, it will always be with a smile and the tune of the “Happy Birthday” song in our hearts.
If God had a picture in His mind when he made nephesh, it must have looked just like Hank.
I just recently had a beloved dog pass away. This one was more difficult than my other dogs. I was researching the word nephesh in relation to our dogs having souls. Our purpose as caretakers of God’s creation, and our work in a new, perfect world.
I have found numerous encouraging verses of preservation and restoration of humans and animals. I have noticed, only certain animals have the breath of life in them, dogs being one of them.
God not only gave them the same breath, but also the same Sabbath to rest.
Years ago I had searched if those animals with “souls”, the same breath of life, could possibly be in the new world. As I searched more on this topic today, I found more encouraging verses.
Originally, I did not believe our pets would be with us in “heaven”, but there are more verses I found that would give many people hope. I know Jesus will have all of our needs met, that we would not be in need.
If heaven is a perfect place for each of us, it seems our pets would be there, in the most basic terms. But my recent search, looking at the Hebrew Bible, Strongs, different Bible versions, and a few online tools, it seems more than feasible, our pets will be there.
What a wonderful story. I came across this when I was wondering about the soul of my cat Oliver who I recently lost. One google response mentioned that there is an argument for an animal afterlife based on the word Nephesh. So I started researching about this word and in particular how it was used in that argument, and a link in the search results to this story popped up because it included the word. What a blessing it did, and what a nice remembrance to have in my head right before I go to bed. Hank sounded great. I hope Oliver meets him up there.