For the discussion of the natural law v the moral law – which I view as the difference between the animal soul and the human soul, I’d like to offer this research into the language of the Bible:
SOUL ANATOMY
According to Jewish tradition the human soul has three parts -- nefesh, ruach, and neshama. Each of these spiritual aspects has a physical counterpart in the human body whose assigned function is to serve as the antenna that is perfectly attuned to receiving and translating spiritual signals into the language of physicality...
The Gaon explains that the neshama is above man's level. The nefesh, which is akin to the life force in animals, is beneath man. And the ruach perfectly represents man's essential spiritual level.
So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. - Genesis 1:27
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] [nephesh] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so - Genesis 1:30
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath [n@shamah] of life; and man became a living [nephesh] soul.
All in whose nostrils [was] the breath [neshamah] of life, of all that [was] in the dry [land], - Genesis 7:22
Nachmanides, focused on a superfluous prefix, lamed, meaning "to", in Genesis 2:7: "...and breathed into his nostrils the neshama of life and the Adam became to a living soul." The "to" Nahmanides said comes to show a change in character and "it may be that the verse is saying that it [Adam] was a completely living being and [by the neshama] it was changed into another man." Another man! According to Nahmanides, the leading kabbalist commentary on the Torah, there was a man before the creation of the neshama but that hominid man was not quite human.
Onkelos summarizes it all, 400 years before the Talmud and 1,000 years before Nachmanides. The phrase nefesh chayah, a living soul, appears three times in this portion of the Torah: for aquatic animals (Gen. 1:20), for land animals (Gen. 1:24) and for humans as "to a living soul" (Gen. 2:7). In the first two instances Onkelos translates the term literally, a living soul. But for humans, because of the "to", Onkelos translates the term as "and the Adam became a speaking spirit."
The ability for spiritual communication is what makes humans different from all other animals. Not our strength, not our smarts. But our spirituality. Speech in humans is the manifest link between the physical and spiritual aspects of our existence. The neshama provides that link and urges us to feel the transcendental unity pervading all existence that is spoken of in the Shema: "Hear Israel, the Eternal our God , the Eternal is One." A transcendent unity is the mark of the Eternal. Hominids with human bodies co-existed with, and pre-dated, Adam. Ancient commentators were aware of this reality. Their discovery as fossils poses no wonder to Torah. The biblical definition of a human is an animal -- a hominid - - into which a created neshama was implanted.
Although the neshama leaves no fossil remains to prove its arrival on the stage of humanity, the effect of its creation is written loud and clear in the finds of archaeology. Writing and commerce and the appearance of large cities all date to 5000 to 6000 years ago, the time of Adam. Writing was invented to satisfy the record-keeping needs of commerce and commerce was invented to satisfy the material needs of large cities. The question remains, why did large cities emerge at this time? I propose that the spirituality of humans granted by the neshama and their desire to communicate that spirituality to others was the driving force that changed civilization from clusters of clan-sized villages to the cities of Uruk and Ur in Mesopotamia.
Hugs!
The conclusions drawn from our Jewish brothers and sisters does not include the rich treasures of the New Testament. My view of origins, while being close in many ways, looks to the Word, Jesus Christ, and thus sees an exhaustive and clear solution.
The above link is a collection of all Freeper views, so any Lurkers who haven't done so and would like to enter their view for the archives, please do post to that thread. Thanks!