ספר במדבר

A third alternative interpretation of Moses’ unusual ‎definition of G’d in our verse.‎It is assumed that man’s soul naturally craves to serve its ‎Creator. The only impediments to the soul doing this to its ‎heart’s content are the various cravings of different parts of the ‎body it inhabits. This is difficult to understand seeing that both ‎the body and the soul are G’d’s creatures. Therefore, just as G’d ‎has equipped the soul with a desire to serve its Creator, the body ‎too, even if not as anxious to do so as the soul, has been equipped ‎by its Creator with the means to serve Him, else how could it be ‎held responsible for not doing so? If, for some reason the body ‎has not been equipped with as great an urge to serve its Maker, ‎we have a justified argument against G’d Who, if he had provided ‎the body with a stronger urge to serve Him, we would not go ‎astray from time to time. Seeing that the body’s urge to serve G’d ‎is relatively weak, it is incumbent upon Hashem to forgive ‎our sins.‎The ‎נפש‎, life-force, which desires to serve the Lord is better ‎known as ‎רוח‎, “spirit,” as we know from Samuel II 23,2 ‎רוח ה' דבר ‏בי‎, “the Lord’s spirit speaks through me.” (David speaking) The ‎body, on the other hand, is loosely referred to as ‎בשר‎, “flesh.” ‎When Moses in the verse quoted above, addressed G’d as : ‎א-ל ‏אלוקי הרוחות‎, “G’d, the G’d of the souls,” he adds that G’d should ‎also be the G’d of the body in equal measure, enabling the body to ‎serve Him with the same ardor as that of the soul.‎