Does Rachel’s death, mentioned in Genesis 35:18, prove that our soul goes to Heaven when we die?
Let’s take a look at the Bible text in question:
“And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin.” Genesis 35:18
The word for “soul” in Hebrew is nephesh and means “life.” Therefore, what departed from Rachel as she died was her life. Nephesh can also mean breath, so it is clear that the breath of life left Rachel, and she died. Her living status ceased at that moment she breathed her last breath. Her life departed from her.
Many will try to say that her “spirit soul” returned to God as some kind of a spiritual ghost, but that cannot be supported from Scripture. The same word, nephesh, is used in Genesis 2:7 (KJV) to describe Adam receiving the “breath of life” in his nostrils and becoming a “living soul.”
The way we enter this world is the same way we exit—the breath of life is given us to be alive, and when the breath of life is taken, we die. This can be confirmed in Ecclesiastes 12:7, Genesis 3:19, and Ezekiel 18:4.