1 Kings 17:21 mentions the widow’s son’s soul. Did it leave his body at death?
Let’s look at the text in question:
“And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back to him.’” 1 Kings 17:21
The word used for “soul” in this Scripture is the Hebrew word nephesh. This word occurs more than 700 times in the Old Testament and has been translated as “soul” in many places in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, such as this verse (emphasis added throughout):
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
It is also translated as “creature” in this verse:
“And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:21 (KJV)
The correct translation of the word nephesh in reference to 1 Kings 17:21 is and should be “life,” as it is in these verses:
“But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” Genesis 9:4 (KJV)
“And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.” Exodus 4:19
“And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.” Joshua 2:14 (KJV)
This word is also used to show the absence or opposite of life—which is death:
“Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:28 (KJV)
Of all the various renderings, the translation “life” would probably be the most suitable in 1 Kings 17:21. The translation “soul” is misleading and conveys to many the idea of an immortal entity capable of a conscious existence while separate from the body. This idea is not resident in the word nephesh. In all of the more than 700 occurrences of the word, never once is such an idea attached to it, or even implied. Not once is a nephesh called “immortal.”
To translate nephesh as “life” is in harmony with what the translators of our Bible have done in 119 other instances. Genesis 35 gives us a clearer understanding of what 1 Kings 17:21 is actually saying:
“And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.” Genesis 35:18–19 (KJV)
With this information, and the reality that the soul is not immortal and that the opposite of life is death, we may understand what Elijah meant when he said, “Let this child’s soul come back to him.” Many of the literal translations have properly penned this Scripture.
“Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, ‘Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!’” 1 Kings 17:21 (NIV)
“Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return to him.’” 1 Kings 17:21 (NASB1995)
“Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times. He cried out to the Lord and said, ‘My Lord God, please let this boy’s life return to him!’” 1 Kings 17:21 (HCSB)
To ask for the life or soul to come back to this boy, is to ask that the breath or spirit from God reunite with the boy’s physical body. The spirit of God + the physical body = soul/life/nephesh. This reuniting is what the Bible calls a resurrection from death—death being the cessation of the soul/life due to the separation of the spirit of God from the physical body. So there is no conflict with this verse and the Bible’s teaching on the subject of death and resurrection.