Today Christians in the Western traditions celebrate Pentecost, when God poured his Spirit on the disciples in Jerusalem, visibly seen as tongues of flame. John the Baptist had prophesied that after him comes someone who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The earliest Christians were all Jewish by faith, covenant, culture, and family. While this Pentecost started a larger understanding of the Spirit of God, I wanted to see what the earliest Christians would have understood from the Old Testament about the Holy Spirit.
By far the most common reference I found to the Spirit of God in the Old Testament involves the spirit wisdom. This reaches as far back as providing Joseph wisdom for providing for Egypt through the long famine (Genesis 41:38). The God's spirit of wisdom and understanding -- at times also a spirit of knowledge -- was referenced for workmanship and craftsmanship, leadership, and justice. God's spirit is referenced for might and protection against enemies in battle. It also leads to righteousness, aids in grace, and guides prayer. The Spirit brings peace and restoration, creation and renewal, and especially renewal of heart and the human spirit. The spirit of God is a spirit of blessing.
The appearance of fire in connection with the spirit at this Pentecost is not entirely new. Some Old Testament passages speak of the Spirit of God in connection with fire. Sometimes the fire is connected with justice or purification, and sometimes with inner light to search the soul (Isaiah 4:4, Proverbs 20:27)
The Spirit of the Lord was said to have spoken through the prophets, and through them brought good news to the poor. This includes the well-known prophecy where the Spirit of the Lord causes one to speak good news to the meek, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and release to the prisoners.
In the prophet Isaiah's description of the Spirit of God, he calls it the spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, of knowledge and fear of the Lord, and that the one with the spirit of the Lord has joy in the presence of the Lord.
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