Objection 81: The Bible describes the death of Rachel by saying that “her soul was departing” her body (Gen. 35:18) showing that she had an immortal soul. (See also 1 Kings 17:21-22)
This is a mere translation problem. The King James Bible is gives a confusing translation for this text, reading:
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.
Whereas the New International Version reads:
“As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.”
The New Living Translation reads:
Rachel was about to die, but with her last breath she named the baby Ben-oni (which means “son of my sorrow”). The baby’s father, however, called him Benjamin (which means “son of my right hand”).
Now it it true that the underlying Hebrew reads “nap̄·šāh” (herself, her soul) and “bə·ṣêṯ” (went out, went forth, was departing, had gone, was gone, came out, etc.), but it is obvious that the author of Genesis, Moses, is writing euphemistically. We often do the same thing: “he passed away,” “he passed,” “the departed,” the “dearly departed,” (Do we mean that someone departed on a trip or vacation?), he “crossed over,” he “expired” (like a carton of milk?), he is “at rest,” (go wake him up), he was “called home” (after he departed?).
Everyone in our English-speaking American culture understands that all of these expressions are euphemisms for “he died.” We do not like to use the harsher phrase “he died,” especially around the loved ones of the “dearly departed,” so we use euphemisms (from the Greek eúphēmos, meaning “sounding good”). We use a softer term that “sounds good” or sounds better and less harsh, like “let go” or “laid off” instead of “fired.”
Moses, is doing the same thing in telling the story of the death of his beloved ancestor, Rachel, who was Israel’s favorite and the mother of the tribes of Benjamin and Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh).
But the thing with euphemisms is that they often are not trans-cultural or trans-linguistic, so it is usually better to eliminate them in translation and use the more precise word (even if it is harsher), such as the NIV and the NLT have done above. What Moses is telling us is that Rachel was dying, and with her last breath she named her son Ben-Oni (“son of my sorrow”).
We have much the same translation issue in 1 Kings 17:21-22. The King James reads:
And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
But the NIV reads:
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!” The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived.
Which is an excellent translation, because the Hebrew word translated “soul” here is nephesh (ne·p̄eš), which is very often translated “life.” It is also occasionally translated “breath,” so The Message also gives a good translation:
Three times he stretched himself out full-length on the boy, praying with all his might, “God, my God, put breath back into this boy’s body!” God listened to Elijah’s prayer and put breath back into his body—he was alive!