The ancient Hebrews certainly distinguished the principle or ground of life, understanding, and will from ponderable, visible, matter.

The former they considered and called 'spirit', and believed it to be an emission from the Almighty Father of Spirits: the latter they called 'body'; and in this sense they doubtless believed in the existence of incorporeal beings.

But that they had any notion of immaterial beings in the sense of Des Cartes, is contrary to all we know of them, and of every other people in the same degree of cultivation.
Air, fire, light, express the degrees of ascending refinement.

In the infancy of thought the life, soul, mind, are supposed to be air--'anima, animus', that is, [Greek: anemos], spiritus, [Greek: pneuma].

In the childhood, they are fire, 'mens ignea, ignicula', and God himself [Greek: pur noeron, pur aeizoon].