וַיֹּאמֶר֩ אֵלִיָּ֨הוּ הַתִּשְׁבִּ֜י מִתֹּשָׁבֵ֣י גִלְעָד֮ אֶל־אַחְאָב֒ חַי־יְהוָ֞ה אֱלֹהֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָמַ֣דְתִּי לְפָנָ֔יו אִם־יִהְיֶ֛ה הַשָּׁנִ֥ים הָאֵ֖לֶּה טַ֣ל וּמָטָ֑ר כִּ֖י אִם־לְפִ֥י דְבָרִֽי׃ (ס)
And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said unto Ahab: ‘As the LORD, the God of Israel, liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.’
Akeidat Yitzchak
The author concludes that nefesh, soul at birth—though superior as a life motivating force to all other living creatures, just as the human body is superior to all other living creatures—is something quite primitive. Through the life experience it develops into the kind of force that matures. "Free will" is part of the force that helps this "life force" mature and become the kind of disembodied spirit that survives the flesh at the time the body dies. "Nefesh-Ruach-Neshamah” are the way stations in the progress of this "life motivating force" of man towards the formation of the disembodied immortal personality. "Ruach hakodesh,” holy spirit, is not yet the level at which "nevu-ah," prophetic insights can be achieved. That stage is reached only by the "neshamah" stage in a person's development. If actual nevua-ah is denied such people, it is only because their contemporaries do not deserve to be the beneficiaries of such prophetic insights (Sukkah 21).