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| why is the Hebrew word believed in Gen 15:6 a hiphil? |
Sir,
why is the Hebrew word believed in Gen 15:6 a hiphil?
==========
No
idea at all. I'm hardly proficient in biblical Hebrew. I use language tools to
aid me. I will just stick to the translation by competent linguists, logicians,
and god-fearing men.
Genesis 15 KJT
4
¶And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be
thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine
heir.
5
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the
stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed
be.
6
¶And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Verses
4-5 are a two-verse paragraph.
Verse
6 is a one-verse paragraph.
The
LORD made a momentous promise to Abraham, "he that shall come forth out of
thine own bowels shall be thine heir... So shall thy seed be." Out of this SEED (singular - referring to
Christ), all nations shall be blessed, and Abraham's spiritual descendants shall
be as numerous as the stars in space.
Galatians
3:16 KJT — "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith
not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is
Christ."
Abraham
believed in the Promised Seed. His faith was counted to him for righteousness -
THAT IS, the LORD blessed Abraham's act of believing to experience the
blessedness of his righteous standing before the LORD. This is a practical/experiential justification.
Romans
4
1
¶What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh,
hath found? [i.e. what was Abraham's experience?]
2 For
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before
God. [i.e works of ceremonial laws]
3
For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him
for righteousness. [i.e. faith in Christ
versus the observation of ceremonial laws in experiential
justification.]
Apostle
Paul demonstrated that Abraham experienced the blessedness of his justified
state through faith in Jesus Christ and NOT through the observation of some
ceremonial laws, as the perverse Judaizers insisted.
Too
many - both Calvinists, Arminians, and
Calvinians - mindlessly read verse 6 as the time when the righteousness of Christ was
accounted to Abraham for his justification because he believed.
They
see v6 as the specific time Abraham was justified by the LORD, and He justified
Abraham because Abraham believed in the promised Seed.
This
stupid (lacking common sense) idea NECESSARILY IMPLIES that before Gen 15:6,
Abraham was still an unjustified man before God. An unjustified man is still a
man in his native state, under condemnation and death.
Justification
by Christ's righteousness is the justification of life, Romans 5:18.
What do
you read and see in Gen 12-14 - was kind of man was Abraham?
The
LORD had freely justified Abram when he was still in the Ur of the Chaldeans.
That's why he could obey the Lord when he was called to leave his homeland,
etc.
Genesis
12:1 KJT — Now the LORD HAD said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew
thee.
Note the word "HAD."
An unjustified Abram, still in his native state of sin and condemnation, can possibly obey the LORD's call to leave the Ur of the Chaldeans. Abram was already freely justified by the LORD before he was called to leave his homeland.
I
hope this helps.
