Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ian goldsmith <iangoldsmith1969 AT yahoo.co.uk>]

Dear Bill.
Glad to have you back.
An interesting question that doesn't seem as clear cut
as one might immediately expect.
But I believe the second "he" to be God/YHWH.
Verses 4-6 are a dialogue between Abram and God. Verse
4: "and the word of the LORD came to him (Abram)
saying.."
God makes a promise to Abram in v5: "so shall your
seed be." Abram believes this word of the LORD and
trusts in it as reliable. God rewards Abram's faith in
trusting his word and considers/imputes/reckons
Abram's faith to him as righteousness.
This is Generally the accepted opinion.

However it is possible that the second "he" is Abram,
but v7 goes on to say "and he said unto him, I am the
LORD.."

I feel this text runs better to assume that the "he"
who imputes the righteousness is the same "he" who
follows up with "and he said (goes on to say) unto
him, I am the LORD..."

You'll have to make a choice for yourself on this one
as the text isn't concrete.

Hope this helps in some small way.
Warm Regards.
Ian.




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