Fifty-four short devotions based on passages from the Hebrew Bible--written by some of the top biblical language scholars of today. The main point of each meditation in Devotions on the Hebrew Bible comes from a careful reading of the passage in the Hebrew Bible, not from an English translation. The authors use a variety of exegetical approaches in their devotions: grammatical, lexical, rhetorical, sociohistorical, linguistic, etc. Some insights focus on particular words and their role in the passage, while others highlight background studies or provide a theological reading of the passage. Each devotion draws students into translating a short passage and pursuing an understanding of why this or that insight matters for their lives and ministries. Devotions on the Hebrew Bible encourages professors, students, and pastors alike to keep reading and meditating on the Hebrew Scriptures and find new treasures from the biblical text. Celebrated contributors include: Daniel I. Block - Mark J. Boda - Hélène Dallaire - Nancy Erickson - Michael Williams Devotions on the Hebrew Bible contains a devotion on every book in the Old Testament and can be used as a weekly devotional or as a supplemental resource throughout a semester or sequence of courses. Milton Eng (Ph.D., Drew University) teaches courses in World History and Biblical Studies at William Paterson University (Wayne, NJ)  and Pillar College (Newark, NJ). He is also East Coast Project Director for the Institute for the Study of Asian American Christianity (ISAAC), President of the Ethnic Chinese Biblical Colloquium and a board member of the Institute for Biblical Research (IBR). Devotions on the Hebrew Bible 53 Reflections to Inspire and Instruct By Milton Eng, Lee M. Fields ZONDERVAN Copyright © 2015 Milton Eng and Lee M. Fields All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-310-49453-9 CHAPTER 1 A Faith That Grows GENESIS 15:6 MT [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ESV And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6 was an important verse for Paul (Rom 4:3; Gal 3:6) and James (2:23). There are distinctions in the Hebrew text that help us understand their different emphases. The first word in Hebrew is [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ("and he was believing"), not [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ("and he believed"), as the ESV and most English versions read. The verb [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] is an open-ended tense in Hebrew that is not used very often. Typically, in past contexts this tense is used when repetition is involved, like in Genesis 29:2–3. (This observation applies to both weqatal and yiqtol. ) More rarely this tense is used to mark open-endedness, as in Genesis 2:25, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], "they were not ashamed ..." [not [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]!]. The tense is used to provocatively present an open-ended stage for the following story of Genesis 3. (See 1 Sam 1:10 "was crying," 1:12 "while it was happening," and 1:13 "was not being heard" for more examples of the open-ended use of this tense.) The Hebrew verb [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] looks at the process of believing without looking at the beginning or end of the "believing." The tense does not imply that Abram first believed God at this point. Nor does it present Abram's faith as complete at this point. Abram had started to trust Yahweh's promises when he travelled to Canaan in Genesis 12. And the author's choice of this tense at 15:6 forces the reader to think about ongoing implications. In a real sense, Abram's faith was a lifelong "walk." His faith matured and was tested. The most climactic test comes later in Genesis 22 with the command to sacrifice Isaac. James specifically makes the link between Genesis 15 and Genesis 22. James may have been aware of the open-ended nature of [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], and he certainly interpreted Abraham's life accordingly. Paul, on the other hand, linked Abram's faith to the second clause in Genesis 15:6 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] "and he considered it for him righteousness." This crediting is a simple past wayyiqtol, a complete act, including the endpoint. That was Paul's point, and his application of this verse fits the Hebrew, too. There is another ambiguity with the word "him." Did Abram consider God's promise "righteous," or did God consider Abram's faithfulness "righteous"? There is a hint in Hebrew that God responded to Abram's faithfulness by considering it "righteousness." The language choices appear to track Abram as the main participant on stage. There is a little helping word "to him" that weaves through the story. In v. 1 the word of Yahweh comes "to Abram." In both 15:4 and 15:7 when Yahweh speaks to Abram, an extra pronoun is added for Abram, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ("to him"). The author was using Abram as the point of reference. This makes it probable that the phrase "to him" in 15:6 was referring to Abram: "and [the Lord] considered i