Whose Righteousness in Genesis 15.6?

Something to think about.

Genesis 15.6 reads:

And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness. (NRSV)

‏וְהֶאֱמִן בַּיהוָה וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ לּוֹ צְדָקָה (MT)

καὶ ἐπίστευσεν Αβραμ τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην (LXX)

The NRSV reads the subject into the second clause: YHWH does the reckoning of righteousness to Abraham.  The LXX already suggests this interpretation by specifying Abraham as the subject of the first clause and therefore the referent of the αὐτῷ in the 2nd.

But the MT says none of this.  Bertil Albrektson ('A Disputed Sense in a Covenant Context: On The Interpretation of Genesis 15:6', in A.D.H Mayes and R. B. Salters (eds), Covenant as Context: Essays in Honour of E. W. Nicholson (Oxford: OUP. 2003), 1-9) suggests that the natural sense is that Abraham 'trusted YHWH and considered it (i.e. YHWH's promise) reliable.

How does that reading affect our understanding of Paul's use of the quotation at Romans 4.3 and Galatians 3.6?

Comments

[David Funnell]

Hi brother Sean,
Although Chris Tilling says we cannot be sure what Paul had access to, I believe that in fact we can. As you read the entirety of the passage mentioned below, you will find other NT treasures including quotes from the Lord's mother*.
I found your link while doing a different search for Chashav, but it may help in this discussion to look closely at what John Owen wrote on this page
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/owen/just.xi.html - please note that I found a bad link at the explication by Owen of the Hebrew word for imputation - it is a very important corrective to the editor's note (#18) on that passage because the link takes the browser not to the intended quotation of Psalm 106 but to Psalm 6. The verse in Psalm 106:31 brings into play the imputation of righteousness to Pinchas. The fact that the Hebrew is Chashav is key, because of the morphological proximity of the two salvific syllables (in concentric symmetry) with the eight letter Cheth: power of poetry in this recitative Psalm brings out that the LXX has elogisthai, precisely in the sense that Paul elucidated in Christ, our Salvation.
*Psalm 106:10 - especially in light of mention of "visitation" v.4 is clearly the familiar reference of the Magnificat to all Jews!

[Chris Tilling]

Fascinating!

Given that we cannot be sure what the Hebrew was that Paul had access to, I'm guessing it may not mean too much. What a thought-provoking post!