THE LORD’S LITERAL PROMISES

This morning I was doing my daily translation work in the Hebrew language in Genesis and ran across something interesting. In Hebrews 6:13 it says "God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself."    In Genesis in several verses Moses used the Hebrew word Sha'vay which is often translated "to swear." But by the full definition the word can be translated: "To promise, to swear, to make a pledge, an oath," or in 22:16 "to swear by Himself." That's what the author in Hebrews says. He obviously translated the Genesis passages and got the grammar "right on."    In the Grammar, the word Sha'vay is always used in the Niphal form which is a reflexive. "To do something himself." Or "by himself."    This word in the OT would be the NT word "to promise." In Gen. 24:7 it says: "The God of heaven, who took me [Abraham] from my father's house and from the land of my birth, and who spoke to me, and who SWORE [PROMISED Himself] to me, saying 'To your seed I will give this land ...'"    To Isaac: "I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I SWORE [Myself PROMISED] to your father Abraham ..." (26:3).    Joseph to his brothers: "God will bring you up from this land to the land which He PROMISED [He Himself PROMISED, SWORE] on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob ..." (50:24).    The writer of Hebrews also knew Exod. 32:13. Look at that verse. "You (God) DID SWEAR [Yourself PROMISED] ... 'I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it [the land] forever.'"    How can the amillennialists squirm around these verses that are so literal? They try to say that God is finished with the Jews, and, they minimize the land promise God made to the Jewish people. Mercy!    May God bless these great verses of Scripture.    --Dr. Mal Couch