CREATIVE HEBREW STUDY

 

Chaplain Stephen Huebscher has written a book on Hebrew Verb Form Semantics in Zechariah which will be published by Brill this fall. The book is titled Prose and Poetry through Time.

“This is the first major study of the Biblical Hebrew verbal system of a prophetic book. It is also the first book-length study in over 60 years to focus on how genre affects the Hebrew verbal system,” according to the publisher.

When asked why he chose this topic, Stephen replied, “I like to get to the bottom of anything I study so I don’t get surprised later on by having made a wrong turn.” Chaplains are encouraged to produce scholarly works, but studies like this need to be done on their own time. “That’s a challenge,” says Huebscher, “working on evenings, weekends, and taking vacation time.” He estimates that about seven years have gone into the research.

This book will be useful to those in ministry because it deals with the significance and meaning of every verb in Zechariah. “Also, if someone wanted to learn about the grammatical and linguistic categories like tense, aspect, and mood and modality, or whether discourse analysis affects the meaning of Biblical Hebrew verbs, this would be a good place to learn,” writes Stephen.

His own profit from the study has given him personal experience in verifying the history, text, and meaning of the Bible. He says, “that gives me confidence in dealing with apologetic issues with Sailors and Marines and Coast Guardsmen.”

I am personally thankful for the service to God and country performed by chaplains like Stephen Huebscher.