2020年5月29日 星期五

約書亞記8:1-35


8:1 耶和華對約書亞說:「不要懼怕,也不要驚惶。你起來,率領一切兵丁上艾城去,我已經把艾城的王和他的民、他的城,並他的地,都交在你手裡。
8:2
你怎樣待耶利哥和耶利哥的王,也當照樣待艾城和艾城的王。只是城內所奪的財物和牲畜,你們可以取為自己的掠物。你要在城後設下伏兵。」
8:3
於是,約書亞和一切兵丁都起來,要上艾城去。約書亞選了三萬大能的勇士,夜間打發他們前往,
8:4
吩咐他們說:「你們要在城後埋伏,不可離城太遠,都要各自準備。
8:5
我與我所帶領的眾民要向城前往。城裡的人像初次出來攻擊我們的時候,我們就在他們面前逃跑,
8:6
他們必出來追趕我們,直到我們引誘他們離開城;因為他們必說:『這些人像初次在我們面前逃跑。』所以我們要在他們面前逃跑,
8:7
你們就從埋伏的地方起來,奪取那城,因為耶和華你們的上帝必把城交在你們手裡。
8:8
你們奪了城以後,就放火燒城,要照耶和華的話行。這是我吩咐你們的。」
8:9
約書亞打發他們前往,他們就上埋伏的地方去,住在伯特利和艾城的中間,就是在艾城的西邊。這夜約書亞卻在民中住宿。
8:10
約書亞清早起來,點齊百姓,他和以色列的長老在百姓前面上艾城去。
8:11
眾民,就是他所帶領的兵丁,都上去,向前直往,來到城前,在艾城北邊安營。在約書亞和艾城中間有一山谷。
8:12
他挑了約有五千人,使他們埋伏在伯特利和艾城的中間,就是在艾城的西邊,
8:13
於是安置了百姓,就是城北的全軍和城西的伏兵。這夜約書亞進入山谷之中。
8:14
艾城的王看見這景況,就和全城的人,清早急忙起來,按所定的時候,出到亞拉巴前,要與以色列人交戰;王卻不知道在城後有伏兵。
8:15
約書亞和以色列眾人在他們面前裝敗,往那通曠野的路逃跑。
8:16
城內的眾民都被招聚,追趕他們;艾城人追趕的時候,就被引誘離開城。
8:17
艾城和伯特利城沒有一人不出來追趕以色列人的,撇了敞開的城門,去追趕以色列人。
8:18
耶和華吩咐約書亞說:「你向艾城伸出手裡的短槍,因為我要將城交在你手裡。」約書亞就向城伸出手裡的短槍。
8:19
他一伸手,伏兵就從埋伏的地方急忙起來,奪了城,跑進城去,放火焚燒。
8:20
艾城的人回頭一看,不料,城中煙氣沖天,他們就無力向左向右逃跑。那往曠野逃跑的百姓便轉身攻擊追趕他們的人。
8:21
約書亞和以色列眾人見伏兵已經奪了城,城中煙氣飛騰,就轉身回去,擊殺艾城的人。
8:22
伏兵也出城迎擊艾城人,艾城人就困在以色列人中間,前後都是以色列人。於是以色列人擊殺他們,沒有留下一個,也沒有一個逃脫的,
8:23
生擒了艾城的王,將他解到約書亞那裡。
8:24
以色列人在田間和曠野殺盡所追趕一切艾城的居民。艾城人倒在刀下,直到滅盡;以色列眾人就回到艾城,用刀殺了城中的人。
8:25
當日殺斃的人,連男帶女共有一萬二千,就是艾城所有的人。
8:26
約書亞沒有收回手裡所伸出來的短槍,直到把艾城的一切居民盡行殺滅。
8:27
惟獨城中的牲畜和財物,以色列人都取為自己的掠物,是照耶和華所吩咐約書亞的話。
8:28
約書亞將艾城焚燒,使城永為高堆、荒場,直到今日;
8:29
又將艾城王掛在樹上,直到晚上。日落的時候,約書亞吩咐人把屍首從樹上取下來,丟在城門口,在屍首上堆成一大堆石頭,直存到今日。
8:30
那時,約書亞在以巴路山上為耶和華以色列的上帝築一座壇,
8:31
是用沒有動過鐵器的整石頭築的,照著耶和華僕人摩西所吩咐以色列人的話,正如摩西律法書上所寫的。眾人在這壇上給耶和華奉獻燔祭和平安祭。
8:32
約書亞在那裡,當著以色列人面前,將摩西所寫的律法抄寫在石頭上。
8:33
以色列眾人,無論是本地人、是寄居的,和長老、官長,並審判官,都站在約櫃兩旁,在抬耶和華約櫃的祭司利未人面前,一半對著基利心山,一半對著以巴路山,為以色列民祝福,正如耶和華僕人摩西先前所吩咐的。
8:34
隨後,約書亞將律法上祝福、咒詛的話,照著律法書上一切所寫的,都宣讀了一遍。
8:35
摩西所吩咐的一切話,約書亞在以色列全會眾和婦女、孩子,並他們中間寄居的外人面前,沒有一句不宣讀的。

  Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”
So Joshua and the whole army moved out to attack Ai. He chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night with these orders: “Listen carefully. You are to set an ambush behind the city. Don’t go very far from it. All of you be on the alert. I and all those with me will advance on the city, and when the men come out against us, as they did before, we will flee from them. They will pursue us until we have lured them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are running away from us as they did before.’ So when we flee from them, you are to rise up from ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give it into your hand. When you have taken the city, set it on fire. Do what the Lord has commanded. See to it; you have my orders.”
Then Joshua sent them off, and they went to the place of ambush and lay in wait between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai—but Joshua spent that night with the people.
10 Early the next morning Joshua mustered his army, and he and the leaders of Israel marched before them to Ai. 11 The entire force that was with him marched up and approached the city and arrived in front of it. They set up camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the city. 12 Joshua had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13 So the soldiers took up their positions—with the main camp to the north of the city and the ambush to the west of it. That night Joshua went into the valley.
14 When the king of Ai saw this, he and all the men of the city hurried out early in the morning to meet Israel in battle at a certain place overlooking the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush had been set against him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel let themselves be driven back before them, and they fled toward the wilderness. 16 All the men of Ai were called to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were lured away from the city. 17 Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go after Israel. They left the city open and went in pursuit of Israel.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold out toward Ai the javelin that is in your hand, for into your hand I will deliver the city.” So Joshua held out toward the city the javelin that was in his hand. 19 As soon as he did this, the men in the ambush rose quickly from their position and rushed forward. They entered the city and captured it and quickly set it on fire.
20 The men of Ai looked back and saw the smoke of the city rising up into the sky, but they had no chance to escape in any direction; the Israelites who had been fleeing toward the wilderness had turned back against their pursuers. 21 For when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that smoke was going up from it, they turned around and attacked the men of Ai. 22 Those in the ambush also came out of the city against them, so that they were caught in the middle, with Israelites on both sides. Israel cut them down, leaving them neither survivors nor fugitives. 23 But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. 25 Twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed[a] all who lived in Ai. 27 But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.
28 So Joshua burned Ai[b] and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. 29 He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.
30 Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, 31 as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings. 32 There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua wrote on stones a copy of the law of Moses. 33 All the Israelites, with their elders, officials and judges, were standing on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the Lord, facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Both the foreigners living among them and the native-born were there. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had formerly commanded when he gave instructions to bless the people of Israel.
34 Afterward, Joshua read all the words of the law—the blessings and the curses—just as it is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.

**********

    再次與艾城交戰,一方面在上次戰敗有所檢討,另一方面有上帝的同在,所以沒有再吃敗仗,大獲勝利!

    而勝利之後以色列人就聚集向上帝獻祭,約書亞在以巴路山上為耶和華─以色列的上帝築一座壇,正如聖經所說:「是用沒有動過鐵器的整石頭築的,照著耶和華僕人摩西所吩咐以色列人的話,正如摩西律法書上所寫的。眾人在這壇上給耶和華奉獻燔祭和平安祭。約書亞在那裡,當著以色列人面前,將摩西所寫的律法抄寫在石頭上。」

    不僅如此,還做以下的事情:「為以色列民祝福,正如耶和華僕人摩西先前所吩咐的。隨後,約書亞將律法上祝福、咒詛的話,照著律法書上一切所寫的,都宣讀了一遍。摩西所吩咐的一切話,約書亞在以色列全會眾和婦女、孩子,並他們中間寄居的外人面前,沒有一句不宣讀的。」

    可見向會眾宣讀律法書,也就是上帝的話,是十分重要!在今日的教會,更是應該要如此,不是將聖經放在禮拜堂做象徵看中上帝的話用,更是要宣讀讓上帝的話刻在會眾的心版上,然後靠聖靈的引導來實踐,才是有意義的,才是上帝所喜悅的!


沒有留言:

熱門文章

我的網誌清單

  • 章伯斯簡介 - 奧斯瓦德·章伯斯 1874 年出生於蘇格蘭,在倫敦的皇家藝術學院和愛丁堡大學接受教育。在他 22 歲那年,他感到上帝在呼召他成為一位傳道人,雖然他很有文藝天賦。在都倫的一所很小的神學院學習和教書之後,他搬到了一個宣教機構,這個機構的宣教範圍覆蓋英國、美國和日本。1908 年,奧斯瓦德·章伯...
    2 週前
  • 畢德生之作品--吃烤雞也能活出上帝的話 - 畢德生以為靈性是身為基督徒的一種特殊的樣子,而你要想辦法去達到那種樣子。那是菁英主義。很多人因著錯誤的理由受到所謂屬靈的吸引,而另一些人則因而退卻:「我不屬靈,因為我想要去看足球賽或參加派對,我想發展我的工作。」 他最喜歡大德蘭修女的故事。有回她坐在廚房,兩手抓住一隻烤雞,狼...
    9 小時前
  • 基督是先知 - 基督的「先知職分」是祂三重職分之一,與祂的君王和祭司職分相輔相成。基督作為先知,代表著上帝的聲音和啟示,向人類宣告真理,教導人明白上帝的旨意,並且親自成為上帝的話語(道)來到世上。在舊約的背景中,先知是上帝的代言人,宣講上帝的啟示、責備罪惡,並引導百姓回到上帝的道路。基督在新約中以完美的先知職分出現,將上...
    1 週前
  • 耶利米哀歌的字母詩 - 耶利米哀歌總共有五章,第一章有22節,第二章有22節,第三章有66節,第四章有22節,而第五章有22節。其中,第一章到第四章都是字母詩,只有第五章不是。 字母詩是一種希伯來文的體裁,它是按照希伯來文字母的順序來作為每一段落的開頭,又被稱為「離合詩(Acrostic Poems)」。最有名的離合...
    1 週前