撒母耳記下4:1-12

 

4:1 掃羅的兒子伊施波設聽見押尼珥死在希伯崙，手就發軟；以色列眾人也都驚惶。
4:2 掃羅的兒子伊施波設有兩個軍長，一名巴拿，一名利甲，是便雅憫支派、比錄人臨門的兒子。比錄也屬便雅憫。
4:3 比錄人早先逃到基他音，在那裡寄居，直到今日。
4:4 掃羅的兒子約拿單有一個兒子名叫米非波設，是瘸腿的。掃羅和約拿單死亡的消息從耶斯列傳到的時候，他才五歲。他乳母抱著他逃跑；因為跑得太急，孩子掉在地上，腿就瘸了。
4:5 一日，比錄人臨門的兩個兒子利甲和巴拿出去，約在午熱的時候到了伊施波設的家；伊施波設正睡午覺。
4:6 他們進了房子，假作要取麥子，就刺透伊施波設的肚腹，逃跑了。
4:7 他們進房子的時候，伊施波設正在臥房裡躺在床上，他們將他殺死，割了他的首級，拿著首級在亞拉巴走了一夜，
4:8 將伊施波設的首級拿到希伯崙見大衛王，說：「王的仇敵掃羅曾尋索王的性命。看哪，這是他兒子伊施波設的首級；耶和華今日為我主我王在掃羅和他後裔的身上報了仇。」
4:9 大衛對比錄人臨門的兒子利甲和他兄弟巴拿說：「我指著救我性命脫離一切苦難、永生的耶和華起誓：
4:10 從前有人報告我說，掃羅死了，他自以為報好消息；我就拿住他，將他殺在洗革拉，這就作了他報消息的賞賜。
4:11 何況惡人將義人殺在他的床上，我豈不向你們討流他血的罪、從世上除滅你們呢？」
4:12 於是大衛吩咐少年人將他們殺了，砍斷他們的手腳，掛在希伯崙的池旁，卻將伊施波設的首級葬在希伯崙押尼珥的墳墓裡。

 

When Ish-Bosheth son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost courage, and all Israel became alarmed. ² Now Saul’s son had two men who were leaders of raiding bands. One was named Baanah and the other Rekab; they were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite from the tribe of Benjamin—Beeroth is considered part of Benjamin, ³ because the people of Beeroth fled to Gittaim and have resided there as foreigners to this day.

⁴ (Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to leave, he fell and became disabled. His name was Mephibosheth.)

⁵ Now Rekab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out for the house of Ish-Bosheth, and they arrived there in the heat of the day while he was taking his noonday rest. ⁶ They went into the inner part of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rekab and his brother Baanah slipped away.

⁷ They had gone into the house while he was lying on the bed in his bedroom. After they stabbed and killed him, they cut off his head. Taking it with them, they traveled all night by way of the Arabah. ⁸ They brought the head of Ish-Bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, your enemy, who tried to kill you. This day the Lord has avenged my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”

⁹ David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, ¹⁰ when someone told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! ¹¹ How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!”

¹² So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.

 

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    「伊施波設」這個名字的意義是「羞愧的男人」，而他本身也是一個羞恥的男子，是因為靠父親的名望成為以色列王。而他的王位是靠押尼珥來支撐的，他聽見押尼珥死在希伯崙，手就發軟，真是沒有擔當！怪不得被自己的下屬，也就是軍長利甲和巴拿二人所殺！

 

    而這兩人比伊施波設更羞恥男人，竟然殺了自己的主子還跑到大衛那裏邀功，真是毫無道義可言！還好大衛也是明理之人，不接受這兩人的作為，在他們臨死之前告訴他們：「我指著救我性命脫離一切苦難、永生的耶和華起誓：從前有人報告我說，掃羅死了，他自以為報好消息；我就拿住他，將他殺在洗革拉，這就作了他報消息的賞賜。何況惡人將義人殺在他的床上，我豈不向你們討流他血的罪、從世上除滅你們呢？」

 

    其實這兩人的行徑也讓一些追求今生有「豐盛生命」，也就是貪愛世界的好處，不肯為主受苦或為主成為貧窮的人的借鏡。我們的主雖然是天上的主，卻捨棄天上的寶座，情願過卑微和貧窮的生活，為要將上帝的福音傳給世上卑微和貧窮的人，情願沒有安居之處！

 

    我們是主的跟隨者，是祂的門徒，豈可貪愛世界的富足呢？使徒約翰說：「不要愛世界和世界上的事。人若愛世界，愛父的心就不在他裡面了。」(約翰一書2:15)

 

    若是我們貪愛世界而背離主，和這兩位軍長的行徑有何不同呢？這也是為什麼我們不可以追求那根本不是神學的「成功神學」之原因！