18:1 過了許久，到第三年，耶和華的話臨到以利亞說：「你去，使亞哈得見你；我要降雨在地上。」
18:2 以利亞就去，要使亞哈得見他。那時，撒馬利亞有大饑荒；
18:3 亞哈將他的家宰俄巴底召了來。（俄巴底甚是敬畏耶和華，
18:4 耶洗別殺耶和華眾先知的時候，俄巴底將一百個先知藏了，每五十人藏在一個洞裡，拿餅和水供養他們。）
18:5 亞哈對俄巴底說：「我們走遍這地，到一切水泉旁和一切溪邊，或者找得著青草，可以救活騾馬，免得絕了牲畜。」
18:6 於是二人分地遊行，亞哈獨走一路，俄巴底獨走一路。
18:7 俄巴底在路上恰與以利亞相遇，俄巴底認出他來，就俯伏在地，說：「你是我主以利亞不是？」
18:8 回答說：「是。你去告訴你主人說，以利亞在這裡。」
18:9 俄巴底說：「僕人有甚麼罪，你竟要將我交在亞哈手裡，使他殺我呢？
18:10 我指著永生耶和華─你的上帝起誓，無論哪一邦哪一國，我主都打發人去找你。若說你沒有在那裡，就必使那邦那國的人起誓說，實在是找不著你。
18:11 現在你說，要去告訴你主人說，以利亞在這裡；
18:12 恐怕我一離開你，耶和華的靈就提你到我所不知道的地方去。這樣，我去告訴亞哈，他若找不著你，就必殺我；僕人卻是自幼敬畏耶和華的。
18:13 耶洗別殺耶和華眾先知的時候，我將耶和華的一百個先知藏了，每五十人藏在一個洞裡，拿餅和水供養他們，豈沒有人將這事告訴我主嗎？
18:14 現在你說，要去告訴你主人說，以利亞在這裡，他必殺我。」
18:15 以利亞說：「我指著所事奉永生的萬軍之耶和華起誓，我今日必使亞哈得見我。」
18:16 於是俄巴底去迎著亞哈，告訴他；亞哈就去迎著以利亞。
18:17 亞哈見了以利亞，便說：「使以色列遭災的就是你嗎？」
18:18 以利亞說：「使以色列遭災的不是我，乃是你和你父家；因為你們離棄耶和華的誡命，去隨從巴力。
18:19 現在你當差遣人，招聚以色列眾人和事奉巴力的那四百五十個先知，並耶洗別所供養事奉亞舍拉的那四百個先知，使他們都上迦密山去見我。」
18:20 亞哈就差遣人招聚以色列眾人和先知都上迦密山。
18:21 以利亞前來對眾民說：「你們心持兩意要到幾時呢？若耶和華是上帝，就當順從耶和華；若巴力是上帝，就當順從巴力。」眾民一言不答。
18:22 以利亞對眾民說：「作耶和華先知的只剩下我一個人；巴力的先知卻有四百五十個人。
18:23 當給我們兩隻牛犢，巴力的先知可以挑選一隻，切成塊子，放在柴上，不要點火；我也預備一隻牛犢放在柴上，也不點火。
18:24 你們求告你們神的名，我也求告耶和華的名。那降火顯應的上帝，就是上帝。」眾民回答說：「這話甚好。」
18:25 以利亞對巴力的先知說：「你們既是人多，當先挑選一隻牛犢，預備好了，就求告你們神的名，卻不要點火。」
18:26 他們將所得的牛犢預備好了，從早晨到午間，求告巴力的名說：「巴力啊，求你應允我們！」卻沒有聲音，沒有應允的。他們在所築的壇四圍踊跳。
18:27 到了正午，以利亞嬉笑他們，說：「大聲求告吧！因為他是神，他或默想，或走到一邊，或行路，或睡覺，你們當叫醒他。」
18:28 他們大聲求告，按著他們的規矩，用刀槍自割、自刺，直到身體流血。
18:29 從午後直到獻晚祭的時候，他們狂呼亂叫，卻沒有聲音，沒有應允的，也沒有理會的。
18:30 以利亞對眾民說：「你們到我這裡來。」眾民就到他那裡。他便重修已經毀壞耶和華的壇。
18:31 以利亞照雅各子孫支派的數目，取了十二塊石頭（耶和華的話曾臨到雅各說：「你的名要叫以色列」），
18:32 用這些石頭為耶和華的名築一座壇，在壇的四圍挖溝，可容穀種二細亞，
18:33 又在壇上擺好了柴，把牛犢切成塊子放在柴上，對眾人說：「你們用四個桶盛滿水，倒在燔祭和柴上」；
18:34 又說：「倒第二次。」他們就倒第二次；又說：「倒第三次。」他們就倒第三次。
18:35 水流在壇的四圍，溝裡也滿了水。
18:36 到了獻晚祭的時候，先知以利亞近前來，說：「亞伯拉罕、以撒、以色列的上帝，耶和華啊，求你今日使人知道你是以色列的上帝，也知道我是你的僕人，又是奉你的命行這一切事。
18:37 耶和華啊，求你應允我，應允我！使這民知道你─耶和華是上帝，又知道是你叫這民的心回轉。」
18:38 於是，耶和華降下火來，燒盡燔祭、木柴、石頭、塵土，又燒乾溝裡的水。
18:39 眾民看見了，就俯伏在地，說：「耶和華是上帝！耶和華是上帝！」
18:40 以利亞對他們說：「拿住巴力的先知，不容一人逃脫！」眾人就拿住他們。以利亞帶他們到基順河邊，在那裡殺了他們。
18:41 以利亞對亞哈說：「你現在可以上去吃喝，因為有多雨的響聲了。」
18:42 亞哈就上去吃喝。以利亞上了迦密山頂，屈身在地，將臉伏在兩膝之中；
18:43 對僕人說：「你上去，向海觀看。」僕人就上去觀看，說：「沒有甚麼。」他說：「你再去觀看。」如此七次。
18:44 第七次僕人說：「我看見有一小片雲從海裡上來，不過如人手那樣大。」以利亞說：「你上去告訴亞哈，當套車下去，免得被雨阻擋。」
18:45 霎時間，天因風雲黑暗，降下大雨。亞哈就坐車往耶斯列去了。
18:46 耶和華的靈（原文是手）降在以利亞身上，他就束上腰，奔在亞哈前頭，直到耶斯列的城門。
After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.” 2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.
Now the famine was severe in Samaria, 3 and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. 4 While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) 5 Ahab had said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.” 6 So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.
7 As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?”
8 “Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’”
9 “What have I done wrong,” asked Obadiah, “that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10 As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11 But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ 12 I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. 13 Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. 14 And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!”
15 Elijah said, “As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.”
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”
18 “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing.
22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”
Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”
25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it.
Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.
27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs[a] of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”
34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
40 Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.
41 And Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” 42 So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees.
43 “Go and look toward the sea,” he told his servant. And he went up and looked.
“There is nothing there,” he said.
Seven times Elijah said, “Go back.”
44 The seventh time the servant reported, “A cloud as small as a man’s hand is rising from the sea.”
So Elijah said, “Go and tell Ahab, ‘Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.’”
45 Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain started falling and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. 46 The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.
********
在亞哈王和他的父親以及王后耶洗別的惡行之下，耶和華的的信仰在以色列受到極大的迫害。因為先知被殺的殺、逃的逃、躲的躲，幾乎全沒有作用！然而上帝並沒有放棄以色列的百姓，仍然有敬畏上帝的人，正如俄巴底甚是敬畏耶和華，耶洗別殺耶和華眾先知的時候，俄巴底將一百個先知藏了，每五十人藏在一個洞裡，拿餅和水供養他們。
然而人的供養有限，上帝的作為無限，在這樣的惡劣環境中，上帝親自用先知以利亞，來代替這些被環境和政治所迫害而無法站起來的「先知」，就是連俄巴底也是充滿懼怕的人！也因為這樣，讓我們看見上帝的作為勝過人的作為！
而以利亞在這樣的惡劣環境中靠主堅強，向亞哈王和其背後的偶像勢力挑戰，藉由在迦密山上的獻祭彰顯耶和華是上帝，巴力和亞舍拉是無用的偶像！他重修已經毀壞耶和華的壇，呼召百姓：「你們心持兩意要到幾時呢？若耶和華是上帝，就當順從耶和華；若巴力是上帝，就當順從巴力。」「作耶和華先知的只剩下我一個人；巴力的先知卻有四百五十個人。當給我們兩隻牛犢，巴力的先知可以挑選一隻，切成塊子，放在柴上，不要點火；我也預備一隻牛犢放在柴上，也不點火。你們求告你們神的名，我也求告耶和華的名。那降火顯應的上帝，就是上帝。」
以利亞的作為也是提醒今日台灣的基督徒，我們不是躲在禮拜堂「自我享受」，而是要勇敢走出去，向我們的鄉親宣告：「唯有靠著耶穌基督，我們才可以和上帝建立關係，享受永生的福樂，才有真正的平安！不是靠自己的努力行善或宗教修行，這些都是讓我們與平安越離越遠！」
我們要勇敢和一切反對上帝的勢力爭戰，就要勇敢的宣告：「信耶穌，不怕！」
保羅勉力信徒說：「因為我們雖然在血氣中行事，卻不憑著血氣爭戰。我們爭戰的兵器本不是屬血氣的，乃是在上帝面前有能力，可以攻破堅固的營壘，將各樣的計謀，各樣攔阻人認識上帝的那些自高之事，一概攻破了，又將人所有的心意奪回，使他都順服基督。」(哥林多後書10:3-5)
沒有留言:
張貼留言