18:18 他們就說:「來吧!我們可以設計謀害耶利米;因為我們有祭司講律法,智慧人設謀略,先知說預言,都不能斷絕。來吧!我們可以用舌頭擊打他,不要理會他的一切話。」
18:19 耶和華啊,求你理會我,且聽那些與我爭競之人的話。
18:20 豈可以惡報善呢?他們竟挖坑要害我的性命!求你記念我怎樣站在你面前為他們代求,要使你的忿怒向他們轉消。
18:21 故此,願你將他們的兒女交與饑荒和刀劍;願他們的妻無子,且作寡婦;又願他們的男人被死亡所滅,他們的少年人在陣上被刀擊殺。
18:22 你使敵軍忽然臨到他們的時候,願人聽見哀聲從他們的屋內發出;因他們挖坑要捉拿我,暗設網羅要絆我的腳。
18:23 耶和華啊,他們要殺我的那一切計謀,你都知道。不要赦免他們的罪孽,也不要從你面前塗抹他們的罪惡,要叫他們在你面前跌倒;願你發怒的時候罰辦他們。
NThen they said, “Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, for the
law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word
from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay
attention to any of his words.”
Hear me, O Lord,
and listen to the voice of my adversaries.
Should good be repaid with evil?
Yet they have dug a pit for my life.
Remember how I stood before you
to speak good for them,
to turn away your wrath from them.
Therefore deliver up their children to famine;
give them over to the power of the sword;
let their wives become childless and
widowed.
May their men meet death by pestilence,
their youths be struck down by the sword in
battle.
May
a cry be heard from their houses,
when you bring the plunderer suddenly upon
them!
For they have dug a pit to take me
and laid snares for my feet.
Yet
you, O Lord, know
all their plotting to kill me.
Forgive not their iniquity,
nor blot out their sin from your sight.
Let them be overthrown before you;
deal with them in the time of your anger.
************
由這一段耶利米要求的報應可以看出耶利米真的是氣到極點。我們是不需要過度指責先知沒有愛心,有時候我們很生氣時也會一樣的失去理性,況且遇到恩將仇報的事情,任誰都會憤怒不已的。
由先知耶利米的反應,也可以感受到許多牧者在事奉中遇到的衝突,使他們的心靈同樣受到極大的傷害,以至於不願意再繼續牧會,寧可放棄在他們身上的呼召!這對教會和牧者本身是鐸模大的損失啊!
懇求上帝醫治他的僕人們,也讓這些傷兵在受傷之後,得著上帝的醫治,可以繼續回到牧會的工場,使上帝的子民不至於斷糧!就像今日到台中某教會時,讓我感覺到教會設立了60年,應該是年輕的,但是卻感受到那教會是多麼衰老的感覺,之所以如此,就是沒有牧者在他們中間!求主保守,讓我能在他們中間,將上帝的活水泉帶給他們!