創世記8:1-14

8:1 上帝記念挪亞和挪亞方舟裡的一切走獸牲畜。上帝叫風吹地，水勢漸落。
8:2 淵源和天上的窗戶都閉塞了，天上的大雨也止住了。
8:3 水從地上漸退。過了一百五十天，水就漸消。
8:4 七月十七日，方舟停在亞拉臘山上。
8:5 水又漸消，到十月初一日，山頂都現出來了。
8:6 過了四十天，挪亞開了方舟的窗戶，
8:7 放出一隻烏鴉去；那烏鴉飛來飛去，直到地上的水都乾了。
8:8 他又放出一隻鴿子去，要看看水從地上退了沒有。
8:9 但遍地上都是水，鴿子找不著落腳之地，就回到方舟挪亞那裡，挪亞伸手把鴿子接進方舟來。
8:10 他又等了七天，再把鴿子從方舟放出去。
8:11 到了晚上，鴿子回到他那裡，嘴裡叼著一個新擰下來的橄欖葉子，挪亞就知道地上的水退了。
8:12 他又等了七天，放出鴿子去，鴿子就不再回來了。
8:13 到挪亞六百零一歲，正月初一日，地上的水都乾了。挪亞撤去方舟的蓋觀看，便見地面上乾了。
8:14 到了二月二十七日，地就都乾了。

But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. ² Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. ³ The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, ⁴ and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵ The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

⁶ After forty days Noah opened a window he had made in the ark ⁷ and sent out a raven, and it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up from the earth. ⁸ Then he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded from the surface of the ground. ⁹ But the dove could find nowhere to perch because there was water over all the surface of the earth; so it returned to Noah in the ark. He reached out his hand and took the dove and brought it back to himself in the ark. ¹⁰ He waited seven more days and again sent out the dove from the ark. ¹¹ When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth. ¹² He waited seven more days and sent the dove out again, but this time it did not return to him.
¹³ By the first day of the first month of Noah’s six hundred and first year, the water had dried up from the earth. Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. ¹⁴ By the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth was completely dry.

**************

    「鴿子回到他那裡，嘴裡叼著一個新擰下來的橄欖葉子」，這樣的畫面對我們來說是時分熟悉的，因為有許多的賀年遍或卡片，常常會畫一隻鴿子嘴巴叼著一根橄欖葉，尤其是白鴿咬著綠葉，特別有美感。

    然而為何有許多的圖案會如此表現呢？因為這是要向世人宣告一個新天地的開始，因為洪水已退了，過去的一切已經不存在了，要迎接一個新的開始！而這樣的一個新天地的開始，是建立在「上帝記念挪亞和挪亞方舟裡的一切走獸牲畜」的基礎上，表示上帝是多麼的眷顧這些餘種。

    同樣，今日上帝保護守基督徒如同餘種，也要將新天新地的盼望放在這一群人的心中。這群人必定看見「鴿子回到他那裡，嘴裡叼著一個新擰下來的橄欖葉子」，因為上帝透過聖經將自己的心意顯明出來了！

箴言22:22-23

22:22 貧窮人，你不可因他貧窮就搶奪他的物，也不可在城門口欺壓困苦人；
22:23 因耶和華必為他辨屈；搶奪他的，耶和華必奪取那人的命。

²² Do not exploit the poor because they are poor
    and do not crush the needy in court,
²³ for the Lord will take up their case
    and will exact life for life.

***********

    「公平」也可以稱為「正義」，這和「公義」有些不同，但是許多人都誤用了。「公義」是指上帝的義，「公平」或「正義」是指人得他自己應該得的，不可以去搶奪或偷竊別人的，也因為如此要有「公平」或「正義」，才有真正的「和平」或「平安」！

    就如這裡所說的，「貧窮人，你不可因他貧窮就搶奪他的物，也不可在城門口欺壓困苦人」。的確，有許多人是靠著搶奪別人的來獲利，表面上好像是沒有問題，其實背後是有問題的。就如，用超低的工資請人來做事，或是用超長的工時來要求員工，這些都有違反「公平」或「正義」，是一種剝削，是一種奴役別人的情形，這也是一種搶奪窮人。

    然而，上帝是公義的上帝，當然祂也是看重「公平」或「正義」，祂必伸冤，甚至用激烈的手段，正如經文對人的警告：「因耶和華必為他辨屈；搶奪他的，耶和華必奪取那人的命。」

    求主保守，能夠免除剝削不公平的事，使每個人都能安居樂業，享受美物，存感謝的心歸榮耀給上帝！

創世記7:6-24

7:6 當洪水氾濫在地上的時候，挪亞整六百歲。
7:7 挪亞就同他的妻和兒子兒婦都進入方舟，躲避洪水。
7:8 潔淨的畜類和不潔淨的畜類，飛鳥並地上一切的昆蟲，
7:9 都是一對一對地，有公有母，到挪亞那裡進入方舟，正如上帝所吩咐挪亞的。
7:10 過了那七天，洪水氾濫在地上。
7:11 當挪亞六百歲，二月十七日那一天，大淵的泉源都裂開了，天上的窗戶也敞開了，
7:12 四十晝夜降大雨在地上。
7:13 正當那日，挪亞和他三個兒子閃、含、雅弗，並挪亞的妻子和三個兒婦，都進入方舟。
7:14 他們和百獸，各從其類，一切牲畜，各從其類，爬在地上的昆蟲，各從其類，一切禽鳥，各從其類，都進入方舟。
7:15 凡有血肉、有氣息的活物，都一對一對地到挪亞那裡，進入方舟。
7:16 凡有血肉進入方舟的，都是有公有母，正如上帝所吩咐挪亞的。耶和華就把他關在方舟裡頭。
7:17 洪水氾濫在地上四十天，水往上長，把方舟從地上漂起。
7:18 水勢浩大，在地上大大地往上長，方舟在水面上漂來漂去。
7:19 水勢在地上極其浩大，天下的高山都淹沒了。
7:20 水勢比山高過十五肘，山嶺都淹沒了。
7:21 凡在地上有血肉的動物，就是飛鳥、牲畜、走獸，和爬在地上的昆蟲，以及所有的人，都死了。
7:22 凡在旱地上、鼻孔有氣息的生靈都死了。
7:23 凡地上各類的活物，連人帶牲畜、昆蟲，以及空中的飛鳥，都從地上除滅了，只留下挪亞和那些與他同在方舟裡的。
7:24 水勢浩大，在地上共一百五十天。

⁶ Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. ⁷ And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. ⁸ Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, ⁹ male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. ¹⁰ And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. ¹² And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
¹³ On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. ¹⁴ They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. ¹⁵ Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. ¹⁶ The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.
¹⁷ For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. ¹⁸ The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. ¹⁹ They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. ²⁰ The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind. ²² Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. ²³ Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
²⁴ The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.

***********

    洪水對陸地的生物是具有毀滅性，由其是動物類，正如經文所說：「凡在地上有血肉的動物，就是飛鳥、牲畜、走獸，和爬在地上的昆蟲，以及所有的人，都死了。凡在旱地上、鼻孔有氣息的生靈都死了。凡地上各類的活物，連人帶牲畜、昆蟲，以及空中的飛鳥，都從地上除滅了！」

    這讓我們看見上帝的決心，但是在這毀滅之行動，上帝仍有拯救，正如經文所說：「只留下挪亞和那些與他同在方舟裡的」！這些能夠存留是來自上帝的意志，不是這群動物願不願意！然而挪亞翰祂的家人的得救，也是因為他們用自由意志來選擇順服上帝的引導。也因此，自由意志不是用來拒絕上帝！

    人真正的自由就是不要讓自己落入滅亡，當然就是要來跟隨聖靈的引導而得上帝得拯救。雖然有人強調，自由意志可以選擇不順服，但是那是不可能的事情！因為，自由意志是要人得拯救，不是要人滅亡！

創世記7章

            創世記7:1-5   ,

            創世記7:6-24  ,

創世記7:1-5

7:1 耶和華對挪亞說：「你和你的全家都要進入方舟；因為在這世代中，我見你在我面前是義人。
7:2 凡潔淨的畜類，你要帶七公七母；不潔淨的畜類，你要帶一公一母；
7:3 空中的飛鳥也要帶七公七母，可以留種，活在全地上；
7:4 因為再過七天，我要降雨在地上四十晝夜，把我所造的各種活物都從地上除滅。」
7:5 挪亞就遵著耶和華所吩咐的行了。

The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. ² Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³ and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

⁵ And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.

**************

          聖經常常會在一段經文之後，又有另一段的補述，有時感覺好像有衝突，其實是為了帶出另一個角度的觀點，讓然感覺信仰的多面觀，使我們廣納各樣的觀點。正如這一段和創世記6章19-20節記載稍不同。

          但是，在這敘述之後，仍然宣告：「挪亞就遵著耶和華所吩咐的行了」。這也表是挪亞對上帝的敬畏與信靠，不是任意妄為的人。同樣，我們既然認定上帝主權，又賦予我們遵行上帝旨意的自由意志，我們就當有挪亞「遵著耶和華所吩咐的行了」的行動。

         基督耶穌的拯救就讓我們透過自由意志來遵行上帝的旨意，不是以自由意志之名來抗拒上帝的拯救，那是自取滅亡，正如希伯來書10章26-27節說：「因為我們得知真道以後，若故意犯罪，贖罪的祭就再沒有了；惟有戰懼等候審判和那燒滅眾敵人的烈火。」

         不要自以為有參加教會的活動，在教會擔任長執就是已經得救的人，要看你有沒有藉受耶穌基督為救主，成為上帝的兒女，並像挪亞一樣「遵著耶和華所吩咐的行了」；而不是憑己意任意妄為，以自由意志知名抗拒上帝的拯救！