2019年4月18日 星期四

創世記32:22-32


32:22 他夜間起來,帶著兩個妻子,兩個使女,並十一個兒子,都過了雅博渡口,
32:23
先打發他們過河,又打發所有的都過去,
32:24
只剩下雅各一人。有一個人來和他摔跤,直到黎明。
32:25
那人見自己勝不過他,就將他的大腿窩摸了一把,雅各的大腿窩正在摔跤的時候就扭了。
32:26
那人說:「天黎明了,容我去吧!」雅各說:「你不給我祝福,我就不容你去。」
32:27
那人說:「你名叫甚麼?」他說:「我名叫雅各。」
32:28
那人說:「你的名不要再叫雅各,要叫以色列;因為你與上帝與人較力,都得了勝。」
32:29
雅各問他說:「請將你的名告訴我。」那人說:「何必問我的名?」於是在那裡給雅各祝福。
32:30
雅各便給那地方起名叫毘努伊勒(就是上帝之面的意思),意思說:「我面對面見了上帝,我的性命仍得保全。」
32:31
日頭剛出來的時候,雅各經過毘努伊勒,他的大腿就瘸了。
32:32
故此,以色列人不吃大腿窩的筋,直到今日,因為那人摸了雅各大腿窩的筋。

 22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,[f] because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”
But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.
30 So Jacob called the place Peniel,[g] saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,[h] and he was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

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

    上帝和人摔跤,人當然是無法勝過上帝,但是上帝樂意扶持祂所愛的人,故意輸給他,就像上帝在這裡故意輸給雅各。所以,贏的還是上帝,並不是雅各!這是出上帝無比的愛!

    正如上帝愛世上的人,故意讓祂的愛子耶穌基督為世人的罪死在十字架上,使世人可以得拯救與祂和好,滅去人和上帝之間的冤仇。而主耶穌也明白上帝的心意,所以沒有行神蹟從十字架上下來,情願死在十字架上,好完成上帝的旨意,使世人可以得救!

    所以,我們不能以小小的腦袋來明白上帝在基督裡對世人的愛,我們當存感謝的心,來跟隨主耶穌,因為耶穌基督不僅死在十字架上,更是在第三日後,從墳墓中復活,使人肯定祂是上帝的義,並且要將這個義賜給我們!

創世記32:1-21


32:1 雅各仍舊行路,上帝的使者遇見他。
32:2
雅各看見他們就說:「這是上帝的軍兵」,於是給那地方起名叫瑪哈念(就是二軍兵的意思)。
32:3
雅各打發人先往西珥地去,就是以東地,見他哥哥以掃,
32:4
吩咐他們說:「你們對我主以掃說:『你的僕人雅各這樣說:我在拉班那裡寄居,直到如今。
32:5
我有牛、驢、羊群、僕婢,現在打發人來報告我主,為要在你眼前蒙恩。』」
32:6
所打發的人回到雅各那裡,說:「我們到了你哥哥以掃那裡,他帶著四百人,正迎著你來。」
32:7
雅各就甚懼怕,而且愁煩,便把那與他同在的人口和羊群、牛群、駱駝分做兩隊,
32:8
說:「以掃若來擊殺這一隊,剩下的那一隊還可以逃避。」
32:9
雅各說:「耶和華我祖亞伯拉罕的上帝,我父親以撒的上帝啊,你曾對我說:『回你本地本族去,我要厚待你。』
32:10
你向僕人所施的一切慈愛和誠實,我一點也不配得;我先前只拿著我的杖過這約旦河,如今我卻成了兩隊了。
32:11
求你救我脫離我哥哥以掃的手;因為我怕他來殺我,連妻子帶兒女一同殺了。
32:12
你曾說:『我必定厚待你,使你的後裔如同海邊的沙,多得不可勝數。』」
32:13
當夜,雅各在那裡住宿,就從他所有的物中拿禮物要送給他哥哥以掃:
32:14
母山羊二百隻,公山羊二十隻,母綿羊二百隻,公綿羊二十隻,
32:15
奶崽子的駱駝三十隻各帶著崽子,母牛四十隻,公牛十隻,母驢二十匹,驢駒十匹;
32:16
每樣各分一群,交在僕人手下,就對僕人說:「你們要在我前頭過去,使群群相離,有空閒的地方」;
32:17
又吩咐儘先走的說:「我哥哥以掃遇見你的時候,問你說:『你是哪家的人?要往哪裡去?你前頭這些是誰的?』
32:18
你就說:『是你僕人雅各的,是送給我主以掃的禮物;他自己也在我們後邊。』」
32:19
又吩咐第二、第三,和一切趕群畜的人說:「你們遇見以掃的時候也要這樣對他說;
32:20
並且你們要說:『你僕人雅各在我們後邊。』」因雅各心裡說:「我藉著在我前頭去的禮物解他的恨,然後再見他的面,或者他容納我。」
32:21
於是禮物先過去了;那夜,雅各在隊中住宿。

 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him. When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.[b]
Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now. I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’”
When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”
In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,[c] and the flocks and herds and camels as well. He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group,[d] the group[e] that is left may escape.”
Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ 10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. 11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. 12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”
13 He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau: 14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, 15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. 16 He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”
17 He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’ 18 then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’”
19 He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him. 20 And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.” 21 So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.

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

    雅各回到家鄉要勇敢面對與哥哥和好的問題,雖然過去得罪了哥哥,經過二十年並不能說事情就這樣過去,心裡總是覺得哥哥一定會找他算舊帳的,心中十分害怕!

    所以,在沒有和哥哥碰面之前,先派人去打聽不打聽還好,一打聽竟然發現哥哥帶了四百人向他而來,讓他更是懼怕!於是想用禮物來軟化哥哥的心,所以分了好幾批人帶禮物,希望能和平解決問題。

    這也告訴我們與人和睦的重要性,即使是家人也要彼此和睦。而在此,我們要感謝主耶穌,祂在十字架上滅去了一切的冤仇,使我們與上帝、與人人都能夠恢復正確合宜的關係!所以,主耶穌的福音是一個和好的福音!

2019年4月16日 星期二

箴言25:8


不要冒失出去與人爭競,免得至終被他羞辱,你就不知道怎樣行了。

What you have seen with your eyes
do not bring hastily to court
for what will you do in the end
    if your neighbor puts you to shame?

***********

    人與人之間還是和平相處最重要,不要主動去挑臖別人製造紛爭,對我們絕對沒有好處,還會受到人的羞辱!

    其實做人還是低調為宜,如此才可以有真正的平靜生活,也才不會羞辱主名!

箴言25:6-7


25:6 不要在王面前妄自尊大;不要在大人的位上站立。
25:7
寧可有人說:請你上來,強如在你覲見的王子面前叫你退下。

Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence,
    and do not claim a place among his great men;
it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,”
    than for him to humiliate you before his nobles.

***********

    路加福音中,也記載主耶穌有類似的教導:你被人請去赴婚姻的筵席,不要坐在首位上,恐怕有比你尊貴的客被他請來;那請你們的人前來對你說:『讓座給這一位吧!』你就羞羞慚慚地退到末位上去了。你被請的時候,就去坐在末位上,好叫那請你的人來對你說:『朋友,請上座。』那時,你在同席的人面前就有光彩了。因為,凡自高的,必降為卑;自卑的,必升為高。」(14:8-11

    不管是箴言》和《路加福音》的教導都是告訴我們要做一個「自卑」的人,不要做「自高」的人。當然這裡的「自卑」不是叫我們有「自卑感」,認為自己處處不如人。這裡的「自卑」是情願站在卑微的立場,也就是做人要低調,不要擺架子,不要自以為是!

    一個人若喜歡以高調在人面前,不但不能得人的尊重,還會被人羞辱呢!不要忘記,不管地位有多高,謙卑總是會給自己帶來尊榮,就像主耶穌就是最好的模範,祂本是上帝的兒子,是萬王之王,竟然還願意為了拯救我們而走上十字架的道路!所以,祂是配得尊貴和榮耀的!




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