申命記29:1-29

29:1 這是耶和華在摩押地吩咐摩西與以色列人立約的話，是在他和他們於何烈山所立的約之外。
29:2 摩西召了以色列眾人來，對他們說：「耶和華在埃及地，在你們眼前向法老和他眾臣僕，並他全地所行的一切事，你們都看見了，
29:3 就是你親眼看見的大試驗和神蹟，並那些大奇事。
29:4 但耶和華到今日沒有使你們心能明白，眼能看見，耳能聽見。
29:5 我領你們在曠野四十年，你們身上的衣服並沒有穿破，腳上的鞋也沒有穿壞。
29:6 你們沒有吃餅，也沒有喝清酒濃酒。這要使你們知道，耶和華是你們的上帝。
29:7 你們來到這地方，希實本王西宏、巴珊王噩都出來與我們交戰，我們就擊殺了他們，
29:8 取了他們的地給流便支派、迦得支派，和瑪拿西半支派為業。
29:9 所以你們要謹守遵行這約的話，好叫你們在一切所行的事上亨通。
29:10 「今日，你們的首領、族長（原文是支派）、長老、官長、以色列的男丁，你們的妻子兒女，和營中寄居的，以及為你們劈柴挑水的人，都站在耶和華─你們的上帝面前，
29:11 【併於上節】
29:12 為要你順從耶和華─你上帝今日與你所立的約，向你所起的誓。
29:13 這樣，他要照他向你所應許的話，又向你列祖亞伯拉罕、以撒、雅各所起的誓，今日立你作他的子民，他作你的上帝。
29:14 我不但與你們立這約，起這誓，
29:15 凡與我們一同站在耶和華─我們上帝面前的，並今日不在我們這裡的人，我也與他們立這約，起這誓。
29:16 「我們曾住過埃及地，也從列國經過；這是你們知道的。
29:17 你們也看見他們中間可憎之物，並他們木、石、金、銀的偶像。
29:18 惟恐你們中間，或男或女，或族長或支派長，今日心裡偏離耶和華─我們的上帝，去事奉那些國的上帝；又怕你們中間有惡根生出苦菜和茵蔯來，
29:19 聽見這咒詛的話，心裡仍是自誇說：『我雖然行事心裡頑梗，連累眾人，卻還是平安。』
29:20 耶和華必不饒恕他；耶和華的怒氣與憤恨要向他發作，如煙冒出，將這書上所寫的一切咒詛都加在他身上。耶和華又要從天下塗抹他的名，
29:21 也必照著寫在律法書上、約中的一切咒詛將他從以色列眾支派中分別出來，使他受禍。
29:22 你們的後代，就是以後興起來的子孫，和遠方來的外人，看見這地的災殃，並耶和華所降與這地的疾病，
29:23 又看見遍地有硫磺，有鹽鹵，有火跡，沒有耕種，沒有出產，連草都不生長─好像耶和華在忿怒中所傾覆的所多瑪、蛾摩拉、押瑪、洗扁一樣─
29:24 所看見的人，連萬國人，都必問說：『耶和華為何向此地這樣行呢？這樣大發烈怒是甚麼意思呢？』
29:25 人必回答說：『是因這地的人離棄了耶和華─他們列祖的上帝，領他們出埃及地的時候與他們所立的約，
29:26 去事奉敬拜素不認識的別神，是耶和華所未曾給他們安排的。
29:27 所以耶和華的怒氣向這地發作，將這書上所寫的一切咒詛都降在這地上。
29:28 耶和華在怒氣、忿怒、大惱恨中將他們從本地拔出來，扔在別的地上，像今日一樣。』
29:29 「隱祕的事是屬耶和華─我們上帝的；惟有明顯的事是永遠屬我們和我們子孫的，好叫我們遵行這律法上的一切話。」

These are the terms of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.

² Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:

Your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. ³ With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those signs and great wonders. ⁴ But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear. ⁵ Yet the Lord says, “During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. ⁶ You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God.”

⁷ When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them. ⁸ We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁹ Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do. ¹⁰ All of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, ¹¹ together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water. ¹² You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, ¹³ to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ¹⁴ I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you ¹⁵ who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here today.

¹⁶ You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. ¹⁷ You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold. ¹⁸ Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.

¹⁹ When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,” they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. ²⁰ The Lord will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven. ²¹ The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

²² Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it. ²³ The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger. ²⁴ All the nations will ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?”

²⁵ And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. ²⁶ They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. ²⁷ Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. ²⁸ In furious anger and in great wrath the Lord uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”

²⁹ The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

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    人常常因為罪性的影響，以至於無法認識上帝，也看不清祂的作為，總是自以為是，以為上帝不存在，可以任意而為，以自我為中心！這不只是現代人的特徵，也是當時以色列人的特徵，雖然他們的祖先亞伯拉罕、以撒和雅各曾經和上帝立約；但是他們仍然不認識也不敬畏上帝。

    摩西在這裡告訴他們，是上帝領他們出埃及為奴之地，是上帝在這曠野中照顧他們四十年，更是向他們諄諄教誨要敬畏上帝、遵行上帝的律法，更是不可以離開上帝，遭受上帝的咒詛！不僅他們遵守，更要他們教導子孫遵守！

    摩西要他們信靠上帝的信仰，不是神祕主義，也不是不可知的奧秘，是明明可知的，正如摩西所說：「隱祕的事是屬耶和華─我們上帝的；惟有明顯的事是永遠屬我們和我們子孫的，好叫我們遵行這律法上的一切話。」

    同樣今日我們屬主耶穌的人的信仰也是如此，正如保羅所說：「自從造天地以來，上帝的永能和神性是明明可知的，雖是眼不能見，但藉著所造之物就可以曉得，叫人無可推諉。」（羅馬書1:20）

路加福音 2: 8-14

 

2:8 在伯利恆之野地裏有牧羊的人，夜間按著更次看守羊群；
2:9 有主的使者站在他們旁邊，主的榮光四面照著他們，牧羊的人就甚懼怕。
2:10 那天使對他們說：「不要懼怕！我報給你們大喜的信息，是關乎萬民的，
2:11 因今天在大衛的城裏，為你們生了救主，就是主基督！
2:12 你們要看見一個嬰孩，包著布，臥在馬槽裏，那就是記號了。」
2:13 忽然，有一大隊天兵同那天使讚美神，說：
2:14 「在至高之處，榮耀歸與神！在地上平安，歸與他所喜悅的人（有古卷：喜悅歸與人）！」

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    提摩太前書3章16節：『大哉，敬虔的奧祕，無人不以為然──就是上帝在肉身顯現，被聖靈稱義（或譯：在靈性稱義），被天使看見，被傳於外邦，被世人信服，被接在榮耀裏。』

    這段經文刻劃出耶穌基督的人性與神性與祂降世之使命，以及永世之結局。基督徒從聖經之啟示歸納出：『耶穌基督是完全的人，也是完全的上帝。』

    耶穌基督的降生，正如天使所傳報的：『我報給你們大喜的信息，是關乎萬民的，…』

    有些聖誕詩歌是依照路加在此所描述來譜寫，要我們認識：天使初報佳音，不是針對富有的人、位高權重的人、知識豐富的學者，反倒讓田野間貧苦之牧羊人先聽到福音。

    而在上帝眼中，人不分貧、富、貴、賤，不靠人之外表、成就、財富、地位、…來衡量這個人該不該得著救恩，甚至不在乎當事人覺得“配”或“不配”，完完全全沒有條件，只有出於上帝的愛與恩典！

    天兵同那天使讚美上帝說：「在至高之處，榮耀歸與上帝！在地上平安，歸與他所喜悅的人！」

    誰是上帝所喜悅的人呢？就是願意接受上帝所預備給人之最大禮物—耶穌基督為救主與生命的主的人！

猶大書8-16

1:8 這些作夢的人也像他們污穢身體，輕慢主治的，毀謗在尊位的。

1:9 天使長米迦勒為摩西的屍首與魔鬼爭辯的時候，尚且不敢用毀謗的話罪責他，只說：「主責備你吧！」

1:10 但這些人毀謗他們所不知道的。他們本性所知道的事，與那沒有靈性的畜類一樣，在這事上竟敗壞了自己。

1:11 他們有禍了！因為走了該隱的道路，又為利往巴蘭的錯謬裏直奔，並在可拉的背叛中滅亡了。

1:12 這樣的人，在你們的愛席上與你們同吃的時候，正是礁石（或譯：玷污）；他們作牧人，只知餵養自己，無所懼怕，是沒有雨的雲彩，被風飄蕩；是秋天沒有果子的樹，死而又死，連根被拔出來；

1:13 是海裏的狂浪，湧出自己可恥的沫子來；是流蕩的星，有墨黑的幽暗為他們永遠存留。

1:14 亞當的七世孫以諾曾預言這些人，說：「看哪，主帶著他的千萬聖者降臨，

1:15 要在眾人身上行審判，證實那一切不敬虔的人，所妄行一切不敬虔的事；又證實不敬虔之罪人，所說頂撞他的剛愎話。」

1:16 這些人是私下議論，常發怨言的，隨從自己的情慾而行，口中說誇大的話，為得便宜諂媚人。

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    從這段經文，我們看到“牧人”也有走了該隱的道路，又為利往巴蘭的錯謬裏直奔，也有如可拉的！

    這如“因信稱義”是聖經所啟示之真理，偏偏有牧師教導：「難道只有“信”就可以稱義，就可以得救？」

    聖經明明教導：『上帝賜福給謙卑的人，阻擋驕傲的人！』還在講台上說︰「我立志做一流之牧師，成為牧師中之牧師！」

    這都是講道中之大忌，若不是好大喜功，便是︰口中說誇大的話，為得便宜諂媚人。

    所以，今日我們要靠聖靈與聖經之教導，察驗講台是否合於真道。這是今日台灣教會為何積弱不振之原因，不是求聚會時人數多寡（或許和教會奉獻多寡有關），而是要說上帝的話，上帝的話是生命的糧，遵守上帝的道才能永遠常存！

彼得前書4:1-6

4:1 基督既在肉身受苦，你們也當將這樣的心志作為兵器，因為在肉身受過苦的，就已經與罪斷絕了。

4:2 你們存這樣的心，從今以後就可以不從人的情慾，只從神的旨意，在世度餘下的光陰。

4:3 因為往日隨從外邦人的心意行邪淫、惡慾、醉酒、荒宴、群飲，並可惡拜偶像的事，時候已經夠了，

4:4 他們在這些事上，見你們不與他們同奔那放蕩無度的路，就以為怪，毀謗你們，

4:5 他們必在那將要審判活人死人的主面前交帳。

4:6 為此，就是死人也曾有福音傳給他們，要叫他們的肉體按著人受審判，他們的靈性卻靠神活著。

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    基督徒信了耶穌以後，生活態度與方式和未信以前有所不同，就是要與罪斷絕關係。在此彼得告訴我們：『基督既在肉身受苦，你們也當將這樣的心志作為兵器。』

    那我們要受甚麼苦？不從人的情慾，只從上帝的旨意。在此彼得更指明人的情慾的事︰隨從人的心意行邪淫、惡慾、醉酒、荒宴、群飲，並可惡拜偶像的事。這些事情我們可以從我們生活之世界和媒體廣告看見，多少消費產品之廣告，藉由廣告訴我們要吃、喝、玩、樂，今朝有酒、今朝醉，鼓勵人們好逸惡勞。

    基督徒因為有永生之盼望，知道今生的享樂是有限的，要為永生而努力與服勞，不可效法這世界，不與他們同奔那放蕩無度的路，所以被世人以為怪，甚至遭到藐視與毀謗。基督徒必需以受苦心志來面對。

    當然，將來在審判的日子，每個人要為行為交帳，所以基督徒不要為此抱不平，反而要為他們禱告，求主能讓那些人也能明白真理，離開罪中之樂，進入永生之福！

詩篇78:1-72

78:1 （亞薩的訓誨詩。）我的民哪，你們要留心聽我的訓誨，側耳聽我口中的話。
78:2 我要開口說比喻；我要說出古時的謎語，
78:3 是我們所聽見、所知道的，也是我們的祖宗告訴我們的。
78:4 我們不將這些事向他們的子孫隱瞞，要將耶和華的美德和他的能力，並他奇妙的作為，述說給後代聽。
78:5 因為，他在雅各中立法度，在以色列中設律法；是他吩咐我們祖宗要傳給子孫的，
78:6 使將要生的後代子孫可以曉得；他們也要起來告訴他們的子孫，
78:7 好叫他們仰望上帝，不忘記上帝的作為，惟要守他的命令。
78:8 不要像他們的祖宗，是頑梗悖逆、居心不正之輩，向著上帝，心不誠實。
78:9 以法蓮的子孫帶著兵器，拿著弓，臨陣之日轉身退後。
78:10 他們不遵守上帝的約，不肯照他的律法行；
78:11 又忘記他所行的和他顯給他們奇妙的作為。
78:12 他在埃及地，在瑣安田，在他們祖宗的眼前施行奇事。
78:13 他將海分裂，使他們過去，又叫水立起如壘。
78:14 他白日用雲彩，終夜用火光引導他們。
78:15 他在曠野分裂磐石，多多地給他們水喝，如從深淵而出。
78:16 他使水從磐石湧出，叫水如江河下流。
78:17 他們卻仍舊得罪他，在乾燥之地悖逆至高者。
78:18 他們心中試探上帝，隨自己所欲的求食物，
78:19 並且妄論上帝說：上帝在曠野豈能擺設筵席嗎？
78:20 他曾擊打磐石，使水湧出，成了江河；他還能賜糧食嗎？還能為他的百姓預備肉嗎？
78:21 所以，耶和華聽見就發怒；有烈火向雅各燒起；有怒氣向以色列上騰；
78:22 因為他們不信服上帝，不倚賴他的救恩。
78:23 他卻吩咐天空，又敞開天上的門，
78:24 降嗎哪，像雨給他們吃，將天上的糧食賜給他們。
78:25 各人（或譯：人）吃大能者的食物；他賜下糧食，使他們飽足。
78:26 他領東風起在天空，又用能力引了南風來。
78:27 他降肉，像雨在他們當中，多如塵土，又降飛鳥，多如海沙，
78:28 落在他們的營中，在他們住處的四面。
78:29 他們吃了，而且飽足；這樣就隨了他們所欲的。
78:30 他們貪而無厭，食物還在他們口中的時候，
78:31 上帝的怒氣就向他們上騰，殺了他們內中的肥壯人，打倒以色列的少年人。
78:32 雖是這樣，他們仍舊犯罪，不信他奇妙的作為。
78:33 因此，他叫他們的日子全歸虛空，叫他們的年歲盡屬驚恐。
78:34 他殺他們的時候，他們才求問他，回心轉意，切切地尋求上帝。
78:35 他們也追念上帝是他們的磐石，至高的上帝是他們的救贖主。
78:36 他們卻用口諂媚他，用舌向他說謊。
78:37 因他們的心向他不正，在他的約上也不忠心。
78:38 但他有憐憫，赦免他們的罪孽，不滅絕他們，而且屢次消他的怒氣，不發盡他的忿怒。
78:39 他想到他們不過是血氣，是一陣去而不返的風。
78:40 他們在曠野悖逆他，在荒地叫他擔憂，何其多呢！
78:41 他們再三試探上帝，惹動以色列的聖者。
78:42 他們不追念他的能力（原文是手）和贖他們脫離敵人的日子；
78:43 他怎樣在埃及地顯神蹟，在瑣安田顯奇事，
78:44 把他們的江河並河汊的水都變為血，使他們不能喝。
78:45 他叫蒼蠅成群落在他們當中，嘬盡他們，又叫青蛙滅了他們，
78:46 把他們的土產交給螞蚱，把他們辛苦得來的交給蝗蟲。
78:47 他降冰雹打壞他們的葡萄樹，下嚴霜打壞他們的桑樹，
78:48 又把他們的牲畜交給冰雹，把他們的群畜交給閃電。
78:49 他使猛烈的怒氣和忿怒、惱恨、苦難成了一群降災的使者，臨到他們。
78:50 他為自己的怒氣修平了路，將他們交給瘟疫，使他們死亡，
78:51 在埃及擊殺一切長子，在含的帳棚中擊殺他們強壯時頭生的。
78:52 他卻領出自己的民如羊，在曠野引他們如羊群。
78:53 他領他們穩穩妥妥地，使他們不致害怕；海卻淹沒他們的仇敵。
78:54 他帶他們到自己聖地的邊界，到他右手所得的這山地。
78:55 他在他們面前趕出外邦人，用繩子將外邦的地量給他們為業，叫以色列支派的人住在他們的帳棚裡。
78:56 他們仍舊試探、悖逆至高的上帝，不守他的法度，
78:57 反倒退後，行詭詐，像他們的祖宗一樣；他們改變，如同翻背的弓。
78:58 因他們的邱壇惹了他的怒氣；因他們雕刻的偶像觸動他的憤恨。
78:59 上帝聽見就發怒，極其憎惡以色列人。
78:60 甚至他離棄示羅的帳幕，就是他在人間所搭的帳棚；
78:61 又將他的約櫃（原文是能力）交與人擄去，將他的榮耀交在敵人手中；
78:62 並將他的百姓交與刀劍，向他的產業發怒。
78:63 少年人被火燒滅；處女也無喜歌。
78:64 祭司倒在刀下，寡婦卻不哀哭。
78:65 那時，主像世人睡醒，像勇士飲酒呼喊。
78:66 他就打退了他的敵人，叫他們永蒙羞辱；
78:67 並且他棄掉約瑟的帳棚，不揀選以法蓮支派，
78:68 卻揀選猶大支派─他所喜愛的錫安山；
78:69 蓋造他的聖所，好像高峰，又像他建立永存之地；
78:70 又揀選他的僕人大衛，從羊圈中將他召來，
78:71 叫他不再跟從那些帶奶的母羊，為要牧養自己的百姓雅各和自己的產業以色列。
78:72 於是，他按心中的純正牧養他們，用手中的巧妙引導他們。

A maskil^[a] of Asaph.

¹ My people, hear my teaching;
    listen to the words of my mouth.
² I will open my mouth with a parable;
    I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
³ things we have heard and known,
    things our ancestors have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their descendants;
    we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
    his power, and the wonders he has done.
⁵ He decreed statutes for Jacob
    and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
    to teach their children,
⁶ so the next generation would know them,
    even the children yet to be born,
    and they in turn would tell their children.
⁷ Then they would put their trust in God
    and would not forget his deeds
    but would keep his commands.
⁸ They would not be like their ancestors—
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
    whose spirits were not faithful to him.

⁹ The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,
    turned back on the day of battle;
¹⁰ they did not keep God’s covenant
    and refused to live by his law.
¹¹ They forgot what he had done,
    the wonders he had shown them.
¹² He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors
    in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
¹³ He divided the sea and led them through;
    he made the water stand up like a wall.
¹⁴ He guided them with the cloud by day
    and with light from the fire all night.
¹⁵ He split the rocks in the wilderness
    and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
¹⁶ he brought streams out of a rocky crag
    and made water flow down like rivers.

¹⁷ But they continued to sin against him,
    rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.
¹⁸ They willfully put God to the test
    by demanding the food they craved.
¹⁹ They spoke against God;
    they said, “Can God really
    spread a table in the wilderness?
²⁰ True, he struck the rock,
    and water gushed out,
    streams flowed abundantly,
but can he also give us bread?
    Can he supply meat for his people?”
²¹ When the Lord heard them, he was furious;
    his fire broke out against Jacob,
    and his wrath rose against Israel,
²² for they did not believe in God
    or trust in his deliverance.
²³ Yet he gave a command to the skies above
    and opened the doors of the heavens;
²⁴ he rained down manna for the people to eat,
    he gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵ Human beings ate the bread of angels;
    he sent them all the food they could eat.
²⁶ He let loose the east wind from the heavens
    and by his power made the south wind blow.
²⁷ He rained meat down on them like dust,
    birds like sand on the seashore.
²⁸ He made them come down inside their camp,
    all around their tents.
²⁹ They ate till they were gorged—
    he had given them what they craved.
³⁰ But before they turned from what they craved,
    even while the food was still in their mouths,
³¹ God’s anger rose against them;
    he put to death the sturdiest among them,
    cutting down the young men of Israel.

³² In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;
    in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.
³³ So he ended their days in futility
    and their years in terror.
³⁴ Whenever God slew them, they would seek him;
    they eagerly turned to him again.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their Rock,
    that God Most High was their Redeemer.
³⁶ But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
    lying to him with their tongues;
³⁷ their hearts were not loyal to him,
    they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he was merciful;
    he forgave their iniquities
    and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger
    and did not stir up his full wrath.
³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh,
    a passing breeze that does not return.

⁴⁰ How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
    and grieved him in the wasteland!
⁴¹ Again and again they put God to the test;
    they vexed the Holy One of Israel.
⁴² They did not remember his power—
    the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,
⁴³ the day he displayed his signs in Egypt,
    his wonders in the region of Zoan.
⁴⁴ He turned their river into blood;
    they could not drink from their streams.
⁴⁵ He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,
    and frogs that devastated them.
⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the grasshopper,
    their produce to the locust.
⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail
    and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
⁴⁸ He gave over their cattle to the hail,
    their livestock to bolts of lightning.
⁴⁹ He unleashed against them his hot anger,
    his wrath, indignation and hostility—
    a band of destroying angels.
⁵⁰ He prepared a path for his anger;
    he did not spare them from death
    but gave them over to the plague.
⁵¹ He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,
    the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.
⁵² But he brought his people out like a flock;
    he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
⁵³ He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
    but the sea engulfed their enemies.
⁵⁴ And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,
    to the hill country his right hand had taken.
⁵⁵ He drove out nations before them
    and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;
    he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.

⁵⁶ But they put God to the test
    and rebelled against the Most High;
    they did not keep his statutes.
⁵⁷ Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless,
    as unreliable as a faulty bow.
⁵⁸ They angered him with their high places;
    they aroused his jealousy with their idols.
⁵⁹ When God heard them, he was furious;
    he rejected Israel completely.
⁶⁰ He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,
    the tent he had set up among humans.
⁶¹ He sent the ark of his might into captivity,
    his splendor into the hands of the enemy.
⁶² He gave his people over to the sword;
    he was furious with his inheritance.
⁶³ Fire consumed their young men,
    and their young women had no wedding songs;
⁶⁴ their priests were put to the sword,
    and their widows could not weep.

⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
    as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine.
⁶⁶ He beat back his enemies;
    he put them to everlasting shame.
⁶⁷ Then he rejected the tents of Joseph,
    he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
⁶⁸ but he chose the tribe of Judah,
    Mount Zion, which he loved.
⁶⁹ He built his sanctuary like the heights,
    like the earth that he established forever.
⁷⁰ He chose David his servant
    and took him from the sheep pens;
⁷¹ from tending the sheep he brought him
    to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
    of Israel his inheritance.
⁷² And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
    with skillful hands he led them.

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

    詩人亞薩這受訓誨詩，不光是要以色列人注意到自己和列祖的罪惡，更要人看見上帝的救贖！而上帝的救贖在哪裡呢？詩中告訴我們：「那時，主像世人睡醒，像勇士飲酒呼喊。他就打退了他的敵人，叫他們永蒙羞辱；並且他棄掉約瑟的帳棚，不揀選以法蓮支派，卻揀選猶大支派─他所喜愛的錫安山；蓋造他的聖所，好像高峰，又像他建立永存之地；又揀選他的僕人大衛，從羊圈中將他召來，叫他不再跟從那些帶奶的母羊，為要牧養自己的百姓雅各和自己的產業以色列。於是，他按心中的純正牧養他們，用手中的巧妙引導他們。」

    很清楚的告訴我們，救贖之恩是要透過猶大支派而非被看為長子的以法蓮支派；不僅如此還是透過大衛的家，使他們永遠成為上帝所立的牧人！當然我們在新約的時代清楚真正的牧人是耶穌基督，而耶穌基督牧養我們正如詩人所說：「…牧養自己的百姓雅各和自己的產業以色列。於是，他按心中的純正牧養他們，用手中的巧妙引導他們。」

    而在新約中約翰福音10 章很清楚將上帝如何透過耶穌基督牧養我們，清清楚楚告訴我們！「盜賊來，無非要偷竊，殺害，毀壞；我來了，是要叫羊（或譯：人）得生命，並且得的更豐盛。我是好牧人；好牧人為羊捨命。」（10-11節）「我是好牧人；我認識我的羊，我的羊也認識我，正如父認識我，我也認識父一樣；並且我為羊捨命。」（14-15節）

    主耶穌才是我們真正的牧者，我們和他的關係是牧人和羊的關係！祂是用心在我們身上的，不像漢朝的蘇武牧養北海邊！蘇武牧羊心不在羊，在想回家！當然主耶穌牧羊勝過蘇武，且比蘇武更偉大！