撒母耳記上22:1-10

 

22:1 大衛就離開那裡，逃到亞杜蘭洞。他的弟兄和他父親的全家聽見了，就都下到他那裡。
22:2 凡受窘迫的、欠債的、心裡苦惱的都聚集到大衛那裡；大衛就作他們的頭目，跟隨他的約有四百人。
22:3 大衛從那裡往摩押的米斯巴去，對摩押王說：「求你容我父母搬來，住在你們這裡，等我知道上帝要為我怎樣行。」
22:4 大衛領他父母到摩押王面前。大衛住山寨多少日子，他父母也住摩押王那裡多少日子。
22:5 先知迦得對大衛說：「你不要住在山寨，要往猶大地去。」大衛就離開那裡，進入哈列的樹林。
22:6 掃羅在基比亞的拉瑪，坐在垂絲柳樹下，手裡拿著槍，眾臣僕侍立在左右。掃羅聽見大衛和跟隨他的人在何處，
22:7 就對左右侍立的臣僕說：「便雅憫人哪，你們要聽我的話！耶西的兒子能將田地和葡萄園賜給你們各人嗎？能立你們各人作千夫長百夫長嗎？
22:8 你們竟都結黨害我！我的兒子與耶西的兒子結盟的時候，無人告訴我；我的兒子挑唆我的臣子謀害我，就如今日的光景，也無人告訴我，為我憂慮。」
22:9 那時以東人多益站在掃羅的臣僕中，對他說：「我曾看見耶西的兒子到了挪伯，亞希突的兒子亞希米勒那裡。
22:10 亞希米勒為他求問耶和華，又給他食物，並給他殺非利士人歌利亞的刀。」

 

 David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. ² All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him.

³ From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?” ⁴ So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold.

⁵ But the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

⁶ Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul was seated, spear in hand, under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing at his side. ⁷ He said to them, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? ⁸ Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today.”

⁹ But Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with Saul’s officials, said, “I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelek son of Ahitub at Nob. ¹⁰ Ahimelek inquired of the Lord for him; he also gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

 

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    大衛逃到亞杜蘭洞，不僅收留自己的家人，還有一群「凡受窘迫的、欠債的、心裡苦惱的」都聚集到大衛那裡；大衛就作了他們的首領，跟隨他的約有四百人。

 

    他們本來是在摩押的米斯巴，後來先知迦得對大衛說：「你不要住在山寨，要往猶大地去。」大衛就離開那裡，進入哈列的樹林。

 

    上帝就是要他們與以色列人沒有脫節，畢竟大衛是要成為以色列王！也因為這樣他們和掃羅又有所接觸，掃羅又可以趁機「作文章」來蠱惑自己的本家便雅憫支派：「便雅憫人哪，你們要聽我的話！耶西的兒子能將田地和葡萄園賜給你們各人嗎？能立你們各人作千夫長百夫長嗎？你們竟都結黨害我！我的兒子與耶西的兒子結盟的時候，無人告訴我；我的兒子挑唆我的臣子謀害我，就如今日的光景，也無人告訴我，為我憂慮。」

 

    而這一番話竟然讓以東人多益向掃羅打報告：「我曾看見耶西的兒子到了挪伯，亞希突的兒子亞希米勒那裡。亞希米勒為他求問耶和華，又給他食物，並給他殺非利士人歌利亞的刀。」

 

    這是引發了後來掃羅竟然殺耶和華的祭司，還是以東人多益執行！讓我們看見掃羅越來越無法無天，竟然敢殺耶和華的祭司，忘記自己是耶和華所立的王，任意而為！

 

    看到掃羅的行徑，也讓我們感受到權力真的腐化人，正如從歷史當中看見教宗有權把人從教會除名，導致百姓害怕不能上天堂，甚至可以逼國王下台，因為讓百姓不能上天堂，百姓會造反推翻王位的！想想，對真理的誤解所造成的問題有多麼大！

 

約伯記4章

            約伯記4:1-21   ,

約伯記4:1-21

 

4:1 提幔人以利法回答說：
4:2 人若想與你說話，你就厭煩嗎？但誰能忍住不說呢？
4:3 你素來教導許多的人，又堅固軟弱的手。
4:4 你的言語曾扶助那將要跌倒的人；你又使軟弱的膝穩固。
4:5 但現在禍患臨到你，你就昏迷，挨近你，你便驚惶。
4:6 你的倚靠不是在你敬畏上帝嗎？你的盼望不是在你行事純正嗎？
4:7 請你追想：無辜的人有誰滅亡？正直的人在何處剪除？
4:8 按我所見，耕罪孽、種毒害的人都照樣收割。
4:9 上帝一出氣，他們就滅亡；上帝一發怒，他們就消沒。
4:10 獅子的吼叫和猛獅的聲音盡都止息；少壯獅子的牙齒也都敲掉。
4:11 老獅子因絕食而死；母獅之子也都離散。
4:12 我暗暗地得了默示；我耳朵也聽其細微的聲音。
4:13 在思念夜中、異象之間，世人沉睡的時候，
4:14 恐懼、戰兢臨到我身，使我百骨打戰。
4:15 有靈從我面前經過，我身上的毫毛直立。
4:16 那靈停住，我卻不能辨其形狀；有影像在我眼前。我在靜默中聽見有聲音說：
4:17 必死的人豈能比上帝公義嗎？人豈能比造他的主潔淨嗎？
4:18 主不信靠他的臣僕，並且指他的使者為愚昧；
4:19 何況那住在土房、根基在塵土裡、被蠹蟲所毀壞的人呢？
4:20 早晚之間，就被毀滅，永歸無有，無人理會。
4:21 他帳棚的繩索豈不從中抽出來呢？他死，且是無智慧而死。

 

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

² “If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
    But who can keep from speaking?
³ Think how you have instructed many,
    how you have strengthened feeble hands.
⁴ Your words have supported those who stumbled;
    you have strengthened faltering knees.
⁵ But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;
    it strikes you, and you are dismayed.
⁶ Should not your piety be your confidence
    and your blameless ways your hope?

⁷ “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?
    Where were the upright ever destroyed?
⁸ As I have observed, those who plow evil
    and those who sow trouble reap it.
⁹ At the breath of God they perish;
    at the blast of his anger they are no more.
¹⁰ The lions may roar and growl,
    yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.
¹¹ The lion perishes for lack of prey,
    and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

¹² “A word was secretly brought to me,
    my ears caught a whisper of it.
¹³ Amid disquieting dreams in the night,
    when deep sleep falls on people,
¹⁴ fear and trembling seized me
    and made all my bones shake.
¹⁵ A spirit glided past my face,
    and the hair on my body stood on end.
¹⁶ It stopped,
    but I could not tell what it was.
A form stood before my eyes,
    and I heard a hushed voice:
¹⁷ ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
    Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?
¹⁸ If God places no trust in his servants,
    if he charges his angels with error,
¹⁹ how much more those who live in houses of clay,
    whose foundations are in the dust,
    who are crushed more readily than a moth!
²⁰ Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces;
    unnoticed, they perish forever.
²¹ Are not the cords of their tent pulled up,
    so that they die without wisdom?’

 

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    從提幔人以利法回應約伯的話，會感覺他是第一個在約伯之後發言的人，實在不會很奇怪，因為他是一個心直口快，沒有什麼思考的人，就是將心中的感覺直接說出的人，沒有甚麼深思熟慮，正如一開頭所說的：「人若想與你說話，你就厭煩嗎？但誰能忍住不說呢？」

 

    他忍不住說出來，就是要告訴約伯，他今天落到這種境地，是因為自己的惡行所造成的，是上帝的報應！因為他的觀念是：「惡有惡報，善有善報，因為上帝是公平正義的！」

 

    他的想法是：平常約伯的表現只是外表的而已，內在和每個人依樣都是罪惡的，所以今天不是上帝不公平，是因為約伯本身就是不義的人，毫無聖潔可言！也因此，面對今日的景況約伯要好好認罪並悔改！

 

    所以，在提幔人以利法的觀念中，沒有義人受苦，而約伯根本不是義人！只是他把詞句說得漂亮而已，不會像一般「「惡有惡報，善有善報」說得太直接罷了！其實在教會中，這類人還佔大多數呢！不僅如此，這樣的人還有幾分的自義呢！

 

撒母耳記上21章

      撒母耳記上21:1-15  ,

撒母耳記上21:1-15

 

21:1 大衛到了挪伯祭司亞希米勒那裡，亞希米勒戰戰兢兢地出來迎接他，問他說：「你為甚麼獨自來，沒有人跟隨呢？」
21:2 大衛回答祭司亞希米勒說：「王吩咐我一件事說：『我差遣你委託你的這件事，不要使人知道。』故此我已派定少年人在某處等候我。
21:3 現在你手下有甚麼？求你給我五個餅或是別樣的食物。」
21:4 祭司對大衛說：「我手下沒有尋常的餅，只有聖餅；若少年人沒有親近婦人才可以給。」
21:5 大衛對祭司說：「實在約有三日我們沒有親近婦人；我出來的時候，雖是尋常行路，少年人的器皿還是潔淨的；何況今日不更是潔淨嗎？」
21:6 祭司就拿聖餅給他；因為在那裡沒有別樣餅，只有更換新餅，從耶和華面前撤下來的陳設餅。
21:7 （當日有掃羅的一個臣子留在耶和華面前。他名叫多益，是以東人，作掃羅的司牧長。）
21:8 大衛問亞希米勒說：「你手下有槍有刀沒有？因為王的事甚急，連刀劍器械我都沒有帶。」
21:9 祭司說：「你在以拉谷殺非利士人歌利亞的那刀在這裡，裹在布中，放在以弗得後邊，你要就可以拿去；除此以外，再沒有別的。」大衛說：「這刀沒有可比的！求你給我。」
21:10 那日大衛起來，躲避掃羅，逃到迦特王亞吉那裡。
21:11 亞吉的臣僕對亞吉說：「這不是以色列國王大衛嗎？那裡的婦女跳舞唱和，不是指著他說『掃羅殺死千千，大衛殺死萬萬』嗎？」
21:12 大衛將這話放在心裡，甚懼怕迦特王亞吉，
21:13 就在眾人面前改變了尋常的舉動，在他們手下假裝瘋癲，在城門的門扇上胡寫亂畫，使唾沫流在鬍子上。
21:14 亞吉對臣僕說：「你們看，這人是瘋子。為甚麼帶他到我這裡來呢？
21:15 我豈缺少瘋子，你們帶這人來在我面前瘋癲嗎？這人豈可進我的家呢？」

 

 David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

² David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. ³ Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”

⁴ But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”

⁵ David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever^[b] I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” ⁶ So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.

⁷ Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief shepherd.

⁸ David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king’s mission was urgent.”

⁹ The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.”

David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

¹⁰ That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. ¹¹ But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances:

“‘Saul has slain his thousands,
    and David his tens of thousands’?”

¹² David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. ¹³ So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

¹⁴ Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? ¹⁵ Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”

 

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    主耶穌曾經拿這件事情來回應法利賽人，正如《馬可福音》2章23-28節的敘述。而主耶穌所要凸顯的是：上帝的眷顧勝過律法的要求！因為，上帝設立律法的目的，是要使人得著保護，不是要使人受害。主耶穌更是宣告：「安息日是為人設立的，人不是為安息日設立的。所以，人子也是安息日的主。」

 

    的確，大衛和跟隨的人為了逃避掃羅的追殺，已經至少三天沒有吃東西，都快餓死了，若是吃了陳設餅就可以救命，難道上帝會不喜悅嗎？當然不會的，因為上帝是何等愛大衛，恨不得將一切美物賜給大衛，何況是陳設餅呢！

 

    羅馬書8章32節說到：「上帝既不愛惜自己的兒子，為我們眾人捨了，豈不也把萬物和他一同白白地賜給我們嗎？」

 

    因此，我們要想到上帝對人是何等的憐憫，我們也要像主一般憐憫人，正如身為祭司的亞希米勒，憐憫大衛不只給大衛吃飽還給大衛防身的武器！上帝是何等記念這事，還透過主耶穌來宣講！

 

    而主耶穌的登山寶訓也說到：「憐恤人的人有福了！因為他們必蒙憐恤。」(馬太福音5:7)

 

    讓我們靠著主的愛彼此憐恤，上帝的憐恤必定臨到我們，使我們享受永生無限！