歷代志下5:11-14

 

5:11 當時，在那裡所有的祭司都已自潔，並不分班供職。
5:12 他們出聖所的時候，歌唱的利未人亞薩、希幔、耶杜頓，和他們的眾子眾弟兄都穿細麻布衣服，站在壇的東邊，敲鈸、鼓瑟、彈琴，同著他們有一百二十個祭司吹號。
5:13 吹號的、歌唱的都一齊發聲，聲合為一，讚美感謝耶和華。吹號、敲鈸，用各種樂器，揚聲讚美耶和華說：耶和華本為善，他的慈愛永遠長存！那時，耶和華的殿有雲充滿，
5:14 甚至祭司不能站立供職，因為耶和華的榮光充滿了上帝的殿。

¹¹ The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. ¹² All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. ¹³ The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang:

“He is good;
    his love endures forever.”

Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, ¹⁴ and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.

 

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    這是約櫃進入聖殿之後第一次的禮拜，最讓人驚喜與注意的就是「耶和華的榮光充滿了上帝的殿」！

    這也讓我們思考到，我們的禮拜是不是充滿上帝的榮光？這也就是說我們的禮拜是不是有上帝的同在？有上帝的同在的表徵就是：充滿上帝的榮光。也唯有上帝的榮光臨到，我們才會充滿喜樂與滿足。

    願我們的禮拜都蒙上帝悅納，使上帝的榮光充滿在我們當中！

 

 

歷代志下4:1-6

 4:1 他又製造一座銅壇，長二十肘，寬二十肘，高十肘；

4:2 又鑄一個銅海，樣式是圓的，高五肘，徑十肘，圍三十肘；

4:3 海周圍有野瓜（野瓜：原文是牛）的樣式，每肘十瓜，共有兩行，是鑄海的時候鑄上的；

4:4 有十二隻銅牛馱海：三隻向北，三隻向西，三隻向南，三隻向東；海在牛上，牛尾向內；

4:5 海厚一掌，邊如杯邊，又如百合花，可容三千罷特；

4:6 又製造十個盆：五個放在右邊，五個放在左邊，獻燔祭所用之物都洗在其內；但海是為祭司沐浴的。

 He made a bronze altar twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide and ten cubits high.^[a] 2 He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits^[b] high. It took a line of thirty cubits^[c] to measure around it. ³ Below the rim, figures of bulls encircled it—ten to a cubit.^[d] The bulls were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea.

⁴ The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center. ⁵ It was a handbreadth^[e] in thickness, and its rim was like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held three thousand baths.^[f]

⁶ He then made ten basins for washing and placed five on the south side and five on the north. In them the things to be used for the burnt offerings were rinsed, but the Sea was to be used by the priests for washing.

 

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    在這裡讓我們看見聖殿中的「海」，其功用是給祭司沐浴之用。表示獻祭之前，祭司和寄物都要洗清潔。而下面提到的尺寸供參考用：

         ●「二十肘」：10.4公尺。

         ●「十肘」：5.2公尺。

         ●「三十肘」：15.6公尺。

         ●「一掌」：約7.4公分。

         ●「罷特」：約22公升。

歷代志下3:6

  

又用寶石裝飾殿牆，使殿華美；所用的金子都是巴瓦音的金子。

He adorned the temple with precious stones. And the gold he used was gold of Parvaim.

 

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    「巴瓦音」是「東方的地區」的意思，一個以產金子出名的地區，可能位在阿拉伯某地，有可能在俄斐境內。

 

    然而「俄斐」的字義是「變成灰燼」，位於阿拉伯南部，或非洲。是所羅門時期黃金貿易重鎮。

歷代志下3:15-17

 

3:15 在殿前造了兩根柱子，高三十五肘；每柱頂高五肘。
3:16 又照聖所內鍊子的樣式做鍊子，安在柱頂上；又做一百石榴，安在鍊子上。
3:17 將兩根柱子立在殿前，一根在右邊，一根在左邊；右邊的起名叫雅斤，左邊的起名叫波阿斯。

 

¹⁵ For the front of the temple he made two pillars, which together were thirty-five cubits long, each with a capital five cubits high. ¹⁶ He made interwoven chain and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains. ¹⁷ He erected the pillars in the front of the temple, one to the south and one to the north. The one to the south he named Jakin and the one to the north Boaz.

 

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    「雅斤」的意思是「他將建立」；「波阿斯」的意思是「敏捷、快速奔跑的能力」。聖殿的兩隻柱子用這樣的名稱，就是要見證上帝的大能大力！我們信靠的上帝是建立者與敏捷者，凡事都在祂的旨意中進行，使信靠祂的人十分安穩、十分平安！

 

 

 

歷代志下3:1

 所羅門就在耶路撒冷、耶和華向他父大衛顯現的摩利亞山上，就是耶布斯人阿珥楠的禾場上、大衛所指定的地方預備好了，開工建造耶和華的殿。

Then Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah[a] the Jebusite, the place provided by David.

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     說到建聖殿的地點是在「耶路撒冷、耶和華向他父大衛顯現的摩利亞山上，就是耶布斯人阿珥楠的禾場上」，讓我們可以從聖經看見這是一個神聖的的地方。是亞伯拉罕獻以撒的地方，也是上帝透過先知迦得告訴大衛為耶和華築一座壇的地方。這兩個事件都是顯現上帝拯救的地方，一個是拯救以撒、另一個是拯救以色列人脫離瘟疫。

    這也告訴我們：敬拜上帝是因為上帝拯救我們脫離死亡和罪惡，使我們蒙受他所賜的救贖之恩。也因此，敬拜上帝是要回應上帝的拯救，這也是我們為甚麼要守主日禮拜的原因。

    我們的禮拜是要感謝與讚美上帝，並要向世人宣告上帝的救恩。這不是責任或規條，而是我們蒙受上帝救贖之恩該有的行為表現，是出於甘心樂意，不是被勉強或要求的！

歷代志下2:17-18

 2:17 所羅門仿照他父大衛數點住在以色列地所有寄居的外邦人，共有十五萬三千六百名；

2:18 使七萬人扛抬材料，八萬人在山上鑿石頭，三千六百人督理工作。

¹⁷ Solomon took a census of all the foreigners residing in Israel, after the census his father David had taken; and they were found to be 153,600. ¹⁸ He assigned 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 to be stonecutters in the hills, with 3,600 foremen over them to keep the people working. 

 

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    所羅門建造聖殿的工程是非常辛苦的，也因此他採用了寄居的外邦人。他籌畫這工作也做了大略的分工：「使七萬人扛抬材料，八萬人在山上鑿石頭，三千六百人督理工作。」

    他也看重協調與管理的工作，除了賣體力工作之外，還設立「三千六百人督理工作」。這表示不能窮忙，凡事要有條理和系統，這3600個督理工作人員，是讓工程確實與迅速完成的重要角色。

    而這一切都讓我們看見所羅門的智慧呢！

 

 

歷代志下2:11-16

 2:11 泰爾王希蘭寫信回答所羅門說：「耶和華因為愛他的子民，所以立你作他們的王」；

2:12 又說：「創造天地的耶和華─以色列的上帝是應當稱頌的！他賜給大衛王一個有智慧的兒子，使他有謀略聰明，可以為耶和華建造殿宇，又為自己的國建造宮室。

2:13 「現在我打發一個精巧有聰明的人去，他是我父親希蘭所用的，

2:14 是但支派一個婦人的兒子。他父親是泰爾人，他善用金、銀、銅、鐵、石、木，和紫色、藍色、朱紅色線與細麻製造各物，並精於雕刻，又能想出各樣的巧工。請你派定這人，與你的巧匠和你父─我主大衛的巧匠一同做工。

2:15 我主所說的小麥、大麥、酒、油，願我主運來給眾僕人。

2:16 我們必照你所需用的，從黎巴嫩砍伐樹木，紮成筏子，浮海運到約帕；你可以從那裡運到耶路撒冷。」

¹¹ Hiram king of Tyre replied by letter to Solomon:

“Because the Lord loves his people, he has made you their king.”

¹² And Hiram added:

“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son, endowed with intelligence and discernment, who will build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.

¹³ “I am sending you Huram-Abi, a man of great skill, ¹⁴ whose mother was from Dan and whose father was from Tyre. He is trained to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, and with purple and blue and crimson yarn and fine linen. He is experienced in all kinds of engraving and can execute any design given to him. He will work with your skilled workers and with those of my lord, David your father.

¹⁵ “Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and barley and the olive oil and wine he promised, ¹⁶ and we will cut all the logs from Lebanon that you need and will float them as rafts by sea down to Joppa. You can then take them up to Jerusalem.”

 

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    在這裡我們看見一項很大的交易：所羅門用以色列盛產的糧食、農作物來交換泰爾的木料與技術（這是以色列欠缺的），達成一種雙贏的結果。

    而泰爾王也很有智慧，派給以色列的總工程師，是有以色列人的血源，其母親是但支派的，雖然父親是泰爾人。不僅如此，還是經驗老道的：「他善用金、銀、銅、鐵、石、木，和紫色、藍色、朱紅色線與細麻製造各物，並精於雕刻，又能想出各樣的巧工。」

    在這裡更讓我們看見成事需要「技術」和「材料」為基礎，背後的運籌帷幄才是使這兩樣發揮功能的力量。而這樣的智慧是來自上帝，而不是人的空想！