2020年10月8日 星期四
約伯記8:1-22
8:1 書亞人比勒達回答說：
8:2 這些話你要說到幾時？口中的言語如狂風要到幾時呢？
8:3 上帝豈能偏離公平？全能者豈能偏離公義？
8:4 或者你的兒女得罪了他；他使他們受報應。
8:5 你若殷勤地尋求上帝，向全能者懇求；
8:6 你若清潔正直，他必定為你起來，使你公義的居所興旺。
8:7 你起初雖然微小，終久必甚發達。
8:8 請你考問前代，追念他們的列祖所查究的。
8:9 我們不過從昨日才有，一無所知；我們在世的日子好像影兒。
8:10 他們豈不指教你，告訴你，從心裡發出言語來呢？
8:11 蒲草沒有泥豈能發長？蘆荻沒有水豈能生發？
8:12 尚青的時候，還沒有割下，比百樣的草先枯槁。
8:13 凡忘記上帝的人，景況也是這樣；不虔敬人的指望要滅沒。
8:14 他所仰賴的必折斷；他所倚靠的是蜘蛛網。
8:15 他要倚靠房屋，房屋卻站立不住；他要抓住房屋，房屋卻不能存留。
8:16 他在日光之下發青，蔓子爬滿了園子；
8:17 他的根盤繞石堆，扎入石地。
8:18 他若從本地被拔出，那地就不認識他，說：我沒有見過你。
8:19 看哪，這就是他道中之樂；以後必另有人從地而生。
8:20 上帝必不丟棄完全人，也不扶助邪惡人。
8:21 他還要以喜笑充滿你的口，以歡呼充滿你的嘴。
8:22 恨惡你的要披戴慚愧；惡人的帳棚必歸於無有。
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 “How
long will you say such things?
Your words are a blustering wind.
3 Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 When your children sinned against him,
he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
5 But if you will seek God earnestly
and plead with the Almighty,
6 if you are pure and upright,
even now he will rouse himself on your behalf
and restore you to your prosperous state.
7 Your beginnings will seem humble,
so prosperous will your future be.
8 “Ask
the former generation
and find out what their ancestors learned,
9 for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,
and our days on earth are but a shadow.
10 Will they not instruct you and tell you?
Will they not bring forth words from their
understanding?
11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?
Can reeds thrive without water?
12 While still growing and uncut,
they wither more quickly than grass.
13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
so perishes the hope of the godless.
14 What they trust in is fragile[a];
what they rely on is a spider’s web.
15 They lean on the web, but it gives way;
they cling to it, but it does not hold.
16 They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine,
spreading its shoots over the garden;
17 it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks
and looks for a place among the stones.
18 But when it is torn from its spot,
that place disowns it and says, ‘I never saw you.’
19 Surely its life withers away,
and[b] from the
soil other plants grow.
20 “Surely
God does not reject one who is blameless
or strengthen the hands of evildoers.
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with shouts of joy.
22 Your enemies will be clothed in shame,
and the tents of the wicked will be no more.”
*************
書亞人比勒達也是和先前的提幔人以利法一樣，是用膚淺想法來批評約伯。這兩個人的名字的意義都和他們的為人有些像：「以利法」的意思是「我的神是精金」；而「比勒達」的意思是「迷惑混淆的愛」。
他們的共通點就是指約伯有今天的情形發生，是因為犯罪的結果。以利法還好一點是說約伯犯罪得罪上帝，而比勒達卻說：「上帝豈能偏離公平？全能者豈能偏離公義？或者你的兒女得罪了他；他使他們受報應。」
比勒達可是抓準這個時機點教訓約伯一番，以為約伯不知道自己是怎樣得罪上帝！甚至還自以為有智慧說：「你若殷勤地尋求上帝，向全能者懇求；你若清潔正直，他必定為你起來，使你公義的居所興旺。」
相信約伯聽了他的話，心裡一定會覺得他見識淺薄，心中會覺得：「到底是來安慰我還是來定我和我兒女的罪，還是來安慰我的？為什麼一直數落我們呢？倒不如不要來好了！」
這也讓基督徒有一些反省，我們是不是認為「清潔正直」的人才會蒙上帝賜福！而忘記，若沒有上帝的恩典，人怎麼會「清潔正直」？照人的本性是被罪惡污染，是因為始祖犯罪造成罪性來綑綁人。而主耶穌降生到這個世界，是要救祂的百姓脫離罪性的影響，不是要懲罰有罪的百姓！若沒有上帝在基督裡的賜福，人是無法脫離罪惡的轄制的！我們傳福音是要告訴人：上帝救我們脫離罪惡，進入祂的光明國度！所以，我們傳福音，不是要宣判人有罪。
親愛的弟兄姊妹，求主幫助，讓我們讀《約伯記》之後，得著智慧的心，知道如何將人完完全全帶到上帝的面前。
羅馬書8:18-21
8:18 我想，現在的苦楚若比起將來要顯於我們的榮耀就不足介意了。
8:19 受造之物切望等候上帝的眾子顯出來。
8:20 因為受造之物服在虛空之下，不是自己願意，乃是因那叫他如此的。
8:21 但受造之物仍然指望脫離敗壞的轄制，得享（享：原文是入）上帝兒女自由的榮耀。
That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next.
Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
**************
什麼是基督徒的盼望呢﹖是一夜致富嗎﹖是被高舉成為眾人的領袖嗎﹖當然都不是！我們所盼望的是基督的再來，上帝國完完全全實現，我們一同與基督享受永遠的榮耀！
而這樣的盼望是產生我們料像不到的能力，就像古時的許多基督徒，為何能夠忍受那麼大的逼迫呢﹖雖然要犧牲自己的生命，身體受到極大的殘害，心靈被大大的壓抑，都是超越今天我們能夠承受的◦但是，他們卻毫無畏懼，甚至是從容就義！甚至還懷這喜悅的心，向上帝呼喊：「我將我的靈魂交在你的手中了！」
當然這是在外表所看見的，在內心的掙扎的過程，也是可歌可泣！許多人為著將來的榮耀，忍受魔鬼在人心中的試探，和自己敗壞本性交戰，這也是基督徒生命之中常常經歷的，就像保羅所說的：「我是攻克己身，叫身服我，恐怕我傳福音給別人，自己反被棄絕了。」（哥林多前書:9:27）
因此不管在什麼年代，基督徒要面對的仇敵是「肉體、世界、魔鬼」，而基督如何得勝呢﹖就是要靠「上帝的道、基督的代求、聖靈的內住」使我們對將來有「得榮耀」的盼望和確據！
親愛的弟兄姊妹，我們得主耶穌已經勝過罪和死的權勢，賜下生命和聖靈，我們就存著盼望向前行，相著標竿直跑，要得著上帝在基督裡為我們預備的榮耀而努力，我們必定不會落空的！
2020年10月7日 星期三
撒母耳記上25:1-44
25:1 撒母耳死了，以色列眾人聚集，為他哀哭，將他葬在拉瑪─他自己的墳墓（原文是房屋）裡。大衛起身，下到巴蘭的曠野。
25:2 在瑪雲有一個人，他的產業在迦密，是一個大富戶，有三千綿羊，一千山羊；他正在迦密剪羊毛。
25:3 那人名叫拿八，是迦勒族的人；他的妻名叫亞比該，是聰明俊美的婦人。拿八為人剛愎凶惡。
25:4 大衛在曠野聽見說拿八剪羊毛，
25:5 大衛就打發十個僕人，吩咐他們說：「你們上迦密去見拿八，提我的名問他安。
25:6 要對那富戶如此說：『願你平安，願你家平安，願你一切所有的都平安。
25:7 現在我聽說有人為你剪羊毛，你的牧人在迦密的時候和我們在一處，我們沒有欺負他們，他們也未曾失落甚麼。
25:8 可以問你的僕人，他們必告訴你。所以願我的僕人在你眼前蒙恩，因為是在好日子來的。求你隨手取點賜與僕人和你兒子大衛。』」
25:9 大衛的僕人到了，將這話提大衛的名都告訴了拿八，就住了口。
25:10 拿八回答大衛的僕人說：「大衛是誰？耶西的兒子是誰？近來悖逆主人奔逃的僕人甚多，
25:11 我豈可將飲食和為我剪羊毛人所宰的肉給我不知道從哪裡來的人呢？」
25:12 大衛的僕人就轉身從原路回去，照這話告訴大衛。
25:13 大衛向跟隨他的人說：「你們各人都要帶上刀！」眾人就都帶上刀，大衛也帶上刀。跟隨大衛上去的約有四百人，留下二百人看守器具。
25:14 有拿八的一個僕人告訴拿八的妻亞比該說：「大衛從曠野打發使者來問我主人的安，主人卻辱罵他們。
25:15 但是那些人待我們甚好；我們在田野與他們來往的時候，沒有受他們的欺負，也未曾失落甚麼。
25:16 我們在他們那裡牧羊的時候，他們晝夜作我們的保障。
25:17 所以你當籌劃，看怎樣行才好；不然，禍患定要臨到我主人和他全家。他性情凶暴，無人敢與他說話。」
25:18 亞比該急忙將二百餅，兩皮袋酒，五隻收拾好了的羊，五細亞烘好了的穗子，一百葡萄餅，二百無花果餅，都馱在驢上，
25:19 對僕人說：「你們前頭走，我隨著你們去。」這事她卻沒有告訴丈夫拿八。
25:20 亞比該騎著驢，正下山坡，見大衛和跟隨他的人從對面下來，亞比該就迎接他們。
25:21 大衛曾說：「我在曠野為那人看守所有的，以致他一樣不失落，實在是徒然了！他向我以惡報善。
25:22 凡屬拿八的男丁，我若留一個到明日早晨，願上帝重重降罰與我！」
25:23 亞比該見大衛，便急忙下驢，在大衛面前臉伏於地叩拜，
25:24 俯伏在大衛的腳前，說：「我主啊，願這罪歸我！求你容婢女向你進言，更求你聽婢女的話。
25:25 我主不要理這壞人拿八，他的性情與他的名相稱；他名叫拿八（就是愚頑的意思），他為人果然愚頑。但我主所打發的僕人，婢女並沒有看見。
25:26 我主啊，耶和華既然阻止你親手報仇，取流血的罪，所以我指著永生的耶和華、又敢在你面前起誓說：『願你的仇敵和謀害你的人都像拿八一樣。』
25:27 如今求你將婢女送來的禮物給跟隨你的僕人。
25:28 求你饒恕婢女的罪過。耶和華必為我主建立堅固的家，因我主為耶和華爭戰；並且在你平生的日子查不出有甚麼過來。
25:29 雖有人起來追逼你，尋索你的性命，你的性命卻在耶和華─你的上帝那裡蒙保護，如包裹寶器一樣；你仇敵的性命，耶和華必拋去，如用機弦甩石一樣。
25:30 我主現在若不親手報仇流無辜人的血，到了耶和華照所應許你的話賜福與你，立你作以色列的王，那時我主必不致心裡不安，覺得良心有虧。耶和華賜福與我主的時候，求你記念婢女。」
25:31 【併於上節】
25:32 大衛對亞比該說：「耶和華─以色列的上帝是應當稱頌的，因為他今日使你來迎接我。
25:33 你和你的見識也當稱讚；因為你今日攔阻我親手報仇、流人的血。
25:34 我指著阻止我加害於你的耶和華─以色列永生的上帝起誓，你若不速速地來迎接我，到明日早晨，凡屬拿八的男丁必定不留一個。」
25:35 大衛受了亞比該送來的禮物，就對她說：「我聽了你的話，准了你的情面，你可以平平安安地回家吧！」
25:36 亞比該到拿八那裡，見他在家裡設擺筵席，如同王的筵席；拿八快樂大醉。亞比該無論大小事都沒有告訴他，就等到次日早晨。
25:37 到了早晨，拿八醒了酒，他的妻將這些事都告訴他，他就魂不附體，身僵如石頭一般。
25:38 過了十天，耶和華擊打拿八，他就死了。
25:39 大衛聽見拿八死了，就說：「應當稱頌耶和華，因他伸了拿八羞辱我的冤，又阻止僕人行惡；也使拿八的惡歸到拿八的頭上。」於是大衛打發人去，與亞比該說，要娶她為妻。
25:40 大衛的僕人到了迦密見亞比該，對她說：「大衛打發我們來見你，想要娶你為妻。」
25:41 亞比該就起來，俯伏在地，說：「我情願作婢女，洗我主僕人的腳。」
25:42 亞比該立刻起身，騎上驢，帶著五個使女，跟從大衛的使者去了，就作了大衛的妻。
25:43 大衛先娶了耶斯列人亞希暖，她們二人都作了他的妻。
25:44 掃羅已將他的女兒米甲，就是大衛的妻，給了迦琳人拉億的兒子帕提為妻。
Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved down into the Desert of Paran.[a]
2 A certain man in Maon, who had property there at Carmel, was very wealthy. He had a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel. 3 His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband was surly and mean in his dealings—he was a Calebite.
4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep. 5 So he sent ten young men and said to them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name. 6 Say to him: ‘Long life to you! Good health to you and your household! And good health to all that is yours!
7 “‘Now I hear that it is sheep-shearing time. When your shepherds were with us, we did not mistreat them, and the whole time they were at Carmel nothing of theirs was missing. 8 Ask your own servants and they will tell you. Therefore be favorable toward my men, since we come at a festive time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can find for them.’”
9 When David’s men arrived, they gave Nabal this message in David’s name. Then they waited.
10 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”
12 David’s men turned around and went back. When they arrived, they reported every word. 13 David said to his men, “Each of you strap on your sword!” So they did, and David strapped his on as well. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
14 One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. 15 Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. 16 Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. 17 Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”
18 Abigail acted quickly. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs[b] of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of raisins and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. 19 Then she told her servants, “Go on ahead; I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
20 As she came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, there were David and his men descending toward her, and she met them. 21 David had just said, “It’s been useless—all my watching over this fellow’s property in the wilderness so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good. 22 May God deal with David,[c] be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!”
23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. 25 Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. 26 And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. 27 And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.
28 “Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. 29 Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. 30 When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, 31 my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.”
32 David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. 33 May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. 34 Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.”
35 Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words and granted your request.”
36 When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until daybreak. 37 Then in the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him all these things, and his heart failed him and he became like a stone. 38 About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal and he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise be to the Lord, who has upheld my cause against Nabal for treating me with contempt. He has kept his servant from doing wrong and has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.”
Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. 40 His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife.”
41 She bowed down with her face to the ground and said, “I am your servant and am ready to serve you and wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” 42 Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David’s messengers and became his wife. 43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives. 44 But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Paltiel[d] son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
***********
有一次和女兒討論事情，最後隨口說了一句話：「愚笨不可怕，怕的是愚笨又不聽勸告，自以為了不起！」
今天我們讀的經文中所提到的拿八，就是既愚笨又自以為了不起的人，就像他的名字的意義一樣，是一個愚頑人。在聖經所提的愚頑人，通常是不敬畏耶和華，以至於他們不知如何善待人，不能做出人該做的事情。
然而拿八的妻子亞比該，就和拿巴又大大的差別，她知道拿八的作為是會為家族帶來極大的災害，於是就在事情還沒有發生以前，趕快做補救的工作，好阻止一場如同腥風血雨般的復仇行動，避免兩方面的人敢感到終生的遺憾！
然而拿八一方面沒有見識，另一方面沒有承擔的勇氣，所以聽到亞比該所報告的事情會受不了，甚至最後被上帝擊打而死！也讓人感受到愚頑人是無法承受上帝的憤怒的，這也暗指掃羅將來也會有如此的命運！
求主保守我們，讓我們在聖靈的更新與引導下，成為敬畏上帝的人！人是無法靠自己成為敬畏上帝的人，必要透過聖靈的工作，也因此人可以敬畏上帝，是因為上帝的恩典，不是我們比別人優秀！