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以東受審象徵列國的荒涼

2023-03-23 in , /by

以賽亞書34:8   因耶和華有報仇之日，為錫安的爭辯有報應之年。  

閱讀經文：以賽亞書 34:1-17

1列國啊，要近前來聽！眾民哪，要側耳而聽！地和其上所充滿的，世界和其中一切所出的，都應當聽！ 2 因為耶和華向萬國發憤恨，向他們的全軍發烈怒，將他們滅盡，交出他們受殺戮。 3 被殺的必然拋棄，屍首臭氣上騰，諸山被他們的血溶化。 4 天上的萬象都要消沒，天被捲起好像書卷；其上的萬象要殘敗，像葡萄樹的葉子殘敗，又像無花果樹的葉子殘敗一樣。 5 「因為我的刀在天上已經喝足，這刀必臨到以東和我所咒詛的民，要施行審判。 6 耶和華的刀滿了血，用脂油和羊羔、公山羊的血，並公綿羊腰子的脂油滋潤的，因為耶和華在波斯拉有獻祭的事，在以東地大行殺戮。 7 野牛、牛犢和公牛要一同下來，他們的地喝醉了血，他們的塵土因脂油肥潤。」

本段屬卅四章，先知提到神對列國的審判，這是因為列國的罪不容於耶和華神。而先知敘述中的審判是以以東這個國家做為列國的代表，因為以色列乃是神所特別揀選的民族，是背負宣揚神屬靈救恩大使命的。但是，以東這個原本是屬同根生之邦，卻肆無忌憚地破壞攻擊他們的手足以色列，因而惹動了耶和華神的震怒。所以，神定意要報復以東。

就在先知宣佈了神的報復決心之後，緊接著先知便描述了神如何報復以東。這一波審判包括四個方面，在希伯來文中，第2, 5, 6下, 8等節開頭都以「因為」一詞作開頭，並且以相仿的結構表達神的宣告──「有忿恨」（v.2）、「有刀」（v.5）、「有祭」（v.6下）、「有日子」（v.8）：

Only God Knows the Future

2023-03-23 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 41:21-42:9.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 41:21-29 (NIV)
21  “Present your case,” says the LORD. “Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.
22  “Bring in [your idols] to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come,
23  tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.

On verses 21-29:  Here Isaiah shares another way that the idols of the nations cannot compare to the LORD: the idols of the nations are useless in helping their worshipers discern the future (v21-23).  Thus these idols are “detestable” (v24), false (v29), and reduce those who worship them to “less than nothing” (v24), leaving their worshippers with “no one among them to give counsel” (v28).

The One Who Holds Your Hand

2023-03-22 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 41:1-20.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 41:1-4 (NIV)
1  “Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment.
2  “Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.
3  He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before.
4  Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD–with the first of them and with the last–I am he.”

On verses 1-4:  Many scholars believe that this “one from the east” is a reference to Cyrus, King of Persia, whose kingdom would be located east of Judah and east of Babylon.  Cyrus would rise up to become the most formidable force in the ancient Near East conquering many other nations.  In 539 B.C. would conquer Babylon and allow the Jewish exiles in Babylon to return to their homeland of Judah.

神以亞述之道還治其身

2023-03-22 in , /by

以賽亞書33:2  耶和華啊，求祢施恩於我們，我們等候祢！求祢每早晨做我們的膀臂，遭難的時候為我們的拯救。 

閱讀經文：以賽亞書 33:1-24

1禍哉！你這毀滅人的，自己倒不被毀滅；行事詭詐的，人倒不以詭詐待你。你毀滅罷休了，自己必被毀滅；你行完了詭詐，人必以詭詐待你。 2 耶和華啊，求你施恩於我們，我們等候你！求你每早晨做我們的膀臂，遭難的時候為我們的拯救。3 喧嚷的響聲一發，眾民奔逃；你一興起，列國四散。 4 你們所擄的必被斂盡，好像螞蚱吃盡禾稼；人要蹦在其上，好像蝗蟲一樣。 5 耶和華被尊崇，因他居在高處，他以公平、公義充滿錫安。 6 你一生一世必得安穩，有豐盛的救恩並智慧和知識，你以敬畏耶和華為至寶。

本段為第六個「禍哉」的內容，論到亞述權勢的傾覆。本段又分為兩部份，第一部份為33:1-13，提到耶和華神對亞述的懲罰，第二部份為33:14-24主要是說到神的選民因此而得到和平的光景。

正如前一章所述，亞述必倒在耶和華的刀下，他們必要從耶路撒冷退兵。一開始，先知宣告亞述以前如何以詭詐待人，今日人也必以詭詐待它；它以前如何盡行毀滅，如今自己也必被毀滅（33:1）。這一切報應的實現，都因著神垂聽了祂子民的呼求，做為祂百姓的膀臂與拯救（33:2）。

聖靈澆灌的啟示

2023-03-21 in , /by

以賽亞書32:17   公義的果效必是平安，公義的效驗必是平穩，直到永遠。

閱讀經文：以賽亞書 32:1-20

1看哪，必有一王憑公義行政，必有首領藉公平掌權。 2 必有一人像避風所和避暴雨的隱密處，又像河流在乾旱之地，像大磐石的影子在疲乏之地。 3 那能看的人，眼不再昏迷；能聽的人，耳必得聽聞。 4 冒失人的心必明白知識，結巴人的舌必說話通快。 5 愚頑人不再稱為高明，吝嗇人不再稱為大方。 6 因為愚頑人必說愚頑話，心裡想做罪孽，慣行褻瀆的事，說錯謬的話攻擊耶和華，使飢餓的人無食可吃，使口渴的人無水可喝。 7 吝嗇人所用的法子是惡的，他圖謀惡計，用謊言毀滅謙卑人，窮乏人講公理的時候，他也是這樣行。 8 高明人卻謀高明事，在高明事上也必永存。

本段為第五個「禍哉」的第二部份，主要經文為第卅二章，本章主要論到神必興起一王（可能指的是22:20-22的以利亞敬，他也是彌賽亞的預表），他要憑公義治理猶大。從更遠一點的焦距觀察，先知透過此王的統治，透視到彌賽亞對普世列國的掌權。先知說「必有一人」（原文為『每個人』）像避風所和避暴雨的隱密處，意指在彌賽亞的統治之下，每一個屬於祂的領袖，都能反映出祂的公平與公義，因著此一理想統治群的治理，使得每一位百姓都如沐春風，安居樂業。先知形容這群領袖要成為百姓的避風所，百姓在他們的統治之下，好像「河流在乾旱之地，像大磐石的影子在疲乏之地」，不但能夠滋潤百姓乾旱的心田，更使在戰亂中身心疲憊的百姓，好似獲得處可以憩息的陰涼處所。

The Incomparable God Who Renews Our Strength

2023-03-21 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 40:15-31.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 40:15-17 (NIV)
15  Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.
16  Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings.
17  Before him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by him as worthless and less than nothing.
 
On verses 15-17:  The biggest theme coming out of verses 15-28 is that God is the incomparable one.  Nothing can compare to Him.  The nations can’t compare to Him (v15-17).  Even Lebanon, which is a fertile, wooded area of Judah, lacks the wood or animals needed to bring the size of offering that God deserves (v16).

倚靠神得拯救

2023-03-20 in , /by

以賽亞書31:6   以色列人哪，你們深深地悖逆耶和華，現今要歸向祂。 

閱讀經文：以賽亞書31:1-9

1禍哉，那些下埃及求幫助的！是因仗賴馬匹，倚靠甚多的車輛，並倚靠強壯的馬兵，卻不仰望以色列的聖者，也不求問耶和華。 2 其實耶和華有智慧，他必降災禍，並不反悔自己的話，卻要興起攻擊那作惡之家，又攻擊那作孽幫助人的。 3 埃及人不過是人，並不是神；他們的馬不過是血肉，並不是靈。耶和華一伸手，那幫助人的必絆跌，那受幫助的也必跌倒，都一同滅亡。

本段為第五個「禍哉」（包含31至32兩章），旨在闡述倚靠埃及的不智。因為「埃及人不過是人，並不是神」（31:3），那真正能拯救猶大脫離亞述手的，唯有那「有火在錫安，有爐在耶路撒冷的耶和華」（George Arthur Buttrick  認為火與爐乃是象徵錫安祭壇的神聖與毀滅性）。

第卅一章主要論到倚靠埃及不如倚靠萬軍的耶和華，亞述終必傾倒，不是出於埃及的幫助，而是因耶和華手中的刀。

Let the King of Glory Come In

2023-03-20 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 40:1-14.  Let’s go!

Here in chapter 40 we come to one of the most beloved chapters in all of Isaiah.  Some early church fathers (like Eusebius of Caesarea, Ephrem of Syria and Cyril of Alexandria) seem to have interpreted Isaiah 40 as an immediate response to Isaiah 39 where Hezekiah unwittingly reveals his nation’s top secrets to the Babylonians.  This would have happened before 701 B.C. However, in the more recent centuries, Christian commentators have interpreted Isaiah 40-55 to be Isaiah talking about a much later event in the future, namely, the time from about 580 to 540 B.C. when the Jewish people were exiles in Babylon and how one day God was going to bring them back to their homeland of Judah.  I will approach Isaiah 40 with this Babylonian exile in mind as the historical background for these verses.  With this approach, I think you’ll find that, like a flower blooming, Isaiah 40 opens up in some beautiful and powerful ways.

The Hero of Your Story

2023-03-19 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Isaiah 39.  Let’s go!

Isaiah 39:1 (NIV)
1  At that time Merodach-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery.
 
On verse 1:  “At that time” refers to the time when Hezekiah miraculously recovered from his life-threatening sickness.  According to the New American Commentary, Merodach-Baladon II was ruler of Babylon until 703 B.C. when Assyria’s King Sennacherib ousted him from power.  This, together with Isaiah 38:6, tells us that the events described in Isaiah 38 and here in Isaiah 39 happened before God delivered Jerusalem from Assyria in 701 B.C.  But why would Isaiah order these events this way?  Why talk about God delivering Jerusalem from Assyria first in Isaiah 36-37 and then flashback to the earlier events of Hezekiah’s recovery from illness and the Babylonians’ visit to Hezekiah in Isaiah 38 and 39?  Scholars have posited many different theories, but the most important reason I believe is that Isaiah is trying to show that this Messiah that Isaiah 1-35 have been talking about is not Hezekiah but someone else.  So rather than end on a note of tremendous victory for Hezekiah, Isaiah ends his account of Hezekiah’s life by talking about his weakness in Isaiah 38 as well as a major mistake that Hezekiah makes here in Isaiah 39.  Let’s see what that mistake was.

得救在乎歸回安息

2023-03-19 in , /by

以賽亞書30:29   你們必唱歌，像守聖節的夜間一樣；並且心中喜樂，像人吹笛，上耶和華的山，到以色列的磐石那裡。   

閱讀經文：以賽亞書30:15-33

15 主耶和華以色列的聖者曾如此說：「你們得救在乎歸回安息，你們得力在乎平靜安穩。」你們竟自不肯！ 16 你們卻說：「不然，我們要騎馬奔走。」所以你們必然奔走。又說：「我們要騎飛快的牲口。」所以追趕你們的也必飛快。 17 一人叱喝必令千人逃跑，五人叱喝你們都必逃跑，以致剩下的好像山頂的旗杆，岡上的大旗。

先知在譴責猶大密謀與埃及結盟的政客之後，接著就論述到與埃及的結盟是完全沒有用處的。本段為第四個「禍哉」。計分為兩部份，第一部份為30:1-14，第二部份為30:15-33。

在第一部份先知再度重申與埃及結密盟，並不是求問神的結果，也不是出於神的心意（30:1-2），他們倚靠埃及卻不仰望神的舉動，無異於「罪上加罪」。因此耶和華神要讓他們的使臣在埃及人面前蒙羞，因為埃及原本就不利於猶大，猶大卻滿載禮物曲承它（30:3-5）。