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约西亚战死沙场

2021-12-21 in , /by

〈列王纪〉下 23:3王站在柱旁，在耶和华面前立约，要尽心、尽性地顺从耶和华，遵守他的诫命、法度、律例，成就这书上所记的约言。众民都服从这约。

阅读经文：〈列王纪〉下 23:1-30   /   〈历代志〉下 35

犹大王：罗波安→亚比央→亚撒→约沙法→约兰→亚哈谢→（亚她利雅）→约阿施→亚玛谢→亚撒利雅（乌西雅）→约坦→亚哈斯→希西家→玛拿西→亚扪→约西亚

在耶罗波安做第一任北国的以色列王时，他造了两个金牛犊。神派了一位神人从犹大去伯特利警告他，并且预言：“大卫家里必生一个儿子，名叫约西亚，他必将丘坛的祭司，就是在你上面烧香的，杀在你上面，人的骨头也必烧在你上面。（王上13:2）”神的预言何等准确，连约西亚的名字都在预言之中。在预言发出的三百多年后，约西亚不但拆毁焚烧耶罗波安所的坛，杀假祭司，并且打发人将坟墓里的骸骨取出来，烧在坛上。死人一般被认为不洁净，将人的骸骨烧在祭坛上，是一种污秽异教祭坛的作法。

约西亚在位时所做的一切让我们看到当时异教的风俗何等盛行：不仅拜巴力和亚舍拉，还向日、月、行星并天上万象烧香。他们在圣殿里拜巴力和亚舍拉以及天上的万象，圣殿里还有给娈童住的屋子，给妇女为亚舍拉织帐子的地方。在城里山上，从所罗门到亚哈斯、玛拿西、亚们为异教所筑的丘坛，约西亚都把它们污秽了。欣嫩子谷是指在耶路撒冷以南的一个山谷，靠近耶撒冷城的哈珥西门口。亚哈斯和玛拿西曾经在此向假神献上自己的儿女，把他们活活烧死，因此又得名“陀斐特”，即焚烧之处。此处也拿来作为崇拜摩洛之处，神曾经借着耶利米先知宣告此地将不再称为欣嫩子谷或陀斐特，而要称为“杀戳谷the Valley of Slaughter”（耶7:32），因为他们在这里流无辜人的血。在约西亚王亵渎那神龛，并禁止在那里献祭之后，这地方成为焚烧犯人、动物尸体和废物的地方。因此欣嫩子谷日后被用作“地狱”的同义词，犹太人的传统曾把此地作为地狱的入口。

犹大王约西亚

2021-12-21 in /by

〈列王纪〉下22:2  约西亚行耶和华眼中看为正的事，行他祖大卫一切所行的，不偏左右。

阅读经文：〈列王纪〉下22:1-20
/ 〈历代志〉下34:1-7

一个八岁的孩子做王，若是没有旁人的扶持，怎能知道如何主理国政？正好比一个八岁的孩子，怎能知道如何选择人生的信仰？不管父母觉得是否应当帮助他们先做选择，从约西亚的例子上来看，有人帮助，好过他自己去摸索。所以在记载犹大历任的王时，都会记载他们的母亲是谁，虽然无从查考每一个母亲的背景，但是在隐约之中，似乎在提醒我们，一个母亲对孩子的成长有很大的影响。约西亚能行耶和华眼中看为正的事，行他祖大卫所行的，不偏左右，不能不归功于他的母亲。因为他的父亲亚扪是一个不敬虔的君王，在他八岁时就己经过世了。

约西亚在十六岁时，尚且年幼，就寻求大卫的神，而不是学傚他父亲亚们所拜的偶像。可见当时在约西亚旁边也有一些敬虔的人在辅佐他，引导他走正路。十六岁正是开始思想的年记，很多父母发现这年记的孩子已经不听他们的话了。因为他们已经开始有了独立的心灵，要去探讨人生。他们要找出自己的路，所以父母最好是多听他们的分享，在必要时点出他们的盲点（假如父母能查觉），不要提供自己很多已经过时的想法，这样孩子才会愿意和父母交流。有的父母不知道时代的改变有多快，每一年和前一年的制度或教育体系都有很大的不同，何况与父母当年的学习环境更是天壤之别，提出一大堆不合时的意见，孩子听了，以后就不想再和父母交流了。

约西亚寻求神，到了廿岁时，开始洁净犹大和耶路撒冷，除掉丘坛、木偶、雕刻的像和铸造的像。这是出于一个廿岁青年的决定，立志跟随神，不拜偶像。就好像现在很多基督徒青年，当他们决志跟随神时，就立志过圣洁的生活，不随波逐流，不在婚前与异性（或同性）发生性关系，立志过神所喜悦的生活。这样的心志实在非常宝贵。在年轻时就立志跟随神的人何等有福，因为他们可以躲过很多引诱，远离恶人恶事，过著蒙神祝福，没有后悔的人生。

Safe in the Storm

2021-12-20 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage: Exodus 9:13-26.  Let’s go!

Exodus 9:13-15 (NIV)
13  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me,
14  or this time I will send the full force of my plagues against you and against your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.
15  For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.

On verses 13-15:  These verses show us that the 10 plagues are evidence not just of God’s wrath, but of God’s patience, mercy and love.  For God could have easily wiped out all of Egypt with one single plague and rescued Israel that way, but instead God chose to turn up the heat of His wrath incrementally.  Why?  To give the Egyptians time to repent.  Thus God started with gentler plagues, so gentle that even Egyptians’ magicians could replicate them.  God would rather lose a bit of face if it meant He could save the softer hearted among the Egyptians with relatively gentler signs and wonders.  That’s the heart of God: to save and to rescue not just the Israelites, but all people.

犹大王亚们

2021-12-19 in /by

〈列王纪〉下21:24   但国民杀了那些背叛亚们王的人，立他儿子约西亚接续他做王。

阅读经文：〈列王记〉下21:19-26 / 〈历代志〉下33:21-25

在《圣经》里非常强调:“行耶和华眼中看为恶的事”。我们若仔细想想，“耶和华眼中看为恶的事”和“人眼中看为恶的事”似乎有些不同，因此还没有信主的人会觉得“我做的都比xx信徒还好，他可以上天堂，我反而不能？这样不公平的神，我不信！”。那么这两者究竟有何不同？为什么“耶和华眼中看为恶的事”有那么糟糕？亚们所做的事和玛拿西悔改之前所做的事一样，玛拿西究竟做了哪些事？

1.玛拿西重建希西家毁坏的丘坛，那些丘坛原是百姓用来献祭给偶像的。希西家毁了丘坛，希望百姓按著神的意思去圣殿献祭。所以玛拿西此举，使百姓不再尊重神。

2.他为巴力筑坛，做亚舍拉像，又敬拜侍奉天上的万象；并且更在圣殿中筑坛，不是敬拜耶和华神，而是天上的万象和亚舍拉像。此举等于是污秽圣殿，让神无法留在殿中，把神赶出祂自己的家。在新闻里，我们有时会看到一些父母被儿女把钱骗光后，逐出家门，还换了钥匙，让老人流浪街头，无家可归。此举太可恶了。背弃神的人也是如此!

3.玛拿西用自己的儿子献给假神，活活把他烧死，以求假神的祝福；并且也让百姓如此做，使犹大人陷在罪里，又流许多无辜人的血。

4. 他不寻求神的心意和带领，反而去观兆，用法术，立交鬼的和行巫术的。就好像北美的学校拒绝让学生读《圣经》，却允许巫师进学校去教巫术。有的人为了得到黑暗的权柄，让自己变得比普通人更有能力，可以去为害或操控他人，也会去参加撒旦教。

Don’t Let Pride Get in the Way

2021-12-19 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage: Exodus 9:1-12.  Let’s go!

Exodus 9:1-12 (NIV)
1  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.”
2  If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back,
3  the hand of the LORD will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field–on your horses and donkeys and camels and on your cattle and sheep and goats…….

On verses 1-12:  The plagues seem to be getting worse in their severity.  Plagues 2 through 4 consisting of the frogs, the gnats, and the flies were probably minor irritations compared plague 5 where God starts hitting the Egyptians’ bank accounts by killing off their livestock as well as plague 6 with the boils.  At this point you need to wonder what Pharaoh was thinking: the people he is leading are suffering greatly, so why does he not surrender to the Lord to save his own people?  It seems that Pharaoh would rather let his people suffer than swallow his own pride.  Beware of pride, for if we’re not careful, pride can cause us to make very foolish decisions that unnecessarily harm those we are called to protect. 

Also, another lesson we learn here is that the longer we delay in obeying God and the longer we keep playing games with Him, the more painful it gets for us and those closest to us.  We’re always better off obeying God earlier than later.

A Matter of the Heart

2021-12-17 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 8:16-32.  Let’s go!

Exodus 8:16-19 (NIV)
16  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.”
17  They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came upon men and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats.
18  But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. And the gnats were on men and animals.
19  The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the LORD had said.

On verses 16-19:  This plague of gnats marks the first time the Egyptian magicians are not able to replicate the miracle the Lord was doing.  The magicians are convinced that God is with Moses and Aaron, but Pharaoh’s heart remains hard.  It goes to show that faith, or lack thereof, is in the end more an issue of the heart than the head.  That is not to say that people who have faith in God are stupid.  Rather, what I mean is that intellectually you can have sufficient evidence to believe, but in the end whether you actually believe and submit to God will boil down to whether or not your heart is willing.

《圣经中各种审判》15— 对埃及的审判 之十

2021-12-17 in , /by

在上帝主权统管下的意志

　　圣经说：「我要使法老的心刚硬」，我们怎么理解？上帝的主权超越人的意志，人心能否顺从都在神主权的统管下。圣经说：「耶和华说：『我要显我一切的恩慈，在你面前经过，宣告我的名。我要恩待谁就恩待谁；要怜悯谁就怜悯谁。』」（出 33:19）一个人的生命要败坏下去，不是他决定就可以，也要上帝的许可。

有关上帝的主权与旨意，我分成四大阶层：一、上帝计划中的旨意，二、上帝许可中的自由，三、上帝引导人的转变，四、上帝任凭人的灭亡，这四样都在神的主权之下。你说：「我自己决定，所以我有这样的地步」，你没有想到你所打的主意有上帝的主权在你身上的彰显，如果你能好，是因为上帝施恩给你，如果你不好，是上帝任凭你硬着你的心，因着上帝的主权与施恩决定一个人能领受多少恩典，如果上帝没有施恩，我们只能抵挡上帝，刚硬着心。圣经说：「我要使法老的心刚硬」，这不是指硬心是上帝的决定，而是说这其中有上帝的许可，甚至是上帝的任凭。人自己本意的败坏是上帝的任凭，不让你悔改，继续硬心下去。人以为他的抵挡连上帝都束手无策，把上帝的干涉当作是对自己的搅扰，在蒙蔽之中不知道自己犯了什么错，不知道如果上帝不施恩，他也无法悔改。

圣经说：「我使法老的心刚硬，要在他身上显出我的荣耀」，因为法老的刚硬，人看见上帝凭己意行万事 ，上帝行事使祂的百姓得恩典，祂施行审判使祂的仇敌受灾殃。

十灾显明埃及诸神非真神

　　上帝降下十灾最大的目的只有一个：显明埃及人所敬拜的是假神，不能造福人群，解救百姓。在降灾的事上，术士可以模仿先知所做的事 ，无论是杖变蛇或水变血，假先知所做的事情与神的仆人好像一样，但在结局上，你看见法老的术士只能降灾，显明邪恶的能力无法施行拯救，这是圣经记载正邪之间真正的分别。

犹大王玛拿西

2021-12-16 in , /by

〈历代志〉下 33:13他祈祷耶和华，耶和华就允准他的祈求，垂听他的祷告，使他归回耶路撒冷，仍坐国位。玛拿西这才知道唯独耶和华是神。

阅读经文：〈列王纪〉下 21:1-18
〈历代志〉下 33

玛拿西是旧约圣经里出名的浪子。就像耶稣所说的浪子比喻，玛拿西用尽了神借着希西家留给他的美好产业，最后被亚述掳去。敌人用铙钩钩住他，用铜链锁住他，他失去一切，成为阶下囚，连尊严也失去。在急难时，他和浪子一样，想起了他的父亲。但玛拿西想起的是天上的父亲，神。当他自卑，悔改时，神就饶恕他。奇蹟似地，让他能够回到耶路撒冷，仍旧做王。这时玛拿西才知道唯独耶和华是真神。这是很多拜偶像、信假神的人，成为基督徒时所做的类似的见证。

可能有很多人不觉得拜偶像是罪，拜假神是可咒诅的。放眼社会上，那么多人都在拜偶像，亲近邪灵，要是说他们都在行恶，很可能会被套上一顶蔑视他人的大帽子，甚至还可能琅珰入狱。最近有一些拒绝为同性恋服务的例子，都遭到了麻烦。用这样的尺度来看玛拿西，你实在不会觉得他有多坏。不过就是不信耶和华神罢了，他岂没有选择宗教信仰的自由？这也是一些父母的想法，不要在孩子年幼时带他们去教堂，让他们长大成人时，自己去做选择。他们觉得从小教孩子学《圣经》是剥夺了他们的人权。

问题是，我看到很多父母亲因为爱小孩，在孩子尚未出生之前，已经很注意母亲的饮食和生活习惯；在孩子出生后，更是要孩子吃最天然的食品，准备最好的环境，甚至在孩子出生后就开始选最好的幼稚园，以便上最好的小学，最好的中学，最好的大学。但是谁知道今年“最好的”，明年或后年是否还是“最好的”？在世界上的选择，父母都要选最好的给孩子，为何独独漏掉孩子灵魂之所依？为何要孩子认识他们的父母、父母、外祖父母，甚至姑姑、伯伯、叔叔、舅舅，却单单不要他们认识赐予他们生命的主？

God and Sex

2021-12-16 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 8:1-15.  Let’s go!

Exodus 8:1-6 (NIV)
1  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the LORD says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
2  If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs.
3  The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs.
4  The frogs will go up on you and your people and all your officials.'”
5  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.'”
6  So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land.

On verses 1-6:  The ancient Egyptians worshiped Heket, who was known as the goddess of fertility and was represented by the frog.  Sculptures and paintings of Heket depict her with the face of a frog.  Apparently the worship of Heket informed the way Egyptians viewed sex and having babies.  By causing frogs to appear everywhere in Egypt – in people’s bedrooms and homes – and later causing the frogs to die in verse 13, the Lord was communicating that the Lord is far greater than Heket and that it is the Lord, not Heket, who reigns over the issues of sex and fertility.

God is Gentle with You

2021-12-15 in /by

Hi GAMErs!

Today’s passage is Exodus 7:14-25.  Let’s go!

Exodus 7:14-21 (NIV)
14  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.
15  Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.
16  Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened.
17  This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.

On verses 14-21:  The Egyptians worshiped the god Hapy as the god who had power over the Nile. By turning the Nile River into blood, God was communicating that He had power over the Nile, that He alone was the one true God, and that life ultimately comes from Him, not the Nile.

Also, I find it interesting that the first miracle God enables Moses to perform in the sight of all the Egyptians (and not just in Pharaoh’s court) is turning water into blood.  It was a message of warning and judgment that God was sending to Pharaoh and all of Egypt.   Fast forward to the New Testament and you’ll find that the first miracle Jesus performs is turning water into wine.  It’s a message of joy, life and restoration, where God is not taking away the water supply but enhancing it.  Why the difference?  Didn’t the same God send both Moses and Jesus?