《以賽亞書 Isaiah 3:1-15》倚靠 RELY ON

《以賽亞書 Isaiah 3:1-15》倚靠RELY ON

讀經:  《以賽亞書》三章1-15節

SCRIPTURE READING:  Isaiah 3:1-15

釋義:  人可以倚靠什麼?

INSIGHT:  What can people rely on?

以賽亞指出人倚靠經濟就是所倚靠的糧，所仗賴的水(1);政治:  勇士和戰士、審判官(2)、五十夫長和尊貴人、謀士(3); 宗教: 占卜的和長老(2)、以及行法術的(3)。

Isaiah points out that people rely on the economy:  all supplies of food and all supplies of water (1);  on politics:  warriors and judges (2), captains, the man of rank, and counselors (3); and on religion: diviners and the elders (2), and enchanters (3).

以賽亞也指出, 耶和華要除掉(2,3)眾人所倚靠的, 所仗賴的一切東西。那麼聖經是否宣揚反政府? 信徒應鄙視工商經濟? 什至反對宗教禮儀? 絕對不是。以賽亞預言耶和華要除掉眾人所倚靠的這些事物, 並非政治、經濟、宗教本質腐敗, 而是因為參與這些活動的人錯誤。本段聖經指出人的幾種錯誤:

Isaiah also pointed out that the Lord would take from them everything on which they depended on or relied on (v. 2, 3).   So, is the Bible proclaiming anti-government ideas?  Should believers disregard  businesses and the economy? Or even be against religious etiquette?  Definitely not.   Isaiah prophesied that the Lord would take from them the things that they depended on, not because of political, economic, or religious corruption, but because the people involved in these activities were wrong. The Bible points out in this passage several of their mistakes:

●盲目信任政治首領 --  雖然舊約以色列政治制度是君王專政, 但聖經也有不少臣民向君王勸諫的記載, 所以引導你的使你走錯，並毀壞你所行的道路(12)的情況, 國家領袖固然責無旁貸, 以色列人對官長盲從附和, 任由長老和首領壓倒欺凌(14-15), 助長領袖橫行霸道,可說是自食其果。

● Blindly trusting political leaders – The political system of the Israelites in the Old Testament was absolute monarchy,  but there were many instances recorded in the Bible where the subjects of the kingdom would ask the king for advice, and thus, they were led astray  by their leaders and  turned from the path (v. 12) . No doubt the leaders were responsible.  The Israelites followed blindly what they were told, and the elders and the leaders of the people took advantage of them and humiliated them (v. 14-15), encouraging the leaders to rule as a despot, they were suffering the consequences of their own actions.

●彼此欺壓 --  官長壓制還可以歸咎君王專制苛政, 但即使毫無機心的孩童作首領(4),百姓要彼此欺壓；各人受鄰舍的欺壓(5),說明是徹底的人生敗壞。

● Mutual Oppression  --The repression of the leaders could be blamed on the despotic and authoritarian regime of the king, but even youths would rule over them (v. 4), the people were oppressed, everyone would oppress each other, man against man, neighbor against neighbor (v. 5).  This showed total corruption.

●倫理倒行逆施 --  少年人必侮慢老年人；卑賤人必侮慢尊貴人(5)。

● Moral Retrogression -- The young will rise up against the old,  the nobody against the honored. (v. 5)

●物質至上 --  物質富裕成為評估社會地位的準則: 人在父家拉住弟兄,  說：你有衣服，可以作我們的官長(6),沒有財富就沒有地位(7)。

● Materialistic Supremacy -- Material wealth became the criterion for assessing social status: A man would seize one of his brothers in his father's house, and say:  “You have a cloak, you be our leader” (v. 6), without wealth there was no status (v. 7).

●離棄信仰 --  以賽亞說耶路撒冷敗落，猶大傾倒的主要原因是因為他們的舌頭和行為與耶和華反對(8),他們並非信心軟弱愛迷惑而犯罪, 現代中文譯本將8節最後一句上半為他們公然侮辱上帝,因為不但消極地面色證明自己的不正,更公開地述說自己的罪惡，並不隱瞞(9)。這是以色列人的致命傷, 既然不以耶和華為神, 便倚靠物質或政治首領;離棄信仰,就沒有倫理標準, 結果必然是自食其果(9,10)。

● Abandonment of their Faith – Isaiah said:  “Jerusalem staggers, Judah is failing because their words and deeds are against the Lord (v. 8), it wasn’t just that their faith was weak, loved deceit and sin; the Contemporary Chinese Version translates the first half of v. 8 saying that they publicly insulted the Lord,  because not only the look on their faces testified against them but they paraded their sin and did not hide it. (v. 9) That was Israel’s fatal wound. Since they relied on material things and political leaders  and did not want the Lord to be their God abandoning their faith and their morals, the inevitable result was to suffer the consequences of their own actions.  (v. 9, 10)

每日讀經  by 洪同勉牧師 Rev. Tommy Hung