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Jeremiah Capitolo 45
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Originale inglese
The prophecy we have in this chapter concerns Baruch only, yet is intended for the support and encouragement of all the Lord's people that serve him faithfully and keep closely to him in difficult trying times. It is placed here after the story of the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews, but was delivered long before, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, as was the prophecy in the next chapter, and probably those that follow. We here find, I. How Baruch was terrified when he was brought into trouble for writing and reading Jeremiah's roll, Jer 45:1-3. II. How his fears were checked with a reproof for his great expectations and silenced with a promise of special preservation, Jer 45:4,5. Though Baruch was only Jeremiah's scribe, yet this notice is taken of his frights, and this provision made for his comfort; for God despises not any of his servants, but graciously concerns himself for the meanest and weakest, for Baruch the scribe as well as for Jeremiah the prophet.
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Jeremiah's Address to Baruch (607 BC)
简体中文
耶利米对巴录的劝勉（主前 607 年）
¹ 先知耶利米将这些话对尼利亚的儿子巴录说——那时巴录将耶利米口中所说的话写在书上，是在犹大王约西亚的儿子约雅敬第四年，说： ² 「巴录啊，耶和华以色列的神如此对你： ³ 你曾说：『哀哉！耶和华将忧愁加在我的痛苦之上；我因唉哼而困乏，不得安息。』 ⁴ 你要这样告诉他，耶和华如此说：看哪，我所建立的，我必拆毁；我所栽种的，我必拔出；这全地我都要如此行。 ⁵ 你为自己图谋大事吗？不要图谋了。看哪，我必使灾祸临到一切有血气的，这是耶和华说的；但无论你到哪里去，我必使你的性命得存，作为掠物。」
关于巴录如何受托写下耶利米的预言并宣读它们，我们已在耶 36:1-32 中读到；又读到王因此威胁他，发出通缉令，迫使他藏匿，以及他如何在神的保护下险险脱身——本章本应接在那段记载之后，但因它涉及一位私下人物，便被放在书末，正如保罗写给腓利门的信被放在他其他书信之后。请观察：
一、可怜的巴录被王的使者搜寻、不得不藏匿之时所陷入的惊惶，以及神对此所给予的关注。他喊叫：「哀哉！」（耶 45:3）。他是个初入世的年轻人；他敬虔向善，愿意服事神和他的先知；但苦难临到之时，他却想推辞。他是个有才学的文人，本大有晋升之望，如今却被逼到角落里，且有入狱或更糟的危险，这对他是个大失望。他公开宣读那书卷时，本盼望借此得着名声，被人重视、被人任用；但当他发现此事非但未给他带来声誉，反倒使他遭人鄙视、蒙受羞辱，他便喊叫：「我完了！我必落在追赶的人手中，被囚、被杀、或被放逐；『耶和华将忧愁加在我的痛苦之上』，把一个祸患接一个祸患堆在我身上。在写、读我国败亡的预言所生的忧愁之后，我又因这事被视为罪犯而悲伤——别人或许不以为意，我呢，却无法承受；这担子太重了。『我因唉哼而困乏』（或作『我因唉哼而衰竭』——这事简直要我的命），『不得安息』，在自己心里也得不着安宁。我无法如所当行、所愿的那样镇定自己以承受这事，也看不见任何解救或安慰的远景。」巴录是个好人，但我们不得不说，这是他的软弱。注意：1. 在宗教上初起步的年轻人，如同淡水水兵，遇到在神的事奉中初常遇的小艰难，便容易灰心。他们才与步行的人同跑，便「疲乏」了；在「艰难之日」方才露出曙光之时，他们便「衰竭」——这证明「他们的力量微小」（箴 24:10），他们的信心软弱，他们还不过是婴孩，每逢受伤受惊便哭。2. 神一些最好、最亲爱、最蒙悦纳的圣徒和仆人，在看见风暴来临时，也曾惊恐，并容易把事情看为最坏，因比实际更为过度的忧愁猜测而搅扰自己。3. 神记念他百姓的烦躁和不满，并为此不悦。巴录本该以在如此美善的事业中、与如此良善的同伴同受苦为荣；但他非但不然，反而为此烦躁，怨自己的遭遇，更将自己的不满反射到神身上，仿佛神待他不公；他这话是出于一时的激动和情绪而说的，但神因此不悦——正如神对摩西不悦，摩西为此付了重价：当他的灵被激动，「用嘴说了冒失的话」。「你曾如此说」——这话实在说得不好。神记账我们所说的话，连我们匆忙中所说的也记。
二、神因他如此说话而给他的责备。耶利米看见他如此激动，心里不安，不知该对他说什么才好。他不愿责备他，又觉得他该受责备；想要安慰他，又不知从何着手；但神告诉他「要对他如此说」（耶 45:4）。耶利米不能确知这些抱怨和恐惧背后的根源，神却看见了。它们来自他的败坏。为使伤处不被轻率愈合，神探查伤口，并指出他对今世的期望太高，对今世应许自己太多——正是这使他所处的困苦和患难在他看来如此难当、如此难忍。注意：若非我们愚昧地以今世笑容的盼望奉承自己、过于贪求并爱慕它们，今世的皱眉本不会像现在这样搅扰我们。我们之所以在今世的恶事下不能忍耐，正是因为我们对今世眼前的美物过于贪恋。如今神让他看见，他的过错和愚妄正是在这个时候——尤其是这个时候——仍要贪求或指望今世的财富和尊荣之丰盛。因为：1. 船正在下沉。败亡正临到犹太民族——一场彻底而普遍的败亡：「『我所建立的』——为我自己所建立的房屋——『我正拆毁；我所栽种的』——为我自己所栽种的葡萄园——『我正拔出，连这全地都如此』——犹太的教会和国家；你如今还『为自己图谋大事』吗？你还指望发财、得尊荣、出人头地吗？不。」2. 「如今你还在装饰自己的小舱，岂非荒谬？众人都被降卑之时，你还能指望自己高升吗？周围的人都空乏之时，你还能指望自己满盈吗？」在公众处于危险之时，将自己的利益置于公众福祉之上，尤其是为自己图谋大事，对以色列人而言是极不相宜的。我们可以把这应用到此世和我们在其中的地位：神在护理中正在拆毁和拔出；一切都无常、都会消亡；我们不能指望在此得着任何常存的城。那么在这万物都微小、无一定之事上，「为自己图谋大事」，是何等愚妄！
三、神给他的鼓励——他虽不能为大，却可得安全：「『我必使灾祸临到一切有血气的』——临到万族的人、各阶层各等级的人——『但我必以你的性命（原文作你的灵魂）给你当掠物，无论你到哪里去。』你必须指望被人从一个地方赶到另一个地方；无论你到哪里，都必身处危险之中，但你必逃脱——虽常常险险脱身；你必得着你的性命，但这性命如同掠物——是带着极大艰难和危险才得着的；你将『像从火中经过一样』得救。」注意：性命的存留和延续是极大的怜悯，我们当视之为如此——因它是我们在今世荣耀神、为更美之地预备的机会得以延长；在某些时候，尤其是死亡之箭密密飞射之时，性命是显著的恩惠，是我们当大大感恩的；当我们仍拥有它时，即使我们所盼望的大事落空，也不可抱怨。「生命不胜于饮食吗？」
Originale inglese
Jeremiah's Address to Baruch (607 BC)
¹ The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,
² Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch;
³ Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.
⁴ Thus shalt thou say unto him, The LORD saith thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.
⁵ And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
How Baruch was employed in writing Jeremiah's prophecies, and reading them, we had an account Jer 36:1-32, and how he was threatened for it by the king, warrants being out for him and he forced to abscond, and how narrowly he escaped under a divine protection, to which story this chapter should have been subjoined, but that, having reference to a private person, it is here thrown into the latter end of the book, as St. Paul's epistle to Philemon is put after his other epistles. Observe,
I. The consternation that poor Baruch was in when he was sought for by the king's messengers and obliged to hide his head, and the notice which God took of it. He cried out, Woe is me now! Jer 45:3. He was a young man setting out in the world; he was well affected to the things of God, and was willing to serve God and his prophet; but, when it came to suffering, he was desirous to be excused. Being an ingenious man, and a scholar, he stood fair for preferment, and now to be driven into a corner, and in danger of a prison, or worse, was a great disappointment to him. When he read the roll publicly he hoped to gain reputation by it, that it would make him to be taken notice of and employed; but when he found that, instead of that, it exposed him to contempt, and brought him into disgrace, he cried out, "I am undone; I shall fall into the pursuers' hands, and be imprisoned, and put to death, or banished: The Lord has added grief to my sorrow, has loaded me with one trouble after another. After the grief of writing and reading the prophecies of my country's ruin, I have the sorrow of being treated as a criminal; for so doing; and, though another might make nothing of this, yet for my part I cannot bear it; it is a burden too heavy for me. I fainted in my sighing (or I am faint with my sighing; it just kills me) and I find no rest, no satisfaction in my own mind. I cannot compose myself as I should and would to bear it, not have I any prospect of relief or comfort." Baruch was a good man, but, we must say, this was his infirmity. Note, 1. Young beginners in religion, like fresh-water soldiers, are apt to be discouraged with the little difficulties which they commonly meet with at first in the service of God. They do but run with the footmen, and it wearies them; they faint upon the very dawning of the day of adversity, and it is an evidence that their strength is small (Pr 24:10), that their faith is weak, and that they are yet but babes, who cry for every hurt and every fright. 2. Some of the best and dearest of God's saints and servants, when they have seen storms rising, have been in frights, and apt to make the worst of things, and to disquiet themselves with melancholy apprehensions more than there was cause for. 3. God takes notice of the frets and discontents of his people and is displeased with them. Baruch should have rejoiced that he was counted worthy to suffer in such a good cause and with such good company, but, instead of that, he is vexed at it, and blames his lot, nay, and reflects upon his God, as if he had dealt hardly with him; what he said was spoken in a heat and passion, but God was offended, as he was with Moses, who paid dearly for it, when, his spirit being provoked, he spoke unadvisedly with his lips. Thou didst say so and so, and it was not well said. God keeps account what we say, even when we speak in haste.
II. The reproof that God gave him for talking at this rate. Jeremiah was troubled to see him in such an agitation, and knew not well what to say to him. He was loth to chide him, and yet thought he deserved it, was willing to comfort him, and yet knew not which way to go about it; but God tells him what he shall say to him, Jer 45:4. Jeremiah could not be certain what was at the bottom of these complaints and fear, but God sees it. They came from his corruptions. That the hurt might therefore not be healed slightly, he searches the wound, and shows him that he had raised his expectations too high in this world and had promised himself too much from it, and that made the distress and trouble he was in so very grievous to him and so hard to be borne. Note, The frowns of the world would not disquiet us as they do if we did not foolishly flatter ourselves with the hopes of its smiles and court and covet them too much. It is our over-fondness for the good things of this present time that makes us impatient under its evil things. Now God shows him that it was his fault and folly, at this time of day especially, either to desire or to look for an abundance of the wealth and honour of this world. For, 1. The ship was sinking. Ruin was coming upon the Jewish nation, an utter and universal ruin: "That which I have built, to be a house for myself, I am breaking down, and that which I have planted, to be a vineyard for myself, I am plucking up, even this whole land, the Jewish church and state; and dost thou now seek great things for thyself? Dost thou expect to be rich and honourable and to make a figure now? No." 2. "It is absurd for thee to be now painting thy own cabin. Canst thou expect to be high when all are brought low, to be full when all about thee are empty?" To seek ourselves more than the public welfare, especially to seek great things to ourselves when the public is in danger, is very unbecoming Israelites. We may apply it to this world, and our state in it; God in his providence is breaking down and pulling up; every thing is uncertain and perishing; we cannot expect any continuing city here. What folly is it then to seek great things for ourselves here, where every thing is little and nothing certain!
III. The encouragement that God gave him to hope that though he should not be great, yet he should be safe: "I will bring evil upon all flesh, all nations of men, all orders and degrees of men, but thy life will I give to thee for a prey" (thy soul, so the word is) "in all places whither thou goest. Thou must expect to be hurried from place to place, and, wherever thou goest, to be in danger, but thou shalt escape, though often very narrowly, shalt have thy life, but it shall be as a prey, which is got with much difficulty and danger; thou shalt be saved as by fire." Note, The preservation and continuance of life are very great mercies, and we are bound to account them such, as they are the prolonging of our opportunity to glorify God in this world and to get ready for a better; and at some times, especially when the arrows of death fly thickly about us, life is a signal favour, and what we ought to be very thankful for, and while we have it must not complain though we be disappointed of the great things we expected. Is not the life more than meat?
本章的预言虽只论及巴录，却是为要扶持并鼓励所有在艰难试炼之时仍忠心侍奉主、紧紧跟随主的子民。本段被置于耶路撒冷毁灭、犹太人四散的记载之后，但其实际传讲的日期要早得多，是在约雅敬第四年，与下一章的预言一样，可能也包括随后的几章。我们在此看到：一、巴录因写下并宣读耶利米的书卷而遭遇患难时心中的惊恐（耶 45:1-3）。二、他的恐惧因责备他那过大的期望而被止息，又因得蒙特别保全的应许而得安慰（耶 45:4-5）。巴录虽只是耶利米的文士，神却顾念他的惊惶，并为他预备了安慰；因为神不轻看他任何仆人，乃恩典地记念最微小、最软弱的人——既记念先知耶利米，也同样记念文士巴录。