1
Ex 5:1-23.
英語原文
Ex 5:1-23.
FIRST INTERVIEW WITH PHARAOH.
1. Moses and Aaron went in--As representatives of the Hebrews, they were entitled to ask an audience of the king, and their thorough Egyptian training taught them how and when to seek it.
and told Pharaoh--When introduced, they delivered a message in the name of the God of Israel. This is the first time He is mentioned by that national appellation in Scripture. It seems to have been used by divine direction
(Ex 4:2)
and designed to put honor on the Hebrews in their depressed condition
(Heb 11:16).
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2. 法老說：耶和華是誰——更恰當地說「耶和華」。「主」是常見的、應用於敬拜對象的名稱；但「耶和華」是他從未聽聞的名。法老以敬拜者那卑賤可憐的處境來衡量這位上帝的品格與能力，斷定祂在眾神中地位之低，正如其百姓在國中地位之低。證明真上帝超越埃及一切神明，正是諸災的目的。
我不認識耶和華，也不容以色列人去——他的尊嚴與利益既皆牽涉其中，便決心壓下這企圖，並以倨傲——或許是褻瀆的口吻，拒絕了釋放希伯來奴隸的要求。
英語原文
2. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord--rather "Jehovah." Lord was a common name applied to objects of worship; but Jehovah was a name he had never heard of. Pharaoh estimated the character and power of this God by the abject and miserable condition of the worshippers and concluded that He held as low a rank among the gods as His people did in the nation. To demonstrate the supremacy of the true God over all the gods of Egypt, was the design of the plagues.
I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go--As his honor and interest were both involved he determined to crush this attempt, and in a tone of insolence, or perhaps profanity, rejected the request for the release of the Hebrew slaves.
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3. 希伯來人的上帝遇見了我們——他們沒有被激動而口出責備或威嚇，反而溫和地向他保證，這不是出於他們自己的提議，而是他們的上帝所吩咐的本分。他們多年來被剝奪了敬拜的特權，而既然有理由擔心繼續忽略上帝的典章會招惹得罪了上天之審判的降臨，他們便請求准許往曠野——一個隱蔽之地——走三天的路程；在那裏他們獻祭的禮儀既不會受到干擾，也不會冒犯埃及人。他們說這話時，隱瞞了最終要離棄這國的計畫；他們起初只作這一部分的要求，很可能是要試探王的心意，然後再進一步披露其意圖。但他們只說了上帝放在他們口中的話
（Ex 3:12, 18），
這「使這個具體的行為合法化，卻並不認可欺騙的一般習慣」〔CHALMERS〕。
英語原文
3. The God of the Hebrews hath met with us--Instead of being provoked into reproaches or threats, they mildly assured him that it was not a proposal originating among themselves, but a duty enjoined on them by their God. They had for a long series of years been debarred from the privilege of religious worship, and as there was reason to fear that a continued neglect of divine ordinances would draw down upon them the judgments of offended heaven, they begged permission to go three days' journey into the desert--a place of seclusion--where their sacrificial observances would neither suffer interruption nor give umbrage to the Egyptians. In saying this, they concealed their ultimate design of abandoning the kingdom, and by making this partial request at first, they probably wished to try the king's temper before they disclosed their intentions any farther. But they said only what God had put in their mouths
(Ex 3:12, 18),
and this "legalizes the specific act, while it gives no sanction to the general habit of dissimulation" [CHALMERS].
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*4. 摩西、亞倫啊，你們為甚麼叫百姓曠工呢？*等語——他不理會他們所說的話，反而把他們當作野心勃勃的煽動者，認為他們利用百姓迷信的情感來煽動叛亂、散布不滿的情緒；這種情緒在如此龐大的奴隸群中蔓延，可能危及全國的安寧。
英語原文
4. Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? &c.--Without taking any notice of what they had said, he treated them as ambitious demagogues, who were appealing to the superstitious feelings of the people, to stir up sedition and diffuse a spirit of discontent, which spreading through so vast a body of slaves, might endanger the peace of the country.
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6. 法老吩咐——這次會見所引起的高度不快，自然使他對受壓迫的以色列人加上更重的擔子。
督工的——埃及的監工，被指派向以色列人催逼勞役。
官長——希伯來人，在督工之下管理其弟兄，正如現代埃及設於阿拉伯農民（即貧苦勞工）之上的阿拉伯官長一樣。
英語原文
6. Pharaoh commanded--It was a natural consequence of the high displeasure created by this interview that he should put additional burdens on the oppressed Israelites.
taskmasters--Egyptian overseers, appointed to exact labor of the Israelites.
officers--Hebrews placed over their brethren, under the taskmasters, precisely analogous to the Arab officers set over the Arab Fellahs, the poor laborers in modern Egypt.
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7. 你們不可照常把草給百姓做磚——製磚似乎是一項政府專營的事業，因為古磚幾乎都印有王的名字；其製法正如今日下埃及那樣，用攙雜碎草的黏土製成、在陽光下曬乾或硬化。以色列人從事這苦役；他們雖然仍住在歌珊、擁有牛羊等財產，卻被輪流迫往磚窯服役，分批被徵集，正如現代埃及農民被徵兵隊押往同一國家的情形一樣。
叫他們自己去檢草——這位暴怒的專制君主並沒有下令作不可能的事。埃及的收穫者在收割莊稼時，慣常只割下穗子而留下桿子直立。
英語原文
7. Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick--The making of bricks appears to have been a government monopoly as the ancient bricks are nearly all stamped with the name of a king, and they were formed, as they are still in Lower Egypt, of clay mixed with chopped straw and dried or hardened in the sun. The Israelites were employed in this drudgery; and though they still dwelt in Goshen and held property in flocks and herds, they were compelled in rotation to serve in the brick quarries, pressed in alternating groups, just as the fellaheen, or peasants, are marched by press gangs in the same country still.
let them go and gather straw for themselves--The enraged despot did not issue orders to do an impracticable thing. The Egyptian reapers in the corn harvest were accustomed merely to cut off the ears and leave the stalk standing.
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8. 數目——即指定的磚數。他們勞役的材料不再供應，卻仍要每日索要同樣數量的出產，不可能想像出比這更殘酷的虐待——東方專制主義的完美樣本。
英語原文
8. tale--an appointed number of bricks. The materials of their labor were to be no longer supplied, and yet, as the same amount of produce was exacted daily, it is impossible to imagine more aggravated cruelty--a perfect specimen of Oriental despotism.
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無題
12. 於是百姓散在埃及遍地——對個別勞工而言這是極大的困苦，但他們進入的田地的主人並不會阻攔，因為埃及幾乎所有的土地都歸王室所有
（創 47:20）。
英語原文
12. So the people were scattered--It was an immense grievance to the laborers individually, but there would be no hindrance from the husbandmen whose fields they entered, as almost all the lands of Egypt were in the possession of the crown
(Ge 47:20).
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13-19. 督工的催著說……官長……責打了——由於最近的田地已被掃光，百姓必須走更遠去找草，要照常數交出磚數是不可能的。「官長被打正是東方暴君所會作的，尤其在尼羅河谷——從浮雕上看來，古埃及如同現代中國一般，主要靠棍棒統治」〔TAYLOR〕。「挨打的方式是犯罪者平躺在地上、通常由人按住手腳，然後執行責罰」〔WILKINSON〕
（申 25:2）。 一幅描繪希伯來人在磚田上的圖畫——正如本章所描述——在底比斯一座埃及陵墓中被發現。
英語原文
13-19. And the taskmasters hasted them . . . officers . . . beaten--As the nearest fields were bared and the people had to go farther for stubble, it was impossible for them to meet the demand by the usual tale of bricks. "The beating of the officers is just what might have been expected from an Eastern tyrant, especially in the valley of the Nile, as it appears from the monuments, that ancient Egypt, like modern China, was principally governed by the stick" [TAYLOR]. "The mode of beating was by the offender being laid flat on the ground and generally held by the hands and feet while the chastisement was administered" [WILKINSON].
(De 25:2).
A picture representing the Hebrews on a brick field, exactly as described in this chapter, was found in an Egyptian tomb at Thebes.
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20, 21. 他們遇見摩西……願耶和華鑒察你們、判斷——如此，以色列的拯救者發現這愛國的干預在起初不但沒有消除他所要除去的惡，反而加重了它；他不但沒有得到感激，反而被同胞的責難所壓。但正如最深的黑暗就在黎明之前，上帝的百姓也常在得救的前夕被投入最深的苦難；這次也是如此。
英語原文
20, 21. they met Moses . . . The Lord look upon you, and judge--Thus the deliverer of Israel found that this patriotic interference did, in the first instance, only aggravate the evil he wished to remove, and that instead of receiving the gratitude, he was loaded with the reproaches of his countrymen. But as the greatest darkness is immediately before the dawn, so the people of God are often plunged into the deepest affliction when on the eve of their deliverance; and so it was in this case.
Ex 5:1-23.
首次會見法老。
1. 摩西、亞倫進去——他們作為希伯來人的代表，有權求見王；而他們所受徹底的埃及式教育，使他們懂得如何並在何時尋求這會見。
對法老說——獲引見後，他們奉以色列上帝的名傳達信息。這是聖經中首次以這國家性的稱號提到祂。這稱號似是出於上帝的指示
（Ex 4:2）， 其用意是要在被壓抑的希伯來人身上加添尊榮
（來 11:16）。