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2Ki 23:1-3.
英文原文
2Ki 23:1-3.
JOSIAH CAUSES THE LAW TO BE READ.
1-3. the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders--This pious and patriotic king, not content with the promise of his own security, felt, after Huldah's response, an increased desire to avert the threatened calamities from his kingdom and people. Knowing the richness of the divine clemency and grace to the penitent, he convened the elders of the people, and placing himself at their head, accompanied by the collective body of the inhabitants, went in solemn procession to the temple, where he ordered the book of the law to be read to the assembled audience, and covenanted, with the unanimous concurrence of his subjects, to adhere steadfastly to all the commandments of the Lord. It was an occasion of solemn interest, closely connected with a great national crisis, and the beautiful example of piety in the highest quarter would exert a salutary influence over all classes of the people in animating their devotions and encouraging their return to the faith of their fathers.
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2. 在他们耳中念——即「吩咐人念给他们听」。
英文原文
2. he read in their ears--that is, "caused to be read."
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3. 百姓都站立在约中——即他们同意所提出的建议;他们应允了对他们的要求。
英文原文
3. all the people stood to the covenant--that is, they agreed to the proposals made; they assented to what was required of them.
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2Ki 23:4-28.
2Ki 23:4-28.
他 除灭 偶像崇拜
4. 王吩咐希勒家等——即大祭司和其他祭司,因圣殿中并无多种官职等第。
一切的器皿等——即偶像崇拜的全套器具。
在耶路撒冷外焚烧了——律法规定当以火焚毁
(De 7:25)。
在汲沦溪的田间——极可能是汲沦溪谷的那一段,即耶路撒冷与橄榄山之间的所在。那是一片平坦、宽阔的盆地,如今遍布种植园[ROBINSON]。 小溪蜿蜒于城的东面和南面,其河道在一年的大部分时间里几乎或完全干涸,惟在大雨之后骤然涨溢。圣殿
(2Ch 29:15, 16)
和城中的一切污物都倾倒于此。他那些推行改革的先辈,也曾下令将偶像崇拜的残破遗物抛入那污秽之所
(1Ki 15:13; 2Ch 15:16; 30:14);
但约西亚既效法他们的敬虔,更在热心上远胜他们;因为他吩咐将所烧之木的灰烬和所打碎之金属的碎片收集起来,运到伯特利,为要从此使那地与恐怖和憎厌的观念相联,因其最污秽的玷污而令人憎恶。
英文原文
2Ki 23:4-28.
HE DESTROYS IDOLATRY.
4. the king commanded Hilkiah, &c.--that is, the high priest and other priests, for there was not a variety of official gradations in the temple.
all the vessels, &c.--the whole apparatus of idol-worship.
burned them without Jerusalem--The law required them to be consigned to the flames
(De 7:25).
in the fields of Kidron--most probably that part of the valley of Kidron, where lies Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. It is a level, spacious basin, abounding at present with plantations [ROBINSON]. The brook winds along the east and south of the city, the channel of which is throughout a large portion of the year almost or wholly dry, except after heavy rains, when it suddenly swells and overflows. There were emptied all the impurities of the temple
(2Ch 29:15, 16)
and the city. His reforming predecessors had ordered the mutilated relics of idolatry to be thrown into that receptacle of filth
(1Ki 15:13; 2Ch 15:16; 30:14);
but Josiah, while he imitated their piety, far outstripped them in zeal; for he caused the ashes of the burnt wood and the fragments of the broken metal to be collected and conveyed to Beth-el, in order thenceforth to associate ideas of horror and aversion with that place, as odious for the worst pollutions.
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5. 废去向偶像烧香的祭司——希伯来文 chemarim,即「烧焦的」,指 Guebres,即拜火者,他们以一条腰带
(Eze 23:14-17)
为标识——用羊毛和骆驼毛编成的带子,绕身两圈,打四个结,具有象征意义,被认为能辟邪。
那些向巴力,向日头、月亮等烧香的——或作巴力示麦,因为巴力有时被视为太阳。这种虚假的敬拜并非藉着偶像,而是纯粹的星象崇拜,取自古老的亚述人。
和——更确切地说,作「甚至向天上的万象」。
英文原文
5. put down the idolatrous priests--Hebrew, chemarim, "scorched," that is, Guebres, or fire-worshippers, distinguished by a girdle
(Eze 23:14-17)
or belt of wool and camel's hair, twisted round the body twice and tied with four knots, which had a symbolic meaning, and made it a supposed defense against evil.
them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, &c.--or Baal-shemesh, for Baal was sometimes considered the sun. This form of false worship was not by images, but pure star-worship, borrowed from the old Assyrians.
and--rather, "even to all the host of heaven."
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6. 将那木偶搬出来——即亚舍拉,那棵神秘的树,是玛拿西放在圣殿中的
[2Ki 21:5; 2Ch 33:5],
在他悔改之后曾被挪去
[2Ch 33:15],
却被他邪恶的儿子亚们重新放回圣所
[2Ki 21:20, 21]。 约西亚下令将其搬到汲沦溪,焚烧木头,将包裹的金属磨成粉末,并将灰烬撒在「平民的坟墓上」。穷人葬在汲伦溪谷一部分的公墓中。但此处所指的,是那些「献祭之人」的坟墓
(2Ch 34:4)。
英文原文
6. brought out the grove--that is, Asherah, the mystic tree, placed by Manasseh in the temple
[2Ki 21:5; 2Ch 33:5],
removed by him after his conversion
[2Ch 33:15],
but replaced in the sanctuary by his wicked son Amon
[2Ki 21:20, 21].
Josiah had it taken to Kidron, burnt the wood, ground the metal about it to powder, and strewed the ashes "on the graves of the children of the people." The poor were buried in a common on part of the valley of Kidron. But reference is here made to the graves "of those that had sacrificed"
(2Ch 34:4).
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7. 拆毁娈童的屋子——不是坚固的房屋,而是帐棚,别处称之为
[2Ki 17:30]
Succoth-benoth,即「少女的棚」,这些少女奉献自己事奉亚舍拉,为它编织挂饰,并在其中放纵情欲、恣意狂欢。这些挂饰也可能是为亚舍拉本身所设,因为在树上悬挂布片是东方流行的迷信。
英文原文
7. brake down the houses of the sodomites--not solid houses, but tents, called elsewhere
[2Ki 17:30]
Succoth-benoth, "the booths of the young women," who were devoted to the service of Asherah, for which they made embroidered hangings, and in which they gave themselves to unbridled revelry and lust. Or the hangings might be for Asherah itself, as it is a popular superstition in the East to hang pieces of cloth on trees.
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8、9. 他将犹大各城的祭司都带出来,污秽了邱坛等——许多利未人在玛拿西和亚们在位时,见圣殿的敬拜被废,十分之一与其他供物被挪用,便受迷惑干出在邱坛上事奉、献上所带来之祭物的愚事。这些混乱之举,即使敬拜的对象是真神,也在律法中被禁止
(De 12:11)。
约西亚将犯这罪的人带到耶路撒冷。他既视他们为不洁,便禁止他们事奉圣殿,却仍从圣殿的收入中分给他们一份,如同祭司中残废的成员一样
(Le 21:21, 22)。
从迦巴到别是巴——犹大最北和最南的地点——意指全国各处。
那些……在约书亚门口的邱坛——邑宰的房屋和城门在城门的左边,在那所官邸入口附近设有公开的祭坛,所献的祭或许是献给真神的,却违背了祂自己所立的敬拜条例
(Isa 57:8)。
英文原文
8, 9. he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places, &c.--Many of the Levitical order, finding in the reigns of Manasseh and Amon the temple-worship abolished and the tithes and other offerings alienated, had been betrayed into the folly of officiating on high places, and presenting such sacrifices as were brought to them. These irregularities, even though the object of that worship was the true God, were prohibited in the law
(De 12:11).
Those who had been guilty of this sin, Josiah brought to Jerusalem. Regarding them as defiled, he debarred them from the service of the temple, but gave them an allowance out of the temple revenues, like the lame and disabled members of the priesthood
(Le 21:21, 22).
from Geba to to Beer-sheba--the most northern and the most southern places in Judah--meaning all parts of the kingdom.
the high places . . . which were in the entering in of the gate of Joshua--The governor's house and gate were on the left of the city gate, and close by the entrance of that civic mansion house were public altars, dedicated, it might be, to the true God, but contrary to His own ordinance of worship
(Isa 57:8).
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10. 陀斐特——此名出自Toph——即「鼓」。犹太作者普遍认为,在那可怖的偶像之地被迫经火的孩童们所发出的惊呼声,被那乐器的声音所掩盖。
英文原文
10. Topheth--so called from Toph--a "drum." It is the prevailing opinion among Jewish writers that the cries of the terrified children made to pass through the fire in that place of idolatrous horror were drowned by the sound of that instrument.
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11. 将犹大王分别为圣献给日头的马废去——在古时敬拜太阳的百姓中,马通常被献给那神祇,因为他们以为太阳本身是由马拉的车。这些马有时被献为祭;但更通常的是,它们或用于神圣的游行中以驮载太阳的像,或供敬拜者每天早晨骑着迎接太阳升起。看来那些拜偶像的王——亚哈斯、玛拿西、亚们——或他们的大臣,每天清早骑着这些马,从圣殿的东门出发,去朝拜和敬拜那将出地平线的太阳。
英文原文
11. took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun--Among the people who anciently worshipped the sun, horses were usually dedicated to that divinity, from the supposed idea that the sun himself was drawn in a chariot by horses. In some cases these horses were sacrificed; but more commonly they were employed either in the sacred processions to carry the images of the sun, or for the worshippers to ride in every morning to welcome his rise. It seems that the idolatrous kings, Ahaz, Manasseh, and Amon, or their great officers, proceeded on these horses early on each day from the east gate of the temple to salute and worship the sun at his appearing above the horizon.
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12. 亚哈斯楼上顶上的祭坛——祭坛设在房屋的平顶上,敬拜「天上万象」的人在那里烧香
(Zep 1:5; Jer 19:13)。
亚哈斯曾为此目的在其王宫的楼上设坛,玛拿西则在圣殿屋顶某处设坛。约西亚把这两处坛都拆毁了。
英文原文
12. the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz--Altars were reared on the flat roofs of houses, where the worshippers of "the host of heaven" burnt incense
(Zep 1:5; Jer 19:13).
Ahaz had reared altars for this purpose on the oleah, or upper chamber of his palace, and Manasseh on some portion of the roof of the temple. Josiah demolished both of these structures.
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13、14. 所罗门……所建筑……的邱坛——(参
1Ki 11:5)。
在右边山上,就是污秽之山——橄榄山是耶路撒冷东面的一条山岭。这条山岭有三个峰,其中央的一个就是「污秽之山」,此名得自所建在那里的偶像庙宇;而右手边的山自然指最南端的山峰。据说约西亚并没有毁坏「污秽之山上的邱坛」,只是加以污秽。最可能的是,希西家早已拆毁了所罗门在那里所建的偶像庙宇;但迷信的百姓仍然视那地为圣地,约西亚便将其污秽。
英文原文
13, 14. the high places . . . which Solomon . . . had builded--(See on
1Ki 11:5).
the right hand of the mount of corruption--The Mount of Olives is a hilly range on the east of Jerusalem. This range has three summits, of which the central one is the Mount of Corruption, so called from the idol temples built there, and of course the hill on the right hand denotes the southernmost peak. Josiah is said not to have destroyed, but only defiled, "the high places on the hill of corruption." It is most probable that Hezekiah had long before demolished the idolatrous temples erected there by Solomon but, as the superstitious people continued to regard the spot as consecrated ground, Josiah defiled it.
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14. 用人的骨头充满了那地方——他国中每一处偶像崇拜的遗迹,他都照样毁坏,并在其原址上撒下死人的骨头加以污秽。因为无论在犹太人还是外邦人眼中,死尸的出现都使人和地点成为不洁。
英文原文
14. filled their places with the bones of men--Every monument of idolatry in his dominion he in like manner destroyed, and the places where they stood he defiled by strewing them with dead men's bones. The presence of a dead carcass rendered both persons and places unclean in the eyes both of Jews and heathens.
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15-20. 还有伯特利的坛等——这位热心的拆毁偶像者,并不满足于将自己国中一切偶像崇拜的痕迹都除尽,便巡视撒玛利亚诸城和从前十支派所占据的全部领土,拆毁邱坛的坛和庙,将亚舍拉投入火中,处死邱坛的祭司;他又搜遍拜偶像祭司的坟墓,将其骨头焚烧的灰撒在祭坛上,然后才将祭坛拆毁,以此表明他对偶像崇拜的憎恶。
英文原文
15-20. Moreover the altar that was at Beth-el, &c.--Not satisfied with the removal of every vestige of idolatry from his own dominion, this zealous iconoclast made a tour of inspection through the cities of Samaria and all the territory formerly occupied by the ten tribes, destroying the altars and temples of the high places, consigning the Asherim to the flames, putting to death the priests of the high places, and showing his horror at idolatry by ransacking the sepulchers of idolatrous priests, and strewing the burnt ashes of their bones upon the altars before he demolished them.
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16. 照着神人所宣告耶和华的话等——约西亚在推行这些举措时,是出于自己内心对偶像崇拜的深切憎恶。但值得注意的是,这一举动在他出生前三百二十六年便已预言,他的名字也被明确提及,连当行的地点也一一指明
(1Ki 13:2)。 这是圣经中最 remarkable 的预言之一。
英文原文
16. according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, &c.--In carrying on these proceedings, Josiah was prompted by his own intense hatred of idolatry. But it is remarkable that this act was predicted three hundred twenty-six years before his birth, and his name also was expressly mentioned, as well as the very place where it should be done
(1Ki 13:2).
This is one of the most most remarkable prophecies in the Bible.
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17. 我所看见的是什么碑呢?——王的注意大概被一块比周围其他墓碑更显著的墓碑所吸引,碑上有铭文刻着墓中之人的名字;这便引起他的好奇而发问。
那城里的人——不是亚兰的殖民——因为他们对那地古时的事一无所知——而是一些获准留下的老人;或许那坟墓本身,若非有某位「古墓守护者」为这义人的墓加以修饰,因岁月和疏忽的侵蚀,当时也未必能被发现了。
英文原文
17. What title is that that I see?--The king's attention probably, had been arrested by a tombstone more conspicuous than the rest around it, bearing on an inscription the name of him that lay beneath; and this prompted his curiosity to make the inquiry.
the men of the city--not the Assyrian colonists--for they could know nothing about the ancient transactions of the place--but some of the old people who had been allowed to remain, and perhaps the tomb itself might not then have been discoverable, through the effects of time and neglect, had not some "Old Mortality" garnished the sepulcher of the righteous.
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21-23. 王吩咐众民说,你们当向耶和华你们的神守逾越节等——这次逾越节守得极为庄严,不仅有他自己的臣民参与,也有来自以色列的余民参与(参
2Ch 35:1-19)。
在耶路撒冷的许多以色列人可能只是听说过约西亚所念的律法,即使没有亲耳听见。他们甚至可能因耶路撒冷这些不寻常而庄严的事所激励,更加热心于更好地敬拜耶和华,从而弄到了一份律法书的抄本。
英文原文
21-23. the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the Lord your God, &c.--It was observed with great solemnity and was attended not only by his own subjects, but by the remnant people from Israel (see on
2Ch 35:1-19).
Many of the Israelites who were at Jerusalem might have heard of, if they did not hear, the law read by Josiah. It is probable that they might even have procured a copy of the law, stimulated as they were to the better observance of Jehovah's worship by the unusual and solemn transactions at Jerusalem.
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26. 然而,耶和华……没有收回祂烈怒的愤怒等——约西亚所推行的全国改革,百姓只是顺服王意而屈从;他们暗中仍强烈眷恋那些被禁的偶像崇拜。他们外表虽已洁净,心对神却不正——这从先知书的许多段落中可以看出;他们彻底的改革已无希望;神既看不到真正悔改的迹象,便任凭祂颠覆这国的判旨
(2Ki 21:12-15)
产生致命的效果。
英文原文
26. Notwithstanding, the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his wrath,--&c. The national reformation which Josiah carried on was acquiesced in by the people from submission to the royal will; but they entertained a secret and strong hankering after the suppressed idolatries. Though outwardly purified, their hearts were not right towards God, as appears from many passages of the prophetic writings; their thorough reform was hopeless; and God, who saw no sign of genuine repentance, allowed His decree
(2Ki 21:12-15)
for the subversion of the kingdom to take fatal effect.
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29. 他的日子,法老尼哥——(参
2Ch 35:20-27)。
英文原文
29. In his days Pharaoh-nechoh--(See
2Ch 35:20-27).
2Ki 23:1-3.
约西亚 命人 宣读 律法
1-3. 王差遣人,招聚……众长老到他那里——这位敬虔而爱国的君王,并不以自身得平安的应许为足;听了户勒大的回话之后,更加渴望能为他的国度和百姓免去所警告的灾祸。他深知神对悔改之人丰盛的怜悯与恩典,便召集百姓的长老,自己置身其间,率领全体居民,庄严地列队前往圣殿。在那里,他吩咐人向会众宣读律法书,并在全民一致的赞同下立约,决心谨守耶和华的一切诫命。这是一场庄严的盛会,与国家的重大危机紧密相连;而最高层所树立的敬虔榜样,必能对各阶层百姓产生有益的影响,激发他们的虔诚,鼓励他们归回列祖的信仰。