1
2Sa 14:1-21.
英文原文
2Sa 14:1-21.
JOAB INSTRUCTS A WOMAN OF TEKOAH.
2
无标题
2-21. 约押打发人往提哥亚去，从那里请了一个聪明的妇人来——王深爱押沙龙；如今他既已从暗嫩横死的悲痛中平复，便渴望再次与他所钟爱的儿子相聚，而这儿子已在外流亡了整整三年。但他顾忌舆论，又顾及公益，对是否要召回或赦免他有罪的儿子颇感踌躇；约押那敏锐的心察觉到这父爱与王责之间的挣扎，便设计了一个办法，既可解王的顾虑，又可遂王的心愿。他请来一位才智出众、口才了得的乡间妇人，叫她去求见王，以请求王为他裁断一件家务的冤情为由，使王信服：在某些情形下，杀人者的性命也是可以保全的。提哥亚在耶路撒冷以南约十二哩，伯利恒以南六哩；从这么远的地方请一个妇人来，目的是要使人既认不出求告者，也不易查究她的话的真伪。她的话以比喻的形式说出——那情景、那言语、那神情——都与场合十分相称，所呈的案情与大卫的情形尽可能相似，却不至于过早被识破。她既使王在王言中作出承诺，便坦言自己的用意，是要使王的良心得着安慰：赦免押沙龙，不过是他在陌生人案件中所会行的，毫无偏袒之嫌。这计策奏效了；大卫追溯其源于约押，并暗喜能得着这位粗犷却大抵见识高明的军人的判断，便差遣他往基述去，将他那流亡的儿子领回来。
英文原文
2-21. And Joab sent to Tekoah, and fetched thence a wise woman--The king was strongly attached to Absalom; and having now got over his sorrow for the violent death of Amnon, he was desirous of again enjoying the society of his favorite son, who had now been three long years absent. But a dread of public opinion and a regard to the public interests made him hesitate about recalling or pardoning his guilty son; and Joab, whose discerning mind perceived this struggle between parental affection and royal duty, devised a plan for relieving the scruples, and, at the same time, gratifying the wishes, of his master. Having procured a countrywoman of superior intelligence and address, he directed her to seek an audience of the king, and by soliciting his royal interposition in the settlement of a domestic grievance, convinced him that the life of a murderer might in some cases be saved. Tekoah was about twelve miles south of Jerusalem, and six south of Beth-lehem; and the design of bringing a woman from such a distance was to prevent either the petitioner being known, or the truth of her story easily investigated. Her speech was in the form of a parable--the circumstances--the language--the manner--well suited to the occasion, represented a case as like David's as it was policy to make it, so as not to be prematurely discovered. Having got the king pledged, she avowed it to be her design to satisfy the royal conscience, that in pardoning Absalom he was doing nothing more than he would have done in the case of a stranger, where there could be no imputation of partiality. The device succeeded; David traced its origin to Joab; and, secretly pleased at obtaining the judgment of that rough, but generally sound-thinking soldier, he commissioned him to repair to Geshur and bring home his exiled son.
7
无标题
7. 他们就要熄灭我那剩下的炭火——圣经将人的生命比作灯光。熄灭以色列的灯
（撒下21:17）
就是毁灭王的生命；为人预备灯
（诗132:17）
就是赐他后裔；熄灭炭火在此则意味着这妇人保全丈夫姓名和家族的最后指望归于灭绝。这比喻很美：一块在灰烬之下尚存活的炭火——她重新点火、在以色列中点灯的全部依靠。
英文原文
7. they shall quench my coal which is left--The life of man is compared in Scripture to a light. To quench the light of Israel
(2Sa 21:17)
is to destroy the king's life; to ordain a lamp for any one
(Ps 132:17)
is to grant him posterity; to quench a coal signifies here the extinction of this woman's only remaining hope that the name and family of her husband would be preserved. The figure is a beautiful one; a coal live, but lying under a heap of embers--all that she had to rekindle her fire--to light her lamp in Israel.
9
无标题
9. 妇人说……王啊，愿罪归我——即拦阻诉讼进程、赦免一个杀人者的罪——这杀人者报血仇的人无论在哪里遇见他都当杀他，除非在逃城之内。这超出了王的特权，是作为绝对君主行事了。妇人的话指的是希伯来士师和官长常行的一项预防措施：庄严地将他们所定要流之血的责任，从自己身上转移到控告者或罪犯身上
（撒下1:16；3:28）；
有时控告者也将这责任揽在自己身上
（太27:25）。
英文原文
9. the woman said . . . O king, the iniquity be on me--that is, the iniquity of arresting the course of justice and pardoning a homicide, whom the Goel was bound to slay wherever he might find him, unless in a city of refuge. This was exceeding the royal prerogative, and acting in the character of an absolute monarch. The woman's language refers to a common precaution taken by the Hebrew judges and magistrates, solemnly to transfer from themselves the responsibility of the blood they doomed to be shed, either to the accusers or the criminals
(2Sa 1:16; 3:28);
and sometimes the accusers took it upon themselves
(Mt 27:25).
13
无标题
13-17. 你为何这样想待神的百姓呢等等——她的论点可以借以下的意译加以阐明：你既已赦免了我那杀了兄弟的儿子，却不肯将押沙龙赐还给你的百姓；押沙龙的罪行并不比我儿子更大，因他也是在类似的激怒情境之下杀了兄弟。押沙龙有理由抱怨，他自己的父亲待他比国中最卑微的臣民还要严厉苛刻；全国也都有理由说，王对一位卑微妇人的呈文比对整个王国的意愿和盼望更为重视。我儿子的死只是我家的私事，而押沙龙的保全却是全以色列的共同利益，因他们如今都指望他作你王位的继承者。
英文原文
13-17. Wherefore then hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God, &c.--Her argument may be made clear in the following paraphrase:--You have granted me the pardon of a son who had slain his brother, and yet you will not grant to your subjects the restoration of Absalom, whose criminality is not greater than my son's, since he killed his brother in similar circumstances of provocation. Absalom has reason to complain that he is treated by his own father more sternly and severely than the meanest subject in the realm; and the whole nation will have cause for saying that the king shows more attention to the petition of a humble woman than to the wishes and desires of a whole kingdom. The death of my son is a private loss to my family, while the preservation of Absalom is the common interest of all Israel, who now look to him as your successor on the throne.
22
2Sa 14:22-33.
2Sa 14:22-33.
约押将押沙龙带到耶路撒冷。
22. 今日仆人才知道，我在我主眼前蒙了恩——约押在这恩待押沙龙的事上所表的喜乐之中，流露出不少自私，并自以为如今既把父子二人都置于长久的义务之下了。在评论大卫这一举动时，有许多可为之辩解的从轻情节：押沙龙所受的激怒；他如今身处一处公义无法追及他的地方；他沾染异教原则和敬拜之风的危险；希伯来王国的安全和利益；加上希伯来百姓对押沙龙的强烈偏爱——这从约押的计谋可见一斑——这些考量构成了大卫赦免他那满手鲜血之子的一个说得过去的辩解。但在赐下这赦免之时，他所行的更像一位东方暴君，而不像以色列的宪政之王。父亲的感情胜过了君王的本分；而作为最高的行政长官，他理当按神明文的律法
（创9:6； 民35:30、31），
对每一个杀人者执行不偏不倚的公义，这律法他无权豁免
（申18:18；书1:8；撒上10:25）。
英文原文
2Sa 14:22-33.
JOAB BRINGS ABSALOM TO JERUSALEM.
22. To-day thy servant knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight--Joab betrayed not a little selfishness amid his professions of joy at this act of grace to Absalom, and flattered himself that he now brought both father and son under lasting obligations. In considering this act of David, many extenuating circumstances may be urged in favor of it; the provocation given to Absalom; his being now in a country where justice could not overtake him; the risk of his imbibing a love for heathen principles and worship; the safety and interests of the Hebrew kingdom; together with the strong predilection of the Hebrew people for Absalom, as represented by the stratagem of Joab--these considerations form a plausible apology for David's grant of pardon to his bloodstained son. But, in granting this pardon, he was acting in the character of an Oriental despot rather than a constitutional king of Israel. The feelings of the father triumphed over the duty of the king, who, as the supreme magistrate, was bound to execute impartial justice on every murderer, by the express law of God
(Ge 9:6; Nu 35:30, 31),
which he had no power to dispense with
(De 18:18; Jos 1:8; 1Sa 10:25).
25
无标题
25、26. 全以色列之中，无人因美貌得称赞像押沙龙——这种非凡的人气不仅源于他的高昂气概和宫廷仪态，更源于他出众的俊美容貌。他一个显著的特征——似乎也是人们十分仰慕之处——是一头丰美的头发。它非凡的茂盛迫使他「每年年底」剪发；按原文是「按时」，「时时」，剪下来发现重达二百舍客勒——等于金衡一百一十二盎司；但因「是照王的平」，比普通舍客勒为轻，这重量被低降至三磅二盎司［博查特］，甚至有人算得更少。
英文原文
25, 26. But in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty--This extraordinary popularity arose not only from his high spirit and courtly manners, but from his uncommonly handsome appearance. One distinguishing feature, seemingly an object of great admiration, was a profusion of beautiful hair. Its extraordinary luxuriance compelled him to cut it "at every year's end;" lit., "at times," "from time to time," when it was found to weigh two hundred shekels--equal to one hundred twelve ounces troy; but as "the weight was after the king's shekel," which was less than the common shekel, the rate has been reduced as low as three pounds, two ounces [BOCHART], and even less by others.
28
无标题
28. 于是押沙龙在耶路撒冷住了整整两年，没有见王的面——无论大卫在允准押沙龙回国一事上犯了什么过错，他事后却显出极大的审慎和对感情的克制——因他儿子并未被允许进入父亲面前，而是被禁于自己的家中，与自己的家人为伴。这一轻微的严厉是为要使他真诚悔改——因他看出父亲并未完全赦免他——也是为要使百姓知道大卫痛恨他的罪行。他既不得在朝廷露面，也不得摆什么排场，朝臣们便都疏远他；连他的表兄弟也认为不宜与他交往。整整两年，他在耶路撒冷的自由比在基述更受限制，生活也比在同胞中更为隔绝；若不是他借一个激烈的办法
（撒下14:30）
决意将他的案子强加于约押的注意，借他善意而有力的影响使自己与父亲完全和好，他可能还要在这羞辱之中更长的时间。
英文原文
28. So Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and saw not the king's face--Whatever error David committed in authorizing the recall of Absalom, he displayed great prudence and command over his feelings afterwards--for his son was not admitted into his father's presence but was confined to his own house and the society of his own family. This slight severity was designed to bring him to sincere repentance, on perceiving that his father had not fully pardoned him, as well as to convince the people of David's abhorrence of his crime. Not being allowed to appear at court, or to adopt any state, the courtiers kept aloof; even his cousin did not deem it prudent to go into his society. For two full years his liberty was more restricted, and his life more apart from his countrymen while living in Jerusalem, than in Geshur; and he might have continued in this disgrace longer, had he not, by a violent expedient, determined
(2Sa 14:30)
to force his case on the attention of Joab, through whose kind and powerful influence a full reconciliation was effected between him and his father.
2Sa 14:1-21.
约押指教提哥亚的一个妇人。