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Ex 7:1-25.
英文原文
Ex 7:1-25.
SECOND INTERVIEW WITH PHARAOH.
1. the Lord said unto Moses--He is here encouraged to wait again on the king--not, however, as formerly, in the attitude of a humble suppliant, but now armed with credentials as God's ambassador, and to make his demand in a tone and manner which no earthly monarch or court ever witnessed.
I have made thee a god--"made," that is, set, appointed; "a god"; that is, he was to act in this business as God's representative, to act and speak in His name and to perform things beyond the ordinary course of nature. The Orientals familiarly say of a man who is eminently great or wise, "he is a god" among men.
Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet--that is, "interpreter" or "spokesman." The one was to be the vicegerent of God, and the other must be considered the speaker throughout all the ensuing scenes, even though his name is not expressly mentioned.
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3. 我要使法老的心刚硬——这将是结果。但神的宣告只是这君王顽梗不悔之刚硬的缘由,而非原因。
英文原文
3. I will harden Pharaoh's heart--This would be the result. But the divine message would be the occasion, not the cause of the king's impenitent obduracy.
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4、5. 我好下手击打埃及,等等——即将临到这国的一连串可畏刑罚,将充分显明以色列神的至高无上。
英文原文
4, 5. I may lay mine hand upon Egypt, &c.--The succession of terrible judgments with which the country was about to be scourged would fully demonstrate the supremacy of Israel's God.
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7. 摩西八十岁——这把年纪正是凭据,表明他们并非轻易被诱而投入轻率或冒险的事业;而且在其伴随的衰弱之下,他们断不能完成所要开始的工作,除非有神的手扶持。
英文原文
7. Moses was fourscore years old--This advanced age was a pledge that they had not been readily betrayed into a rash or hazardous enterprise, and that under its attendant infirmities they could not have carried through the work on which they were entering had they not been supported by a divine hand.
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9. 法老对你们说,等等——君王自然要求他们提供奉神差遣的证据;而因他期望自己众神之臣也能行同样的奇事,这场较量,就其性质而言,必是一场神迹的较量。摩西的杖早已提过
(出 4:2),
但法老朝廷中一切贵族和官员也都执杖。这是埃及的习俗,杖是权柄或品级的象征。因此神吩咐祂的仆人使用杖。
英文原文
9. When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, &c.--The king would naturally demand some evidence of their having been sent from God; and as he would expect the ministers of his own gods to do the same works, the contest, in the nature of the case, would be one of miracles. Notice has already been taken of the rod of Moses
(Ex 4:2),
but rods were carried also by all nobles and official persons in the court of Pharaoh. It was an Egyptian custom, and the rods were symbols of authority or rank. Hence God commanded His servants to use a rod.
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10. 亚伦把杖丢在法老面前,等等——可以推想法老曾要求他们证明所受的是神圣的使命。
英文原文
10. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, &c.--It is to be presumed that Pharaoh had demanded a proof of their divine mission.
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11. 于是法老召了博士和术士来,等等——他召他们来的目的,是要查明亚伦所做的究竟真是神圣大能的作为,还是不过是法术的把戏。埃及的术士在近代素以善于弄蛇著称,尤其是按压颈后部,使蛇进入一种僵直状态,变得僵硬不动——看来仿佛变成了一根杖。他们将蛇藏在身上,以戏法从衣中取出,僵直如杖。他们古代的前辈所玩的正是同样的把戏,其中最著名的雅尼(Jannes)和佯庇(Jambres)
(提后 3:8),
此次也被召来。他们在受召之后有时间作适当的准备——可见他们凭「邪术」在感官上造成了一种幻象。
英文原文
11. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers, &c.--His object in calling them was to ascertain whether this doing of Aaron's was really a work of divine power or merely a feat of magical art. The magicians of Egypt in modern times have been long celebrated adepts in charming serpents, and particularly by pressing the nape of the neck, they throw them into a kind of catalepsy, which renders them stiff and immovable--thus seeming to change them into a rod. They conceal the serpent about their persons, and by acts of legerdemain produce it from their dress, stiff and straight as a rod. Just the same trick was played off by their ancient predecessors, the most renowned of whom, Jannes and Jambres
(2Ti 3:8),
were called in on this occasion. They had time after the summons to make suitable preparations--and so it appears they succeeded by their "enchantments" in practising an illusion on the senses.
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12. 但亚伦的杖吞了他们的杖——这是他们所不能预料的,挫败显在他们的杖的丧失上,那些大概是真的蛇。
英文原文
12. but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods--This was what they could not be prepared for, and the discomfiture appeared in the loss of their rods, which were probably real serpents.
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14. 法老的心固执——无论他起初的印象如何,很快就消散了;当他发现自己的术士也能行类似的事,便断定亚伦所作的不过是法术的骗局,只是他的智者们还不知道其中的奥秘罢了。
英文原文
14. Pharaoh's heart is hardened--Whatever might have been his first impressions, they were soon dispelled; and when he found his magicians making similar attempts, he concluded that Aaron's affair was a magical deception, the secret of which was not known to his wise men.
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15. 你去见法老——以色列的神借其使臣证明祂对埃及一切神祇独一而无可争议的至高无上,这些可畏的审判神迹由此开始;这些神迹都是埃及的自然现象,在反常的季节、以神迹性的强度出现。埃及的朝廷,无论是在兰塞、孟菲斯,或在琐安田间的答比匿
(诗 78:12),
都是这些非凡事迹的舞台,在那可怕的时期,摩西必住在那紧邻之地。
早晨他出来往水边去——大概是为沐浴或敬拜;因为尼罗河是迷信敬拜的对象,是那国的守护神。也许摩西被拒于宫门之外;但无论如何,这河将是第一灾的对象,因此他受命带着那行奇事的杖前往河岸,如今这杖不是为证明而举,而是为审判——倘若那君王顽梗的心仍拒绝容许以色列人去守他们神圣的节期。
英文原文
15. Get thee unto Pharaoh--Now began those appalling miracles of judgment by which the God of Israel, through His ambassadors, proved His sole and unchallengeable supremacy over all the gods of Egypt, and which were the natural phenomena of Egypt, at an unusual season, and in a miraculous degree of intensity. The court of Egypt, whether held at Rameses, or Memphis, or Tanis in the field of Zoan
(Ps 78:12),
was the scene of those extraordinary transactions, and Moses must have resided during that terrible period in the immediate neighborhood.
in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water--for the purpose of ablutions or devotions perhaps; for the Nile was an object of superstitious reverence, the patron deity of the country. It might be that Moses had been denied admission into the palace; but be that as it may, the river was to be the subject of the first plague, and therefore, he was ordered to repair to its banks with the miracle-working rod, now to be raised, not in demonstration, but in judgment, if the refractory spirit of the king should still refuse consent to Israel's departure for their sacred rites.
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17-21. 亚伦举杖击打水——这些水是变成了真血,还是仅仅外貌如此(全能者既能成就前者,也同样容易成就后者),这都是一场严重的灾祸。当河水变成他们全国所厌恶的血红色时,全地必有极大的失望与厌恶;他们最喜爱的饮料成了令人作呕的汤汁,作为重要食物之一的鱼也死了[详
民 11:5 的注释]。
这灾降下的规模极大,可见于它蔓延到「河」——即尼罗河的各支流——「江」,即各运河,「池」与「塘」,即河水泛滥后所留下的积水,各蓄水池,以及许多家中用来过滤尼罗河水的器皿。因此百姓因干渴所受的痛苦必然十分严重。没有什么比这加在他们民族之神身上的羞辱,更能挫败埃及的骄傲了。
英文原文
17-21. Aaron lifted up the rod and smote the waters, &c.--Whether the water was changed into real blood, or only the appearance of it (and Omnipotence could effect the one as easily as the other), this was a severe calamity. How great must have been the disappointment and disgust throughout the land when the river became of a blood red color, of which they had a national abhorrence; their favorite beverage became a nauseous draught, and the fish, which formed so large an article of food, were destroyed. [See on
Nu 11:5.]
The immense scale on which the plague was inflicted is seen by its extending to "the streams," or branches of the Nile--to the "rivers," the canals, the "ponds" and "pools," that which is left after an overflow, the reservoirs, and the many domestic vessels in which the Nile water was kept to filter. And accordingly the sufferings of the people from thirst must have been severe. Nothing could more humble the pride of Egypt than this dishonor brought on their national god.
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22. 那些术士……用邪术照样而行——那时几乎找不到纯净的水,因此他们的模仿必只在小范围内进行——唯一可饮的水,是沙中掘出的。这必然只是用某种染料将水染红的一个样品或标本而已。但这已足以作为借口或台阶,让王无动于衷地转身回宫。
英文原文
22. And the magicians . . . did so with their enchantments, &c.--Little or no pure water could be procured, and therefore their imitation must have been on a small scale --the only drinkable water available being dug among the sands. It must have been on a sample or specimen of water dyed red with some coloring matter. But it was sufficient to serve as a pretext or command for the king to turn unmoved and go to his house.
出埃及记 7:1-25.
第二次 会见 法老
1. 耶和华对摩西说——他在此受鼓励再次去见君王——然而不是像从前那样,以谦卑恳求者的姿态,而是如今带着神使者的凭据,以一种地上任何君王或宫廷所未曾见过的语气与方式,提出他的要求。
我使你在法老面前代替神——「使」即设立、指派;「代替神」;即他要在这一事上作为神的代表,奉祂的名行事说话,并施行超乎自然常理的事。东方人惯于论到一位卓越伟大或智慧的人,便说他是人中的「神」。
你的哥哥亚伦是替你说话的先知——即「解释者」或「发言人」。前者是神的代理人,后者在随后的一切场面中都当视为发言人,纵然他的名字并未被明文提及。