1
1Ki 12:1-5.
英文原文
1Ki 12:1-5.
REFUSING THE OLD MEN'S COUNSEL.
1. Rehoboam went to Shechem--He was the oldest, and perhaps the only son of Solomon, and had been, doubtless, designated by his father heir to the throne, as Solomon had been by David. The incident here related took place after the funeral obsequies of the late king and the period for public mourning had past. When all Israel came to make him king, it was not to exercise their old right of election
(1Sa 10:19-21),
for, after God's promise of the perpetual sovereignty to David's posterity, their duty was submission to the authority of the rightful heir; but their object was, when making him king, to renew the conditions and stipulations to which their constitutional kings were subject
(1Sa 10:25).
To the omission of such rehearsing which, under the peculiar circumstances in which Solomon was made king, they were disposed to ascribe the absolutism of his government.
Shechem--This ancient, venerable, and central town was the place of convocation; and it is evident, if not from the appointment of that place, at least from the tenor of their language, and the concerted presence of Jeroboam
[1Ki 12:3],
that the people were determined on revolt.
4
無標題
4. 你父親使我們負的重軛甚重——所羅門朝廷的奢華與他各項工程的浩大,使附庸國的貢物、外邦君王的饋贈、以及他商業企業的收益都不足以應付,他不得不為籌措必要的財政收入而開徵繁重的賦稅。百姓只見所羅門太平繁盛之治所加給他們的重擔,卻不顧他們從中所得的益處——他們要求解脫的,是民事上的壓迫,而非偶像崇拜;對於後者,他們似乎漠不關心,甚至頗為贊同。
英文原文
4. Thy father made our yoke grievous--The splendor of Solomon's court and the magnitude of his undertakings being such, that neither the tribute of dependent states, nor the presents of foreign princes, nor the profits of his commercial enterprises, were adequate to carry them on, he had been obliged, for obtaining the necessary revenue, to begin a system of heavy taxation. The people looked only to the burdens, not to the benefits they derived from Solomon's peaceful and prosperous reign--and the evils from which they demanded deliverance were civil oppressions, not idolatry, to which they appear to have been indifferent or approving.
5
無標題
5-8. 他說……你們暫且散去,三天後再來——把百姓的要求從容審慎地加以考慮,實為明智之舉。至於若聽從那些老成練達的謀士的意見是否會有任何好結果,則無從斷言。至少這樣做可以消除分裂的一切藉口。
[參
2Ch 10:7
的註釋。]
但他寧可聽從那些年少同伴(所謂年少並非指年齡,因為他們都約四十一歲,而是指缺乏經驗)的計謀,他們主張採取果斷迅速的手段來壓制不滿之人。
英文原文
5-8. he said . . . Depart yet for three days--It was prudent to take the people's demand into calm and deliberate consideration. Whether, had the advice of the sage and experienced counsellors been followed, any good result would have followed, it is impossible to say. It would at least have removed all pretext for the separation. [See on
2Ch 10:7.]
But he preferred the counsel of his young companions (not in age, for they were all about forty-one, but inexperienced), who recommended prompt and decisive measures to quell the malcontents.
11
無標題
11. 鞭子……蠍子鞭——後者〔器具〕與前者相對,據推測是指密密地綴有鋒利鐵尖的皮條,用來懲治奴隸。
英文原文
11. whips . . . scorpions--The latter [instruments], as contrasted with the former, are supposed to mean thongs thickly set with sharp iron points, used in the castigation of slaves.
15
無標題
15-18. 王不依從百姓,因為這事乃出於耶和華——那是主宰一切的原因。羅波安的懦弱
(Ec 2:18, 19)
和對政事的無知,使人產生一個合理的推測:他像東方許多王子一樣,在登基之前一直被關在後宮之中
(Ec 4:14),
他父親或是怕他像大衛的兩個兒子那樣覬覦王位,或是——更可能——怕過早暴露他的無能。王對本已滿懷不滿和憤慨的百姓所作的傲慢粗暴的回答,顯示他如此不能體認危機的嚴重,如此完全缺乏常識,以致讓人相信他被擊打了、受了司法性的瞎眼。這話所得到的回應是輕蔑與嘲笑。叛變既成,卻又如此平靜,以致羅波安仍留在示劍,自以為是統一王國的君主,直到他被極不明智地派去與百姓交涉的收稅總管被人用石頭打死。這才使他如夢初醒,於是他逃到耶路撒冷以求安全。
英文原文
15-18. the king hearkened not unto the people, for the cause was from the Lord--That was the overruling cause. Rehoboam's weakness
(Ec 2:18, 19)
and inexperience in public affairs has given rise to the probable conjecture, that, like many other princes in the East, he had been kept secluded in the harem till the period of his accession
(Ec 4:14),
his father being either afraid of his aspiring to the sovereignty, like the two sons of David, or, which is more probable, afraid of prematurely exposing his imbecility. The king's haughty and violent answer to a people already filled with a spirit of discontent and exasperation, indicated so great an incapacity to appreciate the gravity of the crisis, so utter a want of common sense, as to create a belief that he was struck with judicial blindness. It was received with mingled scorn and derision. The revolt was accomplished, and yet so quietly, that Rehoboam remained in Shechem, fancying himself the sovereign of a united kingdom, until his chief tax gatherer, who had been most imprudently sent to treat with the people, had been stoned to death. This opened his eyes, and he fled for security to Jerusalem.
20
1Ki 12:20-33.
1Ki 12:20-33.
耶羅波安被立為王
20-24. 以色列眾人聽見耶羅波安回來了——本節結束了從
1Ki 12:2
開始的插敘;而
1Ki 12:21-24
接回
1Ki 12:1
的歷史。羅波安決意率領大軍進入叛離的各省以伸張王權。但十個支派的叛變,在先知示瑪雅奉耶和華的名下令放棄對革命者的一切敵對行動時,便告完成。軍隊因神的禁令而畏懼,隨即解散,王不得不屈服。
英文原文
1Ki 12:20-33.
JEROBOAM MADE KING OVER THEM.
20-24. when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again--This verse closes the parenthetical narrative begun at
1Ki 12:2, and 1Ki 12:21-24
resume the history from
1Ki 12:1.
Rehoboam determined to assert his authority by leading a large force into the disaffected provinces. But the revolt of the ten tribes was completed when the prophet Shemaiah ordered, in the Lord's name, an abandonment of any hostile measures against the revolutionists. The army, overawed by the divine prohibition, dispersed, and the king was obliged to submit.
25
無標題
25. 耶羅波安建築示劍——此城曾被亞比米勒毀壞
(Jud 9:1-49)。
耶羅波安把它重建,也許還修築了防禦工事,作為王宮所在地。
建築了毗努伊勒——一座帶有城樓的廢城
(Jud 8:9),
位於約旦河東、雅博河以北。修復這座堡壘(因它位於從基列到大馬色和他瑪的商隊道上),並確保那一帶邊境的安全,是一件重要的事。
英文原文
25. Jeroboam built Shechem--destroyed by Abimelech
(Jud 9:1-49).
It was rebuilt, and perhaps fortified, by Jeroboam, as a royal residence.
built Penuel--a ruined city with a tower
(Jud 8:9),
east of Jordan, on the north bank of the Jabbok. It was an object of importance to restore this fortress (as it lay on the caravan road from Gilead to Damascus and Palmyra) and to secure his frontier on that quarter.
26
無標題
26-32. 耶羅波安心裏說:現在這國必歸大衛家了——他既從神手中受了國,就當倚靠神的保護。但他沒有。為要把百姓從聖殿拉開,摧毀與耶路撒冷相連的神聖聯繫,他以替百姓省去長途跋涉的麻煩和花費為藉口,對國中的宗教禮儀作了重大而不當的更改。首先,他造了兩個金牛犢——即幼年的公牛亞皮斯和姆內維斯——作為(按埃及方式)真神的象徵,在他看來最接近基路伯的形像。一隻安在國境北部的但,另一隻安在南端的伯特利——在耶路撒冷望得見之處,他大概以為神在這裏彰顯自己,與在耶路撒冷一樣可能
(Ge 32:1-32;
2Ki 2:2)。
後者是更常去的地方——因為
1Ki 12:30
的話應譯作:「百姓甚至到但去,在那一個面前敬拜」
(Jer 48:13;
Am 4:4, 5; 5:5;
Ho 5:8; 10:8)。
這創新是罪,因為它以象徵和形像來敬拜神,並偏離了神所揀選立祂名的地方。其次,他把住棚節從七月十五日改到八月十五日。表面的理由可能是,王國北部地區的收割較遲;但真正的原因是要根除百姓對這個一年中最受歡迎、最歡樂的節期的舊有聯想。
英文原文
26-32. Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David--Having received the kingdom from God, he should have relied on the divine protection. But he did not. With a view to withdraw the people from the temple and destroy the sacred associations connected with Jerusalem, he made serious and unwarranted innovations on the religious observances of the country, on pretext of saving the people the trouble and expense of a distant journey. First, he erected two golden calves--the young bulls, Apis and Mnevis, as symbols (in the Egyptian fashion) of the true God, and the nearest, according to his fancy, to the figures of the cherubim. The one was placed at Dan, in the northern part of his kingdom; the other at Beth-el, the southern extremity, in sight of Jerusalem, and in which place he probably thought God was as likely to manifest Himself as at Jerusalem
(Ge 32:1-32; 2Ki 2:2).
The latter place was the most frequented--for the words
(1Ki 12:30)
should be rendered, "the people even to Dan went to worship before the one"
(Jer 48:13; Am 4:4, 5; 5:5; Ho 5:8; 10:8).
The innovation was a sin because it was setting up the worship of God by symbols and images and departing from the place where He had chosen to put His name. Secondly, he changed the feast of tabernacles from the fifteenth of the seventh to the fifteenth of the eighth month. The ostensible reason might be, that the ingathering or harvest was later in the northern parts of the kingdom; but the real reason was to eradicate the old association with this, the most welcome and joyous festival of the year.
31
無標題
31. 就將那低微的民立為祭司——原文作「從眾民中」,因利未人拒絕任職。他自己則至少在大節期時,承擔了大祭司的職能——大概是看見埃及王一身兼掌王權與聖職,覺得大祭司的職位太過崇高,不宜委諸臣下。
英文原文
31. made priests of the lowest of the people--literally, "out of all the people," the Levites refusing to act. He himself assumed to himself the functions of the high priest, at least, at the great festival, probably from seeing the king of Egypt conjoin the royal and sacred offices, and deeming the office of the high priest too great to be vested in a subject.
1Ki 12:1-5.
羅波安拒絕老人的謀略
1. 羅波安往示劍去——他是所羅門最年長的兒子,或許也是獨子,無疑已被父親指定為王儲,正如大衛當年指定所羅門一樣。此處記載的事件,發生在先王的葬禮和公眾哀悼期結束之後。當以色列眾人來要立他作王時,並非要行使他們舊日的選舉權
(1Sa 10:19-21),
因為在神將永遠的王權應許給大衛的後裔之後,他們的本分乃是順服合法繼承者的權柄;他們的目的乃是在立他為王之時,重新確認他們的憲政君王所當遵守的條件與約定
(1Sa 10:25)。
他們認為,正因為在所羅門被立為王的那種特殊情形下省略了這番重申,才造成了所羅門統治的專制。
示劍——這座古老、莊嚴且居中的城邑,是聚會的地點;顯而易見,無論從地點的選定,還是從他們言辭的口吻,以及耶羅波安的協同出席
[1Ki 12:3]
來看,百姓已決心叛變。