威尔森博士:史蒂夫 在上一讲中 Dr. Wilson: The end of last session, Steve
我们谈到了 以赛亚鼓励对原初的以赛亚神谕 we were talking a little about the way in which Isaiah encourages
进行一种延续的诠释 a continuous
随着时间流逝 诠释也会变得历史悠久 and over time a long interpretation of the original oracles of Isaiah
并且以赛亚本人 And Isaiah himself
似乎也参与到这种诠释中 seems to have been involved in this kind of interpretation
这就为后世的人们奠定了基调 which sets the patterns for later generations
当然这种基调 and continues certainly all the way down
也一直持续到新约时代 into the New Testament Period
人们阅读这些经文 They are reading this material
并沿袭了先知本人开创的 and they are entering into this great interpretive tradition
伟大的诠释传统 which was started by the prophet
这种方法一直流传到现代 And it continues all the way into the modern period when
时间不允许 否则我们可以 Only if we had time, can track this long history
追溯一下《以赛亚书》诠释的漫长历程 of the interpretation of this book
这似乎也是作者本人 which seems to be what the writers of the book
针对我们读者的初衷 originally intended for us to do
即将开始的这一讲里 So the next section we're going to take up
我们要讨论的是亚述 begins to talk about Assyria
他作为一名外国君主 for role of a foreign King
是如何决定以色列的命运的 in determining Israel's destiny
这个理念很不同寻常 This is really an unusual idea because it turns out
因为上帝本人也参与其中 that God's personally involved in this kind of activity
你想就此说说你的看法吗？ So you wanna say a little more about that? Where does idea
让外国君主来做代理人这种理念 of using the foreign King as an agent of some sort
究竟起源于以赛亚的什么传统 Where does all this come from in the Isaiah tradition?
库克博士:鲍勃 我很高兴你提到了这一点 Dr. Cook: I'm glad you mentioned this, Bob
因为在本卷中 Because the means of God using
上帝运用不同代理人 或执行者的方式 all of these different instruments or agents
非常令人着迷 in this book is absolutely fascinating
随着我们推进本讲座系列 还会看到更多 and there's quite a number as we push through this series
我们会看到上帝运用各种不同的人物 国家 we're going to see all sorts of figures and nations and individuals
来当做自己的工具 执行者 代理人 being used as the tool or instrument or agent of God
我们要试着理解这个有趣的现象 and try to understand what's going on is quite interesting
并且在某些代理人身上 And try to see ourselves in the role of
我们也会看到自己的影子 some of these agents is interesting
很明显《以赛亚书第二》的教徒认为 Certainly the community of the Second Isaiah thought
很有必要考虑一下上帝怎么可能 that it was well worth considering how this nation of Assyria
会运用亚述这个尚武 狂妄而残暴的强权国家 which was this militaristic, hubristic violent superpower
并借此来实现自己的意图呢 could possibly be used by God and God's purposes
只要阅读第10-12章里的某些章节 And just reading some of this material in Chapter 10-12
就不难看出亚述国的人民 it really becomes clear how arrogant and how full of themselves
有多么傲慢 多么自负 this people, this nation of Assyria was
这个疑问在《以赛亚书第二》里 It's one of the things that Second Isaiah
体现得非常明确 is very clear about
因为在以赛亚眼中 is that because God in the view of Isaiah
上帝是崇高的 超然于世外的存在 is this lofty transcendent being of Otherness
人类的傲慢 残暴 any human pretensions to power
和对权力的任何追求都是荒唐的 and arrogance and hubris are just ridiculous
而亚述包含了所有这些缺陷 因此受到制裁 And because Assyrian encapsulates that, they come in for Judgment
然后就出现了一个问题 So the question gets raised
上帝如何能既将此权力当做执行者 well, how can God both use this power as an instrument
同时又使其受到制裁 but also judge it at the same time
真是个有趣的问题 It is really very, very interesting
《以赛亚书第二》里 第10:12节对此有句注释 The Second Isaiah has a comment on it in 10:12
诗歌体裁中间 有这么一小段散文体裁 amidst this poetry, there's a little prose editorial work
说的是 当上帝成就他在亚述国的工作的时候 and they talk about the work of the Lord with Assyria being completed
这话的意思是 上帝是规划全局的 眼光长远 It's the language of God having this plan, this long-range view
因为上帝超然于世 Because God is transcendent
因为上帝游离于宇宙大荒之外 because God is outside of the cosmos
因为上帝是创始者 because God is the Creator
因为上帝是完全不同于我们的存在 because God is totally Other than what we are
上帝能够看透无穷尽的 God has this ability to see the long-range
广袤的历史波澜 wide-string drama of history
而诸如亚述之类的代理人 And these agents like Assyria
只是肩负着有限的 界定好的使命 have very limited and circumscribed roles
他们不可能摧毁上帝的子民 They can't destroy God's people
比如说 在耶路撒冷 锡安的前方 For example, a line in the sand
沙地上画了一条不可逾越的线 is drawn before Zion, before Jerusalem
第12节说 Verse 12 says it would be
当主成就了在锡安山的一切工作之后 when the Lord has completed all God's work on Mount Zion
亚述就将会受到惩罚 then Assyria is gonna get their punishment
又有一个问题出现了 So one thing that emerges is
好吧 上帝的子民可能会遭遇非常困苦的经历 ok, the people of the Lord may go through some rough times
水将会涨溢至颈项 the water can come up to the neck
然而上帝成竹在胸 But God has a plan
永远不会让其子民困于水下 and that plan involves never letting them go under
被水淹没 never letting them go down
现在看来 这属于一种安慰人心的道 Certainly for people today a word of comfort
即 上帝永远不会抛弃子民 that God will never let God's people be dragged under
任其沦丧 丧命 so that their all breath is lost
威尔森博士:是的 的确是安慰人心的道 Dr. Wilson: Yes, it is a word of comfort
这样一来 就涉及到 And... but it raises
《以赛亚书第二》里的另一种传统主题 another traditional theme of the Second Isaiah
就是余剩之民的概念 And that is the notion of remnant
余剩之民指的是幸存之人 The people who survive are the remnant
这是《以赛亚书》中一个独特的概念 and that is a characteristic notion in Isaiah
即人民永远不会被灭亡 that the people will never be wiped out
究其根本 余剩之民的说法是来自于 Ultimately the idea of the remnant seems to go back
对耶路撒冷的承诺 to the idea of the promise to Jerusalem
该城绝不会被毁灭 that it will never be destroyed
此说法最初见于《撒母耳记》下部第7章 This arises in Second Samuel 7
先知拿单向大卫王传达安抚的神谕 where Nathan the prophet yields an oracle of assurance to David
承诺他的王朝将会长盛不衰 and promises that his dynasty will be an eternal dynasty
耶路撒冷将会永享上帝的恩泽 and that God will choose the city of Jerusalem in perpetuity
最终这个神谕转变为以色列民族的观念 And eventually this was transformed in Israeli thinking
认为这座城市永远不会沦陷 into the idea that the city itself would never be captured
因此这个承诺也暗示着耶路撒冷的人民 so there is an implicit promise to the people
将永远是这城中的余剩之民 that they will always be this remnant in Jerusalem
就此有一点很重要 不能忽略 But the important thing to notice about it is
《以赛亚书》的观点中 that the remnant as Isaiah thinks about
余剩之民也不能逃脱惩罚 it does not get off the punishment
想要成为余剩之民 In order to be a part of the remnant
首先就要熬过惩罚 you need to go through the punishment
这些人坐在那里 They are the people who are sitting there
亚述洪水般的侵略 with the water of the Assyrian invasion
涨溢至其颈项 rising until it's up to their necks
他们几乎丧失生命 They are barely able to keep their heads above the water
最令人难忘的一幕 The memorable image that already
在《以赛亚书》第6章的召命异象中出现 is introduced in Chapter 6 in the initial call vision
就好似森林被砍伐 is that this is like a forest which has been cut down
剩下的木头和树桩都被焚毁 This remaining wood and stumps have been burnt
然而从树桩上又生长出象征着新生的嫩枝 But there will from the stumps come up this little sprig of new life
我们可以看出以色列的余剩之民 One gets the impression that
也经历了很多苦难 it is really not much fun to be part of Isaiah's remnant
库克教授:这一点说得真是非常正确 Dr. Cook: I think that's exactly right
而且第11章里面 这篇我们在降临节都会唱诵的 And when you get to this beautiful passage
关于耶西树桩的美丽篇章 about the Stump of Jesse that we all sing about in Advent
提到了象征救世主的 this coming of this Messianic Sprig
嫩枝生长出来 that's gonna push itself up in Chapter 11
这个景象确实是 it really does presuppose
以余剩之民的理论为先决条件的 this theology of a remnant
这并非意味着这棵树会茁壮成长 It's not like the tree is growing strong
突然间果实累累 and all of a sudden it bears new fruit
它还只是树桩 It's a stump
上帝的子民经历了严酷的考验 People of God have been through some awful trials
他们经历了洪水滔天的制裁 They've been through an awful torrent of flooding judgment
然而制裁过后 却将有巨大的新生命蓬勃而出 But out of that there's this tremendous new life that's going to burst
有趣的是 第11章中救世主的神谕 Interestingly enough, it's not the promises to David
并不是给予大卫王的承诺 it's not the Davidic Royal line
也不是给予大卫王的王室谱系的 that's subject of the Messianic Oracle in Chapter 11
而是回溯到大卫王的父亲 耶西 They go back to Jesse, David's father
仿佛是说 我们要找寻真正的根 as if to say we're really going back to the roots
甚至要掘地三尺找寻神圣的种子 really almost digging underground to find the Holy Seed
远比大卫王及其子嗣的所作所为还更加古远 way back beyond everything that David and his children ever did
威尔森博士:这是否说明了 Dr. Wilson: Does that indicate
在重新诠释该神谕的时候 they're already having some doubts
人们对于大卫王朝的长盛不衰已经产生了怀疑 about the longevity of the Davidic line when this is reinterpreted?
库克博士:我认为需要仔细琢磨一下 Dr. Cook: I think you have to struggle with
人们对救世主的想象 what one might imagine Messiah is
如果人们只是想象救世主 If you imagine that Messiah
是对人类对皇权的追求的一种肯定 is just an affirmation of human royal pretensions
如果人们认为救世主仅仅意味着 if you imagine that the Messiah
对大卫王及其王室谱系所有的君主 just means the vindication of David's claims to power
对权力的追求的一种辩护 and all that Kings and David's line did
那么 是的 我觉得他们真的有必要重新思考 Then, yeah, I think they really need to rethink that
因为这里的上帝 because the God of this material
让所有这些人类的追求和意图都化为荒唐 renders all human claims and pretensions ridiculous
我想归根结底 借余民这种概念 I think they are really trying to get back
他们是希望能找回一种全新的精神力量 when they're looking at this remnant to just a new spirituality
他们在与之搏斗 They're wrestling with that
这种新的精神力量也意味着 And part of that new spirituality
成为世间上帝的代理人的一种全新的方式 is just the new way of being God's vicar on earth
这位救世主 行审判不凭眼见 This is a person who isn't judging by what his eyes see
他也不按世间权势的 He is not working by the normal patterns of power
惯常模式行事 and administration in the world
他有着敏锐的直觉 but something much more intuitive
关心贫苦的穷人 something that cares much more about the poor
不自私自利 something that's willing to give the self a backseat
以他人利益为首要 and to be centered on others
与邻为善 善待民众 Concern for the neighbor, concern for the whole community
关心最弱势的人 even the weakest among them
某种意义上来说 确实是对传统皇室 In some way it is a critique of traditional royalty
传统救世主印象的一种批评 traditional Messianic thought
我想这是 It's a new, I think it's a new vision of
对救世主的降临 what it would mean to have a Messiah
以及余剩之民 and what it would mean to
如何团结在救世主周围的全新观点 have a remnant organized around this Messiah
威尔森博士:我们在《以赛亚书》的 Dr. Wilson: So ultimately we can look forward
后面部分可以找一找 in the rest of the book
对于这种转变的发生有着怎么样的说法 probably to ideas about how that transformation is going to take place
新的救世主 新的皇室成员究竟会是怎样的 And what the new Messiah, the new royal personage is going to be
库克博士:是的 我想这正是 Dr. Cook: Yeah, I think we should
我们所要寻找的 keep our eyes all open for exactly that