库克博士:好 鲍勃 Dr. Cook: Alright, Bob
现在我们讲到了 传统上 here we are in that great corpus of prophetic poems
被称作以赛亚书第二的预言诗篇主体部分 that people traditionally called the Second Isaiah
这是他们(成书者)最重要的著作 It's their major contribution
尽管我们之前讨论过的 although this editing that
本书中出现的编辑工作 we've looked at earlier in this book
也是出自他们的手笔 is theirs as well we've been talking
我们先来看看这部分第40章本身 Let's just look in this section right Chapter 40 itself
因为以赛亚书第二主体部分的很多主题 because so many themes of this great corpus of Second Isaiah
都是出自这一章 come up here
第40章开头即言 要安慰 要安慰 Chapter 40 begins with this words Comfort, comfort
如果你看一下希伯来语的话 If you looked at the Hebrew
就会发现这话并不仅仅是个呼格的名词 it's not just vocative nouns being thrown around
并不只是在要求某个人提供安慰 It's not an individual being asked to provide comfort
在希伯来语中 But it's plural command
这是复数的命令式 复数的祈使句 plural imperative in the Hebrew
上帝是在命令一个群体 God is commanding a group to provide comfort
为流亡在巴比伦的百姓提供安慰 to the community in Exile in Babylonia
是谁充当了上帝的代理人 Who are these agents of God?
这些命令是向谁发出的？ Who's being addressed by these commands?
威尔森博士:说实话呢 我并没有任何头绪 Dr. Wilson: To be honest I don't have a clue
很久以前 解经传统承认了这个问题 The tradition, interpretive tradition long ago recognized the problem
因为现代译文 which is masked
并没有将这种复数格式传达出来 by most modern translations
所以这个难题被掩盖住了 that don't tell you anything about the plurals
它们(这句话)在这里出现了 They appear here and they appear later on
在后面的祈使句中也出现了 in these imperatives as well
在旷野预备耶和华的路 In the wildness prepare a way for the Lord
在沙漠地修平我们神的道 make straight in the desert, a highway for a God
我们能就此得出的结论是 What we can say about it is
这些命令不是对某一个单独的人发出的 more than one person is being addressed here
而是针对某种类型的群体 So this is a community of some sort
很多人都试着猜测这些人是什么人 And various people have tried to guess just who it might be
我认为最简单的推测是 The simplest assumption I think
这实际上是一个解经者的群体 is that it is in fact the community of interpreters
是以赛亚书第二的信徒群体 It is the community of the Second Isaiah
他们非常珍爱这部经书 It is the people who treasured this text
并尝试对其进行解读 and are trying to interpret it
经文原本是 So suddenly from being an object of interpretation
后世教徒诠释的对象 for the later community
现在其内容突然开始指向解经者 the text has turned on the interpreters
而解经者们变成了经文之言所指向的对象 And the interpreters are now the object of the address in the text
因此不论时代 So whenever the community are faced
不论受众是犹太信徒还是基督教徒 whether Jewish or Christian reads this text
只要读到这篇经文 it suddenly is speaking directly to them
经文都是在直接对他们发话 in whatever time they find their way
库克博士:这个在巴比伦流亡的苦难中 Dr. Cook: Do you think this community
负责提供安慰的群体 that's to provide comfort in the midst of the suffering of Exile
会不会某种程度上就等于余剩之民呢？ is in someway identified with the remnant?
我这样问 是因为如果回顾一下 I ask because if you go back
我们前面讲过的《以赛亚书》 we looked in the previous section
第10到12章的几节里 in Chapter 10-12 of Isaiah
有一条先知预言就提到了 there's this prophetic prophecy
余剩之民受到上帝的安慰 of a Remnant being comforted by God
威尔森博士:确实是这样的 Dr. Cook: It certainly is
随着我们通读这一章 And the more we read through the Chapter
就会明确看到经文所指向的 it becomes clear that the community being addressed
是一个几乎被灭亡的群体 is one that is close to being wiped out
这一点完全符合余剩之民的概念 And that certainly meets the definition of the remnant
那么我们来看看这些人被要求做些什么 So if we looked at what the people are being asked to do
他们应该 对耶路撒冷说安慰的话 they are supposed to speak to Jerusalem tenderly
又向她宣告说 and cry to her
她争战的日子已满了 that she has served her terms
注意一下 这里用到了审判性的语言 Notice the judicial language is being used here
说得好像是耶路撒冷因为犯罪而接受刑罚 This is being spoken of as serving penalty for crime
因此完全符合以色列 and certainly that fits the definition
对其流亡到巴比伦的理解 how Israel understood its Exile in Babylon
正如之前耶路撒冷和犹太 Just as earlier Jerusalem and Judah
因为过去所犯下的罪孽而受苦 suffer by means of the Assyrian invasion
表现形式为亚述的入侵 for past sins they had committed
当时的百姓 So also the people in Exile
明白自己落入亚述的手中 understand their present position in the same light
是在接受制裁 so they are understanding their punishment in Babylon, in Exile
同样地 流亡的百姓也明白他们所处的位置 in just the same way the earlier community understood
明白他们流亡到巴比伦是在接受惩罚 it's a punishment at the hands of Assyrians
因此 亚述人也好 巴比伦人也好 So Assyrians, Babylonians
从解经传统推进的方式来看 in the way in which this interpretive tradition moves
他们的作用都是相同的 they all function in the same way
库克博士:你认为这些苦难 Dr. Cook: Do you think that the suffering
都可以被算作惩罚吗？ can all be accounted for as punishment?
我是说这种 上帝的子民受苦的观念 I mean the whole notion of People of God suffering
我想这与人民的生命息息相关 I think it's very relevant for people's lives
人人都想知道自己为什么会受苦 We all wonder why we suffer
威尔森博士:是的 是这样的 Dr. Wilson: Yeah, it is
余剩之民一再被强调的特点就是受苦 And the remnant is characterized repeatedly as suffering
这点之前我们就注意到了 We notice that earlier on
成为余剩之民 Being part of the remnant does not exclude the community
并不意味着这个群体可以免于接受制裁 that is part of the remnant from undergoing the Judgment
这种制裁看起来也有点奇怪 It's a very strange kind of Judgment
库克博士:然而他们看起来 Dr. Cook: But it's almost
好像是接受了双倍的惩罚 as if they are suffering more than the Judgment
这到底是怎么回事？ What's this stuff about double suffering?
威尔森博士:关于这点真是非常微妙 Dr. Wilson: That's a really subtle point
没有任何一位注经者 and none of the commentators seem to
能给出合理的解释 have a really good explanation for that
注意这里提到 耶路撒冷为自己的一切罪 Notice that it says Jerusalem has paid her penalty
从耶和华手中加倍受罚 She has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sin
解经者们遇到了难题 That's been a problem to interpreters
他们不明白这句话的含义 They don't understand what that means
余下的惩罚还在持续 There is leftover suffering that has gone on
或者被记录成 which either has to be written down as
或者被理解为不公正的苦难 or understood as unjust suffering
库克博士:我认为上帝确实非常气愤于 Dr. Cook: I mean God does get mad at Assyria
亚述逾越了其作为制裁执行者的这个角色 for way over extending the role of instrument of Judgment
亚述出于骄横 擅自...... In the arrogance, Assyria just take things...
威尔森博士:但是这点再次说明了问题 Dr. Wilson: But again that makes the point
对于每桩犯下的原罪 There seems to be an appropriate amount of judgment
随之而来的都是适当的制裁 that goes along with every sin
此处非常微妙的一点是 And the point being made here very subtly is
耶路撒冷受到的惩罚似乎有些过量了 Jerusalem seems to have suffered more than that
稍后在第52到53章中出现的 仆人 身上 Now we're going to get some very explicit treatment of that
很明显也出现了同样的手法 later on in 52-53 with the Servant
因此 这里也许可以用同样的方式理解 So it may be that the same understanding is operating here
即耶路撒冷受到额外的苦难是出于其它原因 that the extra suffering of Jerusalem is for some other purpose
也许是这座城市 that it is perhaps redemptive for sin
承担了他人所犯下的罪行 that the city itself did not commit
库克博士:也许我应该 Dr. Cook: Maybe I should just
先简单介绍一下这位仆人 say something about the Servant
要了解这个概念需要费点事儿 because it's gonna take a little getting used to
在以赛亚书第二的中心主体部分 There's this figure in the central corpus
有这样一个人物 of the Second Isaiah
人们称其为上帝的仆人或是受难的仆人 that people call the Servant of the Lord, the Suffering Servant
几个世纪以来 And interpreters through the centuries have just shaken their heads
解经者们都绞尽脑汁试图弄清楚这个人是谁 and spill (inaudible) of trying to figure out who this person is
然而很显然的是 52-53的优美诗篇里 But certainly in Chapters, in the great poems in 52-53
这位仆人受苦 this figure is suffering
并不是因为他自己受到制裁 and it's not because of any judgment due to him
而是替他人受过 but it's on behalf of others
这是不是在预示我们刚才讨论的内容 Is this a kind of foreshadowing of that?
威尔森博士:或者可以反过来说 Dr. Wilson: Or the other is a foreshadowing of this
虽然不是完全明确 It's not exactly clear
但两段篇章似乎是在彼此呼应 but the two passages may inform each other
试图理解对这个群体来说 in the way they are understanding
受苦到底意味着什么 the role of suffering in the community itself
有趣的是这里出现一个身份不明的声音 It's interesting that here you have this anonymous voices
首先呼喊要为上帝 crying out the first to prepare the way of the Lord
准备好返回锡安的路 back to Zion, to return to Zion
第6节里我们看到这个身份不明的声音在呼喊 And then Verse 6 we have this anonymous voice crying out
然后有个我来应答 and an I answers this
这个 我 很有可能就是先知 And the I is probably the prophet
他应答说 我呼喊什么呢 whose response to the voice is what shall I cry
然后他找了一个不作为的借口 and then an excuse for not doing anything
凡有血气的尽都如草 他的美容都像野地的花 All people are grass their constancy is like the flower of the field
草必枯乾 花必凋残 The grass withers, the flower fades
因为耶和华的气吹在其上 when the breath of Lord blows upon it
百姓诚然是草 Surely the people is grass
这番话呼应了以赛亚在亚述危机中的预言 This is a reflection of Isaiah's oracle
他预言 during the Assyrian Crisis which talked about
亚述人即将来袭 the Assyrians coming through
百姓将会像草一样 and the people are going to be like the grass
枯萎在夏日热浪中 that withers in the summer heat
库克博士:真是非常有趣的现象 Dr. Cook: I think that's very interesting
威尔森博士:现在则是巴比伦人 Dr. Wilson: Now it's the Babylonians
库克博士:是的 我是想说 Dr. Cook: Yeah, well, I mean
这是对先知的召命异象的呼应 there's echoes of the prophet's original call
以赛亚在庙宇中第一次朝拜上帝 when Isaiah first encounter God high
上帝高高在上 and lifted up in the temple
上帝要求以赛亚完成一项使命 He was asked to go on a mission
以赛亚回答说 我是不洁之人 and his response was, well I am unclean
又住在不洁的民中 and my people are unclean
因此无法完成 and there's no way
与此主线同时并存还有另外一个主题 And here's another objection along the same lines
就是脆弱的人类 如此地 what is frail humanity to do
平凡 渺小和有限 我们究竟能够做些什么 given how puny and mortal and finite we are
我认为以赛亚书第二的中心思想 And that I think is the central
精神性谜题与神奇之处就在于 spiritual mysteries and wonders of Second Isaiah
人类力量的真正来源 is that the very frailty and finitude of human beings
正是我们的脆弱和局限性 that is the source of true strength
因为只要我们能够正视自己的脆弱 because if you recognize your frailty
就能将承载上帝意图 then you can channel this Word of God
贯穿历史的上帝的话语 传达出来 that's working God's Purposes through history
第7节里的希伯来排比诗句 And essentially that's
表达的基本含义也是这样 what the Hebrew parallelism says in Verse 7
是啊 人如草芥 草必枯萎 Yeah, people are grass. Grass does wither
然而与这个理念共存 But parallel to that idea
与之相反的一个观点则是 the flip side of that idea is
即惟有我们神的言语必永远应验 that the Word of our God stands forever
任谁也无法改变 and there's no way you can stop it
威尔森博士:我们现在用的译本里 Dr. Wilson: In the translation we're using
第8节中并没有出现引号 there're no quotation marks around Verse 8
但这肯定是 But this has got to be the divine answer
上帝对先知所作的的神圣回应 to the prophet's effort again
正如第6章里先知逃避神圣的使命时说 as in Chapter 6 of escaping the divine commission
我能做什么呢 我身为血肉 犹如草芥 What can I do? All flesh and grass
上帝回应说 是的 的确 and God's response is, Yes, indeed
草必枯乾 花必凋残 the grass withers and the flower fades
惟有我们神的话必永远立定 But the Word of our God will stand forever
许下的承诺就一定会应验 The promise that has been made is going to be fulfilled
人力无法做出任何改变 And there's nothing that human beings can do about it
这样一来 使命就不是直接下达给某个群体 This leads directly to the commission not to a group
而是另一位预言使者 but yet to another messenger
即拟人化的耶路撒冷城本身 And that is the personified city of Jerusalem itself
这座城市受尽苦难 完成了救赎 which has suffered for its own redemption
稍后我们开始讨论救赎这个概念的时候 And that's going to raise a really interesting question later on
这将会是个非常有趣的问题 when we begin to look at the idea of Redemption
另外先知 and what the prophet understands
是如何理解救赎的 by it is one of those crucial themes
也是在以赛亚书第二中反复出现的关键主题 that pops up from time to time in Second Isaiah
在后面的几讲中我们将会谈到 And we will look at that in later sections