旧约 - 以赛亚书(Isaiah)第10章

Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees,
to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.
What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?
Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives or fall among the slain. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
"Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath!
I send him against a godless nation, I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets.
But this is not what he intends, this is not what he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations.
'Are not my commanders all kings?' he says.
'Has not Calno fared like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad, and Samaria like Damascus?
As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols, kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria--
shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?'"
When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, "I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes.
For he says: "'By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, because I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of nations, I plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their kings.
As one reaches into a nest, so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations; as men gather abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the countries; not one flapped a wing, or opened its mouth to chirp.'"
Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it? As if a rod were to wield him who lifts it up, or a club brandish him who is not wood!
Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors; under his pomp a fire will be kindled like a blazing flame.
The Light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One a flame; in a single day it will burn and consume his thorns and his briers.
The splendor of his forests and fertile fields it will completely destroy, as when a sick man wastes away.
And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few that a child could write them down.
In that day the remnant of Israel, the survivors of the house of Jacob, will no longer rely on him who struck them down but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob will return to the Mighty God.
Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand by the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming and righteous.
The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will carry out the destruction decreed upon the whole land.
Therefore, this is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says: "O my people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians, who beat you with a rod and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.
Very soon my anger against you will end and my wrath will be directed to their destruction."
The LORD Almighty will lash them with a whip, as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb; and he will raise his staff over the waters, as he did in Egypt.
In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders, their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be broken because you have grown so fat.
They enter Aiath; they pass through Migron; they store supplies at Micmash.
They go over the pass, and say, "We will camp overnight at Geba." Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul flees.
Cry out, O Daughter of Gallim! Listen, O Laishah! Poor Anathoth!
Madmenah is in flight; the people of Gebim take cover.
This day they will halt at Nob; they will shake their fist at the mount of the Daughter of Zion, at the hill of Jerusalem.
See, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be felled, the tall ones will be brought low.
He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax; Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.
以赛亚书第十章   赛 10:1> 不公正的法律为神所憎恶,基督徒对国家的法律能够做些什么? 

  10:1 神要审判不公正的法官和订立不公正的法律的人。那些压迫人的人将自食其果。生活在以正义立国的土地上并不足够,每个人还必须公平地与穷人和没有权力的人交往。不要把我们的责任丢给我们的国家或教会。我们的所作所为要对神负责。 

  赛 10:7> 昔日神使用亚述这个敌对祂的国家,今日神是否也在这样做? 

  10:7 虽然亚述不知道它是神计划中的一部分,但是神却用了这个国家去审判祂的百姓。虽然有百姓或国家的排斥,但神还是完成了在历史中的计划。神并不是单单使世界处于动态,而是推动它向前!因为我们全能的神今天仍然在掌权,所以这世界虽瞬息万变,我们还是安全的。 

  赛 10:9> 亚述军队横扫数城── 

  10:9 迦勒挪、迦基米施、哈马、亚珥拔、撒马利亚和大马士革是亚述所征服的城巿。亚述王相信帝国的版图能不断扩大,所以发表了飞扬跋扈的演说。亚述已经攻克了几个城巿,并认为犹大也会像其他城巿一样被攻陷。他们一点儿都不知道自己是在至高神的手中。 

  赛 10:10> 偶像毫无用途,不堪一击── 

  10:10 撒马利亚和耶路撒冷到处都是偶像,它们在亚述的军事武器面前根本不堪一击。只有天地之主可以推翻亚述,但那是在神用亚述达到目的之后的事情。 

  赛 10:12> 不可一世的亚述帝国,又岂能逃脱神之手呢? 

  10:12 对亚述惩罚的预言很快就实现了。公元前 701 年,十八万五千亚述士兵被主的天使杀死( 37:36-37 )。后来亚述帝国被巴比伦倾覆,从此亚述没能东山再起成为世界大国。 

  赛 10:12> “我本有聪明”,是否也是我的心声? 

  10:12 亚述人目空一切,认为靠自己的力量可以实现一切。如果我们没能认识到神在通过我们作工,那我们的成就便可毁了我们的前途。当我们认为自己在什么事上都很强的时候,骄傲便使我们瞎了眼,根本看不到神最终掌管一切的事实。那时我们就必定失败。 

  赛 10:15> 谁是工具?谁是使用工具的?你弄清楚了没有? 

  10:15 用具和工具若没有外来的力量使用它,便达不到它的目的。亚述人是神手中的工具,但他们没有意识到,若工具吹嘘它有比自己的主人还大的力量,它就有被搁置的危险。只有神使用我们的时候,我们才称得上有用。 

  赛 10:17> 亚述的灭亡以什么为标志? 

  10:17 公元前 612 年首都尼尼微被毁的时候,亚述就灭亡了。亚述只是神手中针对以色列的工具而已,它很快就因它的邪恶受到了审判。没人能逃脱神对罪恶的审判,就是最强大的国家也是一样(参诗 2 篇)。 

  赛 10:20-21> 小部分以色列民可依靠他们的圣者……何时应验? 

  10:20-21 亚述军队一旦被摧毁,一小部分神的百姓便不再依靠亚述,开始信靠神。这些剩下的人只是以前以色列人口的一小部分(参拉 2:64-65 中记载的回到犹大的人;也见赛 11:10-16 )。 

  赛 10:20-21> “所剩下的”,都是些什么人? 

  10:20-21 那些尽管害怕侵略,但仍持守对神的信心的人叫作“所剩下的人”。能成为他们中间一分子的关键在于信心,而其他的条件,诸如亚伯拉罕的后裔,生活在应许之地,曾一时相信过神,都是不足够的。我们依靠的是什么?是敬拜的仪式(基督徒的产业)?或者是过去曾与神的良好关系?被神分别为圣的关键在于信心。