旧约 - 以西结书(Ezekiel)第16章

The word of the LORD came to me:
"Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices
and say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.
No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised.
"'Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, "Live!"
I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, you who were naked and bare.
"'Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine.
"'I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you.
I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments.
I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck,
and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.
So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was fine flour, honey and olive oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen.
And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD.
"'But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his.
You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. Such things should not happen, nor should they ever occur.
You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.
And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them.
Also the food I provided for you--the fine flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat--you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign LORD.
"'And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.
In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood.
"'Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign LORD. In addition to all your other wickedness,
you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square.
At the head of every street you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty, offering your body with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by.
You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and provoked me to anger with your increasing promiscuity.
So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory; I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were shocked by your lewd conduct.
You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians too, because you were insatiable; and even after that, you still were not satisfied.
Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia, a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied.
"'How weak-willed you are, declares the Sovereign LORD, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute!
When you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute, because you scorned payment.
"'You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!
Every prostitute receives a fee, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.
So in your prostitution you are the opposite of others; no one runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you.
"'Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the LORD!
This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children's blood,
therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see all your nakedness.
I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring upon you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger.
Then I will hand you over to your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you naked and bare.
They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords.
They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of many women. I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers.
Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry.
"'Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me with all these things, I will surely bring down on your head what you have done, declares the Sovereign LORD. Did you not add lewdness to all your other detestable practices?
"'Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: "Like mother, like daughter."
You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom.
You not only walked in their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they.
As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.
"'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have done more detestable things than they, and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have done.
Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your sisters. Because your sins were more vile than theirs, they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
"'However, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and of Samaria and her daughters, and your fortunes along with them,
so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in giving them comfort.
And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to what they were before; and you and your daughters will return to what you were before.
You would not even mention your sister Sodom in the day of your pride,
before your wickedness was uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and all her neighbors and the daughters of the Philistines--all those around you who despise you.
You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the LORD.
"'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant.
Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant with you.
So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign LORD.'"
以西结书第十六章   第 16 章 

  结 16 章 > 生我者父母,养育我的是神,我有否辜负祂的养育之恩? 

  16 章 这信息提醒耶路撒冷她以前在迦南国家中受蔑视的处境。神以婴孩成长为成熟女性的形像来提醒耶路撒冷:是神把她从卑微的境地养大成人,并获得给神作新娘的极大荣耀。可她辜负了神的信任,而向异教国家献媚行淫,学效他们的习俗。如果我们也把神推在一旁,而去追求其他东西,哪怕是教育、家庭和享乐的话,我们就是在以同样方式背弃神。 

  结 16:3> 耶路撒冷的前身是── 

  16:3 迦南是这地方的古名,被以色列的子孙沿用了。圣经常常使用这个名字来指该地区败坏的异教国家。亚摩利人和赫人是迦南地区以邪恶闻名的两大民族。但神在这里所暗指的是,神的百姓并不比迦南人好多少。 

  结 16:15> 我有没有像以色列人那样,觉得自己翅膀硬了,就…… 

  16:15 神对犹大的关照和爱护,就是让他们脱离其他的国家和他们的假神。现在这个民族已经成熟了,有了名气,但他却忘记是谁赐给自己生命的( 16:22 )。这就叫灵命上的淫乱(即所谓叛教,离开了那惟一的真神)。当我们变得成熟和有知识的时候,我们不要背离那位真正爱我们的神。 

  结 16:20-21> 以色列人也用儿童献祭,实在是邪恶之极…… 

  16:20-21 在以色列人占领迦南之前,迦南人就一直用儿童献祭,但这是神严厉禁止的(参利 20:1-3 )。在以西结的时代,人们公开以自己的孩子献祭(参王下 16:3 ; 21:6 )。耶利米也证实这是一个普遍的习俗(参耶 7:31 ; 32:35 )。连神的百姓和祭司中都有这邪恶的行为,圣殿显然已不适合神居住了。当神离开圣殿的时候,神就不再是犹大的指导和保护了。 

  结 16:27> 犹大拜偶像已到无以复加的地步,你看── 

  16:27 犹大的行为那么淫荡,以至于那些敬拜别神的人,包括以色列最大的敌人非利士人都为这种行为感到羞耻,犹大人在行恶方面远超过了他们。 

  结 16:44-52> 明知故犯,比无知犯罪更加邪恶,这对我有何提醒? 

  16:44-52 所多玛城是个完全腐败的象征。它因邪恶被神彻底毁灭(参创 19:24-25 )。撒马利亚是原来北国的首都,遭到了南国犹大人的蔑视和抵制。被称为撒马利亚和所多玛的姐妹已够坏的了,若被称为更加堕落则意味着犹大的罪恶已罄竹难书,难逃毁灭了。认为犹大更坏的原因并不一定是犹大恶行更甚,而是因为犹大知道得更多,却仍明知故犯。同样,在我们生活的时代,神的信息已经通过圣经向我们表明了,如果我们继续犯罪,那我们就比犹大更坏(参太 11:20-24 )。 

  结 16:49> 我又没有犯什么重罪,问题不大吧…… 

  16:49 审判和谴责所多玛特别是她那可怕的性犯罪,是一件很容易的事。以西结是在提醒犹大:所多玛被毁是因为她百姓的高傲,饱食终日,对需要帮助的穷人漠不关心。表面上的罪我们容易避免,例如我们可能不会犯像淫乱、同性恋、偷窃和谋杀这样可怕的罪,但我们郤可能因过上了富足的生活,就犯像高傲、贪食和对有需要的人漠不关心这样的罪。这些罪也许不会使我们感到有多严重,但它们同样是神所憎恶的罪。 

  结 16:59-63> 没有不被神赦免的罪和人,但条件是…… 

  16:59-63 百姓没有信守他们的承诺,所以什么都不配,只配受惩罚。神却不会因此撤回自己对他们的应许。如果百姓回头,神就会再次赦免他们,并且更新同他们的约。这个约在耶稣为全人类付赎价死在十字架上的时候开始生效(参来 10:8-10 )。没有一个人是神不会赦免的。我们虽然什么都不配,只配受对罪的惩罚,但神的膀臂能触到我们。在我们悔改和向神归回的时候,神绝不会失言而不拯救、不赦免我们。──《灵修版圣经注释》