第97篇		Paper 97
希伯来人中间的神观念演进		Evolution of the God Concept Among the Hebrews
97:0.1 (1062.1) 希伯来人的灵性领袖们做到了前人未曾做成之事 -- 他们将其神观念去神人同形同性化，又未将它转化为一种只有哲学家才能理解的神灵抽象概念。即使是普通人也能将成熟的雅威概念视为父，若非是个人之父，至少也是种族之父。		97:0.1 (1062.1) THE spiritual leaders of the Hebrews did what no others before them had ever succeeded in doing—they deanthropomorphized their God concept without converting it into an abstraction of Deity comprehensible only to philosophers. Even common people were able to regard the matured concept of Yahweh as a Father, if not of the individual, at least of the race.
97:0.2 (1062.2) 关于神之人格的观念，尽管在麦基洗德时代曾在撒冷得到了清晰的教导，但在逃出埃及的时代却模糊不清了，仅在因应灵性领袖的教导下，才逐代在希伯来人的心智中渐渐演进。对雅威人格的感知，比起对许多其他神灵属性的感知来说，在其进展演变过程中更为连续得多。从摩西到玛拉基，在希伯来人心智中，对神之人格出现了一种几未中断的观念成长，这一观念最终被耶稣关于天父的教导所提升和美化了。		97:0.2 (1062.2) The concept of the personality of God, while clearly taught at Salem in the days of Melchizedek, was vague and hazy at the time of the flight from Egypt and only gradually evolved in the Hebraic mind from generation to generation in response to the teaching of the spiritual leaders. The perception of Yahweh’s personality was much more continuous in its progressive evolution than was that of many other of the Deity attributes. From Moses to Malachi there occurred an almost unbroken ideational growth of the personality of God in the Hebrew mind, and this concept was eventually heightened and glorified by the teachings of Jesus about the Father in heaven.
1. 撒母耳 -- 第一位希伯来先知 ^top		1. Samuel—First of the Hebrew Prophets ^top
97:1.1 (1062.3) 巴勒斯坦周围各民族的敌对压力，不久便教会了希伯来人的长老们他们无法指望存续下去，除非他们将其部落组织联盟成为一个集中化的管理机构。这种管理权限的集中化，为撒母耳担当教导者和改革者提供了一个更好的机会。		97:1.1 (1062.3) Hostile pressure of the surrounding peoples in Palestine soon taught the Hebrew sheiks they could not hope to survive unless they confederated their tribal organizations into a centralized government. And this centralization of administrative authority afforded a better opportunity for Samuel to function as a teacher and reformer.
97:1.2 (1062.4) 撒母耳从一长串撒冷导师中脱颖而出，他们持续将麦基洗德的真理作为其崇拜形式的一部分而保持下来。这位导师是一位刚健而果断之人。仅凭其伟大忠诚，外加其非凡决心，就使他抵挡住了他在开始将所有以色列人转回到对摩西时代至高雅威崇拜时所遭受的几近普遍反对。即便在那时，他也仅部分成功了；他仅将希伯来人中较为明智的一半赢回到了对更高雅威观念的侍奉中；另一半则继续崇拜这个国家的部落诸神，继续崇拜较低级的雅威概念。		97:1.2 (1062.4) Samuel sprang from a long line of the Salem teachers who had persisted in maintaining the truths of Melchizedek as a part of their worship forms. This teacher was a virile and resolute man. Only his great devotion, coupled with his extraordinary determination, enabled him to withstand the almost universal opposition which he encountered when he started out to turn all Israel back to the worship of the supreme Yahweh of Mosaic times. And even then he was only partially successful; he won back to the service of the higher concept of Yahweh only the more intelligent half of the Hebrews; the other half continued in the worship of the tribal gods of the country and in the baser conception of Yahweh.
97:1.3 (1062.5) 撒母耳是一个鲁莽但尚顶事型之人，一个实干的改革者，他可以与其同伴出去一天而推倒二十个巴力遗址。他所取得的进展仅靠强制力；他很少传道，更少教导；但他的确在行动。一天他在嘲弄巴力的祭司；另一天他则将一位被俘的王剁成了碎块。他忠实地信仰一神，他拥有一个清晰的、作为天地之创造者的一神概念：“地的支柱是上主的，他将世界立于其上。”		97:1.3 (1062.5) Samuel was a rough-and-ready type of man, a practical reformer who could go out in one day with his associates and overthrow a score of Baal sites. The progress he made was by sheer force of compulsion; he did little preaching, less teaching, but he did act. One day he was mocking the priest of Baal; the next, chopping in pieces a captive king. He devotedly believed in the one God, and he had a clear concept of that one God as creator of heaven and earth: “The pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he has set the world upon them.”
97:1.4 (1063.1) 但撒母耳对神灵观念发展所做的伟大贡献在于他响亮宣告雅威是不变的，永远是无误完美和神性的同一体现。在这些时期，雅威曾被构想为一个充满嫉妒怪欲的游移之神，总是后悔于他按其方式所行之事；而此时，自希伯来人从埃及涌出以来，他们第一次听到了这些惊人的话语：“以色列的大能者必不说谎，也不后悔，因为他不是世人，他决不后悔。”涉及神性的稳定性得到了宣扬。撒母耳重申了麦基洗德与亚伯拉罕所立的圣约，并宣称以色列的上主神是一切真理、稳定性和不变性之源。希伯来人曾一直将他们的神视为一个人，一个超人，一个有着未知来源的尊贵之灵；但此时他们听到一度的何烈山之灵被抬升为一个有着创造者完美性的不变之神。撒母耳逐渐帮助不断演进的神观念提升到了超于人类心智变动状态和凡世存在兴衰变迁的高度。在他的教导下，希伯来人的神逐渐开始从一个部落诸神类别的观念，上升到了一个全能不变造物主和万物监管者的理念。		97:1.4 (1063.1) But the great contribution which Samuel made to the development of the concept of Deity was his ringing pronouncement that Yahweh was changeless, forever the same embodiment of unerring perfection and divinity. In these times Yahweh was conceived to be a fitful God of jealous whims, always regretting that he had done thus and so; but now, for the first time since the Hebrews sallied forth from Egypt, they heard these startling words, “The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man, that he should repent.” Stability in dealing with Divinity was proclaimed. Samuel reiterated the Melchizedek covenant with Abraham and declared that the Lord God of Israel was the source of all truth, stability, and constancy. Always had the Hebrews looked upon their God as a man, a superman, an exalted spirit of unknown origin; but now they heard the onetime spirit of Horeb exalted as an unchanging God of creator perfection. Samuel was aiding the evolving God concept to ascend to heights above the changing state of men’s minds and the vicissitudes of mortal existence. Under his teaching, the God of the Hebrews was beginning the ascent from an idea on the order of the tribal gods to the ideal of an all-powerful and changeless Creator and Supervisor of all creation.
97:1.5 (1063.2) 他重新宣扬了神之信实守约的故事。撒母耳说过：“上主不会丢弃他的子民。”“他与我们立了永远的约，既全备又稳妥”。就这样，回到崇拜至高雅威的呼声响彻了整个巴勒斯坦。这位精力充沛的导师曾宣扬，“上主神啊，你是伟大的，没有谁像你，除你之外再没有别的神。”		97:1.5 (1063.2) And he preached anew the story of God’s sincerity, his covenant-keeping reliability. Said Samuel: “The Lord will not forsake his people.” “He has made with us an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.” And so, throughout all Palestine there sounded the call back to the worship of the supreme Yahweh. Ever this energetic teacher proclaimed, “You are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you, neither is there any God beside you.”
97:1.6 (1063.3) 在那以前，希伯来人以为雅威的恩惠主要是在物质繁荣方面。以下内容对以色列人是一个巨大的震撼，也几近令撒母耳丧命，当他敢于宣称“上主使人富有也使人贫穷，他使人卑微也使人高贵。他从尘土中抬举穷苦人，擢升贫贱人而让他们与君王同席坐，使他们得享尊荣之座。”自摩西以来，从未有过如此令人欣慰的应许被宣扬给卑微和不幸之人，穷人中间万千的绝望者开始指望他们能够改善他们的灵性地位了。		97:1.6 (1063.3) Theretofore the Hebrews had regarded the favor of Yahweh mainly in terms of material prosperity. It was a great shock to Israel, and almost cost Samuel his life, when he dared to proclaim: “The Lord enriches and impoverishes; he debases and exalts. He raises the poor out of the dust and lifts up the beggars to set them among princes to make them inherit the throne of glory.” Not since Moses had such comforting promises for the humble and the less fortunate been proclaimed, and thousands of despairing among the poor began to take hope that they could improve their spiritual status.
97:1.7 (1063.4) 但撒母耳并没有远超一个部落神的观念之外。他宣扬一个创造了全人类但却主要关注其选民希伯来人的雅威。即便如此，如同在摩西时代那样，神之观念再次描绘了一位神圣而正直的神灵。“没有谁像上主那样神圣。谁能与这位神圣的上主神相比？”		97:1.7 (1063.4) But Samuel did not progress very far beyond the concept of a tribal god. He proclaimed a Yahweh who made all men but was occupied chiefly with the Hebrews, his chosen people. Even so, as in the days of Moses, once more the God concept portrayed a Deity who is holy and upright. “There is none as holy as the Lord. Who can be compared to this holy Lord God?”
97:1.8 (1063.5) 随着岁月推移，这位头发花白的年长领袖在对神的理解上也更进一步，因为他曾宣称：“上主是全知之神，所有行为都由他鉴察。上主要审判地之四极，对仁慈之人示以仁慈，对正直之人他也会示以正直。”即便在这里是仁慈之发端，尽管它仅限于那些仁慈之人。后来他又更进一步，当他的族人陷入苦难时，他劝诫他们：“让我们落在上主的手里，因为他有丰盛的仁慈。”“不论人多寡，都不妨碍上主施以拯救。”		97:1.8 (1063.5) As the years passed, the grizzled old leader progressed in the understanding of God, for he declared: “The Lord is a God of knowledge, and actions are weighed by him. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth, showing mercy to the merciful, and with the upright man he will also be upright.” Even here is the dawn of mercy, albeit it is limited to those who are merciful. Later he went one step further when, in their adversity, he exhorted his people: “Let us fall now into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are great.” “There is no restraint upon the Lord to save many or few.”
97:1.9 (1063.6) 雅威品格观念的这种逐渐发展，在撒母耳继承者们的侍奉下继续着。他们试图将雅威呈现为一个守约之神，但却很难保持撒母耳所设定的步伐；他们未能将撒母耳后来所构想的神之仁慈观念发展下去。一种稳步退回到对其他诸神认可的倾向出现了，尽管雅威高于一切的地位还被保留着。“上主啊，王国是你的，你被尊为万有之首。”		97:1.9 (1063.6) And this gradual development of the concept of the character of Yahweh continued under the ministry of Samuel’s successors. They attempted to present Yahweh as a covenant-keeping God but hardly maintained the pace set by Samuel; they failed to develop the idea of the mercy of God as Samuel had later conceived it. There was a steady drift back toward the recognition of other gods, despite the maintenance that Yahweh was above all. “Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.”
97:1.10 (1064.1) 这一时代的基调是神力；这一时代的先知们宣扬一种旨在扶植君王登上希伯来人王位的宗教。“上主啊，伟大、权能、荣耀、胜利和威严都是你的。你手中握有权能和力量，你能使所有人伟大强盛。”这便是撒母耳及其直接继承者们所处时代期间关于神之观念的状况。		97:1.10 (1064.1) The keynote of this era was divine power; the prophets of this age preached a religion designed to foster the king upon the Hebrew throne. “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. In your hand is power and might, and you are able to make great and to give strength to all.” And this was the status of the God concept during the time of Samuel and his immediate successors.
2. 以利亚和以利沙 ^top		2. Elijah and Elisha ^top
97:2.1 (1064.2) 在基督前第十世纪里，希伯来民族分裂成两个王国。在这两个政治分区中，许多真理导师都竭力去阻止已经到来、并在分裂战争之后悲惨继续的灵性衰退浪潮。但这些推动希伯来宗教的努力，直到那位坚决无畏的正义斗士以利亚开始其教导时才昌盛起来。以利亚将一个可与撒母耳时代所持神之观念相媲美的神之观念恢复到了北部王国。以利亚鲜有机会去展示一个先进的神观念；他像之前的撒母耳一样，一直忙于推翻巴力的祭坛，摧毁假神的偶像。他在一位崇拜偶像君主的反对面前推进他的改革；他的任务比撒母耳所面对的更为艰巨困难。		97:2.1 (1064.2) In the tenth century before Christ the Hebrew nation became divided into two kingdoms. In both of these political divisions many truth teachers endeavored to stem the reactionary tide of spiritual decadence that had set in, and which continued disastrously after the war of separation. But these efforts to advance the Hebraic religion did not prosper until that determined and fearless warrior for righteousness, Elijah, began his teaching. Elijah restored to the northern kingdom a concept of God comparable with that held in the days of Samuel. Elijah had little opportunity to present an advanced concept of God; he was kept busy, as Samuel had been before him, overthrowing the altars of Baal and demolishing the idols of false gods. And he carried forward his reforms in the face of the opposition of an idolatrous monarch; his task was even more gigantic and difficult than that which Samuel had faced.
97:2.2 (1064.3) 当以利亚被召走时，他忠实的同伴以利沙接手了他的工作，在鲜为人知的米该雅的宝贵协助下，使得真理之光在巴勒斯坦存活下来。		97:2.2 (1064.3) When Elijah was called away, Elisha, his faithful associate, took up his work and, with the invaluable assistance of the little-known Micaiah, kept the light of truth alive in Palestine.
97:2.3 (1064.4) 但这些时期却并非神灵观念取得进展的时期。希伯来人甚至还未回升到摩西的理念中。以利亚和以利沙时代以较好阶层回到崇拜至高雅威而告终，并见证到了万有造物主的观念回复到撒母耳留下观念所在的那一地位。		97:2.3 (1064.4) But these were not times of progress in the concept of Deity. Not yet had the Hebrews ascended even to the Mosaic ideal. The era of Elijah and Elisha closed with the better classes returning to the worship of the supreme Yahweh and witnessed the restoration of the idea of the Universal Creator to about that place where Samuel had left it.
3. 雅威与巴力 ^top		3. Yahweh and Baal ^top
97:3.1 (1064.5) 雅威的信奉者与巴力的追随者之间旷日持久的争议，更像是一场意识形态方面的社会经济学冲突，而非宗教信仰方面的差异。		97:3.1 (1064.5) The long-drawn-out controversy between the believers in Yahweh and the followers of Baal was a socioeconomic clash of ideologies rather than a difference in religious beliefs.
97:3.2 (1064.6) 巴勒斯坦居民对土地私有制态度不同。南部流浪的阿拉伯部落（雅威信奉者）将土地看作不可让渡物 -- 即神灵赐给宗族的礼物。他们认为土地不能买卖和抵押。“雅威说过：‘土地不可出卖，因为土地是属于我的。’”		97:3.2 (1064.6) The inhabitants of Palestine differed in their attitude toward private ownership of land. The southern or wandering Arabian tribes (the Yahwehites) looked upon land as an inalienable—as a gift of Deity to the clan. They held that land could not be sold or mortgaged. “Yahweh spoke, saying, ‘The land shall not be sold, for the land is mine.’”
97:3.3 (1064.7) 北部更为安定的迦南人（巴力信奉者）自由买卖和抵押他们的土地。巴力这个词意为主人。巴力教派基于两大教义之上：第一，财产交换、合同及契约的合法性 -- 即买卖土地的权利。第二，巴力据信会下雨 -- 他是土地丰饶之神，好收成有赖于巴力的恩惠。该教派在很大程度上与土地及其所有权和丰饶有关。		97:3.3 (1064.7) The northern and more settled Canaanites (the Baalites) freely bought, sold, and mortgaged their lands. The word Baal means owner. The Baal cult was founded on two major doctrines: First, the validation of property exchange, contracts, and covenants—the right to buy and sell land. Second, Baal was supposed to send rain—he was a god of fertility of the soil. Good crops depended on the favor of Baal. The cult was largely concerned with land, its ownership and fertility.
97:3.4 (1065.1) 一般来说，巴力信奉者拥有房子、土地和奴隶。他们是贵族地主并住在城市里。每个巴力都有一个圣所，一个祭司职以及“圣女”，即仪式妓女。		97:3.4 (1065.1) In general, the Baalites owned houses, lands, and slaves. They were the aristocratic landlords and lived in the cities. Each Baal had a sacred place, a priesthood, and the “holy women,” the ritual prostitutes.
97:3.5 (1065.2) 出于这种在看待土地方面的根本不同，迦南人和希伯来人所展示的社会、经济、道德和宗教态度演变出了激烈的对抗。这种社会经济学争议直到以利亚时代，才变成一种明确的宗教问题。从这位敢作敢为先知的时代起，这一问题在更为严酷的宗教战线-- 即雅威对巴力上展开了斗争，它最终以雅威的胜利以及随后趋向一神教而告终。		97:3.5 (1065.2) Out of this basic difference in the regard for land, there evolved the bitter antagonisms of social, economic, moral, and religious attitudes exhibited by the Canaanites and the Hebrews. This socioeconomic controversy did not become a definite religious issue until the times of Elijah. From the days of this aggressive prophet the issue was fought out on more strictly religious lines—Yahweh vs. Baal—and it ended in the triumph of Yahweh and the subsequent drive toward monotheism.
97:3.6 (1065.3) 以利亚将雅威-巴力的争议，从土地问题转向了希伯来人和迦南人意识形态中的宗教方面。当亚哈谋杀了拿伯一家以谋求占有他们的土地时，以利亚从旧有的土地习俗中提出了一个道德问题，并发起了反对巴力信奉者的蓬勃运动。这也是一场乡下人反抗城市主导的斗争。正是在以利亚的主要影响下，雅威变成了埃洛希姆。这位先知以一位土地改革者身份而始，以提升神灵概念而终。巴力有许多个，雅威只有一个 -- 即一神论胜过了多神论。		97:3.6 (1065.3) Elijah shifted the Yahweh-Baal controversy from the land issue to the religious aspect of Hebrew and Canaanite ideologies. When Ahab murdered the Naboths in the intrigue to get possession of their land, Elijah made a moral issue out of the olden land mores and launched his vigorous campaign against the Baalites. This was also a fight of the country folk against domination by the cities. It was chiefly under Elijah that Yahweh became Elohim. The prophet began as an agrarian reformer and ended up by exalting Deity. Baals were many, Yahweh was one—monotheism won over polytheism.
4. 阿摩司和何西阿 ^top		4. Amos and Hosea ^top
97:4.1 (1065.4) 在从部落神 -- 长久以来被侍以祭献和仪式之神、即较早期希伯来人的雅威，到一位惩罚其自身民众中间犯罪和不道德之神的转变过程中，阿摩司迈出了伟大的一步，他从南部山间现身来声讨北部诸部落的犯罪、醉酒、压迫和不道德。自摩西时代以来，从未有过如此响亮的真理在巴勒斯坦得以宣扬过。		97:4.1 (1065.4) A great step in the transition of the tribal god—the god who had so long been served with sacrifices and ceremonies, the Yahweh of the earlier Hebrews—to a God who would punish crime and immorality among even his own people, was taken by Amos, who appeared from among the southern hills to denounce the criminality, drunkenness, oppression, and immorality of the northern tribes. Not since the times of Moses had such ringing truths been proclaimed in Palestine.
97:4.2 (1065.5) 阿摩司不只是一位复兴者和改革者；他也是一位新神灵观念的发现者。他宣扬了其前辈们所宣讲的关于神的许多内容，并勇敢地抨击了对一位容忍其所谓选民中间罪恶之神的信仰。自麦基洗德时代以来，人类的耳朵第一次听到对民族公平与道德之双重标准的谴责。在希伯来人的历史中，他们的耳朵第一次听到他们自己的神雅威不再容忍他们生活中的罪行与罪恶，就如他不容忍其他民族中的罪行与罪恶一样。阿摩司预想出了撒母耳和以利亚的严厉公正之神，但他也意识到了这样一位神，在涉及惩罚恶行时，他对希伯来人和任何其他民族都一视同仁。这对以自我为中心的“选民”教义是一种直接的抨击，那些日子里有许多希伯来人极为痛恨它。		97:4.2 (1065.5) Amos was not merely a restorer or reformer; he was a discoverer of new concepts of Deity. He proclaimed much about God that had been announced by his predecessors and courageously attacked the belief in a Divine Being who would countenance sin among his so-called chosen people. For the first time since the days of Melchizedek the ears of man heard the denunciation of the double standard of national justice and morality. For the first time in their history Hebrew ears heard that their own God, Yahweh, would no more tolerate crime and sin in their lives than he would among any other people. Amos envisioned the stern and just God of Samuel and Elijah, but he also saw a God who thought no differently of the Hebrews than of any other nation when it came to the punishment of wrongdoing. This was a direct attack on the egoistic doctrine of the “chosen people,” and many Hebrews of those days bitterly resented it.
97:4.3 (1065.6) 阿摩司说过：“他塑造了山，造成了风，看他形成了七星和猎户，令死亡之荫变成了黎明，令白昼暗如黑夜。”在声讨其三心二意、随波逐流又时常道德败坏的同胞的过程中，他试图描绘一位不变雅威的无情公平，彼时他提及作恶者：“即使他们钻入阴间，我也要把他们揪出来；即使他们爬到天上，我也要将他们拿下来。”“即使他们被掳到其仇敌面前，我也要指命公平之剑杀死他们。”阿摩司进一步震惊了他的听众，当他将训斥指责之指指向他们，并以雅威之名宣称：“我决不会忘记你们的所作所为。”“我要从万族中间筛出以色列人家族，如同谷物放到筛子中筛选一样。”		97:4.3 (1065.6) Said Amos: “He who formed the mountains and created the wind, seek him who formed the seven stars and Orion, who turns the shadow of death into the morning and makes the day dark as night.” And in denouncing his half-religious, timeserving, and sometimes immoral fellows, he sought to portray the inexorable justice of an unchanging Yahweh when he said of the evildoers: “Though they dig into hell, thence shall I take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.” “And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I direct the sword of justice, and it shall slay them.” Amos further startled his hearers when, pointing a reproving and accusing finger at them, he declared in the name of Yahweh: “Surely I will never forget any of your works.” “And I will sift the house of Israel among all nations as wheat is sifted in a sieve.”
97:4.4 (1066.1) 阿摩司宣扬雅威是“万族之神”，并警告以色列人，仪式切不可代替正义。在这位勇敢的导师被石头砸死之前，他已传播了足够多的真理来挽救至高雅威的教义；他确保了麦基洗德启示的进一步演进。		97:4.4 (1066.1) Amos proclaimed Yahweh the “God of all nations” and warned the Israelites that ritual must not take the place of righteousness. And before this courageous teacher was stoned to death, he had spread enough leaven of truth to save the doctrine of the supreme Yahweh; he had insured the further evolution of the Melchizedek revelation.
97:4.5 (1066.2) 何西阿藉着复兴摩西关于慈爱之神的观念，而紧随阿摩司及其普遍公平之神的教义。何西阿传扬通过悔改而非祭献以得到宽恕。他宣扬慈爱和神之怜悯的福音，说到：“我要聘你永做我妻；以仁义、正直、慈爱、怜悯聘你。我甚至要以信实聘你为妻。”“我要甘心爱他们，因为我的怒气已转消。”		97:4.5 (1066.2) Hosea followed Amos and his doctrine of a universal God of justice by the resurrection of the Mosaic concept of a God of love. Hosea preached forgiveness through repentance, not by sacrifice. He proclaimed a gospel of loving-kindness and divine mercy, saying: “I will betroth you to me forever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness and judgment and in loving-kindness and in mercies. I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness.” “I will love them freely, for my anger is turned away.”
97:4.6 (1066.3) 何西阿忠实继承了阿摩司的道德警告，谈及神：“我必随己意惩罚他们。”但以色列人将以下内容视作叛国般残酷，当他说到“我要对那些不是我子民的人说，‘你们是我的子民’；他们必说‘你是我们的神。’”他继续宣扬悔改和宽恕，说到：“我要医治他们的堕落；我要甘心爱他们，因为我的怒气已转消。”何西阿总是宣扬希望与宽恕。他的讯息承载的永远是：“我要怜悯我的子民。他们必知除我之外别无他神，因为除我之外别无救者。”		97:4.6 (1066.3) Hosea faithfully continued the moral warnings of Amos, saying of God, “It is my desire that I chastise them.” But the Israelites regarded it as cruelty bordering on treason when he said: “I will say to those who were not my people, ‘you are my people’; and they will say, ‘you are our God.’” He continued to preach repentance and forgiveness, saying, “I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely, for my anger is turned away.” Always Hosea proclaimed hope and forgiveness. The burden of his message ever was: “I will have mercy upon my people. They shall know no God but me, for there is no savior beside me.”
97:4.7 (1066.4) 阿摩司促使希伯来人的民族良知承认以下这点，即雅威不会因为他们是所谓的选民便赦免他们中间的罪行和罪恶，而何西阿则奏响了后来神怜悯与慈爱之仁慈和弦的开篇音符，它们得到了以赛亚及其同伴们精巧唱和。		97:4.7 (1066.4) Amos quickened the national conscience of the Hebrews to the recognition that Yahweh would not condone crime and sin among them because they were supposedly the chosen people, while Hosea struck the opening notes in the later merciful chords of divine compassion and loving-kindness which were so exquisitely sung by Isaiah and his associates.
5. 第一以赛亚 ^top		5. The First Isaiah ^top
97:5.1 (1066.5) 这些时期中，一些人在北部宗族中间宣扬针对个人罪恶与民族罪行的惩罚威胁，而另一些人则预言对于南部王国过犯的灾难报复。正是紧随希伯来两国中间这种良知与意识的觉醒，第一以赛亚出现了。		97:5.1 (1066.5) These were the times when some were proclaiming threatenings of punishment against personal sins and national crime among the northern clans while others predicted calamity in retribution for the transgressions of the southern kingdom. It was in the wake of this arousal of conscience and consciousness in the Hebrew nations that the first Isaiah made his appearance.
97:5.2 (1066.6) 以赛亚继续宣扬神的永恒本性，其无限智慧，其可靠不变的完美性。他重新阐述了以色列之神，说到：“我以公平为准绳，以公义为铅锤。”“上主使你得享安息，脱离愁苦、忧虑和被迫做苦工。”“你必听见后面有声音说，‘这是正路，要行在其间。’”“看哪，神是我的救者；我要倚靠他，并不惧怕，因为上主是我的力量，我的诗歌。”“‘来吧，让我们彼此理论，’上主说到，‘你们的罪虽如猩红，它们必变得洁白如雪；你们的罪虽红如丹颜，它们必变得白如羊毛。’”		97:5.2 (1066.6) Isaiah went on to preach the eternal nature of God, his infinite wisdom, his unchanging perfection of reliability. He represented the God of Israel as saying: “Judgment also will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet.” “The Lord will give you rest from your sorrow and from your fear and from the hard bondage wherein man has been made to serve.” “And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘this is the way, walk in it.’” “Behold God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid, for the Lord is my strength and my song.” “‘Come now and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like the crimson, they shall be as wool.’”
97:5.3 (1066.7) 提到那些被恐惧折磨、灵魂饥渴的希伯来人，这位先知说到：“起来，发光吧，因为你的光已到来，上主的荣耀已照到你身上。”“上主的灵就在我身上，因为他膏立了我，让我传好消息给温顺者；他差遣我医治伤心者，宣告被掳的得解放，被缚的得自由。”“我因上主而无比喜乐，我的心因神而快乐，因为他给我穿上了救恩之衣，给我披上了公义之袍。”“在他们的一切苦难中，他也同受苦难，他让身前的天使拯救他们。他以慈爱和怜悯救赎他们。”		97:5.3 (1066.7) Speaking to the fear-ridden and soul-hungry Hebrews, this prophet said: “Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.” “The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation and has covered me with his robe of righteousness.” “In all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them.”
97:5.4 (1067.1) 紧随这位以赛亚的是弥迦和俄巴底亚，他们肯定并润饰了他那令人心灵满足的福音。这两位勇敢的信使大胆谴责了希伯来人受祭司纠缠的仪式，并无畏抨击了整个祭献体系。		97:5.4 (1067.1) This Isaiah was followed by Micah and Obadiah, who confirmed and embellished his soul-satisfying gospel. And these two brave messengers boldly denounced the priest-ridden ritual of the Hebrews and fearlessly attacked the whole sacrificial system.
97:5.5 (1067.2) 弥迦谴责“首领为贿赂行审判，祭司为酬金施教诲，先知为钱财行占卜。”他教导从迷信与祭司权术中解放的一天，说到：“人人都要坐在自己的葡萄树下，无人使其害怕，因为万民都将依照各自对神的理解而行事。”		97:5.5 (1067.2) Micah denounced “the rulers who judge for reward and the priests who teach for hire and the prophets who divine for money.” He taught of a day of freedom from superstition and priestcraft, saying: “But every man shall sit under his own vine, and no one shall make him afraid, for all people will live, each one according to his understanding of God.”
97:5.6 (1067.3) 弥迦讯息所承载的永远是：“我朝见神的时候当献上燔祭吗？上主会喜爱成千的公羊和成万的油河吗？我要为过犯献上头生子，为心灵的罪恶献上亲身骨肉吗？世人啊，他已指示我什么是善；上主要求你做的无非是要行公义，好怜悯，谦卑地与你的神同行。”这是一个伟大的时代；两千五百多年前当凡人们听到、甚至有些人相信了这些解放人心的讯息时，这些时期的确是些激动人心的时期。若非祭司们的顽固抵制，这些导师们本已推翻了希伯来人崇拜仪式中的整个血祭典礼。		97:5.6 (1067.3) Ever the burden of Micah’s message was: “Shall I come before God with burnt offerings? Will the Lord be pleased with a thousand rams or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown me, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?” And it was a great age; these were indeed stirring times when mortal man heard, and some even believed, such emancipating messages more than two and a half millenniums ago. And but for the stubborn resistance of the priests, these teachers would have overthrown the whole bloody ceremonial of the Hebrew ritual of worship.
6. 无畏的耶利米 ^top		6. Jeremiah the Fearless ^top
97:6.1 (1067.4) 在几位导师继续阐述以赛亚的福音时，只有耶利米在希伯来人之神雅威的跨民族化方面迈出了大胆的一步。		97:6.1 (1067.4) While several teachers continued to expound the gospel of Isaiah, it remained for Jeremiah to take the next bold step in the internationalization of Yahweh, God of the Hebrews.
97:6.2 (1067.5) 耶利米无畏地宣称，在希伯来人与其他民族的军事斗争中，雅威并不站在他们一边。他坚称雅威是所有地方、所有国家和所有民族之神。耶利米的教导，是以色列之神跨民族化上升浪潮之顶峰；这位勇敢的传道者的确宣称过雅威最终永远是万国之神，埃及人没有欧西里斯，巴比伦人没有彼勒，亚述人没有阿述尔，非利士人没有达贡。就这样，希伯来人的宗教在大约这个时代以及其后时代共享了那一席卷了整个世界的一神论复兴；最终，雅威的概念提升到了一个只有行星乃至宇宙之尊的神灵层次。但耶利米的许多同伴发现，将雅威构想为脱离希伯来民族之外十分困难。		97:6.2 (1067.5) Jeremiah fearlessly declared that Yahweh was not on the side of the Hebrews in their military struggles with other nations. He asserted that Yahweh was God of all the earth, of all nations and of all peoples. Jeremiah’s teaching was the crescendo of the rising wave of the internationalization of the God of Israel; finally and forever did this intrepid preacher proclaim that Yahweh was God of all nations, and that there was no Osiris for the Egyptians, Bel for the Babylonians, Ashur for the Assyrians, or Dagon for the Philistines. And thus did the religion of the Hebrews share in that renaissance of monotheism throughout the world at about and following this time; at last the concept of Yahweh had ascended to a Deity level of planetary and even cosmic dignity. But many of Jeremiah’s associates found it difficult to conceive of Yahweh apart from the Hebrew nation.
97:6.3 (1067.6) 耶利米也宣扬过以赛亚所描述的公正慈爱之神，他宣称：“我以永远的爱来爱你；因此我以慈爱吸引你。”“因为他不愿使人受苦。”		97:6.3 (1067.6) Jeremiah also preached of the just and loving God described by Isaiah, declaring: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you.” “For he does not afflict willingly the children of men.”
97:6.4 (1067.7) 这位无畏的先知说过：“我们的上主是公义的，谋事有大略，行事有大能。他注目观看世人的一切举动，依照其行为方式及结果报应每个人。”但在耶路撒冷被围攻期间他却说过：“现在，我已将这些土地交到我的仆人巴比伦王尼布甲尼撒手中。”这便被认为是亵神叛国了。当耶利米建议献城时，祭司和民事统治者将他投入了一个阴暗地牢的泥坑中。		97:6.4 (1067.7) Said this fearless prophet: “Righteous is our Lord, great in counsel and mighty in work. His eyes are open upon all the ways of all the sons of men, to give every one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.” But it was considered blasphemous treason when, during the siege of Jerusalem, he said: “And now have I given these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant.” And when Jeremiah counseled the surrender of the city, the priests and civil rulers cast him into the miry pit of a dismal dungeon.
7. 第二以赛亚 ^top		7. The Second Isaiah ^top
97:7.1 (1068.1) 若非希伯来祭司阶层的决然行动，希伯来国的毁灭和他们在美索不达米亚的被掳对他们不断扩展的神学本会证明是极为有益的。他们的国家在巴比伦军队面前陷落了，他们民族的雅威也遭受了灵性领袖们的跨民族宣扬。正是对丧失其民族之神的愤恨，导致了犹太祭司们如此不遗余力地在希伯来历史中创造虚构的故事，增加奇迹出现的事件，以试图恢复犹太人作为一个跨民族化万族之神这一崭新而扩展观念的选民。		97:7.1 (1068.1) The destruction of the Hebrew nation and their captivity in Mesopotamia would have proved of great benefit to their expanding theology had it not been for the determined action of their priesthood. Their nation had fallen before the armies of Babylon, and their nationalistic Yahweh had suffered from the international preachments of the spiritual leaders. It was resentment of the loss of their national god that led the Jewish priests to go to such lengths in the invention of fables and the multiplication of miraculous appearing events in Hebrew history in an effort to restore the Jews as the chosen people of even the new and expanded idea of an internationalized God of all nations.
97:7.2 (1068.2) 被掳期间，犹太人深受巴比伦传统和传说的影响，尽管应当注意的是，他们可靠地提升了他们所采纳的迦勒底故事的道德基调和灵性要义，然而他们无一例外地扭曲了这些传说，以反映以色列祖先及历史上的尊贵和荣耀。		97:7.2 (1068.2) During the captivity the Jews were much influenced by Babylonian traditions and legends, although it should be noted that they unfailingly improved the moral tone and spiritual significance of the Chaldean stories which they adopted, notwithstanding that they invariably distorted these legends to reflect honor and glory upon the ancestry and history of Israel.
97:7.3 (1068.3) 这些希伯来祭司和文士们在其心智中只有一个想法，那便是犹太国的复原、希伯来传统的荣光及其种族历史的拔高。若对这些祭司将其错误观念强加到这样一大片西方世界的事实有所愤恨的话，应当记住的是，他们并未有意这样做；他们并未声称是靠灵感所写；他们并未宣称在写一本圣书。他们只是在准备一本教科书，旨在鼓动其被掳同伴渐衰的勇气。他们明确目标在于提升其同胞的民族精神和士气。只是后世之人将这些作品及其他作品收集在一起，形成了一本包含了所谓无误教导的指导手册。		97:7.3 (1068.3) These Hebrew priests and scribes had a single idea in their minds, and that was the rehabilitation of the Jewish nation, the glorification of Hebrew traditions, and the exaltation of their racial history. If there is resentment of the fact that these priests have fastened their erroneous ideas upon such a large part of the Occidental world, it should be remembered that they did not intentionally do this; they did not claim to be writing by inspiration; they made no profession to be writing a sacred book. They were merely preparing a textbook designed to bolster up the dwindling courage of their fellows in captivity. They were definitely aiming at improving the national spirit and morale of their compatriots. It remained for later-day men to assemble these and other writings into a guide book of supposedly infallible teachings.
97:7.4 (1068.4) 犹太祭司阶层继被掳之后随意利用了这些作品，但他们对其被掳同胞的影响，却因一位年轻而不屈不挠先知第二以赛亚的出现而受到了极大阻碍，他是对第一以赛亚公平、慈爱、正义、怜悯之神的全然皈依者。他也相信耶利米所说雅威已成为万族之神。他宣扬这些有关神之本性的理论产生了如此明显的影响，以致他在犹太人及其俘虏者中间都同样获得了皈依者。这位年轻的传道者将其教导记录了下来，满怀敌意的无情祭师们竭力避免将它们与他相关联，尽管对其作品优美壮丽的纯然尊重，使得它们被纳入到较早以赛亚的作品中。这位第二以赛亚的作品由此可在《以赛亚书》中得以找到，包含了四十章至五十五章全部。		97:7.4 (1068.4) The Jewish priesthood made liberal use of these writings subsequent to the captivity, but they were greatly hindered in their influence over their fellow captives by the presence of a young and indomitable prophet, Isaiah the second, who was a full convert to the elder Isaiah’s God of justice, love, righteousness, and mercy. He also believed with Jeremiah that Yahweh had become the God of all nations. He preached these theories of the nature of God with such telling effect that he made converts equally among the Jews and their captors. And this young preacher left on record his teachings, which the hostile and unforgiving priests sought to divorce from all association with him, although sheer respect for their beauty and grandeur led to their incorporation among the writings of the earlier Isaiah. And thus may be found the writings of this second Isaiah in the book of that name, embracing chapters forty to fifty-five inclusive.
97:7.5 (1068.5) 从玛可文塔到耶稣之时，没有一位先知或宗教导师曾达到过第二以赛亚在被掳期间所宣扬的神观念高度。这位灵性领袖所宣讲的决不是渺小的、拟人化的人造之神。“看哪！他举起众海岛，有如极微小之物。”“正如天高过地，我的道路也高过你们的道路，我的想法也高过你们的想法。”		97:7.5 (1068.5) No prophet or religious teacher from Machiventa to the time of Jesus attained the high concept of God that Isaiah the second proclaimed during these days of the captivity. It was no small, anthropomorphic, man-made God that this spiritual leader proclaimed. “Behold he takes up the isles as a very little thing.” “And as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
97:7.6 (1069.1) 玛可文塔•麦基洗德终于看到了人类导师向凡人宣扬一位真实之神。像第一以赛亚一样，这位领袖宣扬一个万有造物支撑之神。“我造了大地并将人置于其上。我造它并非无所用心；我造它乃是为了给人居住。”“我是首先的，我是末后的；除我以外别无他神。”谈到以色列的上主神，这位新先知说过：“天会消散，地会破旧，但我的公义必长存，我的救恩必世代相传。”“不必害怕，因为我与你同在；不必惊慌，因为我是你的神。”“除我以外别无他神 -- 我是公义之神，我是救主。”		97:7.6 (1069.1) At last Machiventa Melchizedek beheld human teachers proclaiming a real God to mortal man. Like Isaiah the first, this leader preached a God of universal creation and upholding. “I have made the earth and put man upon it. I have created it not in vain; I formed it to be inhabited.” “I am the first and the last; there is no God beside me.” Speaking for the Lord God of Israel, this new prophet said: “The heavens may vanish and the earth wax old, but my righteousness shall endure forever and my salvation from generation to generation.” “Fear you not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.” “There is no God beside me—a just God and a Savior.”
97:7.7 (1069.2) 这样的话语抚慰了犹太人被掳者，因为自那数千年以来都听闻到它们：“上主这样说道，‘我创造了你，我救赎了你，我按你的名呼召了你，你是属于我的。’”“你从水中经过时，我必与你同在，因为我珍视你。”“母亲怎能忘记自己吃奶的婴儿，怎能不怜悯自己的孩子？就算她有忘记，我也不会忘记我的孩子。看哪，我已将他们刻在我的掌上；我甚至以我双手的荫影庇护他们。” “愿邪恶的人离弃自己的道路，不义的人除掉自己的意念，愿他们归向上主，上主就必怜悯他。归向我们的神，因为他将广行赦免。”		97:7.7 (1069.2) And it comforted the Jewish captives, as it has thousands upon thousands ever since, to hear such words as: “Thus says the Lord, ‘I have created you, I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are mine.’” “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you since you are precious in my sight.” “Can a woman forget her suckling child that she should not have compassion on her son? Yes, she may forget, yet will I not forget my children, for behold I have graven them upon the palms of my hands; I have even covered them with the shadow of my hands.” “Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
97:7.8 (1069.3) 再听一下对撒冷之神的这一全新启示的福音吧：“他必像牧人般牧养自己的羊群；他必将用臂膀聚集羊羔抱在怀中。他赐疲乏之人以能力，给软弱之人以力量。那些仰望上主之人必重新得力；他们必像鹰般展翅高飞；他们必将奔跑而不困倦；他们必将行走而不疲乏。”		97:7.8 (1069.3) Listen again to the gospel of this new revelation of the God of Salem: “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom. He gives power to the faint, and to those who have no might he increases strength. Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
97:7.9 (1069.4) 这位以赛亚对至高雅威这一扩展概念的福音进行了广泛宣传。他以与摩西相匹敌的口才将以色列的上主神描绘成万有之造物主。他在其描绘万有之父无限属性方面极富诗意。再没有人做出过比这更为美好的关于天父的宣称。如同《诗篇》一样，以赛亚的篇章是在迈克尔到达玉苒厦(Urantia)之前凡人所曾听到的有关神之灵性概念的阐述中最为崇高而又最为真实的之一。听一下他对神灵的描绘：“我是居于永恒之中的至高至圣者。”“我是首先的，我是末后的，除我以外再无他神。”“上主之手并非过短而无法拯救，上主之耳并非发沉而无法听到。”当这位宽厚而又威严的先知坚持宣扬神之恒久不变、神之信实时，这在犹太人中间是一种全新的教义。他宣称“神不会忘记，也不会离弃。”		97:7.9 (1069.4) This Isaiah conducted a far-flung propaganda of the gospel of the enlarging concept of a supreme Yahweh. He vied with Moses in the eloquence with which he portrayed the Lord God of Israel as the Universal Creator. He was poetic in his portrayal of the infinite attributes of the Universal Father. No more beautiful pronouncements about the heavenly Father have ever been made. Like the Psalms, the writings of Isaiah are among the most sublime and true presentations of the spiritual concept of God ever to greet the ears of mortal man prior to the arrival of Michael on Urantia. Listen to his portrayal of Deity: “I am the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity.” “I am the first and the last, and beside me there is no other God.” “And the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear.” And it was a new doctrine in Jewry when this benign but commanding prophet persisted in the preachment of divine constancy, God’s faithfulness. He declared that “God would not forget, would not forsake.”
97:7.10 (1069.5) 这位勇敢的导师宣称人与神是紧密相关的，他说：“凡按着我的名被召之人，都是我为自己的荣耀而创造的，他们必会述说我的美德。我，乃至我，是我为自己的缘故来除去他们的过犯，忘掉他们的罪恶。”		97:7.10 (1069.5) This daring teacher proclaimed that man was very closely related to God, saying: “Every one who is called by my name I have created for my glory, and they shall show forth my praise. I, even I, am he who blots out their transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember their sins.”
97:7.11 (1069.6) 听一下这位伟大的希伯来人怎样推翻了一个民族之神的观念，同时又怎样怀着荣耀宣扬万有之父的神性，他说：“天是我的宝座，地是我的脚凳。”以赛亚的神不失为圣洁、庄严、公正和无可测度的。沙漠贝都因人的那位愤怒、复仇和忌邪的雅威观念几近消失了。至高万有性雅威的新观念在凡人心智中出现了，再也不曾从人类视野中消失。对神之公平的认知，开始摧毁原始魔法和生物恐惧。最终，人类被引向了一个充满律法和秩序的宇宙，一个可信赖的、有着最终属性的万有之神。		97:7.11 (1069.6) Hear this great Hebrew demolish the concept of a national God while in glory he proclaims the divinity of the Universal Father, of whom he says, “The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool.” And Isaiah’s God was none the less holy, majestic, just, and unsearchable. The concept of the angry, vengeful, and jealous Yahweh of the desert Bedouins has almost vanished. A new concept of the supreme and universal Yahweh has appeared in the mind of mortal man, never to be lost to human view. The realization of divine justice has begun the destruction of primitive magic and biologic fear. At last, man is introduced to a universe of law and order and to a universal God of dependable and final attributes.
97:7.12 (1070.1) 这位崇高之神的宣扬者，从未停止过宣扬这位慈爱之神。“我住在至高至圣之处，也跟痛悔和谦卑的人同住。”这位伟大导师还向其同代人说过另一些抚慰的话语：“上主必不断引导你，满足你的灵魂。你必像浇灌的园子，又像水流不断的泉源。若仇敌像洪水般涌来，上主之灵必会升起一道抵挡他的屏障。”摧毁恐惧的麦基洗德福音和滋生信任的撒冷宗教，发出了泽被人类的光芒。		97:7.12 (1070.1) And this preacher of a supernal God never ceased to proclaim this God of love. “I dwell in the high and holy place, also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit.” And still further words of comfort did this great teacher speak to his contemporaries: “And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul. You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring whose waters fail not. And if the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a defense against him.” And once again did the fear-destroying gospel of Melchizedek and the trust-breeding religion of Salem shine forth for the blessing of mankind.
97:7.13 (1070.2) 富有远见而又英勇无畏的以赛亚，通过其对至高雅威、即慈爱之神、宇宙之主和全人类慈父之威严和万有全能的崇高描述，使得民族主义的雅威变得黯然失色。自那些充满重大事件的日子以来，西方的最高神观念包含了万有公平、神圣仁慈和永恒正义。这位伟大导师以华美的语言和无比的优雅，将全能的造物主描绘为博爱之父。		97:7.13 (1070.2) The farseeing and courageous Isaiah effectively eclipsed the nationalistic Yahweh by his sublime portraiture of the majesty and universal omnipotence of the supreme Yahweh, God of love, ruler of the universe, and affectionate Father of all mankind. Ever since those eventful days the highest God concept in the Occident has embraced universal justice, divine mercy, and eternal righteousness. In superb language and with matchless grace this great teacher portrayed the all-powerful Creator as the all-loving Father.
97:7.14 (1070.3) 这位被掳先知向其民众及许多民族的民众传道，他们在巴比伦河畔聆听。这位第二以赛亚尽力来消解许多对于应许弥赛亚使命充满种族利己的错误观念。但他在这方面的努力并未完全成功。若非祭司们谋求建立一套设想错误的民族主义，两位以赛亚的教导本应为认识和接受应许弥赛亚铺好了道路。		97:7.14 (1070.3) This prophet of the captivity preached to his people and to those of many nations as they listened by the river in Babylon. And this second Isaiah did much to counteract the many wrong and racially egoistic concepts of the mission of the promised Messiah. But in this effort he was not wholly successful. Had the priests not dedicated themselves to the work of building up a misconceived nationalism, the teachings of the two Isaiahs would have prepared the way for the recognition and reception of the promised Messiah.
8. 圣史和俗史 ^top		8. Sacred and Profane History ^top
97:8.1 (1070.4) 有关对历史的阐释而言，将希伯来人的经历记载视为圣史，而将世界其他民族的事情视为俗史，是人类心智中所存诸多混乱的原因所在。这种困扰之所以产生，是由于并没有任何有关犹太人的俗史。在巴比伦流放的祭司们将其有关神所谓施神迹于希伯来人、即以色列的圣史新记载准备成《旧约》中所描绘的那样之后，他们小心而又彻底地毁掉了有关希伯来人事务的已有记载 --诸如《以色列列王行记》和《犹大列王行记》这些书，外加其他几部对希伯来人历史多少准确记载的书。		97:8.1 (1070.4) The custom of looking upon the record of the experiences of the Hebrews as sacred history and upon the transactions of the rest of the world as profane history is responsible for much of the confusion existing in the human mind as to the interpretation of history. And this difficulty arises because there is no secular history of the Jews. After the priests of the Babylonian exile had prepared their new record of God’s supposedly miraculous dealings with the Hebrews, the sacred history of Israel as portrayed in the Old Testament, they carefully and completely destroyed the existing records of Hebrew affairs—such books as “The Doings of the Kings of Israel” and “The Doings of the Kings of Judah,” together with several other more or less accurate records of Hebrew history.
97:8.2 (1070.5) 为了理解俗史的摧毁性压力和难以摆脱的胁迫何以令那些被掳且接受异族统治的犹太人如此恐惧，以致他们试图彻底重写和重塑其历史，我们应当简略审视其令人困惑的民族经历记载。必须要记住的是，犹太人未能发展出一种充分的非神学生活哲学。他们纠结于其原先的埃及人有关圣赏正义、严惩罪恶的观念。约伯的戏剧性事件，正是对这一错误哲学的一种抗议。《传道书》中坦率的悲观主义，是对这些过于乐观的天意信仰的一种世俗性明智反映。		97:8.2 (1070.5) In order to understand how the devastating pressure and the inescapable coercion of secular history so terrorized the captive and alien-ruled Jews that they attempted the complete rewriting and recasting of their history, we should briefly survey the record of their perplexing national experience. It must be remembered that the Jews failed to evolve an adequate nontheologic philosophy of life. They struggled with their original and Egyptian concept of divine rewards for righteousness coupled with dire punishments for sin. The drama of Job was something of a protest against this erroneous philosophy. The frank pessimism of Ecclesiastes was a worldly wise reaction to these overoptimistic beliefs in Providence.
97:8.3 (1071.1) 但异族统治者们五百年的长期统治，即便对于耐心而又坚忍的犹太人来说也太久了。先知和祭司们开始呼求：“上主啊，这要到几时为止呢？”当诚实的犹太人探寻圣经时，他的困惑变得愈加严重了。一位古时的预言家许诺神会保护并挽救其“选民”。阿摩司曾威胁说他们若不重建其民族正义的标准，神便会抛弃以色列。《申命记》的书写者描绘了善与恶、赐福与诅咒之间的伟大抉择。第一以赛亚宣扬了一位仁慈的君王兼救主。耶利米则宣扬了一个内心正义的时代——即写在心灵碑匾上的圣约。第二以赛亚谈到依靠祭献和赎罪的救赎。以西结宣扬通过献身侍奉而得到拯救。以斯拉则许诺通过守法而得兴盛。但尽管有这一切，他们仍继续受奴役，拯救被延迟了。后来但以理阐述了将至“危机”的剧本 -- 即弥赛亚王国、正义之持久统治这一伟大景象和即时创建的破灭。		97:8.3 (1071.1) But five hundred years of the overlordship of alien rulers was too much for even the patient and long-suffering Jews. The prophets and priests began to cry: “How long, O Lord, how long?” As the honest Jew searched the Scriptures, his confusion became worse confounded. An olden seer promised that God would protect and deliver his “chosen people.” Amos had threatened that God would abandon Israel unless they re-established their standards of national righteousness. The scribe of Deuteronomy had portrayed the Great Choice—as between the good and the evil, the blessing and the curse. Isaiah the first had preached a beneficent king-deliverer. Jeremiah had proclaimed an era of inner righteousness—the covenant written on the tablets of the heart. The second Isaiah talked about salvation by sacrifice and redemption. Ezekiel proclaimed deliverance through the service of devotion, and Ezra promised prosperity by adherence to the law. But in spite of all this they lingered on in bondage, and deliverance was deferred. Then Daniel presented the drama of the impending “crisis”—the smiting of the great image and the immediate establishment of the everlasting reign of righteousness, the Messianic kingdom.
97:8.4 (1071.2) 所有这一切虚假希望导致了极大程度的种族失望和沮丧，以致犹太人的领袖们变得极为困惑。当一位天堂圣子不久后以凡人肉身之形 -- 即化身为人子来到他们面前时，他们竟未能认出并接受他的使命和侍奉。		97:8.4 (1071.2) And all of this false hope led to such a degree of racial disappointment and frustration that the leaders of the Jews were so confused they failed to recognize and accept the mission and ministry of a divine Son of Paradise when he presently came to them in the likeness of mortal flesh—incarnated as the Son of Man.
97:8.5 (1071.3) 所有现代宗教在试图将神迹解释放到某些人类历史时代的过程中犯了极为严重的错误。尽管神曾多次将充满天意介入的父亲之手插入到人类事务的洪流当中是真实的，但将神学教条和宗教迷信视为在这股人类历史洪流中因神迹行为而出现的超自然积淀却是一个错误。“极高者们在人的国中掌权”的事实，并未将俗史转变成所谓的圣史。		97:8.5 (1071.3) All modern religions have seriously blundered in the attempt to put a miraculous interpretation on certain epochs of human history. While it is true that God has many times thrust a Father’s hand of providential intervention into the stream of human affairs, it is a mistake to regard theologic dogmas and religious superstition as a supernatural sedimentation appearing by miraculous action in this stream of human history. The fact that the “Most Highs rule in the kingdoms of men” does not convert secular history into so-called sacred history.
97:8.6 (1071.4) 新约诸位作者以及后来的基督教作家们通过其将犹太先知超常化的善意尝试，进一步令希伯来人历史的扭曲复杂化了。就这样，希伯来人的历史被犹太教和基督教作家们悲惨地利用了。希伯来人的俗史被彻底教条化了。它被变成了一部充满圣史的虚构作品，并与所谓基督教国家的道德观念和宗教教导不可避免地绑缚在一起了。		97:8.6 (1071.4) New Testament authors and later Christian writers further complicated the distortion of Hebrew history by their well-meant attempts to transcendentalize the Jewish prophets. Thus has Hebrew history been disastrously exploited by both Jewish and Christian writers. Secular Hebrew history has been thoroughly dogmatized. It has been converted into a fiction of sacred history and has become inextricably bound up with the moral concepts and religious teachings of the so-called Christian nations.
97:8.7 (1071.5) 对希伯来人历史中重要关节的简要述说，将会说明记录在案的诸多事实是怎样在巴比伦被犹太祭司们所更改，以致将他们民众的日常俗史转变成了一部虚构的圣史。		97:8.7 (1071.5) A brief recital of the high points in Hebrew history will illustrate how the facts of the record were so altered in Babylon by the Jewish priests as to turn the everyday secular history of their people into a fictitious and sacred history.
9. 希伯来人历史 ^top		9. Hebrew History ^top
97:9.1 (1071.6) 以色列从未有过十二个支派（部落）-- 只有三四个部落定居在巴勒斯坦。希伯来民族作为所谓以色列人和迦南人融合的结果而形成。“以色列人住在迦南人中间。他们娶迦南人的女儿为妻，并将他们的女儿嫁给迦南人的儿子。”希伯来人从未将迦南人赶出巴勒斯坦，尽管祭司们对这些事情的记载坚称他们曾做过。		97:9.1 (1071.6) There never were twelve tribes of the Israelites—only three or four tribes settled in Palestine. The Hebrew nation came into being as the result of the union of the so-called Israelites and the Canaanites. “And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites. And they took their daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to the sons of the Canaanites.” The Hebrews never drove the Canaanites out of Palestine, notwithstanding that the priests’ record of these things unhesitatingly declared that they did.
97:9.2 (1071.7) 以色列人意识起源于以法莲所属的山地国家；后来的犹太人意识则起源于南部的犹大宗族。犹太人（即犹大族人）总是试图诋毁和抹黑北部以色列人（即以法莲族人）的记载。		97:9.2 (1071.7) The Israelitish consciousness took origin in the hill country of Ephraim; the later Jewish consciousness originated in the southern clan of Judah. The Jews (Judahites) always sought to defame and blacken the record of the northern Israelites (Ephraimites).
97:9.3 (1072.1) 虚饰的希伯来人历史，始于扫罗纠集北方各宗族以抵挡亚扪人对其同伴部族 -- 即约旦东部基列人的袭击。他以三千多人的军队击败了敌人，正是这一功绩使得山地各部落立他为王。当流放的祭司们重写这一故事时，他们将扫罗的军队夸大到330,000人，并将“犹大”加入到了参战的部落名单中。		97:9.3 (1072.1) Pretentious Hebrew history begins with Saul’s rallying the northern clans to withstand an attack by the Ammonites upon their fellow tribesmen—the Gileadites—east of the Jordan. With an army of a little more than three thousand he defeated the enemy, and it was this exploit that led the hill tribes to make him king. When the exiled priests rewrote this story, they raised Saul’s army to 330,000 and added “Judah” to the list of tribes participating in the battle.
97:9.4 (1072.2) 紧随亚扪人失败之后，扫罗就被其军队公推为王。从未有祭司或是先知参与其事。但祭司们后来将以下内容放入记载，即扫罗由先知撒母耳按神之旨意加冕为王。他们这样做是为了替大卫的犹大族王权建立一条“神性裔系”。		97:9.4 (1072.2) Immediately following the defeat of the Ammonites, Saul was made king by popular election by his troops. No priest or prophet participated in this affair. But the priests later on put it in the record that Saul was crowned king by the prophet Samuel in accordance with divine directions. This they did in order to establish a “divine line of descent” for David’s Judahite kingship.
97:9.5 (1072.3) 犹太历史所有扭曲中最大的一个与大卫有关。在扫罗战胜亚扪人（他将此归功于雅威）之后，非利士人变得警觉起来，并开始攻击北方的宗族。大卫和扫罗从未能达成一致。大卫带领六百人加入了非利士人联盟，并沿海岸往前行进到埃斯德赖隆。在迦特，非利士人命令大卫离开该地；他们惟恐他会投向扫罗。大卫撤退了；非利士人攻击并战胜了扫罗。若大卫忠于以色列，那么他们无法做成这一切。大卫的军队是由不满份子组成的多语种混合，大部分是由社会不适者和逃离司法者组成。		97:9.5 (1072.3) The greatest of all distortions of Jewish history had to do with David. After Saul’s victory over the Ammonites (which he ascribed to Yahweh) the Philistines became alarmed and began attacks on the northern clans. David and Saul never could agree. David with six hundred men entered into a Philistine alliance and marched up the coast to Esdraelon. At Gath the Philistines ordered David off the field; they feared he might go over to Saul. David retired; the Philistines attacked and defeated Saul. They could not have done this had David been loyal to Israel. David’s army was a polyglot assortment of malcontents, being for the most part made up of social misfits and fugitives from justice.
97:9.6 (1072.4) 扫罗在基利波惨败于非利士人手下，使得雅威在周围迦南人眼中的诸神中间降至了低点。按说扫罗的溃败本应归咎于背离雅威，但这次犹大族的编撰者们将其归因于仪式的错误。他们需要将扫罗和撒母耳的传说作为大卫王权的一个背景。		97:9.6 (1072.4) Saul’s tragic defeat at Gilboa by the Philistines brought Yahweh to a low point among the gods in the eyes of the surrounding Canaanites. Ordinarily, Saul’s defeat would have been ascribed to apostasy from Yahweh, but this time the Judahite editors attributed it to ritual errors. They required the tradition of Saul and Samuel as a background for the kingship of David.
97:9.7 (1072.5) 大卫带领其小军队在非希伯来人城市希伯仑建都。不久，他的同胞便宣扬他是新犹大王国的国王。犹大国大多由非希伯来人成员 -- 即基尼人、迦勒人和其他迦南人组成。他们是游牧民族 --即牧人，因此极为拥护希伯来人的土地所有权观念，他们秉持沙漠宗族的意识形态。		97:9.7 (1072.5) David with his small army made his headquarters at the non-Hebrew city of Hebron. Presently his compatriots proclaimed him king of the new kingdom of Judah. Judah was made up mostly of non-Hebrew elements—Kenites, Calebites, Jebusites, and other Canaanites. They were nomads—herders—and so were devoted to the Hebrew idea of land ownership. They held the ideologies of the desert clans.
97:9.8 (1072.6) 圣史和俗史之间的差异，可由《旧约》中所发现的关于立大卫为王的两个不同故事而得以极好地例示出来。他随从（即他的军队）立他为王这一俗史的一部分无意间被祭司们留在了记载中，他们随后又准备了圣史中那冗长乏味的叙述，其中描述了先知撒母耳如何依照神的旨意将大卫从其兄弟中拣选出来，并进行了精细而庄严的典礼正式膏他为希伯来人之王，之后宣称他为扫罗的继承者。		97:9.8 (1072.6) The difference between sacred and profane history is well illustrated by the two differing stories concerning making David king as they are found in the Old Testament. A part of the secular story of how his immediate followers (his army) made him king was inadvertently left in the record by the priests who subsequently prepared the lengthy and prosaic account of the sacred history wherein is depicted how the prophet Samuel, by divine direction, selected David from among his brethren and proceeded formally and by elaborate and solemn ceremonies to anoint him king over the Hebrews and then to proclaim him Saul’s successor.
97:9.9 (1072.7) 在准备好他们关于神对以色列所行神迹的虚构叙述以后，祭司们多次未能完全删除已存于记载中的平实而又真确的陈述。		97:9.9 (1072.7) So many times did the priests, after preparing their fictitious narratives of God’s miraculous dealings with Israel, fail fully to delete the plain and matter-of-fact statements which already rested in the records.
97:9.10 (1072.8) 大卫藉着最先娶扫罗之女，之后娶以东人富族拿巴尔的遗孀，再后来娶基述王达买之女而试图在政治上巩固自己地位。他从耶布斯的女人中间娶了六位妻子，更遑论赫梯人妻子拔示芭了。		97:9.10 (1072.8) David sought to build himself up politically by first marrying Saul’s daughter, then the widow of Nabal the rich Edomite, and then the daughter of Talmai, the king of Geshur. He took six wives from the women of Jebus, not to mention Bathsheba, the wife of the Hittite.
97:9.11 (1073.1) 正是通过这类方法并利用这类人，大卫作为消亡中的以法莲族以色列北部王国传统和遗产的继承者，构建起了一个神圣犹大王国的神话。大卫兼具各族的犹大部落比犹太人更为异族化；尽管受压迫的以法莲族长老们前来“膏立他为以色列之王”。在一场军事威胁之后，大卫当即与耶布斯人立约，并将其联合王国建都耶布斯（即耶路撒冷），它是位于犹大和以色列中间的一个有着坚固城墙的城市。非利士人受到了刺激，不久便来攻打大卫。在一场激战之后他们被打败了，雅威再一次被立为“万军之上主神”。		97:9.11 (1073.1) And it was by such methods and out of such people that David built up the fiction of a divine kingdom of Judah as the successor of the heritage and traditions of the vanishing northern kingdom of Ephraimite Israel. David’s cosmopolitan tribe of Judah was more gentile than Jewish; nevertheless the oppressed elders of Ephraim came down and “anointed him king of Israel.” After a military threat, David then made a compact with the Jebusites and established his capital of the united kingdom at Jebus (Jerusalem), which was a strong-walled city midway between Judah and Israel. The Philistines were aroused and soon attacked David. After a fierce battle they were defeated, and once more Yahweh was established as “The Lord God of Hosts.”
97:9.12 (1073.2) 但雅威必然要与迦南人的诸神分享这一荣耀，因为大卫军队中大多数是非希伯来人。因此你们的记载中出现了这一泄露真情的陈述（被犹大族编撰者们所忽略了）：“雅威在我面前击破敌人。因此他称那地方为巴力-毗拉辛。”他们这样做，是因为大卫士兵的百分之八十是巴力神的信奉者。		97:9.12 (1073.2) But Yahweh must, perforce, share some of this glory with the Canaanite gods, for the bulk of David’s army was non-Hebrew. And so there appears in your record (overlooked by the Judahite editors) this telltale statement: “Yahweh has broken my enemies before me. Therefore he called the name of the place Baal-Perazim.” And they did this because eighty per cent of David’s soldiers were Baalites.
97:9.13 (1073.3) 大卫藉着指出扫罗曾攻击了一个迦南人城市基遍，其民众与以法莲族人订立了和平条约，以此来解释扫罗在基利波的溃败。正是由于这一切，雅威离弃了扫罗。即便在扫罗时期，大卫就曾防卫迦南人的城市基伊拉以抵御非利士人，之后他定都于一个迦南人城市。为了保持与迦南人相妥协的方针，大卫将扫罗的七个子孙交给了基遍人吊死。		97:9.13 (1073.3) David explained Saul’s defeat at Gilboa by pointing out that Saul had attacked a Canaanite city, Gibeon, whose people had a peace treaty with the Ephraimites. Because of this, Yahweh forsook him. Even in Saul’s time David had defended the Canaanite city of Keilah against the Philistines, and then he located his capital in a Canaanite city. In keeping with the policy of compromise with the Canaanites, David turned seven of Saul’s descendants over to the Gibeonites to be hanged.
97:9.14 (1073.4) 在非利士人溃败后，大卫获得了“雅威的约柜”，将其带到了耶路撒冷，并将雅威崇拜设为其官方信仰。他接下来便将沉重的贡税加到了邻近部落身上 -- 包括以东人、摩押人、亚扪人和叙利亚人。		97:9.14 (1073.4) After the defeat of the Philistines, David gained possession of the “ark of Yahweh,” brought it to Jerusalem, and made the worship of Yahweh official for his kingdom. He next laid heavy tribute on the neighboring tribes—the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Syrians.
97:9.15 (1073.5) 大卫的腐败政治机器开始违背希伯来人习俗而在北方获得私人占有的土地，不久又获得了对非利士人以前所收集商队关税的控制。之后出现了一系列暴行，并以杀死乌利亚为顶峰。所有的司法诉讼都在耶路撒冷得以裁决；“长老们”不再能给出公平了。难怪反叛爆发了。今天，亚沙龙或许被称为煽动者，他的母亲是迦南人。除了拔示芭的儿子 -- 所罗门之外，还有六位竞争者在角逐王位。		97:9.15 (1073.5) David’s corrupt political machine began to get personal possession of land in the north in violation of the Hebrew mores and presently gained control of the caravan tariffs formerly collected by the Philistines. And then came a series of atrocities climaxed by the murder of Uriah. All judicial appeals were adjudicated at Jerusalem; no longer could “the elders” mete out justice. No wonder rebellion broke out. Today, Absalom might be called a demagogue; his mother was a Canaanite. There were a half dozen contenders for the throne besides the son of Bathsheba—Solomon.
97:9.16 (1073.6) 大卫死后，所罗门肃清了其政治机器中所有北方的影响，但却继续其父亲体制中的苛政和赋税。所罗门因其奢华的宫廷及其煞费苦心的建造计划而令国家破产：其中有黎巴嫩宫、法老女儿的宫殿、雅威的圣殿、王宫，以及对许多城市城墙的修复。所罗门创建了一支庞大的希伯来海军，由叙利亚水手操控，与世界各地进行贸易。他的后宫为数几近一千人。		97:9.16 (1073.6) After David’s death Solomon purged the political machine of all northern influences but continued all of the tyranny and taxation of his father’s regime. Solomon bankrupted the nation by his lavish court and by his elaborate building program: There was the house of Lebanon, the palace of Pharaoh’s daughter, the temple of Yahweh, the king’s palace, and the restoration of the walls of many cities. Solomon created a vast Hebrew navy, operated by Syrian sailors and trading with all the world. His harem numbered almost one thousand.
97:9.17 (1073.7) 到这时，雅威在示罗的圣殿已失去权威，该国的所有崇拜都集中在耶布斯那个华丽的王室礼拜堂里。北部王国更多回到了对埃洛希姆的崇拜中。他们享受到了法老们的支持，后者后来奴役了犹大，强使南部王国进贡。		97:9.17 (1073.7) By this time Yahweh’s temple at Shiloh was discredited, and all the worship of the nation was centered at Jebus in the gorgeous royal chapel. The northern kingdom returned more to the worship of Elohim. They enjoyed the favor of the Pharaohs, who later enslaved Judah, putting the southern kingdom under tribute.
97:9.18 (1073.8) 以色列与犹大之间有过起起伏伏 -- 即诸多的争战。在四年内战和三个朝代之后，以色列陷入了城邦暴君的统治之下，后者开始交易土地。就连暗利王都曾试图买下撒玛的地产。但当撒曼以瑟三世决定控制地中海海岸时，这一切便迅速画上了句号。以法莲族的亚哈王召集其他十个族群在卡卡岛进行抵抗；这场战役是平局。亚述人虽被阻止了，但联军也元气大伤。这场大战甚至未在《旧约》中提到过。		97:9.18 (1073.8) There were ups and downs—wars between Israel and Judah. After four years of civil war and three dynasties, Israel fell under the rule of city despots who began to trade in land. Even King Omri attempted to buy Shemer’s estate. But the end drew on apace when Shalmaneser III decided to control the Mediterranean coast. King Ahab of Ephraim gathered ten other groups and resisted at Karkar; the battle was a draw. The Assyrian was stopped but the allies were decimated. This great fight is not even mentioned in the Old Testament.
97:9.19 (1074.1) 当亚哈王试图从拿伯手里购买土地时，新的纷争又开始了。他的腓尼基族妻子将文书伪以亚哈之名，指令拿伯的土地被没收，控告他亵渎了“埃洛希姆和王”的名声。他和他的儿子们很快便被处决了。强健有力的以利亚出现在现场，谴责亚哈谋杀了拿伯。就这样，以利亚，最伟大的先知之一，开始了他的教导，担当起旧有土地习俗的守护者，反对巴力神的卖地态度，反对城市主导乡村的企图。但直到乡村地主耶户与吉普赛人酋长约拿达联手摧毁了撒玛利亚的巴力神先知们（即地产代理）时，改革才告成功。		97:9.19 (1074.1) New trouble started when King Ahab tried to buy land from Naboth. His Phoenician wife forged Ahab’s name to papers directing that Naboth’s land be confiscated on the charge that he had blasphemed the names of “Elohim and the king.” He and his sons were promptly executed. The vigorous Elijah appeared on the scene denouncing Ahab for the murder of the Naboths. Thus Elijah, one of the greatest of the prophets, began his teaching as a defender of the old land mores as against the land-selling attitude of the Baalim, against the attempt of the cities to dominate the country. But the reform did not succeed until the country landlord Jehu joined forces with the gypsy chieftain Jehonadab to destroy the prophets (real estate agents) of Baal at Samaria.
97:9.20 (1074.2) 当约阿施及其儿子耶罗波安将以色列从其仇敌手中解救出来时，新的生机出现了。但到此时为止，一帮暴徒贵族统治了撒玛利亚，他们的横征暴敛可以比得上昔日大卫王朝的那些人。国家和教会联手沆瀣一气，压制言论自由的企图使得以利亚、阿摩司和何西阿开始其秘密写作，这便是犹太教和基督教圣经的真正开端。		97:9.20 (1074.2) New life appeared as Jehoash and his son Jeroboam delivered Israel from its enemies. But by this time there ruled in Samaria a gangster-nobility whose depredations rivaled those of the Davidic dynasty of olden days. State and church went along hand in hand. The attempt to suppress freedom of speech led Elijah, Amos, and Hosea to begin their secret writing, and this was the real beginning of the Jewish and Christian Bibles.
97:9.21 (1074.3) 但北部王国并未从历史上消失，直到以色列王与埃及王合谋拒绝再向亚述进贡之时。之后开始了三年的围困，紧接着是北部王国的分崩离析。以法莲（即以色列）就这样消失了。犹大 -- 即犹太人，“以色列的余民”-- 开始将土地集中在少数人手中，正如以赛亚所说，“房屋连着房屋，田地连着田地。”不久后，在耶路撒冷，有一座巴力神圣殿便与雅威圣殿比邻而立。这种可怕的统治被一名少年君王约阿施领导的一神教反抗所终结了，他为雅威征战了三十五年。		97:9.21 (1074.3) But the northern kingdom did not vanish from history until the king of Israel conspired with the king of Egypt and refused to pay further tribute to Assyria. Then began the three years’ siege followed by the total dispersion of the northern kingdom. Ephraim (Israel) thus vanished. Judah—the Jews, the “remnant of Israel”—had begun the concentration of land in the hands of the few, as Isaiah said, “Adding house to house and field to field.” Presently there was in Jerusalem a temple of Baal alongside the temple of Yahweh. This reign of terror was ended by a monotheistic revolt led by the boy king Joash, who crusaded for Yahweh for thirty-five years.
97:9.22 (1074.4) 下一个王亚玛谢与反抗缴税的以东人及其邻人有了纷争。在一次重大的胜利之后，他返回来攻击其北方邻国，却遭受了重大的失败。后来乡民们反抗了；他们刺杀了该王，并将其十六岁的儿子推上了王位。这便是亚撒利雅，被以赛亚称为乌西雅。乌西雅之后，事情愈发糟糕，犹大通过向亚述王进贡而存活了一百年。第一以赛亚告诉过他们，雅威之城耶路撒冷从不会陷落。但耶利米则毫不犹豫地宣称它的垮台。		97:9.22 (1074.4) The next king, Amaziah, had trouble with the revolting tax-paying Edomites and their neighbors. After a signal victory he turned to attack his northern neighbors and was just as signally defeated. Then the rural folk revolted; they assassinated the king and put his sixteen-year-old son on the throne. This was Azariah, called Uzziah by Isaiah. After Uzziah, things went from bad to worse, and Judah existed for a hundred years by paying tribute to the kings of Assyria. Isaiah the first told them that Jerusalem, being the city of Yahweh, would never fall. But Jeremiah did not hesitate to proclaim its downfall.
97:9.23 (1074.5) 犹大的真正毁灭是由一个少年君王玛拿西治下一圈腐败而又富有的政客们所引发的。变动的经济有利于巴力神崇拜的回归，而其私人土地交易是与雅威的意识形态相抵触的。亚述的衰落和埃及的兴起给犹大带来了一段时间的解脱，乡民们也占了上风。在约西亚治下，他们摧毁了耶路撒冷的腐败政客圈子。		97:9.23 (1074.5) The real undoing of Judah was effected by a corrupt and rich ring of politicians operating under the rule of a boy king, Manasseh. The changing economy favored the return of the worship of Baal, whose private land dealings were against the ideology of Yahweh. The fall of Assyria and the ascendancy of Egypt brought deliverance to Judah for a time, and the country folk took over. Under Josiah they destroyed the Jerusalem ring of corrupt politicians.
97:9.24 (1074.6) 但当约西亚擅自出兵拦截尼格的强大军队时，这一时代便悲惨地结束了，后者是从埃及沿海岸往上来帮助亚述抵抗巴比伦的。约他被消灭了，犹大要向埃及进贡。巴力神的政治党派重在耶路撒冷重回执政，就这样开始了真正的埃及人奴役。之后接下来的一段时期当中，巴力神政客们控制了宫廷和祭司阶层。巴力神崇拜是一种既处理财产权，又与土地多产相关的经济和社会体系。		97:9.24 (1074.6) But this era came to a tragic end when Josiah presumed to go out to intercept Necho’s mighty army as it moved up the coast from Egypt for the aid of Assyria against Babylon. He was wiped out, and Judah went under tribute to Egypt. The Baal political party returned to power in Jerusalem, and thus began the real Egyptian bondage. Then ensued a period in which the Baalim politicians controlled both the courts and the priesthood. Baal worship was an economic and social system dealing with property rights as well as having to do with soil fertility.
97:9.25 (1075.1) 随着尼格被尼布甲尼撒推翻，犹大陷入了巴比伦的统治之下，并获得了十年的宽限，但不久便反叛了。当尼布甲尼撒前来镇压时，犹太人开始了诸如释放奴隶等社会变革来影响雅威。当巴比伦军队暂时撤退时，希伯来人便庆祝他们的变革魔力拯救了他们。正是这一时期中间，耶利米告知了他们即将到来的厄运，不久尼布甲尼撒就卷土重来了。		97:9.25 (1075.1) With the overthrow of Necho by Nebuchadnezzar, Judah fell under the rule of Babylon and was given ten years of grace, but soon rebelled. When Nebuchadnezzar came against them, the Judahites started social reforms, such as releasing slaves, to influence Yahweh. When the Babylonian army temporarily withdrew, the Hebrews rejoiced that their magic of reform had delivered them. It was during this period that Jeremiah told them of the impending doom, and presently Nebuchadnezzar returned.
97:9.26 (1075.2) 就这样，犹大的末日突然到来了。城池被毁，民众被掳走而进入巴比伦。雅威-巴力之争以被掳而告终。被掳使以色列余民震惊而信奉一神教。		97:9.26 (1075.2) And so the end of Judah came suddenly. The city was destroyed, and the people were carried away into Babylon. The Yahweh-Baal struggle ended with the captivity. And the captivity shocked the remnant of Israel into monotheism.
97:9.27 (1075.3) 在巴比伦，犹太人得出结论，他们无法作为巴勒斯坦的一个小族而存活，拥有自己独特的社会经济习俗，若他们的意识形态要盛行，他们必须要转化非犹太人。这样便产生了他们新的命运观念 -- 即犹太人一定要成为雅威所选仆人的观念。《旧约》中的犹太教，在巴比伦被掳期间演变出来了。		97:9.27 (1075.3) In Babylon the Jews arrived at the conclusion that they could not exist as a small group in Palestine, having their own peculiar social and economic customs, and that, if their ideologies were to prevail, they must convert the gentiles. Thus originated their new concept of destiny—the idea that the Jews must become the chosen servants of Yahweh. The Jewish religion of the Old Testament really evolved in Babylon during the captivity.
97:9.28 (1075.4) 关于永生的教义，也在巴比伦成形。犹太人曾认为，来生的观念会扰乱他们对社会公平福音的强调。此时，神学第一次取代了社会学和经济学。宗教逐渐作为一种人类思想和行为体系而成形，并且越来越与政治学、社会学和经济学分离开来。		97:9.28 (1075.4) The doctrine of immortality also took form at Babylon. The Jews had thought that the idea of the future life detracted from the emphasis of their gospel of social justice. Now for the first time theology displaced sociology and economics. Religion was taking shape as a system of human thought and conduct more and more to be separated from politics, sociology, and economics.
97:9.29 (1075.5) 有关犹太人的真相也展示出，曾被认为是圣史的许多内容，仅是比普通俗史记录略多一点。犹太教是基督教成长的土壤，但犹太人并不是一个奇迹般的民族。		97:9.29 (1075.5) And so does the truth about the Jewish people disclose that much which has been regarded as sacred history turns out to be little more than the chronicle of ordinary profane history. Judaism was the soil out of which Christianity grew, but the Jews were not a miraculous people.
10. 希伯来人的宗教 ^top		10. The Hebrew Religion ^top
97:10.1 (1075.6) 他们的领袖教导以色列人他们是选民，并非为了专门沉溺于和独享神的恩宠，而是为了专门服务于将一神之真理带给所有各族。他们曾许诺过犹太人，若他们愿意履行这一天命，他们将会成为所有民族的灵性领袖，而即将到来的弥赛亚，将会作为和平之君来统治他们和整个世界。		97:10.1 (1075.6) Their leaders had taught the Israelites that they were a chosen people, not for special indulgence and monopoly of divine favor, but for the special service of carrying the truth of the one God over all to every nation. And they had promised the Jews that, if they would fulfill this destiny, they would become the spiritual leaders of all peoples, and that the coming Messiah would reign over them and all the world as the Prince of Peace.
97:10.2 (1075.7) 当犹太人被波斯人释放时，他们返回了巴勒斯坦，却只是陷入了他们祭司所控制的律法、祭献和仪式规则的绑缚之中。正如希伯来各宗族拒绝了摩西在告别演说中所阐述的关于神的精彩故事，而代以祭献和苦修仪式一样，希伯来民族的这些余民也拒绝了第二以赛亚的壮丽观念，而代以他们渐增祭司阶层提出的规则、惯例和仪式。		97:10.2 (1075.7) When the Jews had been freed by the Persians, they returned to Palestine only to fall into bondage to their own priest-ridden code of laws, sacrifices, and rituals. And as the Hebrew clans rejected the wonderful story of God presented in the farewell oration of Moses for the rituals of sacrifice and penance, so did these remnants of the Hebrew nation reject the magnificent concept of the second Isaiah for the rules, regulations, and rituals of their growing priesthood.
97:10.3 (1075.8) 民族自负感，对一位受到误解的应许弥赛亚的错误信仰，以及祭司阶层的渐增束缚和专横，使得诸多灵性领袖（除了但以里、以西结、哈该和玛拉基）的声音永远地沉寂了；从那时起到施洗约翰的时代，整个以色列经历了一种渐增的灵性衰退。但犹太人从未丧失万有之父的观念；即便到了公元二十世纪，他们仍继续追随这一神灵观念。		97:10.3 (1075.8) National egotism, false faith in a misconceived promised Messiah, and the increasing bondage and tyranny of the priesthood forever silenced the voices of the spiritual leaders (excepting Daniel, Ezekiel, Haggai, and Malachi); and from that day to the time of John the Baptist all Israel experienced an increasing spiritual retrogression. But the Jews never lost the concept of the Universal Father; even to the twentieth century after Christ they have continued to follow this Deity conception.
97:10.4 (1076.1) 从摩西到施洗约翰，延伸出了一条由忠诚导师们组成的不断链条，他们将一神教的光之火炬从一代传向又一代，同时他们不断指责肆无忌惮的统治者，声讨商业化的祭司，不断劝诫民众坚持对以色列上主神、至高雅威的崇拜。		97:10.4 (1076.1) From Moses to John the Baptist there extended an unbroken line of faithful teachers who passed the monotheistic torch of light from one generation to another while they unceasingly rebuked unscrupulous rulers, denounced commercializing priests, and ever exhorted the people to adhere to the worship of the supreme Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel.
97:10.5 (1076.2) 作为一个民族，犹太人最终失去了他们的政治身份，但忠诚信仰一体遍在之神这一希伯来宗教，却继续活在四散流放者的心中。这一宗教之所以存活下来，是因为它有效发挥了作用以保存其追随者的最高价值。犹太教的确保留了一个民族的诸多理念，但它却未能在真理领域促进进步和鼓动哲学创见。犹太教有许多瑕疵 -- 它在哲学上是不足的，而且几乎没有审美品质 -- 但它的确保留了诸多道德价值；因此它存续了下来。与其他神灵概念相比，至高的雅威是清晰的、生动的、人格性的和道德性的。		97:10.5 (1076.2) As a nation the Jews eventually lost their political identity, but the Hebrew religion of sincere belief in the one and universal God continues to live in the hearts of the scattered exiles. And this religion survives because it has effectively functioned to conserve the highest values of its followers. The Jewish religion did preserve the ideals of a people, but it failed to foster progress and encourage philosophic creative discovery in the realms of truth. The Jewish religion had many faults—it was deficient in philosophy and almost devoid of aesthetic qualities—but it did conserve moral values; therefore it persisted. The supreme Yahweh, as compared with other concepts of Deity, was clear-cut, vivid, personal, and moral.
97:10.6 (1076.3) 很少有几个民族能像犹太人这样热爱公平、智慧、真理和正义，但在所有民族中间，他们对这些神性品质的智性领悟和灵性理解却贡献最少。尽管希伯来神学拒绝扩展，但它却在另外两个世界性宗教、即基督教和伊斯兰教的发展中起到了重要作用。		97:10.6 (1076.3) The Jews loved justice, wisdom, truth, and righteousness as have few peoples, but they contributed least of all peoples to the intellectual comprehension and to the spiritual understanding of these divine qualities. Though Hebrew theology refused to expand, it played an important part in the development of two other world religions, Christianity and Mohammedanism.
97:10.7 (1076.4) 犹太教之所以存续下来，也是由于它的制度。对宗教来说，作为孤立个人的私下操作很难存续下去。以下始终是宗教领袖们的错误所在：由于看到制度化宗教的诸多邪恶，他们试图推翻集体运作的手段。与其摧毁所有的仪式，他们不如做好些来革新它。在这方面，以西结比其同时代人更为明智；尽管他与他们一起坚持个人的道德责任，但他也着手创建对一种优良净化仪式的忠诚遵守。		97:10.7 (1076.4) The Jewish religion persisted also because of its institutions. It is difficult for religion to survive as the private practice of isolated individuals. This has ever been the error of the religious leaders: Seeing the evils of institutionalized religion, they seek to destroy the technique of group functioning. In place of destroying all ritual, they would do better to reform it. In this respect Ezekiel was wiser than his contemporaries; though he joined with them in insisting on personal moral responsibility, he also set about to establish the faithful observance of a superior and purified ritual.
97:10.8 (1076.5) 就这样，以色列相继的导师们完成了玉苒厦(Urantia)上所引发的宗教演进过程中最为伟大的壮举：逐渐但却持续地将残暴魔鬼雅威、即爆发西奈火山嫉妒而又凶残灵神这一野蛮观念，转变成后来至高的雅威、即万物之创造者和所有人类之慈爱父亲这一尊贵无上概念。这一希伯来人的神观念，是对万有之父的最高人类观想，直至后来它被其子，内巴顿(Nebadon)的迈克尔的亲身教导和生平示范所进一步扩展和精细放大。		97:10.8 (1076.5) And thus the successive teachers of Israel accomplished the greatest feat in the evolution of religion ever to be effected on Urantia: the gradual but continuous transformation of the barbaric concept of the savage demon Yahweh, the jealous and cruel spirit god of the fulminating Sinai volcano, to the later exalted and supernal concept of the supreme Yahweh, creator of all things and the loving and merciful Father of all mankind. And this Hebraic concept of God was the highest human visualization of the Universal Father up to that time when it was further enlarged and so exquisitely amplified by the personal teachings and life example of his Son, Michael of Nebadon.
97:10.9 (1076.6) [由一位内巴顿(Nebadon)的麦基洗德所呈献。]		97:10.9 (1076.6) [Presented by a Melchizedek of Nebadon.]