第96篇		Paper 96
雅威 -- 希伯来人的神		Yahweh—God of the Hebrews
96:0.1 (1052.1) 在构想神灵的过程中，人类最初包含了所有诸神，之后将所有外来神附属到其部落神祗之下，最终排除所有，只留下一位具有最终和最高价值的神。犹太人将所有诸神都综合进了他们更为崇高的以色列上主神概念中。印度教教徒同样也将其五花八门的神祗都结合进了《梨俱吠陀》所描绘的“诸神一灵”之中，而美索不达米亚人则将其诸神缩减到了更为集中化的彼勒-马杜克神概念中。这些有关一神论的概念在玛可文塔•麦基洗德现身巴勒斯坦的撒冷之后不久，便在世界各地成熟起来了。但麦基洗德的神灵概念不像进化性哲学包含类、附属类和排除类概念那样；它单单基于创造力，并很快影响了美索不达米亚、印度和埃及的最高神祗概念。		96:0.1 (1052.1) IN CONCEIVING of Deity, man first includes all gods, then subordinates all foreign gods to his tribal deity, and finally excludes all but the one God of final and supreme value. The Jews synthesized all gods into their more sublime concept of the Lord God of Israel. The Hindus likewise combined their multifarious deities into the “one spirituality of the gods” portrayed in the Rig-Veda, while the Mesopotamians reduced their gods to the more centralized concept of Bel-Marduk. These ideas of monotheism matured all over the world not long after the appearance of Machiventa Melchizedek at Salem in Palestine. But the Melchizedek concept of Deity was unlike that of the evolutionary philosophy of inclusion, subordination, and exclusion; it was based exclusively on creative power and very soon influenced the highest deity concepts of Mesopotamia, India, and Egypt.
96:0.2 (1052.2) 撒冷教被基尼人以及其他几个迦南人部落作为传统而受到尊崇。这也是麦基洗德化身的一个目的：即一神宗教应受到培植，从而为那位一神之子的赠与铺平道路。直到存在一个相信万有之父的民族，迈克尔方才能够前来玉苒厦(Urantia)而在其中出现。		96:0.2 (1052.2) The Salem religion was revered as a tradition by the Kenites and several other Canaanite tribes. And this was one of the purposes of Melchizedek’s incarnation: That a religion of one God should be so fostered as to prepare the way for the earth bestowal of a Son of that one God. Michael could hardly come to Urantia until there existed a people believing in the Universal Father among whom he could appear.
96:0.3 (1052.3) 撒冷教作为巴勒斯坦基尼人的信条而在其中间存续下来，这一后来被希伯来人所采纳的宗教起初受到了埃及人道德教导的影响；后来受到了巴比伦人神学思想的影响；最后则受到伊朗人善恶观念的影响。从事实上来说，希伯来教是基于亚伯拉罕和玛可文塔•麦基洗德的圣约之上，从进化上来说，它是许多独特状况情形的结果，但从文化上来说，它却自由地借鉴了整个黎凡特的宗教、道德和哲学。正是通过希伯来教，埃及、美索不达米亚和伊朗的许多道德和宗教思想才得以传给西方各民族。		96:0.3 (1052.3) The Salem religion persisted among the Kenites in Palestine as their creed, and this religion as it was later adopted by the Hebrews was influenced, first, by Egyptian moral teachings; later, by Babylonian theologic thought; and lastly, by Iranian conceptions of good and evil. Factually the Hebrew religion is predicated upon the covenant between Abraham and Machiventa Melchizedek, evolutionally it is the outgrowth of many unique situational circumstances, but culturally it has borrowed freely from the religion, morality, and philosophy of the entire Levant. It is through the Hebrew religion that much of the morality and religious thought of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Iran was transmitted to the Occidental peoples.
1. 闪族人中间的神灵观念 ^top		1. Deity Concepts Among the Semites ^top
96:1.1 (1052.4) 早期闪族人视一切由灵所内驻。曾有过动物和植物界之灵；年生之灵，即繁衍之主；火灵、水灵、和空灵；名副其实的万灵皆受到畏惧与崇拜。麦基洗德关于万有造物主的教导，从未完全摧毁对这些从属之灵或是自然诸神的信仰。		96:1.1 (1052.4) The early Semites regarded everything as being indwelt by a spirit. There were spirits of the animal and vegetable worlds; annual spirits, the lord of progeny; spirits of fire, water, and air; a veritable pantheon of spirits to be feared and worshiped. And the teaching of Melchizedek regarding a Universal Creator never fully destroyed the belief in these subordinate spirits or nature gods.
96:1.2 (1052.5) 希伯来人从多神论经由单一主神论达到一神论的进程，并不是一个连续不断的概念发展。他们在其神灵观念的演进中经历了许多倒退，而在任何一个时代期间，不同群体闪族信徒中间也存在着不同的神观念。不时地，许多术语被应用到了他们的神观念当中，为了避免混乱，这些不同的神灵头衔将会依照它们与犹太神学演进相关的方式而得以定义：		96:1.2 (1052.5) The progress of the Hebrews from polytheism through henotheism to monotheism was not an unbroken and continuous conceptual development. They experienced many retrogressions in the evolution of their Deity concepts, while during any one epoch there existed varying ideas of God among different groups of Semite believers. From time to time numerous terms were applied to their concepts of God, and in order to prevent confusion these various Deity titles will be defined as they pertain to the evolution of Jewish theology:
96:1.3 (1053.1) 1. 雅威是南部巴勒斯坦诸部落之神，他们将这一神祗观念与何烈山即西奈火山关联了起来。雅威只是引起闪族各部落民众关注并获得崇拜的万千自然神之一。		96:1.3 (1053.1) 1. Yahweh was the god of the southern Palestinian tribes, who associated this concept of deity with Mount Horeb, the Sinai volcano. Yahweh was merely one of the hundreds and thousands of nature gods which held the attention and claimed the worship of the Semitic tribes and peoples.
96:1.4 (1053.2) 2. 埃尔•埃里昂。麦基洗德在撒冷逗留后的多个世纪以来，他关于神灵的教义以多种版本中存续下来，但大体上都被定义为埃尔•埃里昂、即天上极高神这一术语。许多闪族人，包括亚伯拉罕的直系后代，在不同时期都崇拜过雅威和埃尔•埃里昂。		96:1.4 (1053.2) 2. El Elyon. For centuries after Melchizedek’s sojourn at Salem his doctrine of Deity persisted in various versions but was generally connoted by the term El Elyon, the Most High God of heaven. Many Semites, including the immediate descendants of Abraham, at various times worshiped both Yahweh and El Elyon.
96:1.5 (1053.3) 3. 埃尔•沙代。很难说明埃尔•沙代代表什么，这个有关神的概念是一种复合词，源于阿门内莫普《智慧书》的教导，被阿肯那顿的阿顿教义所改变，又进一步被体现于埃尔•埃里昂概念中的麦基洗德教导所影响。但随着埃尔•沙代的概念渗入希伯来人的心智中，它与沙漠的雅威信仰彻底染到了一起。		96:1.5 (1053.3) 3. El Shaddai. It is difficult to explain what El Shaddai stood for. This idea of God was a composite derived from the teachings of Amenemope’s Book of Wisdom modified by Ikhnaton’s doctrine of Aton and further influenced by Melchizedek’s teachings embodied in the concept of El Elyon. But as the concept of El Shaddai permeated the Hebrew mind, it became thoroughly colored with the Yahweh beliefs of the desert.
96:1.6 (1053.4) 这一时代主导的宗教观念之一是埃及人的神圣天意概念，即教导物质的繁荣是服侍埃尔•沙代的报偿。		96:1.6 (1053.4) One of the dominant ideas of the religion of this era was the Egyptian concept of divine Providence, the teaching that material prosperity was a reward for serving El Shaddai.
96:1.7 (1053.5) 4. 埃尔。在所有这些混乱术语和模糊概念中间，许多虔诚的信徒竭诚去崇拜所有这些演进的神观念，逐渐产生了将这一复合神灵指涉为埃尔的做法。这一术语还包括了贝都因人的其他自然神。		96:1.7 (1053.5) 4. El. Amid all this confusion of terminology and haziness of concept, many devout believers sincerely endeavored to worship all of these evolving ideas of divinity, and there grew up the practice of referring to this composite Deity as El. And this term included still other of the Bedouin nature gods.
96:1.8 (1053.6) 5. 埃洛希姆。在基什和乌尔长久存有苏美尔-迦勒底人族群，他们教导三合一神的观念，这基于亚当和麦基洗德时代的传统之上。这个教义被带到了埃及，在那里这个三位一体以埃洛希姆、或单数为埃洛哈的名义受到崇拜。埃及的哲学圈子以及后来有着希伯来人出身的亚历山大导师们教导这一多神的统一体。在逃出埃及时，摩西的许多谋士也相信这一三位一体。但直到希伯来人受到巴比伦人的政治影响之后，三位一体性埃洛希姆的概念才成为希伯来神学的真正一部分。		96:1.8 (1053.6) 5. Elohim. In Kish and Ur there long persisted Sumerian-Chaldean groups who taught a three-in-one God concept founded on the traditions of the days of Adam and Melchizedek. This doctrine was carried to Egypt, where this Trinity was worshiped under the name of Elohim, or in the singular as Eloah. The philosophic circles of Egypt and later Alexandrian teachers of Hebraic extraction taught this unity of pluralistic Gods, and many of Moses’ advisers at the time of the exodus believed in this Trinity. But the concept of the trinitarian Elohim never became a real part of Hebrew theology until after they had come under the political influence of the Babylonians.
96:1.9 (1053.7) 6. 杂称。闪族人不喜欢说出他们神灵的名字，因此他们不时求助于许多的称呼，例如：神之灵、上主、上主之使、全能者、神圣者、极高者、阿多乃、亘古常在者、以色列的上主神、天地的创造者、基里厄斯、雅胡、万军之主、天上的父。		96:1.9 (1053.7) 6. Sundry names. The Semites disliked to speak the name of their Deity, and they therefore resorted to numerous appellations from time to time, such as: The Spirit of God, The Lord, The Angel of the Lord, The Almighty, The Holy One, The Most High, Adonai, The Ancient of Days, The Lord God of Israel, The Creator of Heaven and Earth, Kyrios, Jah, The Lord of Hosts, and The Father in Heaven.
96:1.10 (1053.8) 耶和华是一个在近些时代才被采用的术语，用来指涉最终在希伯来人漫长经历中演变出来的完整雅威概念。但耶和华这个名字直到耶稣时代之后一千五百年才开始使用。		96:1.10 (1053.8) Jehovah is a term which in recent times has been employed to designate the completed concept of Yahweh which finally evolved in the long Hebrew experience. But the name Jehovah did not come into use until fifteen hundred years after the times of Jesus.
96:1.11 (1054.1) 直到大约公元前2000年，西奈山还作为一座火山而间歇活动，一直到以色列人在这一地区居住的时期还常有爆发出现。火和烟，与伴随该火山爆发一起产生的雷鸣般巨响，都令周边地区的贝都因人震惊和敬畏，使他们极为畏惧雅威。这一何烈山之灵后来成了希伯来闪族人之神，他们最终相信他是高于所有其他神的。		96:1.11 (1054.1) Up to about 2000 b.c., Mount Sinai was intermittently active as a volcano, occasional eruptions occurring as late as the time of the sojourn of the Israelites in this region. The fire and smoke, together with the thunderous detonations associated with the eruptions of this volcanic mountain, all impressed and awed the Bedouins of the surrounding regions and caused them greatly to fear Yahweh. This spirit of Mount Horeb later became the god of the Hebrew Semites, and they eventually believed him to be supreme over all other gods.
96:1.12 (1054.2) 迦南人长久以来敬畏雅威，尽管许多基尼人也或多或少相信埃尔•埃里昂这一撒冷教的超级神，但大多数迦南人仍轻率地坚持对古老部落神祗的崇拜。他们极不愿意放弃自己民族神祗而去支持一个跨民族之神，更不用说一个跨星际之神了。他们并没有遍在神祗的思维，因此这些部落继续崇拜其部落神祗，包括象征了贝都因牧人关于西奈火山之灵观念的雅威和金银牛犊。		96:1.12 (1054.2) The Canaanites had long revered Yahweh, and although many of the Kenites believed more or less in El Elyon, the supergod of the Salem religion, a majority of the Canaanites held loosely to the worship of the old tribal deities. They were hardly willing to abandon their national deities in favor of an international, not to say an interplanetary, God. They were not universal-deity minded, and therefore these tribes continued to worship their tribal deities, including Yahweh and the silver and golden calves which symbolized the Bedouin herders’ concept of the spirit of the Sinai volcano.
96:1.13 (1054.3) 叙利亚人尽管崇拜他们的诸神，但也相信希伯来人的雅威，因为他们的先知对叙利亚王说过：“他们的神是山神；因此他们比我们更强；但让我们在平原上对抗他们，我们必定会比他们更强。”		96:1.13 (1054.3) The Syrians, while worshiping their gods, also believed in Yahweh of the Hebrews, for their prophets said to the Syrian king: “Their gods are gods of the hills; therefore they were stronger than we; but let us fight against them on the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.”
96:1.14 (1054.4) 随着人类在教化上的进步，越来越少的神从属于一位至高神祗；伟大的朱庇特神仅像一个感叹号般而存续下来。一神论者将他们的从属神保留为鬼神、恶魔、命运、海神女、仙女、仙童、矮神、女妖以及邪眼。希伯来人经历了单一主神教，并长久相信除了雅威以外其他诸神的存在，但他们渐趋认定这些外来神祗从属于雅威。他们承认亚摩利人之神基抹的真实性，但却主张他从属于雅威。		96:1.14 (1054.4) As man advances in culture, the lesser gods are subordinated to a supreme deity; the great Jove persists only as an exclamation. The monotheists keep their subordinate gods as spirits, demons, fates, Nereids, fairies, brownies, dwarfs, banshees, and the evil eye. The Hebrews passed through henotheism and long believed in the existence of gods other than Yahweh, but they increasingly held that these foreign deities were subordinate to Yahweh. They conceded the actuality of Chemosh, god of the Amorites, but maintained that he was subordinate to Yahweh.
96:1.15 (1054.5) 雅威的观念在所有关于神之凡世理论中经历了最为广泛的发展。它的渐进性演变只有亚洲佛陀观念的嬗变可与之相比，后者最终导向了万有性绝对（如来）的观念，恰如雅威的观念最后导向了万有之父的观念。但作为历史事实，应被理解的是，尽管犹太人由此将其神灵观从何烈山的部落神改向了后来时期慈爱与怜悯的造物之父，但他们并没有改换他的名字；他们一直以来继续沿用这一演进的神灵概念，雅威。		96:1.15 (1054.5) The idea of Yahweh has undergone the most extensive development of all the mortal theories of God. Its progressive evolution can only be compared with the metamorphosis of the Buddha concept in Asia, which in the end led to the concept of the Universal Absolute even as the Yahweh concept finally led to the idea of the Universal Father. But as a matter of historic fact, it should be understood that, while the Jews thus changed their views of Deity from the tribal god of Mount Horeb to the loving and merciful Creator Father of later times, they did not change his name; they continued all the way along to call this evolving concept of Deity, Yahweh.
2. 闪族人 ^top		2. The Semitic Peoples ^top
96:2.1 (1054.6) 东方的闪族人是受到极好组织和极好领导的骑兵，他们侵入了富饶新月形地区的东部区域，并在那里与巴比伦人相结合。乌尔附近的迦勒底人是东部闪族人中最为先进的。腓尼基人则是混合闪族人中一支优良而又受到极好组织的族群，他们占据了巴勒斯坦西部沿地中海岸的一带。从种族上讲，闪族人是玉苒厦(Urantia)民族中血缘最为混合的一支，包含了来自几近所有九个世界性种族的遗传因子。		96:2.1 (1054.6) The Semites of the East were well-organized and well-led horsemen who invaded the eastern regions of the fertile crescent and there united with the Babylonians. The Chaldeans near Ur were among the most advanced of the eastern Semites. The Phoenicians were a superior and well-organized group of mixed Semites who held the western section of Palestine, along the Mediterranean coast. Racially the Semites were among the most blended of Urantia peoples, containing hereditary factors from almost all of the nine world races.
96:2.2 (1054.7) 阿拉伯闪族人多次打入北部的应许之地，即那片“流淌着奶与蜜”之地，但他们也经常被受到更好组织、更为高度文明化的北部闪族人和赫梯人逐出。后来，在一次异常严重的饥荒期间，这些流浪的贝都因人作为埃及公共工程的合同劳工大批进入埃及，却只发现自身在尼罗河流域普遍被蹂躏劳工的艰辛日常劳作中经受着痛苦的受奴役经历。		96:2.2 (1054.7) Again and again the Arabian Semites fought their way into the northern Promised Land, the land that “flowed with milk and honey,” but just as often were they ejected by the better-organized and more highly civilized northern Semites and Hittites. Later, during an unusually severe famine, these roving Bedouins entered Egypt in large numbers as contract laborers on the Egyptian public works, only to find themselves undergoing the bitter experience of enslavement at the hard daily toil of the common and downtrodden laborers of the Nile valley.
96:2.3 (1055.1) 仅在玛可文塔•麦基洗德和亚伯拉罕时代之后，闪族人的某些部落由于其独特的宗教信仰才被称为以色列的子民，以及后来的希伯来人、犹太人和“受选之民”。亚伯拉罕并不是所有希伯来人的族父；他甚至也不是所有被俘至埃及的贝都因闪族人的祖先。的确，他从埃及逃出的后裔确实形成了后来犹太民族的核心，但绝大多数计入到以色列宗族中的男女从未在埃及旅居过。他们仅是一些选择了作为亚伯拉罕的子孙而追随摩西领导的游牧同胞，及其从埃及穿越阿拉伯北部而来的闪族同伴。		96:2.3 (1055.1) It was only after the days of Machiventa Melchizedek and Abraham that certain tribes of Semites, because of their peculiar religious beliefs, were called the children of Israel and later on Hebrews, Jews, and the “chosen people.” Abraham was not the racial father of all the Hebrews; he was not even the progenitor of all the Bedouin Semites who were held captive in Egypt. True, his offspring, coming up out of Egypt, did form the nucleus of the later Jewish people, but the vast majority of the men and women who became incorporated into the clans of Israel had never sojourned in Egypt. They were merely fellow nomads who chose to follow the leadership of Moses as the children of Abraham and their Semite associates from Egypt journeyed through northern Arabia.
96:2.4 (1055.2) 麦基洗德关于极高者埃尔•埃里昂的教导，以及通过信仰获得神恩的圣约，在很大程度上被受埃及人奴役时代的闪族人遗忘了，他们不久后形成了希伯来民族。但在整个被俘期间，这些阿拉伯游牧民保持了一种将雅威作为其种族神祗的残留传统信仰。		96:2.4 (1055.2) The Melchizedek teaching concerning El Elyon, the Most High, and the covenant of divine favor through faith, had been largely forgotten by the time of the Egyptian enslavement of the Semite peoples who were shortly to form the Hebrew nation. But throughout this period of captivity these Arabian nomads maintained a lingering traditional belief in Yahweh as their racial deity.
96:2.5 (1055.3) 雅威曾被一百多个不同的阿拉伯部落崇拜过，除了些许麦基洗德的埃尔•埃里昂概念存留在埃及更有教养的阶层（包括混血的希伯来人和埃及人血统）中间以外，希伯来人受俘奴隶平民的宗教，是一种变型版的、充满魔法和祭献的古老雅威仪式。		96:2.5 (1055.3) Yahweh was worshiped by more than one hundred separate Arabian tribes, and except for the tinge of the El Elyon concept of Melchizedek which persisted among the more educated classes of Egypt, including the mixed Hebrew and Egyptian stocks, the religion of the rank and file of the Hebrew captive slaves was a modified version of the old Yahweh ritual of magic and sacrifice.
3. 无与伦比的摩西 ^top		3. The Matchless Moses ^top
96:3.1 (1055.4) 希伯来人有关至高造物主的概念理想演进之开端，始自闪族人在那位伟大领导者、教导者和组织者摩西带领下离开埃及之际。他的母亲来自埃及王室；他的父亲则是管理机构与贝都因俘虏之间的一位闪族人联络官。摩西由此具有了源自优良种族的品质；他的祖先如此高度混杂，以致无法将他归入任何一个种族群体。倘若他不是这种混合类型，他将永远不会展示出那种异常的多才多艺和适应能力，这使得他能够管理多样的人群，他们最终与那些贝都因闪族人一起在他的领导下逃离埃及而前往阿拉伯沙漠。		96:3.1 (1055.4) The beginning of the evolution of the Hebraic concepts and ideals of a Supreme Creator dates from the departure of the Semites from Egypt under that great leader, teacher, and organizer, Moses. His mother was of the royal family of Egypt; his father was a Semitic liaison officer between the government and the Bedouin captives. Moses thus possessed qualities derived from superior racial sources; his ancestry was so highly blended that it is impossible to classify him in any one racial group. Had he not been of this mixed type, he would never have displayed that unusual versatility and adaptability which enabled him to manage the diversified horde which eventually became associated with those Bedouin Semites who fled from Egypt to the Arabian Desert under his leadership.
96:3.2 (1055.5) 尽管尼罗河王国的教化有着吸引力，但摩西却决定将其命运与来自父辈的人们联在一起。在这位伟大组织者为其父辈民众的最终释放制定计划时，贝都因俘虏们几未有过一种名副其实的宗教；他们几乎没有一种真正的神观念，对世界没有希望。		96:3.2 (1055.5) Despite the enticements of the culture of the Nile kingdom, Moses elected to cast his lot with the people of his father. At the time this great organizer was formulating his plans for the eventual freeing of his father’s people, the Bedouin captives hardly had a religion worthy of the name; they were virtually without a true concept of God and without hope in the world.
96:3.3 (1055.6) 没有一个领导者从事过改革和提升一个比这更悲观绝望、无知沮丧的人群了。但这些奴隶在其遗传血统中带有潜在的发展可能性，有足够数目的有教养领导者受过摩西的指导，以为争取自由而进行罢工反抗之日做好准备，从而构建一支有效的组织者队伍。这些优秀的人们被雇为他们民众的本族监管者；由于摩西对埃及统治者的影响，他们接受了一些教育。		96:3.3 (1055.6) No leader ever undertook to reform and uplift a more forlorn, downcast, dejected, and ignorant group of human beings. But these slaves carried latent possibilities of development in their hereditary strains, and there were a sufficient number of educated leaders who had been coached by Moses in preparation for the day of revolt and the strike for liberty to constitute a corps of efficient organizers. These superior men had been employed as native overseers of their people; they had received some education because of Moses’ influence with the Egyptian rulers.
96:3.4 (1056.1) 为了其同胞闪族人的自由，摩西曾努力通过外交途径谈判。他与其兄长和埃及国王订立了一个合约，凭此他们获允和平离开尼罗河流域而前往阿拉伯沙漠。他们本应会收到一笔适当的钱款和货物，以作为他们长期在埃及服务的报酬。对于希伯来人来说，他们订立协议以保持与法老的友好关系，不参加任何反对埃及的联盟。但国王后来借口他的密探发现了贝都因奴隶中间的不忠，以此为由废止了这一合约。他声称他们寻求自由，为的是进入沙漠去组织游牧民来反抗埃及。		96:3.4 (1056.1) Moses endeavored to negotiate diplomatically for the freedom of his fellow Semites. He and his brother entered into a compact with the king of Egypt whereby they were granted permission peaceably to leave the valley of the Nile for the Arabian Desert. They were to receive a modest payment of money and goods in token of their long service in Egypt. The Hebrews for their part entered into an agreement to maintain friendly relations with the Pharaohs and not to join in any alliance against Egypt. But the king later saw fit to repudiate this treaty, giving as his reason the excuse that his spies had discovered disloyalty among the Bedouin slaves. He claimed they sought freedom for the purpose of going into the desert to organize the nomads against Egypt.
96:3.5 (1056.2) 但摩西并未气馁；他在等待时机，在不到一年中，当埃及军队忙于抵抗南方强大利比亚人突袭和北方希腊人海上入侵的同时攻击时，这位无畏的组织者带领他的同胞们在一次壮观的夜间行动中逃离了埃及。这次为获自由的突然出逃，经过了精心计划和巧妙实施。他们成功了，尽管他们遭到法老和一小群埃及人的紧随追赶，但这些埃及人在逃亡者的防守面前都溃败了，产生了许多战利品，这一切又因逃亡奴隶前进大军向其祖先沙漠家园行进时所获战利品而得以增加。		96:3.5 (1056.2) But Moses was not discouraged; he bided his time, and in less than a year, when the Egyptian military forces were fully occupied in resisting the simultaneous onslaughts of a strong Libyan thrust from the south and a Greek naval invasion from the north, this intrepid organizer led his compatriots out of Egypt in a spectacular night flight. This dash for liberty was carefully planned and skillfully executed. And they were successful, notwithstanding that they were hotly pursued by Pharaoh and a small body of Egyptians, who all fell before the fugitives’ defense, yielding much booty, all of which was augmented by the loot of the advancing host of escaping slaves as they marched on toward their ancestral desert home.
4. 对雅威的宣扬 ^top		4. The Proclamation of Yahweh ^top
96:4.1 (1056.3) 摩西教导的演进和提升作用影响了几近半个世界，甚至在二十世纪仍然如此。尽管摩西理解更为先进的埃及宗教哲学，但贝都因奴隶们对这类教导却知之甚少，不过他们却从未曾完全忘记何烈山的神，他们的祖先称其为雅威。		96:4.1 (1056.3) The evolution and elevation of the Mosaic teaching has influenced almost one half of all the world, and still does even in the twentieth century. While Moses comprehended the more advanced Egyptian religious philosophy, the Bedouin slaves knew little about such teachings, but they had never entirely forgotten the god of Mount Horeb, whom their ancestors had called Yahweh.
96:4.2 (1056.4) 摩西从其父母那里听说了有关玛可文塔•麦基洗德的教导，他宗教信仰的共性是一个拥有王室血统女子与一个被掳民族男子之间不同寻常结合之原因所在。摩西的岳父是埃尔•埃里昂的一位基尼人崇拜者，不过这位解放者的父母却是埃尔•沙代的信奉者。摩西由此被培育成一名埃尔•沙代信奉者；受其岳父影响，他也成了一名埃尔•埃里昂信仰者；及至希伯来人逃出埃及后在西奈山附近安营扎寨时，他已创设出一种新的、扩展了的神灵观念（源于他所有先前的信仰），他明智地决定将其作为他们古老部落神雅威的一种扩展概念宣扬给其民众。		96:4.2 (1056.4) Moses had heard of the teachings of Machiventa Melchizedek from both his father and his mother, their commonness of religious belief being the explanation for the unusual union between a woman of royal blood and a man from a captive race. Moses’ father-in-law was a Kenite worshiper of El Elyon, but the emancipator’s parents were believers in El Shaddai. Moses thus was educated an El Shaddaist; through the influence of his father-in-law he became an El Elyonist; and by the time of the Hebrew encampment about Mount Sinai after the flight from Egypt, he had formulated a new and enlarged concept of Deity (derived from all his former beliefs), which he wisely decided to proclaim to his people as an expanded concept of their olden tribal god, Yahweh.
96:4.3 (1056.5) 摩西曾努力教导这些贝都因人有关埃尔•埃里昂的观念。但在离开埃及以前，他已确信他们绝不会充分理解这一教义。因此他慎重决定妥协，采用其沙漠部落神作为其追随者的唯一神。摩西并未特意教导其他民族和国家不可有其他神，但他的确曾坚决主张雅威是高于一切的，尤其对希伯来人来说。而他也总被这种尴尬的状况所困扰，即要在古老名称雅威的伪装下向这些无知的奴隶展示他关于神灵的更高新观念，但雅威又总是被贝都因人部落的金牛犊加以象征。		96:4.3 (1056.5) Moses had endeavored to teach these Bedouins the idea of El Elyon, but before leaving Egypt, he had become convinced they would never fully comprehend this doctrine. Therefore he deliberately determined upon the compromise adoption of their tribal god of the desert as the one and only god of his followers. Moses did not specifically teach that other peoples and nations might not have other gods, but he did resolutely maintain that Yahweh was over and above all, especially to the Hebrews. But always was he plagued by the awkward predicament of trying to present his new and higher idea of Deity to these ignorant slaves under the guise of the ancient term Yahweh, which had always been symbolized by the golden calf of the Bedouin tribes.
96:4.4 (1056.6) 雅威是出逃希伯来人之神的事实，解释了他们为何会在西奈圣山前停留那么久，以及为何他们会接受摩西以何烈山之神雅威之名所颁布的十诫。在西奈山前滞留期间，新演变出的希伯来人宗教崇拜仪式得到了进一步的完善。		96:4.4 (1056.6) The fact that Yahweh was the god of the fleeing Hebrews explains why they tarried so long before the holy mountain of Sinai, and why they there received the ten commandments which Moses promulgated in the name of Yahweh, the god of Horeb. During this lengthy sojourn before Sinai the religious ceremonials of the newly evolving Hebrew worship were further perfected.
96:4.5 (1057.1) 若非因为他们在何烈山脚虔诚逗留的第三周期间发生猛烈的火山爆发，那么摩西似乎决不可能成功创建其略为先进的仪式崇拜，并令其追随者们团结了四分之一世纪。“雅威之山燃起大火，浓烟升腾，有如大火窑一般，整座山都震动起来。”鉴于这一灾变，摩西能使其同胞牢记他们的神是“强大的、可怕的，是吞没一切的烈焰，是可畏的、全能的。”		96:4.5 (1057.1) It does not appear that Moses would ever have succeeded in the establishment of his somewhat advanced ceremonial worship and in keeping his followers intact for a quarter of a century had it not been for the violent eruption of Horeb during the third week of their worshipful sojourn at its base. “The mountain of Yahweh was consumed in fire, and the smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.” In view of this cataclysm it is not surprising that Moses could impress upon his brethren the teaching that their God was “mighty, terrible, a devouring fire, fearful, and all-powerful.”
96:4.6 (1057.2) 摩西宣扬雅威是以色列的上主神，这位神拣选了希伯来人作为其选民；摩西构建起了一个全新的民族，并明智地将他的宗教教导民族化，告诉他的追随者雅威是一个严厉之主，一个“忌邪之神”，但他依然寻求在教导他们说雅威是“所有生灵之神”，在他说“永恒之神是你的庇护所，下面是永久的臂膀”时扩展他们有关神的观念。摩西教导过雅威是一个守约之神；并教导他“不会离弃你，不会毁灭你，也不会忘记与你列祖所立的约，因为上主爱你，不会忘记他向你列祖所发的誓。”		96:4.6 (1057.2) Moses proclaimed that Yahweh was the Lord God of Israel, who had singled out the Hebrews as his chosen people; he was building a new nation, and he wisely nationalized his religious teachings, telling his followers that Yahweh was a hard taskmaster, a “jealous God.” But nonetheless he sought to enlarge their concept of divinity when he taught them that Yahweh was the “God of the spirits of all flesh,” and when he said, “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Moses taught that Yahweh was a covenant-keeping God; that he “will not forsake you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers because the Lord loves you and will not forget the oath by which he swore to your fathers.”
96:4.7 (1057.3) 摩西在将雅威展示为“信实可靠、公平正直之神”时，他做出了英勇的努力以将他提升到一个至高神灵所拥有的尊严当中。然而，尽管拥有这种高贵的教导，其追随者的有限理解使他有必要将神说成拥有人的形象，极易生气、发怒、严厉，甚至说他是有复仇之心，易受人的行为所影响。		96:4.7 (1057.3) Moses made a heroic effort to uplift Yahweh to the dignity of a supreme Deity when he presented him as the “God of truth and without iniquity, just and right in all his ways.” And yet, despite this exalted teaching, the limited understanding of his followers made it necessary to speak of God as being in man’s image, as being subject to fits of anger, wrath, and severity, even that he was vengeful and easily influenced by man’s conduct.
96:4.8 (1057.4) 在摩西的教导下，雅威这一部落自然神成了以色列的上主神，他伴随他们穿越旷野，甚至伴随他们流放异乡，不久他便被构想成万族之神。后来犹太人的巴比伦被囚，最终将演进的雅威概念解放出来，承担起了万族之神的一神论角色。		96:4.8 (1057.4) Under the teachings of Moses this tribal nature god, Yahweh, became the Lord God of Israel, who followed them through the wilderness and even into exile, where he presently was conceived of as the God of all peoples. The later captivity that enslaved the Jews in Babylon finally liberated the evolving concept of Yahweh to assume the monotheistic role of the God of all nations.
96:4.9 (1057.5) 希伯来人宗教史中最为独特惊人的特征，在于这种有关神灵概念的不断演进，从何烈山原始神，往上经由其相继灵性领袖的教导，到以赛亚的神灵教义中所描绘的高等发展层次，后者宣扬的是那种仁爱造物之父的崇高观念。		96:4.9 (1057.5) The most unique and amazing feature of the religious history of the Hebrews concerns this continuous evolution of the concept of Deity from the primitive god of Mount Horeb up through the teachings of their successive spiritual leaders to the high level of development depicted in the Deity doctrines of the Isaiahs, who proclaimed that magnificent concept of the loving and merciful Creator Father.
5. 摩西的教导 ^top		5. The Teachings of Moses ^top
96:5.1 (1057.6) 摩西是集军事领导者、社会组织者和宗教教导者于一身的非凡组合。他是介于玛可文塔和耶稣时代之间最为重要的独特世界导师和领袖。摩西试图在以色列引入许多改革，但却没有记录。在一个人毕生期间，他领导那群多语言的所谓希伯来人摆脱被奴役、未开化的状态，而为后来一个国家的诞生，一个民族的长久生存奠定了基础。		96:5.1 (1057.6) Moses was an extraordinary combination of military leader, social organizer, and religious teacher. He was the most important individual world teacher and leader between the times of Machiventa and Jesus. Moses attempted to introduce many reforms in Israel of which there is no record. In the space of one man’s life he led the polyglot horde of so-called Hebrews out of slavery and uncivilized roaming while he laid the foundation for the subsequent birth of a nation and the perpetuation of a race.
96:5.2 (1057.7) 对于摩西的伟大功绩鲜有记载，是因为希伯来人在逃出埃及时还没有书面语言。有关摩西生平及所为的记载，是源自这位伟大领袖死后一千多年所存留下来的诸多传说。		96:5.2 (1057.7) There is so little on record of the great work of Moses because the Hebrews had no written language at the time of the exodus. The record of the times and doings of Moses was derived from the traditions extant more than one thousand years after the death of the great leader.
96:5.3 (1058.1) 摩西所取得的高于埃及人及黎凡特各部落宗教的许多进步，应归于麦基洗德时代的基尼人传统。若没有玛可文塔对亚伯拉罕及其同辈的教导，希伯来人将会在无望的黑暗中离开埃及。摩西和他的岳父叶忒罗将麦基洗德时代传统之余留收集起来，正是这些教导，再加上埃及人的学问，引导摩西创建了以色列人的改良宗教和仪式。摩西是一位组织家；他拣选了埃及和巴勒斯坦宗教和习俗中最优秀的部分，将这些做法与麦基洗德教导的传统结合到了一起，组织起了希伯来人的仪式崇拜体系。		96:5.3 (1058.1) Many of the advances which Moses made over and above the religion of the Egyptians and the surrounding Levantine tribes were due to the Kenite traditions of the time of Melchizedek. Without the teaching of Machiventa to Abraham and his contemporaries, the Hebrews would have come out of Egypt in hopeless darkness. Moses and his father-in-law, Jethro, gathered up the residue of the traditions of the days of Melchizedek, and these teachings, joined to the learning of the Egyptians, guided Moses in the creation of the improved religion and ritual of the Israelites. Moses was an organizer; he selected the best in the religion and mores of Egypt and Palestine and, associating these practices with the traditions of the Melchizedek teachings, organized the Hebrew ceremonial system of worship.
96:5.4 (1058.2) 摩西是一位天意信奉者；他被埃及有关对尼罗河及其他自然要素受超自然控制的教义所彻底浸染了。他对神有着远见卓识，但他在教导希伯来人以下内容时却是十分真诚的，即如果他们愿意服从神，“他将会爱你们，赐福给你们，使你们人数增多。他将会使你们腹中和土地出产（谷物、酒酿、油和你们的畜群）增多。你们将会昌盛过万民，你们的上主神将会使一切疾病远离你们，也不会将任何埃及的恶疾加在你们身上。”他甚至说过：“要记住你们的上主神，因为是他赐给了你们致富的力量。”“你们必将借给许多国家，却不必借贷；你们必将管辖许多国家，它们却不能管辖你们。”		96:5.4 (1058.2) Moses was a believer in Providence; he had become thoroughly tainted with the doctrines of Egypt concerning the supernatural control of the Nile and the other elements of nature. He had a great vision of God, but he was thoroughly sincere when he taught the Hebrews that, if they would obey God, “He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will multiply the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land—the corn, wine, oil, and your flocks. You shall be prospered above all people, and the Lord your God will take away from you all sickness and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt upon you.” He even said: “Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth.” “You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. You shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.”
96:5.5 (1058.3) 但看到摩西这位伟大智者试图使其崇高的极高者埃尔•埃里昂概念，来适应愚昧无知的希伯来人的理解，这实在是令人同情的。他对召集起来的领袖们怒吼道，“你们的上主神是独一真神；除他以外，别无他神”；而对混杂的群众他则宣称，“万神之中，谁能像你们的神一样？”摩西对物神和偶像崇拜采取了一种勇敢而部分成功的立场，他宣称，“你们的神在何烈山从火中对你们说话那日，你们没有看到任何形象。”他还禁止制作任何种类的雕像。		96:5.5 (1058.3) But it was truly pitiful to watch this great mind of Moses trying to adapt his sublime concept of El Elyon, the Most High, to the comprehension of the ignorant and illiterate Hebrews. To his assembled leaders he thundered, “The Lord your God is one God; there is none beside him”; while to the mixed multitude he declared, “Who is like your God among all the gods?” Moses made a brave and partly successful stand against fetishes and idolatry, declaring, “You saw no similitude on the day that your God spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire.” He also forbade the making of images of any sort.
96:5.6 (1058.4) 摩西害怕宣扬雅威的仁慈，而宁愿用对神之公平的畏惧来使其民众敬畏，他说：“你们的上主神是万神之神，万主之主，是伟大、全能、可畏之神，他不徇情面。”他还寻求去控制骚乱的宗族，那时他宣称“在你们不服从神时，他将会击杀你们；在你服从他时，他将会医治并赐予生命。”但摩西教导这些部落，只有在他们“遵守他所有戒律、服从他所有法令”的条件下，他们才会成为神的选民。		96:5.6 (1058.4) Moses feared to proclaim the mercy of Yahweh, preferring to awe his people with the fear of the justice of God, saying: “The Lord your God is God of Gods, and Lord of Lords, a great God, a mighty and terrible God, who regards not man.” Again he sought to control the turbulent clans when he declared that “your God kills when you disobey him; he heals and gives life when you obey him.” But Moses taught these tribes that they would become the chosen people of God only on condition that they “kept all his commandments and obeyed all his statutes.”
96:5.7 (1058.5) 在这些早期时代中，希伯来人很少被教导神之仁慈。他们把神理解为“全能者；上主是战士，战神，大能荣耀，击碎仇敌。”“你们的上主神在营中行走来救护你们。”以色列人将他们的神认作是一位爱他们的神，但也“曾令法老心变刚硬”并“诅咒他们的仇敌”。		96:5.7 (1058.5) Little of the mercy of God was taught the Hebrews during these early times. They learned of God as “the Almighty; the Lord is a man of war, God of battles, glorious in power, who dashes in pieces his enemies.” “The Lord your God walks in the midst of the camp to deliver you.” The Israelites thought of their God as one who loved them, but who also “hardened Pharaoh’s heart” and “cursed their enemies.”
96:5.8 (1058.6) 尽管摩西向以色列子民们展示了对一位万有性仁慈神灵的惊鸿一瞥，但总的来说， 他们关于雅威的通常观念是一位比周围民族诸部落神略好一点的神观念。他们的神观念是原始粗陋的、拟人化的；当摩西去世时，这些贝都因部落很快便退回到了他们何烈山和沙漠古老诸神的半野蛮观念中。摩西时常向其头领们展示的扩展开、更崇高版本的神很快便消失不见了，而大多数人又回到了对其物神金牛犊、即巴勒斯坦牧人之雅威象征的崇拜中。		96:5.8 (1058.6) While Moses presented fleeting glimpses of a universal and beneficent Deity to the children of Israel, on the whole, their day-by-day concept of Yahweh was that of a God but little better than the tribal gods of the surrounding peoples. Their concept of God was primitive, crude, and anthropomorphic; when Moses passed on, these Bedouin tribes quickly reverted to the semibarbaric ideas of their olden gods of Horeb and the desert. The enlarged and more sublime vision of God which Moses every now and then presented to his leaders was soon lost to view, while most of the people turned to the worship of their fetish golden calves, the Palestinian herdsman’s symbol of Yahweh.
96:5.9 (1059.1) 当摩西将希伯来人的控制权移交给约书亚时，他已将成千上万亚伯拉罕、拿赫、罗得的旁系子孙及其他相关部落的子孙汇集到了一起，并将他们打造成了一个由游牧战士组成、自持且部分自制的国家。		96:5.9 (1059.1) When Moses turned over the command of the Hebrews to Joshua, he had already gathered up thousands of the collateral descendants of Abraham, Nahor, Lot, and other of the related tribes and had whipped them into a self-sustaining and partially self-regulating nation of pastoral warriors.
6. 摩西死后的神观念 ^top		6. The God Concept After Moses’ Death ^top
96:6.1 (1059.2) 摩西死时，他关于雅威的崇高观念快速衰颓了。约书亚和以色列的领袖们继续持守摩西有关全智、仁慈和全能之神的传统，但普通民众很快退回到旧有的沙漠雅威观念中。神灵观念的这一倒退，在各个部落长老即所谓士师的相继统治下愈演愈烈。		96:6.1 (1059.2) Upon the death of Moses his lofty concept of Yahweh rapidly deteriorated. Joshua and the leaders of Israel continued to harbor the Mosaic traditions of the all-wise, beneficent, and almighty God, but the common people rapidly reverted to the older desert idea of Yahweh. And this backward drift of the concept of Deity continued increasingly under the successive rule of the various tribal sheiks, the so-called Judges.
96:6.2 (1059.3) 摩西的非凡人格魅力，使得一个不断扩展的神观念在其追随者们心中保持了活力。但当他们一旦到达了巴勒斯坦的富饶之地，他们很快便从游牧民变成了安定下来且有点闲散的农民。这种生活习俗的演变和宗教观点的变化，要求在其雅威神本性观念特征方面应有一种近乎彻底的改变。从简朴粗陋、严厉苛刻和雷霆万钧的西奈沙漠神，开始转向后来出现的慈爱、公平、怜悯之神观念期间，希伯来人几近丧失了摩西的崇高教导。他们几近丧失了关于一神论的全部观念；他们几近丧失了其机会，在玉苒厦(Urantia)灵性进化中担当关键环节之民族，一个将会保留麦基洗德唯一神教导直到万有之父的一个赠与之子化身时代的民族。		96:6.2 (1059.3) The spell of the extraordinary personality of Moses had kept alive in the hearts of his followers the inspiration of an increasingly enlarged concept of God; but when they once reached the fertile lands of Palestine, they quickly evolved from nomadic herders into settled and somewhat sedate farmers. And this evolution of life practices and change of religious viewpoint demanded a more or less complete change in the character of their conception of the nature of their God, Yahweh. During the times of the beginning of the transmutation of the austere, crude, exacting, and thunderous desert god of Sinai into the later appearing concept of a God of love, justice, and mercy, the Hebrews almost lost sight of Moses’ lofty teachings. They came near losing all concept of monotheism; they nearly lost their opportunity of becoming the people who would serve as a vital link in the spiritual evolution of Urantia, the group who would conserve the Melchizedek teaching of one God until the times of the incarnation of a bestowal Son of that Father of all.
96:6.3 (1059.4) 约书亚曾极力试图在部民心智中保留一个至高雅威的观念，使它得到宣扬：“我怎样与摩西同在，也必照样与你同在；我必不撇下你，也不离弃你。”约书亚发现有必要对其不信的民众宣扬一种严厉的福音，人们太愿意相信其古老的本族宗教，而不愿意趋就一个充满信仰和正义的宗教。约书亚教导的重任变成了：“雅威是一个圣洁之神；他是一个忌邪之神；他必不会赦免你们的过犯和罪恶。”这一时代的最高观念将雅威描绘成一个“权能、审判和公平之神”。		96:6.3 (1059.4) Desperately Joshua sought to hold the concept of a supreme Yahweh in the minds of the tribesmen, causing it to be proclaimed: “As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will not fail you nor forsake you.” Joshua found it necessary to preach a stern gospel to his disbelieving people, people all too willing to believe their old and native religion but unwilling to go forward in the religion of faith and righteousness. The burden of Joshua’s teaching became: “Yahweh is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.” The highest concept of this age pictured Yahweh as a “God of power, judgment, and justice.”
96:6.4 (1059.5) 但即便是在这一黑暗时代，时而也会有单个导师起来宣扬摩西的神观念：“你们出身邪恶的子孙无法侍奉上主，因为他是圣洁之神。”“凡人能比神更公义吗？人类能比他的创造者更纯洁吗？”“你能靠探寻而找到神吗？你能找到至善的全能者吗？看哪，神是伟大的，我们对他一无所知。论到全能者，我们无法测度。”		96:6.4 (1059.5) But even in this dark age, every now and then a solitary teacher would arise proclaiming the Mosaic concept of divinity: “You children of wickedness cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God.” “Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker?” “Can you by searching find out God? Can you find out the Almighty to perfection? Behold, God is great and we know him not. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out.”
7. 《诗篇》与《约伯记》 ^top		7. Psalms and the Book of Job ^top
96:7.1 (1060.1) 在长老和祭司们的领导下，希伯来人在巴勒斯坦松散定居下来。但他们不久便移回到愚昧的沙漠信仰中，并沾染了较落后的迦南人宗教习俗。他们变得崇拜偶像且淫乱放荡，他们的神灵观念远落在埃及人和美索不达米亚人的神观念后面，后者由某些存续下来的撒冷族群得以维持，并在《诗篇》中的某些诗作和所谓的《约伯记》中有所记载。		96:7.1 (1060.1) Under the leadership of their sheiks and priests the Hebrews became loosely established in Palestine. But they soon drifted back into the benighted beliefs of the desert and became contaminated with the less advanced Canaanite religious practices. They became idolatrous and licentious, and their idea of Deity fell far below the Egyptian and Mesopotamian concepts of God that were maintained by certain surviving Salem groups, and which are recorded in some of the Psalms and in the so-called Book of Job.
96:7.2 (1060.2) 《诗篇》是二十多个作者的作品；许多是由埃及和美索不达米亚的导师所写。在黎凡特人崇拜自然神的这些时期，仍有相当多人信仰极高者埃尔•埃里昂的至高性。		96:7.2 (1060.2) The Psalms are the work of a score or more of authors; many were written by Egyptian and Mesopotamian teachers. During these times when the Levant worshiped nature gods, there were still a goodly number who believed in the supremacy of El Elyon, the Most High.
96:7.3 (1060.3) 没有一部宗教著作集像《诗篇》这样表达了如此丰富的虔信和关于神的启发观念。在研读这部精彩的崇拜文集时，如果考虑每一不同赞美和崇拜诗篇的来源和年代将是极为有益的，要记住没有任何其他文集能覆盖如此大的时间范围。这本《诗篇》是对整个黎凡特的撒冷教信奉者所持各种神观念的记录，包括从阿门内莫普到以赛亚的整个时期。在《诗篇》中描绘了所有概念阶段的神，从部落神祗的粗陋观念到后来希伯来人大为扩展的理念，在其中雅威被描述成一位慈爱的统治者和仁慈的父亲。		96:7.3 (1060.3) No collection of religious writings gives expression to such a wealth of devotion and inspirational ideas of God as the Book of Psalms. And it would be very helpful if, in the perusal of this wonderful collection of worshipful literature, consideration could be given to the source and chronology of each separate hymn of praise and adoration, bearing in mind that no other single collection covers such a great range of time. This Book of Psalms is the record of the varying concepts of God entertained by the believers of the Salem religion throughout the Levant and embraces the entire period from Amenemope to Isaiah. In the Psalms God is depicted in all phases of conception, from the crude idea of a tribal deity to the vastly expanded ideal of the later Hebrews, wherein Yahweh is pictured as a loving ruler and merciful Father.
96:7.4 (1060.4) 由此来看，这组诗篇构成了迄至二十世纪各时期以来人类所曾收集的最有价值、最为有益的虔诚情感杂集。这一诗歌集中的虔信精神，超越了世界上所有其他圣籍。		96:7.4 (1060.4) And when thus regarded, this group of Psalms constitutes the most valuable and helpful assortment of devotional sentiments ever assembled by man up to the times of the twentieth century. The worshipful spirit of this collection of hymns transcends that of all other sacred books of the world.
96:7.5 (1060.5) 《约伯记》中所呈现出的斑驳神灵形象，是绵延将近三百年的时期中，二十多个美索不达米亚宗教导师的产物。当你读到这部包含美索不达米亚人信仰的合集中所有崇高的神观念时，你将会认识到，在巴勒斯坦的黑暗日子里，正是在迦勒底乌尔比邻之地，有关真神的观念被最好地保存下来。		96:7.5 (1060.5) The variegated picture of Deity presented in the Book of Job was the product of more than a score of Mesopotamian religious teachers extending over a period of almost three hundred years. And when you read the lofty concept of divinity found in this compilation of Mesopotamian beliefs, you will recognize that it was in the neighborhood of Ur of Chaldea that the idea of a real God was best preserved during the dark days in Palestine.
96:7.6 (1060.6) 在巴勒斯坦，神的智慧及无所不在通常会被领会，但他的爱和仁慈却鲜被理解。这些时期的雅威“派遣邪灵去主宰其仇敌的灵魂”；他使自己服从的子民昌盛起来，同时诅咒并将可怕审判降临到所有其他人身上。“他挫败了狡猾人的阴谋，他使聪明人中了自己的诡计。”		96:7.6 (1060.6) In Palestine the wisdom and all-pervasiveness of God was often grasped but seldom his love and mercy. The Yahweh of these times “sends evil spirits to dominate the souls of his enemies”; he prospers his own and obedient children, while he curses and visits dire judgments upon all others. “He disappoints the devices of the crafty; he takes the wise in their own deceit.”
96:7.7 (1060.7) 仅在乌尔才有一个声音响起来呼喊神的仁慈，有云“他向神祈祷而发现蒙他悦纳，他心怀欢喜而见其面容。因神将给他神圣正义。”就这样，从乌尔出现了对因信得救、因信得神恩宠的宣扬：“他施恩与悔改者，说‘救出他免下深渊，因为我已得到了赎价。’若有人说‘我犯了罪，颠倒了是非，但我没有收到报应’，神将救赎他的灵魂免下深渊，他将会见到光明。”自麦基洗德时代以来，黎凡特世界再没有听到像以利户这一非凡教导所传递出的如此响亮、如此令人振奋的人类救赎讯息了，他是乌尔的先知，撒冷信徒的祭司，后者即美索不达米亚一度的麦基洗德侨团之余部。		96:7.7 (1060.7) Only at Ur did a voice arise to cry out the mercy of God, saying: “He shall pray to God and shall find favor with him and shall see his face with joy, for God will give to man divine righteousness.” Thus from Ur there is preached salvation, divine favor, by faith: “He is gracious to the repentant and says, ‘Deliver him from going down in the pit, for I have found a ransom.’ If any say, ‘I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not,’ God will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and he shall see the light.” Not since the times of Melchizedek had the Levantine world heard such a ringing and cheering message of human salvation as this extraordinary teaching of Elihu, the prophet of Ur and priest of the Salem believers, that is, the remnant of the onetime Melchizedek colony in Mesopotamia.
96:7.8 (1061.1) 就这样，美索不达米亚撒冷传教士的余部在希伯来民族混乱时期维持住了真理之光，直到以色列那一长串导师中首位的出现，他们从未停止过构建一个又一个的观念，直至他们实现了对一切万有之父及造物之父观念的认知，亦即雅威观念之演进顶峰。		96:7.8 (1061.1) And thus did the remnants of the Salem missionaries in Mesopotamia maintain the light of truth during the period of the disorganization of the Hebrew peoples until the appearance of the first of that long line of the teachers of Israel who never stopped as they built, concept upon concept, until they had achieved the realization of the ideal of the Universal and Creator Father of all, the acme of the evolution of the Yahweh concept.
96:7.9 (1061.2) [由内巴顿(Nebadon)的一位麦基洗德所呈献。]		96:7.9 (1061.2) [Presented by a Melchizedek of Nebadon.]