第36章 在旷野里
§1
第36章 在旷野里
§2
Chap. 36 - In the Wilderness
§3
以色列人无声无息的在旷野飘流达四十年之久。摩西说：“自从离开加低斯巴尼亚，到过了撒烈溪的时候，共有三十八年，等那世代的兵丁，都从营中灭尽，正如耶和华向他们所起的誓。耶和华的手也攻击他们，将他们从营中除灭，直到灭尽。”（申2:14-15）[1]{PP 406.1}
§4
For nearly forty years the children of Israel are lost to view in the obscurity of the desert. The space, says Moses, in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the Lord sware unto them. For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed. Deuteronomy 2:14, 15.{PP 406.1}[1]
§5
在这些年日中，百姓时常想着自己是在受上帝的惩戒。他们在加低斯的背叛中弃绝了上帝；所以上帝也一时弃绝了他们，他们既然不忠于他的约，所以他们就没有受那约的记号，就是割礼。他们要回到为奴之地去的愿望，证明他们还不配得自由，所以他们也不能遵守那纪念蒙拯救脱离奴役的逾越节典礼。[2]{PP 406.2}
§6
During these years the people were constantly reminded that they were under the divine rebuke. In the rebellion at Kadesh they had rejected God, and God had for the time rejected them. Since they had proved unfaithful to His covenant, they were not to receive the sign of the covenant, the rite of circumcision. Their desire to return to the land of slavery had shown them to be unworthy of freedom, and the ordinance of the Passover, instituted to commemorate the deliverance from bondage, was not to be observed.{PP 406.2}[2]
§7
然而会幕里的奉献礼还是继续举行，表明上帝还没有完全丢弃他的子民。而且他仍然养活他们。摩西于叙述他们在旷野的飘流史时，说道：“因为耶和华你的上帝，在你手里所办的一切事上，已赐福与你；你走这大旷野他都知道了；这四十年，耶和华你的上帝常与你同在，故此你一无所缺。”（申2:7）尼希米所抄录的利未人的诗歌，生动地形容了上帝对以色列人的照顾，就是在这些被厌弃和飘流的年代中，也是如此。“你还是大施怜悯，在旷野不丢弃他们；白昼，云柱不离开他们，仍引导他们行路；黑夜，火柱也不离开他们，仍照亮他们当行的路。你也赐下你良善的灵教训他们，未尝不赐吗哪使他们糊口，并赐水解他们渴。在旷野四十年，你养育他们，他们……衣服没有穿破，脚也没有肿。”（尼9:19-21）[3]{PP 406.3}
§8
Yet the continuance of the tabernacle service testified that God had not utterly forsaken His people. And His providence still supplied their wants. The Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand, said Moses, in rehearsing the history of their wanderings. He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness; these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing. And the Levites hymn, recorded by Nehemiah, vividly pictures Gods care for Israel, even during these years of rejection and banishment: Thou in Thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go. Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not Thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst Thou sustain them in the wilderness; . . . their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not. Nehemiah 9:19-21.{PP 406.3}[3]
§9
在旷野的飘流不但是为上帝所定，作降在那些叛逆和发怨言之人身上的刑罚，也是作下一代人的教训，使他们准备得以进入应许之地。摩西向他们说：“耶和华你上帝管教你，好像人管教儿子一样，”“是要苦炼你，试验你，要知道你内心如何，肯守他的诫命不肯。他……任你饥饿，将你和你列祖所不认识的吗哪赐给你吃，使你知道人活着，不是单靠食物，乃是靠耶和华口里所出的一切话。”（申8:5,2-3）[4]{PP 407.1}
§10
The wilderness wandering was not only ordained as a judgment upon the rebels and murmurers, but it was to serve as a discipline for the rising generation, preparatory to their entrance into the Promised Land. Moses declared to them, As a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no. And He . . . suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. Deuteronomy 8:5, 2, 3.{PP 407.1}[4]
§11
“耶和华遇见他在旷野荒凉野兽吼叫之地；就环绕他，看顾他，保护他,如同保护眼中的瞳人。”“他们在一切苦难中，他也同受苦难，并且他面前的使者拯救他们；他以慈爱和怜悯救赎他们；在古时的日子，常保抱他们，怀搋他们。”（申32:10；赛63:9）[5]{PP 407.2}
§12
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old. Deuteronomy 32:10; Isaiah 63:9.{PP 407.2}[5]
§13
然而他们在旷野的生活所留下来的记录，只是几件背叛耶和华的事。可拉的叛乱，结果曾使以色列民中一万四千余人灭亡，此外还有一些个别的事件，表明他们轻视上帝权威的同样精神。[6]{PP 407.3}
§14
Yet the only records of their wilderness life are instances of rebellion against the Lord. The revolt of Korah had resulted in the destruction of fourteen thousand of Israel. And there were isolated cases that showed the same spirit of contempt for the divine authority.{PP 407.3}[6]
§15
有一次，有一个以色列妇人的儿子，他父亲是埃及人，是同着以色列人从埃及出来的闲杂人之一，他离开自己扎营的地方，搬进以色列人的营盘那里，声称他有权利在那里支搭他的帐棚。这是上帝的律法所不许可的，因为埃及人的后裔，到第三代子孙才可以入耶和华的会。于是，他与一个以色列人起了争论，这事就呈到审判官那里，审判官断定这埃及人的儿子为有罪。[7]{PP 407.4}
§16
On one occasion the son of an Israelitish woman and of an Egyptian, one of the mixed multitude that had come up with Israel from Egypt, left his own part of the camp, and entering that of the Israelites, claimed the right to pitch his tent there. This the divine law forbade him to do, the descendants of an Egyptian being excluded from the congregation until the third generation. A dispute arose between him and an Israelite, and the matter being referred to the judges was decided against the offender.{PP 407.4}[7]
§17
他对这个判决大大发怒，就咒骂审判官；而且在大怒之下，他竟亵渎了上帝的名。于是就有人立刻把他送到摩西那里去。曾经有命令吩咐说：“咒骂父母的，必要把他治死。”（出21:17）但对这个案件还没有规定应如何处理。这个人所犯的罪是那么严重，所以大家觉得必需向上帝求问特别的指示。于是他们把那人收在监里，直等到探明耶和华的旨意再行处理。在上帝亲自宣布判决之后；他们就照着指示，把那亵渎圣名的人带到营外，用石头打死。那些听见他亵渎的人，都按手在他头上，严肃地证实那控告他的罪；于是他们要先拿石头打他，然后其他的人一起下手执行他的死刑。[8]{PP 407.5}
§18
Enraged at this decision, he cursed the judge, and in the heat of passion blasphemed the name of God. He was immediately brought before Moses. The command had been given, He that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death (Exodus 21:17); but no provision had been made to meet this case. So terrible was the crime that there was felt to be a necessity for special direction from God. The man was placed in ward until the will of the Lord could be ascertained. God Himself pronounced the sentence; by the divine direction the blasphemer was conducted outside the camp and stoned to death. Those who had been witness to the sin placed their hands upon his head, thus solemnly testifying to the truth of the charge against him. Then they threw the first stones, and the people who stood by afterward joined in executing the sentence.{PP 407.5}[8]
§19
这事以后，就宣布了一条律法，来应付这一类的罪：“你要晓谕以色列人说，凡咒诅上帝的，必担当他的罪。那亵渎耶和华名的，必被治死，全会众总要用石头打死他，不管是寄居的，是本地人，他亵渎耶和华名的时候，必被治死。”（利24:15-16）[9]{PP 408.1}
§20
This was followed by the announcement of a law to meet similar offenses: Thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death. Leviticus 24:15, 16.{PP 408.1}[9]
§21
有一些人或许要为一个人在盛怒之下所说的话而受到那么厉害的刑罚，就对上帝的慈爱和公义发生怀疑。但是，就慈爱和公义的立场而言，都必须声明这一点：凡是出于恨恶上帝而说的话，乃是大罪。那降在第一个犯罪者身上的报应，可以作他人的鉴戒，使上帝的名可以受人尊敬。但若放过这人的罪而不予以刑罚，则他人也必效尤，终于败坏风纪；结果难免牺牲许多人的性命。[10]{PP 408.2}
§22
There are those who will question Gods love and His justice in visiting so severe punishment for words spoken in the heat of passion. But both love and justice require it to be shown that utterances prompted by malice against God are a great sin. The retribution visited upon the first offender would be a warning to others, that Gods name is to be held in reverence. But had this mans sin been permitted to pass unpunished, others would have been demoralized; and as the result many lives must eventually have been sacrificed.{PP 408.2}[10]
§23
那些与以色列人一同从埃及出来的闲杂人，一直是使以色列人受试探遭患难的祸根。这些人自称已经放弃偶像，敬拜真神；但是他们早年的教育和训练，已经陶冶他们的习惯和品格，所以他们或多或少地，都因拜偶像和不尊敬上帝的罪而败坏了。时常惹起争论的就是这些人，最先发怨言的也是他们，而且他们拜偶像的风气以及向上帝所发的怨言，常会蔓延到全营。[11]{PP 408.3}
§24
The mixed multitude that came up with the Israelites from Egypt were a source of continual temptation and trouble. They professed to have renounced idolatry and to worship the true God; but their early education and training had molded their habits and character, and they were more or less corrupted with idolatry and with irreverence for God. They were oftenest the ones to stir up strife and were the first to complain, and they leavened the camp with their idolatrous practices and their murmurings against God.{PP 408.3}[11]
§25
回到旷野之后不久，又发生了干犯安息日的事，而且在当时的环境之下，这一件事显得特别严重。耶和华宣布使以色列民不得承受那地的话，曾引起百姓叛逆的情绪，百姓中间有一个人，因为上帝不让他进入迦南而发怒，并决意要表示公然反抗上帝的律法，竟敢在安息日出去捡柴，公开违犯第四条诫命。在旷野飘流的期间，严禁第七天生火。可是，这禁令在他们进入迦南之后就不再有效。因为那里的天气寒冷，人往往必须生火取暖；但是在旷野里天气温暖，就没有这个需要。这个人的行为，乃是故意违犯第四条诫命，他的罪不是出于疏忽或无知，而是出于胆大妄为。[12]{PP 408.4}
§26
Soon after the return into the wilderness, an instance of Sabbath violation occurred, under circumstances that rendered it a case of peculiar guilt. The Lords announcement that He would disinherit Israel had roused a spirit of rebellion. One of the people, angry at being excluded from Canaan, and determined to show his defiance of Gods law, ventured upon the open transgression of the fourth commandment by going out to gather sticks upon the Sabbath. During the sojourn in the wilderness the kindling of fires upon the seventh day had been strictly prohibited. The prohibition was not to extend to the land of Canaan, where the severity of the climate would often render fires a necessity; but in the wilderness, fire was not needed for warmth. The act of this man was a willful and deliberate violation of the fourth commandment--a sin, not of thoughtlessness or ignorance, but of presumption.{PP 408.4}[12]
§27
他正在捡柴的时候，被人拿住，带到摩西的面前。违犯安息日治以死罪的律法，是早已宣布了的；至于如何执行，则还未指明。于是摩西把这案件呈到耶和华面前，当即有指示赐下说：“总要把那人治死；全会众要在营外用石头把他打死。”（民15:35）亵渎的罪和故意违犯安息日的罪，受了同样的刑罚，因为二者同是表示轻蔑上帝的威权。[13]{PP 409.1}
§28
He was taken in the act and brought before Moses. It had already been declared that Sabbathbreaking should be punished with death, but it had not yet been revealed how the penalty was to be inflicted. The case was brought by Moses before the Lord, and the direction was given, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. Numbers 15:35. The sins of blasphemy and willful Sabbathbreaking received the same punishment, being equally an expression of contempt for the authority of God.{PP 409.1}[13]
§29
现今，有许多人拒绝了纪念创造的圣安息日，认为这是犹太人的制度；并竭力主张，如果安息日必须遵守，那么，违犯这日的人也就必须处以死刑。但我们知道亵渎的罪也像违犯安息日一样受到刑罚，难道我们就因此作出结论说，第三条诫命也因为只适用于犹太人而必须予以废除吗？然而人根据以上几宗死刑所得的结论，原可应用在第三条和第五条诫命上，而且实在说来，几乎可以应用在十条诫命中的每一条上，正如在第四条诫命上一样。虽然上帝今日没有以肉体的死刑来刑罚违犯他律法的人，但他已经宣布罪的工价乃是死；而且在最后执行审判的时候，必可看到死就是那些违犯他圣律法之人的分。[14]{PP 409.2}
§30
In our day there are many who reject the creation Sabbath as a Jewish institution and urge that if it is to be kept, the penalty of death must be inflicted for its violation; but we see that blasphemy received the same punishment as did Sabbathbreaking. Shall we therefore conclude that the third commandment also is to be set aside as applicable only to the Jews? Yet the argument drawn from the death penalty applies to the third, the fifth, and indeed to nearly all the ten precepts, equally with the fourth. Though God may not now punish the transgression of His law with temporal penalties, yet His word declares that the wages of sin is death; and in the final execution of the judgment it will be found that death is the portion of those who violate His sacred precepts.{PP 409.2}[14]
§31
在旷野的四十年全部时期中，因着降吗哪的神迹，百姓每周都可以想起他们对安息日的神圣本份。可惜，就是这神迹也没有使他们达到顺从的地步。在此次受到显著的刑罚之后，他们虽然没有那么公开而大胆地违犯律法，可是他们在遵守第四条诫命上仍有很大的疏忽。上帝借着他的先知说：“他们大大干犯我的安息日。”（结20:13-24）这就是第一代的人不能进入应许之地的一个原因。然而他们的儿女并没有从其中学得教训。他们在四十年的飘流期间，对安息日依然不很重视，上帝虽然没有因此不准他们进入迦南，但他曾宣布，在他们居留在应许之地以后，还要分散到外邦人中。[15]{PP 409.3}
§32
During the entire forty years in the wilderness, the people were every week reminded of the sacred obligation of the Sabbath, by the miracle of the manna. Yet even this did not lead them to obedience. Though they did not venture upon so open and bold transgression as had received such signal punishment, yet there was great laxness in the observance of the fourth commandment. God declares through His prophet, My Sabbaths they greatly polluted. Ezekiel 20:13-24. And this is enumerated among the reasons for the exclusion of the first generation from the Promised Land. Yet their children did not learn the lesson. Such was their neglect of the Sabbath during the forty years wandering, that though God did not prevent them from entering Canaan, He declared that they should be scattered among the heathen after the settlement in the Land of Promise.{PP 409.3}[15]
§33
以色列人从加低斯回到旷野之后，他们在旷野飘流的时期终于结束了：“以色列全会众到了寻的旷野，就住在加低斯。”（民20:1）[16]{PP 410.1}
§34
From Kadesh the children of Israel had turned back into the wilderness; and the period of their desert sojourn being ended, they came, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh. Numbers 20:1.{PP 410.1}[16]
§35
米利暗死在这里，也葬在这里。自从红海边上欢乐的景象，就是当以色列的妇女出来唱歌跳舞，庆祝耶和华的胜利时起，直到结束了她一生的飘流生活，葬在旷野的坟墓止，这也是千千万万抱着大希望从埃及出来的人的命运。罪令他们功败垂成，第二代的人能从此学得教训么？[17]{PP 410.2}
§36
Here Miriam died and was buried. From that scene of rejoicing on the shores of the Red Sea, when Israel went forth with song and dance to celebrate Jehovahs triumph, to the wilderness grave which ended a lifelong wandering--such had been the fate of millions who with high hopes had come forth from Egypt. Sin had dashed from their lips the cup of blessing. Would the next generation learn the lesson?{PP 410.2}[17]
§37
“虽是这样，他们仍旧犯罪，不信他奇妙的作为。……他杀他们的时候，他们才求问他；回心转意，切切的寻求上帝。他们也追念上帝是他们的磐石，至高的上帝，是他们的救赎主。”然而他们没有诚心归向上帝。他们在遭仇敌苦害的时候，虽曾寻求那唯一能拯救他们之主的帮助，可是“他们的心向他不正，在他的约上，也不忠心。但他有怜悯，赦免他们的罪孽，不灭绝他们；而且屡次消他的怒气，……他想到他们不过是血气，是一阵去而不返的风。”（诗78:32-35,37-39）[18]{PP 410.3}
§38
For all this they sinned still, and believed not for His wondrous works. . . . When He slew them, then they sought Him: and they returned and inquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their Rock, and the high God their Redeemer. Psalm 78:32-35. Yet they did not turn to God with a sincere purpose. Though when afflicted by their enemies they sought help from Him who alone could deliver, yet their heart was not right with Him, neither were they steadfast in His covenant. But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned He His anger away. . . . For He remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. Verses 37-39.{PP 410.3}[18]