Exhortation for 7/11/04 - Reading Hosea 4 - Bro Manny
2004年11月7日 先知对以色列的警告 (何4)


Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. We come again to remember our Lord Jesus Christ by taking the emblems of his body and his blood. When we do so we remember his perfect life of obedience to his Father. His meat was always to do the will of God.
主内的弟兄姐妹早上好。今天,我们再次聚集在一起,掰饼喝酒来纪念主的身体和他的血。掰饼的时候,我们纪念主一生对父完美的顺服。他的一生都是在按神的旨意行。

We have read today an extreme rebuke to God's people, the nation of Israel, by the prophet Hosea. Hosea prophesied for over 40 years to the northern 10 tribes of Israel until they were conquered by the Assyrians. So Hosea prophesied at the end of an age. He was the final prophet to these people so God's final words to the rebellious northern nation of Israel were given by him. 
我们今天的读经讲的是神通过他的先知,何西阿斥责他的子民以色列人。何西阿在40年的时间内一直对北方的十个支派讲预言,直到他们被亚述帝国攻占为止。从这种角度来讲,何西阿也是一个在末世讲预言的先知。神将他最后的话语通过何西阿赐给以色列北方的王国。何西阿也是来到这些人中的最后一个先知。

When Hosea began his prophecy Israel were prosperous under the reign of Jeroboam 2, but after the death of that king Israel plummeted to depths of depravity and bloodshed. Of the six successors to Jeroboam, four died violent deaths. Immorality was rampant and there was no regard for religion. We see this clearly in the chapter we read. How could this happen?
何西阿开始预言的时候,以色列处于耶罗波安的统治下,国家繁荣。但是他们的王死后,以色列人便陷入堕落何暴力的深渊。在耶罗波安后继位的六个人中,四个死于暴力。人民道德沦丧,不再尊敬信仰和宗教。在我们今天的读经中我们可以很清楚的读到这一点。我们不禁会问: 这些事情是怎样发生的呢?

Verse 6 clearly explains why Israel failed "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge". They stopped doing the daily readings. They failed to see the benefit of knowing Yahweh their God. To know God is more than just having a knowledge o f the first principles-there must be a hunger and thirst to really know and understand Him. The truth of the matter is that when we stop knowing God we stop revealing Him. Without the cleansing influence of daily absorbing God's Word our nature takes over and leads us to sin. Paul's second letter to Timothy shows how vital it is to constantly meditate on the Word of God. A knowledge of the Word is not just to "give us eternal life", but to show us how we must live our lives now to be pleasing to God. Let's turn up 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
第六节明确的告诉我们以色列人是怎样跌倒的:“我的民因无知识而灭亡 ”。以色列民不再读神的话语。他们看不到认识耶和华他们的神给他们带来的好处。认识神并不是说光有圣经的基础知识就够了——更重要的是要饥渴慕义,想要来认识神。关键是,当我们停止追求神的时候,我们身上也就停止了对神的显现。如果我们不每天接受神的话语的洁净的话,我们人的本性就会控制我们,驱使我们去犯罪。保罗在提摩太后书中提倒了经常思考神的话语的重要性。明白神的话语不仅仅会带给我们“永生”,更重要的是神的话语也教导我们怎样活出一种得神喜悦的生活来。让我们来看看提摩太后书3:16-17:

“圣经都是神所默示的(或作凡神所默示的圣经),于教训,督责,使人归正,教导人学义,都是有益的。叫属神的人得以完全,预备行各样的善事。”

We must never be fooled into thinking we are naturally good people-that it is enough to live a good life without being instructed by the Bible. Maybe Israel believed this and took no heed to their priests who instructed them from the law. When the first king of Israel, the first Jeroboam, revolted from the tribe of Judah, he saw no need to have a faithful priesthood to instruct the people from God's law. He was afraid the people would return again to Jerusalem, so he set up a false religion. We read this in 1 Kings 12: 28 and 31:
我们不要自欺欺人的以为我们人生来都是好人,于是就以为只要做一个好人,不需要圣经的教导也可以。可能以前的以色列人就是这样认为的。所以他们才不听祭司们教导他们律法。当北方的王国以色列的第一个王,耶罗波安起来反对犹大的时候,他就认为让虔诚的祭司来教导以色列人神的律法是没有必要的。他害怕人民将会回倒耶路撒冷,于是他就建立了一种错误的宗教。我们可以在列王记12:28-31节中读到这个故事:

"Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi."
“耶罗波安王就筹划定妥,铸造了两个金牛犊,对众民说,以色列人哪,你们上耶路撒冷去实在是难。这就是领你们出埃及地的神。他就把牛犊一只安在伯特利,一只安在但。这事叫百姓陷在罪里,因为他们往但去拜那牛犊。
耶罗波安在丘坛那里建殿,将那不属利未人的凡民立为祭司。“

Let's turn again to Hosea chapter 4:1 
"Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land."
让我们再来看何西阿书4:1
“以色列人哪,你们当听耶和华的话。耶和华与这地的居民争辩,因这地上无诚实,无良善,无人认识神。”

Because the people had no knowledge of God, they themselves had no truth nor mercy towards others. The most fundamental aspect of God is that he is a God who is merciful and a God of Truth (Exodus 34:6). The nation had forgotten this and so themselves were not manifesting this to others. If they forgot the most basic element of God's character it follows they would sink lower in depraved behaviour as verse 2 says:
因为人民不认识神。他们就不会诚实,仁慈的对待别人。而神本身最基本的两个方面就是:神是有恩慈,有真理的神。(出埃及记34:6)可是以色列已经忘了这一点,他们也没有将神的这两个品行显现给其他人看。他们连神最基本的两个品性都忘了,他们也就更深的陷入了堕落中。何西阿书4:2讲:

"By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood".
“但起假誓,不践前言,杀害,偷盗,奸淫,行强暴,杀人流血,接连不断“


In the Hebrew this statement is extremely graphic. It is as if that was all that was happening-it was just continual violence and immorality. They had fallen so far from the grace of God. This is the outcome of not continually absorbing one's mind in God's Word. Our Lord warned his followers of what would happen if they did not fill their minds with his word in Matthew 12:43-45:
在希伯来书中对这些行为也有非常形象的描述。似乎这样的行为是一直在发生的——到处充满了强暴和不道德的事。人民已经堕落,远离神的恩典。这就是人们不思考神的话语带来的后果。我们的主耶稣警告他的追随者,如果不他们不将马太福音12:43-45的话语放在心上的话,这样的事情就会发生:

"When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first." 
“污鬼离了人身,就在无水之地,过来过去,寻求安歇之处,却寻不着。于是说,我要回到我所出来的屋里去。到了,就看见里面空闲,打扫干净,修饰好了。便去另带了七个比自己更恶的鬼来,都进去住在那里。那人末后的景况,比先前更不好了。这邪恶的世代,也要如此。”


What this is saying, is that when a man finds the Truth and his mind is cleansed from wickedness by the Word of God, he must then fill up his mind by constantly reading and meditating on the Word. He must regularly "fill his lamp with oil". Otherwise he will quickly sink back to his old ways, and in fact become worse than he was before-just like what happened to the nation of Israel.

这几节经的意思是,如果一个人找到了真理,他心里的恶被神的话语所洁净。那么这个人就应当经常阅读神的话语,思考神的话语,心里被神的话语所充满。他要经常“为他的灯添加油”。如果不这样做的话,他就会很快陷入他以前的生活中去,而事实上,他的情况将比以前更糟糕——就像以色列这个国家一样。

Verses 4 to 6 show the people were like those who rejected the counsel of the priests. Deut 17:12 shows God's attitude to those who will not hearken to the priests:
何西阿书4章4到6节讲到当时的人就像以前那些不听从祭司劝告的人一样。
申命记17:12节提到了神对待那些不听祭司劝告的人的态度:

"And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel."
“若有人擅敢不听从那侍立在耶和华你神面前的祭司,或不听从审判官,那人就必治死。这样,便将那恶从以色列中除掉。”

The death penalty was imposed, as verse 5 of Hosea chapter 4 says, "And I will destroy thy mother". This was a figure used to represent the nation of Israel. Their nation was about to be destroyed by the Assyrians. Never again would the kingdom of the 10 tribes exist. The people's self-inflicted ignorance and their positive rejection of the knowledge which saves, had rendered them unfit to be the kingdom of priests to which they had been called along with Judah (Exodus 19:5-6):
对待这些人的惩罚就是死,何西阿书4章5节说:“我必灭绝你的母亲”。“母亲”这个词被用来比喻以色列这个国家。因为他们的国家很快就要被亚述帝国灭了。北方这十个支派组成的以色列国将不再存在。因为自己的无知和对神拯救的话语的背弃,不能进入神那做祭司的国度,不能和犹大一同被称为神的国民。(出埃及记19:5-6)

"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel."
“如今你们若实在听从我的话,遵守我的约,就要在万民中作属我的子民,因为全地都是我的。你们要归我作祭司的国度,为圣洁的国民。这些话你要告诉以色列人。”

Jesus said, "To whom much is given, much is required". And they had received so much! In verse 6 Hosea tells this northern kingdom that they were no longer to be a priest to God. How could God's priests forget the law of God and still be His ministers? Malachi 2:7 says "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts." Because they had forgotten God, God would forget about them. 
耶稣说,“多托谁,就向谁多要”。以色列人得到了多少神的赐福啊!在何西阿书4:6中,先知何西阿告诉北方的王国,他们将不再给神做祭司。因为神的祭司怎么可能忘记神的律法呢?玛拉基书2:7说“祭司的嘴里当存知识,人也当由他口中寻求律法,因为他是万军之耶和华的使者。”因为以色列人忘了神,神也要忘记他们。

We see in verse 7 that the nation was increased. They increased in number and they increased in wealth. These are blessings from God. However they used these blessings to sin more and failed to appreciate what God had done for them. They failed to recognise that these blessings came for God and so their hearts were filled with pride. 
何西阿书4章7节告诉我们以色列国在壮大。他们在人数上增加,财富也在增加。这些都是从神而来的赐福。然而,他们却用这些东西来犯罪,他们并不感激神为他们做的一切。他们并没有认识到这些都是从神而来的赐福,于是他们心里充满了骄傲。

In verse 8, the sin they ate up was the sin offerings the people offered under the law as seen in Leviticus 6:26. The priests were able to eat these sin offerings, so they encouraged the people to sin in order that they might use these offerings to satisfy their own lusts. The people were like the priests in their ignorance of God, as verse 9 says, and God would punish them severely, firstly by taking away His sustenance and care which they were taking for granted and using to sin more, and then by the Assyrian invasion. 
在第8节中,祭司所犯的罪就是吃赎罪祭,我们可以在申命记6:26中读到有关赎罪祭的内容。在律法之下,祭司是可以吃赎罪祭的。可是在何西阿的时代,祭司为了吃赎罪祭而鼓励人民犯罪,以满足他们的私欲。就像第9节说的那样,神将重重的惩罚他们,首先,神不再保守,看顾他们,接下来,亚述帝国也就攻占了以色列。
Verse 11 shows the people were drunk, both literally and spiritually. They had an excess of wine which God had provided for them, but they were abusing it. But they were also drunk with their idolatries. As verse 12 points out, they would go to their piece of wood which a carpenter fashioned into an idol and ask counsel of it. They would turn to their staff and use it to see into the future as if it had supernatural power. God looked on this in disgust. They were sacrificing to strange gods which were the works of their hands. 
第11节提到人民醉酒,在现实生活中,在灵性方面,他们都醉了。神赐给他们酒,可是他们却滥用这酒。在信仰方面,他们也因为崇拜偶像而陶醉其中。12节指出,他们去崇拜,求问木匠的手所造的偶像。他们迷信木杖有超凡的能力,能指示他们未来。神厌恶他们这样的行为。他们也拜人手所造的偶像假神。

Verse 13 also says that their daughters committed whoredoms and their spouses committed adultery. This would have been the practice of the false worship of the Canaanite gods. Because our world today is so far removed from the true worship of Yahweh, prostitution and adultery is also rampant in the world around us. However God says he would not punish their whoredoms and idolotry but rather leave the sinners to themselves to follow their iniquity to their own destruction, as verse 14 says. 
13节提到他们的女儿淫乱,他们的儿妇行淫。这样的行为是因为他们崇拜迦南人的假神造成的。拿我们今天的世界来说,我们今天的社会也背离了对耶和华神真正的崇拜,在世界的的各个角落,妓女和淫乱随处可见。然而神说,他要惩罚那些淫乱和拜偶像的,不会让他们留在那里继续行恶毁灭。

Our Father corrects us in this present life for our own good. Hebrews 12:6-11 shows us how our Father shows His love to us by his chastisement:
我们的父对我们今生的教训对我们是有益处的。希伯来述12:6-11告诉我们神通过对我们的惩罚来表现他对我们的爱。

"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us , and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." 

“因为主所爱的他必管教,又鞭打凡所收纳的儿子。你们所忍受的,是神管教你们,待你们如同待儿子。焉有儿子不被父亲管教的呢?管教原是众子所共受的,你们若不受管教,就是私子,不是儿子了。再者,我们曾有生身的父管教我们,我们尚且敬重他,何况万灵的父,我们岂不更当顺服他得生吗?生身的父都是暂随己意管教我们。惟有万灵的父管教我们,是要我们得益处,使我们在他的圣洁上有分。凡管教的事,当时不觉得快乐,反觉得愁苦。后来却为那经练过的人,结出平安的果子,就是义。”

The worst punishment our Father in Heaven can give us is to fail to correct us, as He finally did with Israel who would not listen. We must use the chastisement God gives us to understand how we are failing and how we can serve Him better. God forsook these wicked people and left them to their own destruction.
如果神不管教我们的话,这就是对我们最大的惩罚了。因为最终神也就不管教那些不听从他话语的以色列人。我们应当明白神对我们的管教是为了让我们明白自己错了那里,怎样才能更好的侍奉神。对于那些做恶的人,神最终会放弃他们,任由他们毁灭。

In verse 15 God through the prophet Hosea turns his attention to Judah to warn her not to resort to the idols of Gilgal or Beth-Aven. Beth-Aven is a distortion of Beth-El. Beth-Aven in the Hebrew means "house of worthlessness", whereas Beth-El means "house of God". Israel had abandoned God's worship, rejected or corrupted His priests, and given herself to the worship of the calves. But Judah, who had the law and the temple and the service of God, was warned not to involve herself in Israel's sin. If Israel, in willful blindness, had plunged herself in ruin, let not Judah involve herself in her sin and her ruin. 
在何西阿书4:15中,神通过先知何西阿告诉南方的犹大王国,警告他不要去拜吉甲或伯亚文的偶像。伯亚文是“Beth-El (伯特利)”这个词的变形。“伯亚文”在希伯来语里的意思是“毫无价值之物的殿”,而Beth-El 这个词的意思是“神的殿”。北方的以色列人抛弃了对神的崇拜,弃绝玷污了祭司,去崇拜金牛犊。但南方的犹大,有神的律法,神的殿,和神的事工,也被警告不要陷入北方以色列人的罪中。如果以色列因为自己的盲目而陷入毁灭,那么希望南方的犹大不要也犯同样的罪而毁灭。

In verse 16 Israel is compared to a "refractory' or "untamed" heifer or young cow. Such a heifer will not submit to guidance and the yoke but throws them off-she is self-willed. It is interesting that the false worship established in Bethel by Jeroboam was a golden calf. Because Israel would not submit to Yahweh they were to be taken to "a large place" and that place was Assyria where they would be taken captive.
在16节中,北方的以色列国被比做“倔强”的母牛。这样的母牛不愿意负轭,反而要将轭挣脱——她是自我为中心的。我们发现有趣的是,北方的王耶罗波安在伯特利设立的错误的崇拜竟然是一个金牛犊。因为以色列人不愿意顺服耶和华,所以他们被带到“一片宽阔之地”,就是后来亚述帝国将他们掳去的那个地方。

Finally in verse 19 we read "The wind hath bound her up in her wings". When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He "bare them on eagle's wings, and brought them unto Himself", as Exodus 19:4 says. Now because they had abandoned God, God would abandon them as chaff to the wind. The certainty of Israel's doom is spoken of in the past tense as if it had already happened. Divine judgment was certain.
最后在19节中我们读到:“风把他们裹在翅膀里”,当神将以色列人带处埃及的时候,他“如鹰将你们背在翅膀上,带来归他”。就像出埃及记19:4中描述的那样。现在,因为他们已经弃绝了神,神也弃绝他们,他们就像被风裹在翅膀里一样。以色列人最后的命运是用一种过去的时态和语气描述的,就好象这些事已经发生了一样。因为神的审判是一定会发生的。

We see in these denunciations "the goodness and severity of God" As Paul told the Romans in chapter 11:22:
我们可以看到有关神的“恩慈和严厉”的劝告,就像保罗在罗马书11:12中讲的那样:

"Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off"

“可见神的恩慈,和严厉。向那跌倒的人,是严厉的。向你是有恩慈的,只要你长久在他的恩慈里。不然,你也要被砍下来。”


Israel were destroyed "for lack of knowledge" (v6) because there was "no knowledge of God in the land" (v1). We know that it is life eternal to know God and Jesus Christ (John 17:3).
以色列被毁灭是因为“他们没有神的知识”(第6节)“因这地上无诚实,无良善,无人认识神”(何西阿4:1)。然而,我们知道“认识你独一的真神,和主耶稣基督就是永生。”(约翰福音17:3)


Let us then take note of the prophet's warning to Israel. We no longer have priests, but we have access to God's Word freely and for 24 hours every day. As we partake of the bread and the wine let us examine ourselves in accordance with His Word, and let us all now judge ourselves so that we will not be condemned with the world at our Lord's coming (1Cor 11:31-32).

让我们对先知对以色列的警告也引起重视。我们今天已经不再有祭司,但我们每天24小时都能够自由的阅读神的话语。在我们掰饼喝酒的时候,我们根据神的话语查验自己。我们现在查验自己,以后在主回来的时候才不会和这个世界的人一同受诅咒。(林前11:31-32)