旧约 - 耶利米书(Jeremiah)第7章

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
"Stand at the gate of the LORD'S house and there proclaim this message: "'Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD.
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.
Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!"
If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,
if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,
then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.
But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
"'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known,
and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"--safe to do all these detestable things?
Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.
"'Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.
While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer.
Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers.
I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.'
"So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.
Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.
But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?
"'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground, and it will burn and not be quenched.
"'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!
For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices,
but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.
But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.
From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets.
But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their forefathers.'
"When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer.
Therefore say to them, 'This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.
Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.
"'The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it.
They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire--something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.
So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.
耶利米书第七章   第 7 章 

  耶 7:1-10:25> 犹大人以为只要仰赖圣殿的存在,便可高枕无忧。今天教会中是否也存在一些类似的迷信心态? 

  7:1-10:25 这段经文一开始,描述神差遣耶利米到圣殿门口去指正人们的错误想法,因他们误以为神一定不会降灾祸到圣殿和住在圣殿附近的人身上。耶利米对百姓虚假空洞的信仰、膜拜偶像的行为和百姓与领袖同样沉溺于可耻的罪恶提出了指责和控诉。他预言犹大国受审判和被放逐的日子即将来到,这预言果然在约雅敬王执政时期应验了。约雅敬受制于埃及,变成了傀儡皇帝。其实,犹大国曾在约西亚王统治期间有过短暂的灵命复兴,但在约西亚王驾崩后,国家再次动荡不安,连许多善政也分崩离析,最后更荡然无存。这段经文的主题包括虚假的宗教、拜偶像和假冒为善。耶利米几乎为这些言论而丧命,幸得犹大的一些官员相助,救了他的命( 26 章)。 

  耶 7:2-3> 究竟怎样的教会生活才算得上敬虔的标准?参与聚会还不够吗? 

  7:2-3 百姓一面照常进行敬拜活动,一面却过着充满罪恶的生活,这是没有献身与神的宗教信仰。我们也很容易犯同样的毛病。如果我们去教会聚会、守圣餐、教主日学或参加唱诗班,却不是真心为神而做,那么所做的一切只是虚有其表,毫无意义。只有我们的动机是出于讨神喜悦,而不是单单满足教会的要求,我们所做的一切才美好。 

  耶 7:9-11> 先知与主耶稣都称圣殿为神“名下的殿”,我有否体验到教会生活与神的名有何关系? 

  7:9-11 昔日犹大人看圣殿和今日大多数人看教会的态度有不少共同之处:( 1 )他们不把圣殿视为生活的一部分。我们也是走进教堂才肃然敬拜神,一步出教堂,整个星期的生活就我行我素,忘掉了神。( 2 )圣殿的外貌比信心的内涵更重要。今天,人把参加教会活动时个人的外表、形像和群体的归属感看得比为神改变了的生命还重要。( 3 )当时的人把圣殿视为庇护所。现在很多人也以为依附于宗教便可消灾解难。 

  耶 7:11-12> 示罗的命运,不久也降临到耶路撒冷,显示神的审判不偏不倚。 

  7:11-12 主耶稣洁净圣殿时曾引用了这句经文(参可 11:17 ;路 19:46 ),可见在耶稣基督和耶利米两个不同的时代都同样出现在圣殿中行恶的情况。神的会幕曾设于示罗,但示罗同样遭神离弃( 26:6 ;参诗 78:60 )。倘若神不因会幕在示罗而予以额外的保护,祂又怎能因圣殿在耶路撒冷而予以特别的优待? 

  耶 7:15> “以法莲的一切后裔”是否有特别的所指? 

  7:15 以法莲即北国以色列的别称,于公元前 722 年被亚述所灭。 

  耶 7:18> “天后”是指哪一个外邦的神只?是犹大人常敬拜的偶像吗? 

  7:18 “天后”是伊施他尔神的称号,即美索不达米亚的爱和生育女神。耶路撒冷沦陷后,逃亡到埃及的犹大人仍然拜祭这个女神( 44:17 )。根据在埃及出土的公元前五世纪的蒲草纸文献记录,天后的确是当地犹太人敬奉的神只。 

  耶 7:19> 离弃了活水的泉源,只会使自己的生命枯竭。我生命的源头…… 

  7:19 “我们离弃神,到底谁会受害?”这问题的答案是:我们自己!神是我们灵性健壮的惟一源头,我们离开神就像植物离开了阳光和水,结果就是丧掉生命。 

  耶 7:21-23> 宗教上的礼仪,需要内心的真诚相配。我的教会生活,有多少只是徒具外表? 

  7:21-23 神为了鼓励人们欢喜快乐地顺服祂,设立了献祭的礼仪(参利未记)。献祭本身并没有令神喜悦之处,但人们藉着这些奉献,可省察到自己的罪孽和转眼仰望神,再次为神而活。百姓虽然忠心耿耿地履行献祭礼仪,却忘记了献祭的真正目的和意义,因此他们不再顺服神。耶利米提醒百姓,一个人若非在每个生活细节上都顺服神,那么就算他照常进行宗教活动,其信仰也是毫无意义的(参何 7 章附表)。 

  耶 7:25> 神的教诲与提醒,从来没有减少,却被以色列人忽略与轻蔑…… 

  7:25 从摩西到旧约时代结束,神差遣了很多先知到以色列和犹大两国。不论当时的情况多恶劣,神都照样兴起先知,叫他们指正百姓冥顽不灵的心。 

  耶 7:31-32> 以色列人要在行邪恶之地遭受审判,因为人莫想可以逃过罪的刑罚…… 

  7:31-32 陀斐特(意思是火烧之地)的高处(邱坛)建在欣嫩子谷中,那里本是公共垃圾场和丢弃城中瓦砾的地方,后来以色列人设立邱坛,焚烧自己的孩子献与摩洛神(参王下 23:10 )。然而,他们这个献祭之谷将被巴比伦变成杀戮之谷。在这里杀害自己儿女祭拜偶像的人,必在这里遭到屠杀。──《灵修版圣经注释》