956 英翱中 (656) The Ecclesiastes (六) 傳道書(六) 06/01/2025

 956 英翱中 (656)              The Ecclesiastes (六)                    傳道書(六)                      06/01/2025

          Money is a medium of exchange. Unless it is spent, it can do little or nothing for you. You can’t eat money, but you can use it to buy food. It will not keep you warm, but it will purchase fuel. A writer in The Wall Street Journal called money “an article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider of everything except happiness.”                                   金錢是一種交換媒介。除非花掉，否則它對你幾乎沒有什麼幫助。你不能吃錢，但你可以用它來買食物。它不會讓你保持溫暖，但可購買燃料使你保持溫暖。 《華爾街日報》的一位作家稱金錢為「一種物品，可以作為通往天堂以外任何地方的通用護照，也可以作為除幸福之外一切事物的通用提供者」。                                                                                                                                Of course, you and I are stewards of our wealth; God is the Provider (Deut. 8:18) and the Owner, and we have the privilege of enjoying it and using it for His glory. One day we will have to give an account of what we have done with His generous gifts. While we cannot take wealth with us when we die, we can “send it ahead” as we use it today according to God’s will (Matt. 6:19–34).                                    當然，你我都是我們財富的管家；上帝是供應者（申命記 8:18）和所有者，我們有特權享受它，並為了祂的榮耀而使用它。有一天，我們必須對利用祂慷慨的恩賜所做的一切，我們要做出交代。雖然我們死後無法帶走財富，但我們可以按照上帝的旨意「提前把它」使用（太6:19-34）。                                                                                                                                                          Second, we can’t protect it (vv. 19–20). It’s bad enough that we must leave our wealth behind, but even worse that we might leave it to somebody who will waste it! Suppose he or she is a fool and tears down everything we have built up? Solomon didn’t know it at the time, but his son Rehoboam would do that very thing (1 Kings 11:41—12:24).                                                                                                                其次，我們無法保護它（19-20 等節）。我們必須把財富拋在身後已經夠糟糕的了，更糟的是我們可能會把它留給那些會浪費它的人！假設他或她是個傻瓜，拆毀了我們所建立的一切？所羅門當時並不知道，但他的兒子羅波安也會這麼做（列王記上 11:41—12:24）。                                Many people have tried to write their wills in such a way that their estates could not be wasted, but they have not always succeeded. In spite of the instruction and good example they may give, the fathers and mothers have no way of knowing what the next generation will do with the wealth that they worked so hard to accumulate. Solomon’s response was to walk about and simply resign himself (“despair,” v. 20) to the facts of life and death. As the rustic preacher said, “We all must learn to cooperate with the inevitable!”                                                                                                                                                            許多人試圖以這樣的方式寫遺囑，讓自己的財產不被浪費，但他們並不總是成功。儘管他們可能提供指導和良好榜樣，但父母無法知道下一代將如何處理他們辛苦累積的財富。所羅門的反應是四處走動，讓自己屈服於生與死的事實（在 20 節所提出的 "絕望"）。正如這位鄉村牧師所說：“我們都必須學會與不可避免的事情合作！”                                                                                     Third, we can’t enjoy it as we should (vv. 21–23). If all we do is think about our wealth and worry about what will happen to it, we will make our lives miserable. We do all the work and then leave the wealth to somebody who didn’t even work for it (v. 21). Is that fair? We spend days in travail and grief and have many sleepless nights, yet our heirs never experience any of this. It all seems so futile. “What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun?” (v. 22 niv).                第三，我們無法得到應有的享受（21-23節）。如果我們所做的只是想著我們的財富，並擔心它會發生什麼，我們將使我們的生活變得悲慘。我們做了所有的工作，然後把財富留給那些甚至沒有工作的人（21節）。這樣公平嗎？我們在痛苦和悲傷中度過了數日，並度過了許多不能安眠之夜，但我們的繼承人從未經歷過這些。這一切看起來都是那麼徒勞無功。 「人在日光之下，辛勞勞作，到底能得到什麼呢？」 （第 22 節）。                                                                             At this point, Solomon appears to be very pessimistic, but he doesn’t remain that way very long. In a step of faith he reaches the third stage in his experiment.                                                                               在此點，所羅門似乎非常悲觀，但他的態度並沒有持續太久。憑著信心，他進入了實驗的第三階段.

He Accepted Life (2:24–26)                                                                                                                  This is the first of six “conclusions” in Ecclesiastes, each of which emphasizes the importance of accepting life as God’s gift and enjoying it in God’s will (3:12–15, 22; 5:18–20; 8:15; 9:7–10; 11:9–10). Solomon is not advocating “Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!” That is the philosophy of fatalism not faith. Rather, he is saying, “Thank God for what you do have, and enjoy it to the glory of God.” Paul gave his approval to this attitude when he exhorted us to trust “in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17 nkjv).                                                                                        他接受生命（2:24-26）                                                                                                                            這是傳道書六個「結論」中的第一個，每個結論都強調，接受生命作為，上帝的恩賜，並按照上帝的旨意享受生命的重要性（3:12 -15, 22; 5） ：18-20；8:15；9:7-10；11:9-10）。所羅門並不是提倡“吃喝玩樂，因為明天我們就會死！”這是宿命論的哲學，而不是信仰。相反，他是在說：“為你所擁有的感謝祂，並享受它以榮耀祂。”當保羅勸勉我們「信靠永生的上帝，祂豐富地賜給我們一切可享受的」時，祂對這種態度表示贊同（提摩前書 6:17 新欽定版。)                            Solomon made it clear that not only were the blessings from God, but even the enjoyment of the blessings was God’s gift to us (v. 24). He considered it “evil” if a person had all the blessings of life from God but could not enjoy them (6:1–5). It is easy to see why the Jewish people read Ecclesiastes at the Feast of Tabernacles, for Tabernacles is their great time of thanksgiving and rejoicing for God’s abundant provision of their needs.                                                                                                                         所羅門明確表示，祝福不只是從神來的，連享受這些祝福也是神給我們的禮物（24節）。他認為，如果一個人擁有從神而來的一切生命祝福卻不能享受它們，那就是「邪惡的」（6:1-5）。很容易理解為什麼猶太人在住棚節讀傳道書，因為住棚節是他們感恩和喜樂的偉大時刻，因為神豐富地供應了他們的需要。                                                                                                                   The translation of verse 25 in the King James Version is somewhat awkward; the New American Standard Bible is better: “For who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him?” The farmer who prayed at the table, “Thanks for food and for good digestion” knew what Solomon was writing about.             英王欽定版中第 25 節的翻譯有些尷尬；新美國標準聖經更好：“沒有他，誰能吃飯，誰能享受？”在餐桌旁祈禱「感謝食物和良好消化」的農夫知道所羅門在寫什麼。                                          The important thing is that we seek to please the Lord (v. 26) and trust Him to meet every need. God wants to give us wisdom, knowledge, and joy; these three gifts enable us to appreciate God’s blessings and take pleasure in them. It is not enough to possess “things”; we must also possess the kind of character that enables us to use “things” wisely and enjoy them properly.                                                      重要的是我們尋求討主喜悅（26節）並相信祂會滿足我們一切的需要。神要賜給我們智慧、知識和喜樂；這三件禮物使我們能夠感激上帝的祝福並以此為樂。僅僅擁有「東西」是不夠的，還需要有「東西」。我們還必須具備一種品格，使我們能夠明智地使用「事物」並正確地享受它們。                                                                                                                                                        Not so with the “sinner.” (The Hebrew word means “to fall short, to miss the mark.”) The sinner may heap up all kinds of riches, but he can never truly enjoy them because he has left God out of his life. In fact, his riches may finally end up going to the righteous. This is not always the case, but God does make it happen that “the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just” (Prov. 13:22). At their exodus from Egypt, the Israelites spoiled their Egyptian masters (Ex. 3:22; 12:36), and throughout Jewish history their armies took great spoil in their many conquests. In fact, much of the wealth that went into the temple came from David’s military exploits.                                                                                                「罪人」則不然。 （希伯來文的意思是「達不到目標，沒有達到目標。」）罪人可能累積各種財富，但他永遠無法真正享受它們，因為他已經將神排除在他的生命之外。事實上，他的財富最終可能會流向正義者。情況並非總是如此，但神確實讓「罪人的財寶為義人積存」（箴 13:22）。當以色列人離開埃及時，掠奪了他們的埃及主人（出埃及記 3:22；12:36），並且在整個猶太歷史中，他們的軍隊在多次征服中掠奪了大量戰利品。事實上，進入聖殿的大部分財富都來自大衛的戰功。                                                                                                                                           It is “vanity and vexation of spirit” (“meaningless, a chasing after wind,” niv) for the sinner to heap up riches and yet ignore God. Apart from God, there can be no true enjoyment of blessings or enrichment of life. It is good to have the things that money can buy, provided you don’t lose the things that money can’t buy.                                                                                                                                            罪人積聚財富卻忽視神，這就是“虛空和精神煩惱”（“毫無意義，捕風”，新國際版）。離了神，就不可能真正享受祝福或豐富生活。擁有金錢能買到的東西固然很好，但前提是你不要失去金錢買不到的東西。                                                                                                                                        This completes the first section of Ecclesiastes— The Problem Declared. Solomon has presented four arguments that seem to prove that life is really not worth living: the monotony of life (1:4–11), the vanity of wisdom (1:12–18), the futility of wealth (2:1–11), and the certainty of death (2:12–23). His argument appears to be true if you look at life “under the sun,” that is, only from the human point of view.                                                                                                                                                                       這就完成了傳道書的第一部分──問題的宣告。所羅門提出了四個論點，似乎證明人生確實不值得過：生命的單調（1：4-11）、智慧的虛空（1：12-18）、財富的無用（2：1-1）。 ，以及死亡的確定性（2：12-23）。如果你觀察「陽光下」的生活，也就是僅從人類的角度來看，他的論點似乎是正確的。                                                                                                                                    But when you bring God into the picture, everything changes! (Note that God is not mentioned from 1:14 to 2:23.) Life and death, wisdom and wealth, are all in His hands; He wants us to enjoy His blessings and please His heart. If we rejoice in the gifts but forget the Giver, then we are ungrateful idolaters.  但當你把上帝帶入畫面時，一切都會改變！ （注意從1:14到2:23沒有提到神。）生與死，智慧與財富，都在祂的手中；祂希望我們享受祂的祝福並討祂的心喜悅。如果我們因禮物而喜樂，卻沒有得到賜予者，那麼我們就是忘恩負義的偶像崇拜者。                                                        In the next eight chapters, Solomon will consider each of these four arguments and refute them. At the end of each argument he will say, “Enjoy life and be thankful to God!” (See the outline on pages 475–476.) In his discussions, he will face honestly the trials and injustices of life, the things that make us cry out, “Why, Lord?” But Solomon is not a shallow optimist wearing rose-tinted glasses, nor is he a skeptical pessimist wearing blinders. Rather, he takes a balanced view of life and death and helps us look at both from God’s eternal perspective.                                                                                                        在接下來的八章中，所羅門將逐一考慮這四個論點並反駁它們。每次爭論結束時，他都會說：“享受生活，感謝上帝！” （參見第475-476頁的大綱。）在他的討論中，他將誠實地面對生活中的考驗和不公正，這些事情讓我們呼喊：“主啊，為什麼？”但所羅門並不是一個戴著玫瑰色眼鏡的淺薄樂觀主義者，也不是一個戴著眼罩的懷疑悲觀主義者。相反，他對生與死採取平衡的觀點，並幫助我們從上帝永恆的角度看待兩者。                                                                                    “Life isn’t like a book,” says Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship ministry. “Life isn’t logical, or sensible, or orderly. Life is a mess most of the time. And theology must be lived in the midst of that mess.”                                                                                                                                                       「生活不像一本書，」監獄團契事工創辦人查克‧柯爾森說。 「人生並不合乎邏輯、不明智、也不有序。生活大多數時候都是一團糟。而神學必須生活在這種混亂之中。                                           Solomon will provide us with that theology.                                                                                                 所羅門將為我們提供這種神學。                                                                                                               It’s up to us to live it—and be satisfied!                                                                                                       我們要活下去並感到滿足！