16 英翻中 A secure man who waited on God (7:1–24) 一個等候上帝的有安全感的人 24/3/2025

16 英翻中                A secure man who waited on God (7:1–24)                                                                                                        一個等候上帝的有安全感的人                                         24/3/2025

一個等候上帝的有安全感的人 (7:1-24) 上帝在詩篇 32:9 中勸告說：「不要像馬，也不要像騾子。」挪亞聽從了這個勸告。馬有時想奮勇向前，騾子有時想拖後腿；但挪亞與神同行，為神作工，讓神安排時間表。 一週的等待（1-10節）。由於雨是從二月十七日開始的（創7:11），諾亞和他的家人就是在二月初十日按照神的指示搬進方舟的（1節）。在洪水發生前的最後一周，他們收集了動物並放入了補給品。他們遵循主的指示，相信祂聖約的應許，並且知道沒有什麼好害怕的。 有一天，大衛觀看了一場雷雨，並根據這次經歷寫了一首讚美詩（詩篇 29），講述他如何在這場風暴中看到和聽到上帝。當大衛思考所發生的事情時，他想到了諾亞時代歷史上最著名的風暴，他寫道：「洪水氾濫時，耶和華坐著為王，耶和華坐著為王，直到永遠」（10節）。傾盆大雨、雷聲迴響和閃電提醒大衛，神的主權。無論生活中的風暴有多大，神仍然坐在寶座上，使萬事互相效力，成就美好的事。這就是為什麼大衛以這樣的方式結束他的讚美詩：「耶和華必賜力量給他的百姓；耶和華必賜福給他的百姓平安」（11節）。                                                                In His sovereign power, God brought the animals to Noah and his sons and controlled them so that they did His bidding. However, this magnificent demon stration of God’s power didn’t touch the hearts of his neighbors, and they perished in the flood. The birds, beasts, and creeping things knew their Creator’s voice and obeyed Him, but people made in the image of God refused to heed God’s call. Centuries later, God would say through His servant Isaiah, “The ox knows his mas ter, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand” (Isa. 1:3 niv).                                    上帝以祂的至高權力將動物帶到諾亞和祂的兒子們面前並控制它們，以便他們執行祂的命令。然而，上帝威力的壯麗展示並沒有打動鄰居們的心，他們都在洪水中滅亡了。飛鳥、走獸、昆蟲都知道造物主的聲音，也都聽從他的命令，但按照神的形象造的人卻不肯聽從神的呼召。幾個世紀後，上帝透過祂的僕人以賽亞說：「牛認識祂的主人，驢子認識祂主人的馬槽，但以色列不認識，我的百姓不明白」（賽 1:3 新國際版）。                                                                                         During all of this important activity, Noah was serving the Lord and bearing witness to a sinful world. For 120 years (Gen. 6:3), God was longsuffer ing toward careless and rebellious sinners, but they ignored His message and lost their opportunity for salvation.                                                                                在所有這些重要的活動中，諾亞正在事奉主並為罪惡的世界作見證。 120 年來（創 6:3），神一直寬容粗心和悖逆的罪人，但他們忽視了祂的信息，失去了得救的機會。

A secure man who waited on God (7:1–24)                                                                                              一個等候上帝的有安全感的人 (7:1-24)                                                                                                      “Do not be like the horse or like the mule,” God coun sels in Psalm 32:9, and Noah obeyed that counsel. The horse sometimes wants to rush ahead impetuously, and the mule wants to drag its feet and stubbornly stay back; but Noah walked with God and worked for God and let God arrange the schedule.上帝在詩篇 32:9 中勸告說：「不要像馬，也不要像騾子。」挪亞聽從了這個勸告。馬有時想奮勇向前，騾子有時想拖後腿；但挪亞與神同行，為神作工，讓神安排時間表。                                                                                                                                                                                                       A week of waiting (vv. 1–10). 一週的等待（1-10節）。                                                                      Since the rains started on the seventeenth day of the second month (Gen. 7:11), it was on the tenth day of the second month that Noah and his family moved into the ark at God’s instruction (v. 1). During that final week before the flood, they finished gathering the animals and put ting in their supplies. They followed the Lord’s instructions, trusted His covenant promise, and knew that there was nothing to fear.  由於雨是從二月十七日開始的（創7:11），諾亞和他的家人就是在二月初十日按照神的指示搬進方舟的（1節）。在洪水發生前的最後一周，他們收集了動物並放入了補給品。他們遵循主的指示，相信祂聖約的應許，並且知道沒有什麼好害怕的。                                                                                David watched a thunderstorm one day and from that experience wrote a hymn (Ps. 29) telling how he had seen and heard God in that storm. As he pondered what happened, David thought about history’s most famous storm in the time of Noah, and he wrote, “The Lord sat enthroned at the flood, and the Lord sits as King forever” (v. 10 nkjv). The sweeping rain, the echoing thunder, and the flashing lightning reminded David of the sovereignty of God. No matter how great the storms of life may be, God is still on the throne causing everything to work together for good. That’s why David ended his hymn with, “The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace” (v. 11 nkjv).                                                                                                                                                                       有一天，大衛觀看了一場雷雨，並根據這次經歷寫了一首讚美詩（詩篇 29），講述他如何在這場風暴中看到和聽到上帝。當大衛思考所發生的事情時，他想到了諾亞時代歷史上最著名的風暴，他寫道：「洪水氾濫時，耶和華坐著為王，耶和華坐著為王，直到永遠」（10節）。傾盆大雨、雷聲迴響和閃電提醒大衛，神的主權。無論生活中的風暴有多大，神仍然坐在寶座上，使萬事互相效力，成就美好的事。這就是為什麼大衛以這樣的方式結束他的讚美詩：「耶和華必賜力量給他的百姓；耶和華必賜福給他的百姓平安」（11節 新欽定版）。                                                    At the end of that final week of preparation, Noah and his family obeyed God’s command and entered the ark, and God shut the door and made it safe (Gen. 7:16). They didn’t know how long they would live in the ark, but the Lord knew, and that’s really all that mattered. “My times are in Your hands” (Ps. 31:15 nkjv). One year and ten days later, the same God opened the door and invited them to come out to live on His freshly cleansed earth (Gen. 8:16).                                                                                 在最後一週的準備工作結束時，諾亞和他的家人聽從了神的命令，進入了方舟，神關上了門，保證了方舟的安全（創世記 7:16）。他們不知道自己會在方舟裡活多久，但主知道，這才是最重要的。 「我的時間掌握在祢手中」（詩篇 31:15 NKJV）。一年零十天後，同一位上帝打開了門，邀請他們出來生活在祂剛剛潔淨的地球上（創 8:16）。                                                                                                                                                                                                            The day of reckoning (7:11–24).                                                                                                                 清算日（7:11-24）。 The flood was God’s judgment of a wicked world. God opened the floodgates of heaven so that torrential rains came down, and “all the springs of the great deep burst forth” (v. 11 niv), so that even the highest mountains were covered by water (v. 20). God had waited for over a century for sinners to repent, and now it was too late. “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near” (Isa. 55:6).                                                                                                                                                    洪水是神對邪惡世界的審判。神打開天上的閘門，傾盆大雨傾盆而下，「大淵的泉源都湧出」（11節），連最高的山都被水淹沒了（20節）。神等待罪人悔改已經有一個多世紀了，現在已經太晚了。 「當趁耶和華可尋找的時候尋找他，相近的時候求告他」（賽 55:6）。                                                                                             The rain stopped after forty days, which would be on the twenty-seventh day of the third month (Gen. 7:12). However, the water continued to rise for another 110 days and reached its peak after 150 days (v. 24). At that time, the ark rested on a mountain peak of Ararat (8:4). It would take 150 days for the water to recede (v. 3), which takes us to the twelfth month, the seven teenth day. Two months and ten days later, Noah and his family left the ark and set the animals free (v. 14). From the day that God shut them in, they had been in the ark a year and ten days.                                                                                            四十天后，也就是三月二十七日，雨停了（創 7:12）。然而，水位又持續上漲110天，並在150天後達到高峰（24節）。那時，方舟停在亞拉臘山的山頂上（8:4）。水需要 150 天才能退去（第 3 節），這將我們帶到第十二個月，即第十七天。兩個月零十天后，挪亞和他的家人離開方舟並釋放了動物（14節）。從神把他們關在方舟裡的那天起，他們已經在方舟裡一年零十天了。 A universal judgment. In recent years, people who want to accommodate Scripture to the views of modern science have opted for a flood that was “limited” and not universal. They suggest that the writer of Genesis used “the language of appearance” and described only what he could see.   普遍的判斷。近年來，那些想讓《聖經》適應現代科學觀點的人選擇了「有限」而非普遍的洪水。他們認為《創世記》的作者使用了“表象的語言”，並且只描述了他能看到的東西。 兩種觀點都存在問題，但「有限」的解釋似乎是兩者中較弱的一個。        3                                                                                                                                                                                        There are problems with both views, but the “limited” interpretation seems to be the weaker of the two.  3  The clear language of the text seems to state that God was bringing a universal judgment. God said He would destroy humans and beasts “from the face of the earth” (6:7),4 and that “every living thing” would be destroyed (7:4, 21–23; 8:21). If the mountains were covered to such a height that the ark could float over the Ararat range and eventually settle down on a peak, then the entire planet must have been completely immersed (7:18–20). A person reading Genesis 6—9 for the first time would conclude that the flood was universal.                                                                                                                        But if the flood was not universal, why did God give the rainbow as a universal sign of His covenant? (9:11–15) Why would people in a local area need such a sign? Furthermore, if the flood was a local event, why did God tell Noah to build such a big vessel for saving his family and the animals? Noah certainly had enough time to gather together his family and the animals in that area and lead them to a place where the flood wouldn’t reach them.5 God promised that He would never send another flood like the one He sent in Noah’s day (vv. 8–17). But if the flood was only a local event, God didn’t keep His promise! Over the centuries, there have been numerous local floods, some of which brought death and devastation to localities. In 1996 alone, massive flooding in Afghanistan in April left 3,000 people homeless; and in July, flooding in Northern Bangladesh destroyed the homes of over 2 million peo ple. In July and August, the Yellow, Yangtze, and Hai rivers flooded nine provinces in China and left 2,000 people dead. If Noah’s flood was a local event like these floods, then God’s promise and the covenant sign of the rainbow mean nothing.                                                                                                                                  The plain reading of the text convinces us that the flood was a universal judgment because “all flesh had corrupted his [God’s] way upon the earth” (6:12). We don’t know how far civilization had spread over the planet, but wherever humans went, there was sin that had to be judged. The flood bears witness to universal sin and universal judgment.                                                                                                            Both Jesus and Peter used the flood to illustrate future events that will involve the whole world: the return of Christ (Matt. 24:37–39; Luke 17:26–27) and the worldwide judgment of fire (2 Peter 3:3–7). If the flood was only local, these analogies are false and mis leading. Peter also wrote that God did not spare “the ancient world” (nkjv) when He sent the flood, which implies much more territory than a limited area.                                                                                                                                                       A patient family. In spite of the devastation on the outside, Noah and his family and the animals were secure inside the ark. No matter how they felt, or how much the ark was tossed on the waters, they were safe in God’s will. Patiently they waited for God to com plete His work and put them back on the earth. Noah and his family spent one year and seventeen days in the ark, and even though they had daily chores to do, that’s a long time to be in one place. But it is “through faith and patience” that we inherit God’s promised blessings (Heb. 6:12; 10:36), and Noah was willing to wait on the Lord.                                        Peter saw in Noah’s experience a picture of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:18–22). The earth in Noah’s day was immersed in water, but the ark floated above the water and brought Noah and his fam ily to the place of safety. This was, to Peter, a picture of baptism: death, burial, and resurrection. The earth was “dead” and “buried” because of the water, but the ark rose up (“resurrection”) to bring the family through safely.6 Jesus died, was buried, and arose again, and through His finished work, we have salvation from sin. Peter makes it clear that the water of baptism doesn’t wash away sin. It’s our obedience to the Lord’s com mand to be baptized (Matt. 28:19–20) that cleanses the conscience so that we are right before God.                                                                                                           The British expositor Alexander Maclaren said:                                 

                             For a hundred and twenty years the wits                                                                                                       laughed, and the “common-sense” people                                                                                                     wondered, and the patient saint went on                                                                                                         hammering and pitching at his ark. But                                                                                                         one morning it began to rain; and by                                                                                                             degrees, somehow, Noah did not seem                                                                                                           quite such a fool. The jests would look                                                                                                           rather different when the water was up to                                                                                                       the knees of the jesters; and their sarcasms                                                                                                   would stick in their throats as they drowned.                              

                                    So is it always. So it will be at the last                                                                                                     great day. The men who lived for the                                                                                                             future, by faith in Christ, will be found out                                                                                                   to have been the wise men when the future                                                                                                   has become the present, and the present                                                                                                         has become the past, and is gone for ever;                                                                                                     while they who had no aims beyond the                                                                                                         things of time, which are now sunk                                                                                                               beneath the dreary horizon, will awake too                                                                                                   late to the conviction that they are outside                                                                                                     the ark of safety, and that their truest                                                                                                             epitaph is, “Thou fool.”   7 

 Notes                                                                                                                                                              1   The Genesis Record, by Henry M. Morris (Baker, 1976), 180ff. See also The Genesis Flood, by                Henry M. Morris and John C. Whitcomb, Jr. (Baker, 1967), and Studies in the Bible and Science by        Henry M. Morris (Baker, 1966).                                                                                                              2    The three boys are usually identified as Noah’s sons and not by their given names (6:18; 7:7; 8:16,          18; 9:1, 8). We are never told Noah’s wife’s name or the names of his three daughters-in law. God’s          covenant with Noah included all the members of the household.                                                          3    For a fair discussion of both views that leans toward the lim ited flood interpretation, see The Book          of  Genesis: An Introductory Commentary, by Ronald F. Youngblood (Baker, 1991; second edition),        chapter 10.                                                                                                                                               4   While it’s true that the Hebrew word for “earth” can also mean “land,” “land” doesn’t fit with the            universal statements in the text, such as 6:12–13 where God promises to wipe out “all flesh,” and            7:4, “every living thing.”                                                                                                                         5   To argue that the building of the ark was a “witness to the peo ple” is to ignore what God had to say        about the ark, that its purpose was to keep humans and animals alive during the flood (6:19–20;                7:23). Although the building of the ark surely attracted attention, there’s no mention in the text of            the ark serving as a witness to the lost.                                                                                                   6   New Testament baptism was by immersion, picturing the believer’s identification with Christ in              death, burial, and resur rection (Rom. 6).                                                                                                7    Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander Maclaren (Baker, 1974), vol. 1, 84.