EXHORT 24/12/2006 Reading Job 33 Hewit Penn
2006年12月24日讲道词 读经：约伯记第33章 休伊特 潘
My dear Brethren and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ.
在主基督耶稣里亲爱的兄弟姐妹们：
We have a wonderful reading this morning as we come together to remember our absent Lord by taking of the bread and the wine.
在今天早晨我们聚在这里用饼和酒来纪念我们的主耶稣的时候，有一段精彩的读经。
We have been reading the book of Job and so we should be familiar with the story. We should have learned many lessons on how not to conduct ourselves and how not to judge others unwisely, for this is what Job’s three friends did, and Job, at the end, had to pray that they might be forgiven 47v7-10. Only then were they accepted by God.
在最近的一段时间里，我们读了约伯记，应该对此事件比较熟悉。也应该从中学到很多教导，譬如如何约束自己的行为，也不要妄自评断他人。而这些正是约伯的三个朋友所作的。最后约伯为他们祷告，愿他们能被宽恕。47：7-10里神接纳了约伯的请求。
In the chapter for today, we have Elihu, whose name means “God of him” or “My God is He”, speaking to Job.
在今天的读经里，有一个人叫以利户，名字的意思是“他的神”，或“他是我的神”。他对约伯说话。
Elihu is introduced into the story in chapter 32. Job has finished speaking in ch.31v40 “The words of Job are ended”, and his three friends had no answer for Job, Ch.32v1 “So these three men ceased to answer Job.”
以利户在第32章里出现。31：40约伯结束了他的陈诉，“约伯的话说完了”，他的三个朋友无言以对，32：1“这三个人不再回答约伯”。
Although the first time he is mentioned is in ch.32v2, Elihu has been there from the beginning, listening to what Job and his three friends were saying to each other, and as all the other characters in this book are lessons for each of us, he in particular, is a very good example of what we must be. We must be ever ready to listen, to get the whole story, and listen to both sides, before we attempt to answer a matter and this is exactly what Elihu did. It was as if he knew the proverb found in Prov.18v13 “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.” He has waited patiently for them all to speak because they were older than he was. 32v4-5 “Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled.” Now they are all silent, and this younger man, who has kept silent right up to this time, now speaks, and he tells them in v6-9 that he is young, and they are very old, and because of this, he was afraid to tell them his opinion. In v11-12 he tells them “Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, whilst ye searched out what to say. Yea, I attended unto you, and, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answereth his words:”
尽管在32：2里第一次提到以利户，但是他从开头就已经在那里，听到了约伯和他的三个朋友的对答。约伯记中的每一个角色对我们来说都是一堂课，尤其是以利户，对我们的行为树立了一个榜样。在下结论之前，去认真听取双方的申诉，要了解整个事件，这正是以利户做的。好像是他读过箴言录中的18：13“未曾听完先回答的，便是他的愚昧，和羞辱”。他耐心地等待其他人先说，因为他最年轻。32章4和5节：“以利户要与约伯说话，就等候他们，因为他们比自己年长。以利户见这三个人口中无话回答，就怒气发作。”他们静默无言，而这个一直静静等待的年轻人，是他发言的时候了。在6-9里说：“我年轻，你们年迈。因此我不敢陈诉自己的见解。”11-12中说：“你们查究所要说的话，那时我等候你们的话，侧耳听你们的辩论，留心听你们，谁知你们中间无一人说服约伯，驳倒他的话。”
So Elihu had listened very patiently, and he understood everything they had said, and he acknowledges they have not convinced Job of why God had done this to him. They thought that Job must have sinned; otherwise this couldn’t happen to him. They were wrong in their findings and Job was also wrong in questioning God.
因此以利户耐心倾听，他明白他们所说的一切，也知道他们并没有说服约伯为什么神如此对待他。他们认为约伯一定犯了罪，不然不会有这样的事情发生。他们的结论是错误的，约伯质问神也是错误的。
So in our chapter for today, Elihu turns to Job, and asks him to listen to all his words, because in v3 he says “My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart: and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly.” Elihu realised that they had all missed the point. What does he say? He reminds us of just what we are in the sight of God. He understood our nature and where we came from, because in 33v4 he says “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life”. He is telling us what Moses tells us in Gen.2v7 “the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” He confirms this in v6 where he says “I also am formed out of the clay.” He carries on in 34v14-15 “If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again to dust.”
这样在这一章，以利户面对约伯，让他听他的陈诉。33： 3：“我的言语要发明心中所存的正直。我所知道的，我嘴唇要诚实地说出。” 以利户意识到他们都没有讲到要点。那么他说了什么？他提醒我们在神的眼里我们是什么样的。他知道人的本性及我们来自何处。33：4：“神的灵造我，全能者的气使我得生。”他在讲诉摩西在创世记2：7说的话：“耶和华神用地上的尘土造人，将生气吹在他鼻孔里，他就成了有灵的活人。”第6节里他又对此进行了确认：“我也是用尘土造成。”在34：14-15他继续讲诉：“他（神）若专心为己，将灵和气收归自己。凡有血气的就必一同死亡，世人必仍归尘土。”
With this in mind, Elihu tells Job in 33v7 that Job need not fear him, and even though his words will not weigh heavily upon Job, he has to tell Job that he is unjust, because his words have not been right. In v8-12 he says “Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me. Behold he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy, He putteth my feet in the stocks, he marketh all my paths.” This is a good summary of what Job has been saying all along, and Elihu says in v12 “Behold in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.”
想着这句话，利户在33：7里告诉约伯，约伯不用怕他。即使他的话不会对约伯产成很大的压力，可是他必须告诉约伯他是不公道的，因为他的话不正确。在第8-12里他说：“你所说的，我听见了， 也听见你的言语，说，我是清白无过的，我是无辜的。 在我里面也没有罪孽。神找机会攻击我，以我为仇敌，把我的脚上了木狗，窥察我一切的道路。”这是约伯一直所说的很好的简介，然后在第12节里利户说：“我要回答你说，你这话无理，因神比世人更大。”
We have to remember we are dust, and as Elihu had said, he was also made out of clay, so we must always remember the words of Romans 9v20-21 “Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” We also are formed out of the clay, and we cannot say to God “what are you doing” or “God is unfair”. We have to remember the words of Elihu back in Job 33v12 “God is greater than man.” And in v13 “He giveth not account of any of His matters.”
我们必须记住我们是泥土作的，就象利户所说的一样，他也是泥土成形的，所以我们必须永远记住罗马书里9：20－21所说的话：“你这个人哪，你是谁，竟敢向神强嘴呢？受造之物岂能对造他的说，你为什么这样造我呢？窑匠难道没有权柄，从一团泥里拿一块作成贵重的器皿，又拿一块作成卑贱的器皿吗？”我们也是泥土造的，我们不能对神说“你在做什么？”或“神不公平。”我们得记得利户在在约伯记33：12：“我要回答你说，你这话无理，因神比世人更大。”和第13节“你为何与他争论呢？因他的事都不对人解说”。
In v14-18 he tells Job that God speaks to man in different ways and even in dreams, and He even opens their ears and also sends them warnings to draw them back from evil and make them give up their pride. The Apostle Paul, when writing to the Romans, said in Rom.5v12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” This is why God sends warnings, to try and save us from death, and this is what Elihu says in Job 33v18 “He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing from the sword.”
在第14－18节里他告诉约伯神用不同的方式跟人类说话连在梦里也可以，他还打开他们的耳朵也用警告去把他们从邪恶的行为拉会来，使他们放弃他们的骄傲。使徒保罗，写信给罗马人时，在罗马书5：12里说：“这就如罪是从一人入了世界，死又是从罪来的，于是死就临到众人，因为众人都犯了罪。”所以神才发警告，试着把我们从死亡拯救出来，这就是利户在约伯33章第18节里所说的：“拦阻人不陷于坑里，不死在刀下。”
You see Brethren and Sisters, our God is a very merciful God, and the Apostle Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3v9 that “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” This is why God sends us these warnings, and sometimes we feel desperate that things are not going well with us, and we seem unable to cope with life. If we understand that God moves in our lives, and that we have an angel looking after us, as we are told in Hebrews1v13-14 “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” then we understand that the things that are happening to us, is God’s way of warning His children to take care and put their trust completely in Him. The Apostle Paul in Hebrews 12v5-7 says “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou are rebuked of him: 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?”
你看兄弟姐妹，我们的神是个非常仁慈的的神，使徒彼得在彼得后书3：9告诉我们：“主所应许的尚未成就，有人以为他是耽延，其实不是耽延，乃是宽容你们，不愿有一人沉沦，乃愿人人都悔改。”这就是神给我们警告的理由，有的时候我们觉得悲观失望而事情没那么如意，而我们已无法应付生命。要是我们懂得神在我们的生活里，而且我们都有个天使保护着我们，就跟希伯来书1：13-14所告诉我们一样：“所有的天使，神从来对那一个说，你坐在我的右边，等我使你仇敌作你的脚凳。天使岂不都是服役的灵，奉差遣为那将要承受救恩的人效力吗？”那么我们就懂得在我们身上所发生的事情，就像神警告他的孩子保护自己和完全的信任他的方试。使徒保罗在希伯来书12：5-7说：“你们又忘了那劝你们如同劝儿子的话，说，我儿，你不可轻看主的管教，被他责备的时候，也不可灰心。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？”
We are a very privileged people in being called the sons and daughters of God, and we must realise that if God moves in our lives, and He does, then whatever happens to us is for a good reason. Sometimes we are so dejected at what happens to us, that we forget that God is trying to teach us a lesson, and He is trying to teach us this lesson because He loves us. He is trying to make us fit people for His kingdom, so that we are able to share in that glory which is to come upon this earth. As we are probably aware, the glory of God is His character, and this is what He is trying to develop in us, and we are told what the goodness of His character is in Ex.34v6-7 “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.”
我们是拥有一种特权的人被称为神的儿女，我们必须领悟如果神在我们生活里，而且他确实在，那么无论我们发生了任何事都有个很好的理由。有时我们因一些事垂头丧气的，我们会忘了神在试着教导我们，他在试着教我们, 是因为他爱我们。他在想法把我们变成适合他的天国的人，那样我们就可以跟他一起共享那些会降临在地球上的荣誉。我们已知道，神的荣耀就是他的品格，他就在想把我们改造成这样，在出埃及记34：6-7里告诉我们他的性格的优点：“耶和华，耶和华，是有怜悯有恩典的神，不轻易发怒，并有丰盛的慈爱和诚实。为千万人存留慈爱，赦免罪孽，过犯，和恶，万不以有罪的为无罪，必追讨他的罪，自父及子，直到三，四代。”
This is the character that Job was questioning. He didn’t feel that what God had done to him was right. He tried to justify himself instead of God, and his three friends didn’t help him at all. If you read very carefully what they had to say to Job, you will see that only half of what they said was true, and this is very dangerous, even today. We have to be like Elihu who listened very carefully to what was said. He could see the half truth the friends were saying to Job, and this made him angry. Today we have to listen very carefully to everything anyone says to us, because half truths are very dangerous, and can lead us away from the truth.
这就是约伯疑问的特性，他不觉得神对他做的事是对的。他试图评判他自己而不是神，他的三个朋友一点都没有帮助他。你要是仔细的读他们对约伯所说的话，你会发现他们说的话里只有一半是事实，这是很危险的事，即使是现在。我们必须象利户一样很仔细的听别人说的话。他可以看出那些朋友对约伯所说的虚实，这使他很生气。现在我们得很注意的听别人所说的所有的话，因为半真半假的话是很危险的，而他可以让我们忽略事实。
What Job is forgetting, is that God, in His righteousness, will never do anything that is not right. He always has a very good reason for what He does, and Job, in his misery and illness, has forgotten this. We must never forget this, and we must always remember the words of Psalm 103v8-14 “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will He keep His anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him. As far as the East is from the West, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth we are dust.”
约伯所疏忽掉的是神: 他是正直的，他不会作任何不正义的事。他永远都有个很好的缘故，而约伯，在他的苦难和病中，忘记了这些。我们必须永远都不忘此事，我们也要永远记住诗篇103：8-14：“耶和华有怜悯，有恩典，不轻易发怒，且有丰盛的慈爱。他不长久责备，也不永远怀怒。他没有按我们的罪过待我们，也没有照我们的罪孽报应我们。天离地何等的高，他的慈爱向敬畏他的人，也是何等的大。东离西有多远，他叫我们的过犯，离我们也有多远。父亲怎样怜恤他的儿女，耶和华也怎样怜恤敬畏他的人。因为他知道我们的本体，思念我们不过是尘土。”
When we think about the words of Elihu in verses 19-25 of our reading this morning, we see he is speaking of the great power of God in being able to raise us from the dead. He is speaking about the resurrection. So we have a wonderful hope. Even if we die before our Lord returns to this earth, we know that when we are raised, “Our flesh” as it says in v25, “shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth.” God who formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, is able to do exactly the same again when we and our Brethren and Sisters who have “fallen asleep”, are resurrected. God will once more, form us from the dust of the ground, and breathe into our nostrils the breath of life, and we will once more live, and we pray that we have so conducted our lives now, that we will be given eternal life at that time and live in the kingdom of God forever and ever.
当我们回忆利户在我们今天早上所读的第19-25里所说的话，我们能看出他在讲神的伟大的能力, 可以让我们从死亡升起。他在说的是让我们复活。我们有个精彩完美的盼望。即使我们在我们的君主回来到地球之前死，我们知道当我们复活时，在第25节里说：“我们的肉体”“要比孩童的更嫩。他就返老还童。”用地上的尘土造人的神，向鼻孔里吹入了生命之灵气，我们就会再活一次，我们祈求自己修正现在生活中的行为，到时候我们将会得到永生永永远远地生活在神国里。
So as we come to break bread and drink wine this morning, let us take care that we listen very carefully to what is said before we make judgment. Let us be good listeners, and let us especially listen to what God has to say to us this morning in the book of Job, and remember, that the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we remember in these emblems, was prepared to suffer death so that you and I might have life. Even though he suffered more than Job did, he did not question what his Father had planned for him, but gave his body and shed his blood because he loved us.
那么在我们掰饼和喝酒的这个早晨，让我们在判断之前仔细的听清神对我们所说的话。让我们当好的听众，让我们特别的好好听听今朝神在约伯记里要对我们所说的一切，还有牢记：我们在这个象征里所纪念的，主耶稣我们的救世主，为了你和我的生命，他准备遭受惨痛的死亡。即使他忍受的遭遇比约伯多得多，他没有对他的父亲发过一次关于他的计划疑问，而是献出了他的身体和鲜血，只因为他爱我们。
We praise God that He raised His son from the dead, and we pray that God will give us the strength to love each other, even as he has loved us.
我们称赞神让他的儿子从死里复活，我们也请求神给我们力量去彼此相爱，就跟他爱我们一样。
讲义：
The reading is Job 33, and the object of this exhortation is to try to get our Brethren and Sisters to be more ready to hear than to speak. Elihu had been there from the beginning, even though he is only introduced to us in ch.32.
读经是约伯记第33章，这个告诫的目标是试图让我们的兄弟姐妹更准备听而不是说。利户从一开始就在那，即使在第32章里才被介绍。
Because he was younger than the others, he sat quietly listening to what they had to say, and when they had nothing left to say, only then did he speak, and he showed them all how wrong they were.
因为他比其他人更小，他静静的坐着听他们讲，当他们没话时，他才开始说话，而他显出他们有多错。
Elihu’s name means “My God is He”, and he showed where Job and his three friends were wrong.
利户的名字的意思是“我的神是他”，他指出约伯和他的三个朋友是不正确的。
Elihu asks Job and his friends to listen to what he has to say, and he reminds them that we are just dust. God is Almighty, and we shouldn’t question what he does, because whatever He does is right, He will never do anything wrong.
利户请约伯和他的朋友听听他要说的话，他提醒他们我们只是灰。神是全能的，我们不该询问他作什么，因为无论他做什么他作的是正确的，他决不会作错任何事。
Elihu tells us in v14-18 that God speaks to us in different ways, and this is to correct us and make us worthy for the kingdom of God. See also Rom.5v12
利户在第14－18节里告诉我们神用不同的方式跟我们沟通，他用这些方式来修正我们把我们变的足以拥有神的王国。也看罗马书5章12节。
Our God is a very merciful God as 2 Pet. 3v9 tells us and this is why God sends us these warnings. We must understand that God moves in our lives and we have an angel looking after us Heb.1v13-14. So whatever happens to us is from God. See also Heb.12v5-7.
我们的神是个非常慈祥的神, 彼得后书3：9告诉我们，这就是神给我们这些警告的原因。我们必须懂得神在我们的生活中, 而我们有个天使保护着我们(希伯来书1：13-14)。无论我们发生了什么事都是从神那儿来的。参看希伯来书12：5-7。
We are a very privileged people, but we are sometimes under so much pressure we are inclined to forget our God, and we should try to remember that God is trying to change our character to be like his, which is His glory. We find His character in Ex.34v6-7.
我们是有非常特权的人，可是我们压力很大时，有的时候我们趋向于忘记我们的神，我们应该试着记住神在试着把我们的性格改的更象他的，就是他的荣誉。我们在出埃及记34：6-7里可以看到他的性格。
This is the character that Job is questioning, and we cannot do this. We have to be like Elihu, who listened very carefully and if you study the arguments of the 3 friends you will see that they say truth, but it is only half the truth, not the whole truth, and this can be very dangerous and take us away from all truth.
这就是约伯疑问的品格，我们不能这么作。我们必须得跟利户似的，仔细的听，要是你研究那三个朋友的辩论你可以发现他们在说事实，可是只是事实的一部分，而不是全部，这很危险而且有可能让我们远离实话。
In v19-25 Elihu reminds us of the great hope of the resurrection and in v25 that when we are raised our flesh shall be like a child’s. This is a wonderful hope we have and as we remember the death and resurrection of our Lord, we must remember he was prepared to suffer and give his life, so that we might have life, and this is how we should love each other.
在19－25节里利户提醒我们那个可以复活的巨大盼望和在25节当我们复活时我们的皮肤会跟小孩的一样。这是我们拥有的奇妙希望当我们纪念我们君主的死和复活，我们必须记住他以预备遭受和献出他的生命，为了让我们拥有生命，我们也应该这样的互相去爱对方。