旧约 - 出埃及记(Exodus)第32章

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."
Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me."
So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.
He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD."
So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.
They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'
"I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people.
Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."
But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. "O LORD," he said, "why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?
Why should the Egyptians say, 'It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth'? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.
Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.'"
Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.
The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
When Joshua heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, "There is the sound of war in the camp."
Moses replied: "It is not the sound of victory, it is not the sound of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear."
When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.
And he took the calf they had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
He said to Aaron, "What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?"
"Do not be angry, my lord," Aaron answered. "You know how prone these people are to evil.
They said to me, 'Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him.'
So I told them, 'Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.' Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!"
Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies.
So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, "Whoever is for the LORD, come to me." And all the Levites rallied to him.
Then he said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.'"
The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.
Then Moses said, "You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day."
The next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."
So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold.
But now, please forgive their sin--but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written."
The LORD replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book.
Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin."
And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
出埃及记第卅二章   第 32 章 

  出 32:1-10> 我把何人何事捧为偶像,使我疏远了神? 

  32:1-10 以色列人又拜偶像了。虽然刚刚经历那位肉眼看不见的神施行的神迹,却仍然想拜从前拜惯了的假神,把眼所能见、随意铸造出来的形像当作神。我们跟他们是多么相似!我们现在仍然想随自己的喜好,来造出神的形像,将它放在一处,召之则来,挥之则去。拜偶像仍然是我们难以抗拒的大试探。神是忌邪施报的,我们所造的偶像,会使我们看不见慈爱的神,无法领受祂厚厚浇灌在我们身上的大爱,因而招来祂的愤怒。当我们将别的人、事物高举过于神的时候,祂就不能在我们身上工作了。请你省察一下,在你生命之中,有哪些假神正成为障碍,使真神很难活在你的心中? 

  出 32:4-5> 亚伦为以色列人造金牛犊,我们是否也在造自己的神?你心中的神是什么样的? 

  32:4-5 埃及人最常敬拜的两个神,就是公牛与母牛,代表权力与生育。刚从埃及出来的百姓觉得,造一个金牛犊来代表拯救他们脱离为奴之地的这位神,是极其自然的事。他们对于没有形像的神感到厌倦了。殊不知这样行正触犯了神刚刚赐下的诫命:“你们不可为自己雕刻偶像,也不可做什么形像,仿佛上天、下地和地底下、水中的百物”( 20:4 )。他们表面上一片虔诚,其实是藉口,他们偏行己路,任意妄为。即使我们不制造偶像,也常常会自以为是,按自己的期盼、愿望与环境来造神。我们会崇拜自己,而不是敬拜造我们的神。现代自我崇拜,和以色列人出埃及的时代一样,使人犯下种种不道德的罪。你是否要先将心中的偶像销毁,才能敬拜有无限大能、拯救你脱离罪恶捆绑的真神呢? 

  出 32:9-14> 以色列人犯罪蒙怜悯,我也经历了神的宽容怜悯,是这样的…… 

  32:9-14 因为百姓拜金牛犊犯罪,神本来要消灭全族,由于摩西代求,祂就饶恕了他们。这是圣经中神慈爱的许多实例之一。我们虽然应得神的惩罚,祂却乐意赦免,领我们从迷途归回。我们可以求告祂,得蒙祂的赦罪;也可以像摩西一样,为别人代求,使人得到神的赦免,求神使用我们,向别人传讲祂的慈爱。 

  出 32:14> 神后悔了!神也会后悔? 

  32:14 神怎么会后悔呢?祂并不改变自己的心意,这和作父母的决定不惩罚儿女一样;神改变祂的作法,但本性上是前后统一的。祂最初想除灭百姓,是按照自己一贯的公义而行,及至摩西为百姓代祷,祂转变为照自己一贯的慈爱而行。祂常常告诉百姓,只要他们回转,祂就不会责罚他们。现在他们回转了,神也就照祂的应许而行。 

  出 32:19-20> 摩西发烈怒了──为了罪;我因何发怒?我还有恨恶罪的义愤吗? 

  32:19-20 摩西亲眼见以色列人在拜偶像、喧闹玩耍,他怒不可遏,就将刻有十条诫命的两块石版摔碎;其实在百姓的心里早已把石版摔碎了。圣经并不反对人发怒,不管摩西怎样恼怒,神比他更怒──祂想除灭所有的百姓。恨恶罪是灵命有活力的征兆,所以不要消灭这种义怒。不过,在你对于罪发出合理的义怒之前,必须要小心,以免做出令你后悔的事。 

  出 32:21-24> 群众压力可真不小,你看亚伦──你不是也如亚伦一样违背神吧…… 

  32:21-24 亚伦的抉择几乎送了自己的命。他荒唐的托辞,显出这位领导人和百姓的灵命低落。作宗教领袖的,必须加倍小心自己的神学观点及道德准则与神的一致,免得因受到群众压力而作出违背神命的决定。 

  亚伦 

  拜偶像为什么是罪?──《灵修版圣经注释》