2025-07-21

Reading for Today:
今日读经：

Ezra 3:1–4:24
以斯拉记 3:1–4:24
Psalm 86:11-17
诗篇 86:11-17
Proverbs 21:17-18
箴言 21:17-18
Acts 22:1-30
使徒行传 22:1-30

Notes:
注解：

Ezra 3:12 the first temple. The temple built by Solomon (1 Kin. 5–7). wept with a loud voice. The first temple had been destroyed 50 years earlier. The old men, who would have been about 60 years or older, knew that this second temple did not begin to match the splendor of Solomon’s temple nor did the presence of God reside within it (Hag. 2:1–4; Zech. 4:9, 10). The nation was small and weak, the temple smaller and less beautiful by far. There were no riches as in David and Solomon’s days. The ark was gone. But most disappointing was the absence of God’s Shekinah glory. Thus the weeping. shouted…for joy. For those who did not have a point of comparison, this was a great moment. Possibly Psalm 126 was written and sung for this occasion.
以斯拉记 3:12 “第一圣殿” 指所罗门所建的圣殿（王上5-7章）。“放声大哭”——第一圣殿五十年前已毁，年纪较大的长者（约60岁以上）亲眼见过，总觉得第二圣殿远无所罗门圣殿的辉煌，也没有神的同在（该2:1-4；亚4:9,10）。那时国家弱小无力，圣殿更是规模小、美丽不足、财富远不能比拟，还没有约柜。最令人痛苦的是失去了神荣耀的显现（示每纳荣耀）。因此，众长者放声悲叹。“欢呼大声”——而没有亲历第一圣殿的年轻人，则只觉得这刻无比荣耀。也许诗篇126篇正是为此而作并献唱。

Ezra 4:6–23 This section represents later opposition which Ezra chose to put here as a parenthetical continuation of the theme “opposition to resettling and rebuilding Judah.” He first referred to the opposition from Israel’s enemies under King Ahasuerus (a regal title) or Xerxes (ca. 486–464 B.C.), who ruled at the time of Esther (4:6). Ezra 4:7–23 then recounts opposition in Nehemiah’s day under Artaxerxes I (ca. 464–423 B.C.) expressed in a detailed letter of accusation against the Jews (vv. 7–16). It was successful in stopping the work, as the king’s reply indicates (vv. 17–23). Most likely, this opposition is that also spoken of in Nehemiah 1:3. All this was the ongoing occurrence of severe animosity between the Israelites and Samaritans, which was later aggravated when the Samaritans built a rival temple on Mt. Gerizim (John 4:9). The opposition to Zerubbabel picks up again at 4:24–5:2 during the reign of Darius I, who actually reigned before either Ahasuerus or Artaxerxes.
以斯拉记 4:6-23 这一段其实讲的是较后期发生的反对事件，作为“反对犹大复兴”主题的补充，穿插进3-4章。先提到以斯帖王后时期亚哈随鲁（薛西斯，约公元前486-464）时的敌对（4:6），接着4:7-23叙述在亚达薛西王（约前464-423）时期，撒玛利亚人通过状告犹太人的信（7-16节），导致王下令停工（17-23节），这与尼希米记1:3提到的现象相同。这反映以色列人与撒玛利亚人的世仇，后来撒玛利亚人在基利心山建了敌对的圣殿（约4:9），使敌意加剧。4:24-5:2又回到大利乌王（比亚哈随鲁、亚达薛西更早）时期，敌对势力对所罗巴伯的阻挠再次出现。

Ezra 4:21 Now give the command. No small order for one or two workers, but rather the efforts of 50,000 were called to a halt. The king was commissioning a decree of great significance. The original language calls for the difference. This decree would not lose its authority until the king established a new decree.
以斯拉记 4:21 “现在要下令” 这并非只是对一两位工人的命令，而是让约五万人全部停工。这道圣旨在原文中语气极为严厉，除非有新敕令，否则长期有效。

Acts 22:3 I am indeed a Jew. A response to the false charges raised by the Asian Jews. born in Tarsus. Tarsus was the chief city of Cilicia. brought up in this city. Paul was born among the Hellenistic Jews of the Diaspora, but had been brought up in Jerusalem. Gamaliel. That Paul had studied under the most celebrated rabbi of that day was further evidence that the charges against him were absurd. fathers’ law. As a student of Gamaliel, Paul received extensive training both in the Old Testament law and in the rabbinic traditions. Also, though he did not mention it to the crowd, he had been a Pharisee. In light of all that, the charge that Paul opposed the law was ridiculous.
使徒行传 22:3 “我原是犹太人” 对亚西亚犹太人控告他的有力回应。生于大数——基利家首城。在本城长大——保罗是散居外邦的希腊化犹太人，却在耶路撒冷成长。加玛列门下受教——他曾师从当时最著名的拉比，可见他的“反律法”指控完全荒唐。“祖宗的律法”——保罗受过法利赛人的正统教育，也完全熟悉拉比传统法典。事实上，他自己就是法利赛人，这样还指控他反律法，实属无稽。

Acts 22:21–23 Paul’s insistence that the Lord had sent him to minister to the despised Gentiles was too much for the crowd. They viewed the teaching that Gentiles could be saved without first becoming Jewish proselytes (thus granting them equal status with the Jewish people before God) as intolerable blasphemy.
使徒行传 22:21–23 保罗坚称主差他向外邦人传道，这对犹太人来说不可忍受。他们认为：外邦人若不加入犹太教就能直接得救，与犹太人在神面前享有同等身份，这无疑是不能容忍的亵渎。

DAY 21: Who were the people who made so much trouble for those Jews who returned from captivity?
第二十一天：到底是谁给归回耶路撒冷的犹太人制造了那么多麻烦？

In Ezra 3:3, it mentions “the people of those countries.” These were the settlers who had come to occupy the land during the 70 years of Israel’s absence. They were deportees brought in from other countries by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. These inhabitants saw the Jews as a threat and quickly wanted to undermine their allegiance to God (4:1,2). These are called “the adversaries”—Israel’s enemies in the region, who resisted their reestablishment of the temple.
以斯拉记3:3提到“那些地的居民”，就是以色列人被掳这七十年间迁来的外来人，是亚述和巴比伦强制流放来的。他们占据犹太之地，把归回的犹太人视为威胁，很快想方设法削弱犹太人对真神的忠诚（4:1，2），称为“敌人”——即周边地区敌对、反对重建圣殿的势力。

These enemies came to the Jews offering their assistance, saying, “We have sacrificed to Him” (v. 2).This false claim represented the syncretistic worship of the Samaritans, whose ancestry came from intermarriage with foreign immigrants in Samaria after 722 B.C. (4:10). In the British Museum is a large cylinder; and inscribed on it are the annals of Esarhaddon, an Assyrian king (ca.681–669 B.C.), who deported a large population of Israelites from Palestine. A consequent settlement of Babylonian colonists took their place and intermarried with remaining Jewish women and their descendants. The result was the mongrel race called Samaritans. They had developed a superstitious form of worshiping God (2 Kin. 17:26–34).
这些敌人曾主动“帮忙”重建圣殿（2节），说“我们也敬拜神”。但这是假话，是撒玛利亚式的混合宗教。撒玛利亚人的血统来自主前722年亚述带来的外族人与犹太遗民（4:10）杂居、通婚。在大英博物馆就有亚述王撒珥根二世（主前681-669年）的纪事圆筒，记载强制迁徙大批以色列百姓到巴勒斯坦之外，随后巴比伦人代其居住，并与犹太妇女和后裔通婚，这群杂种民族成为撒玛利亚人。他们发展出一种迷信混杂的敬神方式（王下17:26-34）。

Idolatry had been the chief cause for Judah’s deportation to Babylon, and they wanted to avoid it altogether. While they still had their spiritual problems (Ezra 9; 10), they rejected any form of mixed religion, particularly this offer of cooperation which had sabotage as its goal (vv.4, 5). “King Cyrus…commanded us.” This note gave authority to their refusal.
犹大被掳的根本原因就是偶像崇拜，他们十分警惕混杂信仰。虽然归回者自身亦不完全（拉9、10章），但他们坚决拒绝一切形式的“联宗”——特别是撒玛利亚人假借合作之名、实则为破坏（4、5节）。“古列王明令”，让他们据此有充足权力拒绝异族冒名顶替。

Nevertheless, the enemies hired counselors who managed to “frustrate” the work on the temple. This caused a 16-year delay (ca. 536–520 B.C.). As a result, the people took more interest in their personal affairs than in spiritual matters (Hag. 1:2–6).
但敌人于是收买议士“扰乱他们的谋算”，导致圣殿工程一拖就是十六年（约主前536-520）。如此一来，百姓转而关注自己私事，多于属灵重建（该1:2-6）。

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