旧约 - 约伯记(Job)第14章

"Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.
He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
Do you fix your eye on such a one? Will you bring him before you for judgment?
Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired man.
"At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.
Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,
yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.
But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.
As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
so man lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.
"If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!
If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.
You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.
Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin.
My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.
"But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place,
as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man's hope.
You overpower him once for all, and he is gone; you change his countenance and send him away.
If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it.
He feels but the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself."
约伯记第十四章   第 14 章 

  伯 14 章 > 人生短促,苦难重重,活着的意义何在?盼望何在? 

  14 章 生命短暂且充满愁烦,便是约伯在其结束语中的悲叹。疾病、孤独、失望和死亡使约伯感到人生并不公平。一些人认为 14 和 15 节中指出,约伯虽然在忧愁中,但他盼望从死里复活。如果这是真的,那么约伯就能藉这真理从另一角度明白他痛苦的遭遇。神给与生活在不公平世界中的信徒的出路,就是保证与祂永远活着。不管现今世界多么不公平,神给我们与祂永在一起的盼望。你接受了神的这一应许没有? 

  伯 14:7-22> 约伯怎么说人“不得从睡中唤醒”?他不承认死人复活吗? 

  14:7-22 旧约并没太多提死人复活的事。这并不奇怪,因为那时耶稣还未曾征服死亡。所以约伯对死亡的消极态度是可以理解的。值得注意的是他那正在萌发的希望( 14:14 )。神要是能将他藏在死亡中,然后再让他活过来多好啊!今天当我们必须忍耐痛苦时,我们比约伯幸运得多;我们知道死人必会复活,因基督从死里复活了。祂也应许我们,使我们有复活的盼望(参约 14:19 )。 

  伯 14:22> 约伯的话显明他对苦难有何等的认识? 

  14:22 本章中约伯的深奥言论说明了一个重要真理:有一套正确的教义并不足够,知道所信的内容并不代表讨神喜悦;未经生活考验的真理是呆滞而没有活力的。苦难可以带给人活跃的生命力,就像干旱的土地促使树根往深处生长去找水一样,苦难也可以促使我们越过对真理的肤浅认识,而信靠神得着盼望和生命。──《灵修版圣经注释》