每日灵修 | 11.7 一决雌雄
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撒母耳记上 17:1-26
1 Samuel 17:1-26
歌利亚对着以色列的军队……呼叫说:“……从你们中间拣选一人,使他下到我这里来。”
— 撒上 17:8
Goliath…shouted to the ranks of Israel, "…Choose a man and have him come down to me."
— 1 Samuel 17:8
获奖作家及教授乔依斯·卡罗尔·欧茨,曾经写过一本著名的书,书名是《拳击面面观》,她试图捕捉到两个人在拳击赛场比赛时的精髓。她讲述源于罗马的拳击赛历史,当时的拳击手通常被称为角斗士。欧茨在书中说,如果他们在公众角斗场的比赛赢了,他们便能为自己建立“一种不朽的名声”了。
在扫罗的时代,两军作战时,有时会由两个大能勇士代表两军上阵搏斗,军队的胜负取决于这两个代表谁胜谁负,这样便可以减少整体士兵阵亡的人数。胜利的勇士不单可以宣称他的国家得胜,他更能够宣称他的神得胜了。
非利士人中有一个名叫歌利亚的大能勇士,他是一个身高九尺的巨人,他天天来威吓扫罗的军队,他说:“可以从你们中间拣选一个人,使他下到我这里来。” (参撒上 17:8)但是扫罗和他的军队都极其害怕。以拉谷成为以色列人的神和非利士人的神的公众角斗场,究竟哪一方能胜出呢?
那时大卫正在牧放他父亲的羊,有时他也会带着食物给正在前线与非利士人作战的哥哥。有一天,他听到歌利亚在嘲讽以色列人,他便问道:“这人是谁呢?竟敢向永生神的军队骂战吗?”(参撒上 17:26)
Award-winning writer and professor Joyce Carol Oates wrote a memorable book titled On Boxing. She wanted to capture the essence of two men fighting in a ring. She went into the history of boxing, developed by the Romans. The boxers then were often called gladiators. Oates wrote that if they could show they were winners in the public arena, they would establish for themselves “a kind of immortality.”
Back in Saul’s day, a battle between two armies was sometimes decided by two champions who would square off and fight. That way, fewer people would die in battle. And the winning champion would claim victory not only for his nation but also for his god.
The Philistines had a champion named Goliath, a giant who stood nine feet tall. Each day he came and threatened Saul’s army, saying, “Choose a man and have him come down to me.” But Saul and his army were terrified. The Valley of Elah became the public arena between the God of Israel and the god of the Philistines. Which one would prevail?
At that time David was working with his father’s sheep, and sometimes he would bring food to his brothers on the front lines in the war with the Philistines. One day, he heard Goliath taunting Israel, so he asked, “Who is this . . . that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
祷告 · Prayer
主啊,愿我的眼目和心灵专注在祢的真理、道路和生命上,又求祢帮助我倚靠祢的能力,去面对任何挑战。阿们。
摘自《每日箴言》
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