PART II

Are prophecies characterized by the individual features or personalities of specific prophets? For example, how do we explain the images, diction, and strategies used by one prophet being different from those used by another?

先知發(fā)布的預(yù)言是否會因為個人特點或性格而有所區(qū)別？比如說我們?nèi)绾蝸斫忉屢粋€先知與另一個先知使用的意象、措辭和策略有所不同的情況呢？

Yes, of course. Prophets are individuals. Just compare Amos and Hosea. Amos is hard-hitting and very judgmental; there is not a lot of compassion in this prophet, while Hosea gives a very compassionate message. Even his view of God is different from that of Amos. For example, he preaches that God is very reluctant to give up his people; God says: “How can I give you up O Ephraim?” (Hos 11:8). So even the God portrayed by Hosea is different from the God portrayef by Amos. God has many aspects, of course, yet God is portrayed differently by different prophets. Jeremiah shows characteristics of both Amos and Hosea. He is hard-hitting, and yet very compassionate. Look also at Ezekiel, who does such bizarre things to dramatize his prophecies. Some scholars have thought that Ezekiel had mental illness. He lies on his back for 100 days at a time, and does things Jeremiah or other prophets would never think to do, but Ezekiel does them. So yes, prophets are still human and have their own characteristics. And they present a different window into the nature of God. One must recognize that.

是的，當然了。先知都是獨立的個體。例如阿摩司和何西阿。阿摩司言辭犀利、厲行審判。 在阿摩司身上看不到太多的同情，相較而言何西阿的預(yù)言則極富同情。甚至他對上帝的看法都與阿摩司不同。比如，他宣揚上帝不愿放棄自己的子民?！?a href='/yiselie/' target=_blank>以色列啊，我怎能棄絕你？”（何11:8），所以何西阿預(yù)言中上帝的形象與阿摩司預(yù)言中上帝的形象是不同的。上帝是有多面的，因而，不同先知預(yù)言中上帝的形象也是不同的。 耶利米先知身上既有阿摩司的犀利也兼具何西阿的同情。又如以西結(jié)，他是個常結(jié)異象的神。有些學(xué)者判斷以西結(jié)患有精神疾病。他曾經(jīng)臥床一百天，做了一些耶利米或是其他先知不會做的事情。 所以肯定的是，先知仍然是人，他們有自己的特點。我們必須認識到的是先知為我們提供了了解上帝本質(zhì)的窗口。

Or we may say that these prophets work as mirrors that reflect the different aspects of God. But if prophets are interpreting the message of God in their individual ways, how can we make sure that the messages they are delivering are authentically the message of God?

或者我可以這樣理解么：不同的先知好似鏡子一樣映射出上帝的不同方面。但是如果先知們是在按照自己的理解來傳遞信息，我們?nèi)绾文艽_認他們傳遞的信息是真實無誤的上帝的意旨呢？

You have to take it as it comes. Also, you cannot expect that God’s message is going to be the same from every one speaking for him. It is the same today. If you carefully analyze the preaching of good preachers—forget the bad preachers— you will see that they are different and you have to accept these differences. That is the complexity of revelation. Revelation does not issue in a unified view of God. You just have to just accept that.

先知如何預(yù)言我們就要如何接受。而且我們不能期待上帝的意旨從每個預(yù)言人口中傳遞的都如出一轍。即便如今，也依然如此。如果我們仔細分析教牧的傳道內(nèi)容（忘記那些不好的吧），我們會發(fā)現(xiàn)一些不同，也必須要接受這些不同。這正是上帝啟示的復(fù)雜性，因為它們展現(xiàn)的并非上帝唯一的觀點。在這種時候，我們只能接受上帝觀點的多面性。

A related thing. Prophets are giving prophecy from their more or less personal perspective, but the message is delivered to an audience, often a public audience. Prophecy can address a king or another specific listener, but generally speaking, prophetic messages are public in nature. How can we find a balance between the private and the public?

我接下來的這個問題也與您上面的回答相關(guān)。這些先知在給出預(yù)言的時候或多或少會帶有一些私人觀點，但是信息是要傳遞給某位聽眾或者公眾。預(yù)言有時是向過往或者某個特殊的聽眾發(fā)布的，但總體來說，先知預(yù)言本質(zhì)上是面向公眾的。那我們怎么來尋求面向個人的與公眾的平衡點？

I don’t know. It is hard. One thing to keep in mind is that times change. So, for example, Isaiah in his time is the great prophet of peace, but Jeremiah, except for a few prophecies about the distant future, doesn't preach peace at all. The reason is that the prophets prophesying peace in his time are false prophets. Times have changed, and God’s message has changed. Here It is not so much that prophets are individuals who bring different messages, although that may have something to do with it. It is because the times have changed. What was true 100 years ago may not be true today, and that is what happened in the time of Jeremiah. The false prophets were preaching the message of Isaiah, but God wasn't giving that message. God had another message, so Jeremiah's preaching became different from the preaching of Isaiah. The genuine prophet responds correctly to the times in which he is living, and has to do it if he is going to get the message right. More than that I cannot say. This is a perceptive question and difficult to give a definitive answer. But when you look at the total picture, you simply have to recognize existing differences, try to understand them, and accept them.

這是個很難回答的問題。另一個要牢記在心的事實是時代在變遷。例如，在那個時代，以賽亞是一名宣揚和平的偉大先知，而耶利米除了少數(shù)幾次對遙遠的未來進行預(yù)言以外，他完全不教化關(guān)于和平的事情。這是因為在耶利米的時代，發(fā)布關(guān)于和平預(yù)言的先知是假先知。時代改變了，上帝的神諭也改變了。這并不是先知們因為個人原因而在傳達信息上出現(xiàn)了小小差別，盡管也有些關(guān)系，但最主要的原因是時代改變了。百年前被看作是真理的話在今天可能不再是真理，耶利米時代正是這樣的情況。假先知在發(fā)布以賽亞發(fā)布的預(yù)言，但并非上帝的神諭。上帝傳遞給耶利米不同的神諭，因而耶利米發(fā)布的預(yù)言與以賽亞不同。真正的先知會對他所生活的時代進行準確的預(yù)言，為了能夠保證預(yù)言的準確性他們也必須這樣做。這個問題，我大概說這么多。這是個非常有洞見的問題，很難給出一個確定的答案。我想當我們總攬全局之時，會發(fā)現(xiàn)不同并接受它們。

In your book Biblical Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism you are advocating a rhetorical approach to the biblical text. Would you please show us the advantage of this approach and how it will enable people to better understand messages contained in ure?

在您的《圣經(jīng)修辭和修辭學(xué)批評》一書中，您提倡了一種用修辭學(xué)來解讀圣經(jīng)文本的方式。您是否可以闡述一下這種方式的優(yōu)勢，以及它如何輔助人們更好的理解圣經(jīng)的信息？

Biblical rhetoric and rhetorical criticism are main interests of mine, and in the book you cited, my Jeremiahcommentary, other writings, and in my teaching at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong, as well as elsewhere, I have emphasized a rhetorical approach to interpreting the biblical text. I can perhaps give you a few examples of how biblical scribes wrote up their accounts and also compiled the compositions we now have in our Bible. Some of their scribal work is similar to what modern writers and editors do today, but some is different.

圣經(jīng)修辭和修辭學(xué)批評是我研究的興趣所在，在你提及的那本書中、我關(guān)于以賽亞的文章、其他的一些文章、以及我在香港信義宗神學(xué)院的教學(xué)中等等，我都強調(diào)過使用修辭學(xué)的角度來解讀圣經(jīng)文本。我用幾個例子你就可以看到圣經(jīng)的謄寫者如何行文以及我們現(xiàn)在所讀到的圣經(jīng)是如何成書的。其中的一部分書寫和我們?nèi)缃竦?a href='/zuojia/' target=_blank>作家、編輯的工作是類似的，但也有一些不同。

First, rhetoric in writing up narrative. You know the great passage in 2 Samuel 7 of the Old Testament, where King David tells the prophet Nathan that he wants to build a house for Yahweh. He has a nice house himself, and the ark of God is just dwelling in a tent. Nathan says, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for Yahweh is with you.” But then, during the night, Nathan gets this message from Yahweh: “Go and tell David: Why should you build me a house? I will instead build you a house.” The scribe here preserves a play on the word “house,” which in Hebrew can mean both a building and a line of descendants. In rhetorical terms this is called “paronomasia.” David had in mind a house of stone and cedar, a temple, but Yahweh has in mind a house of descendants, a line of sons succeeding him. This was God’s eternal covenant to David, to give him an everlasting royal line. So when you read this passage you need to recognize the wordplay to gain an enriched interpretation.

首先，我們來看一下修辭在敘述中的應(yīng)用。撒母耳記下第七章中大衛(wèi)王告知先知拿單他起意為耶和華建立神殿。他自己的宮殿富麗堂皇，然而耶和華的約柜卻放在幔子中。拿單說：“你可以按照你的心意而行，因為耶和華與你同在。”當夜，耶和華的話臨到拿單：“你回去告訴我仆人大衛(wèi)，說耶和華如此說：‘你豈可建造殿宇給我居住呢？我必將為你建立家室。”經(jīng)卷的謄寫者特意保留了對“房”一詞的雙關(guān)，因為在希伯來語中這個詞可以指一棟建筑或者一脈衍生的后代。 大衛(wèi)王口中的“房”是用石頭和香柏木建造的殿宇；耶和華則允諾大衛(wèi)一脈保持血脈的不斷繁衍。這是上帝與大衛(wèi)定立的永恒之約，也就是賜予他永恒不斷的皇室血脈。因此，能夠讀懂這段文字的雙關(guān)含義，便能更好的理解經(jīng)文的內(nèi)涵。

In the first chapter of Jeremiah, a look at keywords in the commission passage (Jer 1:15-19) indicates that a foe from the north is going to come against the walls of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and destroy them, but Yahweh promises to make Jeremiah a fortified city and bronze walls, which is to say, Yahweh will protect him against all comers. He is going to have a hard time because people will not want to listen to preaching about the nation being brought to ruin. Nevertheless, Yahweh says to Jeremiah: “I am promising you a protection I will not give to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah.” So again, one needs to pay close attention to vocabulary and structure in the text. Here you have repeated keywords, and as often happens in rhetorical discourse, they are inverted when appearing the second time. This may seem like a small thing, but it is Hebrew rhetoric. Hebrew rhetoric is based on repetition, also inversions, and previous scholars reading this passage have commonly missed both.

耶利米書第一章（耶1:15-19）中授命敘事的部分記錄了一個北方來的敵人將要攻擊耶路撒冷周圍的城墻并摧毀猶大的各城鎮(zhèn)，但是耶和華許諾說會使耶利米成為堅城、銅墻，也就是說耶和華會保佑他不受到一切來者的傷害。他將度過一段艱難的時光，因為人們不愿聽到城將要被摧毀的預(yù)言 。然而，耶和華對耶利米說：“我許諾你，保佑你，使你不會遭受同耶路撒冷和猶大城鎮(zhèn)一樣的毀滅?！蓖瑯拥模谋局械脑~匯和結(jié)構(gòu)需要認真研讀。這里，我們看到一些關(guān)鍵詞的重復(fù)，就像是在修辭話語中經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)的那樣，這些詞在出現(xiàn)第二次的時候被倒置。這看起來微不足道，但是這確實是一種修辭。希伯來的修辭以重復(fù)為基礎(chǔ)，倒置也是其中一種，之前不免出現(xiàn)在閱讀到這一部分的時候忽略了其修辭的學(xué)者。

Rhetorical criticism also helps to delimit literary units, showing where the unit begins and ends. In Jeremiah and in other prophetic books you often need help in delimitation. The Psalms have numbers, so you know where they begin and end. In Genesis you also know where stories begin and end. It’s obvious. But in the prophetic books you often don't know where one unit ends and another begins, especially in the poetry. In Jeremiah one unit goes right into the next. But by using rhetorical criticism it is possible to do a better job of delimiting literary units, which can make a big difference in interpretation. Knowing the end of a unit may also give you some idea of the intended impact of the passage on its audience. Scholars in the past have not paid sufficient attention to the delimitation of units; they just begin and end where they want to, with the result that the passage is not interpreted properly and the impact upon its original audience is not correctly discerned.

修辭學(xué)批評有助于劃分文本單元，可以標記出文本的篇章分割從哪里開始、在哪里結(jié)束。在耶利米書以及一些其它的經(jīng)卷中，需要借助（修辭）來界定每一個篇章。贊美詩有編號，容易辨識出它從哪里開始、在哪里結(jié)束。在讀創(chuàng)世紀的時候，也很明顯能讀懂故事的始終。但是在先知書中，尤其涉及詩歌的部分，篇章通常不易讀出哪里開始哪里終結(jié)。耶利米書中，篇章緊緊相連 。然而，如果我們利用修辭學(xué)批評，或許可以更好地劃分每一個文本單元，而這對解讀文本會產(chǎn)生很大影響。知曉每個文本單元的劃分，或許可以幫助預(yù)期這段文字想要傳遞給讀者的影響。過去一些學(xué)者沒有對此給予足夠的重視，他們只是按照自己的理解來劃分文本單元，這樣有一些章節(jié)就沒有得到恰當?shù)慕庾x，而對于最初的讀者的影響也沒被正確地辨識。

I’ll give you another example in Jeremiah 5:1-9, a passage I cite often in my classes. Here we have a chiastic structure of keywords and speaker, another intentional rhetorical structure. In a chiasmus key words, speakers, and sometimes audiences are arranged in an abba, abcba, or more expanded pattern. The discourse works up to a center point and then repeats in reverse order to the end. Earlier scholars have failed to recognize these patterns, but they are there, and need to be brought to light. Rhetorical criticism can do this, and once again, it will affect interpretation. Rhetorical criticism works particularly well in Jeremiah because Jeremiah is a dramatist who alternates voices in his poems and oracles. Scholars commonly miss this drama, assuming simply that since the prophet is a mouthpiece for God his words are God’s words. Well, that is true enough, but in Jeremiah you have to see how skillful this prophet is in crafting his poems and oracles. Changes in speaker and audience may be intentional.

咱們來看另一個例子，即耶利米書的5:1-9，我經(jīng)常在課上講到這一段。這個章節(jié)中用到了關(guān)鍵詞和講話者的交錯結(jié)構(gòu)（chiastic structure)，這是另一個有目的而為之的修辭結(jié)構(gòu)。在一個交錯結(jié)構(gòu)中，關(guān)鍵詞、講話者，有時也包括讀者，會被以ABBA或者ABCBA的方式或者更長的方式進行安排。語篇不斷發(fā)展到中間點，并以反向排序重復(fù)直到回歸到最初的句子 。之前的學(xué)者沒能識別出這些規(guī)律，但是它們是存在的，也應(yīng)該被注意到。修辭學(xué)批評可以做到這點，而修辭學(xué)批評的引入也會影響文本的解讀。修辭學(xué)批評可以很好的應(yīng)用于耶利米書的解讀，因為耶利米是一個充滿戲劇色彩的人，他在詩歌和神諭中會變換不同的口吻。 大部分學(xué)者會忽視這種戲劇感，簡單地認為先知是上帝的發(fā)言人，發(fā)布的預(yù)言就是上帝的神諭。有時的確如此，但是在耶利米書中你會看到這位先知是如何巧妙地創(chuàng)作他的詩歌和神諭。講話者和讀者的變化或許都是有意而為之。

In Jer 5:1-9 is a poem of five stanzas in which Yahweh speaks first to a search party, telling them to go in search of a righteous man. If they find one, he will pardon Jerusalem (vv 1-2). Next Jeremiah speaks to Yahweh, telling Yahweh how intractable the people are (v 3). In the middle of the poem Jeremiah is talking to himself, making us privy to what was going on in his mind when he was out walking the city (vv 4-5ab). In the next stanza Jeremiah is speaking again to Yahweh, telling Yahweh that both small and great have broken the covenant yoke, and an enemy is sure to destroy his people (vv 5c-6). Finally, in the last stanza, Yahweh is again the speaker, asking Jerusalem how he can pardon her with such evil abounding? (vv 7-8). The structure is a chiasmus of repeated keywords and alternation of speaker / audience.

耶利米書5:1-9中有一首包含五個詩節(jié)的詩歌。最初，耶和華對一群人說，讓他們?nèi)ふ夜?。如果他們能找到，他就會赦免耶路撒冷（第一、二?jié)）。之后耶利米對耶和華發(fā)言，他說到人們悖逆、不肯回頭（第三節(jié)）。在中間部分，耶利米自言自語，讓我們知道他在走出城時的內(nèi)心所想(第四、五節(jié))。隨后的詩節(jié)中，耶利米再次對耶和華發(fā)炎，告知耶和華不論是貧窮的還是尊大的人都齊心將契約之軛折斷，因此他們必受攻擊（第五、六節(jié)）。在最后的詩節(jié)里耶和華再次發(fā)言，質(zhì)問耶路撒冷她如此罪孽深重，如何才能赦免她？（第七、八節(jié)）。這里便是以重復(fù)的關(guān)鍵詞和講話者或者讀者的變換而構(gòu)成的交錯結(jié)構(gòu)。

The other important thing coming from a rhetorical analysis of this poem is that you see where it ends, and you find out that the conclusion in vv 7-8 is open-ended. Verse 9 is a later add-on. This is not the sort of preaching you get from Amos, who is more direct. He speaks Yahweh’s judgment, and you have to either take it or leave it. But here Yahweh asks Jerusalem how he can pardon the city when men are committing adultery and patronizing prostitutes. The people of Jerusalem will have to answer this question themselves. The prophet does not answer it for them. The poem is an echo of the story in Genesis 18, where, again, righteous persons could not be found in the wicked city of Sodom.

利用修辭學(xué)批評手段分析此詩，不難發(fā)現(xiàn)，在詩歌的收尾部分也即第七、八節(jié)保留了開放式的結(jié)尾。第九節(jié)是后來添加的。這樣的神諭和阿摩斯所傳播的神諭不同，后者更為直接。他發(fā)布耶和華的審判，讀者或者接受或者拒絕。但是這里，耶和華質(zhì)問耶路撒冷他怎能赦免這座城，這里的男人行奸淫之事，把娼妓養(yǎng)在家里。耶路撒冷的民眾需要自行回答問題，先知沒有為他們作出回答。這里的詩歌與創(chuàng)世紀第十八章呼應(yīng)，也即在罪惡之城所多瑪不會找到公義之人。

You have another good example of an open-ended message in Jesus’ New Testament parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). The fellow squanders his inheritance, but then comes to his senses and returns home, now repentant of his waywardness, and of course the father is glad to see him, running and hugging him and telling his son how much he has missed him. The servants are told to kill the fatted calf so they can have a big feast. Then the older brother comes in from the field, and says, “What’s going on here? I've been serving you here at home and never disobeyed you, and now this fellow who has been wasting all your money comes back, and you welcome him and have a feast for him. You never gave me a feast to celebrate with my friends. I've been your faithful son all these years.” The father tries to reason with him. He says: “You are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” He loves him just as much as the younger one. The older son is then invited to come into the party, but it doesn't sound like he wants to. Does he finally join the merrymakers? We don't know. The parable is left open-ended, and the people listening are left to decide whether he does come in. The Pharisees listening to the parable also have to decide whether they will enter the joyful Kingdom into which repentant sinners are being welcomed. This is powerful rhetoric.

新約中有關(guān)浪子回頭的寓言中是另一個關(guān)于開放信息的很好的例子（路加福音15:11-32）。小兒子揮霍了父親的遺產(chǎn)，回歸理智后返回家庭，為他的任性而后悔， 父親見到小兒子喜出望外，跑過去抱住他，向兒子訴說他的思念。這個父親告訴仆人去宰一頭肥牛，他們要一起吃一頓盛宴。隨后他的大兒子從田地里回來，對他父親說：“發(fā)生了什么，我服侍您這多年，從來沒有違背過您的命令，但他吞盡您的產(chǎn)業(yè)才返回家中，您歡迎他并為他宰了肥牛犢。您從未賜予我一頓盛宴使得我和朋友同樂。我才是這些年對您忠心耿耿的兒子?！彼母赣H寬慰他說，“你是一直和我在一起的，我的一切都是你的”。父親對大兒子的喜愛程度和對小兒子的喜愛程度相同。他邀請大兒子也來參加宴會，但是大兒子并不想赴宴 。之后他究竟參加聚會了嗎？我們不得而知。這是一個開放式的結(jié)尾，讀者需要自己通過解讀判斷大兒子最終是否赴宴。聽到這個寓言的法利賽人要決定自己是否要進入這個歡樂的王國，這個王國中悔改的罪人都會受到歡迎。這里也是一個非常有效的修辭的使用。

I’ll give you another example where rhetorical criticism aids in the interpretation of Jeremiah 7:1-15. Here older scholars talked about a “temple sermon” in the verses, but it is not a single sermon. The verses are three separate oracles delimited by messenger formulas, section markings (setumah and petucha), and three uses of the inclusio (repeated words at beginning and end). Three different criteria show the verses to contain three separate oracles. Why is this important? One reason, certainly, is that the preaching in the first oracle is conditional. This oracle says that if people amend their ways and do what the covenant requires, then Yahweh will let them remain in the land. The second oracle, however, indicts the people for willful covenant disobedience. They are stealing, murdering, committing adultery, swearing falsely, burning incense to Baal, and chasing after other gods they have not known. The third oracle states that Yahweh is going to destroy the Jerusalem temple just like he destroyed Israel’s first sanctuary at Shiloh, which is judgment pure and simple. Older scholars had a problem explaining how a single sermon could go from conditional preaching to unmitigated judgment, but if you show the verses to contain three separate oracles, each retains its own integrity even if all happened to have been spoken in sequence on a single occasion. Here rhetorical criticism gives integrity to the text and improves the interpretation.

接下來我們來看耶利米書7:1-15。之前的學(xué)者曾經(jīng)就篇章中的“神殿發(fā)布的神諭”進行探討，這并不是一次單獨的神諭發(fā)布。篇章中包含三條獨立的神諭，分別用預(yù)言結(jié)構(gòu)、段落標記、以及三次首位呼應(yīng)的方法來界定神諭的界限。三個不同的界定標準標志出三個單獨的神諭。為什么這很重要呢？其一、第一條神諭的發(fā)布是有條件的，神諭中預(yù)言如果人們改正行為，按照契約行事，耶和華就會使他們在這地方繼續(xù)居住。第二條神諭指責(zé)人們?nèi)涡缘倪`背契約，偷盜、殺戮、奸淫、做假證、敬拜巴力，追隨其他的崇拜。第三條神諭預(yù)言耶和華將毀滅耶路撒冷的神殿，就如同他在示羅曾毀滅以色列的第一個圣所，這條神諭就是直接而簡明的審判。過去的學(xué)者存在的問題在于他們難以解釋一條單獨的神諭如何從有條件的預(yù)言發(fā)布逐漸演變成為嚴厲的審判。但如果能夠讀出這個篇章中有三條單獨的神諭，即便是在同一個場合進行發(fā)布，每一條都具備獨立的完整性。這里修辭學(xué)批評賦予了文本一種完整性，并幫助文本進行釋讀。

My final example is from the concluding confession in Jer 20:14-18. The confession ends with a question. Life has been extremely difficult for the prophet, and Jeremiah has cursed the day he was born and the man who brought his father the gladsome news. He asks at the very end “Why from the womb came I forth,” but gets no answer. The great German scholar Gerhard von Rad says the God that Jeremiah addresses no longer answers him. Yes, but when the First Edition of the book of Jeremiah was compiled, which in my view consisted of chapters 1-20, an answer did come to the prophet’s wrenching question. At the very beginning of the book Yahweh told Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came forth the womb I declared you holy; a prophet to the nations I made you” (Jer 1:5). Here then is the answer to Jeremiah’s question. It does not come after the confession, where one would expect it. It comes at the beginning of the book. When the First Edition of the book of Jeremiah was read in its entirety, which is how it would have been read in antiquity, those hearing it would make the connection. At some point someone had to tell Jeremiah: “Look! God spoke to you when you were just a boy and gave you an answer about why you were born. It is as good today as it was then.” This is ancient Hebrew rhetoric, and rhetorical criticism of the biblical text enables one to uncover meaning that was originally intended. Scholars not paying sufficient attention to ancient Hebrew rhetoric will miss the point.

最后一個例子是耶利米書20:14-18的懺悔。這段懺悔以問題作為結(jié)尾。對于先知耶利米來說，生活異?？嚯y，于是耶利米詛咒他出生的日子以及為他父親報喜訊的人。他在最后問道：“我為何出胎”，但是沒有得到答復(fù)。著名的德國學(xué)者格哈德·馮·拉德說這里上帝不再回答耶利米的問題了。是的，但是在耶利米書的第一版編輯完成時（在我看來是包括第一至第二十章）其中對于困擾先知耶利米的問題提供了答案 。開篇，耶和華即告知耶利米：“我未將你造在腹中，我已曉得你；你未出母胎，我已分別你為圣；我已派你作列國的先知”（耶1:5）。這已然是對耶利米的回答。答案不如人們預(yù)期一般在懺悔結(jié)束后出現(xiàn)，而是在一開始便給出了。當人們像古代的人一樣把整個耶利米書的第一版讀下來，就會產(chǎn)生這樣的聯(lián)想。在某個時刻，應(yīng)該有人告知耶利米：“上帝早就給了你答案，當你還是個男孩的時候，上帝已經(jīng)說明了你出生的緣故，這個緣故也從未改變 ?！边@是一個古老的希伯來修辭方式，而對圣經(jīng)文本的修辭學(xué)批評可以幫助我們?nèi)ジ拷谋颈旧淼年U述意圖。而忽視古希伯來修辭的學(xué)者們在解讀文本時就可能出現(xiàn)偏差。

Do you support people who are not believers to have a literary interpretation of the prophetic books instead of a theological one? How do we strike a balance between these two approaches?

您是否支持非信徒對先知書進行文學(xué)解讀而非神學(xué)解讀？我們應(yīng)該如何在兩種解讀方式中尋求到平衡點呢？

Anyone—believer or nonbeliever—can benefit from a literary study of the prophetic books. There is no need to strike any balance. Even though the prophet’s message was delivered to people who came under the covenant God made with Israel, the prophets also addressed people who did not come under this covenant. All the writing prophets, with the single exception of Hosea, gave oracles against foreign nations, which consisted of people who didn't have any covenant with Yahweh. The prophets spoke judgment against them for inhumane behavior, reckless living, pride, and other acts of wickedness. As far as the literary interpretation of the prophetic writings are concerned, I think anybody can benefit from a study of them. The Bible is great literature. It is more than that for the believer, yet it can be of value to anyone. Preaching of the Hebrew prophets can be useful anywhere today in the world, to censure people who act wrongly according to any generally accepted standard of behavior. The God of the Bible does not speak only to religious people. This God speaks to any and every people. Why? Because he is the God of the whole world. That, I think, is the bottom line.

所有人，不論是信徒還是非信徒，都可以從希伯來先知的文學(xué)研究中受益。所以沒有必要去尋求平衡點。盡管許多預(yù)言是向與上帝立約的以色列子民發(fā)布的，但先知們也會對其他人發(fā)布預(yù)言。所有的寫作先知，除何西阿以外，都曾對其他國家發(fā)布神諭，進行譴責(zé)，這里也包括沒有和耶和華立約的人們。先知們也會對殘忍、魯莽、驕傲或者其他惡行進行審判。對先知的書寫進行文學(xué)解讀，我想所有人都可以從中受益。圣經(jīng)是一部偉大的文學(xué)作品，對信徒來說它當然不僅僅是文學(xué)作品，但它對所有人來說都是有價值的。希伯來先知的訓(xùn)誡在當下都至關(guān)重要，根據(jù)普世價值來譴責(zé)不當?shù)男袨?。圣?jīng)不只是給有宗教信仰的人，而是面向所有的人的一部典籍。為什么呢？因為從基督教信仰的角度來看，他是全世界的上帝，我想這是一條底線。

采訪/ Tony Huang/ Nancy He

校譯/ Nancy He

編輯/ 李庫晴

鳴謝/ 元極教育文化孵化基金 /天津桃李源文化基金會

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