Bibliorum

 

创世记 8

Study

   

1 记念挪亚和挪亚方舟里的一切走牲畜势渐落。

2 渊源和上的窗户都闭塞了,上的大雨也止住了。

3 水从上渐退。过了一五十,水就渐消。

4 十七日,方舟停在亚拉腊上。

5 水又渐消,到十初一日,顶都现出来了。

6 过了四十,挪亚开了方舟的窗户,

7 放出一只乌鸦去;那乌鸦飞来飞去,直到上的都乾了。

8 他又放出一只鸽子去,要水从地上退了没有。

9 但遍上都是水,鸽子不着落,就回到方舟挪亚那里,挪亚伸鸽子接进方舟

10 他又等了,再把鸽子从方舟放出去。

11 到了晚上鸽子回到他那里,嘴里叼着一个新拧下橄榄子,挪亚就知道上的水退了。

12 他又等了,放出鸽子去,鸽子就不再回来了。

13 到挪亚零一岁,正初一日,上的水都乾了。挪亚撤去方舟的盖观,便见地面上乾了。

14 到了二二十日,就都乾了。

15 对挪亚

16 你和你的妻子、儿子、儿妇都可以出方舟。

17 在你那里凡有血的活物,就是飞牲畜,和一切爬在上的昆虫,都要带出来,叫他在上多多滋生,大大兴旺。

18 於是挪亚和他的妻子、儿子、儿妇都出来了。

19 一切走、昆虫、飞,和上所有的动物,各从其类,也都出了方舟。

20 挪亚为耶和华筑了一座,拿各类洁净的牲畜、飞献在上为燔祭。

21 耶和华那馨之气,就:我不再因人的缘故咒诅地(人从小时里怀着恶念),也不再按着我才行的灭各种的活物了。

22 还存留的时候,稼穑、寒暑、冬夏、昼夜就永不停息了。

   

Commentarius

 

Two

  

The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see if we consider the conflicts we tend to have between our "hearts" and our "heads" -- between what we want and what we know. Our "hearts" tell us that we want pie with ice cream for dinner; our "heads" tell us we should have grilled chicken and salad. If we can bring those two together and actually want what's good for us, we'll be pretty happy. We're built that way -- with our emotions balanced against our intellect -- because the Lord is built that way. His essence is love itself, or Divine Love, the source of all caring, emotion and energy. It is expressed as Divine Wisdom, which gives form to that love and puts it to work, and is the source of all knowledge and reasoning. In His case the two aspects are always in conjunction, always in harmony. It's easy also to see how that duality is reflected throughout creation: plants and animals, food and drink, silver and gold. Most importantly, it's reflected in the two genders, with women representing love and men representing wisdom. That's the underlying reason why conjunction in marriage is such a holy thing. So when "two" is used in the Bible to indicate some sort of pairing or unity, it means a joining together. In rare cases, however, "two" is used more purely as a number. In these cases it stands for a profane or unholy state that comes before a holy one. This is because "three" represents a state of holiness and completion (Jesus, for instance, rose from the tomb on the third day), and "two" represents the state just before it.