QT 03/04/2025 Thu. Isaiah 39. Learning lessons well. 10,000 repetitions? 要想学得好，重复一万次？
QT 03/04/2025 Thu. Isaiah 39. Learning lessons well. 10,000 repetitions?
READ http://www.esvbible.org/isaiah39
It was said that learning to play difficult music pieces on some stringed instruments required repeating the phrases 10,000 times. After that, the hands and muscles would not forget—muscle memory would be acquired. How many repetitions do we need to learn the lifestyle of trusting God?
All the teachings of Isaiah 7–35 to trust God (even though well lived out in Isaiah 36–38), seemed forgotten in Isaiah 39. Instead of trusting God, the text seemed to portray King Hezekiah as going back to the usual two alternatives—(1) trusting the nations and (2) trusting in the accumulated wealth of Judah. Why Isaiah 39 then?
Isaiah 39:1–3 Envoys from Babylon
[1] At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. [2] And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. [3] Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” (ESV)
Isaiah 39, in closing the first part of the book (Isaiah 1–39), displayed the mistakes of trusting the nations and trusting wealth. The prophet was answering the basic question why they were defeated by Babylon when their King Hezekiah did trust God. Isaiah 39 points to spiritual lessons not learned well. Trusting in God is not something like a genie or charm to be pulled out in an emergency to rub or use. Trusting God must become a way of life.
The prophet rebuked Hezekiah for displaying and disclosing what was in his treasure house (39:3–7). Even though Hezekiah welcomed the Babylonian king "gladly" (39:2), the lesson was that Israel's hope for righteousness and justice must be found in someone else, someone more than a king such as Hezekiah or Merodach-baladan.
Even though God was proven as trustworthy in Isaiah 7–35, this book cannot close yet, because the deeper human side of the problem has NOT found a solution yet. For that we have to look to Isaiah 40–66 and the Messiah revealed therein, to solve the human problem once and for all.
QT 03/04/2025 星期四 以赛亚书 39. 要想学得好，重复一万次？
阅读 http://m.bbintl.org/bible/ncv/isa/39
据说，学习演奏一些弦乐器的高难度乐曲需要重复一万次。之后，手和肌肉就不会忘记--获得了肌肉记忆。我们需要重复多少次才能学会信靠上帝的生活方式呢？
《以赛亚书》第 7-35 章中所有关于信靠上帝的教导（尽管在《以赛亚书》第 36-38 章中得到了很好的实践），但在《以赛亚书》第 39 章中似乎都被遗忘了。文中描写的希西家王似乎没有信靠上帝，而是回到了通常的两种其他的选择--（1）信靠列国和（2）信靠犹大积累的财富。那么，为何以赛亚书 39 呢？
以赛亚书 39:1-3 来自巴比伦的使节
1 那时，巴比伦王巴拉但的儿子米罗达．巴拉但，听说希西家病了，又痊愈了，就派人送信和礼物给希西家。2 希西家就十分高兴，并且把他的宝库、银子、金子、香料和贵重的油，以及他整个武器库里和他府库里的一切物件，都给使者们看；他家里和他全国里的东西，希西家没有一样不给他们看。3 于是以赛亚先知来见希西家王，问他说：“这些人说了些什么？他们从哪里来见你？”希西家说：“他们是从远方的巴比伦来见我的。”
《以赛亚书》第 39 章是该书第一部分（以赛亚书 1-39）的结尾，它揭示了信任列国和信任财富的错误。先知回答了一个基本问题：既然上帝可以信任，希西家王也确实在一定程度上信任上帝，为什么会被巴比伦打败？以赛亚书第 39 章指出了没有很好吸取的属灵教训。信靠上帝并不像精灵或护身符那样，在紧急情况下可以掏出来擦一擦或用一用。信靠上帝必须成为一种生活方式。
先知责备希西家展示和透露他宝库里的东西（39：3-7）。尽管希西家 “十分高兴” 欢迎巴比伦王（39：2），但教训是，以色列人对公义和正义的希望必须寄托在别人身上，而不是希西家或美罗巴拉但这样的国王身上。
尽管上帝在以赛亚书 7-35 章中被证明是可信的，但这本书还不能结束，因为更深层次的人类问题还没有找到解决办法。为此，我们必须仰望以赛亚书 40-66 章和其中揭示的弥赛亚，以彻底解决人类的问题。
