作者：Andrew Compton 譯者：駱鴻銘
將要被滅的巴比倫城的女子啊，報復你像你待我們的，那人便為有福！ 拿你的嬰孩摔在磐石上的，那人便為有福！ (Psa 137:8-9)
“O
daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you
with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones
and dashes them against the rock!” (Psalm 137:8-9)
任何基督徒，只要他對整本聖經有最崇高的看法，將聖經視為基督教會的準則，都會對詩篇裏的咒詛感到坐立難安。上帝不是要我們愛仇敵嗎？基督徒怎能把咒詛仇敵掛在嘴邊呢？詩篇裏是否有一些篇章已經和基督徒無關了呢？
Any
Christian who has a high view of the normativity of all of Scripture (OT and
NT) for the Christian church will wrestle with the language of cursing and
imprecation found in the Psalms. Are we not called to love our enemies? How
then can a Christian take such language upon his lips? Are not certain Psalms no
longer relevant to Christians?
在慕瑞（David Murray）的新書，Sing a New Song: Recovering Psalm Singing for
the Twenty-First Century (Reformation Heritage Books, 2010)裏，他貢獻了很有益處的一章，討論「基督徒的咒詛？」（111-121頁）。這章的篇幅很短，但是包含了許多深刻的洞見。
In
the book Sing a New Song: Recovering Psalm Singing for the Twenty-First Century
(Reformation Heritage Books, 2010), David Murray contributes a useful chapter
to the discussion entitled “Christian Cursing?” (See pgs. 111-121) The chapter
is short, but contains several good insights.
慕瑞首先提到，他認為閱讀咒詛詩有哪些錯誤的方法。雖然有些人訴諸救贖歷史不同的時代、詩人也會犯罪、咒詛的是魔鬼而不是人、這是預言文體而不是禱告、是一種誇張手法等等，但是慕瑞覺得，這些理由都有點牽強。他提出十種「幫助」（helps）來取代這些看法，幫助我們理解這些詩篇，盼望這會讓我們更明白這些詩篇，也唱得更好。
Murray
begins with what he deems wrong approaches to the imprecatory Psalms. Though
some have appealed to shifts in redemptive historical epochs, sin on the
Psalmists’ part, demons as the objects of the curses instead of people, a
prophetic genre rather than prayer, and hyperbole, Murray feels that each
appeal is problematic. In the place of these, he offers “ten helps” for
understanding these Psalms, hoping that this will enable us to read and sing
these Psalms better.
1. 這些詩篇是從首次的福音應許而來的。詩篇的咒詛，根源於對蛇的咒詛，乃是伴隨著創世記三章15節的首次福音宣講（ protoeuangelion）。慕瑞說，咒詛詩基本上是對上帝的禱告，求祂忠於祂的話和屬性，祂是公平和聖潔的上帝：「上帝啊，請忠於你自己的應許，咒詛那些咒詛我的人。」
Rooted
in the first gospel promise. The curses of the Psalms are rooted in the curse
upon the serpent that accompanied the protoeuangelion in Gen 3:14-15. Murray
says that the imprecations are essentially a prayer to God, asking him to be
faithful to his own word and character as a just and holy God: “God, be
faithful to your promise to curse those who curse me.”
2. 大衛寬恕的品格。一般說來，聖經把大衛描繪為「一位為祂的仇敵禱告的人，並試著善待他們」。雖然慕瑞沒有進一步評論，他的意思是這種描寫，理當為我們創造一種釋經上的信心。大衛的心裏必然已經調和了這兩個看似矛盾的立場，因此我們也應該用一種開放的態度來看這些詩篇，聆聽它們如何和那些表達愛仇敵的經文達成和諧。
David’s
forgiving character. Generally speaking, Scripture portrays David as “one who
prayed for his enemies and sought to do them good.” Though Murray does not
comment further, his implication is that this portrayal should create in us a
hermeneutic of trust. David must have reconciled these two seemingly
contradictory stances in his own mind, thus we too should approach these Psalms
with an openness to hear how they are in harmony with other passages expressing
love for enemies.
3. 君王代表上帝。慕瑞解釋說：「君王是上帝的代言人，上帝的名聲和君王是綁在一起的。冒犯上帝膏立的君王就等於冒犯上帝。」因此詩人不是企圖要用人的方法去報復對人的冒犯，而是呼求上帝自己，為冒犯上帝而伸冤。
The
king represented God. Murray explains: “As the king was God’s representative,
God’s reputation was tied up with the king’s. Offending God’s anointed king was
equivalent to offending God.” The Psalmists were thus not seeking to take human
revenge upon human offense, but were calling down divine vengeance upon divine
offense.
4. 新約聖經多次引用。新約引用了好幾處的咒詛詩，「毫無保留，或未加限定」。慕瑞引用這個材料來提醒我們，新約信徒從基督教一開始就常常用咒詛詩來禱告（作為一個旁註，G. K. Beale在他一本非常精彩的超短小冊裏，提到新約聖經如何使用咒詛詩：The Morality of God in the Old Testament。高度推薦！
Multiple
New Testament quotations. The NT cites several imprecatory Psalms “without any
reserve or qualification.” Murray cites this material to remind us that NT
believers have been taking the imprecatory Psalms upon their lips from the
beginnings of Christianity. (As a side note, G.K. Beale speaks to the NT use of
imprecatory Psalms in his very short, but very excellent booklet The Morality
of God in the Old Testament. This is a highly recommended volume.).
5. 新約的咒詛。這和新約使用咒詛詩有關。但是慕瑞證明了新約提供了自己的一些咒詛（例如：加一8-9，五11-12；提後四14；林前十六22）。雖然今天有許多人採用一種馬吉安異端（譯按：指割裂舊約和新約，認為兩約的上帝不是同一個上帝）的方法來讀舊約和新約，慕瑞提醒我們，「兩約聖經都同時說到上帝的公義和上帝的愛。……」
New
Testament imprecations. This is related to the NT’s use of OT imprecatory
Psalms, but here Murray demonstrates that the NT provides some imprecations of
its own (e.g., Gal. 1:8-9, 5:11-12; 2 Tim. 4:14; 1 Cor 16:22). Though many in
our day take a Marcionite approach to the OT and NT, Murray reminds us that
“God’s justice and God’s love are found in both testaments….”
6. 立基在公義之上。雖然在我們生活的時代，報復不是司法對策最重要的方法，慕瑞提醒我們，聖經的公義是以報復為基礎的。上帝的公義必須得到滿足。慕瑞解釋說：「咒詛詩的實質是：公義必須成全，無辜義人的冤屈要得到昭雪。」這也是新約聖經的一個主題（路十八1-8）。
Based
on justice. Though we live in a day when retribution is not at the forefront of
judicial policy, Murray reminds us that retribution was the foundation of
biblical justice. God’s justice must be satisfied. Murray explains: “The
substance of the imprecatory Psalms is that justice be done and the innocent
righteous vindicated, which is a New Testament theme also (Luke 18:1-8).”
7. 願祢的國降臨。「聖經的咒詛反映了上帝的百姓對上帝國度的熱心，以及他們恨惡罪與邪惡的熱情……上帝的國度是通過打敗和毀滅相競爭的國度而降臨的。」慕瑞繼續說到：「這真正的意思是祝福和咒詛是一個銅板的兩面。對那些受冤屈的人的憐憫，必然會包含對邪惡的義憤（太廿三章）。」慕瑞在結論裏引用派博（John Piper）的一段很有幫助的話說：「咒詛詩的禱告不應該是我們對邪惡的第一個反應，而是最後一個反應。」必須先有其他的禱告，在上帝國度裏，其他角度在我們念及其他人時，必須佔優先的地位。然而，渴望上帝國度的降臨，會伴隨著渴望上帝國度的完滿（fullness）。如果我們盼望上帝國度的完滿，就不能不渴望邪惡被毀滅，這是上帝國度的完滿的一部分。
Thy
kingdom come. “The imprecations of Scripture reflect the zeal of God’s people
of the kingdom of God and their passionate hatred of sin and evil…. God’s
kingdom comes by defeating and destroying competing kingdoms.” Murray
continues: “This is really saying that blessing and cursing are two sides of
the same coin. Real compassion for the wronged can exist only beside
indignation against wrong-doing (Matt. 23).” Murray cites a helpful statement
of John Piper with the conclusion that “prayers of imprecation should not be
our first reaction to evil, but our last.” There are other prayers that come
first and there are aspects to God’s kingdom that take priority in our thinking
over others. Nevertheless, with the desire for the coming of God’s kingdom
comes a desire for the fullness of God’s kingdom. One cannot desire that
fullness without also desiring the destruction of evil that is part of it.
8. 伸冤在上帝。值得注意的是咒詛詩不是述說詩人如何自己為自己伸冤（注意，即使是在以色列定居迦南地和約書亞的聖戰（herem [חֶרֶם] warfare）裏，精明的讀者也會留意到，這不是人類發明的種族屠殺。再次，G. K. Beals在他的小冊（ The Morality of God in the Old Testament）裏有很好的說法。慕瑞解釋到，「咒詛詩是向上帝的禱告，祈求祂伸冤報應。詩人不是自己伸冤，而是把這個處境交託給上帝。」
Vengeance
is God’s. It is noteworthy that the imprecatory Psalms are not narratives of
how Psalmists took vengeance into their own hands. (Note that even in the
settlement narratives and herem (חֶרֶם) warfare of Joshua, astute
readers will note that this was not a humanly devised genocide. Again, G.K.
Beale speaks well to this matter in his booklet The Morality of God in the Old
Testament). Murray explains: “An imprecation is a prayer for God to take
vengeance. The psalmist does not take vengeance himself but turns the situation
over to God.”
9. 審判的目標是救贖。慕瑞提到，咒詛詩經常是以罪人的益處為中心的：「上帝經常用審判讓罪人歸向自己。」慕瑞引用的經文包括詩篇八十三篇16節；但以理書第四章；和使徒行傳十三章9-12節。慕瑞引用了路德的一句很長的話，說明我們為基督仇敵的禱告有兩方面：一方面，祈求他們在破壞屬基督的人的努力上會失敗；另一方面，也祈求他們自己會歸信基督。
Judgments
aiming at salvation. Murray notes that the imprecations often have the good of
the sinner at their heart: “God will often use judgments to bring sinners to
himself.” Passages Murray cites include Psalm 83:16; Daniel 4; and Acts
13:9-12. In a long citation of Martin Luther, Murray shows that our prayers for
the enemies of Christ are two-fold; on the one hand, that they might fail in
their efforts to persecute Christ’s own, and on the other hand, that they might
be brought to faith in Christ themselves.
10. 指向基督。基督自己最完美地唱出了咒詛詩的語言，祂有一天會回來，毀滅所有的罪惡，和對父神旨意的反對，並最終成全上帝對來世的完美統治。因為基督完美唱出了咒詛詩，我們可以有信心「耐心地等候上帝成全祂的應許，儘管目前惡人正在得勝，神的百姓正在受苦。」
Point us to Christ. The imprecatory
language of the Psalms is most perfectly sung by Christ himself who one day
will return to destroy all evil and opposition to the Father’s will, and
consummate God’s perfect rule of the age to come. Because Christ is the perfect
singer of the imprecations, we can have confidence and “patiently wait for God
to fulfill his promises, despite the temporary triumphing of the wicked and the
affliction of the godly.”
總之，當我們在解讀詩篇中的咒詛詩時，慕瑞提供了一些很重要的論點，供基督徒思考。當然，對這些論點我們都可以提出反對意見。當我在把這些內容打出來時，想到一些可能的回應。不過，我也想到了對每個批評的一些答辯，來接受慕瑞的回答的實質內容，即使我必須緩和或微調十個「幫助」這樣的說法。如果慕瑞這章可以寫得更長一些，也許他會把這些幫助說得更詳細一些。不過，就它們目前的內容來說，是一個很好的討論方向，也是對這個問題的一些回答的初步嘗試。
In
conclusion, David Murray offers some important points for Christians to
consider when interpreting the imprecatory language of the Psalms. Certainly
each of these points is open to objection; I thought of possible responses to
each as I was typing this up. Nevertheless, I also thought of rejoinders to
each critique that embrace the substance of Murray’s answer even if I needed to
mitigate or nuance the language of the “ten helps.” Had Murray’s chapter been
longer, he could have fleshed out these helps a bit more, but as they stand,
they are a good orientation to the discussion and an initial foray into some
answers to the question.
此外，慕瑞所認為的「錯誤的解答」，不是都同等地會誤導人。和這裏也一樣，當然有些例外，這些論證的一些比較好的版本，的確可以提供一些解釋的亮光。尤其是救贖歷史時期的轉變，也就是在摩西之約下的土地-預表，的確為上帝的忿怒的「闖入」（intrusion）提供了一個舞台（譯按：指上帝在末世的審判提早在舊約時代讓人看到，這是借用自Meredith Kline的語言）。
Furthermore,
not every one of what Murray deems “wrong solutions” is equally misguided. Here
too, with exceptions of course, better versions of these arguments can indeed
offer some explanatory power. This is especially the case with the shift in
redemptive historical epochs as the land-typology under the Mosaic covenant
does provide an arena for “intrusion” of divine wrath that is no longer
appropriate for this present epoch.
慕瑞的這章是一個很有用的資源，提供了很有價值的幫助。我們必須牢記，在如何閱讀和詮釋詩篇的咒詛詩的語言時，我們不是第一代基督徒。有許多基督徒前輩已經提供一些基礎，讓我們對這些具有挑戰——卻榮耀上帝——的經文，提供進一步信靠上帝的回應。資源是很豐富的，所以就拿起來讀吧！
Murray’s
chapter is a useful resource and a valuable help. We must always remember that
ours is not the first generation of Christians to struggle with how to read and
interpret the imprecatory language of the Psalms. Many have come before us and
provided the groundwork for further believing responses to these challenging –
but nevertheless God glorifying – passages. Resources abound so take up and
read!
R.
Andrew Compton
Christ
Reformed Church (URCNA)
Anaheim, CA
