欢迎回到 Shameless Popery。 Welcome back to Shameless Popery.
我是乔·赫施迈尔。 I'm Joe Heschmeyer.
我想从旧约中的一段奇特的经文开始。 So, I want to start with a strange passage from the Old Testament.
这是以赛亚书37章36节，经上说神的使者出去，在亚述营中杀了十八万五千人。 It's Isaiah 37, verse 36, and it says that the angel of the Lord went forth and killed 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians.
清早有人起来一看，都是死尸了。 And when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
这段经文因为很多原因显得很特别。 So, this is a strange passage for a number of reasons.
首先，这是一幅天使去杀死以色列敌人的震撼画面。 Number one, it's this really striking kind of image of an angel going and killing the enemies of Israel.
它既显得暴力，又带有某种神话色彩。 It has that combination of features where it seems violent and sort of mythological.
这就是那种我觉得人们听到后会想：我们该如何理解这件事？ It's the kind of thing that I think people hear about and then think, What do we do with this?
作为基督徒，可能很难知道如何把这件事融入到耶稣的信仰中。 As Christians, it may be hard to know how to incorporate that into the faith of Jesus.
作为非基督徒，你们可能会看到这个说：这太奇怪了。 As non-Christians, you may look at that and say, This is weird.
伙计们，你们的圣经这是怎么回事？ What is going on in your Bible here, guys?
所以，我想探讨一下，这真的是发生过的事吗？ And so, I want to explore, like, well, is that really what happened?
让人惊喜的是，我们将会看到，这其实是一个有详细历史记载的事件。 What's great about this, as we're going to see, is this is a really well-documented historical event.
现在，在我展开讨论并从埃及、希腊、巴比伦和亚述 的角度探讨这件事之前，我想先简单通知两件事。 Now, before I unpack that and explore this from the Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian, and Assyrian perspectives, I want to give two quick announcements.
第一，你们可能已经注意到了，我的嗓子有点哑。 Number one, as you may have already noticed, my voice is a little bit shot.
我周末嗓子哑了，所以我现在尽力而为。 I lost my voice over the weekend, so I'm doing the best I can.
如果今天声音听起来有点怪，这是我的问题。 But if the sound is a little weird today, that's on me.
第二，我开通了Patreon账号。 Second, I have a Patreon.
这是我之前一直在说要做的事情，现在终于建好了。 This is something I've been talking about doing for a while now, and I finally got it up and running.
如果你们去patreon.com/shamelesspopery So, if you go to patreon.com/shamelesspopery
或者点击下面描述里的链接，你们可以选择注册。 or if you click the link in the description below, you can, if you want, sign up.
即使是每月5美元的档位，我们也提供很棒的福利，比如每周在线问 答环节，你可以直接提问，我会留出一个小时专门回答大家的问题。 One of the cool things we're doing at even the $5 a month level is there's like an online weekly Q&A where you can ask your questions directly, and I leave an hour to just respond to people's questions.
我对此非常兴奋。 I'm super excited about it.
我很期待看看这个模式会如何运作。 I'm excited to kind of see how this works.
一两周前我刚在Discord上和很多年轻人进行了问答，效果很棒。 I just did a Discord Q&A a week or two ago with a ton of young people, and it was amazing.
真的很精彩。 It was a real blast.
而且我觉得这也能帮我想到该制作什么样的视频。 And it also, I think, helps generate ideas for me for what kind of videos to make.
所以，如果你想支持这个项目，那太好了！ So, if that's something that you want to support, great!
我会尽量不太强求，我也不喜欢别人过分推销自己的东西。 I'll try not to be too pushy; I don't like when people push their stuff too much.
那么说完这些，让我们回到正题。 So, with that, let's turn towards the topic at hand.
正如我所说，这是圣经历史上记载最详实的事件之一。 As I said, this is one of the best-documented events in biblical history.
为什么我会这么说呢？ Now, why do I say that?
让我来介绍一下以撒·卡利米博士。 Well, let me introduce you to Dr. Isaac Kalimi.
以撒·卡利米博士是希伯来圣经、古代以色列历史和犹太研究的教授。 Dr. Isaac Kalimi is a professor for the Hebrew Bible, the history of ancient Israel, and Jewish studies.
在受邀到美因茨大学之前，他曾在欧洲、美国和以色列的著名机构工作。 He has worked at distinguished institutions in Europe, the USA, and Israel before being invited to the University of Mainz.
以撒·卡利米博士谈到亚述王西拿基立的这次军事行动，包括 耶路撒冷之围，与古代近东历史上的许多其他事件相比较。 Dr. Isaac Kalimi talks about how this campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, including the siege of Jerusalem, compared to many other events in the history of the ancient Near East.
这第三次军事行动，也就是从亚述的角度来看在他统治第 四年即公元前701年的西部战役，有非常详细的记载。 This third campaign, the western campaign from the Assyrian perspective in the fourth year of his reign, so 701, is very well documented.
他说这无疑是第一圣殿时期以色列历史上记载最详实的事件。 He says it is definitely the best-documented event of the history of Israel in the First Temple period.
所以，这就是我为什么对此感到兴奋：一方面，你有这 个听起来很奇怪且像神话的事件，就是天使击败军队。 So, here's why I'm excited about this: because on the one hand, you have this event that seems really strange and mythological-sounding, you know, angels beating armies.
另一方面，你有来自各种文化的大量古老历史证据。 And on the other hand, you have a bunch of really old historical evidence from a variety of cultures.
正如卡利米所说，这个事件在各种亚述史料中都有记载，比如在战役后不 久写成的西拿基立年鉴、公牛雕像铭文，以及后来的简要总结铭文中。 As Kalimi says, the event is recounted in various Assyrian sources like the Annals of Sennacherib, which were composed shortly after the campaign, in the bull inscriptions, and in later condensed summary inscriptions.
这些事件也出现在亚述浮雕中，你知道，有这些事件的雕刻，而且有大量考古发掘为证。 It's also in Assyrian reliefs; you know, you've got carvings of the events, and it's testified to by an abundance of archaeological excavations.
所以有各种文物——陶罐、钱币和碗等——都证实了这段历史：亚述 人确实入侵了，他们确实试图征服耶路撒冷，确实发生了一些事情。 So, there are all sorts of things—pots and coins and bowls, as they're called—that attest to the historicity that the Assyrians really did invade, they really did try to conquer Jerusalem, and something really did happen.
不过我说得有点超前了。 But I'm getting ahead of myself a little bit.
在这个视频中，我要给你们一个概述，好，这到底是个什么故事？ So, for this video, I'm going to give you kind of an overview of, okay, what is even this story?
也许你从未听说过西拿基立的军事行动——这很正常。 Maybe you've never heard of Sennacherib's campaign—totally normal.
让我们先从以色列人的记载，或者说犹大人或犹太人的记载来看。 So, let's look at it first from the Israelites' account, or the Judeans' or Jewish account.
这是希伯来人或圣经版本的记载，然后我们再从他们敌人的角度，从亚述人的角度来看。 This is a Hebrew or biblical kind of version of events, and then we'll look at it from their enemies' perspective, from the Assyrian perspective.
接着是希罗多德的希腊视角。 And then the Greek perspective with Herodotus.
他依据的是埃及的资料，所以我把它称为希腊/埃及的视角。 He's relying on Egyptian sources, so I'm calling it kind of the Greek/Egyptian perspective.
最后是巴比伦的视角。 And then finally, from the Babylonian perspective.
这很有意思，因为不仅仅是参战方的记载，这四种视角各有不同。 So, it's going to be really cool because it's not just people who were the combatants in this particular fight, and each of the four perspectives has a different angle.
但我认为我们能够从中得出一个特定的图景，随着讲解你们就会明白。 But I think we can draw out a particular picture that emerges; you'll see as we go.
让我们从圣经的记载开始。 Let's start with what the Bible says.
这将是犹太人对这个事件的视角。 This is going to be the Jewish perspective on the event.
这件事有两个来源：列王纪下18-19章和以赛亚书36-37 章。它们显然使用了相同的材料，或者其中一个引用了另一个。 There are really two sources for this: you've got 2 Kings 18-19 and Isaiah 36-37. They're clearly using the same material, or one of them is using the other one.
有很大段落是完全相同的。 There are large passages that are just verbatim the same.
既然我之前引用了以赛亚书，这里我就转到列王纪下。 Since I quoted from Isaiah earlier, I'll switch here to 2 Kings.
列王纪下18章设定了背景，希西家王得耶和华的喜悦。 2 Kings 18 sets kind of the background that King Hezekiah was favored by the Lord.
耶和华与他同在，他无论往何处去都亨通。他背叛 亚述王，就是我们所知的西拿基立，不肯事奉他。 The Lord was with him wherever he went forth; he prospered, and he rebelled against the king of Assyria, whom we know as Sennacherib, and would not serve him.
现在，看到这样的背景，你可能会觉得事情会很顺利。 Now, you might think, given that context, it's going to be great.
好吧，这是耶和华所膏的，对吧？ Well, okay, the Lord's anointed, right?
这个与耶和华同行的人反抗亚述王，我打赌事情会很顺利。 The guy walking with the Lord rebels against the king of the Assyrians, and I bet it's going to go great.
但事实并非如此。 It does not.
于是西拿基立在希西家王十四年上来攻击犹大的一切坚固城，将城攻取。 So, Sennacherib, in the 14th year of King Hezekiah, comes up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
所以他大规模征服了犹大的其他城市。 So, he has this mass conquest of the other cities of Judah.
拜伦勋爵有一首很棒的诗叫《西拿基立的毁灭》，我觉得很好地描绘了这幅画面。 Lord Byron has a great poem called The Destruction of Sennacherib that I think does a good job of kind of painting the picture here.
这里给你们一点意境，你们可以想象这些庞大的亚述军队压向相对弱小的犹大人。 So, here's just a little taste where you can imagine these massive Assyrian armies coming in on the relatively small Judeans.
我很喜欢这个描写——就像狼群来袭，长矛闪烁如海上繁星。 I love that depiction—just like, here comes the wolf, here comes this sheen of spears like stars on the sea.
正如我所说，一开始情况并不好。 And as I say, it does not go well at first.
事实上，希西家后悔背叛亚述人。 In fact, Hezekiah regrets rebelling against the Assyrians.
所以在列王纪下18章14节，他派人去拉吉见亚述王。 So, in verse 14 of 2 Kings 18, he sends to the king of Assyria at Lachish.
这是希西家的一座已被攻占的城，他说：我有罪了。 This is one of Hezekiah's own cities that has been conquered, and he says, I have done wrong.
求你离开我，凡你罚我的，我必承当。 Withdraw from me; whatever you impose on me, I will bear.
于是亚述王要希西家三百他连得银子，三十他连得金子。希 西家就把耶和华殿里和王宫府库里所有的银子都给了他。 The king of Assyria requested 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold, and Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was to be found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house.
他甚至把自己包在耶和华殿的门扇和门框上的金子都刮下来，给了亚述王。 In fact, he's even reduced to having to strip the doors of the temple of the Lord for their gold and from the doorposts which he had overlaid.
他把这一切都给了西拿基立，但历史记载都没有说清楚为什么这还不够。 He gives all that to Sennacherib for some reason, and none of the historical accounts are clear about why this is not good enough.
可能是他没有得到他要求的那么多，所以这些巨额献金——可以 说是从希西家那里榨取的巨额罚金——对西拿基立来说还不够。 Now, it may be that he didn't get as much as he had asked for, and so the massive donations—let's say the massive kind of penalty that he's extracted from Hezekiah—is not enough for Sennacherib.
但无论如何，他并没有停手。 But whatever the case, he doesn't stop.
所以，大都会博物馆的研究员和楔形文字专家艾拉 ·斯帕尔谈到这件事，他很好地梳理了这段历史。 So, Ira Spahr, who is a researcher and a cuneiform specialist for the MET, talks about this, and he does a good job kind of laying out the history here.
他说，不知道为什么希西家的进贡没能成功阻止进一步的攻击。 He says, It is not known why Hezekiah's tribute did not succeed in preventing further attacks.
进贡的全部意义就是小国向大国送一大笔钱以避免被入侵。 The whole point of tribute is that one small country sends a bunch of money to a larger country so they don't get invaded.
在这里，根据所有记载，钱已经送去了，或者至少送去了一部分，但他们还是遭到了入侵。 Here, the money, by all accounts, was sent, or at least some money was sent, and they're invaded nevertheless.
正如艾里斯·斯帕尔所说，亚述人向拉吉城发起猛攻。 As Iris Spahr says, The Assyrians bore down on Lachish.
记住，这就是进贡发生的地方。 Remember, that's where we find the tribute being given.
亚述人已经到了那里，他们攻破城墙，屠杀了数千 居民，并把城中领袖的尸体钉在城墙外的木桩上。 The Assyrians are already there; they battered down its walls, slaughtered thousands of its inhabitants, and impaled the bodies of its leaders on stakes outside of the city walls.
而耶路撒冷离那里只有30英里。 Jerusalem, meanwhile, is only 30 miles away.
所以在到达耶路撒冷之前，西拿基立派遣了一个由高级军事和行政官员组成的代表团，商 谈投降条件，并提醒希西家，埃及已经被打败了，犹大的神也无法抵挡亚述大王的威力。 So, in advance of the arrival in Jerusalem, Sennacherib sends a delegation of high-powered military and administrative officials to negotiate terms of surrender and to remind Hezekiah that Egypt had been defeated and Judah's God would be of no help against the might of the great king of Assyria.
这时，犹大正试图依靠埃及的帮助，但埃及根本不是亚述的对手。 At this time, Judah is trying to rely on Egypt for help, but Egypt is just no match for Assyria.
同时，所有与亚述人作战的其他国家都寄希望于他们 的异教神明，但都被亚述大王一个接一个地击倒了。 Meanwhile, all of these other nations that have fought against the Assyrians looked to their pagan gods, and one after another has been knocked down by the great king of Assyria.
从世俗的角度来看，这确实似乎是一个绝望的处境。 It does seem, from a secular perspective, like a hopeless situation.
弱小的以色列，或者说犹大，怎么可能在这种情况下生存下来？ How is tiny Israel, or rather Judah, going to be able to survive this?
艾里斯·巴斯认为谈判无疑破裂了，部分原因可能是——现 在我不知道怎么能在同一句话里说"无疑"又说"可能"。 Iris Barth suggests that undoubtedly the negotiations broke down, possibly in part—now how you can say undoubtedly and possibly in the same breath, I don't know.
无疑，谈判破裂可能是因为希西家信靠以赛亚的话，以 赛亚再次向王保证神会保护耶路撒冷，击溃亚述军队。 Undoubtedly, the negotiations broke down possibly as a result of Hezekiah's reliance on the words of Isaiah, who assured the king once again that God would protect Jerusalem and crush the Assyrian army.
所以，希西家显然在后悔这个决定，但与此同时，先知以赛亚在说，神会保护你。 So, Hezekiah is clearly regretting this course of action, but meanwhile, the prophet Isaiah is saying, God is going to protect you.
埃及人帮不了你，但以色列的神能为你做事。 The Egyptians can't do anything for you; the God of Israel can do something for you.
他会保护你。 He will protect you.
那个下来的代表团——我实际上两周前提到过——你 可以看到这些有趣的帝国官职，显示出王权的威严。 That delegation that came down—I actually alluded to this like two weeks ago—just how you see all these interesting imperial kind of offices, and it shows the royal authority.
列王纪下18章16节讲到西拿基立如何从拉吉差遣他珊、拉伯撒利和拉伯沙基率领大军。 2 Kings 18, verse 16, talks about how Sennacherib sends the tartan, the rabsaris, and the rapshaka with a great army from Lachish.
这是代表团，他们不是来入侵的。 This is the delegation; they're not coming to invade.
他们带来足够的军力，这样他们的高级官员在提 出投降条件或嘲讽耶路撒冷人民时就不会被杀。 They come up with enough force that, you know, their top administrative officials aren't going to get killed while going to propose terms of surrender and/or taunt the people of Jerusalem.
他们违反了明显的外交礼仪。 They break the apparent protocol.
他们有高级代表，王也派出他的高级官员，像以利亚敬这样的人，但他们都被无视了。 So, they have the high-ranking delegates, and the king sends out his high-ranking people, people like Eliakim, and they're just kind of ignored.
他们没有用双方都懂的亚兰语交谈，而是转而用百姓的语言说 话，这样城墙上的人——保卫耶路撒冷的士兵——都能听见。 Rather than speaking to them in Aramaic, which they both understand, the Assyrians turn and speak in the language of the people so that the people on the wall—the soldiers who are protecting the city of Jerusalem—can hear.
亚述官员对希西家和神发出了令人难以置信的嘲讽。 You just have this incredible taunt of Hezekiah and of God made by the Assyrian officials.
这是从儿童节目《超级书》中来的，但它很忠实地遵循了圣经的记载。 This is from the children's show Superbook, but it pretty closely follows the biblical account.
这是亚述人更长的嘲讽中的一小段：不要让希西家欺骗你们说：'耶和华必拯救我们。' So, here’s a little taste of a much longer kind of taunt that the Assyrians give: Don't let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, 'The Lord will rescue us.'
列国的神有哪一个曾救自己的国民脱离亚述王的手呢？ Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria?
哈马和亚珥拔的神在哪里呢？ What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad?
西法瓦音的神在哪里呢？ And what about the gods of Sepharvaim?
有何神能救撒玛利亚脱离我的手呢？ Did any god rescue Samaria from my power?
哪一个国家的神曾能救它的百姓脱离我的权势？ What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power?
那么，你们凭什么认为耶和华能救耶路撒冷脱离我的手呢？ So, what makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me?
就嘲讽而言，这相当有效，因为他提出了所有这些军事和神学上的质疑，说：嘿， 你们依靠你们的神，其他许多国家也依靠他们的神，结果对他们来说都不怎么样。 As taunts go, this is pretty effective because he's raising all these military and theological objections, saying, Hey, you relied on your gods; a bunch of other nations relied on their gods, and it didn't work out great for them.
相反，你们应该接受我们的条件。 Instead, you should consent to our terms.
条件是他们将被流放，离开耶路撒冷，这和发生在北 方十个支派身上的事很相似，就是后来的撒玛利亚。 The terms are that they're going to be exiled and sent away from Jerusalem, which is pretty similar to what happens to the ten northern tribes, what becomes Samaria.
希西家王在这里做了正确的事，他转向神祷告。 King Hezekiah does the right thing here; he turns to God and he prays.
他的祷告非常有趣，因为他基本上指出：是的，亚述人说得 对，所有其他的神都让他们失望了，因为它们不是真神。 His prayer is a really fascinating kind of prayer because he basically points out, Yeah, the Assyrians are right; all these other gods failed them because they weren't real gods.
所以当所有其他国家都陷落时，求你让耶路撒冷存活，显明你是真神。 So show that you are the true God by having Jerusalem survive when all these other nations fell.
在列王纪下19章17节，他祷告说：耶和华啊，亚述诸王果然 使列国和列国之地变为荒凉，将列国的神像都扔在火里，因为它 们本不是神，乃是人手所造的，是木头石头的，所以灭绝它们。 In 2 Kings chapter 19, verse 17, he prays, Of a truth, O Lord, the king of Assyria has laid waste the nations and their lands and has cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods but the work of men's hands, wood and stone; therefore, they were destroyed.
耶和华我们的神啊，现在求你救我们脱离亚述王 的手，使天下万国都知道惟独你耶和华是神。 So now, O Lord our God, save us, I beseech thee, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou, O Lord, art God alone.
通过先知，回应来了：所以耶和华论亚述王如此说：他必不得来 到这城，也不在这里射箭，不得拿盾牌到城前，也不筑垒攻城。 And through the prophet, the reply comes: Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege mound against it.
好，这就是应许：以色列，特别是耶路撒冷，将得保全。 Okay, so that's the promise: Israel, specifically Jerusalem, will be spared.
所以，这里说以色列有点用词不当，因为北方支派 有时被称为以色列，我们现在称之为撒玛利亚。 So, Israel is a little bit of a misnomer here because you've got the northern tribes, which were sometimes called Israel; we now call them Samaria.
这很容易混淆，但当我在这里谈到以色列时，我实际上是指犹大和耶路撒冷城。 It's very confusing, but when I talk about Israel here, I actually mean Judea and the city of Jerusalem.
所以，神应许首都耶路撒冷城将得保全。 So, the city of Jerusalem, the capital, God is promising that it will be spared.
他们甚至不能向城里射一箭。 They won't even fire an arrow in the city.
相反，神说：他从哪条路来，必从那条路回去，必不得进入这城。 因我为自己的缘故，又为我仆人大卫的缘故，必保护拯救这城。 Instead, God says, By the way, he came by the same way he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, for I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.
所以，这就是应许，对吧？ So, that's the promise, right?
不仅仅是耶路撒冷会存活，而是耶路撒冷真的不会，你知道，他们的围城根本不会成功。 It's not enough that Jerusalem will survive; Jerusalem will literally not be, you know, they will not be successful in the siege.
他们连一箭都不能射入城中。 They won't even fire an arrow in the city.
必定会发生某种奇迹，因为犹大的所有军事力量 显然不是对手，耶路撒冷在这里明显处于劣势。 Something miraculous is going to have to happen because all of the military forces of the Judeans are clearly no match; Jerusalem is clearly outmatched here.
事情就这样发生了。 And so it happened.
在下一节经文中，你看到和我们在以赛亚书中听到的完全相同的故 事：当夜，耶和华的使者出去，在亚述营中杀了十八万五千人。 Well, in the next verse, you get very much the same story that we heard in Isaiah: that night, the angel of the Lord went forth and slew 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians.
清早起来一看，都是死尸了。 When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
所以，似乎在一夜之间发生了某事，有神的使者造访，导致亚述人大规模死亡。 So, something happened seemingly overnight in which there is a divine angelic visitation resulting in the mass death of the Assyrians.
当他们早晨醒来时，周围都是尸体，西拿基立就离开了，回家去了，回到尼尼微去了。 When they wake up in the morning, they're surrounded by dead bodies, and Sennacherib departs, goes home, goes back to Nineveh.
让我们总结一下这一切。 So, let's summarize all that.
犹太人的记载基本上是这样的：西拿基立一开始很 成功，他征服了犹大的城邑，迫使希西家进贡。 The Jewish account is basically this: with Sennacherib successful early on, he's conquering Judean cities, he's forcing Hezekiah to pay tribute.
亚述对耶路撒冷的围城因突然的神圣干预——十八万 五千人的死亡——而受挫，剩下的亚述人被迫回家。 The Assyrian siege of Jerusalem is thwarted by sudden divine intervention—the death of 185,000—sending the remaining Assyrians home.
这就是这个记载。 That's the account.
如果你说，我不知道该如何理解这个记载，我完全理解。 I completely understand if you say, I don't know what to make of that account.
我不知道这个记载有多少历史真实性。 I don't know how historical that account is.
所以，让我们听听更多的。 So, let's hear some more.
让我们来看看亚述人的观点，因为他们肯定对此有一些想法，对吧？ Let's turn to the Assyrian perspective because they surely have some thoughts about this, right?
这里有趣的一点是亚述人保存了很好的记录，包括非常古老的记录。 One of the cool things here is that the Assyrians keep really good records, including very ancient records.
还记得我们之前提到的西拿基立年鉴吗？ Remember the Annals of Sennacherib that we heard referenced before?
芬兰旧约解经学教授安提·拉托提醒我们，从好的方面来说，这些是极其古老的记录。 Well, Antti Lato, the Finnish professor of Old Testament exegesis, I believe, warns us that on the pro side, these are extremely ancient records.
但另一方面，不好的一面是，这些也是政府宣传。 But on the other hand, the con side, if you will, is that these are also government propaganda.
事实上这些是在西拿基立在世时写的，在某些情况下，我们要看的 一些记录虽然稍晚但仍然很早，这些都不是中立的第三方记载。 The fact that these are written around in the lifetime of Sennacherib, and then in some cases, we're going to look at some that are a little bit later but still very early on, these are not neutral third-party accounts.
当你读犹太人的记载时，令人惊讶的是这些记载并不特别美化，即使是对希西家也是如此。 What's striking when you read the Jewish accounts is how they're not particularly glowing accounts, even of Hezekiah.
希西家是个好人，但他一开始输得很惨。 Hezekiah is a good guy, but he loses pretty badly at first.
他不得不进贡，他剥下圣殿门上的金子。 He has to pay tribute; he strips the gold from the doors of the temple.
这不是你在宣传国王多么伟大时会写的那种内容。 These are not the kind of things you write in propaganda about how great your king is.
这些只是实际发生的事情，所以这是相当诚实的记载。 These are just things that actually happen, and so there's a pretty honest account.
可以说，亚述的记载并没有同样的诚实需求。 The Assyrian accounts are not encumbered by the same need for honesty, we'll say.
安提·拉托说，亚述年鉴普遍倾向于完全避免提及挫折。 Antti Lato says that there's a general tendency in Assyrian annals to avoid mentioning setbacks altogether.
比如，如果他们是从希西家的角度写，他们会跳过所有关于 进贡的内容，跳过所有关于不得不剥下圣殿金子的内容。 Like, if they were writing from Hezekiah's point of view, they would just skip all the stuff about paying tribute; they'd skip all the stuff about having to strip the gold from the temple.
他们只会提到辉煌的时刻，对吧？ They'd just mention the high points, right?
在很多地方，西拿基立试图给人一种他的军事行动都很成功的印 象，即使实际上我们从其他来源知道他遭受了一些军事挫折。 At many points, Sennacherib has attempted to give the impression that his military campaigns were successful, even if, in fact, we know from other sources that he suffered some military setbacks.
所以，他显然在美化事情，我们在听他要说的话时应该知道这一点。 So, he's putting obviously a good face on things, and we should know that as we're listening to what he's going to have to say.
事实上，或者说，抱歉，拉托说，西拿基立的碑文是在所描述的军 事行动后不久就记录下来的这个事实，并不改变它们的宣传性质。 In fact, or rather, excuse me, Lato says the fact that Sennacherib's own inscriptions were recorded soon after the time of the campaigns they described does not change their propagandistic nature.
所以，他知道自己在说什么这个事实并不意味着他在告诉我们全部真相 ，因为这些记载的全部目的是要说'我是一个了不起的王'，他不会以 '这是我所有的失误'或'这是所有的军事挫折'之类的内容开头。 So, the fact that he knows what he's talking about doesn't mean that he's telling us the full truth because the whole point of these is to say, I'm an amazing king, and he's not going to lead with, Here are all the ways I screwed up, or Here are all the military setbacks, or any of those things.
但我实际上想看的不是西拿基立的直接年鉴，虽然我们那里 有很好的资料，但我更喜欢所谓的拉萨姆圆柱体上的版本。 But I actually want to look at not the direct annals of Sennacherib, although we do have good sources there, but I like the version given in what's called the Rassam Cylinder.
拉萨姆圆柱体稍晚一些，是公元前634年的。围城发生在大约公元前701年， 西拿基立死于公元前681年，所以这是那个世纪晚些时候的——公元前634年 。但尽管如此，这仍然只是一代人之后，而且记录的是西拿基立自己的观点。 The Rassam Cylinder is slightly later; it's from 634. The siege happens in about 701, and Sennacherib dies in 681, so this is later in that century—634. But nevertheless, it's still a lifetime or one generation after, and it's recording Sennacherib's own view.
再说一次，这些是亚述政府宣传的一部分，这些是官方记载，是从西拿基立的角度讲述的。 Again, these are part of Assyrian governmental propaganda; these are the official accounts, and it's told from Sennacherib's perspective.
它实际上可能是基于一些更古老的资料，比如年鉴和其他现在可能已经失传的资料。 It may actually be based on one of the older sources, like the annals and other sources that may be lost to us now.
但在拉萨姆圆柱体上，它直接说，我使他不能从城门出来，这里指的是希西家。 But in the Rassam Cylinder, it says literally, I made it taboo for him to exit by the city gate, referring to Hezekiah.
从这里继续，有几点引人注目。 It goes on from there, and there are a couple of things that are striking about this.
首先，就像这样，好吧，他明显在获胜。 First, there's just like this, okay, he's clearly winning.
西拿基立征服了几十座主要城市，你知道，48座城市，然后他把希西家困住了。 Sennacherib's conquering dozens of major cities, you know, 48 cities, and then he's got Hezekiah trapped.
他在这个王城，他正要进攻，然后故事突然停顿了一下。 He's in the royal city, and he's coming in, and then the story kind of falters for a second.
我们听到的下一件事就是希西家在他回尼尼微的时候给他送贡物。 The next thing we hear is that Hezekiah sends him tribute as he's going back to Nineveh.
现在，这一切都很可疑。 Now, everything about that is really sketchy.
比如，等等，你为什么不直接占领耶路撒冷？ Like, wait, why didn't you just take Jerusalem?
你刚要这么做，现在我们却只听说你回家了？ You were just about to do that, and now we're just hearing about you going home?
我们要相信希西家就这么被震慑住了，以至于给你送金银和士兵？ And we're to believe that Hezekiah was just so impressed that he's sending you soldiers in gold and silver?
这个故事不太合理，对吧？ That story doesn't make a lot of sense, right?
安提·拉托指出了这一点。 Antti Lato points this out.
他说，阅读这个记载遇到的第一个问题是，为什么西拿基立突然回到尼尼微。 He says the first problem encountered in reading this account is the question of why Sennacherib suddenly returned to Nineveh.
他没有解释这一点，对吧？ He doesn't explain it, right?
他就像是说，哦对了，然后当我回到家的时候。 He's just like, Oh yeah, then back when I was home.
比如，你为什么要回家？ Like, why were you going home?
这里有些事情没有说出来。 Something is not being told here.
所以拉托说，嗯，你知道，是什么导致突然从耶路撒冷撤退？ So, Lato says, Well, you know, what caused this sudden withdrawal from Jerusalem?
西拿基立没有说。 Sennacherib does not say.
相反，他继续讲述希西家如何在他回到尼尼微后送来丰厚的贡物。 Instead, he goes on to tell how Hezekiah sent a great tribute after him to Nineveh.
现在，我要说的是，犹大人的记载——他们正在失败，开始 进贡，他继续进攻，然后被打败回家——这是说得通的。 Now, I'll just say at the outset, the account that the Judeans give—that they were losing, they started paying tribute, he keeps coming, and then he's defeated and goes home—that makes sense.
你在失败时进贡。 You give tribute when you're losing.
他无缘无故放弃围城，而希西家在他离开后又无缘无故送钱给他？这种说法 The idea that he just gives up the siege for no reason and Hezekiah, for no reason, sends him money after he's left?
为什么他放弃围城后还要接受进贡？ Why would he be giving tribute after he's given up the siege?
比如，在你说了'好吧，我们不打了'之后，为什么还要进贡？ Like, why give tribute after you've said, Okay, we're not going to fight this anymore?
现在，你可以想象有很多种可能。 Now, there are any number of things you could imagine there.
你知道，也许家里出了什么事，他必须回去。 You know, maybe something came up at home; he had to get back there.
他忘记关茶壶了。 He'd left a tea kettle on.
或者更严肃地说，有理论认为可能是巴比伦人或其他人在东 方起义，开始给他们制造麻烦，他们不得不调转军队回去。 Or more seriously, there were theories that maybe the Babylonians or somebody else rose up and started giving them problems in the east, and they had to turn their forces back.
但即使在这些情况下，希西家会因为对亚述人印象深刻 而自愿送出大量士兵、金银作为贡物，这也说不通。 But even in those cases, it doesn't really make sense that Hezekiah would be just so impressed by the Assyrians that he's voluntarily sending a massive tribute of soldiers and silver and gold.
更合理的说法是，犹大人在失败时进贡，然后发生了某事，亚述人不得不撤退。 It makes much more sense to say tribute was being given when the Judeans were losing, and then something happens, and the Assyrians have to turn back.
总之，这就是亚述记载的要点：第一，西拿基立一开始很成功，这一点大家都同意。 Nevertheless, here's the Assyrian account in a nutshell: Number one, Sennacherib is successful early on; everybody agrees on this.
有一些关于犹大城市的具体记载。 There are some concrete accounts of Judean cities.
第二，在亚述的版本中，西拿基立没有明确原因就回到尼尼微。 Number two, Sennacherib, for no clear reason in the Assyrian version, returns home to Nineveh.
他确实回家了这一点实际上是大家都会同意的。 That he does return home is actually something everybody's going to agree on.
第三，他收到希西家的贡物。 Number three, he receives tribute from Hezekiah.
现在，区别在于时间。 Now, the difference is in timing.
他声称这发生在他回家之后，而其他来源说这发生在他早期获胜时。 He's going to claim that happens after he goes home; the other sources are going to say it happens while he's winning early on.
正如我所说，我认为这更合理，但这就是亚述记载的要点。 As I say, I think that makes much more sense, but that's the Assyrian account in a nutshell.
好，所以我想看的第三个来源是我称之为希腊-埃及记载的内容。 All right, so the third place I want to look is what I'm calling the Greco-Egyptian account.
现在，我们来看希罗多德的作品。 Now, here we're looking at the work of Herodotus.
如果你不知道希罗多德是谁，他通常被认为是世界上第一位历史学家。 If you don't know who Herodotus is, he's generally considered the world's first historian.
他发明了历史的概念，你知道，就是以一种有组织的方式记录过去，为未来保存。 He invents the idea of history, you know, writing about the past in kind of an organized way to record it for the future.
他的书叫《历史》，我想这个名字很贴切；如果你是第一个，你就能用这个书名。 His book is called Histories, fittingly enough, I guess; if you're first, you get to have that title.
令人困惑的是，有些版本也叫《波斯战争》，因 为这不仅仅是世界历史，而是波斯战争的历史。 Confusingly, some versions of it are also called The Persian Wars because it's not just like a history of the world; it's a history of the Persian Wars.
他是在这些事件发生大约250年后写的，但他依 据的是更早的资料，其中一些现在已经失传了。 He's writing about 250 years after the events in question, but he's relying on older sources, some of which are lost to us today.
所以，当他谈到西拿基立的围城时，他引用了埃及的资料。 So, when he talks about Sennacherib's siege, he quotes Egyptian sources.
有趣的是，埃及人讲述了西拿基立被神阻挠并被送回家的故事，但有一个 主要区别：尽管犹大人、亚述人，以及我们将要看到的巴比伦人都同意这 发生在耶路撒冷，但埃及人却说，不不不不，这是发生在我们身上的。 The fascinating thing is the Egyptians tell the story about Sennacherib being divinely thwarted and sent home, with one major difference: even though the Judeans, the Assyrians, and, as we're going to see, the Babylonians all agree this happens in Jerusalem, the Egyptians are like, No, no, no, no, it happened to us.
所以，他们有自己的版本，在他们的版本中，有一个名叫塞托斯的埃及神祇的大祭司。 So, they have their own kind of version of the story, and in their version, there's a high priest of one of the Egyptian gods named Sethos.
他不重视埃及战士，因为他认为永远不会需要他们，所以他侮辱了他们。 And he had no regard for the warrior Egyptians because he thought he would never need them, and so he dishonors them.
他收回了给他们的特殊土地，他们不愿为他效力。 He takes away special lands that had been given to them, and they don't want to work for him.
所以，当西拿基立攻打埃及时，埃及战士就说，我们不会保护你，因为你背叛了我们。 So, when Sennacherib comes against Egypt, the warrior Egyptians are just like, We're not going to defend you because you've betrayed us.
这位祭司——他是祭司王，既是大祭司又是国王——在困 境中走进神庙，在神像前痛苦地哀叹他将要遭受的苦难。 The priest—he's a priest-king, high priest and king—in his quandary goes into the temple shrine and there, before the god's image, bitterly laments over what he was expected to suffer.
然后他睡着了，在睡梦中，他似乎看到众神站在他身边，告 诉他要振作起来，在对抗阿拉伯的力量时他不会受到伤害。 Then he falls asleep, and while he's asleep, it seemed to him that the gods stood over him and told him to take heart, that he would come to no harm in countering the power of Arabia.
神说：我会派勇士来帮助你。 I shall send you champions, said the god.
于是他相信这个异象，与那些愿意跟随他的埃及 人一起去了佩鲁西姆，那里是通往埃及的路口。 So, he trusts the visions, and together with those Egyptians who would follow him, he goes to Pelasium, where the road comes into Egypt.
你会注意到这甚至有点像从埃及人的角度讲述的 故事；它靠近犹大，就像是在通往埃及的路上。 You'll notice it's even kind of like the way the story's being told from the Egyptian perspective; it's close to Judea, like it's on the way into Egypt.
没有战士愿意跟他去，但有一些商人、工匠和贸易商跟随了他。 None of the warriors would go with him, but there were some merchants, craftsmen, and traders who came with him.
然后亚述人出现了，在夜里，一群田鼠涌来啃咬箭袋、弓箭 和盾牌的把手，结果第二天许多人在无武器逃跑时被杀。 Then the Assyrians show up, and during the night, they are overrun by a horde of field mice that gnaw quivers and bows in the handles of shields, with the result that many were killed fleeing unarmed the next day.
所以在这个版本中，亚述人被击退的方式是众神派来的老鼠使他们失去武器。 So, in this version, the way the Assyrians are turned back is that there are mice sent by the gods that leave them disarmed.
现在有一个问题，这是否真的指田鼠，还是我们应该理解为瘟疫和灾病 ，或者两者都有，因为我们知道这是古希腊瘟疫的象征之一：老鼠。 Now, there's some question here about whether this means literally field mice or whether we should be reading here pestilence and plague, or both, because we know that this is one of the ancient Greek images of pestilence: mice.
这是有道理的；老鼠又脏又恶心。 This makes sense; mice are dirty and gross.
当时在哈佛大学闪米特博物馆担任高级讲解员的斯蒂芬·凯撒写了一篇 关于西拿基立军队被歼灭的文章，他写道，虽然希罗多德从未提到瘟疫 ，但学术界的共识是，由于故事中出现老鼠，这实际上就是他所指的。 Stephen Cesar, who at the time is the senior docent in the Semitic Museum at Harvard, has an article about this on the annihilation of Sennacherib's army, in which he writes, Although Herodotus never mentions plague, the scholarly consensus is that this is what he was in fact referring to due to the presence of mice in the story.
现在，我实际上觉得这个学术共识值得质疑。 Now, I actually find this scholarly consensus questionable.
这可能是对的，但这些老鼠看起来像是真的老鼠，它们在啃咬东西。 It might be right, but the mice seem like actual mice; they're chewing stuff up.
我不知道瘟疫要如何啃咬弓箭。 I don't know how plague is going to chew up the bow and arrow.
但是，斯蒂芬·凯撒指出，《地标希罗多德》的编辑罗伯特·斯特拉斯勒说过，这是斯特拉 斯勒的话：这是希罗多德对犹太人故事的版本，讲述在耶路撒冷城前摧毁亚述军队的瘟疫。 But nevertheless, Stephen Cesar points out that Robert Strassler, who is the editor of the Landmark Herodotus, had said, This is Strassler here: this is Herodotus' version of the Jewish story of the pestilence which destroyed the Assyrian army before Jerusalem.
老鼠是希腊人瘟疫的象征。 Mice are a Greek symbol of pestilence.
在荷马的《伊利亚特》中，正是老鼠神阿波罗·斯门修斯派出并终止了瘟疫。 It is Apollo Sementheus, the mouse god, who sends and then ends the plague in Homer in the Iliad.
所以，这是可能的，对吧？ So, possibly, right?
就像，我们知道这些事情。 Like, we know these things.
在希腊-埃及的记载中，是埃及而不是犹大，但他们在军事上对抗亚述人毫无能力。 In the Greco-Egyptian account, it's Egypt rather than Judea, but they're militarily powerless against the Assyrians.
然后国王祈祷，在他们的情况下，是向众神或某个神祈祷。 Then the king prays to, in their case, the gods or one of the gods.
西拿基立入侵埃及被突然的神圣干预阻止了，要么 是以实际的老鼠的形式，要么是以瘟疫的形式。 Sennacherib's invasion of Egypt is thwarted by sudden divine intervention, either in the form of literal mice or in the form of pestilence.
这两种形式都迫使亚述人回家，但当军队无法取胜时，都有这种突然的神圣干预的感觉。 Both of which then send the Assyrians home, but there is this sense of sudden divine intervention when the military was not going to be able to win the fight.
这就是埃及的记载。 That's the Egyptian account.
这很有趣，既有明显的改编之处，可以清楚地看出他们从 哪里窃取了故事，但在其他方面又与圣经记载如此相似。 It's fascinating both in the obvious diversions of the thing; it's clear to see where they've stolen the story, but also how much it resembles the biblical account in other regards.
好，我想看的第四个也是最后一个是巴比伦的记载。 Okay, the fourth and final one I want to look at is the Babylonian account.
这里我们又一次失去了原始资料。 Here again, we've lost the original sources.
原始资料来自公元前3世纪早期的巴比伦历史学家贝罗索斯。 The original source is an early 3rd century BC Babylonian historian by the name of Berossus.
我们没有他的原著，我们只有他著作的一些片段和其他人的记载。 We don't have his writings; we have little fragments of his writing and other people.
在这个例子中，我们从公元1世纪的犹太历史学 家约瑟夫那里得到他关于西拿基立入侵的记载。 In this case, we have his account of Sennacherib's invasion from the 1st century AD Jewish historian Josephus.
这是贝罗索斯从巴比伦的角度是如何叙述的。 Here's how Berossus kind of presents it from a Babylonian point of view.
顺便说一下，他们和亚述人不是朋友。 They were no friends of the Assyrians, by the way.
他说，当西拿基立从埃及战争返回耶路撒冷时。 He said, Now when Sennacherib was returning from his Egyptian war to Jerusalem.
现在，这是一个有趣的细节，因为它提醒我们，对吧？ Now, that's an interesting kind of detail because it reminds us, right?
犹太人的版本，或者说犹大的版本是，埃及被击 败了，然后犹大看起来就要成为下一个目标。 The Jewish version, or the Judean version, is that Egypt has gotten crushed and then Judea is looking like they're going to be next.
这与贝罗索斯的版本相符，说他正从埃及回来。 That matches up with Berossus' version that he's coming back from Egypt.
这就是为什么依靠埃及人是如此鲁莽的举动，正如亚述代表团指出的那样。 This is why relying on the Egyptians was such a foolhardy move, as the Assyrian delegation points out.
但这也可以解释为什么埃及可能急于声称他们是即将获得这场胜利的人，因为 他们似乎刚刚遭受了一次重大失败，而这事就发生在他们边境外的耶路撒冷。 But it also would explain why Egypt might be hungry to say they were the ones who were going to get this victory that was about to happen because they seemingly just suffered a pretty major defeat, and this happens right kind of outside their borders in Jerusalem.
当西拿基立从埃及战争返回耶路撒冷时，他发现他在拉伯沙基——这又是那个高级领袖，他 的将军——率领下的军队处于危险之中，似乎是因为瘟疫，因为神降瘟疫之灾于他的军队。 Now, when Sennacherib was returning from his Egyptian war to Jerusalem, he found his army under Rabshakeh—this is again the high-ranking leader, his general—in danger, and then seemingly by a plague, for God had sent a pestilential distemper upon his army.
所以，巴比伦的记载是说有某种瘟疫，是神降在他军队身上的瘟疫之灾。 So, the Babylonian account is that there was some kind of pestilence, a pestilential distemper that God had sent upon his army.
在围城的第一个晚上，十八万五千人——包括他们的军长和将军——都被消灭了。 On the very first night of the siege, 104 score and 5,000—so 185,000—with their captains and generals were destroyed.
你会注意到这里的数字是吻合的；突然死亡了十八万五千人。他很明确地说这是疾病。 You'll notice the numbers here match up; you have a sudden death of 185,000. He's pretty explicit that this is disease.
于是王因这场灾难极其恐惧，痛苦万分，他为整个军队感到巨大的 恐惧，就带着剩余的军队逃回自己的王国，回到他的城市尼尼微。 So, the king was in great dread and in terrible agony over this calamity, and being in great fear for his whole army, he fled with the rest of his forces to his own kingdom, into his city, Nineveh.
所以，巴比伦的记载不需要刻意协调，它与圣经的记载非常吻合。 So, the Babylonian account doesn't take any real effort to harmonize; it fits very nicely with the biblical account.
西拿基立从与埃及的战争返回时，围攻耶路撒冷。 Returning home from his war with Egypt, Sennacherib lays siege to Jerusalem.
亚述的围城被突然的神圣干预阻止了——瘟疫杀 死了十八万五千人——迫使剩余的亚述人回家。 The Assyrian siege is thwarted by sudden divine intervention—plague killing 185,000—sending the remaining Assyrians home.
好，现在你已经听到了从四个非常不同的角度描述的同一个事件，每个人讲述故事 都有自己的动机，在很多情况下是为了展示他们国家的伟大或他们神明的伟大。 Okay, so you've now heard the same event described from four very different perspectives, and everybody's got their own motives for telling the story, in many cases to kind of present their nation's greatness or the greatness of their god or gods.
我们如何协调这些记载？ How do we harmonize these accounts?
当然，作为基督徒，我们会说我们相信圣经的记载，因为它是神所默示的。 Well, certainly as Christians, we would say we trust the biblical account because it's divinely inspired.
但我认为，即使从一个中立的历史角度来看，也有几点值得注意。 But I think we can also say, just from a neutral, if you will, historical perspective, there are a few things to note.
第一，四个记载中有三个同意亚述人是突然且似乎是奇迹般地被打败的。 Number one, three of the four accounts agree that the Assyrians were suddenly and seemingly miraculously defeated.
第二，四个来源中有三个同意这发生在耶路撒冷；耶路撒冷以一种似乎是奇迹的方式得救。 Number two, three of the four sources agree that it's at Jerusalem that this happens; Jerusalem is spared in a seemingly miraculous way.
所以，特例——亚述人——不谈论被打败；这并不令人惊讶。 So, the outliers—the Assyrians—don't talk about being defeated; that's not surprising.
而埃及人试图把这事说成是关于他们的；这也不令人惊讶。 And the Egyptians try to make it about them; also not surprising.
所以，我们有很好的理由不相信这两个特例，然后说，好的，清楚的故事是希 西家一开始反叛，亚述人压制他，这完全在预料之中，因为他们更大更强。 So, we have pretty good reasons to just trust the outliers in both those cases and say, Okay, so the clear story is Hezekiah rebels at first, the Assyrians are crushing him, which is totally expected because they're much bigger and stronger.
然后一夜之间发生了什么事使他们立即回家；他们解除 围城，犹大获得自由，这是西拿基立最后一次尝试。 Then something happens overnight that sends them home immediately; they lift the siege, Judea is freed, and that's the last time that Sennacherib even tries.
他再也没有回来。 He never comes back.
在描绘这件事的艺术作品中，你经常看到天开了，天使明显地在与亚述人战斗。 In art depicting this, you often have the heavens open and angels visibly battling the Assyrians.
但在我看来，这并不是这些记载，包括圣经记载，所指向的。 But it seems to me that that's not really what the accounts, including the biblical accounts, are pointing to.
因为如果你注意到，圣经记载说当他们早晨起来时，发现十八万五千人都死了。 Because if you notice, the biblical accounts say that when they arose in the morning, 185,000 lay dead.
所以，虽然在艺术作品中描绘天使拔出剑来战斗很有 趣，但我认为说突然的瘟疫在圣经上是说得通的。 So, even though it's kind of fun in art to depict the angels just pulling out their swords and fighting, I think it is fair to say that the reading of a sudden pestilence actually makes sense biblically.
例如，当大卫王受惩罚时，按历代志上21章的记载，加在大卫和他百姓身上的惩罚 是耶和华的刀——就是瘟疫临到这地——耶和华的使者在以色列的四境施行毁灭。 For instance, when King David is being punished, the punishment laid upon David and his people, as described in 1 Chronicles 21, is three days of the sword of the Lord—pestilence upon the land—and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.
所以，耶和华的使者既是瘟疫在地上蔓延的形象，也是对所发生事情的神学理解。 So, the angel of the Lord is both the image of the movement of pestilence in the land and also the theological understanding of what's going on.
这不仅仅是疾病的随机爆发，这不仅仅是，你知道，细菌。 This is not just a random outbreak of disease; this is not just, you know, germs.
相反，这是真实的神圣干预。 Rather, this is actual divine intervention.
现在要说清楚，在很多情况下，疾病并不被视为耶和华的手加在百姓身上。 Now, to be clear, there are plenty of times where disease is not viewed as the hand of the Lord upon the people.
我们完全接受疾病的细菌理论。 We totally accept the germ theory of disease.
我不是说，哦，我嗓子疼，一定是天使在伤害我的声音。 I'm not saying, Oh, I've got a sore throat; an angel must be hurting my voice.
不，但有些时候，就像灾害一样——不是每次看到青蛙都是耶 和华降的灾——但可能有些灾害是利用或指引自然事件的。 No, but there are times, just like with the plagues—not every time you see a frog is it a plague from the Lord—but there can be plagues that use natural events or direct them.
例如，在启示录第6章，你看到... For instance, in Revelation chapter 6, you have the...
现在，有没有天使这些事都可能发生，但这里看来圣经的理解是神的使者——这就是天使这 个词的意思——通过释放某些东西打破了亚述人的围城或围城企图：老鼠、瘟疫，等等。 Now, you can have all those things with or without the angel, but it appears here that the biblical understanding is that messengers of God—which is what the word angel means—broke the Assyrian siege or attempt at siege by unleashing something upon them: mice, pestilence, fill in the blank.
我认为我们不必理解——我认为圣经的记载甚至 没有暗示天使在与亚述人进行剑对剑的战斗。 I don't think we have to read—I don't think the biblical account even suggests that angels are engaged in sword-to-sword fighting with the Assyrians.
所以，如果因为宗教艺术我们的思维往那个方向走，我要再次指出 这个事实，经上说当他们醒来时，有事情在他们睡觉时发生了。 And so, if that's where our mind goes because of religious art, I would just again point us to the fact that it says when they awoke, something is happening overnight while they're asleep.
很多人早上都没有醒来。 A lot of them don't wake up in the morning.
老鼠和瘟疫——这两件事很好地联系在一起。 Mice and pestilence—those two things go together very nicely.
所以，如果他们醒来发现军需物资被毁，而且许多人因一 夜之间的疾病死亡，这就解释了为什么他们会离开那里。 So, if they wake up to find that their army supplies are destroyed and a bunch of them are dead from an overnight disease, that explains why they would get out of there.
我提到这一切部分是因为我觉得这真的很有趣，我喜欢制作我真正感兴趣的内容的视频。 I mention all this partly because I just find it really fascinating, and I like to do videos on stuff that I'm really interested in.
但也因为我认为这有助于我们在阅读圣经时理解这里发生的事。 But also because I think it helps us to understand when we're reading the Bible how to make sense of what's going on here.
这是在描述一个真实的历史事件，我们有充分的理由相信这一点，因为亚 述人虽然在谈论这件事时没有既得利益，但仍然想方设法突出好的部分。 This is a real historical event being described, and we have good reason to believe that because the Assyrians, who have no vested interest in talking about this, still find a way to try to draw out the good parts.
很明显他们省略了一些事情。 It's very obvious that they're omitting something.
比如，西拿基立谈到必须回到尼尼微，但他没有告诉我们为什么。 Like, Sennacherib talks about having to go back to Nineveh; he doesn't tell us why.
但在巴比伦的记载、埃及的记载和后来希腊的记载中，它们都指向这样一 个事实：这里发生了某事，似乎是神的能力释放在这个强大的敌人身上。 But in the Babylonian account, the Egyptian, and later Greek account, they're all pointing to the fact that something happened here that appears to have been the power of God unleashed upon this powerful enemy.
所以，这支没有获胜机会的小军队甚至不必去打仗，因为一夜之间发生的事 情使亚述人回家，显明以色列的神是真神，而周围所有的异教偶像都不是。 So, this small army that had no chance of winning doesn't even have to go to war because something happens overnight that sends the Assyrians home, showing that the God of Israel is the true God while all of the pagan idols around him are not.
我觉得这是个很酷的故事，我觉得真的很有趣，我希望你也这么认为。 I think it's a cool story; I think it's really fascinating, and I hope you think the same.
我是乔·赫施迈尔，这里是 Shameless Popery。 For Shameless Popery, I'm Joe Heschmeyer.
愿神祝福你！ God bless you!