God's Finger
神的指頭
神的指頭
文: 陳瑩
法利賽人帶着犯淫亂的婦人到殿中問耶穌︰「夫子，這婦人是正在行淫之時被拿的。」「摩西在律法上吩咐我們，把這樣的婦人用石頭打死；」而且加上一句︰「你說該怎麼辦？」兩節經文三段話，前面兩段有問題亦有答案。但最後他們另加一句問耶穌該怎麼辦，實在可惡。耶穌身跨律法和恩典兩個時代，因此主不能說打死她，亦不能說赦免她。打死她對恩典無法交代，赦免她又顯然觸犯律法，都是把柄，動輒得咎。當時耶穌默不作聲，只彎腰在地上用指頭畫字。當再被追問時才說︰「你們中間誰是沒罪的，誰就可以先拿石頭打她。」這個「先」字一字千鈞，亦就是說誰拿第一塊石頭誰就得「先」審察自己配不配。「先」字代表限制，提醒，警告。於是耶穌再彎腰在地上畫字。先後畫了兩次。究竟畫了些甚麼？誰也不知道。按以經解經原則，可從舊約找出參考性的答案。聖經啓示我們，創造天地的神亦有兩次用指頭寫字的記錄。神第一次用指頭寫法版，藉着摩西傳十誡。其中第七條是不可姦淫。第二次寫字乃在巴比倫王伯沙撤荒宴醉酒之際，在王宮與燈臺對面的粉牆上顯出指頭，寫出︰「彌尼，彌尼，提客勒，烏法珥新。」簡單繙譯就是︰「數算，虧欠，分裂。」這是指責人的虧欠。神的指頭，一次指示，一次指責。基此，再思想耶穌兩次用指頭寫字的答案。主第一次畫字相當於神寫十誡，而淫婦觸犯第七條該處死是對的。但經上說耶穌是來救人，不是滅人，因此主反問那些法利賽人，就是叫他們自我數算，自我審察，看看自己有無虧欠。當主第二次畫字之後，這批人從老到少都跑光了。羣眾分散，陰謀分裂了，明白自己不配定人的罪。
God's Finger
By: Dorine Chan
Pharisees brought unto Jesus at the temple a woman taken in adultery and asked him, "Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned." They even added, "but what sayest thou?" In these two verses and three paragraphs, the previous two had both problems and answers. But the final question they asked Jesus was really hateful. Jesus lived in two eras embracing law and grace, so he could not encourage killing, nor the woman could be remitted. Killing her could not justify in front of grace, while remitting her was clearly a violation of the law, both of which were evidence for accusing and easy to take the blame. Jesus was silent at that time, stooping down with his finger writing on the ground. When asked again, he said only, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." The word "first" weighed a thousand kilograms, which implied that the one who took the first stone had to "first" review the qualification. The word "first" stood for limitation, reminding and warning. And again Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground. He wrote twice. However, what on earth he wrote? Nobody knows. According to the principle of interpreting Scripture by Scripture, we can find out the reference answer in the Old Testament. The Bible tells us that God who had created heaven and earth also wrote with his fingers twice. The first time was when God wrote on the law plate with his finger to pass on through Moses the Ten Commandments, among which number seven was that thou shalt not commit adultery. The second time God wrote with his finger was when Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, was drunk. At that time the part of God's hand appeared on the wall opposite to the lampstand in the royal palace and the following writing was recorded: "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN." The simple translation would be "count, owe and divide", which was a blame on the debt people owe. Looking at the words out of God's finger, we may notice that once they were instruction and the other time they were blame. Based on this, we can think again about the answer why Jesus wrote with his fingers twice. The first time the Lord wrote was equivalent to God's writing of the Ten Commandments, and the adulteress violated number seven of the Ten Commandments thus the execution was right. But the Bible said that Jesus came to save people instead of destroying people, so the Lord asked the Pharisees to tell them to self inspect and review to see whether they had a deficit. After the Lord wrote with his fingers for the second time, these people went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. The people dispersed and the conspiracy was defeated. They all understood that they were not qualified to declare other people guilty.