标题:Genesis 32
年份:2020
尺寸:47.28 x 70.85 cm


Title: Genesis 32
Year: 2020
Dimension: 47.28 x 70.85 cm


Genesis 32

「Genesis」系列作品,一共五十幅,对应《圣经》创世纪的五十章。

The "Genesis" series consists of 50 works, corresponding to the 50 chapters of the Bible's Genesis.

32 / 50.

32:1 雅各继续他的路程, 神的众使者遇见他。(本节在《马索拉文本》为32:2)32:2 雅各看见他们,就说:“这是 神的军队。”于是给那地方起名叫玛哈念。32:3 雅各先派使者到西珥地,就是以东的地区,他的哥哥以扫那里去,32:4 吩咐他们说:“你们要对我主以扫这样说:‘你的仆人雅各这样说:我在拉班那里寄居,一直到现在。32:5 我拥有牛、驴、羊群、仆婢,现在派人来报告我主,希望得到你的欢心。’”32:6 使者回到雅各那里说:“我们到了你哥哥以扫那里,他带着四百人,正迎着你来。”32:7 雅各感到非常惧怕和焦虑,就把随行的人、羊群、牛群和骆驼,分成两队,32:8 心里想:“即使以扫来击杀这一队,余下的一队还可以逃脱。”32:9 雅各说:“耶和华,我祖亚伯拉罕的 神,我父以撒的 神啊,你曾经对我说过:‘回到你自己的故乡,到你的亲族那里去,我必厚待你。’32:10 你向你仆人所施的一切慈爱和信实,我实在不配得。从前我只拿着我的手杖过这约旦河;现在我却拥有这两队人马了。32:11 求你救我脱离我哥哥以扫的手,因为我怕他来击杀我,连母亲和孩子也击杀了。32:12 你曾经说过:‘我必厚待你,使你的后裔好象海边的沙一样,多到不可胜数。’”32:13 那天晚上,雅各在那里过夜。然后从他所拥有的牲畜中,取出一部分,作为给他哥哥以扫的礼物,32:14 就是母山羊二百只、公山羊二十只、母绵羊二百只、公绵羊二十只、32:15 哺乳的母骆驼三十匹,各带着驹子,母牛四十头、公牛十头、母驴二十头、公驴十头。32:16 雅各把这些分成一队一队,交在仆人的手里,又对仆人说:“你们先过去,每队之间要留一段距离。”32:17 他又吩咐走在最前的仆人说:“我哥哥以扫遇见你的时候,如果问你:‘你的主人是谁?你要到哪里去?在你前面的这些牲畜是谁的?’32:18 你就要回答:‘是你仆人雅各的,是送给我主以扫的礼物,他自己也在我们后面。’”32:19 他又吩咐第二个、第三个和所有跟在队伍后面的人说:“你们遇见以扫的时候,都要这样对他说。32:20 你们还要说:‘你的仆人雅各在我们后面。’”因为他心里想:“我先送礼物去,藉此与他和解,然后再与他见面,或者他会原谅我(“他会原谅我”或译:“他会接纳我”)。”32:21 于是礼物先过去了;那天晚上雅各在营中过夜。32:22 雅各那夜起来,带着他的两个妻子、两个婢女和十一个孩子,都过了雅博渡口。32:23 他带着他们,先打发他们过河,然后又打发他所有的都过去。32:24 只留下雅各一人,有一个人来与他摔角,直到天快亮的时候。32:25 那人见自己不能胜过他,就在他的大腿窝上打了一下。于是,雅各与那人摔角的时候,大腿窝脱了节。32:26 那人说:“天快亮了,让我走吧。”雅各说:“如果你不给我祝福,我就不让你走。”32:27 那人问他:“你叫甚么名字?”他回答:“雅各。”32:28 那人说:“你的名字不要再叫雅各,要叫以色列,因为你与 神与人较力,都得了胜。”32:29 雅各问他,说:“请把你的名告诉我。”那人回答:“为甚么问我的名呢?”他就在那里给雅各祝福。32:30 于是,雅各给那地方起名叫毘努伊勒,意思说:“我面对面看见了 神,我的性命仍得保全。”32:31 雅各经过毘努伊勒的时候,太阳刚刚出来,照在他身上。他因为大腿的伤,跛脚行走。32:32 因此,以色列人直到现在都不吃大腿窝上的筋,因为那人在雅各的大腿窝上的筋打了一下。

创世记 32

32:1 Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.32:2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is the camp of God!” So he named that place Mahanaim.(Mahanaim means two camps.)32:3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.32:4 He instructed them: “This is what you are to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says, I have been staying with Laban and have remained there till now.32:5 I have cattle and donkeys, sheep and goats, male and female servants. Now I am sending this message to my lord, that I may find favor in your eyes.’ ”32:6 When the messengers returned to Jacob, they said, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”32:7 In great fear and distress Jacob divided the people who were with him into two groups,(Or camps) and the flocks and herds and camels as well.32:8 He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one group,(Or camp) the group(Or camp) that is left may escape.”32:9 Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, Lord, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’32:10 I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps.32:11 Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children.32:12 But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’ ”32:13 He spent the night there, and from what he had with him he selected a gift for his brother Esau:32:14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,32:15 thirty female camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, and twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.32:16 He put them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me, and keep some space between the herds.”32:17 He instructed the one in the lead: “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘Who do you belong to, and where are you going, and who owns all these animals in front of you?’32:18 then you are to say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he is coming behind us.’ ”32:19 He also instructed the second, the third and all the others who followed the herds: “You are to say the same thing to Esau when you meet him.32:20 And be sure to say, ‘Your servant Jacob is coming behind us.’ ” For he thought, “I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me.”32:21 So Jacob’s gifts went on ahead of him, but he himself spent the night in the camp.32:22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.32:23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions.32:24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.32:25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.32:26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”32:27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered.32:28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel,(Israel probably means he struggles with God.) because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”32:29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.32:30 So Jacob called the place Peniel,(Peniel means face of God.) saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”32:31 The sun rose above him as he passed Peniel,(Hebrew Penuel, a variant of Peniel) and he was limping because of his hip.32:32 Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

Genesis 32


在科学可以近乎解释一切的这个时代,我们已经倾向于习惯这个世界发生的一切和周围的一切,无论它有多不可思议,甚至习以为常到不再思考它的不可思议性。

宇宙为何以及如何诞生?为何宇宙大爆炸有一个从无到有的“开始”?为何生命会从“无”诞生到“有”?为何会有复杂、精密的生命的存在?为什么人体内的 DNA 和细胞像微观世界一样复杂而精确,却以高度有序的方式完成其工作,就像被设计和编程的另一个宇宙一样?

无论是哈雷彗星的椭圆运行轨道,笛卡尔浪漫的心形函数,人体曼妙的黄金分割,天空飘零的六边雪花,甚至一片落叶飘落,都是一段美妙的函数方程。大如宇宙,小如雪花,都能在这些公式之中看到神性的秩序。

爆炸带来的皆是毁灭。最初,什么都没有,“大爆炸”却产生了时间、物质和空间,没有逐步的生成,没有过渡的形态,只是一种二元翻转,从“不存在”到“存在”。宇宙复杂且广阔,却能用高度有序的数学公式来描述,诞生了秩序甚至生命。仅凭这一点就令人难以置信,足以使人们终生寻求真理。

“存在可以从不存在而来”的这种“自然发生论”观念的证据何在?怎么从非生命体获得生命?为何我们还是不知道如何切实地从死物质创造出生命,却坦然地默认生命可以从非生命诞生?

宇宙背后的真理如此令人惊叹又神秘,生命是如此不可思议,我们却如此地习以为常,甚至不再感叹这一切的神奇。

「自从造天地以来,神的永能和神性是明明可知的,虽是眼不能见,但藉着所造之物就可以晓得,叫人无可推诿。」罗马书 1:20

“科学的尽头是神学。” 我认为,尽管科学有其局限性,而神学提供了答案,但神学并不是要解释科学的不足,仅靠科学也无法触及神学的核心。然而,科学和神学并非对立面,也并不妨碍我们在探索求知的路上保留着一颗敬畏之心。

「诸天述说神的荣耀,穹苍传扬祂的手段。」诗篇 19:1

大自然的壮丽景色,很容易让人心生敬畏,但是我发现即便日常最被人忽视的细微之景,也是“穹苍”的一部分。从“大”可以很自然地想到“大”,但如果从“小”也能看到“大”,“大”则更显荣耀。

在这个系列,我不是在试图回答上述问题或者阐述我对上述问题的世界观和立场,我只是在一些我们习以为常甚至忽略的细微场景中看到了“创造者”留下的“痕迹”和“威严”。

因此,我制定了一条规则:试图通过被忽视的日常细微之景,从敬畏和好奇中看到“大”与“小”之间的关系,以小尺度为窗口,探索和思考宇宙,生命,永恒与创造之间的关系。

In an era where science can nearly explain everything, we have become accustomed to everything that happens in this world and everything around us, no matter how incredible it is, or even accustomed to stop thinking about its incredibility.

Why and how did the universe come from? Why does the universe's big bang have a "start" from nothing? Why is life born from "nothing" to "life"? Why is there complex, sophisticated creatures? Why is the DNA and cells in our body as complex and precise as a microcosm, but complete its work in a highly orderly manner, just like another universe designed and programmed?

Whether it is the elliptical orbit of Comet Halley, the romantic heart-shaped function of Descartes, the graceful golden section of the human body, the Six-sided snowflake falling from the sky, or even a leaf falling, all are wonderful function equations. As big as the universe and as small as snowflakes, divine order can be seen in these formulas.

The explosion brought about destruction. Originally, there was nothing, but the "Big Bang" produced time, matter, and space. There was no gradual development, no transitional forms, but a binary flip, from "non-existence" to "existence." The universe is complex and vast, but it can be described by highly ordered mathematical formulas, gave birth to order and even life. This alone is unbelievable enough to let people explore the truth throughout their lives.

What is the evidence for the "abiogenesis", which is "something can come from nothing"? How to get life from non-life? Why do we still not know how to actually create life from dead stuff, but frankly assume that life can be born from non-life?

The truth behind the universe is so incredible and mysterious, life is so incredible, we are so accustomed to it, we are no longer lamenting the incredibility of all this.

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1:20

"The end of science is theology." I believe that although science has its limitations and theology provides the answer, theology is not to explain the deficiency of science, and science alone cannot reach the core of theology. However, science and theology are not opposites, and they do not prevent us from remaining awed on the road to exploring knowledge.

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands." Psalm 19:1

The magnificent scenery of nature can easily make people awe-inspiring, but I find that even the most slight sceneries that are most overlooked in daily life are also part of the "skies". You can think of "big" naturally from "big", but if you can also see "big" from "small", "big" is even more glorious.

In this series, I am not trying to answer the above questions or to express my views and positions on the above questions. I just saw the "traces" and "majesty" left by the "creator" in some slight scenes that we are accustomed to and even ignore.

Therefore, I created a rule: trying to see "big" from "small" - with awe and curiosity, through daily neglected slight scenes, with “small scale” as the window, to explore and think about the relationship between the universe, life, eternity and creation.

- Boshan Zhou


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©️ Boshan Zhou.