Genesis 1:1–2:3

By Rev. J. Scott Lindsay

Pastor of South Baton Rouge Presbyterian Church (PCA),
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

诚之译

Imagine that you one day pick up a book on the history of baseball, and after settling into your favorite chair with your favorite latte, tea, or some other drink, you then open your book to page 1 and begin reading. After a few minutes, you flip a page, and then another, and then another, only to discover that at the top of the next new page, in bold letters, it says CHAPTER ONE. And then the opening line reads, "This is the story of how baseball began."
想象有一天你拾起一本有关棒球历史的书，布置好你最喜欢的椅子，和最喜欢的香浓咖啡或其他的饮料，然后打开第一页，开始阅读。经过几分钟，你翻开一页又一页，只发现你翻到的下一页的页顶，用黑体字写着：“第一章”，然后第一行字写着：“棒球的故事是这么开始的”。

And at that you pause. You flip back through what you have already read and ask yourself, "Wait a minute. If this says it is chapter one, if this page is acting like it is the beginning — what were all these previous pages about, which were also saying a lot of introductory kinds of things about baseball? I didn't see anything that said ‘Preface,’ or ‘Introduction,’ or anything like that.” And so you wonder how the pages you just read relate to the ones you are about to read.
看到这里，你停了下来。你翻回去前面你读过的，然后问你自己，“且慢，如果这里说这是第一章，如果这页说这是起头──那么前面这几页是作什么的？它们也讲了很多介绍棒球的东西啊！我没有看到哪里有说‘前言’，或‘简介’，或任何相似的字眼。”然后，你会怀疑你刚刚读过的那几页与你下面将要读的有什么关系。

That admittedly hypothetical experience is not that far removed from what happens when a person sits down to start reading through the book of Genesis. You begin reading in the opening chapter, a section that talks about all kinds of introductory things, and then in chapter 2 verse 4, you come across words that say, "This is the account of the heavens and earth when they were created."
这个假设的经验与一个人开始坐下来阅读创世记并没有太大的差别。你刚读完开头的章节，谈到各种介绍性质的事情，然后到第二章第四节，你看到下列的字眼：“创造天地的来历，在耶和华 神造天地的日子，乃是这样。”

And immediately, upon reading that, you have to ask yourself, "What have I been reading? If chapter 2 is the account of the creation of the heavens and earth, what is chapter 1?” Well, in much the same way that a preface functions in most books, so too does Genesis 1:1-2:3 function as a kind of "preface" or, as Bible scholars like to say, "prologue" to the rest of Genesis.
一旦看到这里，你必须问你自己：“我刚才读的都是些什么？如果第二章是天地创造的纪载，那么，第一章是什么？”正如很多书籍的序言的功能一样，创世记1：1到2：3也有类似的作用，圣经学者喜欢说它是创世记其他部分的“开场白”（prologue）。

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I was younger, in high school and college, and I was required to read certain books, I would almost never read things like prefaces and forwards and introductions. Instead, I’d skip straight to the first chapter. For me, the crucial aspect of reading a book was to read only what was required, and nothing more. And that meant reading the main pages and skipping all the other bits and pieces.
虽然，我不认识你。但是当我年轻的时候，在高中或大学，我被要求读一些书籍。我几乎从来不读像前言或序言一类的东西，我会直接跳到第一章。对我来说，读一本书最紧要的是只读必须读的部份，不多不少。意思就是说，只阅读主要的部份，跳过其他的细节。

However, over the years, I have discovered that this approach to book reading was probably making things a lot more difficult for me than they needed to be. Because I can tell you now, after reading my fair share of books, that often the most helpful thing I have done in reading a particular book is to read the introduction or forward. This is because, more often than not, in these opening sections the author gives the reader a certain framework or perspective on the rest of the book — or at least a helpful insider’s tip on how to read the rest of the book. And often these things prove to be quite useful in making sense of the flow and argument, and how one chapter relates to the next, etc.
然而，经过这么多年，我发现这种方法可能会使阅读更加困难。因为我现在在读了不少书之后可以告诉你，通常最能帮助我阅读一本书的，是它的前言或序言。这是因为在这些开头的段落，作者会给读者这本书其余部分的某种架构──或者至少是一些阅读其余部分的一些秘诀。通常这些介绍会相当有帮助，会帮助我们理解情节和论证，和每一章之间的关系等等。

Well, while the parallels are not exact, the Genesis prologue bears some of the same characteristics as a preface, and serves some of the same purposes. It provides us with a true perspective and a helpful framework for understanding the rest of the Genesis account, and indeed the rest of the Bible. And so it is that we will be concentrating upon the opening section of the book of Genesis, specifically Genesis 1:1–2:3.
嗯，当然，这样的对比并不准确。创世记的开场白包含一些作为序言的特征，或有相同的目的。它提供我们真正的观点和有帮助的架构，来理解创世记中其他的段落，事实上包括圣经其他的部分。基于此，我们会专注于创世记这段开头的章节，特别是创世记1：1-2：3。

Now, as I’ve just said, one way of understanding this section is to see it as a kind of preface or prologue to the rest of Genesis. Another way to see this section is to view it from the perspective of an Artist who, before he paints, has to stretch and prepare a canvas upon which his art will be displayed. In a similar fashion, in these opening words, we see a de????ion of God doing just that: preparing the canvas upon which he will paint a picture called "redemption," and through which he will demonstrate his glory and goodness and love.
好，如同我刚才说的，理解这个段落的一个方法是把它当作创世记的序言或开场白。另外一个方法是用一个艺术家的角度来看。在他绘画之前，必须张开将来要展示的画布。类似的方式，在这些开头的话语，我们看到上帝的一段叙述，他在作的正是：“准备画布，要在这个画布上画一幅称为‘救赎’的画，透过救赎，他要展现他的荣耀、良善和爱”。

One final metaphor may help: think of this opening section as perhaps the opening act in a great drama in which the scenery is laid out, the stage is set up, the main characters are introduced and take their places, and some basic facts are given. These details form the foundation for the story that God is about to unfold, which is the story of the world and its inhabitants in relation to their Creator.
最后一个象征可能也有帮助：把这个开头的段落视为一出伟大戏剧开头的场景。在这个场景中，布景被安排好了，舞台被架设起来，主要角色被介绍、安放在适当的位置，一些基本的事实也给了出来。这些细节形成这个故事的基础，上帝即将要展开的，是有关此世界和其居民，与他们的创造者之间的关系的故事。

All of these images — a preface, a prepared canvas, the opening scene and setting for a great drama — all of these provide some useful ways for thinking about and approaching these very important words from the Creator to the human beings who are the crown of his creation.
所有的这些景象──前言，一张准备好的画布，一出伟大戏剧开头的场景和布置──都提供一些有益的方式，帮助我们思想和接触这些造物主向人类说的非常重要的话语，而人类是他在造物中的冠冕。

Now, as you are reading through this prologue, in English, and without any background info about Mesopotamian Culture, or Canaanite religions, etc., some of the important subtleties of this passage will not be apparent to you. For example, something that has been noted by a Jewish scholar named Cassuto is the way that the number seven, or perhaps we should say the concept of seven, figures into the Hebrew structure and content of this passage. Seven is important because it is the Hebrew number symbolizing completeness and perfection. So, by way of illustration, Cassuto notes that:
当你用中文阅读这段开场白，如果你没有任何有关美索不达米亚文化或迦南宗教等等的背景资料，这个段落中一些很重要的精妙之处，对你来说就不会很明显。例如，一个名为卡斯托（Cassuto）的犹太学者所注意到的一些事情是，数字“七”，或者我们应该说七的“概念” ，把希伯来文化结构和内容图像式地带入这个段落中。七的重要性是因为这是希伯来文代表完全和完美的数字。如此，透过实例解说， 卡斯托注意到：

1. In Hebrew the passage contains seven paragraphs.
2. Certain words appear with great frequency, like “God,” “earth” and “heaven,” but the number of each one is a multiple of seven.
3. Certain phrases appear seven times throughout the passage, including the phrase "it was good," concluding with the qualified, "it was very good."
4. There are seven references to "light" in the fourth Hebrew paragraph, seven references to water in second and third paragraphs.
5. The first sentence in verse 1 has seven words in Hebrew. Similarly, the last/seventh paragraph consists of three sentences of seven words each, and in the middle of each of these seven-word sentences is the expression "the seventh day."

1. 在希伯来文中，这个段落包含七个小分段。
2. 一些字出现的频率很高，如“上帝”、“地”和“天”，但是这些字出现的次数都是七的倍数。
3. 一些片语在整个段落中出现七次，包括“神看着是好的”，和合格的结论的“一切所造的都甚好”。
4. 在第四段中，提到七次“光”，在第二和第三段中提到七次“水”。
5. 第一节的第一个句子有七个希伯来字。同样地，最后╱第七个段落包括三个句子，每个句子由七个字组成，在这些由七个字组成的句子中，中间的字都是“第七日”。

And there are many more of these sorts of things in the passage. So what does this tell us? Well, it's not saying that there is anything magical or deeply mysterious here about the number seven. But as Cassuto points out, the overwhelming presence of this "seven-based" structural element in the passage cannot possibly be a coincidence. It points to very deliberate structure, and indicate that we are looking at a highly stylized piece of literature. The symbolism attached to the number seven (perfection and completeness), and the overwhelming presence of that symbol within this passage, shows that one of the strong purposes of this section is to underscore the perfection and completeness of all that the Creator God has done. Further, this kind of structure and pattern lends itself to another purpose, which we'll see in a moment. But first, let us consider a couple other aspects of this passage.
在这个段落中还有更多这类的东西。那么，这告诉我们什么呢？这不是说关于七这个数字，有什么魔术或特别神秘。但是，如同卡斯托指出的，这段经文很明显的“七”的结构元素，不可能只是凑巧。它指出一个非常蓄意的结构，表明我们所阅读的是一个高度格式化的文学作品。七这个数字所代表的（完美和完全），以及这段经文所明显出现的这个记号，显示这个段落其中一个很强烈的目的是为了强调造物主上帝所完成的一切都是完美和完全的。其次，这种结构和模式也有其他目的，是我们待会要看到的，要让我们考虑这段经文中其他的观点。

A second element that may not be as evident to the reader is the manner in which the account seems quite deliberately to address all the main figures/elements associated with the religious beliefs of the pagan nations surrounding the people of Israel. Why is this important?
读者会注意到的第二个明显的元素，是这个纪录的手法似乎故意要提到围绕着以色列百姓的异教国家，他们的宗教信仰的一些主要的角色╱元素。这为什么很重要？

Well, imagine, for example, that a man wants to take his son camping, but his son has never been camping before. When he introduces the idea to his son, he is surprised to discover that, instead of being excited about the prospect of going camping, his son becomes nervous and worried. And so the father talks to him about it and discovers, after some discussion, the source of his son’s nervousness. Apparently, the boy has been watching a great deal of The Crocodile Hunter and similar shows, and his active imagination has him convinced that if he ventures out into the woods, he may become the victim of the sorts of nasty beasts he has seen on the TV show each week, such as snakes, bears, and stinging bugs.
嗯，想象一下，例如，一个男人想带他的儿子出去露营，但是他的儿子从来没有露营过。当他把这个想法告诉他的儿子时，他惊讶地发现，他的儿子不是很兴奋，反而变得很紧张和忧虑。所以，父亲对他提到这个，经过一些讨论也发现他的儿子所以紧张的原因。很显然地，这个男孩看了很多“鳄鱼猎人”和类似的节目，而他积极的想象使他相信他在森林中，可能成为一些他在每个礼拜的电视节目中看到的可怕的怪兽，如蛇、熊和会螫人的虫子的牺牲品。

And so the father, aware of his son's concerns and doubts, proceeds to tell him the story of how one time he actually caught and killed a snake, or the story of how on another occasion he went on a camping trip and scared away a ferocious bear, or about the special spray that he has that keeps stinging bugs away. In short, the father demonstrates to his son that he/they are superior to anything that the boy might be worried about, and so the boy's fears are alleviated and he begins to get excited about the trip.
所以这个父亲觉察到他的儿子所担心的，他告诉儿子，他曾经有一次如何真的抓到、并且杀了一条蛇，或者是另外一次他在一次露营中吓走了一头凶猛的熊，或者关于他有一种特殊喷洒液，可以赶走螫人的虫子。简单地说，父亲向他的儿子显示，他╱他们比这个男孩所担心的任何事都要高明，所以男孩的恐惧被去除了，他也开始对这趟旅行感到兴奋。

In a similar fashion, the prologue to Genesis systematically presents the Creator God in a similar light, but in an even more dramatic fashion. That is, the Genesis prologue does not show God as being superior over against a pantheon of lesser gods, it shows him, in actual fact, as the only God. Further, it shows this one and only God over against all those beings/forces which the pagans all around considered to be gods, but which the prologue reveals quite clearly to be creatures made by the one and only God. They have no power over God, and are completely under the authority and rule of the Creator.
按照这个类似的方式，创世记的开场白，系统性地呈现了造物主上帝类似的提示，但是以一个更戏剧化的方式。也就是说，创世记开场白并没有显示上帝只比此神的诸神高明，而是显示，在真正的事实上，祂是唯一的神。再者，它也显示这个独一的上帝，反对围绕着希伯来人的异教徒认为是神的一切存在╱力量。这个开场白所相当清楚揭示的，是这些所谓的神也是独一上帝所造的。他们对神是没有能力的，也完全伏在造物主的权柄和统治之下。

And so, when you look at Canaanite, Babylonian, Mesopotamian and other pagan religious systems, you find such divinities as the sun, the moon, the stars, the oceans, sea creatures, light, darkness, various beasts and birds, and even Chaos. In short, you find all the elements which appear in the creation account, and which God is clearly sovereign over.
因此，如果你看看迦南，巴比伦，美索不达米亚和其他异教的宗教系统，你会发现像太阳、月亮、星星、海洋、海中生物、光、暗、各种走兽和飞鸟，甚至混沌（Chaos）这些神祗。简而言之，你发现出现在创世记纪录中的这些元素，上帝清楚地掌管着它们。

This may explain, for example, why Moses does not call the sun and moon by their names, but simply refers to them as "greater lights" and "lesser lights." He wants so much to show the superiority of God and the corresponding nothingness of these pagan deities, that he refuses even to use their names. In a related fashion, this is probably why verse 21 speaks of the unnamed “great sea creatures,” which played such a prominent role in pagan religion.
这可以解释，例如，为何摩西没有按日和月的名字称呼它们，而是简单地指它们为“大光”和“小光”。他想要证明上帝的优越性，来对比异教神祗的虚无，因此他甚至拒绝使用它们的名字。相关的方式，这个可能是第21节，提到海中没有名字的“大鱼”，它在外邦宗教中扮演很重要的角色。

And again, why would this be important? You have to keep in mind the context, and in particular the people who first received these written accounts. Who were they? They were the people of God who stood poised on the edge of the Promised Land. Moses was urging them to trust God and to enter the Land in faith, and not to fear the peoples before them or their so-called “gods.” For those people at that time, receiving this creation account would have reminded them again of the strength and power of their God, and of the nothingness of those around them.
同时，再一次，为什么这个很重要？你需要记得当时的处境，特别是那批第一次接受到这些写下来的记载的百姓。他们是谁？他们是上帝的子民，犹豫不决地站在应许之地的边缘。摩西正催促他们要相信上帝，用信心进入那地，不必惧怕在他们前面的人，或他们所谓的“神”。对当时的百姓，接受了这个创世的记载，会再次提醒他们，他们的上帝的力量和权能，以及在他们周围的其他的神的虚无。

A third characteristic of this opening prologue is the highly structured and highly repetitive nature of the whole thing. For example, there is the sequence of days. Just the presence of a sequence — any sequence, whether it is “A – B – C” or “1 – 2 – 3,” makes a thing more memorable and impacting. Here you have a sequence of a week — a creation week — that gives a memorable shape to the account.
这段开场白的第三个特质是高度结构化和整件事高度重复的本质。例如，有“日子”的顺序。正如其他的顺序──任何顺序，无论它是“A-B-C”，或者是“1-2-3”，会使事情比较容易记，也更有影响力。这里你有一个一周的次序──一个创造的星期──为这段记载提供一个可以记忆的形状。

Then there is the repetition of phrases like "and God said," "morning and evening,” “the [ordinal] day,” etc. And of course, there is the phrase, as we have already seen, "and God saw that it was good." These appear with great regularity.
然后，有重复的片语，如“神说”，“有晚上，有早晨”，“第（）天”等等。当然，也有这个片语，我们已经看过的，是“神看着是好的”。这些都很有规律地出现。

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