Genesis 21

标题：Genesis 21
年份：2020
尺寸：47.28 x 70.85 cm

Title: Genesis 21
Year: 2020
Dimension: 47.28 x 70.85 cm

「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.

21 / 50.

21:1 耶和华照着以前所说的，眷顾撒拉；耶和华按着他的应许，给撒拉作成。21:2 亚伯拉罕年老的时候，撒拉怀了孕，到了　神应许的日期，就给亚伯拉罕生了一个儿子。21:3 亚伯拉罕给撒拉为他所生的儿子，起名叫以撒。21:4 亚伯拉罕的儿子以撒生下来第八天，亚伯拉罕就照着　神吩咐他的，给以撒行了割礼。21:5 他儿子以撒出生的时候，亚伯拉罕正一百岁。21:6 撒拉说：“　神使我欢笑，凡听见的，也必为我欢笑。”21:7 又说：“谁能告诉亚伯拉罕，撒拉要乳养儿女呢？在他年老的时候，我竟给他生了一个儿子。”21:8 孩子渐渐长大，就断了奶。以撒断奶的那天，亚伯拉罕摆设盛大的筵席。21:9 撒拉看见那埃及人夏甲给亚伯拉罕所生的儿子在嬉戏，21:10 就对亚伯拉罕说：“把这婢女和她的儿子赶出去，因为这婢女的儿子不能和我的儿子以撒一同承受产业。”21:11 亚伯拉罕因他的儿子而非常烦恼。21:12 神对亚伯拉罕说：“不要因这童子和你的婢女而烦恼。撒拉对你说的话，你都要听从；因为以撒生的，才可以称为你的后裔。21:13 至于这婢女的儿子，我也要使他成为一国，因为他是你的后裔。”21:14 亚伯拉罕清早起来，拿饼和一皮袋水，给了夏甲，放在她的肩膀上，又把孩子交给她，就打发她离开。夏甲走了，在别是巴的旷野飘荡。21:15 皮袋里的水用尽了，夏甲就把孩子撇在一棵小树底下。21:16 然后自己走开，在离开约有一箭之远的地方，相对而坐，说：“我不忍眼看孩子死去。”就相对坐着，放声大哭。21:17 神听见了童子的声音，他的使者就从天上呼叫夏甲，对她说：“夏甲啊，你为甚么这样呢？不要害怕，因为孩子在那里所发的声音　神已经听见了。21:18 起来，扶起孩子，尽力保护他；因为我要使他成为大国。”21:19 神开了夏甲的眼睛，她就看见一口水井。她去把皮袋盛满了水，就给孩子喝。21:20 神与孩子同在，他渐渐长大，住在旷野，成了个弓箭手。21:21 他住在巴兰的旷野，他的母亲从埃及地给他娶了一个妻子。21:22 那时，亚比米勒和他的军长非各对亚伯拉罕说：“在你所作的一切事上，　神都与你同在。21:23 现在你要在这里指着　神对我起誓，你不会以诡诈待我和我的子子孙孙。我怎样恩待了你，你也要怎样恩待我和你寄居的地方。”21:24 亚伯拉罕回答：“我愿意起誓。”21:25 亚伯拉罕因亚比米勒的仆人强占了一口水井，就指责亚比米勒。21:26 亚比米勒说：“谁作了这事，我不知道，你也没有告诉我；我现在才听见。”21:27 于是亚伯拉罕牵了牛羊来，送给亚比米勒，二人就彼此立约。21:28 亚伯拉罕把羊群中的七只母羊羔，放在另外一处。21:29 亚比米勒问亚伯拉罕：“你把这七只母羊羔放在另外一处，是甚么意思呢？”21:30 亚伯拉罕回答：“意思就是：你从我手里接受这七只母羊羔，好作我挖了这口井的证据。”21:31 因此那地方名叫别是巴，因为他们二人在那里起了誓。21:32 他们在别是巴立约以后，亚比米勒和他的军长非各，就起程回非利士地去了。21:33 亚伯拉罕在别是巴栽了一棵垂丝柳树，就在那里求告耶和华永活的　神的名。21:34 亚伯拉罕在非利士人的地方寄居了许多日子。

创世记 21

21:1 Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised.21:2 Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.21:3 Abraham gave the name Isaac(Isaac means he laughs.) to the son Sarah bore him.21:4 When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him.21:5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.21:6 Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.”21:7 And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”21:8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast.21:9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking,21:10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”21:11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son.21:12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring(Or seed) will be reckoned.21:13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”21:14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.21:15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.21:16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she(Hebrew; Septuagint the child) began to sob.21:17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.21:18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”21:19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.21:20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.21:21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.21:22 At that time Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.21:23 Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you now reside as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown to you.”21:24 Abraham said, “I swear it.”21:25 Then Abraham complained to Abimelek about a well of water that Abimelek’s servants had seized.21:26 But Abimelek said, “I don’t know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today.”21:27 So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a treaty.21:28 Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock,21:29 and Abimelek asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?”21:30 He replied, “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well.”21:31 So that place was called Beersheba,(Beersheba can mean well of seven and well of the oath.) because the two men swore an oath there.21:32 After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelek and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines.21:33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God.21:34 And Abraham stayed in the land of the Philistines for a long time.

Genesis 21

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