Genesis 38

标题：Genesis 38
年份：2020
尺寸：47.28 x 70.85 cm

Title: Genesis 38
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.

38 / 50.

38:1 那时，犹大离开他的众兄弟下去，到一个亚杜兰人的家里居住，那人名叫希拉。38:2 犹大在那里看见迦南人书亚的女儿，就娶了她，与她亲近。38:3 她就怀了孕，生了一个儿子，犹大给他起名叫珥。38:4 她又怀孕，生了一个儿子，给他起名叫俄南。38:5 她再怀孕，又生了一个儿子，就给他起名叫示拉。她生示拉的时候，犹大正在基悉。38:6 犹大为自己的长子珥娶妻，名叫他玛。38:7 犹大的长子珥，在耶和华眼中是个恶人，所以耶和华取去他的性命。38:8 于是犹大对俄南说：“你去与你哥哥的妻子亲近，向她尽你作弟弟的本分，替你的哥哥立后。”38:9 俄南知道生下来的孩子不会归自己，所以每次与哥哥的妻子亲近的时候，都遗精在地上，免得替自己的哥哥立后。38:10 俄南所作的，在耶和华眼中是件恶事，所以耶和华也取去他的性命。38:11 于是，犹大对他的媳妇他玛说：“你回到你父亲家里去守寡，等我的儿子示拉长大。”因为他心里想：“恐怕示拉也像他两个哥哥一样死去。”他玛就回去，住在她父亲的家里。38:12 过了很多日子，犹大的妻子，书亚的女儿死了。守丧的时间过了以后，犹大就和他的朋友亚杜兰人希拉上亭拿去，到替他羊群剪毛的人那里。38:13 有人告诉他玛说：“你的公公现在上亭拿去剪羊毛。”38:14 他玛见示拉已经长大了，还没有娶她为妻，就脱去守寡的衣服，用帕子蒙脸，遮蔽自己，坐在亭拿路上，伊拿印的城门口。38:15 犹大看见她，以为她是个妓女，因为她蒙着脸。38:16 犹大就过到她那边去，说：“来吧，让我与你亲近。”原来他不知道她就是自己的媳妇。他玛说：“你与我亲近要给我甚么呢？”38:17 犹大说：“我从羊群中拿一只小山羊送给你。”他玛说：“在你没有送来以前，你可以留些东西作为保证吗？”38:18 犹大问：“你要我给你甚么作保证呢？”他玛回答：“你的印戒，连同印的带子，以及你手里的杖。”犹大就给了她，与她亲近，她就从犹大怀了孕。38:19 他玛起来走了，脱去帕子，再穿上守寡的衣服。38:20 犹大托自己的朋友亚杜兰人，把一只小山羊送去，要从那女人手中取回保证物，却找不着她。38:21 希拉问那地方的人说：“伊拿印路旁的妓女在哪里呢？”他们回答：“这里是没有妓女的。”38:22 那人回去见犹大，说：“我找不着她，并且那地的人都说：‘这里是没有妓女的。’”38:23 犹大说：“那些东西任她拿去吧，免得我们被人嗤笑。我已经把这小山羊送了去，可是你找不着她。”38:24 大约过了三个月，有人告诉犹大说：“你的媳妇他玛作了妓女，并且因此怀了孕。”犹大说：“把她拉出来，烧死她。”38:25 他玛被拉出来的时候，派人去见她的公公说：“这些东西是谁的，我就是从谁怀了孕。”她又说：“请你认一认，这印戒、印的带子和手杖是谁的？”38:26 犹大认出那些东西，就说：“她比我更有理，因为我没有把她给我的儿子示拉为妻。”从此犹大就不再与她亲近了。38:27 到了他玛将要生产的时候，腹中竟是一对双胎。38:28 她正在生产的时候，一个孩子伸出一只手来。接生婆拿了一根朱红线，系在他的手上，说：“这一个是先出生的。”38:29 他把手收回去的时候，他的哥哥就出来了。接生婆说：“你为甚么抢着出来呢？”因此，给他起名叫法勒斯。38:30 接着，手上系着一根朱红线的弟弟也出来了。因此，给他起名叫谢拉。

创世记 38

38:1 At that time, Judah left his brothers and went down to stay with a man of Adullam named Hirah.38:2 There Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He married her and made love to her;38:3 she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er.38:4 She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan.38:5 She gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Kezib that she gave birth to him.38:6 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.38:7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the Lord ’s sight; so the Lord put him to death.38:8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife and fulfill your duty to her as a brother-in-law to raise up offspring for your brother.”38:9 But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother.38:10 What he did was wicked in the Lord ’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.38:11 Judah then said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He may die too, just like his brothers.” So Tamar went to live in her father’s household.38:12 After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, to the men who were shearing his sheep, and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went with him.38:13 When Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is on his way to Timnah to shear his sheep,”38:14 she took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil to disguise herself, and then sat down at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that, though Shelah had now grown up, she had not been given to him as his wife.38:15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.38:16 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.38:17 “I’ll send you a young goat from my flock,” he said. “Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.38:18 He said, “What pledge should I give you?” “Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,” she answered. So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she became pregnant by him.38:19 After she left, she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again.38:20 Meanwhile Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from the woman, but he did not find her.38:21 He asked the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?” “There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here,” they said.38:22 So he went back to Judah and said, “I didn’t find her. Besides, the men who lived there said, ‘There hasn’t been any shrine prostitute here.’ ”38:23 Then Judah said, “Let her keep what she has, or we will become a laughingstock. After all, I did send her this young goat, but you didn’t find her.”38:24 About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.” Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!”38:25 As she was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. “I am pregnant by the man who owns these,” she said. And she added, “See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”38:26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.38:27 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.38:28 As she was giving birth, one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.”38:29 But when he drew back his hand, his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” And he was named Perez.(Perez means breaking out.)38:30 Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out. And he was named Zerah.(Zerah can mean scarlet or brightness.)

Genesis 38

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