（申16）追求至公至义 (Deut 16) Pursue Perfect Righteousness

(ChatGPT was applied for translation from Chinese. 中文在后面）

Deuteronomy 16:20: “You shall pursue perfect righteousness, so that you may live and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.”

The beginning of the original text is, “Righteousness, righteousness you shall pursue.” Why is “righteousness” repeated twice? Some Jews explain that this means that the pursuit of righteousness must be by righteous means, that one cannot use unscrupulous methods to achieve the goal. See:

https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/76024.14?lang=bi

In present-day society, many wars happen because one side, in order to pursue what it considers to be righteousness, uses violent means. Russia thinks that NATO, by continuously expanding eastward, seizes its sphere of influence, so it sends troops into Ukraine—thus the Russia-Ukraine war. Hamas thinks that the Israelites oppress the Palestinians, and as more and more Arab countries improve relations with Israel, it feels unfair, and thus launches terrorist attacks—thus the Israel-Hamas war. But they do not realize that, regardless of whether the righteousness they themselves claim stands firm or not, once they themselves are the first to resort to violence, it is very possible that before they realize righteousness, they themselves have already done evil, and have been overcome by evil.

In Romans 12:17–21, Paul gives such teaching: “Repay no one evil for evil. Regard what is good before all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath (or: let anger be), for it is written, the Lord says, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay. Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Jesus and his disciples never used violence to resist the Roman Empire; they only peacefully preached the gospel of repentance and salvation. If they had once begun violent revolution, it is very possible they would already have been overcome by evil. To overcome evil with good, to pursue righteousness with righteous means—this, in ordinary thinking, is very difficult, very possibly a matter of suffering loss in this present age, very possibly requiring a great cost. Jesus himself was crucified, and most of the disciples were martyred. But a few hundred years later, the mighty Roman Empire unexpectedly made Christianity its state religion, and later even kings needed the pope’s coronation to take office. As for those martyrs who overcame evil with good, in the future they will be raised, and together with Christ, who has already risen, will reign in the kingdom of heaven on earth for a thousand years. This point is clearly stated in Revelation 20 about the millennium. I think that here in Deuteronomy there is also a foreshadowing, that is: “You shall pursue perfect righteousness, so that you may live and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.” This foreshadows that all who pursue righteousness with righteous means—even if they suffer loss in this present age—will live in the resurrection in the age to come, and inherit the earthly kingdom of heaven in the millennium given by the Lord.

For Jews or Muslims, when they requite one evil with another, repay violence with violence, I can understand, because they have not accepted the example of Jesus Christ. What I find hard to understand is, why do Russia and Ukraine, both Christian countries, also do deadly fighting? I think that perhaps many Christians do not really believe, or perhaps only think that they themselves believe. Those who incite them very possibly also are not all truly believing the Bible. The generation of conflict is not only a problem of the conflicting sides, but a problem of whether all humanity truly believes in the Lord. If everyone truly trusted and strictly obeyed the teachings of the Bible —Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”, Romans 12:21 “do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”—then it would be impossible to fight.

In the same way, if everyone truly believed in the Lord, the Israelites and the Palestinians also would not fight; there would be a better solution. For example, if everyone truly believed that Canaan is the promised land for Israel, and that the scattered Israelites will all return, these teachings and prophecies of the Bible, (e.g., Ezekiel 11:17 “…‘Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’”) then Jews outside of Israel and Palestinians in the land of Canaan would be willing to exchange fairly the places where they now live. And if Palestinians believed in the Lord, they also would not insist on establishing their capital in East Jerusalem, because according to Revelation 21, they will dwell with the Lord in the better and bigger New Jerusalem.

Therefore, “You shall pursue perfect righteousness”—the best and most fundamental way is not violence, but preaching the gospel, learning, teaching, obeying, and practicing the Bible. Just as when Jesus began to preach he said: “The kingdom of heaven has drawn near; you should repent.” (Matthew 4:17)

（申16）追求至公至义

申命记16:20 “ 你要追求至公至义，好叫你存活，承受耶和华你神所赐你的地。”

原文的开头，是“公义公义你要追求”，为什么公义重复了两遍？有犹太人解释，这表示追求公义要用公义的方式，不能为达目的不择手段。参见

https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/76024.14?lang=bi

现今社会的战争，很多是因为一方为了追求自己所认为的公义，就使用暴力手段。俄国认为北约不断地东扩夺取自己的势力范围，就出兵乌克兰，于是有了俄乌战争。哈马斯认为以色列人欺压巴勒斯坦人，而越来越多的阿拉伯国家和以色列正在改善关系，觉得不公平，于是搞恐怖袭击，于是有了以哈战争。殊不知，不论自己所认为的公义是不是站得住脚，一旦自己先诉诸暴力，就很可能还没有实现公义，自己就先作恶了，被恶所胜了。

在罗马书12:17-21，保罗有这样的教导：“不要以恶报恶，众人以为美的事，要留心去作。若是能行，总要尽力与众人和睦。亲爱的弟兄，不要自己伸冤，宁可让步，听凭主怒。（或作让人发怒）因为经上记着，主说，伸冤在我。我必报应。所以，你的仇敌若饿了，就给他吃。若渴了，就给他喝。因为你这样行，就是把炭火堆在他的头上。你不可为恶所胜，反要以善胜恶。”

耶稣和他的门徒们从来不用暴力反抗罗马帝国，只是和平地传悔改得救的福音。倘若他们一旦开始暴力革命，很可能就自己先被恶所胜了。以善胜恶，以公义手段追求公义，这在常理看是很难的，很可能是要在今世吃亏的，可能是需要付出很大的代价的，耶稣本人被钉死在十字架上，门徒们也大多数殉道，但几百年后，不可一世的罗马帝国竟然把基督教当作国教，后来连国王上任都要教宗加冕。那些以善胜恶的殉道者们，将来则会复活，和已经复活的基督一起，在地上的天国掌权一千年。这一点，在启示录20章的千禧年经文有明确的说明，我认为在这里的申命记经文也有预表，就是“你要追求至公至义，好叫你存活，承受耶和华你神所赐你的地 ”，这预表凡是以公义手段追求公义的人，即使在今世吃亏，也会在复活后在来世存活，承受主所赐的千禧年的地上天国。

犹太教或伊斯兰的人，互相冤冤相报，以暴制暴，我可以理解，因为他们没有接受耶稣基督的榜样，我难以理解的是，为什么俄乌两国都是基督教国家，也会打得你死我活？我觉得可能很多基督徒并不是真相信，或者可能只是自己以为自己信。那些挑拨他们的人，很可能也不是都真的相信圣经。冲突的产生不只是冲突双方的问题，而是全人类是否真心信主的问题。如果大家真的相信并严格遵守圣经的教导（马太福音5:9）‘‘使人和睦的人有福了，因为他们必称为神的儿子。”，（罗马书12:21）“你不可为恶所胜，反要以善胜恶。”，那是不可能打起来的。

同样，如过大家都真信主，以色列人和巴勒斯坦人也不会打起来，会有更好的解决办法，比如说，如果大家真相信迦南地是以色列人的应许地，而且四散的以色列人将全部回归，这些圣经的教导和预言 (例如以西結书11:17，“…主耶和华如此说，我必从万民中招聚你们，从分散的列国内聚集你们，又要将以色列地赐给你们。”），那么以色列境外的犹太人与迦南地的巴勒斯坦人会很愿意公平交换他们现在居住的地方。巴勒斯坦人如果信了主，也不会执着于在东耶路撒冷建都，因为根据启示录第21章，他们会在更美好的新耶路撒冷与主同住。

所以“ 要追求至公至义”，最好的最根本的办法，不是暴力，而是传福音，学习，教导，遵守，和实践圣经。就像耶稣开始传道时所说的，“天国近了，你们应当悔改。”（马太福音4:17）