سفر الملوك الأول هو سفر تاريخي يكمّل أحداث سفري صموئيل، وبيغطي فترة مهمة جدًا في تاريخ شعب إسرائيل، من أواخر حياة داود النبي لحد انقسام المملكة بعد موت سليمان، ثم بداية ملوك إسرائيل ويهوذا.
السفر بيكشف إن مجد الإنسان أو المملكة مرتبط بطاعة ربنا، وإن الابتعاد عن وصاياه يقود للانهيار حتى لو البداية كانت قوية ومليانة بركة.
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تقسيم السفر
أولًا: أواخر حياة داود وتسليم المُلك لسليمان (1–2)
السفر يبدأ وداود النبي شيخ ومتقدم في الأيام، وفيه صراع على المُلك بين أدونيا وسليمان.
أدونيا حاول ياخد المُلك لنفسه، لكن ربنا كان مختار سليمان.
النبي ناثان وبثشبع تدخلوا، وداود أعلن إن سليمان هو الملك الشرعي، واتمسح ملكًا على إسرائيل.
1. The Martyrdom of St. Theonilla the Blessed, during the Consulship of Diocletian in his First Year, and of the distinguished Aristobulus.
A woman was brought by Philip the city centurion [ordinarius] of Aegeae to the tribunal. Eleutherius the jailer said, “The woman whom my lord your magnificence commanded [to come] is here”. Lysias the ruler asked her and said, “What is your family, and where are you from ? Or give your name”. Theonilla said, “Of the family of senators, and I am from Perga, a city of Pamphylia. I have come to Rhosos30 for family that I have there”. Lysias said, “What is your name ?” Theonilla said, “My real name ? I am Christiana. My common, regular name ? I am called Theonilla”. Lysias the ruler said, “As a foreigner, then, be willing to carry yourself as is right for your freedom, and let the modesty that is right for your womanly gender be preserved with you. Bring yourself willingly to sacrifice to the gods. Leave the court”. Theonilla said, “I am a Christian, because I have come [lit. was] from among the nations: with knowledge I have believed in the God of truth, and I hate and despise all the abomination of idols, because it is wickedness”.
2. Lysias the ruler said, “Is it considered wickedness to you that people should sacrifice to and serve the gods ?” Theonilla said, “I cannot turn back and take up again that which I have once despised as evil”. Lysias the ruler said, “I counsel you, woman, to act modestly from your nature and keep a manner right for your freedom. Be willing, then, to forsake this foolishness in which you stand; consent to be seen at the court as a modest and free woman”. Theonilla said, “I am keeping modesty and freedom, for it is the living God, who is eternal, that I worship; I also honor the Christ, by whose holy name I have been considered worthy to
be called a Christian. And I keep the truth of my faith within me, without turning away to another religion: for even though I am a woman and my nature is weak, still I hope in my God, for God will affirm my purpose with strength and might with my confession to him”. Lysias the ruler said, “The form of these words will not help you at all, wicked and wretched woman. Rather, have mercy on yourself and be willing to keep the manner right for your freedom. Convince yourself not to fall into dishonor. Do not let the manner of your modesty be laid bare in shame, and do not allow your name to come to dishonor for those present here. For if you do not consent, Theonilla, I will make you a spectacle to everyone, that you will be publicly shamed as a dishonor and laughingstock, and you will end up utterly reviled”.
3. Theonilla said, “I do not flee from this dishonor. If, then, you want to treat me this way, get on with it quickly, for I hope in Jesus Christ my savior. For even if I am stripped of my clothing, I can still put on God. And if you destroy my body with lacerations, I will yet be redeemed in
Christ”. The ruler said, “Those miserable, evil people who were before you also approached my tribunal and withstood my command: their bodies were destroyed with lacerations and trouble. They would say the same things, woman, but in the end they met destruction. There is not for you either, then, anyone to aid you in these lacerations, nor is there anyone to
save you from it, when you are handed over to the fire. Look at these instruments of torture that are prepared [for you] ! See the flame of fire that is ready for the destruction of those who are disobedient, and take this all to heart ! Temper your intentions, woman: honor the gods, feel shame before kings, and respect my tribunal ! Promise that you will sacrifice to the gods. Show to everyone that you are chaste and a free woman”. Theonilla said, “I fear the fire of the eternal judgment to come, in which both soul and body can be destroyed, especially in the case of those who leave God in their wickedness and sacrifice to demons in idols”. The ruler said, “Up to now I have been considering the feminine weakness that is present with you and because of this I have been restraining my anger against you, so repent and flee from shame, before the threats of the court are kindled against you. Make your escape from torments and sacrifice to the gods”.
4. Theonilla said, “This is my aid, hope, and trust: that I am in the fear of God, for this world is a temporary hut, but the world to come is of better recompense and of a great eternal reward that does not pass away, especially for those who fear God in truth and justice. For even though I am a woman, I know what helps me, and I have chosen to endure the afflictions for my faith toward God”. The ruler said, “Who has advised and taught you to arrive at all this arrogance, evil woman ?” Theonilla said, “My faith in God and confession in our Lord Jesus Christ”. The ruler said, “This is enough of the shame and derision that you are made here in court before those present, miserable woman”. Theonilla said, “It is no loss to
me at all that for my God I should be an object of reproach to people; may I only please God”. The ruler said, “Take the cloak from her head and slap her cheeks”. And they said to her, “Where is the ornament of your words and your fruitless work, miserable woman ? Look ! You have delivered yourself to an evil death !” Theonilla said, “My body will be destroyed after a little while, even if you do not wish it, but my soul will remain without destruction after my body is ruined”.
5. The ruler said, “Throw her on the ground. Bind her hands and feet and stretch her out. Cut the soles of her feet with whips”. And they said to her, “Repent and do what is commanded you by the judge. Give yourself a way out from other punishments reserved for you”. Archelaus the executioner said, “I think she is dead”. The ruler said, “Release her from her bonds and set her up on her feet, while holding her on both sides”. When she came to herself, they asked her what she would respond to the things she had suffered. Eleutherius the jailer said to her, “Miserable woman, obey the consul and make an escape for yourself. What will
you say or do in the face of these trials that are here prepared for you ?” Theonilla said, “I have already delivered myself to death. Depart from me, man ! Go and reprove yourself ! For I know what aids me”. The ruler said, “Because you are stupid, you are willing to hand yourself over to destruction, for you are not aware that my tribunal will not have mercy on
you. If you will not now do anything that is commanded you, I will inflict evils greater than these on you to the point of depriving you even of life”.
6. Theonilla said, “If it seems good to you to torture illegally a foreigner and a free woman, you know what you are doing”. Lysias the ruler said, “Am I torturing you as a woman illegally, while taking vengeance with you against wickedness ? For if you have not had mercy on yourself, coming in your impudence to all this shame, and not obeyed whatever has been commanded you, how can I have mercy on you ?” Theonilla said, “It would have been right for you to have mercy on me and not torture me, since I have not caused offense in anything”. The ruler said, “‘In nothing,’ you say, ‘have I caused offense’ ? You blaspheme the gods and despise my judgment seat !” Theonilla said, “I have a good conscience before God, and in faith I have readied myself against your torments, and the intention of my soul is unmoved by your threats”. The ruler said, “Hang her up by her hair”. And they said to her, “So do you agree to sacrifice to the gods ? Or if you remain in your foolishness, are you willing to fall into
worse torments than these ?”
7. Theonilla said, “I have [already] said once that I will not depart from the God of truth, and I remain firm in my confession of him. For it is enough for me, as I was previously in error [145a] and great folly, in that I would provide offerings of unclean idols, now that I have received the knowledge of the living God, I believe that no one can distance me from the glory that is in my God and from the hope I possess, which I must truly preserve and offer without blemish to God with endurance through Jesus Christ, the savior and helper of those who believe in him”. The ruler said, “It would have been right for the court to bring this to your mind too: that on account of your abundant error and your fruitless labor you would be handed over to the nakedness of whoredom (Since she has already been stripped naked, this expression may well mean “to be raped”)., yet even if you might be ashamed through this, as your body is handed over to destruction, because I honor the gods and am ashamed of nature, I am not willing to do this now, though I will use other tortures with you, until little by little I destroy you, impudent woman”. Theonilla said, “It is enough for you that you have set me up, while I am stripped bare. It is not only me that you have publicly shamed; you have brought shame on both your mother and your wife together with me. For all women wear one body and form, if you will consider carefully”.
8. The ruler said, “My patience has made you come to rashness and considerable impudence. I have not taken vengeance against you equal to your works and your shameless evil”. Theonilla said, “I am not stupid and shameless as you have said. I am shameful before the living God: because you do not know him, you are doing these things to me”. The ruler said, “Slap her cheeks and disfigure her face”. Theonilla said, “May God see my humiliation and my shame, and may he preserve me in my faith toward him, because I am enduring these things as a lone foreigner, trusting not in any person, but in God, who has given me boldness with him through Jesus Christ my Lord”. The ruler said, “Tell me: are you married
or a widow ?” Theonilla said, “I have been a widow twenty-three years now, and for God I have thus remained in my hope toward him and I have spent my life in perpetual fasting and prayer, from the time that I departed from the religion of idols and received and the knowledge of the truth that is in God. You have not considered the weakness of my body, nor respected
the number of my years, because you have thus tortured me mercilessly. May God see and judge you, because you are acting this way toward me, wicked man !”
9. The ruler said, “If you were a free woman and worthy of our rendering honor to you, you would have consented to me, obeyed the royal command, and sacrificed to the gods”. Theonilla said, “Let that honor be yours in uncleanness and wickedness, and let it remain with you in the destruction of your soul. But let it be mine to worship God with a pure heart and with faith that does not respect persons, through the knowledge of the Christ, and to escape from all the wickedness of the religion of unclean idols, which you are compelling me, God’s handmaid, to worship and to depart from my God”. The ruler said, “Bring a razor and shave the hair of her head, so that by this, too, extra shame will be added to her”. But Theonilla said, “My body, as it is destroyed, shall not make me suffer that I should turn from my God, nor the hair of my head, when it is removed, persuade me to be distressed and depart from the confession that is toward God”. The ruler said, “Bind a strap on her loins and stretch her out by the hands and feet, and when her back and whole body are stripped and bare, rend her with scourging”. And they said to her, “Stop chattering, wretch !( This expression is literally “evil head”, apparently a term of abuse). Rather, obey that which is commanded you: sacrifice to the gods and escape torment”. Archelaus the executioner said, “No, my lord, your magnificence, she answers nothing”.
10. The ruler said, “Throw her on the ground. Bring fiery coals and add them to her beating, that she may thus be silenced for good and meet an evil death”. Eleutherius the jailer and Archelaus the executioner said, “Your magnificence, there she lies dead”. Lysias the ruler said, “Bring a sack and put her in it, and let her be tossed into the depths of the sea. And let her be guarded by the diligence of the princeps, Eleutherius the jailer, and Archelaus the executioner, that her body might not be given to her coreligionists by means of a bribe or anything else, so that it will not be revealed after some time to my tribunal and that those guarding [her] will not receive an evil death”.
The blessed woman was crowned with martyrdom on the 25th of the month of First Teshri (October), in the faith of Jesus Christ, her helper, to whom be glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
في زمن بقى فيه الشك هو القاعدة، والتصديق محتاج دليل، تفضل القيامة واحدة من أكتر الأحداث اللي اتناقشت واتحللت عبر التاريخ. السؤال : هل القيامة حدث حقيقي فعلاً؟
المسيحية كلها قائمة على لحظة فاصلة:
قيام المسيح من الموت.
لو ما حصلتش، يبقى الإيمان كله بلا أساس. لكن لو حصلت… يبقى إحنا قدام أعظم حدث غيّر التاريخ.
1-القبر الفارغ: بداية اللغز
أول حقيقة لازم نقف عندها هي القبر الفارغ.
مافيش دليل تاريخي قوي قدر يثبت وجود الجسد بعد الصلب.
حتى المعارضين ما أنكروش إن القبر كان فاضى.لكن الحقيقه الثابته :
القبر كان معروف… وأصبح فارغًا.
2-شهود العيان:
في شهادات متعددة إن المسيح ظهر لأفراد ولمجموعات، بل ولأكثر من 500 شخص.
مش مجرد “إحساس” أو “رؤية داخلية”…
لكن لقاءات حقيقية غيرت حياتهم.
هل فعلًا أكثر من 500 شخص شافوا المسيح؟
الرقم ده مذكور بوضوح
"وَبَعْدَ ذلِكَ ظَهَرَ دُفْعَةً وَاحِدَةً لأَكْثَرَ مِنْ خَمْسِمِئَةِ أَخٍ، أَكْثَرُهُمْ بَاقٍ إِلَى الآنَ، وَلَكِنَّ بَعْضَهُمْ قَدْ رَقَدُوا."
(1 كورنثوس 15: 6)
القوة هنا مش في الرقم بس…
لكن في الجملة: "أكثرهم باقٍ إلى الآن" يعني وقت كتابة الكلام ده، كان في شهود لسه عايشين،اى حد يقدر يسألهم ويتحقق.
3-التحول الجذري: من خوف إلى شجاعة
التلاميذ قبل الصليب كانوا خائفين ومختبئين.
بعد القيامة، بقوا يعلنوا الإيمان بشجاعة رغم الاضطهاد.
هل ممكن إنسان يموت عشان كذبة ؟ نقطة معاصرة مثيرة: النور المقدس
يعني وقت كتابة الكلام ده، كان في شهود لسه عايشين،اى حد يقدر يسألهم ويتحقق.
نقطة معاصرة مثيرة: النور المقدس