圣洁的不名誉收入:对《以赛亚书》23:15-18中妓女比喻的阅读

Holy Immoral Earnings:A Reading of the Harlot Metaphor in Isaiah 23:15-18

妓女比喻在《以赛亚书》23:15-18中十分突出,其存在使得耶和华关于恢复推罗往日荣耀的应许变得语意不定——推罗的未来表现出正面与负面信息的交相浑融。笔者论述了该比喻的三重作用:第一,推罗形象是通过妓女隐喻表现出来的,直观上是对推罗的贬低;第二,在恢复推罗往日荣耀的应许时,耶和华成为一个收取推罗由卖淫而得的不名誉收入的神,这种修辞反过来提升了妓女形象,致使成为妓女的推罗似乎并不那么堕落;第三,妓女比喻使耶和华形象复杂化,至高上帝成为被妓女淫资所助之神,其圣洁性大打折扣。本文研究了妓女比喻如何模糊了推罗、妓女和耶和华三者的形象,直接导致耶和华丧失道德和宗教上的优越性。将这段经文与《申命记》23:19并置时,《以赛亚书》23章中复杂多重的耶和华形象尤趋鲜明。

The prominent presence of the harlot metaphor in Isaiah 23:15-18 complicates the interpretation of the promise of restoration for Tyre,whose future becomes an ambivalent picture of mixed fortunes.I will show in this essay that the effects of the metaphorical language are threefold:first,images of Tyre are manifest through the harlot metaphor,which is inherently degenerate;second,the imagery of the harlot is alleviated by YHWH receiving her immoral earnings;third,the imagery of YHWH is complicated by the sovereign God being patronized by the loathsome earnings of the harlot.The essay explores how the harlot metaphor blurs the images of Tyre,the harlot and YHWH,an imagery even more remarkable when read in the context of Deuteronomy 23:18 and its command against bringing the wages of prostitution into God’s temple.