The blessing of God ought to motivate us to be a blessing and a help to others. Note how often Moses mentions the blessing of God (vv. 4, 6, 10, 14, 18). God has opened His hand generously to us, and we should open our hands widely to others (v. 8). He blesses us so that we might be a blessing (Gen. 12:2).
神的祝福应该激励我们去帮助别人，成为他们的祝福。请注意摩西是如此频繁地提到神的祝福（4, 6, 10, 14, 18节）。神松开手慷慨地赐福予我们，所以我们也应该向别人松开我们的手（8节）。祂祝福我们，叫我们能成为别人的祝福（创12:2）。
Not only must we have generous hands, but we should cultivate glad hearts as we share (v. 10). Giving is an occasion not for shrewd calculation (v. 9) but for jubilation! Paul may have had this verse in mind when he wrote “not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7).
我们不仅要有慷慨的手，也要在分享时培养一颗乐意的心（10节）。给予不是斤斤计较的时刻，而是欢庆的场合（9节）！当保罗写道：“不要作难，不要勉强，因为捐得乐意的人是神所喜爱的”（林后9:7），他或许想的就是这节经文。
The greatest gift of all is the gift of ourselves because we love one another (vv. 16–17). First we give ourselves to the Lord (Rom. 12:1–2) and then to one another in loving service (2 Cor. 8:1–5). There is plenty of room in “The Fellowship of the Pierced Ear.”
而世界上最珍贵的礼物就是自己，因为我们彼此相爱（16-17节）。首先，我们要将自己献于主（罗12:1-2），然后在爱中彼此服事（林后8:1-5）。我们还需在“穿刺之耳的团契”中更加努力。
Praying the Scripture 用经文祷告
- Those who think that it takes a great deal of faith to give God a tithe of their income will probably be shocked when they read this section of the law. Just as every seventh day of the week was set apart for God as the Sabbath Day, so every seventh year was to be set apart as a Sabbath Year. During that year, the Jews were not to cultivate the land but allow it to rest. The people would have to trust God to produce the grain, vegetables, and fruits they needed for themselves and for their flocks and herds and farm animals. (Lev. 25:1–7) The Sabbath Year involved much more than rest for the land (Ex. 23:10–11). It also meant canceling debts (Deut. 15:1–11) and setting free the servants who had served for six years (vv. 12–18). If it is you, would you obey?
那些认为将自己收入的十分之一奉献给神是需要极大信心的，在读到这段律法时或许会感到震惊。正如每周的第七天应当分别出来作安息日一样，每七个年头也当作安息年。在这一年里，犹太人必须让土地休息，不得耕种。百姓须要信靠神供应他们和一切畜禽所需的粮食、蔬菜、水果等（利25:1-7）。安息年里不但要让土地休息（出23:10-11），还要抵消债务（申15:1-11），并释放已服事六年的仆人（12-18节）。如果是你，你会服从吗？
- The Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee were part of God’s wise plan to balance the economic scales in the nation so that the rich could not exploit the poor. However, the Lord knew that there would always be poor people in the land because Israel would not consistently obey these laws. The nation of Israel would have been the most prosperous nation on earth if they had followed the instructions God gave them, but they rejected His will and they did not observe the Sabbath Year which was to be every seventh year or the Year of Jubilee every fiftieth year (Lev. 26:32–45), and for this failure they paid a great price. Their seventy years captivity in Babylon gave their land the Sabbath rest that it missed during those years of disobedience (2 Chron. 36:14–21).
安息年和禧年都是神智慧策划的一部分，以平衡国家经济，叫富人无法剥削穷人。然而，主知道以色列必然会有穷人的存在，因为她不会一直遵守这些律法。如果以色列人肯遵循神给他们的指示，他们如今就是世上最繁荣的国家了，但他们违背了神的旨意，也没遵守每七年的安息年，或每五十年的禧年（利26:32-45）。为此，他们付上了巨大的代价。他们被放流到巴比伦的七十年，就是要让土地补回这段日子所错过的休息（代下36:14-21）。
