Zephaniah 1

Zep 1:1-18.

GOD'S

SEVERE

JUDGMENT ON

JUDAH FOR

ITS

IDOLATRY AND

NEGLECT OF

HIM:

THE

RAPID

APPROACH OF THE

JUDGMENT, AND THE

IMPOSSIBILITY OF

ESCAPE.

1. days of Josiah--Had their idolatries been under former kings, they

might have said, Our kings have forced us to this and that. But under

Josiah, who did all in his power to reform them, they have no such

excuse.

son of Amon--the idolater, whose bad practices the Jews clung to,

rather than the good example of Josiah, his son; so incorrigible were

they in sin.

Judah--Israel's ten tribes had gone into captivity before this.

2. utterly consume--from a root to "sweep away," or "scrape off

utterly." See

Jer 8:13,

Margin, and here.

from off the land--of Judah.

3. Enumeration in detail of the "all things"

(Zep 1:2;

compare

Jer 9:10;

Ho 4:3).

the stumbling-blocks--idols which cause Judah to offend or stumble

(Eze 14:3, 4, 7).

with the wicked--The idols and their worshippers shall be involved

in a common destruction.

4. stretch out mine hand--indicating some remarkable and unusual work

of vengeance

(Isa 5:25; 9:12, 17, 21).

Judah--including Benjamin. These two tribes are to suffer, which

thought themselves perpetually secure, because they escaped the

captivity in which the ten tribes were involved.

Jerusalem--the fountainhead of the evil. God begins with His

sanctuary

(Eze 9:6),

and those who are nigh Him

(Le 10:3).

the remnant of Baal--the remains of Baal worship, which as yet Josiah

was unable utterly to eradicate in remote places. Baal was the

Phœnician tutelary god. From the time of the Judges

(Jud 2:13),

Israel had fallen into this idolatry; and Manasseh lately had set up

this idol within Jehovah's temple itself

(2Ki 21:3, 5, 7).

Josiah began his reformation in the twelfth year of his reign

(2Ch 34:4, 8),

and in the eighteenth had as far as possible completed it.

Chemarims--idol priests, who had not reached the age of puberty;

meaning "ministers of the gods" [SERVIUS on

Æneid, 11], the same name as the Tyrian Camilli, r

and l being interchangeable (compare

Ho 10:5,

Margin). Josiah is expressly said

(2Ki 23:5,

Margin) to have "put down the Chemarim." The Hebrew root

means "black" (from the black garments which they wore or the

marks which they branded on their foreheads); or "zealous," from

their idolatrous fanaticism. The very "name," as well as themselves,

shall be forgotten.

the priests--of Jehovah, of Aaronic descent, who ought to have used

all their power to eradicate, but who secretly abetted, idolatry

(compare

Zep 3:4;

Eze 8:1-18; 22:26; 44:10).

From the priests Zephaniah passes to the people.

5. worship the host of heaven--Saba: whence, in contrast to

Sabeanism, Jehovah is called Lord of Sabaoth.

upon the housetops--which were flat

(2Ki 23:5, 6, 12;

Jer 19:13; 32:29).

swear by the Lord--rather, "swear to

JEHOVAH"

(2Ch 15:14);

solemnly dedicating themselves to Him (compare

Isa 48:1;

Ho 4:15).

and--"and yet (with strange inconsistency,

1Ki 18:21;

Eze 20:39;

Mt 6:24)

swear by Malcham," that is, "their king" [MAURER]: the same as Molech (see on

Am 5:25),

and "Milcom the god of . . . Ammon"

(1Ki 11:33).

If Satan have half the heart, he will have all; if the Lord have but

half offered to Him, He will have none.

6. This verse describes more comprehensively those guilty of defection

from Jehovah in any way

(Jer 2:13, 17).

7. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord--

(Hab 2:20).

Let the earth be silent at His approach [MAURER]. Or, "Thou whosoever hast been wont to speak

against God, as if He had no care about earthly affairs, cease thy

murmurs and self-justifications; submit thyself to God, and repent in

time" [CALVIN].

Lord . . . prepared a sacrifice--namely, a slaughter

of the guilty Jews, the victims due to His justice

(Isa 34:6;

Jer 46:10;

Eze 39:17).

bid his guests--literally, "sanctified His called ones" (compare

Isa 13:3).

It enhances the bitterness of the judgment that the heathen Chaldeans

should be sanctified, or consecrated as it were, by God as His

priests, and be called to eat the flesh of the elect people; as

on feast days the priests used to feast among themselves on the remains

of the sacrifices [CALVIN]. English Version

takes it not of the priests, but the guests bidden, who

also had to "sanctify" or purify themselves before coming to the

sacrificial feast

(1Sa 9:13, 22; 16:5).

Nebuchadnezzar was bidden to come to take vengeance on guilty

Jerusalem

(Jer 25:9).

8. the princes--who ought to have been an example of good to others,

but were ringleaders in all evil.

the king's children--fulfilled on Zedekiah's children

(Jer 39:6);

and previously, on Jehoahaz and Eliakim, the sons of Josiah

(2Ki 23:31, 36;

2Ch 36:6;

compare also

2Ki 20:18; 21:13).

Huldah the prophetess

(2Ki 22:20)

intimated that which Zephaniah now more expressly foretells.

all such as are clothed with strange apparel--the princes

or courtiers who attired themselves in costly garments, imported

from abroad; partly for the sake of luxury, and partly to ingratiate

themselves with foreign great nations whose costume as well as their

idolatries they imitated, [CALVIN]; whereas in

costume, as in other respects, God would have them to be separate from

the nations. GROTIUS refers the "strange apparel"

to garments forbidden by the law, for example, men's garments worn by

women, and vice versa, a heathen usage in the worship of Mars and Venus

(De 22:5).

9. those that leap on the threshold--the servants of the princes, who,

after having gotten prey (like hounds) for their masters, leap

exultingly on their masters' thresholds; or, on the thresholds of the

houses which they break into [CALVIN].

JEROME explains it of those

who walk up the steps into the sanctuary with haughtiness.

ROSENMULLER

translates, "Leap over the threshold"; namely, in imitation of the

Philistine custom of not treading on the threshold, which arose from the

head and hands of Dragon being broken off on the threshold before the

ark

(1Sa 5:5).

Compare

Isa 2:6,

"thy people . . . are soothsayers like the

Philistines." CALVIN'S view agrees best with

the latter clause of the verse.

fill . . . masters' houses with violence, &c.--that is, with goods

obtained with violence, &c.

10. fish gate--

(2Ch 33:14;

Ne 3:3; 12:39).

Situated on the east of the lower city, north of the sheep gate [MAURER]: near the stronghold of David in Milo, between

Zion and the lower city, towards the west [JEROME]. This verse describes the state of the city when

it was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar. It was through the fish gate that he

entered the city. It received its name from the fish market which was

near it. Through it passed those who used to bring fish from the lake

of Tiberias and Jordan. It answers to what is now called the Damascus

gate [HENDERSON].

the second--namely, the gate which was second in dignity

[CALVIN]. Or, the second or lower part of

the city. Appropriately, the fish gate, or extreme end of the lower

part of the city, first resounds with the cries of the citizens as the

foe approaches; then, as he advances further, that part of the city

itself, namely, its inner part; lastly, when the foe is actually come

and has burst in, the hills, the higher ones, especially Zion and

Moriah, on which the upper city and temple were founded [MAURER]. The second, or lower city, answers to

Akra, north of Zion, and separated from it by the valley of Tyropœon

running down to the pool of Siloam [HENDERSON].

The Hebrew is translated "college,"

2Ki 22:14;

so VATABLUS would translate here.

hills--not here those outside, but those within the walls: Zion,

Moriah, and Ophel.

11. Maktesh--rather, "the mortar," a name applied to the valley of

Siloam from its hollow shape [JEROME].

The valley between Zion and

Mount Olivet, at the eastern extremity of Mount Moriah, where the

merchants dwelt.

Zec 14:21,

"The Canaanite," namely, merchant [Chaldee Version]. The

Tyropœon (that is, cheese-makers') valley below Mount Akra

[ROSENMULLER]. Better Jerusalem itself, so

called as lying in the midst of hills

(Isa 22:1;

Jer 21:13)

and as doomed to be the scene of its people being destroyed as corn or

drugs are pounded in a mortar

(Pr 27:22)

[MAURER]. Compare the similar image of a "pot"

(Eze 24:3, 6).

The reason for the destruction is subjoined, namely, its merchant

people's greediness of gain.

all the merchant people--literally, the "Canaanite people": irony: all

the merchant people of Jerusalem are very Canaanites in greed for

gain and in idolatries (see on

Ho 12:7).

all . . . that bear silver--loading themselves with that which will

prove but a burden

(Hab 2:6).

12. search . . . with candles--or lamps; so as to leave no dark corner

in it wherein sin can escape the punishment, of which the Chaldeans are

My instruments (compare

Zep 1:13;

Lu 15:8).

settled on their lees--"hardened" or crusted; image from the crust

formed at the bottom of wines long left undisturbed

(Jer 48:11).

The effect of wealthy undisturbed ease ("lees") on the ungodly

is hardening: they become stupidly secure (compare

Ps 55:19;

Am 6:1).

Lord will not do good . . . evil--They deny that God regards human

affairs, or renders good to the good; or evil to the evil, but that all

things go haphazard

(Ps 10:4;

Mal 2:17).

13. Therefore their goods shall become a booty, &c.--Fulfilling the

prophecy in

De 28:30, 39

(compare

Am 5:11).

14. voice of . . . day of . . . Lord--that is, Jehovah ushering in that

day with a roar of vengeance against the guilty

(Jer 25:30;

Am 1:2).

They who will not now heed

(Zep 1:12)

His voice by His prophets, must heed it when uttered by the avenging

foe.

mighty . . . shall cry . . . bitterly--in hopeless despair; the might

on which Jerusalem now prides itself, shall then fail utterly.

15. wasteness . . . desolation--The Hebrew terms by their

similarity of sounds, Shoah, Umeshoah, express the dreary monotony

of desolation (see on

Na 2:10).

16. the trumpet--namely, of the besieging enemy

(Am 2:2).

alarm--the war shout [MAURER].

towers--literally, "angles"; for city walls used not to be built

in a direct line, but with sinuous curves and angles, so that besiegers

advancing might be assailed not only in front, but on both sides,

caught as it were in a cul-de-sac; towers were built especially at the

angles. So TACITUS describes the walls of

Jerusalem [Histories, 5.11.7].

17. like blind men--unable to see whither to turn themselves so as to

find an escape from existing evils.

flesh--Hebrew, "bread"; so the Arabic term for "bread" is used

for "flesh"

(Mt 26:26).

18. Neither . . . silver nor . . . gold shall . . .

deliver them, &c.--

(Pr 11:4).

fire of his jealousy--

(Eze 38:19);

His wrath jealous for His honor consuming the guilty like fire.

make even a speedy riddance of all--rather, a "consummation" (complete

destruction: "full end,"

Jer 46:28;

Eze 11:13)

"altogether sudden" [MAURER]. "A

consumption, and that a sudden one" [CALVIN].