Zephaniah 2

Zep 2:1-15.

EXHORTATION TO

REPENT BEFORE THE

CHALDEAN

INVADERS

COME.

DOOM OF

JUDAH'S

FOES, THE

PHILISTINES,

MOAB,

AMMON, WITH

THEIR

IDOLS, AND

ETHIOPIA AND

ASSYRIA.

1. Gather yourselves--to a religious assembly, to avert the

judgment by prayers

(Joe 2:16)

[GROTIUS]. Or, so as not to be dissipated "as

chaff"

(Zep 2:2).

The Hebrew is akin to a root meaning "chaff." Self-confidence

and corrupt desires are the dissipation from which they are exhorted to

gather themselves [CALVIN]. The foe

otherwise, like the wind, will scatter you "as the chaff." Repentance

is the gathering of themselves meant.

nation not desired--(Compare

2Ch 21:20),

that is, not desirable; unworthy of the grace or favor of God; and yet

God so magnifies that grace as to be still solicitous for their safety,

though they had destroyed themselves and forfeited all claims on His

grace [CALVIN]. The Margin from Chaldee

Version has, "not desirous," namely of returning to God. MAURER and GESENIUS translate, "Not

waxing pale," that is, dead to shame. English Version is

best.

2. Before the decree bring forth--that is, Before God's decree against

you announced by me

(Zep 1:1-18)

have its fulfilment. As the embryo lies hid in the womb, and

then emerges to light in its own due time, so though God for a time

hides His vengeance, yet He brings it forth at the proper

season.

before the day pass as the chaff--that is, before the day for

repentance pass, and with it you, the ungodly, pass away

as the chaff

(Job 21:18;

Ps 1:4).

MAURER puts it parenthetically, "the day (that is,

time) passes as the chaff (that is, most quickly)." CALVIN, "before the decree bring forth" (the predicted

vengeance), (then) the chaff (the Jews) shall pass in a day, that is,

in a moment, though they thought that it would be long before they

could be overthrown. English Version is best; the latter clause

being explanatory of the former, and so the before being

understood, not expressed.

3. As in

Zep 2:1

(compare Note, see on

Zep 1:12)

he had warned the hardened among the people to humble themselves, so

now he admonishes "the meek" to proceed in their right course, that so

they may escape the general calamity

(Ps 76:9).

The meek bow themselves under God's chastisements to God's will,

whereas the ungodly become only the more hardened by them.

Seek ye the Lord--in contrast to those that "sought not the Lord"

(Zep 1:6).

The meek are not to regard what the multitudes do, but seek God

at once.

his judgment--that is, law. The true way of "seeking the Lord" is

to "work judgment," not merely to be zealous about outward ordinances.

seek meekness--not perversely murmuring against God's dealings, but

patiently submitting to them, and composedly waiting for deliverance.

it may be ye shall be hid--

(Isa 26:20;

Am 5:6).

This phrase does not imply doubt of the deliverance of the godly, but

expresses the difficulty of it, as well that the ungodly may see the

certainty of their doom, as also that the faithful may value the more

the grace of God in their case

(1Pe 4:17-19)

[CALVIN]. Compare

2Ki 25:12.

4. For--He makes the punishment awaiting the neighboring states an

argument why the ungodly should repent

(Zep 2:1)

and the godly persevere, namely, that so they may escape from the

general calamity.

Gaza shall be forsaken--In the Hebrew there is a play of similar

sounds, Gaza Gazubah; Gaza shall be forsaken, as its name implies.

So the Hebrew of the next clause, Ekron teeakeer.

at the noonday--when on account of the heat Orientals usually sleep,

and military operations are suspended

(2Sa 4:5).

Hence an attack at noon implies one sudden and unexpected

(Jer 6:4, 5; 15:8).

Ekron--Four cities of the Philistines are mentioned, whereas

five was the normal number of their leading cities. Gath is omitted,

being at this time under the Jews' dominion. David had subjugated it

(1Ch 18:1).

Under Joram the Philistines almost regained it

(2Ch 21:16),

but Uzziah

(2Ch 26:6)

and Hezekiah

(2Ki 18:8)

having conquered them, it remained under the Jews.

Am 1:6;

Zec 9:5, 6;

Jer 25:20,

similarly mention only four cities of the Philistines.

5. inhabitants of the seacoast--the Philistines dwelling on the strip

of seacoast southwest of Canaan. Literally, the "cord" or "line" of sea

(compare

Jer 47:7;

Eze 25:16).

the Cherethites--the Cretans, a name applied to the Philistines as

sprung from Crete

(De 2:23;

Jer 47:4;

Am 9:7).

Philistine means "an emigrant."

Canaan . . . land of the Philistines--They occupied the southwest of

Canaan

(Jos 13:2, 3);

a name which hints that they are doomed to the same destruction as the

early occupants of the land.

6. dwellings and cottages for shepherds--rather,

"dwellings with cisterns" (that is, water-tanks dug in the

earth) for shepherds. Instead of a thick population and tillage,

the region shall become a pasturage for nomad shepherds' flocks. The

Hebrew for "dug cisterns," Ceroth, seems a play on

sounds, alluding to their name Cherethites

(Zep 2:5):

Their land shall become what their national name implies,

a land of cisterns.

MAURER translates, "Feasts for shepherds'

(flocks)," that is, one wide pasturage.

7. remnant of . . . Judah--those of the Jews who shall be left after

the coming calamity, and who shall return from exile.

feed thereupon--namely, in the pastures of that seacoast region

(Zep 2:6).

visit--in mercy

(Ex 4:31).

8. I have heard--A seasonable consolation to Judah when wantonly

assailed by Moab and Ammon with impunity: God saith, "I have heard it

all, though I might seem to men not to have observed it because I did

not immediately inflict punishment."

magnified themselves--acted haughtily, invading the territory of

Judah

(Jer 48:29; 49:1;

compare

Zep 2:10;

Ps 35:26;

Ob 12).

9. the breeding of nettles--or, the overspreading of nettles, that

is, a place overrun with them.

salt pits--found at the south of the Dead Sea. The water overflows in

the spring, and salt is left by the evaporation. Salt land is barren

(Jud 9:45;

Ps 107:34,

Margin).

possess them--that is, their land; in retribution for their having

occupied Judah's land.

10. (Compare

Zep 2:8).

their pride--in antithesis to the meek

(Zep 2:3).

11. famish--bring low by taking from the idols their former fame; as

beasts are famished by their food being withheld. Also by destroying the

kingdoms under the tutelage of idols

(Ps 96:4;

Isa 46:1).

gods of the earth--who have their existence only on earth, not

in heaven as the true God.

every one from his place--each in his own Gentile home, taught

worship God, but everywhere

(Ps 68:29, 30;

Mal 1:11;

Joh 4:21;

1Co 1:2;

1Ti 2:8).

It does not mean, as in

Isa 2:2;

Mic 4:1, 2;

Zec 8:22; 14:16

that they shall come from their several places to

Jerusalem to worship [MAURER].

all . . . isles of . . . heathen--that is, all the maritime regions,

especially the west, now being fulfilled in the gathering in of the

Gentiles to Messiah.

12. Fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar (God's sword,

Isa 10:5)

conquered Egypt, with which Ethiopia was closely connected as its ally

(Jer 46:2-9;

Eze 30:5-9).

Ye--literally, "They." The third person expresses estrangement; while

doomed before God's tribunal in the second person, they are spoken of in

the third as aliens from God.

13. Here he passes suddenly to the north. Nineveh was destroyed by

Cyaxares and Nabopolassar, 625

B.C. The Scythian hordes, by an inroad

into Media and thence in the southwest of Asia (thought by many to be

the forces described by Zephaniah, as the invaders of Judea, rather than

the Chaldeans), for a while interrupted Cyaxares' operations; but he

finally succeeded. Arbaces and Belesis previously subverted the

Assyrian empire under Sardanapalus (that is, Pul?), 877

B.C.

14. flocks--of sheep; answering to "beasts" in the parallel clause.

Wide pastures for sheep and haunts for wild beasts shall be where once

there was a teeming population (compare

Zep 2:6).

MAURER, needlessly for the parallelism, makes it

"flocks of savage animals."

beasts of the nations--that is, beasts of the earth

(Ge 1:24).

Not as ROSENMULLER, "all kinds of beasts that form

a nation," that is, gregarious beasts

(Pr 30:25, 26).

cormorant--rather, the "pelican" (so

Ps 102:6;

Isa 34:11,

Margin).

bittern--

(Isa 14:23).

MAURER translates, "the hedgehog"; HENDERSON, "the porcupine."

upper lintels--rather, "the capitals of her columns," namely, in

her temples and palaces [MAURER]. Or, "on the pomegranate-like knops at

the tops of the houses" [GROTIUS].

their voice shall sing in the windows--The desert-frequenting birds'

"voice in the windows" implies desolation reigning in the upper parts of

the palaces, answering to "desolation . . . in the thresholds," that is,

in the lower.

he shall uncover the cedar work--laying the cedar wainscoting on the

walls, and beams of the ceiling, bare to wind and rain, the roof being

torn off, and the windows and doors broken through. All this is designed

as a consolation to the Jews that they may bear their calamities

patiently, knowing that God will avenge them.

15. Nothing then seemed more improbable than that the capital of so

vast an empire, a city sixty miles in compass, with walls one hundred

feet high, and so thick that three chariots could go abreast on them,

and with fifteen hundred towers, should be so totally destroyed that its

site is with difficulty discovered. Yet so it is, as the prophet

foretold.

there is none beside me--This peculiar phrase, expressing

self-gratulation as if peerless, is plainly adopted from

Isa 47:8.

The later prophets, when the spirit of prophecy was on the verge of

departing, leaned more on the predictions of their predecessors.

hiss--in astonishment at a desolation so great and sudden

(1Ki 9:8);

also in derision

(Job 27:23;

La 2:15;

Eze 27:36).