. Zephaniah 1:1-18 Part I. THE UPON ALL THE WORLD, AND UPON JUDAH IN . Zephaniah 1:1 § 1. Title and inscription. The word of the Lord (see note on Micah 1:1). Zephaniah, "Whom the Lord shelters" (see Introduction, § II.). The son of, etc. The genealogy thus introduced shows that the prophet was of illustrious descent; or it may be inserted to distinguish him from others who bore the same name. Hizkiah. The same name which is elsewhere written in our version Hezekiah. Whether the great King of Judah is here meant may well be questioned (see Introduction). Other prophets have prefixed their genealogies to their books (see Zechariah 1:1; and in the Apocrypha, Baruch 1:1). In the days of Josiah. Zephaniah here gathers into one volume the denunciations and predictions which he had uttered daring the reign of Josiah, both before and after the great reformation effected by that good king (2 Kings 23:1-37.). Zephaniah 1:2, Zephaniah 1:3 § 2. The prelude, announcing the judgment upon the whole world. Zephaniah 1:2 I will utterly consume; literally, taking away I will make an end. Jeremiah (Jeremiah 8:13)uses the same expression. The prophet begins abruptly with this announcement of universal judgment before he warns Judah in particular of the punishment that awaits her, because his position is that the way to salvation is through chastisement. Vulgate, congregans congregabo, where the verb must be used in the sense of "gathering for destruction." All things. More expressly defined in the following verse. This awful warning recalls the judgment of the Flood and the preliminary monition (Genesis 6:7). From off the land; from the face of the earth, not the land of Judah alone. Saith the Lord; is the saying of Jehovah. The prophet in this is merely the vehicle of the Divine announcement. Zephaniah 1:3 Man and beast, etc This is not mere hyperbole to express the utter wasting and destruction that were impending, but points to the mysterious connection between man and the lower creation, how in agreement with the primal curse even material nature suffers for man’s sin (Genesis 3:17; Romans 8:22). If we expect a new heaven and a new earth, we know that God will show his wrath against the old creation defiled with sin (2 Peter 3:10; camp. Jeremiah 4:25; Jeremiah 9:9, etc.; Hosea 4:3). And the stumbling blocks with the wicked. Not the sinners only shall be swept away by this judgment, but also all offences, all causes of stumbling, whether idols or other incentives to departure from truth and right. Septuagint, καὶἀσθενήσουσινοἱἀσεβεῖς. "and the ungodly shall be weak;" Vulgate, et ruinae impiorum erunt. These versions seem to have missed the point. I will cut off man. It is on man’s account that this judgment is sent — a truth which the prophet enforces by reiteration. Zephaniah 1:4-6 § 3. The judgment will fall especially upon Judah and Jerusalem for their idolatry. Zephaniah 1:4 I will also stretch out mine hand. This expression is used when God is about to do great things or inflict notable punishment (see Exodus 3:20; Exodus 15:12; Deuteronomy 4:34; Isaiah 5:25; Jeremiah 51:25, etc.). Judah. In so far as Judah was rebellious and wicked, it should incur the judicial punishment. Judgment was to begin at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17), the sin of the chosen people being more heinous than that of heathens. Hence it is added, upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, because, having in their very midst the temple of God, with its services and priests, they ought especially to have abhorred idolatry and maintained the true faith. The remnant of Baal; i.e. the last vestige. One cannot argue from this expression that the reform was already carried so far that Baal worship had almost disappeared. The next verse shows that idolatry still flourished; but the term implies merely that God would exterminate it so entirely that no trace of it should remain. The LXX. has, "the names of Baal," τὰὀνόματατῆςΒάαλ (Hosea 2:17). (For Josiah’s reform of these iniquities, see 2 Kings 23:4, etc.) The name of the Chemarims (Chemarim). The word means "black-robed," and is applied to the idolatrous priests whom the kings bad appointed to conduct worship in high places (2 Kings 23:5; Hosea 10:5). "The name," says Dr. Pussy, "is probably the Syriac name of ’priest,’ used in Holy Scripture of idolatrous priests, because the Syrians were idolaters" Not only shall the persons of these priests be cut off, but their very name and memory shall vanish (Zechariah 13:2). With the priests (kohanim). Together with the legitimate priests who had corrupted the worship of Jehovah (Zephaniah 3:4; Jeremiah 2:8; Ezekiel 8:11). Zephaniah 1:5 That worship the host of heaven upon the house tops. In this verse two classes of fame worshippers are mentioned, viz. star worshippers, and waverers. The worship of the sun, moon, and stars was a very ancient form of error, the heavenly bodies being regarded as the representatives of the powers of nature and the originators of events on earth (see Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 17:3; Job 31:26, Job 31:27; 2 Kings 17:16). It was especially prevalent in the time of Manasseh (2 Kings 21:3), On the flat roofs of the houses, which were used as places of meditation, recreation, or conference (comp. Joshua 2:6; 1 Samuel 9:25; 2 Samuel 11:2; Acts 10:9), they erected altars for family worship of the heavenly bodies. Here they both burned incense (Jeremiah 19:13) and offered animal sacrifices (2 Kings 23:12). "In Syrian cities," says Dr. Thomson, "the roofs are a great comfort. The ordinary houses have no other place where the inmates, can either see the sun, smell the air, dry their clothes, set out their flower pots, or do numberless other things essential to their health and comfort. During a large part of the year the roof is the most agreeable place about the establishment, especially in the morning and evening. There multitudes sleep during the summer". Them that worship and that, etc.; rather, the worshippers who, etc. These were people who endeavoured to blend the worship of God with that of Baal, or halted between two opinions (1 Kings 18:21). Swear by the Lord; rather, swear to the Lord; i.e. bind themselves by oath to him, and at the same time swear by Malcham; swear by their king, Baal, or Moloch; call upon him as god. Septuagint, κατὰτοῦβασιλέωςαὐτῶν, "by their king." But it is, perhaps, best to retain the name untranslated, in which ease it would be the appellation of the god Moloch, who could hardly be omitted in enumerating the objects of idolatrous worship (see Jeremiah 49:1, Jeremiah 49:3; and notes on Amos 1:15; Amos 5:26). Zephaniah 1:6 Them that are turned back from the Lord. This is a third class, vie. apostates and open despisers. Those who follow him no more, renegades who have left his service. The Vulgate reproduces the original by, qui avertuntur de post tergum Domini. Those that have not sought the Lord. These are the indifferent, who do.not trouble themselves about religion. The chief classes mentioned in these two verses are three, viz. the open idolaters, the syncretists who mingled the worship of Baal with that of Jehovah, and those who despised religion altogether. Zephaniah 1:7-13 4. The judgment is described with regard to those whom it will affect, vie. the princes, the traders, the irreligious and profligate. Zephaniah 1:7 This judgment, so fearful, is near at hand, and must needs occasion the utmost terror and dismay. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God; literally, Hush, from the face of the Lord Jehovah! εὐλαβεῖσθε; silete a facie Domini Dei (Vulgate). The expression is like Habakkuk 2:20. The reason of this silent awe is next given. For the day of the Lord is at hand. The day of judgment is thus called (Joe 1:15; Isaiah 13:6; Amos 5:18, Amos 5:20; Obadiah 1:15). The Lord hath prepared a sacrifice. The words are from Isaiah 34:6 (comp. Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 39:17, Ezekiel 39:19). The sacrifice is the guilty Jewish nation. The punishment of the wicked is regarded as a satisfaction offered to the Divine justice. He hath bid his guests; he hath consecrated his called. The "called ones" are the strange nations whom God summons to execute his vengeance. Septuagint, ἡγίακετοὺςκλητοὺςαὐτοῦ. These are said to be "sanctified," as if engaged in a holy war, when summoned to punish those who had become as heathen. So those who are called to chastise Babylon are termed "my sanctified ones" (Isaiah 13:3), as being the instruments appointed and set apart to carry out this purpose (comp. Jeremiah 22:7; Jeremiah 51:27, Jeremiah 51:28; Micah 3:5). The particular agents intended are not specified by the prophet, whose mission was not directed to any such definition. He has to speak generally of the judgment to come, not of those whom God should employ to inflict it. We know from other sources that the Chaldeans are meant, they or the Assyrians being always announced as the executors of God’s vengeance on his rebellions people. The notion, adopted by Ewald, Hitzig, and others, that the prophet refers to some supposed invasion of Scythians which took place about this time, would never have been started had not such authors desired to eliminate the predictive element from prophetic utterances. The vague account of Herod; 1:105 gives no support to the assertion that the Scythians invaded Palestine in Josiah’s reign; nor is there a trace of any knowledge of such irruption in Zephaniah or Jeremiah (see Introduction, § I.). Zephaniah 1:8 The prophet names the three classes of people who shall be smitten in this judgment. First, the princes. In the day of the Lord’s sacrifice (see note on ver. 7). God is speaking; so the name of the Lord is employed instead of the pronoun (comp. Lamentations 3:66). I will punish; literally, visit upon (ver. 12; Amos 3:14). The princes. The heads of tribes and families, nobles and magistrates. The king’s children (sons); Septuagint, τὸνοἶκοντοῦβασιλέως, "the house of the king." The royal family, not specially the sons of Josiah, who, if they were then in existence, must have been mere children, but princes of the royal house. The reference may be particularly to the sons of the king reigning when the judgment fell (see 2 Kings 25:7). The king himself is not mentioned as subject to the judgment, inasmuch as he was pious and obedient (2 Chronicles 34:27, etc.). In the mention of these "children" Keil finds proof of the late origin of the prophecy. Such as are clothed with strange apparel. This clause must represent the sin for which the princes are "visited." "Strange" apparel means "foreign" apparel, and this implied foreign manners and habits. The Israelites were reminded by their very dress that they were a peculiar people, consecrated to God’s service (Numbers 15:37, etc.; Deuteronomy 22:12). These nobles, however, assumed the dress of the Egyptians and other nations with which they came in contact, and, despising their own national customs, copied the manners and vices of foreigners (comp. Isaiah 3:16-24; Ezekiel 20:32; 1 Macc. 1:11-15). Zephaniah 1:9 Those that leap on (over) the threshold. These are the retainers of the princes, etc; named in ver. 8. There is no allusion to the circumstance of the priests of Dagon abstaining from treading on the threshold of their temple in consequence of what happened to the idol at Ashdod (1 Samuel 5:5). It is inconceivable that this merely local custom, which demonstrated the impotence of the false god, should hare been imported into Judah. where, indeed, the worship of Dagon seems never to have made any way. The following clause explains the meaning which the Latin version intimates, Omnem qui arroganter ingreditur super limen — all those who, carrying out their masters’ wishes, violently invade the houses of others and pillage them of their contents. The expression, "to leap over the threshold," seems to have been a common term for burglary and stealing with violence. Which fill their masters’ houses. These retainers plunder and steal in order that they may increase their masters’ treasures. The king (though not Josiah) may be meant, the plural being the plural of majesty, or the idol temples. The LXX; followed by Jerome, renders, "who fill the house of the Lord their God." This is plainly erroneous, as there is no question here about the temple at Jerusalem. Violence and deceit; i.e. the fruits of, what they have extorted by, violence and fraud (Jeremiah 5:27). Zephaniah 1:10 The second class which shall be smitten, viz. the traders and usurers, the enemy being represented as breaking in upon the localities where these persons resided. The fish gate. This is generally supposed to have been in the north wall of the city towards its eastern extremity, and to have been so called because through it were brought the fish from the Jordan and the Sea of Galilee, and there was a fish market in its immediate neighbourhood (see Nehemiah 3:3; Nehemiah 12:39; 2 Chronicles 33:14). It was probably on this side that the Chaldeans entered Jerusalem, us Zedekiah seems to have escaped from the south (Jeremiah 39:4). The LXX. has, ἀπὸπύληςἀποκεντούντων, which Jerome notes as a mistake. From the second district, the lower city upon the hill Acra, to the north of the old town, Zion. This is so called, according to one rendering, in 2 Kings 22:14, and Nehemiah 11:9. A great crashing. Not merely the crash of falling buildings, but the cry of men when a city is taken and the inhabitants are put to the sword. The hills on which the greater part of the city was built. Keil thinks that the hills surrounding the lower city are meant, viz. Bezetha, Gareb, etc; as the hearer of the cry is supposed to be on Zion. Zephaniah 1:11 Maktesh; the Mortar; Septuagint, τὴνκατακεκομμένην, "her that is broken down." The word is found in Judges 15:19 of a hollow place in a rock, and it is here used in the sense of "valley," and probably refers to the Tyropoeum, or part of it, the depression that ran down the city, having Aera and Zion on its west side, and Moriah and Ophel on its east, and extended south as far as the pool of Siloam. It does not seem a very appropriate appellation for a lengthy valley like the Tyropceum, nor is there any trace of such a name being applied to it elsewhere. It may have been a name affixed to a certain locality where a bazaar was situated or certain special industries had their seat; or it may have been invented by Zephaniah to intimate the fate that awaited the evil merchants, that they should be, as it were, brayed in a mortar by their enemies. The merchant people; literally, people of Canaan. So Septuagint and Vulgate (comp. Hosea 12:7; Hist. of Susannah 56; Zechariah 14:21). The iniquitous traders are called "people of Canaan," because they acted like the heathens around them, especially the Phoenicians, who were unscrupulous and dishonest in their transactions. Are cut down; are silenced; Vulgate, conticuit (Isaiah 6:5; Hosea 10:7). They that bear (are laden with) silver. Those who have amassed wealth by trade and usury. The LXX. has, οἱἐηρμένοιἀργυρίῳ "those who are elated with silver;" St. Jerome, involuti argento. Zephaniah 1:12 The third class which shall be smitten, viz. the profligate and riotous. I will search Jerusalem with candles (lights). No evil doer shall escape. The enemy whom God summons to execute his wrath shall leave no corner unsearched where the debauchees hide themselves (comp. Luke 15:8). Jerome and commentators after him refer to Josephus’s account of the last siege of Jerusalem for a parallel to these predicted proceedings of the Chaldeans. Here we read how princes and priests and chieftains were dragged from sewers, and pits, and caves, and tombs, where they had hidden themselves in fear of death, and were mercilessly slain wherever they were found (Josephus, ’Bell. Jud.,’ 6:9). The men that are settled on their lees; i.e. confirmed, hardened, and inveterate in their evil habits. The metaphor is derived from old wine not racked off; which retains all its flavour and odour, and becomes thick and viscid (see Isaiah 25:6; Jeremiah 48:11). The LXX. paraphrases, Υοὺςκαταφρονοῦνταςἐπὶτὰφυλάγματααὐτῶν, which Jerome renders, qui contemnunt custodias suas. That say in their heart. They do not openly scoff at religion, but think within themselves these infidel thoughts. The Lord will not do good, ere. Just what God says of idols (Isaiah 41:23). These "fools" (Psalms 14:1) deny God’s moral government of the world; they will not see the working of Divine providence in all that happens, but, secure and careless in their worldly prosperity, they assign all events to chance or natural law, placing Jehovah in the same category as the idols worshipped by heathens (comp. Job 22:12, etc.; Psalms 10:4, etc.; Psalms 94:7). Zephaniah 1:13 Their goods; literally, their strength; their wealth in which they trusted shall become the prey of the enemy, and thus they shall learn that God ruleth in the affairs of men. They shall also build houses, etc. They shall prove in their own case the reality of the punishment threatened in the Law (Leviticus 26:32, etc.; Deuteronomy 28:30, Deuteronomy 28:39; comp. Amos 5:11; Micah 6:15). Zephaniah 1:14-18 § 5. To arouse the self-confident sinners, the prophet here enlarges upon the near approach and terrible nature of this coming judgment. Zephaniah 1:14 Having signified the victims of the judgment, Zephaniah recurs to what he had said in ver. 7, and enforces upon his hearers its near approach. The great day of the Lord (Joe 2:1, Joe 2:11). Even the voice of the day of the Lord. The day is so close at hand, that the sound of its coming can be heard. Some translate, "Hark! the day of Jehovah." The mighty man shall cry (crieth) there bitterly. There, on the battlefield, the hero is panic-stricken, and cries out for fear. The Greek and Latin Versions connect "bitter" with the former clause. Thus the Vulgate, Vox dies Domini amara; Septuagint, ΦωνὴἡμέραςΚυρίουπικρὰκαὶσκληρὰτέτακται, "The voice of the day of the Lord is made bitter and harsh." Zephaniah 1:15 That day is a day of wrath; Vulgate, Dies irae, dies illa, words which form the commencement of the famous hymn. The better to describe the terrible nature of the judgment, the prophet crowds together all available expressions of terror and calamity. First, it is a day when God’s anger shall blaze forth (Isaiah 9:18). Of trouble and distress. In its effects upon sinners (Job 15:24). Of wasteness and desolation. As if things returned to the primeval chaos (Genesis 1:2; comp. Job 30:3; Job 38:27, where there is a similar combination; see note on Nahum 2:10). Of darkness and gloominess (Joe 2:2; Amos 5:18, Amos 5:20). Of clouds and thick darkness (Deuteronomy 4:11; comp. Habakkuk 3:11). Zephaniah 1:16 A day of the trumpet and alarm. "Alarm" means "the sound of alarm." Among the Jews trumpets were used to announce the festivals (Numbers 29:1), and to give the signal for battle or of the approach of an enemy (Jeremiah 4:5, Jeremiah 4:19; Ezekiel 33:4). Here it is the signal of destruction (Amos 2:2). The fenced cities. The strongest fortresses shall feel the irresistible attack (Micah 5:11). The high towers. These are the turrets built at the angles of the walls for the better defence of the city, and to annoy the besiegers (Zephaniah 3:6). LXX; ἐπὶτὰςγωνίαςτὰςὑψηλάς, "upon the lofty angles;" Vulgate, super angulos excelsos. Others take the words to mean "the battlements" on the walls. Henderson quotes Taeitus’s description of the later walls of Jerusalem, "Duos colles immensum editos claudebant muri per artem obliqui aut introrsus sinuati, ut latera oppugnantium ad ictus patescerent" (’Hist.,’ 5.11). Zephaniah 1:17 In this storming of cities and universal ruin, sinners shall perish without hope. I will bring distress upon men. I will drive them into the utmost straits (comp. Deuteronomy 28:52, Deuteronomy 28:53). They shall walk like blind men. Not knowing where they go in their terror and confusion, seeking a way of escape and finding none (see Deuteronomy 28:29, on which this passage is founded; comp. Job 5:14; Isaiah 59:10). Because they have sinned, as shown in vers. 4-12. Their blood shall be poured out as dust. The point of comparison is rather in the worthlessness than in the abundance of dust. Bloodshed is as little regarded as dust that is trodden under foot. The comparison with water is found elsewhere (cf. Psalms 79:3). Their flesh as the dung. The verb from the preceding clause may be taken by zeuguna with this clause; then the meaning is that their dead bodies are left unburied to rot on the ground (Jeremiah 9:22). Or the substantive verb may be supplied (comp. Job 20:7). Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver, etc. They cannot bribe this enemy; their wealth cannot win for them immunity (Isaiah 13:17; Ezekiel 7:19). The fire of his jealousy (Zephaniah 3:8). The whole earth (for, as we have seen in Zephaniah 1:2, Zephaniah 1:3, the judgment is universal) shall be punished in the wrath of the Lord, who will not have the honour which is due to him given to any other. He shall make even a speedy riddance; more closely, he shall make an end, yea, a speedy end (comp. Nahum 1:8; Isaiah 10:23, which our text imitates). (For the sudden and unexpected arrival of the day of the Lord, see Luke 17:26, etc.) Zephaniah 1:1-3. - The prophet and his times. I. HIS . (Zephaniah 1:1.) This is the solitary instance in which the lineage of a prophet is traced back in Scripture four generations. The reason would seem to be in order to indicate his relationship to Hezekiah, the pious King of Judah. Note: 1. The honour connected with a pious ancestry. 2. The perpetuity of the influence of a good life. II. HIS . This was not derived from his royal descent, but from his being under the inspiration of the Almighty. "The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah" (ver. 1). The words of those high in rank are often invested with a value they do not intrinsically possess, but the utterances of this prince of Judah claim our regard as the words of one taught by the Spirit of God. III. HIS AGE. He prophesied "in the days of Josiah the son of Anion, King of Judah" (ver. 1). Unhappily, the reforms instituted by the good Hezekiah had not been sustained during the succeeding reigns, so that the nation, both politically and spiritually, had relapsed into a thoroughly corrupt state by the time that the boy-king Josiah came to the throne. Consecrated from early life to the service of the true God, the youthful monarch devoted the energies of his early manhood to the rooting out of idolatry from his land, and to the restoration and re-establishment of the temple and its services. Zephaniah, doubtless, prophesied shortly before this work of reformation commenced, and the influence of his faithful ministry would be helpful to the royal reformer in carrying out his noble work. IV. THE OF THE MESSAGE WITH WHICH HE WAS , This was: 1. Very dark. He was, indeed, a messenger of judgment; the solemn responsibility devolved upon him of announcing "the terrors of the Lord" (vers. 2, 3). The anger of the Lord was kindled against Judah, and though to be delayed until Josiah should be gathered to his rest, it must at length fall (2 Kings 22:8-20; 2 Kings 23:21-27; 2 Chronicles 34:8-33; 2 Chronicles 35:1-19). 2. Very comprehensive. His predictions of judgment were not limited to Judah, but were directed also against heathen nations — Philistia, Moab and Ammon, Ethiopia, and Assyria (Zephaniah 2:1-15.). 3. Yet withal not lacking encouragement; for whilst he told of impending judgment, he called to repentance, unfolded the mercy of the Most High, and indicated how that even the darkest events impending would be overruled for the well being of the race. Zephaniah 1:4, Zephaniah 1:5. - A corrupt priesthood and its pernicious influence. The work of reformation carried on by Hezekiah was unquestionably great, yet it cannot be correctly described as having been complete. The weeds of idolatry were extensively destroyed by him, yet many roots remained, and, springing up, bore a fresh harvest of evil in the succeeding reigns, so that the godly Josiah found himself confronted with a powerful remnant of idolatry. In dealing with this he must have been materially assisted by the bold denunciations of Zephaniah; and these were fittingly directed first of all against the corrupt priesthood (ver. 4). We have here — I. AN EXALTED OFFICE. That of the priest. The Jewish priesthood was of Divine appointment, chosen and set apart by God to the most sacred duties, and the whole being typical of the character and mission of the great High Priest who was in the fulness of time to appear. And whilst in his work these functions received their consummation, and the Aaronic priesthood passed away, yet Christ when he ascended upon high "gave gifts unto men," etc. (Ephesians 4:11-13). The work of the ministry is scriptural, noble, honourable. Those divinely called to it have to teach the truth of God, to seek to win men to righteousness and heaven, to lead worshippers to the very throne of the Eternal, to direct the activities of the Church, and to shepherd the flock of Christ. The work is "a good work" (1 Timothy 3:1), and faithfully to do it is to secure present and eternal honour. II. THEIR HIGH OFFICE . Those here styled "the Chemarims" were Jewish priests, some of whom were of the tribe of Levi, and others chosen from the lowest of the people, who sold themselves to the faithless kings of Judah, and at their bidding offered polluted rites at the altar of God, and joined with the heathen priests in serving the altars of Baal (2 Kings 23:5; Hosea 10:5). The highest and holiest functions may still be perverted. This is the case when motives other than those of love to God and to the souls of men impel to engaging in ministerial service, or when in rendering such service any compromise is made with error and sin. III. THE FROM SUCH , "Like priests, like people." Hence, immediately following the allusion to the corrupt priesthood, reference is made to the people as worshipping the host of heaven upon the house tops (ver. 5). Luther says, "The chemarim produced an erroneous opinion among the people that they were of all others the most assiduous in religion and Divine worship," and if so, their influence over the people would be proportionately increased through their zeal, and no wonder that, following these false guides, idolatry and irreligion so widely prevailed in the land. A faithless and disloyal ministry in any age must prove a blight and a curse. IV. THE DIVINE AGAINST THESE ONES AND THEIR . Their followers should be visited with retribution, whilst as to these false leaders, they should be "cut off," and their very name be blotted out. Their fate speaks silently and solemnly to all who claim to be ministers of God. His charge to all such is, "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman," etc. (Ezekiel 2:1-10:17-21), and this is his promise attached to fidelity, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Revelation 2:10). Zephaniah 1:5. - Divided service. "That worship and that swear by the Lord, and that swear by Malcham." It is not two distinct classes of persons that are here referred to, but one and the same class. The allusion is to such as sought to be identified both with the service of God and the service of Malcham. It is an example of divided service that is here presented to us, an illustration of men attempting that which the great Teacher in a later age declared to be altogether impracticable, even to serve two masters. I. AN TASK , AND IN FAILURE AND SHAME. 1. The task, Malcham, or Malkam, or "king," was a term used for Baal, and who is thus described on the Phoenician inscriptions. The times being corrupt, and idolatry being popular in the land, there were those who, from considerations of policy and interest doubtless, attempted to combine the worship of Jehovah and that of Baal, or Malcham. The same spirit prevails still; men desire to serve both God and mammon,’and too much resemble those who were "willing to serve God so that they did not offend the devil." 2. The task is an impossible one; it cancel be accomplished, (1) Scripture proclaims this to be an impossibility (Joshua 24:19-25; 1 Samuel 7:3; 1 Kings 18:21; Ezekiel 20:39). (2) Proverbial sayings of different nations recognize this. "Lay not two saddles on one horse;" "A true subject serves not two sovereigns;" "Ye cannot go east and west at the same time." (3) Men do not attempt this in the ordinary affairs of life, but concentrate their energies upon one purpose. (4) One plain reason accounts for the impossibility, viz. the service of God and that of Malcham, or mammon, or worldliness, are so thoroughly opposite in their nature that there can be no union. "You cannot be heavenly and worldly too. If I am heavenly I sanctify the world, and if I am worldly I debase the heavenly. You are therefore one of two things, and there is no mixture in your character." 3. To attempt it can only result in defeat and disgrace. They who sought to worship God and Malcham were to be "cut off." Their conduct met with the Divine displeasure, and was followed by such manifestations of his disapproval as filled them with confusion and shame. Other instances: Meroz (Judges 5:23); the young ruler (Matthew 19:22); Peter in the high priest’s hall (Matthew 26:75). II. A MORE COURSE OF ACTION. 1. Weigh well the respective claims of God and of Malcham, Christ and mammon. This is the way in which men wisely act in reference to temporal things, and they should also act thus in reference to religion. 2. Yield yourself faithfully, wholly, and irrevocably to the master whose claim you feel to be the strongest. "If the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." Multitudes, as they have thus reflected upon the claims of Christ, have felt these to be paramount; as they have thought of his bright and beautiful teaching, his wonderful, self-sacrificing human life, and as, gathering at Calvary, they have contemplated his humiliation unto death, they have been constrained to acknowledge his undoubted right to their loving confidence and entire service, and, yielding themselves up to him without reservation, have found in so doing happiness and peace. Zephaniah 1:6. - The sin of apostasy. "And them that are turned back from the Lord." Some biblical expositors regard the whole of this verse as referring to one class, even to such as are utterly indifferent and unconcerned in reference to God’s claims; whilst other commentators regard this class as referred to in the latter part of the verse, and view the expression, "And them that are turned back from the Lord" as an allusion to those who, having professed loyalty to God and his truth, had allowed themselves to be drawn away and to walk no more with him. Concerning this sin of apostasy, note — I. THE CAUSES WHICH HAVE IN MEN FALLING INTO THIS SIN. 1. Temporal success. Favourable progress in the affairs of this life has proved the ruin of many spiritually. They have set their hearts upon their treasures, and have bowed down before the golden image (Deuteronomy 32:15) 2. Temporal adversity. "The cares of life, as well as "the deceitfulness of riches," will often choke the Word. The very troubles which should unite men to God by a closer bond (for if all else fail, he abides) have been permitted to drive them away from the Source of consolation and help. 3. Mental difficulties. Forgetful that Truth is boundless and immeasurable, and that after the most earnest research there must remain profound depths yet to be explored, the inquirer has wanted to understand fully now, and, failing in this, has, through pride of intellect, brought himself into a state of mental unsettledness, so that even the plainly declared truths of revelation have lost their charm to him, and he has taken shelter in unbelief. 4. Worldliness; by which term is meant love of the untrue and unsubstantial; regard only for the outward, the transient, the unreal; the world becoming invested with ruling power over the man, instead of the man reigning over it. So Paul wrote of Demas, that he had yielded here (2 Timothy 4:10). II. THE INTENSE SADNESS WITH THIS COURSE OF ACTION, 1. It involves the violation of the most solemn and sacred vows. 2. It is attended by separation from the most holy and helpful associations. 3. It hinders the progress of the cause of God. 4. It grieves and dishonours the Lord. III. THE SPIRIT WHICH SHOULD BE BY THE IN TO THOSE THAT ARE TURNED BACK FROM THE LORD. 1. There must be no palliation of their sin. Zephaniah uttered burning words of condemnation with reference to these transgressors, and we shall not really help such by making light of their sin. 2. Yet we should earnestly seek their recovery. We should endeavour by kindness and gentleness to restore these erring ones. Although they may be darkly stained by sin, they are still our brethren. Whilst they have stumbled and fallen in the path, it is in very weakness that we ourselves have trodden it. The tender, loving word may perchance win them back to holiness and to God. In voyaging, some vessels are completely lost, — they go down through the storm, and utterly perish; others arrive at the port, but with masts broken and sails torn through battling with wind and wave; whilst others outride every storm, and with full sail enter the destined haven. Thus was it, one has pointed out, with the three associates of St. Paul who are specially referred to in 2 Timothy 4:1-22.; and thus is it in the spiritual life. Demas, wrecked; Mark, overpowered by adverse gales and seemingly crushed, yet rising again and reaching the harbour at length in safety; but Luke, "the beloved physician," holding peacefully and tranquilly on his course all through, and having ministered to him an abundant entrance to the heavenly kingdom. May our course be as the last named of these disciples, unmarked either by failure or even by temporary estrangement, but being steadfast and immovable! May no place be found by us amongst those "that have turned themselves back from following after the Lord"! May we, escaping the perils of the sea of life — all its shoals and quicksands — reach at last the haven of eternal rest and felicity! Zephaniah 1:6. - The sin of indifference. "And those that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him." Various classes of transgressors are alluded to in these verses (vers. 4-6). The corrupt priests and their followers, those dividing their allegiance between God and Baal, the backsliders in heart, are all spoken of in brief and forcible sentences. And now, in the expression before us, allusion is made to the unconcerned and indifferent, and who are described as "those that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him." This class is, in some respects, the most hopeless of all. An idolater is interested in worship, and may become convinced of his folly in rendering this to "the work of his own hands." The divided heart is partially directed to God, and may be won over to complete loyalty. The backslider may remember the joys he has forfeited, and, by the sacred memories of the past, which even his estrangement cannot obliterate, may be constrained to return unto the Lord. But in proportion as a man is callous and indifferent to the claims of God, he places himself outside the circle within which holy and gracious influences operate. Less fear need be cherished of the pernicious influence of the scepticism of the age than of the fatality attendant upon the spirit of indifferentism to God and his claims which so widely prevails. Observe — I. THE OF THIS SPIRIT MAY BE FOR. 1. The reason of it is to be found in the fact of possession. Nothing is more calculated to lead a man to be indifferent in reference to higher claims than to find property increasing in his hands. The consciousness of independence, the sense of self-sufficiency, and the feeling of comfort, all tend to lead him to think and act as though he had "need of nothing." "A certain man made a great supper, and bade many." One thus invited said, "I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused" (Luke 14:16-18). See. well to it, ye who have secured the possessions of earth, that ye do not, through the influence of these material things, come short of participation in the true festal joys. 2. Another reason lies in the fact of familiarity. Is it not so that our very familiarity with anything is likely to lead us in a sense to be somewhat indifferent to it? A walk may appear long, and may be long; but take it frequently, and the distance will appear to lessen, and in time it will cease to affect you. View constantly the scenery of some charming dale, and however much of quiet enjoyment you will get out of it perpetually if you are a lover of natural beauty, yet you will not be so enthusiastic as a stranger who gazes upon it for the first time. And much of the prevailing indifference concerning God and his truth may be traced to this cause. When King Clovis heard for the first time the story of Calvary, it is said he grew excited, and cried out, "I wish I’d been there with my Franks; I’d soon have settled those Jews!" The novelty charmed the rude king; but men all around us are so familiar with the Story that they are not moved thus; and multitudes are so unconcerned respecting these great themes as that they may be described as "those who have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him," 3. This indifference may also be traced to custom. The power of habit is very strong. Men became confirmed in their ways (Jeremiah 13:23). II. THEY WHO CHERISH THIS SPIRIT RUN THE RISK OF LOSS. Loss may be incurred unintentionally and through indifference and neglect. You neglect to insure your property, and perchance a fire breaks out and destroys it, and yon find yourself thrown back for years to come; or you neglect your health and fail to heed the first symptoms of disease, and it may end in the disease gaining too firm a hold for it ever to be eradicated; and so spiritual and eternal honour may be forfeited, not wilfully, but through indifference and unconcern. III. HENCE THE SUPREME VALUE OF THE PRESENT TIME WITH ITS . Our great dramatist has it — "There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries." And it is so that there is a tide in the spiritual affairs of men. Human feelings, sentiments, desires, ebb and flow like the sea; and there are seasons in which this tide sets towards piety; and such a season, if only improved, "is the accepted time," "the day of salvation." Use it, and it shall not be said that you belong to those "that have not sought the Lord," etc. (ver. 6). Zephaniah 1:7-18. - The day of the Lord. The reader of this brief book of Scripture, forming his conclusions from this opening chapter exclusively, is likely to get a very false impression respecting the spirit and views of the writer. The chapter deals entirely with sin and its punishment, and, taken alone and apart, conveys undoubtedly a very strong conviction as to the terribleness and severity of God. The seer seems to linger in thought upon the coming judgments, and to reiterate these in every possible form, and even to exult in the retributions which should at length fall upon the sinful nation. His "song" appears to be altogether "of judgment." That we may rightly estimate, however, his spirit and teaching, we should remember: 1. That the great and solemn fact of Divine retribution for sin ought not to be ignored. Whatever theory may be held respecting the doom and destiny of the impenitent, the fact remains stamped on every page of the volume of revelation, in Old and New Testament alike, that sin shall result in chastisement, that man shall reap as he sows. The prophet in this respect is in perfect agreement with all the Bible writers. 2. That the prevailing corruption of his times necessitated a strong insistance, on the part of the prophets, upon the approaching judgments on account of national transgression; and this also was in harmony with the character of the dispensation. 3. That whilst sternly declaring the Divine punishment to fall upon the nation because of its sinfulness, Zephaniah also, as he proceeded, dwelt very frequently upon the Divine intention to purify through chastisement, and pointed out the gracious purpose of the Most High by means of coming tribulations to sanctify and save. His "song" was "of mercy" as well as "of judgment." Here, however (vers. 7-18), he dwells specially upon the Divine judgments, and points to "the great and notable day of the Lord," "the day of vengeance of our God." These judgments he sets forth — I. IN SYMBOL. (Verse 7.) Sacrifice was well understood in Jerusalem. Offerings were offered on Jewish altars to the true God, and, when the people had become corrupt, also to Baal. Jehovah now declared by his holy prophet that the people, having proved faithless, should themselves be sacrificed; they should be the victims, and the heathen who should effect their overthrow would, in so doing, be consecrated to his service. This symbol is used also in the same sense by other prophets (Isaiah 34:6; Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 39:17). II. IN VIVID . (Verses 10-18.) The prophet witnesses in imagination, and describes with realistic power, the coming siege and destruction of the city by the Chaldeans. He sees "the fish gate" (ver. 10), the weakest part, assaulted, and hears a loud cry (ver. 10), telling that it has fallen, and that the invaders have gained admission; whilst "the sound of wailing" coming from the inhabitants of the lower part of the city ("the second," ver. 10) intimates that, having gained an entrance, the foe is carrying on the work of destruction. "A great crashing from the hills" (ver. 10) indicates that the invaders, with their engines of war, are striking against the walls and forts. And as the work of invasion proceeds, he marks how it becomes concentrated upon the mercantile part of the city, "El-Wad," or "The Valley" (called by Zephaniah "Maktesh," or "The Mortar," ver. 11); the merchants being destroyed, their "silver" and "their goods" becoming "a booty;" their houses rendered a desolation, and their vineyards laid waste (vers. 11, 13). III. IN SONG. (Verses 14-18.) Concerning this song it has been well said, "There are no grander verses, none more sombre and tragic, none in which terror is more picturesque, in the literature of the world. They call for little comment. They are to be felt rather than critically analyzed and explained" (Cox, in ’Bible Educator,’ vol. 2:257). The expression, "the day of the Lord," so frequently used in this chapter, is employed in the New Testament with reference to the final judgment (Jude 1:6). That day will be a day of wrath to those who persist in working unrighteousness (Romans 2:8, Romans 2:9). "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men" (2 Corinthians 5:11); "Be ye reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). Zephaniah 1:8, Zephaniah 1:9. - No respect of persons. I. SOCIETY IS OF VARIOUS GRADES. There are royal personages, "the princes" and "the king’s children" (ver. 8); there are "the merchant people" (ver. 11); there are masters and servants (ver. 9); there are nobles in affluence, who can clothe themselves with "strange apparel" (ver. 8); and there are the poor and needy. Nor would it be advantageous to society to break down these distinctions. An equal division of wealth and rank would be found both impracticable and undesirable. What is needed is the cultivation, amongst all sections of society, of the spirit of regard and good will. If the injunctions of God’s Word were heeded, wrong doing would cease, the ruler would not oppress the subject, the employer would not act unjustly towards the employed, nor the employed refuse to abide by just regulations. It is not by breaking down the social distinctions of society that the existing wrongs are to be redressed, but by a wider diffusion amongst all classes of the pure teachings of the religion of peace and love. II. IS EACH OF THESE GRADES THE WORKING OF EVIL MAY BE TRACED. In vers. 8 and 9 this is indicated. Princes, nobles, retainers, menials, alike corrupted their way. Pride in bearing and in attire, the emulating of the vices of the heathen, injustice and wrong, "violence and deceit," prevailed amongst all classes. Sin is a disease, the contagious influence of which spreads through society at large, causing sickliness and ending in moral death. It has been fittingly compared to the Egyptian plague of frogs, for as these coming up from the river afflicted king, nobles, magicians, and people alike, so sin in its varied forms and hurtful influence has been felt by all. III. THE DIVINE ON ACCOUNT OF SIN WILL BE AWARDED AND WITHOUT . Princes, nobles, merchants, servants, will be reckoned with according to their works (vers. 8, 9). With God there is "no respect of persons." Here social position and influence screen wrong doers at times from reaping the just consequences of their evil doing. However justly the administrators of human law may desire to act, and to remove the reproach that "there is one law for the rich and another for the poor," the fact remains that the former class, when pursued by the baud of justice, can command assistance such as is denied to the latter, and the employment of which has often moderated the sentence inflicted. But the "righteous Lord, who loveth righteousness," will "give to every man according as his work shall be." Zephaniah 1:12. - Searching Jerusalem with candles. Jerusalem here stands for the nation at large. The whole land was corrupt and was to fall, and the prophet singles out Jerusalem. as being the centre of influence, but his remarks apply to the people generally. We have suggested here — I. IN WORLDLY AFFAIRS IN FALSE . Success in secular matters is to be desired. Rightly improved, such prosperity becomes a source of good to its possessors, and through them to their fellow men. The danger lies in the temptation to pride and self-sufficiency, leading men to think more highly of themselves than they ought to think." In proportion as men grow rich are they in peril of feeling themselves to be "full," and to "have need of nothing." II. FALSE LEADING TO TO GOD AND HIS CLAIMS. Being "at ease," "their eyes standing out with fatness," "having more than heart could wish," they "lightly esteem" the Lord and ignore his Claims. They are not atheists in theory, but they are so in practice; they do not trouble to deny the Divine existence, but they live in total disregard of him to whom they are indebted for all that they possess; they say in their hearts, "The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil" (ver. 12). III. TO GOD AND HIS CLAIMS BY MORAL AND . Those acting thus are compared to wine that is settled on its lees. "The lees are the refuse of the wine, yet stored up with it, and the wine, unremoved, rests as it were upon them. So do men of ease rest in things defiled and defiling." Taking this course, Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem had become corrupt and full of iniquity. IV. MORAL AND ABOUT TO BE BROUGHT TO LIGHT THROUGH THE DIVINE . "And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles" (ver. 12). In the day of terrors drawing near, "he would go through the city, making diligent search, trying house by house, man by man. As the vintner goes through his cellar, torch in hand; or as the head of the household, taper in hand, searches every nook and corner of his house before Passover, lest any morsel of leaven should be hidden in it; so Jehovah would search Jerusalem with candles, hunting the evil out of every dark nook in which they have concealed themselves, suffering none to escape." V. THUS WILL BE BY DIVINE . "And I will punish," etc. (ver. 12). Sin cannot go unpunished. The Divine revelation of sin is with a view to this retribution, and serves to vindicate the rectitude of the Most High. Learn: 1. To guard against the spirit of self-sufficiency and worldliness engendered of ease and luxury. 2. To scrutinize your own conduct, using faithfully with a view to this the torch of (1) conscience, (2) of God’s holy Word, (3) and of the perfect example presented in the life of "the Man Christ Jesus." 3. To pray earnestly for deliverance from all that is evil, and to be led into right paths, and so to be preserved from being at last condemned with the world. "Search me, O God, and know my heart," etc. (Psalms 139:23, Psalms 139:24). BY T. Zephaniah 1:1-6. - A prophet of doom. I. MEANING OF HIS NAME. Zephaniah, "One whom Jehovah hides." Hiding in the day of calamity a blessing promised to them that fear Go(Psalms 31:19, Psalms 31:20), who are therefore styled God’s hidden ones (Psalms 83:4), and may confidently reckon upon God’s extending to them his protecting care in the midst of peril (Psalms 27:5), yea, may even boldly flee unto him to hide them (Psalms 143:9). II. THE DIGNITY OF HIS PERSON. The scion of a kingly house, "the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah." Mentioned here, not because they had been prophets, but probably because they had been celebrated persons, perhaps good men, these ancestors of Zephaniah — three of them, like himself, with Jehovah in his name — may have been introduced to show that the prophet, while descended from the good King Hezekiah, belonged to a different branch of the family from Manasseh and Amon; proceeded from the line in which Hezekiah’s goodness was transmitted, and thus had more than royal blood in his veins (not always an advantage) — hereditary piety in his soul. III. THE TIME OF HIS . 1. The age fixed. (1) "The days of Josiah, the son of Amen, King of Judah;" i.e. not before B.C. 640, when Josiah began to reign. (2) Before the fall of Nineveh (Zephaniah 2:13), which took place in B.C. 625. (3) Probably after Josiah’s reformation had begun and before it was completed, since the prophet speaks of a "remnant of Baal" as existing at the time when he began to prophesy. (4) Hence the date of Zephaniah may be placed between Josiah’s twelfth and eighteenth years, or between B.C. 628-622 (Hitzig, Keil, and Delitzsch), though by some interpreters (Ewald, Havernick, Pusey) it has been fixed earlier — to wit, prior to Josiah’s twelfth year. 2. Its character declared. (1) Generally, as regards the whole land of Judah, an age of widely spread, deeply seated, and well nigh incurable wickedness, of deplorable religious apostasy, of intensely debasing idolatry, of shameless hypocrisy, and of gross worldliness and indifference to Divine things (ver. 4). (2) Particularly, as regards Jerusalem, an age of rebellion, disobedience, irreligion, prayerlessness, unbelief, violence, treachery, desecration of Jehovah’s sanctuary, insensibility to correction, and deep-seated immorality (Zephaniah 3:1-4), with all of which the metropolis and its inhabitants were chargeable (of. Jeremiah 5:1-31.; 6.). IV. THE SOURCE OF HIS . "The word of Jehovah." Whether this came to him by direct revelation through voice (Jeremiah 1:4) or vision (Isaiah 1:1; Isaiah 2:1), or indirectly by meditation on the moral and political condition of his countrymen as well as on the character of Jehovah and the laws of righteousness by which he governs the universe, is not said and need not be inquired into. It suffices to know that the prophet claimed for his message that it had been expressly given him — put into his heart and mouth — by Jehovah; while his predictions certainly were such as could not have been announced without the aid of Divine inspiration. V. THE BURDEN OF HIS . Judgment. 1. Divine. The instrument is not mentioned; the first cause alone is placed in the foreground — "I will utterly consume;" "I will cut off;" "I will stretch out mine hand." The present day tendency is to set God in the background, if not to deny his agency altogether, alike in the production of material phenomena and in the superintendence of the social, moral, and political worlds, and to concentrate attention principally, if not exclusively, upon what are merely God’s instruments. The prophet’s way of looking at men and things accorded more with sound philosophy and true science, not to say sincere religion, than the practice prevailing in many so called enlightened circles today. 2. Universal. The judgment should embrace the wide earth. "All" — "man and beast, the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, the stumbling blocks and the wicked" — should be arraigned at Jehovah’s bar. If the language pointed not to a general judgment of men and nations at the end of the world, it at least emphasized the thought that no part of the world, no age or nation, could escape the ordeal of appearing before Heaven’s tribunal or elude the grasp of Divine retribution. The terms in which Jehovah declares his purpose to visit the wicked with destruction are such as to show that the complete fulfilment of the prophecy can only be reached in the great and terrible day of the Lord at the close of time (cf. Isaiah 24:1-23). 3. Particular. While enclosing the whole world in its sweep, the threatened judgment should fall with a special stroke upon Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem — as it were beginning with the house of God (1 Peter 4:17). That the instruments of judgment would be the Scythians of whom Herodotus speaks as having invaded Upper and Higher Asia (Hitzig, Ewald, Bertheau), is not supported by sufficient evidence, whilst the fact that neither Herodotus nor the Old Testament reports any conquest of Jerusalem by them seems decisive against their being considered the executors of Jehovah’s wrath. The agents actually employed were the Chaldeans (2 Kings 25:9), though it was not Zephaniah’s purpose to indicate by whom the judgments should be carried out. 4. Complete. Thorough going; upon both the world in general and Judah in particular. "I will utterly consume all from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah." (1) As regards the world, the destruction should be as wide sweeping as had been that of the Deluge (Genesis 7:21). (2) As regards Judah and Jerusalem, the purgation as effective. "The remnant of Baal should be cut off," i.e. root and branch, extirpated, or the work of extirpation, if already begun, should be carried forward till not a vestige of the hated idol worship should be seen. (a) First, the idolatrous priests of both kinds should be swept away — the Chemarim, or "the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah and in the places round about Jerusalem" (2 Kings 23:5; Hosea 10:5); and the priests, not "the idolatrous priests in the stricter sense" (Keil), but the unworthy priests of Jehovah who had either secretly or openly favoured the prevailing Baal worship (Fausset, Farrar). (b) Next, the idol worshippers of both kinds should be cut off — the thorough paced devotees of the heathen cultus, who worshipped the host of heaven upon the house tops, and the temporizers who tried to combine the worship of Jehovah with that of Baal, offering oaths of allegiance partly to Jehovah and partly to their king, i.e. Baal. (c) And finally, apostates and open despisers of the Jehovah religion should be punished — those who had turned back from serving Jehovah, and those who had never served him at all (ver. 6). 1. The value of an honoured and pious ancestry. 2. The light the Word of God (contained in Scripture) can cast upon the future. 3. The certainty of a day of judgment fur men and nations. 4. The impossibility of eluding the just judgment of God. 5. The inevitable ruin of them who will not serve God. 6. The impossibility of trying to serve God and idols. 7. The danger of neglecting religion hardly less than that of apostatizing from it. — T.W. Zephaniah 1:7-13. - The day of the Lord’s sacrifice. I. THE VICTIMS. 1. Their persons catalogued. (1) The royal household. Josiah exempted on account of his piety (2 Kings 22:19, 2 Kings 22:20; 2 Chronicles 34:27, 2 Chronicles 34:28) — a testimony at once to Divine faithfulness and to the superior advantage of godliness (Psalms 17:7; Psalms 91:9, Psalms 91:10; 2 Peter 2:9; Revelation 3:10). But included were the princes, or "the heads of the tribes and families who naturally filled the higher offices of state" (Keil); the king’s sons, either Josiah’s children, then quite young, Jehoiakim being six and Jehoahaz four years of age, and Zedekiah not yet born; or Josiah’s brothers and uncles who were also king’s sons; and the superior servants of the palace, who are probably referred to as those who "leap over the threshold and fill their masters’ house with violence and deceit" (ver. 9). (2) The rich merchants of Jerusalem. Described by their residence, their occupation, their prosperity, and their doom. The part of the city in which they were located, named most likely by the prophet himself, Maktesh, or "The Mortar," was "most probably the depression which ran down between Acra on the west, and Bezetha and Moriah on the cast, as far as the fountain of Shiloah" (Keil), "the cheese makers’ valley" of Josephus, styled by the present day inhabitants El-Wad, or "The Valley." There they traded, lending money upon usury, and were called by the prophet "people of Canaan," because of their resemblance to Canaanitish or Phoenician merchants. With such success had they carried on their business, that they were "laden with silver." Yet were they doomed to be destroyed, ground to pieces, and bruised to death, by the Babylonian conquerors, like corn in a mortar when the pestle descendeth. (3) The irreligious debauchees and rioters of the metropolis generally. Characterized as persons who had settled on their lees, and said in their hearts, "The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil." (For an explanation of the figure, consult Exposition, and see homily on ver. 12.) The language pointed to those whose material. prosperity had been their moral and religious ruin, who, having grown wealthy and luxurious, had also become atheistical at least in practice, saying in their hearts, and acting as if they believed, that either there was no God at all, or if there were, that he was perfectly indifferent to their characters and conduct — a form of infidelity that has seldom lacked representatives among foolish and ungodly men (Job 22:12-14; Psalms 10:4; Psalms 14:1, Psalms 94:6, Psalms 94:7). 2. Their sins specified. (1) Of the royal household, two — wearing foreign clothes and leaping over the threshold. The former referred to the custom of copying the dress and with that the manners and luxuries of heathen peoples, and in particular, in Josiah’s time, of Egypt and Assyria, or Babylon. Among the Egyptians "the dress of the king was most gorgeous, consisting of robes of the most beautiful stuffs and the richest ornaments". Nahum (Nahum 2:3) describes the Assyrian soldiery as arrayed "in scarlet;" while Ezekiel (Ezekiel 23:12, Ezekiel 23:15) depicts the Assyriam warriors as "clothed most gorgeously," and speaks of the Chaldeans as "girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads." Of course, the sin against which the prophet inveighed was not the mere adoption of Egyptian, Assyrian, or Babylonian habiliments, but the inclination to look to and lean upon, to follow after and copy, these nations in their luxuries and idolatries rather than to remain faithful to Jehovah’s Law and worship, which the imitation of their dress revealed. Clothes, according [o Carlyle (’Sartor Resartus,’ Ezekiel 1:1), are "the vestural tissue which man’s soul wears as its outmost wrappage and overall, wherein his whole other tissues are included and screened, his whole faculties work, his whole self lives, moves, and has its being." Hence a person’s dress is no mean indication of a person’s inner self. "Outward dress," says Pusey, "always betokens the inward mind, and in its turn acts upon it." In Isaiah’s tim, the Jerusalem ladies were distinguished for gay attire and wanton hearts (Isaiah 3:23). Peter (1 Peter 3:3) exhorts Christian women to adorn themselves," not with that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel, but with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit." The latter of the two sins charged against the royal household, that of leaping over the threshold, is believed (Calvin, Keil, Ewald, Pusey, Farrar) to allude, not to the custom of leaping over the threshold of the king’s palace (Hitzig) in imitation of Dagoa’s priests, who, when they entered their idol’s temple in Ashdod, trode not upon its threshold (1 Samuel 5:5); but to the practice, observed probably by "dishonourable servants of the king," of intruding into other people’s houses in order to deprive them of their property through violence and fraud, and with the spoils so obtained to enrich the king, whose dependants they were, and whose favour they desired to retain. Should this interpretation be correct, it suggests useful thoughts about the distribution of guilt, or the mutual responsibility of masters and servants for each other’s evil deeds. If the king’s servants merely carried out the orders of their royal master, they were no less criminal in Heaven’s sight than he; if they acted on their own motion, the king who profited by their plunder became a partner of their guilt. (2) Of the merchants, also two — avarice and usury. Had they been merely successful traders who, had prospered through honest dealing, they had not been condemned; but they were "laden with silver," acquired through nefarious practices such as deceit and usury. Wealth honourably obtained is no offence against Hearers, and, if righteously employed, may contribute to the happiness and influence of both the individual possessor and the community of which he is a member; riches heaped up by wicked arts are a curse to those who have them, and often go as they have come by violence and fraud. To "provide things honest in the sight of all men" (Romans 12:17) should be the aim of all, but especially of Christians. "On the bells of the horses of trade and commerce should be, Holiness unto the Lord" (Zechariah 14:20). Happy the nation "whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth" (Isaiah 23:8). This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ . Verse 2:1-3:8 Part II. TO AND TO . Zephaniah 2:1-3 § 1. The prophet urges all to examine their ways before the day of the Lord come; and he prays the righteous to seek the Lord more earnestly, in order that they may be safe in the judgment. Zephaniah 2:1 Gather yourselves together. So the versions; and this rendering is probably correct. The prophet calls upon his nation to assemble themselves together in order to take mutual counsel or to make general confession and supplication to God. Another rendering, based on some alteration of letters, is, "Set yourselves to be ashamed; yea, be ashamed" (comp. Isaiah 46:8). Yea, gather together. The LXX. renders the two words, συνάχθητεκαὶσυνδέθητε, "be ye gathered and bound together;" "Id est," says Jerome, "estote vobis caritatis vinculo copulati." O nation not desired; Vulgate, gens non amabilis — a litotes for abominable, hated for its sins, unworthy of God’s love and care. The Septuagint rendering, ἀπαίδευτον, "unchastened," points to the meaning affixed by the Chaldee paraphrase, that does not wish to be converted," having no desire for amendment; like what is said in Jeremiah 2:30, "they received no correction." Others render, "which does not turn pale," i.e. which is not ashamed, comparing Isaiah 29:22. The verb kasaph seems to have this meaning in niphal, according to Talmudic use; but its usual signification is "to pine" or "long for." The Revised Version gives in the margin, "that hath no longing" — a rendering adopted by Professor Gandell, implying that the people are quite satisfied with their present condition, and have no aspiration for anything better or higher (comp. Hosea 12:8). This is a very apposite interpretation; but there is no sufficient ground for rejecting the translation of the Authorized Version, which is supported by high authority, is agreeable to the use of the word, and affords a satisfactory sense. Zephaniah 2:2 Before the decree bring forth. Before the result follows the fiat. The Divine purpose is represented as a woman labouring with child, travailing before it comes to execution. This is thrice repeated in substance, to show the certainty and speed of its arrival. Before the day pass as the chaff. "Before" is not in the Hebrew, and the clause is parenthetical, "Like chaff the day passeth." "The day" must be still the day of the Lord, not the day of life or the day of repentance. God brings on the judgment as easily and as quickly as the wind carries the chaff before it. The Septuagint and Syriac join the two clauses together; thus the LXX; Πρὸτοῦγενέσθαιὑμᾶςὡςἄνθοςπαραπορευόμενον, "Before ye become as a flower that passeth away." And Jerome gives, "Priusquam pariat jussio quasi pulverem transeuntem diem," "Before the decree beget the day which passeth by like the dust." The present Hebrew text does not confirm these versions. The figure of the chaff is common (see Job 21:18; Isaiah 17:13; Isaiah 29:5). Zephaniah 2:3 The prophet here addresses especially the pious among the people, urging them to perseverance in the right way. Ye meek of the earth. The humble, peaceable, religious, among the Israelites are primarily meant; whose character is the direct contrary of the proud, self-confident infidels mentioned above (comp. Isaiah 11:4; Amos 2:7). But there is no reason why the admonition should not include the heathen who are striving to live after the light of conscience (Isaiah 24:5; Romans 2:14, etc.). Which have wrought his judgment. Who have fulfilled the ordinances of God’s Law. Seek righteousness. This and the following injunction explain what is meant by "seek the Lord" at the beginning of the verse (Deuteronomy 16:20). Seek meekness. Persevere in showing a humble, gentle temper. Septuagint, καὶἀποκρίνασθεαὐτά "and answer them." It may be. Even the righteous shall scarcely be saved. Ye shall be hid. Ye shall be preserved in the time of judgment (Psalms 27:5; Psalms 31:20; Isaiah 32:2). This recalls the prophet’s name, which is interpreted, "Whom the Lord hides" (comp. Amos 5:14, Amos 5:15). Zephaniah 2:4-7 § 2. The admonition is enforced by the announcement of the punishment that is about to fall on various nations, which shall prepare the way for the general acceptance of true religion; and first the sentence shall reach the Philistines. Zephaniah 2:4 There is reason enough why Judah should tremble when the nations around her, such as the powerful and turbulent Philistines, fall before the invading host. Four of the five cities of the Philistines are mentioned, as denoting the whole territory, which again is the representative of the heathen world more definitely particularized later on. Thus the four quarters of the world are virtually specified: the Philistines representing the west,, the Moabites and Ammonites (Zephaniah 2:8-10) the east, the Cushites (Zephaniah 2:11, Zephaniah 2:12) the south, and the Assyrians (Zephaniah 2:13-15) the north. Gaza (see note on Amos 1:6) shall be forsaken; depopulated and desolate. There is a paronomasia in the Hebrew: Azzah will be azubhah. Some of the other localities are treated in the same manner (comp. Micah 1:10-15, and notes there). Ashkelon a desolation (see note on Amos 1:8). They shall drive out Ashdod. The inhabitants shall be expelled. (For Ashdod, see note on Amos, loc. cit.) At the noon day. The hottest part of the day, the most unlikely time for a hostile attack, hence the expression is equivalent to "unexpectedly and suddenly" (comp. Jeremiah 15:8). Ekron shall be rooted up. In the Hebrew paronomasia, Ekron ("the Deep-rooted") shall be teaker. (For Ekron, see note on Amos, loc. cit; where the fulfilment of prophecy concerning that town is noted.) Gaza (see note on Amos 1:7), after being depopulated and again re-peopled by Alexander the Great, fell into the hands of Ptolemy, and was destroyed by Antiochus, B.C. 198. Often rebuilt, it was as often razed to the ground; and the present representative of the ancient town, Ghuzzeh, stands upon a hill composed of the accumulated ruins of successive cities. Of the condition of Ashkelon, Dr. Thomson writes, "There are no buildings of the ancient city now standing, but broken columns are mixed up with the soil .... Let us climb to the top of these tall fragments at the southeast angle of the wall, and we shell have the whole scene of desolation before us, stretching terrace after terrace, quite down to the sea on the northwest .... No site in this country has so deeply impressed my mind with sadness. They have stretched out upon Ashkelon the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. Thorns have come up in her palaces, and brambles in the fortresses thereof, and it is a habitation of dragons and a court for owls (Isaiah 34:11-13)". "It was for ages," says Dr. Porter, "a great and strong city. Under the Philistines, the Hebrews, the Greeks, the Romans, the Saracens, the Crusaders, it was a place of note. The shattered walls that still surround the site were built by Richard Coeur de Lion. When I first clambered to the top of a broken bastion, a scene of desolation burst suddenly upon my view for which I was not prepared, though I had seen Baal-bec and Palmyra, Heliopolis and Memphis. The whole site was before me, and not a fragment of a house standing. One small section was covered with little gardens; but over the rest of the site lay smooth rounded hillocks of drifting sand. The sand is fast advancing — so fast, that probably ere the close of the century the site of Ascalon will have been blotted out forever". As for Ekron, hod. Akir, travellers note that it is now a little village, consisting of about fifty mud houses, without a remnant of antiquity except two large walls; its very ruins have vanished. The omission of Gath, a town at this time of small importance (see note on Amos 1:6), is probably owing to a feeling of the symbolism of numbers, four denoting completion, or the whole, like "the four winds, the four ends of the earth," etc. Zephaniah 2:5 Woe. The denunciation extends to all Philistia. The inhabitants of the sea coast. Both the. Greek and Latin Versions retain the notion of the Hebrew word chebel: "Ye who inhabit the measured allotment of the sea." "Philistia," says Sir C. Warren, "consists of an undulating plain from fifty to a hundred feet above the level of the sea, reaching thirty-two miles from Ekron to Gaza, with a breadth of from nine to sixteen miles. To the east of this the hills commence, not the hill country, but a series of low spurs and undulating ground, culminating in hogs’ backs, running nearly north and south, and rising in places to twelve hundred feet above the ocean". The nation of the Cherethites. So in Ezekiel 25:16. Zephaniah calls the Philistines by this name for the sake of a play on the word, Cherethites meaning "Cutters off," and they were devoted to being "cut off" (karath). Part of David’s bodyguard was composed of the same people (1 Samuel 30:14). The name seems to have belonged to a portion of the Philistines who inhabited the southern part of the district. "One of the principal villages of Philistia is now called Keretiya, so that the term may apply to the inhabitants of this town — an ancient Cherith not mentioned in the Bible". They have been supposed to have emigrated from Crete, but there are no reliable grounds for this theory, though the LXX. in the present passage has, ΠάροικοιΚρητῶν, "sojourners of the Cretans;’ and the Syriac gives a similar rendering. St. Jerome renders, "gens perditorum," "nation of destroyers." The word of the Lord is against you. The sentence is pronounced in the words following. O Canaan. O Philistia, which shall be as Canaan, and in like manner exterminated. Canaan means "Lowland," a name which originally was applied to the Phoenician and Philistine tracts on the seacoast. I will even destroy thee. The like threat is uttered by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 47:4, Jeremiah 47:5) and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 25:15-17). Zephaniah 2:6 Dwellings and cottages for shepherds; better, pastures with caves for shepherds. In the use of the word keroth, "diggings" ("cottages," Authorized Version) there is probably intended another play on the "Cherethites." Neale, "The road from Gaza to Askalon lay along the sea shore. In the winter months many parts of it are impracticable, owing to the encroachment of the sea. The surf then dashes wildly into the huge caverns worked out of the endless sand hills that line this coast. These caverns were tenanted, when we passed, by goatherds and their flocks. Thither they resort for shelter from the fierce heat of the noontide sun; and here during the night the goats are penned. There are wells and reservoirs in the vicinity which furnish water for the flocks the whole year round, and the brambles and thorn bushes that flourish near the seaside form their pasturage" (’Eight Years in Syria,’ 1:40, 41). Septuagint, ἔσταιΚρήτηνομὴποιμνίων, "Crete shall be a pasture of flocks." Zephaniah 2:7 And the coast shall be for the remnant, etc.; it will be a tract .for the remnant. The district will be the possession of the Jews, who should be restored to their land (Obadiah 1:19). Zephaniah virtually predicts the Captivity and the return, and intimates that the destruction of hostile nations is the means of advancing true religion. They shall feed their flocks thereupon. Where the Philistine cities stood shall be the pasture ground of the Israelites’ flocks. Ashkelon. One city is mentioned as a type of all. For. This is the reason why they are permitted to triumph thus. Shall visit. In a good sense, to protect and cherish (Exodus 4:31; Rth 1:6; Psalms 8:4; Zechariah 10:3; Luke 1:68). Turn away (reverse) their captivity. Bring them back from their exile to their own land (comp. Joe 3:1; Micah 4:10). The phrase, however, is often (and possibly here) used metaphorically for the abolishment of misery and the restoration to a happy condition (comp. Deuteronomy 30:3; Job 42:10 (15); Jeremiah 29:14). The full accomplishment of this prophecy concerning the overthrow of Philistia is of a spiritual nature, and must be looked for in the Messianic era, when the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of Christ; and so in the subsequent predictions. Zephaniah 2:8-10 3. The punishment shall fall next upon the Moabites and Ammonites, representing the east. Zephaniah 2:8 The reproach of Moab. As this refers to past actions, it must signify the hostile attitude which Moab always assumed towards Israel. The revilings of the children of Ammon. Both these descendants of Lot proved themselves bitter enemies of the Jews. Keil refers to Numb, 15:30 and Ezekiel 20:27, where the word gadaph is used in the sense "to revile or blaspheme by actions." (For the persistent hostility of Moab, see note on Amos 2:1, and for that of Ammon, the note on Amos 1:13.) Magnified themselves against their border. They carried themselves haughtily, showed their pride by violating the territory of the Israelites. This pride and self-exaltation is a leading feature of the character of these two nations (comp. Isaiah 16:6; Jeremiah 48:29, etc.). The destruction of the kingdom of Israel and the weakness of that of Judah gave occasion to these neighbours to display their haughtiness and independence. The LXX. has, "my borders." God himself assigned its boundaries to Israel, as to other nations (Deuteronomy 32:8); and to invade these was an offence against him. Zephaniah 2:9 As I live. This is a common formulary to express certainty, God, as it were, pledging his existence to the truth of his declaration (Deuteronomy 32:40; Isaiah 49:18, etc.).. God calls himself, The Lord of hosts, therefore able to fulfil his threats; and the God of Israel, and therefore ready to punish wrongs done to his chosen people. As Sodom. This threat came home with particular force to the Moabites and Am. monites who dwelt in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea, and had before their eyes this awful proof of the chastisement with which sin meets, and which had happened in the time of their forefather Lot. "There are no settled inhabitants," says Dr. Porter, writing of Moab, "but the hillsides and glens are studded with the ruins of ancient towns and villages. We at length pitched our tents by the lonely fountain of Heshbon. The site of this royal city is commanding — a rounded hilt on the edge of avast plateau, which extends on the south and east to the horizon, and on the west breaks down in steep slopes, jagged cliffs, and wild ravines, to the Dead Sea and Jordan valley, nearly four thousand feet below. The hill was the nucleus of the city. Its sides are covered with ruins, and remains of houses, temples, and other buildings are strewn over a considerable section of the adjoining plain. All is desolate. Not a building, and scarcely a fragment of a wall, is standing; yet, though deserted for centuries, it bears its ancient name. I looked from Heshbon far and wide over the ancient territory of the Moabites, and saw desolation everywhere. The old towns and villages are all deserted and in ruins. In fact, there is not at this moment a single inhabited town or village in Moab, except Kerak, which stands on the extreme southern border. The sites of many were visible — grey mounds dotting the plain". "The cities, towns, villages, are all in ruins. ... And no attempt is ever made to rebuild or repair; no man ventures to seek even a temporary abode among the ruined cities of Moab. The local Arab avoids the old sites, and seeks rest and security amid rocks and ravines; the powerful desert tribes sweep over the country periodically, and devour and destroy all in their track". Even the breeding of nettles; rather, a possession of nettles; a place where nettles only grow. Vulgate, siccitas spinarum. The identification of the plant kharul is uncertain. In Job (Job 30:7) it is represented as of sufficient growth to conceal fugitives; hence some think it is the wild mustard. Dr. Pusey, relying on a notice of Professor Palmer, considers it to be the mallow, which grows in rank luxuriance in Moab. The LXX; reading daleth instead of mem in the ἅπαξλεγόμενον mimshaq, rendered "breeding," has Δαμασκὸςἐκλελειμμένη, "Damascus shall be left." Salt pits. All travellers note the abundance of rock salt in the vicinity of the Dead Sea (see Deuteronomy 29:23; and comp. Psalms 107:34; Jeremiah 17:6). A perpetual desolation. The prophecy intimates that this country should never recover its prosperity (comp. Ezekiel 25:1-17.). The residue of my people shall spoil them. A partial fulfilment of this prophecy occurred when Judas Maccabaeus smote Ammon (1 Macc. 5:6, etc.), and Alexander Jannaeus subdued the Moabites (Josephus, ’Ant.,’ 13.13. 5); but the prophet looks forward to a spiritual fulfilment under the Messiah, as we see from Verse 11 (comp. Isaiah 14:1, Isaiah 14:2; Isaiah 49:23, etc.). The faithful remnant shall win possession of the heathen strongholds, and convert the nations to Christ, and incorporate them in the Church. Zephaniah 2:10 This shall they have. All these calamities mentioned above shall fall on the Ammonites and Moabites in punishment of their pride and spite and insolence (see note on Zephaniah 2:8). Zephaniah 2:11 § 4. Before passing to the judgment on the nations of the south and north, the prophet shows the object of all these chastisements: God destroys idolatry in order that pure religion may reign over all the earth. The Lord will be terrible unto them. The Lord shows himself as a terrible God over the Moabites and Ammonites, but only as parts of the heathen world, and with a view to a universal result This is the purpose of the revelation of himself as Judge. Septuagint, ̓ΕπιφανήσεταιΚύριοςἐπαὐτούς, "The Lord will appear against them." For he will famish all the gods of the earth. The verb means literally, "to make lean," and then "to destroy;" hence the LXX; ἐξολοθρεύσει. The word may be chosen in order to express the idea that worshippers will no more be found to offer sacrifices and drink offerings to the gods (see Bel and the Dragon 6, 12). The nations being destroyed, the gods reverenced by them would vanish and be heard of no more. Men shall worship him. Idolatry abolished, men shall learn to worship Jehovah. Every one from his place. Every one shall worship God in his own place and country; the Lord shall be universally recognized, and his worship shall no longer be confined to one temple or one land, but wherever men dwell there shall they offer their homage and adoration (comp. Isaiah 19:18, Isaiah 19:19; Malachi 1:11, where the same truth is signified). Such passages as Micah 4:1 and Zechariah 14:16, which seem to imply that all nations are to come up to the material Jerusalem to pay their devotions, require evidently a spiritual interpretation, and denote that the heathen converted to Christ shall be received into the Church, and join in the worship of the true Israel. The isles of the heathen; or, coasts of the nations; the most distant countries that lie across the seas (Genesis 10:5; Psalms 72:10; Isaiah 11:11, etc.). Zephaniah 2:12-15 5. The judgment shall fall upon the Ethiopians and Assyrians, representing the south and north. Zephaniah 2:12 Ethiopians; Cushites. These are named as the most remote inhabitants of the south with which the Israelites were acquainted (Ezekiel 38:5). Ye shall be slain by my sword; the slain of my sword are they, the second person being dropped, as one cannot address the dead (Orelli). The Lord’s sword is the instrument which he uses to effect his purpose of punishment (comp. Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 34:5; Isaiah 66:16). The Ethiopians are reckoned among the forces of Egypt (2 Chronicles 12:3; Nahum 3:9, etc.). The prediction had a fulfilment when the Assyrians conquered Egypt, and again under Nebuchadnezzar. It shall have a more sublime accomplishment when the sword of the Spirit shall reduce the utmost south to the dominion of Christ (see Isaiah 45:14; Psalms 68:31). The commencement of this conversion is seen in the chamberlain of Queen Candace (Acts 8:27, etc.). Zephaniah 2:13 The north, represented by Assyria, as yet unconquered, and still apparently flourishing. Though this country lay to the northeast of Palestine, its armies attacked from the north, and it is generally represented as a northern power. Its destruction was foretold (Isaiah 10:12; Ezekiel 31:11, etc.; Nahum 1:14, etc.). In this verse the Hebrew verbs are not in the simple future, but in the imperative or optative mood, "Let him stretch out his hand," etc; as though the prophet were praying that the enemies of his people might be overthrown. Nineveh. St. Jerome gives speciosam, rendering the proper name according to his notion of its Hebrew etymology. Its proper meaning, in Accadian, would be "Fish house,". i.e. house consecrated to the god of fish. (For a description of Nineveh, see note on Jonah 1:2. For the destruction of Nineveh, see the Introduction to Nahum, § I.) Dry like a wilderness. The country shall become an and desert. Assyria was greatly indebted for its remarkable fertility to a very successful system of artificial irrigation, and when this was not maintained, great tracts soon relapsed into a wilderness (Layard, ’Nineveh,’ 2:68). "Cultivation," says Professor Rawlinson, "is now the exception instead of the rule. ’Instead of the luxuriant fields, the groves and gardens of former times, nothing now meets the eye but an arid waste’ (Chesny). Large tracts are covered by unwholesome marshes, producing nothing but enormous reeds; others lie waste and bare, parched up by the fierce heat of the sun, and utterly destitute of water; in some places sand drifts accumulate, and threaten to make the whole region a mere portion of the desert" (’Anc. Men.,’ 1:41). Zephaniah 2:14 Flocks; herds. The prophet describes graphically the desolation mentioned in the preceding verse. The "herds" are not sheep and cattle, as in parallel cases (Isaiah 17:2; Isaiah 27:10; Isaiah 32:14), but all the beasts of the nations — all the wild beasts that infest the country. Septuagint, πάντατὰθηρίατῆςγῆς. The Hebrew will hardly hear Keil’s rendering, "all kinds of beasts in crowds." (Compare similar predictions, Isaiah 13:21; Isaiah 34:11, Isaiah 34:14). The cormorant (kaath); probably the pelican; Vulgate, onocrotalus; the Septuagint gives, χαμαιλέοντες, which word Schleusner thinks to have been interchanged with κόρακες that follows soon afterwards. Bat in the latter place Jerome has corvus. The pelican is found in the Assyrian monuments tinder more than one appellation. The bittern (kippod). Most recent critics translate this by "hedgehog" or "porcupine." The Septuagint has, ἐχῖνοι: the Vulgate, ericius. But neither hedgehog nor porcupine utters cries or frequents pools of water, and it may well be doubted whether some marsh-loving bird is not meant. Certainly the following clause suits the habits of a bird better than those of a hedgehog. No notice of the bittern seems to be found in the Assyrian monuments, though the mention of the heron is not uncommon. The kaath and kippod are commonly mentioned together, e.g. Isaiah 34:1-17. II. The upper lintels; "the capitals" of the columns (see note on Amos 9:1, where the same word kaphtor is used). Their voice shall sing in the windows; literally, the voice of the songster in the window. Birds shall perch and sing in the apertures of the ruined palaces. Vulgate, Vox cantantis in fenestra; the LXX. has, Θηρίαφωνήσειἐν, τοῖςδιορύγμασιναὐτῆς, "Wild beasts shall cry in the breaches thereof." Others translate, "Hark! it singeth in the windows." There are no traces of windows in any of the Assyrian palaces, even in the ease of chambers next the outer walls. If daylight were admitted, it must have entered through openings in the ceilings (Layard, ’Nineveh.’ 2:260). Desolation shall be in the thresholds. The word rendered "desolation" (chorebh) Jerome notes may be read as meaning "sword," "drought." and "raven;" he adopts the last signification, and translates, in agreement with the LXX; corvus. But it seems best to take the term as signifying "desolation;" no human creature shall be found there, only ruin and rubbish. Ewald renders, "Owls shall sing in the windows, crows on the threshold, ’shivered. crushed.’" For he shall uncover (he hath laid bare) the cedar work. God, or the enemy, has so destroyed the palaces that the cedar panelling is exposed to the weather. Jerome has, "Attenuabo robur ejus." We see by Sennacherib’s boast (Isaiah 37:24) that the Assyrians imported cedars for building purposes. And we have monumental evidence of the employment of cedar in palaces at least since the time of Assurnazirpal, B.C. 860. Esar-haddon reports that he received cypress and cedar from Lebanon as tribute; and Assurbanipal states that in erecting his palace he used cedar pillars from Sirjon and Lebanon. Neriglissar, King of Babylon, B.C. 559, in rebuilding his palace, records that he "arranged tall cedars for its roof" (’Records of the Past,’ 5:142). Zephaniah 2:15 This is the rejoicing city. Such is the fate of this once exulting city, that dwelt carelessly, secure, with no fear of danger at hand (Isaiah 47:8, on which this passage is founded). I am, and there is none beside me. Thus, in effect, Nineveh claimed for himself the attributes of Almighty God. She stands alone, mistress of nations, a type of the powers of this world, which deify themselves and defy the Lord. Septuagint, Οὐκἔστιμετἐμὲἔτι, "There is no more any after me." Shall hiss. In scorn (Job 27:23; Jeremiah 19:8; Micah 6:16). Wag his hand. He shall shake or wave his hand with the gesture of dismissal, as if saying, "Away with thee! get thee gone!" — a rehearsal of the awful "Depart ye!" in the final judgment (comp. Nahum 3:19). Zephaniah 2:1, Zephaniah 2:2. - The evil summoned to repentance. Having declared fully and faithfully the Divine judgments, the prophet changed his tone, and, turning, to another aspect of truth and blending compassion with severity, he tenderly entreated those who had become so estranged from God to return to him with all their hearts. This is how he appeals to his godless fellow countrymen. "Gather yourselves," etc. (Zephaniah 2:1, Zephaniah 2:2). Notice — I. THE EFFECT OF SIN. Evil hardens those who indulge in it, even as the fire hardens the material brought under its influence. You read such words as Jeremiah 2:25; Jeremiah 18:12; Zechariah 7:12, and you cannot help bring impressed with the hardening tendency of sin. So here (Zechariah 7:1) note the words, "O nation not desired." The word rendered "desired" means "to turn pale," "to become white with shame." It is the same word used by Isaiah (Isaiah 29:22), "Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale." Indulgence in sin renders men stubborn and stiffnecked. There is a spiritual condition expressively described as "past feeling." The heart may become hardened, and the conscience seared. "Take heed," etc. (Hebrews 3:13). II. GOD’S AND GRACE IN MAKING ANY OR APPEAL TO THOSE THUS IN EVIL DOING. He might have left such to reap the full consequences of their transgressions, whereas in truth, all down the ages. his seeking love has been going out after such with a view to their restoration, and even his chastisements have had the same merciful intention. 1. We see this seeking love of God manifested in ancient time in the raising up of these prophets, men full of faith and power; bold, courageous, daring; and in sending these forth to expostulate with the callous and impenitent, if perchance they might be led "to break off sin by righteousness." 2. In the Incarnation. He who spake in time past to the fathers by the prophets, subsequently spoke unto them by his Son (Hebrews 1:1). "The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost." 3. In the institution of the Christian ministry, sending forth his ambassadors to proclaim to the estranged the conditions of reconciliation and peace (2 Corinthians 5:20). III. GOD’S CALL TO EVIL DOERS IS A CALL TO . "Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together" (Verse 1); i.e. "Bend yourselves," bend low in contrition in view of transgression — repent, and submit yourselves to God. The nature of repentance must be understood in order to this. There enters into it the element of sorrow; the deep humbling of the soul; yet sorrow alone does not constitute it; there must accompany this the breaking away from sin, and the turning unto God. "Repentance towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ" are sacred and imperative duties and obligations; yet there is no merit in them, but the heart must rest entirely in the mercy of God, which is so large that man has only to bend his heart before God — to be willing — and God’s all-regenerating power shall be experienced. Then "bend yourselves, bend, ye people, that do not grow pale" (Verse 1). IV. THIS SPIRIT OF AND TO THE LORD GOD SHOULD BE WITHOUT DELAY. (Verse 2.) A British general, on being asked when he could be read), to take the command of the forces, answered, "Now." He knew as a soldier that the call of duty did not admit of delay. When a course is felt by us to be right, we ought at once to pursue it. "What is ’now’? ’A bright presence.’ Wrestle with it, and say, ’I will not let thee go except thou bless me’! ’A sweet garden.’ Go, gather in it the fruits of life! ’A true temple.’ Bow down in it, and consecrate yourself to him who has placed you within its shrine! ’A living rescue.’ Use it, that you may run into the ark of safety! ’A rich banquet.’ Now the feast is spread: ’Come, eat, O friends, drink, O beloved! yea, eat and live forever’!". "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation’ (2 Corinthians 6:2). Zephaniah 2:3. - The good stimulated to a truer life. It is a truth admitting of abundant illustration, that even in the most degenerate times God has had a people to show forth his praise. He has not left himself without witnesses. Whilst in this prophet’s day there was "the remnant of Baal" (Zephaniah 1:4), there was also "the remnant of the house of Judah" (Zephaniah 2:7), "the remnant of Israel," that did no iniquity nor uttered lies (Zephaniah 3:13). "The meek of the earth" clothed with humility and working righteousness (Zephaniah 2:3). I. TRUE PIETY BOTH THE AND CONDUCT OF ITS . It is an inward grace, manifesting itself outwardly in holy excellence and holy living. 1. Humility is the token referred to as indicating its influence upon the character. "Ye meek of the earth." Meekness is power tempered with gentleness — it is the soul restraining, holding back its own power. (1) It manifests itself towards God. He has marked out to man the true way of life; but man has the power to decline to pursue this course. "The meek of the earth" are such as, although conscious of this power, yield themselves up in passive obedience to God, to receive the impress of his Spirit, and to be mounted at his will. (2) And it manifests itself towards man. The possessor of this heavenly grace, in his intercourse with his fellow men, lays aside all parade and show and ostentation; whilst under wrong, in patience he possesses his soul, and although he may have the power to revenge the wrong done, he holds hack this power, ruling his spirit, and proving himself mightier than he who taketh a city. 2. Rectitude is the token referred to as indicating the influence of true piety upon the conduct. "Which have wrought his judgment" (Zephaniah 2:3). It prompts to obedience to God’s revealed Law — to righteousness of life — obedience rendered by a heart thoroughly loyal to God and to righteousness, and which, becoming the very habit of the soul, is rendered easy and pleasant. II. THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL IN HOLY AND CONDUCT IS GRADUAL. The reiterated counsels and exhortations addressed to the good by prophets and apostles indicate that the goal had not been reached. Such are to "go on unto perfection" (Hebrews 6:1), to seek to be continually advancing, ever to be aiming after a purer and holier life. "Nearer, my God, to thee." "Not as though I had already attained," etc. (Philippians 3:12). III. THIS IS TO BE SECURED AS THE RESULT OF DIVINE AND . 1. Divine discipline. In the time of national calamity described by this prophet, and ere long to befall his land, the good as well as the evil would suffer — the sorowful experience would be passed through by all, whilst the Divine discipline thus designed to rouse the indifferent was intended also to purify the good, and to contribute to the perfecting in them the Divine character and life. And such being ever the gracious intention of God, let the good circumstanced thus sing — "Great Master, touch us with thy skilful hand, Let not the music that is in us die; Great Sculptor, hew and polish us, nor let Hidden and lost thy form within us lie. Spare not thy stroke; do with us as thou wilt; Let there be nought unfinished, broken, marr’d; Complete thy purpose, that we may become Thy perfect image, O our God and Lord!" 2. Personal endeavor. The seer here stimulated the good to persevering effort so as to attain unto a truer life. "Seek ye the Lord;" "seek righteousness;" "seek meekness." By earnest prayer, by calm reflection and meditation, and by holy service, man is to cooperate with God with a view to his own spiritual growth. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," etc. (Philippians 2:12). IV. THEY WHO THUS IN THE DIVINE LIFE SHALL BE SECURE IN THE DAY OF AND . "It may be ye shall be hid," etc. (Zephaniah 2:3). The "may be" was not intended to express uncertainty with reference to their security, but rather to keep them from becoming too confident and self-reliant. They who continue in the love and service of God cannot but be secure, for their safety is amply guaranteed (Isaiah 26:20; Psalms 31:20; Isaiah 32:2). Zephaniah 2:4-7. - The doom of the Philistines. The prophet, having declared the judgments to come upon Judah, turned his thoughts to the surrounding heathen nations, and proclaimed the doom they should experience. Several reasons probably influenced him in taking this survey and in calling attention to the chastisements inflicted upon other lands. (1) A desire to make it clear to his people that with God there is no respect of persons; (2) that wrong doing works evil issues wherever it is practised; (3) to make vivid to them that the dark clouds of retribution were gathering, and so to rouse them out of their apathy and to stimulate them to return to righteousness of life. In referring thus to the heathen, he began with the Philistines, the natural enemies of his nation. We have here — I. A SOLEMN OF DIVINE TO BE AGAINST . 1. The nation referred to was that of the Philistines. They were very influential in Palestine. Occupying the coast, they were in possession of the trade carried on with Europe and Asia. Besides this transit trade, they had vast internal resources. They were given to agriculture, and hence we read that the Israelites had to go to the Philistines "to sharpen every man his share and his coulter, his axe and his mattock." In their prosperity they built their five great cities, Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. They were warlike and idolatrous, and through their self-sufficiency and boastfulness, their tyranny and oppression, together with their idol worship, they became offensive in the sight of Heaven. 2. The judgments here declared as about to overtake them. Their cities should be destroyed, their land rendered desolate, their inhabitants should be removed, the busy tract by the sea, where once trade and commerce flourished, should become pastures and folds for sheep, and. where once stood the abodes of prosperous merchants, the humble shepherds should construct their huts (Zephaniah 2:4-6). 3. The fulfilment is unquestionable; the word of the Lord by the mouth of his holy prophet has been amply verified. It is true that the Gaza of today is a populous town, and hence those ready to carp and cavil have urged that, Gaza has not been forsaken. But the ruins which have been found and explored within a mile or two of modern Gaza indicate the site of the ancient city, and tell how that city has indeed, like the others, passed away. "The Word of our God shall stand foreVerse" II. A TENDER OF DIVINE MERCY TO BE TOWARDS THE . In terms of exquisite beauty and gracious tenderness he represents the faithful servants of Heaven, "the remnant of Judah," as visited by God in the midst of their dark experiences, brought by him out of captivity and conducted by his guiding hand to the green pastures, where their wants are fully supplied by day, and to quiet resting places, where by night they may lie down and repose in perfect security, as being under the Divine Shepherd’s guardian care (Zephaniah 2:7). The verse has been taken by some literally, and they have either seen its fulfilment in the return of the pious Jews after captivity in Babylon, or they look on to the fulfilment in the conversion of the Jews and their restoration to their own land; whilst others are content with recognizing in the words a confident assurance and a beautiful symbolical picture of that ultimate peace and security and abundance which all the ransomed of the Lord shall enjoy. Certain it is that we may take the seer’s stern words pronouncing the doom of the Philistines as conveying a clear intimation that evil doing shall assuredly be followed by Divine retribution, whilst from his words of promise to the faithful we may draw the encouraging and inspiring consciousness that the faithful and God fearing shall be sustained and comforted in present sorrow, and shall at length emerge out of the gloom and the darkness into the sunshine of a true prosperity. Zephaniah 2:8-10. - The Divine judgment upon the Moabites and Ammonites. The Moabites and Ammonites were related to the israelites by kinship. They were the descendants of Lot — the Moabites by Moab, the elder son of that patriarch, and the Ammonites by Ben-Ammi, or Ammon, his younger son (Genesis 19:37, Genesis 19:38). With these tribes, in view of this blood relationship, the Israelites were distinctly forbidden to wage war (Deuteronomy 2:9, Deuteronomy 2:19). These pastoral tribes, however, did not act thus peaceably toward Israel. They cherished the spirit of hatred in reference to the Israelites, which manifested itself in their revilings and boastings, and also in the incursions they made upon their territory (Isaiah 16:6; Jeremiah 48:29). The prophet here proceeds to declare against these tribes the judgments of God. Note — I. THE SIN OF THE AND . Pride (Zephaniah 2:10; Jeremiah 48:29). This spirit manifested itself (1) in their evil speaking, — "they reproached and reviled God’s people" (Zephaniah 2:8); (2) in their arrogant and insolent bearing, — they "magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts" (Zephaniah 2:10); (3) in their deeds of oppression and cruelty, — they "magnified themselves against their border" (Zephaniah 2:8), crossing this and making raids upon Judah, and taking special advantage of those seasons when; through conflict with foreign adversaries, that nation had become enfeebled. This sin of pride, so characteristic of these tribes, is still very prevalent, and lies at the very root of human misery; it leads to the cherishing of false appearances, to inconsiderateness and injustice with reference to the rights of others; it occasions misunderstandings, and then, standing in the way of mutual concession, causes alienation. It inflicts likewise self-injury, carries with it its own chastisement in the unhappy spirit it engenders; it is its own condemnation, for it is evident to all that trees whose boughs do not bend to the ground are not very well laden with fruit; and it ends in ruin, for "pride goeth before destruction," etc. (Proverbs 16:18). II. THE SURE WITH WHICH THEY WERE TO BE ON ACCOUNT THEREOF. (Zephaniah 2:9.) 1. Their cities were to be destroyed. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah of old had become engulfed in the Dead Sea, upon which these haughty ones constantly gazed without recalling the past and laying to heart its lessons of warning, so theirs should likewise pass away. 2. Their rich pasture lands should become barren, and the fertile region changed into a region of nettles and salt pits and a perpetual desert (Zephaniah 2:9). 3. Israel, so often oppressed by them and called upon to endure their scorn and contempt, should eventually triumph over them, and take possession of their territory as the spoils of war (Zephaniah 2:9). 4. This fate should really come to pass, since Jehovah was against them, and was pledged to its accomplishment. "Therefore as I live," etc. (Zephaniah 2:9). All that his people had suffered through their haughtiness, he had known (Zephaniah 2:8), and would duly requite. And so ever, since he reigneth, shall pride be subdued and the haughty oppressor be laid in the dust. "He scatters the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He puts down the mighty from their seats, and exalts them of low degree" (Luke 1:51, Luke 1:52) "True dignity abides with him alone Who, in the silent hour of inward thought, Can still suspect and still revere himself In lowliness of heart." Zephaniah 2:11. - The Divine purpose in reference to the race, and the way of its fulfilment. A very erroneous notion has been widely entertained respecting God’s relations to the peoples of the earth. The representation has been very current that, in selecting the Jewish tribes and constituting these his "peculiar treasure," the Most High left all other nations to their own resources, and that they became practically outcasts from his love and care. We have, however, abundant evidence that such is by no means the teaching of Scripture; that whilst with a view to the revealing and developing of his plan of redeeming mercy he did select the Jewish race, imparting to them special privileges and communicating to them a knowledge of his will, yet that all the nations were likewise under his government and nurture. We think of what is recorded in the Bible respecting Job the Chaldean, Balaam the heathen soothsayer, the mission of Elisha to the woman of Sarepta, and of Jonah to Nineveh, and the Divine revelations made to heathen monarchs, and, with all this before us, we cannot foster the notion that the world outside the pale of Judaism was disregarded by Heaven, but we see clearly that, whilst God was working out his special purposes of love to the race through the medium of" the chosen people," he was also in various ways by his Spirit striving with all the children of men. The beauty in the teachings of the Hebrew prophets consists in She fact that they were so ready to acknowledge all this; that they broke through the narrow boundary of exclusiveness which the Jews guarded so jealously, and told of the Divine working in all lands, and of the Divine intention to bless the entire race. The case of the Prophet Zephaniah is a conspicuous example of this. Whilst declaring the Divine judgments to light upon his own people, he also looked north and south, east and west, and saw the retributions which were to come upon the heathen nations. Nor did he rest here, but, peering still further into the future and apprehending the Divine Ruler as bringing order out of chaos, and out of trial and sorrow working good for the race, he paused in the midst of his dark announcements of coming woe to proclaim this loving design of his God (Verse 11), whilst at length, having ended his predictions of impending evil, he again turned to this cheering theme, and fingered upon it even to the very end of his prophecy (Zephaniah 3:8-20). I. THE DIVINE PURPOSE AS HERE . This includes: 1. The complete extinction of idolatry. This is most expressly referred to here under the figure of starvation. The gods of the heathen should die through want and neglect. "He will famish all the gods of the earth" (Verse 11). 2. The full establishment of the worship of God. "And men shall worship him every one from his place" (Verse 11). 3. The universal acknowledgment of him by Gentile nations. "Even all the isles of the heathen" (Verse 11). The thought of the universality of this acknowledgment of the true God eventually is seen to be the more decidedly expressed here as we remember that in ancient times whole countries and continents were described as "the isles." II. THIS DIVINE PURPOSE IS TO BE WROUGHT OUT THROUGH THE OUTWARD OF AND TRIAL. "The Lord will be terrible unto them" (Verse 11). Men are to be humbled that God may be exalted. They pursue their own designs, and often care only for the realization of their own selfish ends, but "the Lord sitteth in the heavens," ruling over all, and, through all the conflicts and strifes, the turmoils and trials of individuals and nations, he is bringing to pass his loving purposes, and is leading on to the glory of the latter day. III. THE THOUGHT OF GOD AS WORKING THUS YIELDS AND TO TRUE AND LOYAL HEARTS AMIDST THE AND IN HOLY SERVICE. This was to Zephaniah the source of strength. Whilst faithful to his trust as the messenger of judgment he made to his own and to heathen nations the stern announcements of coming tribulation, he paused again and again to reflect upon the thought that these very judgments should be made to contribute to the accomplishment of God’s merciful and gracious design to bless and save the race. Zephaniah 2:12. - The doom of Ethiopia. We have here simply a passing allusion, yet we do well to pause and reflect upon it. Every word of God is "profitable," and even words which at first glance seem unimportant are found on reflection to be suggestive of holy teaching. We are reminded here — I. THAT THE DIVINE BEACH EVEN TO REMOTE PLACES. Ethiopia was in the south, and at the extreme south. Now, Judah had other and nearer foes in that direction. There was Edom and there was Egypt; but the prophet, in his announcement . of coming Divine judgments, carried his thoughts beyond these, and fixed his mind upon those dwelling at the remotest point. "Ye Ethiopians also," etc. (Zephaniah 2:12). Remoteness will not screen wrong doers. II. THAT IT IS TO STAND IN WITH THOSE WHO ENGAGE IN EVIL DOING. These Ethiopians or Cushites had no direct conflict with Judah, but they were in alliance with Egypt; and through this alliance they would have to suffer in the time of coming retribution. Egypt was specially singled out for judgment because of her oppression, and Ethiopia, as one of her allies, her "helpers," would fall under the retributive chastisements of God (Ezekiel 30:4, Ezekiel 30:5). They who ally themselves with transgressors make themselves participators in their crimes, and must expect to be partakers of their plagues. III. THAT THE EVIL OF MEN ARE MADE TO FULFIL THE DIVINE BEHESTS. War is a terrible evil. In no way are the evil passions of men more surely let loose than in such conflicts; yet by these military conflicts God’s purposes have at times been accomplished. Nebuchadnezzar and his forces, invading Egypt and destroying the Egyptians and their allies the Ethiopians, were instruments God employed to work his will. God through his holy prophet declared, "Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword" (Zephaniah 2:12). Zephaniah 2:13-15. -The doom of Assyria. It was very natural that the prophet, in unfolding the Divine judgments upon heathen nations, should turn his thoughts to the north and to the Assyrian empire. That power was, in his day, at the very zenith of its prosperity, and his own nation was peculiarly exposed to its tyranny and oppression. The Hebrew seers frequently referred to this empire and to the ruin which should eventually overtake it; and whilst Zephaniah’s allusion is very brief, limited indeed to three verses, it is nevertheless remarkably graphic and vivid. Observe — I. THE STERN . (Verses 13, 14.) 1. It foretold that the prevailing power which was seeking the overthrow of the kingdom of God in Judah should itself be completely destroyed. In a few descriptive touches he set forth the utter ruin which should befall the haughty Assyrian nation. She should be destroyed, and her capital become a dry, desolate waste in the midst of which the beasts of the desert should make their home. Her temples and palaces should lie broken, pelicans and hedgehogs lodging in the fallen capitals, whilst instead of the strains of the men singers and women singers, no more to be heard in her palaces, the notes of some solitary bird sitting in the window of some outer wall should alone sound forth. "Desolation" too "should be on the thresholds," and heaps of sand blown from the desert should mingle with the wreck of the city, until at length every trace of the former magnificence should have disappeared. And the acknowledgment should be made that this ruin was merited; the passer-by should hiss with very scorn, and move his hand in token of supreme contempt (Verses 13-15). 2. It declared this ruin to be the result of the Divine working. "And he will stretch out his hand," etc. (Verse 13). 3. This stern doom thus pronounced has literally come to pass. Modern research has been amply rewarded in the evidence which has thus been supplied of the fulfilment to the very letter of God’s declarations uttered through his holy prophets. "The Word of the Lord endureth foreVerse" II. THE SOLEMN . (Verse 15.) 1. In reading these words we are led to feel that the prophet had a vivid realization of the future, and of the changes which were to take place. He saw "the rejoicing city" full of worldly prosperity, and he saw it likewise in its desolation, and his heart was moved as he reflected upon the instability of mere earthly greatness and might. 2. He traced the coming overthrow of the Assyrian power to its true causes. (1) Pride. "That said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me" (Verse 15). (2) Selfishness. "There is none beside me." Her interests centred in herself. There was no regard for the rights of others. She sought only her own ends, and sought by oppression and cruelty to make all surrounding nations tributary to her own worldly splendour and prosperity. And fostering this unholy spirit, she "dwelt carelessly," crying, "Peace and safety," wrapt in carnal security, until at length "sudden destruction" came upon her, and she was left in her desolation, silently yet emphatically to proclaim to all after ages that true prosperity for nations, as for individuals, lies not in material greatness and worldly aggrandizement, but in the cultivation of the fear of God and in rectitude and righteousness of life. BY T. Zephaniah 2:1, Zephaniah 2:2. -A call to repentance, addressed to the nation of Judah. I. THE OF THE NATION . Not its physical or material, but its moral or religious, condition. The former prosperous and fitted to inspire vain thoughts of stability and permanence. Its upper classes devoted to money making and pleasure seeking (Zephaniah 1:8, Zephaniah 1:12; cf. Jeremiah 4:30); its lower orders, here not the victims of oppression (Zephaniah 1:9; Zephaniah 3:1; cf. Jeremiah 5:27, Jeremiah 5:28; Jeremiah 6:6), well fed and comfortable (Jeremiah 5:7, Jeremiah 5:17). The latter degenerate and deserving of severe reprehension. 1. Irreligious. According to the marginal rendering of both the Authorized and Revised Versions, the nation was "not desirous," i.e. possessed no longing after Jehovah, his Law, or worship, but had forsaken him, and sworn by them that are no gods (Jeremiah 5:7), offering up sacrifices and pouring out drink offerings unto other divinities in the open streets, and even setting up their abominations in the temple (Jeremiah 7:17, Jeremiah 7:18, 80). For a nation no more than for an individual is it possible to remain in a state of irreligious neutrality or indifference. The people whose aspirations go not forth after him who is the King of nations as well as King of saints will sooner or later find themselves trusting in "lying vanities," or creating divinities out of their own foolish imaginations (Romans 1:23). Between theism and polytheism is no permanent half way house for either humanity as a whole or man as an individual. 2. Shameless. This translation (Grotius, Gesenius, Ewald, Keil and Detitzsch, Cheyne, and there) depicts the moral and spiritual hardening which results from sin long continued, passionately loved, and openly gloried in, as Judah’s apostasy had been (Zephaniah 3:5). A whole diameter of moral and spiritual being lies between the shamelessness of innocence (Genesis 2:25) and the shamelessness of sin (Philippians 3:19). The former is beautiful and excites admiration; the latter is loathsome and evokes reprehension and pity. "A generation," says Pressense, "which can no longer blush is in open insurrection against the first principles of universal morality" (’The Early Years of Christianity,’ 4:892). 3. Hateful. So the Authorized Version, followed by Pusey. The degenerate nation, addicted to idolatry and sunk in immorality, was not desired or loved by God; but, on account of its wickedness, was an object of aversion to God. No contradiction to the truth elsewhere stated that God still loved the people and desired their reformation (Jeremiah 2:2; Jeremiah 3:14); neither is it inconsistent to preach that "God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalms 7:11); and that, nevertheless, "he wilteth not that any should perish, but that all should turn to him and live" (2 Peter 3:9). II. THE DUTY OF THE NATION DEFINED. To "gather themselves together." The figure, derived from the gathering together or collecting of stubble or dry sticks, "which are picked up one by one, with search and care" (Pusey), points to that work of self-examination which, in nations as in individuals, must precede conversion, and must be conducted: 1. With resoluteness. Being a work to which their hearts were naturally not disposed, it could not be entered upon and far less carried through without deliberate and determined personal effort. Hence the prophet’s reduplication of his exhortation. To make one’s self the subject of serious introspection, never easy, is specially difficult when the object is to detect one’s faults and pronounce judgment on one’s deeds. 2. With inwardness. A merely superficial survey would not suffice. An action outwardly correct may be intrinsically wrong, Hence the individual that would conduct a real work of self-examination must withdraw himself as much as possible from things eternal, take his seat on the interior tribunal of conscience, and gather round him all that forms a part of his being, in addition to his spoken words and finished deeds, the feelings out of which these have sprung, the motives by which they have been directed, the ends at which they have aimed, and subject the whole to a calm and impartial review. 3. With minuteness. The things to be reviewed must be taken one by one, and not merely in the mass. Words and deeds, motives and feelings, when only glanced at in the heap, seldom reveal their true characters; to be known in their very selves they must be looked at, considered, questioned, weighed separately. All about them must be brought to light and placed beneath the microscope of conscientious investigation. 4. With thoroughness. As each word, act, feeling. motive, so all must be taken. None must be exempted from scrutiny. Nor will it suffice that they be passed through the ordeal of examination once; the process must be repeated and re-repeated till the exact truth is known. "For a first search, however diligent, never thoroughly reaches the whole deep disease of the whole man; the most grievous sins hide other grievous sins, though lighter. Some sins flash on the conscience at one time, some at another; so that few, even upon a diligent search, come at once to the knowledge of all their heaviest sins" (Pusey). III. THE DANGER OF THE NATION . Unless the duty recommended and prescribed were immediately and heartily entered upon and carried through, the judgment already lying in the womb of God’s decree would come to the birth, and the day of his fierce anger would overtake them. 1. The event was near. Should Judah continue unrepentant, the hour of doom would be on her before she was aware. It was rapidly approaching, like chaff driven before the wind. So will the day of the Lord come upon the wicked unawares (Luke 16:1-31:35). 2. The issue was certain. Like chaff before the wind, too, her people would be driven away to pitiless destruction. The like fate is reserved for ungodly men generally (Psalms 1:4; Job 21:18). Nothing can avert the final overthrow of the unbelieving and impenitent, whether nation or individual, but repentance and reformation, not outward but inward, not seeming but real, not temporary but permanent. Learn: 1. The reality of national no less than of individual wickedness. 2. The responsibility that attaches to nations as well as men. 3. The necessity of self-examination for communities as well as for private persons. — T.W. Zephaniah 2:3. - An exhortation to the meek, addressed to the believing remnant of Judah. I. A . 1. To the existence of a believing remnant. Dark as the outlook for Judah was, degenerate as the mass of her people had become, there were yet those belonging to her community who either had not apostatized from Jehovah or had reverted to their allegiance (see 2 Kings 22:1-20; 2 Kings 23:1-37.; 2 Chronicles 34:1-33; 2 Chronicles 35:1-27.). Since "the days that were before the Flood" (Genesis 6:5-7, Genesis 6:12, Genesis 6:13), God has never wanted a seed to serve him, though oftentimes it has been small, and as in the days of Elijah (1 Kings 19:10, 1 Kings 19:18) scarcely perceptible, at least by man. Compare the times after the exile (Malachi 3:16) and those preceding the birth of Christ (Luke 2:25). "Even so at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace" (Romans 11:5). However discouraging in some respects the present aspect of Society may be — what with infidelity in the upper and learned classes, indifference towards religion among the masses, and lukewarmness on the one hand with fanaticism on the other in the Church itself — there are, nevertheless, those who fear God and think upon his Name, who believe in Christ and seek to follow in his steps, who sigh and cry for the irreligion of the age, mourn over the deadness and divisions of the Church, and pray for the coming of that happy era when "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord," etc. (Isaiah 11:9). 2. To the beauty of their characters, Designated "the meek of the earth." Indicating (1) their patience in enduring the disesteem, scorn, ridicule, and perhaps also oppression, spoliation, and persecution heaped upon them for their nonconformity to general custom in the matter of religion, and for venturing to dissent from common practice in serving Baal; and (2) their humility in maintaining intercourse with others, but especially in communing with God. Such virtues of patience and humility lie at the root of all religion (Matthew 5:3, Matthew 5:5), were exemplified by Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:29; Matthew 27:12; 2 Corinthians 10:1; 1 Peter 2:23), and are demanded of all his followers (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:12; 1 Peter 2:21). 3. To the piety of their lives. They had "wrought Jehovah’s judgment," i.e. had honestly endeavoured to carry out what Jehovah had prescribed as the right thing to do in the matter of worship and duty. This, after all, the ultimate test of sincerity in religion, which signifies not the mere acceptance of certain propositions relating to God, his worship, and his commandment, but the carrying out of God’s will in respect of both. Compare what Samuel said to Saul (1 Samuel 15:22), what Christ explained to his followers (John 14:15; John 15:14), and what Paul wrote to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 10:5). II. AN URGENT . 1. Its import. Explained by two clauses: "Seek righteousness, seek meekness." Only in these ways could Jehovah be sought — neither by coveting the material and temporal tokens of his favour, such as health, comfort, protection, prosperity, nor by maintaining the external forms of his worship, however elaborate or costly, but by aspiring after inward and outward, spiritual and moral conformity to his Law (righteousness) and character (meekness). The same sense attaches to the phrase when addressed to Christians, who are exhorted to follow after righteousness and meekness (1 Timothy 6:11), and to seek both in Christ (Matthew 11:29; Romans 10:4). 2. Its incidence. Declared by the words, "all ye meek." Addressed to the humble hearted, first in Judah, and then in the whole world. The obligation to seek Jehovah grounded for both on (1) their relations to Jehovah as his creatures and servants; (2) their own free choice of him as their Lord and King; (3) the nature of religion, which is not an act to be performed once for all, but a habit of soul to be maintained throughout life; and (4) the necessity of attending to their own safety, which could not otherwise be secured than by patient continuance in well doing (Matthew 24:13; Romans 2:7; Revelation 2:10). 3. Its urgency. Proclaimed by the threefold "seek." The like diligence demanded of all in the matter of religion. (1) Because of the majesty of him whose service it is (2 Chronicles 2:5; 1 Timothy 6:15). (2) Because of its intrinsic excellence as a purely spiritual service (John 4:24; Romans 12:1). (3) Because of the momentous issues involved in it according as it is sincere or insincere (Job 8:13; Proverbs 10:28). (4) Because of the shortness and uncertainty of man’s opportunity on earth to make his calling and election sure (Ecclesiastes 9:10; Ephesians 5:16; Philippians 4:5). III. AN . 1. A promise of salty for the righteous. Not a doubtful promise, though introduced by "it may be." From this phrase it cannot be inferred that the prophet was uncertain whether the meek in the laud would be protected in the day when Jehovah poured out his wrath upon Judah and Jerusalem; or whether the meek generally would be sheltered in the day of judgment. Merely he intimated that the hiding would be difficult; not the hiding of them by Jehovah, with whom nothing could be hard or easy, but the supplying by them of the moral and spiritual conditions without which God’s hiding of them could not come to pass. The ultimate salvation of the meek is guaranteed (Psalms 149:4; Matthew 5:5); but the actual process, in time, of saving them is attended by so many difficulties that throe is need for constant watchfulness against the danger of coming short. 2. A threatening of doom for the ungodly. If the difficulty of saving the righteous be so great, what possible loophole of escape can there be for the ungodly (Luke 23:31; 1 Peter 4:17, 1 Peter 4:18)? The overthrow of the wicked an additional security to the salvation of the righteous. — T.W. Zephaniah 2:4-15. - Divine judgments upon heathen nations. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/ . Zephaniah 3:1-5 § 6. The prophet turns to Jerusalem, and warns her that, if God punishes the heathen, he will not spare the hardened sinners in Judah. Zephaniah 3:1 Woe to her! This is addressed to Jerusalem, as is seen by Zephaniah 3:2-4. Filthy; rather, rebellious, i.e. against God. The LXX; mistaking the word, renders ἐπιφανής, "notable." So the Syriac. Jerome has provocatrix. The true sense is seen by the expansion of the term in Zephaniah 3:2. polluted by her many sins. Jerome, following the Septuagint ἀπολευτρωμένη, "ransomed," has, redempta, which he explains, "Captivitatibus traditia, et rursum redempta." The oppressing city, that acts unjustly and cruelly to the weak and poor. So the three sins for which she is here denounced are that she is rebellious against God, defiled with sin in herself, and cruel to others. The Septuagiut and Vulgate translate jonah ("oppressing") "dove," which seems singularly inappropriate here, though some try to explain it as applied to Jerusalem in the sense of "silly" or "stupid" (Hosea 7:11) Zephaniah 3:2 The voice; i.e. of God, as heard in the Law and at the mouth of his prophets (comp. Jeremiah 7:24, etc.; Jeremiah 9:13). Received not correction. They took not to heart the chastisements sent upon them, and did not profit by them. She trusted not in the Lord, but in man. When danger threatened, she relied on human aid, made alliances with the heathen, or else had recourse to idols and prayed for help to false gods, as the next clause complains. She drew not near to her God. She broke the covenant which she had made, would not avail herself of the privilege bestowed upon her, and had no intercourse with the Lord in prayer and worship. Zephaniah 3:3 Roaring lions. The princes, who ought to protect the people, are ready to tear them in pieces and devour them (Proverbs 28:15). Probably the violence and arrogance of the chiefs had increased during the minority of the king. This must have been written before the great reformation. Evening wolves (see note on Habakkuk 1:8). The judges, whose duty it was to administer justice and to set an example of equity and virtue, are themselves most cruel and rapacious. They gnaw not the bones till tomorrow; they gnaw no bones in the morning; that is, they are so greedy that they eat up all their prey at once and leave nothing till the morning. The versions drop the metaphor, and render, "They leave not to the morning" (comp. Ezekiel 22:27). Zephaniah 3:4 Her prophets. These are the false prophets, who have no true mission from God (comp. Micah 2:11; Micah 3:5). Light; either, frivolous or empty boasters. The word means properly, "boiling over," like water. Vulgate, vesani; Septuagint, πνευματοφόροι, which means, probably, not "inspired by an (evil) spirit," but "carried away by the wind," "light" (comp. Matthew 11:7). Treacherous persons; literally, men of treacheries, who uttered their own fancies as if they were commissioned by God, and so really opposed him whom they professed to represent (Jeremiah 23:32). Her priests have polluted the sanctuary (what is holy). Not the temple only, but all that has to do with God’s service, worship, rites, sacrifices; they make no distinction between what is sacred and what is profane (Ezekiel 22:26). They have done violence to the Law. Chiefly, doubtless, by distorting its meaning, and neither observing it themselves nor teaching others to keep it. Zephaniah 3:5 In the midst of this congregation of sinners God is continually manifesting his righteousness; he leaves not himself without witness; and therefore their iniquities are without excuse. The just Lord is in the midst thereof; or, the Lord in the midst of her is righteous (Deuteronomy 32:4). His presence was associated with the temple; his moral government was always being manifested. He would not be "just" if he left sinners unpunished. Every morning; Hebrew," in the morning, in the morning." The phrase is rightly explained in our version (comp. Exodus 16:21; Psalms 87:5). Doth he bring his judgment to light. His prophets proclaim his perfect justice; his judgments on the heathen manifest it (Zephaniah 3:8; Hosea 6:5). It is not from ignorance of the Law that the people sin. He faileth not; or, it faileth not; Vulgate, non abscoudetur. God never ceases thus to act; or, his justice is clear as (lay. But the unjust knoweth no shame. In spite of this hourly manifestation of God’s justice, and the enactments of the Law so well known, the perverse nation will not amend its ways, feels no shame at its backslidings (Jeremiah 3:3; Jeremiah 6:15). The Septuagint Version, according to the Vatican manuscript, is curious here, and in the latter part somewhat like St. Matthew’s rendering of Isa 42:3, Καὶοὐκἔγνωἀδικίανἐνἀπαιτήσει, καίοὐκεἰςνεῖκοςἀδικίαν (comp. Matthew 12:20), which Jerome translates, "Nescit iniquitatem in exactione, nec insempiternum injustitiam," and explains, "When God exacts from every man the sum he has committed to him, he will not be unjust, nor allow injustice to prevail." Zephaniah 3:6-8 § 7. Obdurate and blinded as nations are, these extreme measures are the only way left to secure salvation for Israel and the whole world. Zephaniah 3:6 God speaks, showing why he has sent these judgments. I have cut off the nations. The reference is to facts well known to the hearers (though not specified here); such as the rain of Pentapolis, the destruction of the Canaanites, the defeat of the Chaldeans in Hezekiah’s time, the conquest of cities and countries by the Assyrians, and the devastation of Israel itself. Their towers are desolate. Their towers (see note on Zephaniah 1:16), in which they trusted for defence, are overthrown and lie in ruins. Others translate, "street corners," where people most do congregate. Streets; perhaps, roads; signifying the open country. So Keil. None inhabitant (comp. Jeremiah 4:7). Zephaniah 3:7 Taught by such examples, the Jews might have learned to repent and amend their ways. I said. God represents himself as reasoning as a man would reason. Surely thou wilt fear me; Septuagint, "only fear me." This is the one condition for salvation. Or, according to our version, Judah must learn experience from my threats and visitations, and return unto me. Thou wilt.; receive instruction; Septuagint, "receive ye discipline," accept the correction and learn the lesson which it is meant to teach (Proverbs 24:32). Their (her) dwelling. Jerusalem or Judaea. The temple is never called the dwelling place of the people. This sudden change of person is very common in the prophets. Howsoever I punished them; rather, according to all that I appointed concerning her. God had ordained certain punishment for Jerusalem if she reformed not. The Anglican Version means that God would never cut them off wholly, however severely he might chastise them. The Hebrew will not carry this; nor are the Greek and Latin Versions quite correct. Septuagint, Οὐμὴἐξολοθρευθῆτεἐξὀφθαλμῶναὐτῆςπάνταδοαἐξεδίκησαἐπαὐτήν, "And ye shall not be cut off from the face thereof for all the punishment that I inflicted upon it;" Vulgate, Propter omnia in quibus visitavi earn. But they rose early. Warning, reproof, and chastisement were expended in vain; the people only gave themselves up more ardently to their evil doings. "To rise early to do a thing" is a phrase used to signify the acting with zeal and full purpose (comp. Jeremiah 7:13, Jeremiah 7:25; Jeremiah 11:7, etc.). Corrupted all their doings. Like the inhabitants of the earth before the Flood (Corinthians 6:12; comp. Psalms 14:1). The Septuagint rendering is peculiar, ̓Ετοιμάζουὄρθισονἔφθαρταιπᾶσαἡἐπιφυλλὶςαὐτῶν "Prepare thyself, rise early, all their produce is spoiled." St. Jerome, moralizing on this, adds, "Nisi praeparati fuerimus, non nobis orietur sol justitiae. Orto autem sole, omnes racemi de vinea Sodomorum dissipantur et pereunt; ut non solum grandes botri, sed etiam quod parvum esse videbatur in nobis, Christi lucerna radiante dispereat." Zephaniah 3:8 Therefore. Because of the outrage done to God’s "long suffering," he must needs punish. Wait ye upon me; wait ye for me. The exhortation is addressed to the pious among the Jews, as in Zephaniah 2:3, and is used in a good sense (Psalms 33:20; Isaiah 8:17), urging them not to despair, but to be patient under the affliction, in the assured hope of salvation. The same expression is used in Habakkuk 2:3. I rise up to the prey. This is a phrase denoting effort and the effecting of some great object. Jehovah seizes the prey when the nations, roused by judgment inflicted, are converted unto him (Isaiah 53:12; Psalms 68:18). The LXX; pointing the last word differently (עד), renders, εἰςἡμέρανἀναστάσεώςμουεἰςμαρτύριον: "until the day of my rising up for testimony." Jerome, "In die resurrectionis meae in futurum." The Fathers interpreted this of the times of Messiah — some, of Christ’s resurrection from the dead; some, of his rising up to divide the spoil. But such interpretations are Mien from the intention of the passage, however allowable as glosses. For my determination is; literally, my judgment (mishpat) is. My justice is displayed, as Habakkuk 2:5. The word, according to Keil, never means, "decree" or "decision." That I may assemble the kingdoms. Not for utter extermination, but to bring them to a better mind (Isaiah 26:9; Joe 3:11, etc.). Fire of my jealousy (Zephaniah 1:18). God will allow no rival anywhere (Nahum 1:2). This is the reason of the severity and universality of the judgment The Masorites note that this ’ the only verse in the Bible which contains the whole Hebrew alphabet. Zephaniah 3:9-20 Part III. PROMISE OF THE OF THE WORLD AND THE OF ISRAEL. Zephaniah 3:9, Zephaniah 3:10 § 1. The heathen shall be converted, and shall help in the restoration of Israel. Zephaniah 3:9 Will I turn to the people (peoples) a pure language (lip). When his judgments have done their work, God will bring the heathen to the knowledge of him. He will purify their lips, which have been polluted with the names of idols and the worship offered to false gods (Psalms 16:4; Hosea 2:17); the confusion of Babel shall be done away, and all shall speak the language of faith in one God. This, of course, points to Messianic times. For "pure lip," the Vulgate has, labium electum; the LXX; by a mistake of a letter (bhedurah for bherurah), γλῶσσανεἰςγενεὰναὐτῆς (so. γῆς), "a tongue for her generation." With one consent; literally, with one shoulder; ὑπὸζυγὸνἕνα, "under one yoke"; humero uno (Vulgate). The metaphor implies that all will help to carry the same burden, and to accomplish the same work, bearing the gospel throughout the world, and being all of one mind in the service of Jehovah (Jeremiah 32:39; Isaiah 19:23, Isaiah 19:24; Revelation 11:15). Zephaniah 3:10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia (Cush); i.e. from the distant south, a type of the remotest parts of the world (Zephaniah 2:12). The rivers of Cush (Isaiah 18:1), are the Nile, the Atbara, and their affluents. My suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, shall bring mine offering. From the ends of the earth, the Jews who have continued faithful to Jehovah, and have not lost their nationality among the Gentiles, but have considered themselves as belonging to "the dispersion," shall be again received of the Lord, and bring their oblations unto him. This may be the sense intended: but looking to the thought in Isaiah 66:20 (where it is said that the Gentiles shall bring the Israelites out of all nations as a meat offering unto the Lord), we had better render the passage as the Revised Version margin, "They shall bring my suppliants, even the daughter of my dispersed, for an offering unto me." The remote Gentiles shall show their faith in God by aiding the Hebrews among them to turn to the Lord; this shall be their offering to the true God, whom they have learned to adore. When they themselves are converted, they shall be evangelists to the Hebrews of the Dispersion. For this work of the Gentiles in converting the Hebrews, Wordsworth compares Son 3:4; Son 8:8, Son 8:9; Isaiah 61:5, Isaiah 61:6; Isaiah 65:18-21. St. Paul speaks to the same effect in Romans 6:1-23. Offering (minehah). The pure meal offering (Malachi 1:10,Malachi 1:11, where see notes; comp. Romans 15:16; Philippians 2:17). Dr. Briggs renders, "From beyond the rivers of Gush will be my incense (athar); the daughter of Phut will bring a minchah." This brings out the parallelism. The universal worship of Messianic times is expressed in the ceremonial terms of the old dispensation, but has a very real applicableness to the Christian religion (see note on Malachi 1:11). Zephaniah 3:11-13 § 2. Israel, restored to God’s .favour, shall be cleansed and sanctified. Zephaniah 3:11 In that day. When the Lord rises to seize the prey (Zephaniah 3:8), when the Gentiles are converted, and Judah returns to her obedience. Shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy doings. God addresses Israel repentant and converted, and assures her that she shall not have to reproach herself any more, or to blush for her iniquities, because God blots them out, or because she sins no more as she has done. And the great help to this improvement is the abolition of the cause and incitement to sin. I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride (thy proud triumphers, Isaiah 13:3). God will cut off all those who gloried in their temporal prosperity without thought of God, who in the pride of their heart walked as they pleased, deeming themselves accountable to no one, subject to no law. Such shall no longer be found in the holy nation. Haughty because of (in) my holy mountain; i.e. in the temple (Isaiah 11:9). They shall no longer exult in the exclusiveness of their privileges, or feel a vain glorious confidence in their own election, or the sanctity of their temple or its provision of worship. The Gentiles should be admitted to the covenant, and share in their privileges. Here we see adumbrated the nature of the Christian Church, an organized body no longer local, insulated, but Catholic — a spiritual temple open to all belieVerses Zephaniah 3:12 A further characteristic of Messiah’s kingdom is here unfolded. No worldly pomp or splendour shall be found in it; its members are not proud, conceited, self-reliant. I will also leave in the midst of thee. I will leave over, as a remnant saved in the judgment (camp. Romans 9:27; Micah 2:12, and the note there). An afflicted and poor people. The two epithets and elsewhere joined together (Job 34:28; Isaiah 26:6) to express the feeling of patience under affliction and inability to help one’s self by one’s own efforts. The spirit signified is just the contrary of the haughty, complacent, self-satisfied temper previously mentioned (1 Corinthians 1:26; James 2:5). They shall trust in the Name of the Lord. All self-confidence shall be abolished, and the religion of the remnant shall be characterized by quiet trust in God. Zephaniah 3:13 The remnant of Israel (see note on Zephaniah 3:12). Though they claim no worldly eminence, the true Israelites shall be conspicuous for spiritual graces. Shall not do iniquity. Their acts shall be just and holy; their daily conduct such as becomes the children of God’s election (Leviticus 19:2; 1 John 3:9). Nor speak lies. There shall be no lying prophets there, and all fraud and double-dealing shall be abolished. The proof of their righteous conduct is found in the favour of the Lord and the security in which they shall live. For they shall feed, etc. The remnant is compared to a "little fleck" (Luke 12:32), of which the Lord is the Shepherd (comp. Micah 7:14). The blessing is that promised to Israel in the Law if she kept the commandments (Leviticus 26:5, Leviticus 26:6). Vers 14-20 § 3. Israel shall be cam forted and largely blessed by the presence of Jehovah and exalted to honour in the eyes of all the world. Zephaniah 3:14 in view of the coming blessing, the prophet bursts forth in exultation, yet with a vein of prophecy running through all the canticle. After the late denunciation of woe and judgment, he soothes the faithful with the promise of the grace and peace which the time of Messiah shall bring. Sing, O daughter of Zion (Isaiah 1:8; Zechariah 2:1-13:14; Zechariah 9:9). He calls on the restored remnant of Judah to show its joy by outward tokens. O Israel. All the tribes are to unite in praising God. This is one of the passages where "Israel" is supposed to have been written by mistake for "Jerusalem." So Jeremiah 23:6. The LXX. gives, θύγατερἹερουσαλήμ, "daughter of Jerusalem" (see note on Zechariah 1:19). The prophet enjoins a triple note of exultation in order to confirm the universal joy. Zephaniah 3:15 In this and following verses the prop. hot gives the reasons why Zion should rejoice. Thy judgments. The chastisements inflicted on thee in judgment, rendered necessary by thy iniquity (Ezekiel 5:8). These God has removed; this is the first ground for rejoicing. Septuagint, τὰἀδικήματασου, "thine iniquities." When God removes the punishments, he forgives the sin. He hath cast out (cleared quite away) thine enemy. The enemies who executed the judgment are utterly dispersed. The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee (Obadiah 1:21). The theocracy is restored. Under the judgments which fell upon Israel, Jehovah seemed to have left his people; now he is in the midst of them as their icing (Isaiah 12:6; Isaiah 52:7; Hosea 11:9). The perpetual presence of Christ in the Church is here adumbrated. Thou shalt not see evil any more. So the Septuagint. Another reading adopted by Jerome is, "Thou shalt not fear." In view of the following verse, this seems rather tautological. With God in their midst, the people shall see, i.e. experience (Jeremiah 5:12), no evil (Revelation 21:3,Revelation 21:4). Zephaniah 3:16 It shall be said. So obvious to all men shall be the happy and secure, position of Zion under God’s favour and rule, that they shall join in bidding her east away fear and exult in the Divine protection. Fear thou not (comp. Matthew 14:27; Matthew 28:5, Matthew 28:10; Luke 12:7, Luke 12:32). And to Zion. Probably vocative, O Zion. Let not thine hands be slack. Be not despairing or faint hearted, but work with energy and confidence (comp. Isaiah 13:7; Hebrews 12:12); or the sentence may be rendered, "Jerusalem will be called Fear not, and Zion, Let not thine hands be slack." In this case we may compare the names Hephzibah and Beulah given to Jerusalem (Isaiah 62:4), and Jehovah-Tsidkenu (Jeremiah 33:16). Zephaniah 3:17 In the midst of thee; better, is in the midst of thee (see note on Zephaniah 3:15). Is mighty; he will says; rather, a Mighty One who will save; LXX; ̓Οδυνατὸςσώσεισε, "The Mighty One shall save thee." This is the real ground of confidence: the Lord wills their salvation. He will rejoice over thee with joy, now that thy iniquity is purged, and thou art united again to him, as a chaste and comely bride (Isaiah 52:5; Jeremiah 32:41; Hosea 2:19). He will rest (Hebrew, be silent) in his love. This is a human expression, denoting that perfect love which needs no outward demonstration. For the very greatness of his love God rests, as it were, in quiet enjoyment of it. Some take it to mean that in his love for his people he is silent about, makes no mention of, past sins; but this seems less suitable, as this clause is merely an expansion of the preceding one. The Septuagint and Syriac Versions render, "He will renew thee in his love;" and Ewald has proposed to alter the present reading to, "He will do a new thing." But there is no sufficient reason for making the change. With singing. Again he gives to his ineffable love outward expression. The LXX. paraphrases accurately, "He will rejoice over thee with delight as on a day of festival" (Isaiah 65:19). Zephaniah 3:18 The love which God feels he shows in action. He cares for the exiled and dispersed, and will gather them again and comfort them for all their sorrows. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly; or, far removed from the solemn, assembly. Those who grieve because by their exile from the Holy Land they are debarred from duly attending the periodical festivals, these God will restore, and enable them again to participate in the sacred feasts. The above version and explanation are undoubtedly right, as the Latin Version is certainly wrong, Nugas, qui a lege recesserant, congregabo; that is, the light and fickle persons, who have estranged themselves from the Law, God will reclaim, and join them to the congregation of the true Israel; and this, quia ex te erant, for their origin’s sake, because they are descendants of the chosen people. Who are of thee; they are of thee, O Zion. These are the true Israelites; this is why they mourn for the cessation of the festivals, and why they shall be restored to the Holy Land. To whom the reproach of it was a burden; i.e. who felt the desolation of Zion and the reproaches uttered against her by enemies (Psalms 137:1-9.) as a burden grievous to be borne. The Vulgate has, Ut non ultra habeas super eis opprobrium; i.e. "That they may be no more a disgrace to thee;" the LXX. reads somewhat differently, Οὐαὶτίςἔλαβενἐπαὐτὴνὀνειδισμόν; "Alas! who took up a reproach against her?" Zephaniah 3:19 I will undo all that afflict thee; I will deal with in punishment (Jeremiah 18:23); Vulgate, "I will slay." The restoration of Israel is preceded by the destruction of the enemies of God and the Church. Septuagint, ΠοιῶἐνσοὶἕνεκένσουἐντῷκαιρῷἐκείνῳλέγειΚύριος, "Dominus dicet ad Sion, Ecce, ego faciam in te propter te, id est, faciam ultionem tuam" (St. Jerome). Her that halteth (Micah 4:6). The afflicted of Israel, here compared to a lame and footsore flock of sheep. Septuagint, τὴνἐκπεπιεσμένην, "pressed," like grapes or olives, to extract the juice. Her that was driven out. The exiled and dispersed. I will get them praise and fame; I will make them to be a praise and a name. This is in accordance with the promise in Deuteronomy 26:19. In every land where they have been put to shame; literally, in every land of their shame. The scene of their shame should be the scene of their glorification. The prophet does not consider that the restored theocracy shall be confined to the geographical limits of the Holy Land; he looks to its dissemination throughout the world. Wide as the dispersion itself shall be the diffusion of the knowledge of Goal and the admiration of his doings towards Israel (comp. Zephaniah 2:11; Zephaniah 3:9; Ezekiel 20:41; Ezekiel 28:25; Zechariah 8:23). Zephaniah 3:20 Will I bring you again (in). He repeats the promise with some slight verbal changes. I will lead you like a flock to the pastures of Zion. People; peoples. When I turn back your captivity; i.e. when God brings them all home into the spiritual Zion from which they were long exiled (but see note on Zephaniah 2:7; and comp. Hosea 6:11; Amos 9:14). Before your eyes. Most certainly and evidently, so that what they hoped for they shall plainly see (Deuteronomy 1:30; Deuteronomy 30:3, etc.; Isaiah 52:8, Isaiah 52:10). Saith the Lord. All this shall assuredly come to pass, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. In the prophet’s eye the restoration from captivity and the times of Messiah are synchronous, or the former is so closely connected in idea with the latter that he speaks of both under one set of terms, applying the same imagery to both. Zephaniah 3:1-8. -Guilt and retribution. Having taken a mental survey of the surrounding heathen nations, the seer returns again in thought to his own people. It was, indeed, in their interest that he had been led to take this wide review of God’s dealings with men. He desired to make very real to them the Divine law that sin cannot go unpunished, and that national guilt must inevitably be followed by chastisement; yea, more, that if this law operated in heathen lands, much more might they expect to come under it who had enjoyed the special illumination of God’s Spirit, to whom he had given his holy oracles, and amongst whom he had raised up a succession of faithful men to guide them into the paths of truth and righteousness. In these verses observe — I. THE PROPHET A HEAVY , SETTING FORTH THE GUILT OF JUDAH AND . 1. This indictment contained certain counts, directed against the people in general. They were charged with (1) inward defilement: "filthy and polluted" (Zephaniah 3:1); (2) outward tyranny: "the oppressing city" (Zephaniah 3:1); (3) practical atheism. God had spoken unto them, but they had not hearkened unto his voice (Zephaniah 3:2). He had corrected them, but they did not humble themselves under his chastening hand (Zephaniah 3:2). He had offered himself to them as the Object of trust, but they withheld their confidence from him, and rested in an arm of flesh (Zephaniah 3:2). He had intimated his willingness to enter into fellowship with them, and to inspire and strengthen them, but "they drew not near unto him" (Zephaniah 3:2). He had frustrated and brought to confusion their adversaries, and had covered with confusion and shame the godless nations around them, but instead of being warned by these Divine judgments, executed in their sight against evil doers, they had themselves wilfully persisted in their iniquity (Zephaniah 3:6, Zephaniah 3:7). 2. This indictment contained also certain counts directed against the leaders of the nation in particular (Zephaniah 3:3, Zephaniah 3:4). (1) The princes were charged with cruelty, devouring, like roaring lions, those they ought to have protected (Zephaniah 3:3). (2) The judges were marked by greed and rapacity, and were insatiable as evening wolves, so that justice was perverted, and wrong remained unredressed (Zephaniah 3:3). (3) The prophets of the people, wire claimed to be messengers of God to them, were trifling and insincere, so that no reliance could be placed upon their words (Zephaniah 3:4). (4) The priests profaned the temple and its services, and dishonoured the Law they were appointed to expound and enforce (Zephaniah 3:4). II. THE PROPHET THE OF GOD, AND THE THAT SHOULD BE BY THE EVIL DOERS. (Zephaniah 3:5, Zephaniah 3:1, Zephaniah 3:8) God is righteous (Zephaniah 3:5). He is so absolutely and essentially. His perfections are all conformed to this, and, when truly contemplated by us, only render his righteousness the more manifest and intense to us. His Law is distinguished by this, and all his doings are guided by this. "He thinks, and feels, and purposes, and acts always according to what ought to be, and never in accommodation to what is; he makes uncompromising rectitude the rule of all his judgments and proceedings in all his dealings with men. He is not facile and bending, open to appeals and appliances from without, but inherently and unalterably righteous" (Candlish). And God being thus essentially and eternally righteous, iniquity cannot go unpunished; and transgressors persisting shamelessly in wrong doing must reap the due reward of their deeds. In no spirit of vindictiveness, but in strict accordance With this rectitude, so perfect and entire, by which he is characterized, God here, by "the mouth of his holy prophet," pronounced "woe" unto Jerusalem (Zephaniah 3:1), and declared his "determination" to gather the godless nations and to assemble the rebellious kingdoms, and to pour upon them his indignation, etc. (Zephaniah 3:8). III. THE PROPHET THE TRUE OF THE GOOD IN THE LAND WHILST THE WAS ITS AND WHEN THE OF HEAVEN SHOULD FALL. They should wait in the exercise of patience and of hope, assured that out of the chaos wrought by sin God would evolve his purposes of love, bringing good to the race. "Therefore wait for me, saith Jehovah" (Zephaniah 3:8). Zephaniah 3:9. - Symbols of the final prosperity of God’s spiritual kingdom. This verse introduces us to brighter scenes. The writer has unfolded the guilt of his own and other nations, and has declared the terrible judgments which, in consequence of the prevailing iniquity, should be experienced; and now, in the closing portion of his prophecy, he seeks to comfort the true hearted in such troublous times by lingering upon the glorious future of the Church of the living God. His faith pierces the mists and clouds, and apprehends the noble victories to be won in the coming time by the Lord and his Christ, and the halycon days that lay beyond. We are not to imagine that the ancient prophets realized the full significance of the predictions they uttered respecting the glory of "the latter day." They wrote under the inspiration of God’s Spirit, and we doubt not there was often a deeper meaning underlying their utterances than even they supposed. Unconsciously they "testified beforehand" of a "glory" such as, if fully seen by them, would have dazzled and bewildered them by its very splendour. We must avoid placing narrow interpretations upon their words in reference to these high themes. It were weak indeed to seek the complete fulfilment of the glowing predictions which form the closing portion of this prophecy in any one nation, and still less in any particular event in that nation’s history. The prophets themselves, partial although the light they possessed was, would not thus have restricted their own words, for they recognized and rejoiced in the thought of God as working in the interests of the whole race; and we, with the increased light possessed by us, ought not to be less comprehensive than they. Viewing this verse (Zephaniah 3:9) in this spirit, we may see set forth in it a striking symbol, the characteristics of the sincere and genuine subjects of the spiritual kingdom of God. Such are distinguished by — I. PURITY IN HEART AND LIFE. "For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language;" literally, "a purified life" (Zephaniah 3:9). Degeneracy reveals itself in a marked manner in the evil utterances of men. The filthy jest, the coarse oath, the brutal curse, the foul names, which how often offended our ears as we have walked along the public streets, indicate the depravity of hardened hearts. Equally expressive of this is uncharitable speech, whether taking the form of open reproaches or the cowardly and more dangerous form of secret slander. Double-tongued utterances, too, reveal the wickedness of the human heart — utterances which appear to convey a twofold meaning, good and evil, the good being simply a kind of disguise employed for the purpose of rendering the evil the more effective. And vain and frivolous speech likewise serves to indicate wrongness of heart; "idle words," useless effectless words, words which some spend so much time in dropping from house to house, words very unsavoury to all sensible minds, and which, if they accomplish anything, only work mischief and mistrust. In contrast to this, and as indicating the opposite disposition of mind said heart, we place true speech. "The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life’" (Proverbs 10:11), "natural, clean, life giving, refreshing;" "The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright" (Proverbs 15:2); "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life" (Proverbs 15:4); "The lips of the wise disperse truth" (Proverbs 15:7). Happy they who resemble the character portrayed by George Eliot, in her ’Scenes of Clerical Life,’ and of whom she says, "He was the man to give me help and comfort when everything else failed: every word he says seems to have a new meaning. I think it must be because he has felt life more deeply than others, and has a deeper faith. I believe everything he says at once; his words seem to come like rain on the parched ground. It has always seemed to me before as if I could see behind people’s words as one sees behind a screen, but in this man it is his very soul that speaks." And since speech thus reveals character, no more appropriate symbol could have been chosen by Zephaniah than this for the purpose of setting forth the Divine renewal in man, and of expressing that purity in heart and life which should characterize the members of the true Church of God in the happier days to which, despite the prevailing gloom, he looked forward so hopefully. "For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language." II. IN SPIRIT AND . Purified in heart, they should be rendered devout in spirit. Fellowship with God should be their delight. They should no longer grovel in the dust, but their aspirations should tend towards God and heaven. Delivered from idolatry and superstition and worhtliness, they should all "call upon the Name of the Lord" (Verse 9). "From the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my Name, and a pure offering" (Malachi 1:11). III. UNITY IN PURPOSE AND AIM. "To serve him with one consent," literally "with one shoulder." The symbol was suggested by the thought of a number of men being engaged in bearing a heavy burden. They walk in step, they act together, they stand shoulder to shoulder, the weight is proportionately shared by each; such, indeed, is their agreement and concert that it would seem as though there were but one shoulder among them. And so shall it be with the Church of God eventually. The time shall come when all divisions and strifes shall cease, when all antagonisms, whether real or seeming, shall be no longer traceable amongst good men, when that true unity in heart, in life, and in endeavour shall become manifest, for which the great Intercessor yearned, and for which he prayed as he cried, "That they all may be one" (John 17:21-23). Happy era, predicted in this verse, and which, since "the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it," shall assuredly come at length, when all God’s servants shall "with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 15:6). Zephaniah 3:10. - The restoration of the Jews. These words have been regarded by some biblical expositors as having reference to the conversion of the Gentiles. This utterance of Zephaniah in the Old Testament, and the prophecy of Caiaphas recorded in the New (John 11:51, John 11:52), have been associated together in their minds, and they have thought that by the "dispersed" Zephaniah meant the Gentiles, even as Caiaphas described the Gentiles as "the children of God that were scattered abroad," and that when the prophet alluded to the dispersed "beyond the rivers of Ethiopia," he meant to intimate that the Gentiles even from the remotest parts should eventually be brought home to God. Others, including many of the ablest interpreters, take the opposite view. They regard Verse 9 as referring to the Gentiles in their relation to the truth and the kingdom of God, and as intimating the great fact of the calling of the Gentiles, who should be led with one consent to serve the Lord, and then refer to this tenth verse as having special reference to the spiritual restoration of the Jews, who, through the agency of the Gentiles thus converted to God, should at length be brought in (Romans 11:30, Romans 11:31). Accepting this latter interpretation, we have here declared the spiritual restoration of the Jews (Verse 10). Note — I. THEIR PRESENT . 1. Dispersed. Scattered over the face of the whole earth. "Can you find a country which they can call their own? Can you find a nation in which they are not? In Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and the furthest islands of the Southern Sea, among bond and tree, copper-coloured and yellows white and black, wherever there are men, there are Jews." 2. Yearning. Crying out to God, longing for the fulfilment of their cherished hopes. In exile they are still his "suppliants," expecting the promised Messiah, and, whilst many of them are embittered against Christianity, there are not wanting numbers who have embraced it, and openly avowed their faith in Christ, whilst many are his disciples "secretly," ready to avow themselves his, only shrinking from the pains and penalties involved, whilst a still larger number are inquiring concerning him, and are easily accessible to the missionary of the cross. II. THEIR . 1. The fact of their spiritual recovery is here emphatically declared (Verse 10). From the remotest parts they shall come and surrender themselves as an offering unto God. "All Israel shall be saved." They shall be brought in with the fulness of the Gentiles, and "there shall be one flock, one Shepherd" (John 10:16). Their restoration to their own land is a question of comparative unimportance in view of this spiritual recovery which is so frequently declared in the unerring Word of God (Romans 9:1-6, Romans 9:8, Romans 9:9; Romans 10:1-4; Romans 11:1, Romans 11:9, Romans 11:11-15, Romans 11:23-32; 2 Corinthians 3:12-16). 2. It is implied here that this spiritual restoration shall be effected through the agency of the Gentiles. The offering here referred to as to be brought unto the Lord was "the meat offering." The idea expressed here is that, just as the children of Israel presented the meat offering unto God, so the Gentiles themselves, converted to him, should labour for the conversion of the Jews, and, crowned with success in this holy service, should bring these Hebrew converts as a meat offering unto the Lord. And the meaning is still more clear if we remember the signification of the meat offering. It was a sacrifice in which the Jew recognized God’s goodness and grace in the bounties of his hand, and acknowledged that these gifts were his by right, and ought to be consecrated unto him. And even so, it is here declared that the Gentiles should recognize God’s mercy in bringing home to himself his chosen race, and should present these converts to him as those who were his in virtue of all he had done for them, and who ought to be entirely consecrated to his service. The Church of Christ should ever prove herself a missionary Church, and in these enterprises a conspicuous place should be assigned to work for the spiritual good of God’s ancient people, whose "falling away" shall result in "the reconciling of the world," and the restoration of whom shall be "as life from the dead" (Romans 11:15). Zephaniah 3:11-17. - Pictorial representation of the Church of God in the latter age. Dark days were in store for his people when this prophet prophesied. The Captivity was in prospect, and there would soon be occasion for them, by "the rivers of Babylon," to "weep as they remembered Zion." Still, he would have them remember that it would not be ever thus, but that the time should come in which the ransomed of the Lord should return to Zion with songs and with gladness. In these verses he draws a beautiful picture of the Church of the future. How far his description has been realized in the past in the experience of the Hebrew Church in connection with the return from captivity, it would be impossible for us to indicate; certain, however, is it that, for the full realization of this, we must turn to the future, to the Church of God in the latter age. We do well to unite with the good of all past times in looking on by faith to that bright day of God which shall yet dawn upon the world sin has darkened and sorrow blighted, and to anticipate, with expectant hearts, its glorious appearing. Concerning the Church of the future, we are reminded here of — I. HER . Her members are represented as: 1. Purified. So pure indeed should they be as that "they should not be ashamed for all their doings wherein they had transgressed against God" (Zephaniah 3:11); i.e. they should have "no more conscience of sin" (Hebrews 10:2). So completely should they be delivered from the old life of sin that even the remembrance of the sinful past should all be obliterated, and should no more rise before them to disturb and distress. 2. Humble. No longer puffed up with spiritual pride, boasting of themselves as being the favoured of Heaven, and glorying in their special advantages of ancestry and country, "they should no more be haughty because of God’s holy mountain" (Zephaniah 3:11), but should be lowly in heart, and clothed with that humility and meekness which is in the sight of God of great price 3. Trustful. Resting wholly in "the Name of the Lord, which is a strong tower" (Proverbs 18:10). "And they shall trust in the Name of the Lord" (Zephaniah 3:11). 4. Sincere. They should reach unto the heights of holy obedience, and which is, indeed, the climax. "The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, or speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth" (Zephaniah 3:13). II. HER HIGH . 1. Deliverance from all sorrow. "Thou shalt not see evil any more" (Zephaniah 3:15). 2. Enrichment with peace and tranquillity. "For they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid" (Zephaniah 3:13). 3. Safety under God’s protecting care. "The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee;" "Fear thou not" (Zephaniah 3:15, Zephaniah 3:16). III. HER DIVINE . In the seventeenth verse the love of God towards his servants is declared in words of exquisite beauty and tenderness. "The prophet speaks of the eternal love and joy of God towards his people as an exuberant joy, one which boundeth within the inmost self, and again is wholly silent in his love, as the deepest, tenderest, most yearning love broods over the object of its love, yet is held still in silence by the very depth of its love, and then again breaks forth in outward motion, and leaps for joy, and uttereth what it cannot form in words; for truly the love of God in its unspeakable love and joy is past belief, past utterance, past thought" (Pusey). And since he who thus loves is "mighty," the objects of this Divine love need not fear nor grow faint hearted ever, for their resources are infinite and eternal. IV. HER JOY. "Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel," etc. (Zephaniah 3:14). The joy of the redeemed eventually shall be full and all-sufficing, and, in anticipation of entering into this experience at length, all God’s servants, even in the dark days, may well lift up their heads, and "in the darkness raise their carols of high praise." Zephaniah 3:15. - The abiding presence of God with his Church. "The King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee." This truth was constantly affirmed in the Old Testament with reference to the Jewish Church; and as the Church of God through all ages is one Church, we may take the promises of God to Israel of old as having their application to his Church still. So may we apply to her today those assurances contained in the Hebrew Scriptures (Psalms 46:1-11.; 48.), or that contained in the text, or, turning to the New Testament, we may grasp the gracious promise of the God-Man, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20). I. SOME OF THE WAYS IN WHICH GOD HAS THIS TRUTH OF HIS ABIDING WITH HIS CHURCH IN ALL AGES. 1. By having "a remnant" to his praise even in the darkest times. It is an undoubted fact that, whatever dark clouds of persecution, or indifference, or declension may have arisen, God has had all through the season of darkness a people to show forth his praise. These Hebrew prophets, amidst their emphatic testimony against the iniquity prevailing in their times, constantly recognize with thankfulness "a remnant" as remaining true to God and to righteousness. Elijah at Horeb thought himself to be the only servant of Heaven remaining in his corrupt day; but God removed the veil concealing from his view the secret and hidden Church, and, lo, he beheld "an exceeding great army," where he had supposed himself to be the solitary warrior for the truth. "Yet have I left me seven thousand in Israel," etc. (1 Kings 19:18). In "the dark ages," when the light of Christian truth had become well nigh extinguished, there were not wanting those who dared to maintain the truth of God in its simplicity and purity. Even within the pale of the Church of Rome in those days there were some who deplored the prevailing corruptions, and who longed for a return to the simplicity in teaching and the purity of life by which the early Christians were characterized; whilst outside her communion were associations of Free Christian societies, as in Lombardy and in the Alps, who were as lights shining in dark places. The Nestorians, "the Protestants of Asia," referred to by Mr. Layard, serve as another illustration, and who, away in the remote valleys of Kurdistan, and entirely separated from intercourse with other Christian communities, have preserved through so many centuries a knowledge of the Christian faith in the purity of its character and the simplicity of its worship. There has ever been "a remnant" true to God, and serving as a clear token of his abiding presence with his Church. 2. By raising up in her midst, and qualifying, men for special service. Whilst we may not "glory in men," we may magnify God’s grace and power in them; and it is intensely interesting to note how he has in every emergency raised up his agents to do his work. Moses and Joshua, in relation to the deliverance of the Israelites and their settlement in Canaan; Ezra and Nehemiah, in connection with the return from the Captivity in Babylon; the faithful prophets raised up to declare the judgments of Heaven against idolatrous nations; Luther, Melancthon, Zwingle, called by him to take part in the work of the Reformation; and Owen, Howe, Bunyan, Baxter, Flavel, and others, following, to wield the pen effectively in support of the truth, and so to confirm and to consolidate the work of their predecessors. And by thus raising up men and endowing them with gifts for special service, God has confirmed to his Church the assurance of his abiding presence. 3. By frustrating and bringing to nought the evil designs of her enemies. He has repeatedly proved that "no weapon directed against his Church can prosper," and has made manifest the folly of those who have sought to overthrow the kingdom of truth and righteousness. "The wrath of man shall praise him," etc. (Psalms 76:10). 4. By opening up new fields for the extension of her influence. India has been placed under British rule, and the opportunity given of making known to its teeming millions "the unsearchable riches of Christ." The exclusiveness chat prevented access to the empire of China has passed away, so that the missionary may go through the length and breadth of the land. The heart of Africa has been penetrated, and there is now the prospect of her sable tribes becoming elevated and blessed through Christian influence. And in thus opening up the world for Christian enterprise to bestow upon it all its energy and zeal, God has shown himself as being still with his Church. "The King of Israel," etc. (Verse 15). II. THE THIS THOUGHT OF GOD’S ABIDING WITH HIS PEOPLE IS TO AFFORD TO THEIR HEARTS, 1. In view of the character of the age in which we live, as related to Christian truth. Many are seeking to restore that papal supremacy which has proved such a blight in ages that are past; many are cherishing the spirit of scepticism, and would have us even banish God himself from his universe; and there is also a widespread spirit of indifference abroad in relation to the highest spiritual realities. Yet still we will not despond, for "the Lord of hosts is with us," and as he caused the light to burn and to prevail even in the darkest ages, so he will still work until the light shall shine in every land, and all flesh see together the revealed glory of the Lord. 2. In view of apathy, coldness, and declension in holy service. Such seasons do occur, and such lifelessness and deadness at times falls upon the Church of God and upon Christian communities. Yet God does not forsake us even when we thus grow lukewarm in his service. He is with us still, and will grant us renewal and revival if we will but turn to him with all our hearts. 3. In view of the losses the Church of God is called upon to sustain through the ravages of death. The last foe is ever active. Beneath his unsparing hand the useful as well as the useless fall — the true-hearted worker for God as well as the idler whose life is altogether barren of good. But amidst these changes the chief Shepherd liveth; all holy gifts and heavenly graces are his bestowments, and he will not fail his Church, but will raise up a bright succession of devoted servants to do his bidding and to help on the grand consummation. Hence we will not despair; for "God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early" (Psalms 46:4). Zephaniah 3:18-20. - Words of help and hope to the exiled and banished. The closing words of this prophecy, contained in these verses, are amply sufficient to indicate that although the writer was a messenger of judgment, and as such addressed burning words of denunciation to evil doers, he was also a man full of tenderness — a Barnabas as well as a Boanerges. Whilst, being commissioned by God to reprove the ungodly, he did not spare such, yet he also knew how to speak words of help and hope to the sorrowful and distressed; indeed, we find him here anticipating sorrow, being beforehand with consolation, and providing the balm for wounds yet to be inflicted. I. THE CASE . The prophet had spoken of captivity; yet he was conscious that God would restore his people at the close, and bring them from Babylon to their own land. But, whilst confident as to this, he knew that, in the very nature of the circumstances, only a portion of God’s people weird be privileged thus to return, and that many of them would be dispersed among the heathen in various places, and would be unable to come back with those who should be restored "when the Lord should turn again the captivity of his people." And he also knew that, amongst these scattered ones, there would be those who, in their remote exile, would mourn for the solemn assembly, and whoso hearts would be burdened in view of their banishment (Zephaniah 3:18). II. THE WORDS OF HELP AND HOPE BY THE PROPHET TO THOSE THUS . 1. He assured them that the Lord their God would bring to nought their oppressors. "I will undo all that afflict thee" (Zephaniah 3:19). 2. That the Shepherd of Israel would in his own time regather every member of his flock, however scattered they were, and however feeble some of them might be. "And I will save her that halteth, and gather," etc. (Zephaniah 3:19). 3. And that in the very lands where they would be put to shame he would eventually secure to them lasting honour and imperishable renown (Zephaniah 3:19, Zephaniah 3:20). III. THE PROPHET AN EXAMPLE TO OF IN EVERY AGE. There must be the bold denunciation of wrong, but there should ever accompany this tenderness of spirit, revealing itself in the endeavour to comfort and cheer troubled hearts. And in proportion as this spirit is cherished by us do we resemble the great Prophet of the Church, who was "anointed to comfort those that mourn," etc. (Isaiah 61:1-3). BY T. Zephaniah 3:1-8. — Zephaniah 3:1-8. - Jerusalem the rebellious and polluted; or, the wickedness and woe of a degenerate city. I. THE NUMBER AND VARIETY OF HER SINS. 1. Rebellion. This, marking her attitude towards God, is amplified and detailed as consisting in four transgressions. (1) Disobedience. She had not obeyed Jehovah’s voice speaking to her through the Law and the prophets, adjoining on her precepts and imposing on her duties, but, like an ordinary heathen nation, had said, "Who is Jehovah, that we should serve him, or that he should reign over us?" (2) Insubordination. She had not received correction, i.e. had not accepted with meek submission the discipline or chastisement Jehovah had laid upon her in consequence of her sins, as for instance when he brought against her Shishak of Egypt (1 Kings 14:25, 1 Kings 14:26), Jehoash of Israel (2 Kings 14:13), Sargon or Sennacherib of Assyria (2 Kings 18:17; 2 Chronicles 32:1), but had resented it, not only adhering to her disobedient ways, but improving on them, "rising early and corrupting all her doings." (3) Unbelief. Not trusting in Jehovah, she had alternately trusted in Assyria and Egypt. Whereas her confidence in Jerusalem’s stability and impregnability ought to have rested on the fact that Jehovah had chosen it to place his Name there, had entered into covenant with the nation of which it was the capital, had established in it his worship, and had promised to protect it, she was constantly basing her hopes on a political alliance either with the northern power against the southern, or with the southern against the northern (Isaiah 36:6; Hosea 14:3). (4) Irreligion. Having renounced all faith in Jehovah, she had scarcely maintained the pretence of observing his worship — had not drawn near to him, either externally in the way of celebrating those rites he had prescribed, or internally by pouring out her heart before him in supplication of his favour and help. 2. Pollution. This declares what the city was in herself. The completeness of her defilement discovered itself in the wickedness of all classes of her population, but more especially of her civil and spiritual rulers. Of the latter, (1) the prophets were light and treacherous persons, vain glorious boasters, boiling up with their own conceited imaginings, men of treacheries who published their own false dreams as if these had been the true visions of God (Jeremiah 23:32), and thus caused the people to err (Isaiah 9:16; Micah 3:5). As they exercised their callings without having themselves been called to these by God (Jeremiah 14:14), they were not his prophets, but hers. Scarcely less polluted were (2) the priests, who, as Jehovah’s ministers, ought to have been holy (Leviticus 21:6; Numbers 16:5), but who, through being themselves impure, profaned that which is holy, or defiled the sanctuary and all connected with it — its rites, persons, things, places, sacrifices, and violated the Law (Ezekiel 22:26) "by treating what was holy as profane." 3. Oppression. Revealing her behaviour towards man: her civic dignitaries practised cruelties ferocious and unprovoked upon those over whom they ruled. (1) Her princes in the midst of her, i.e. her kings and nobles, like roaring lions rushing on their prey (Proverbs 27:15), ground down her poor and unresisting population by excessive taxations and labours. (2) Her judges, in their administration of law and (so called) justice, were so fixedly bent on their own enrichment, and so insatiably greedy of their evil gains, that they seemed like hungry and rapacious evening wolves which could not leave a bone of their prey till the morning, but must devour it ere the night passed (Habakkuk 1:8; Jeremiah 5:6; Ezekiel 22:27). II. THE AND OF HER SINS. 1. Against Divine grace. She had been guilty of all the foregoing wickednesses, though Jehovah had been in the midst of her. That he chose at the first to establish his presence in her was a favour — a special favour; that he remained in her after she had become rebellious, polluted, and oppressive, was more than a special favour — was an exceeding great mercy. 2. Against Divine example. In all Jehovah’s dealings with her he had shown himself "righteous," even proved that he would not and could not do iniquity; nevertheless, she had not followed in Jehovah’s steps, but had turned aside into crooked paths and unclean ways. 3. Against Divine instruction. Jehovah had brought his judgment to light every morning by causing his Law to be proclaimed to the nation daily by the prophets. Yet she had rebelled against the light and done the works of darkness. 4. Against Divine warnings. She had seen Jehovah cutting off the nations around, throwing down their battlements, and rendering them desolate, "making their streets waste," etc. (Zephaniah 3:6); and still she had closed her ears against the warnings these providential judgments gave. 5. Against Divine expectation. Jehovah had hoped she would fear him and receive the instruction and correction he had intended for her; but she had not done so. Rather she had risen early and corrupted herself, thereby proving herself one of the unjust who know no shame. III. THE AND REWARD OF HER SINS. 1. A severe penalty. Woe; and the cutting off of her dwelling. Unless she repented and turned from her evil ways, she would be overwhelmed with the righteous indignation of God, and her place as a nation wiped out — an impressive symbol of the doom threatened against unbelieving and unrepentant sinners under the gospel. 2. A contingent penalty. If she feared Jehovah and accepted correction, her dwelling should not be cut off, and the vials of woe should not he outpoured upon her (Jeremiah 18:7). So are God’s threatenings against sinners contingent on their continued impenitence. But this presupposed, it becomes: 3. A certain penalty. Nothing could avert the woe and the cutting off in Jerusalem’s case but repentance and reformation, neither of which she showed; and so when within less than a century it became apparent that there was no remedy, the sluice gates of wrath were opened, and she was cut off without compassion (2 Chronicles 36:16, 2 Chronicles 36:17). So will it be with those under the gospel, who, being often reproved, vet harden their necks — they shall he utterly destroyed, and that without remedy (Proverbs 29:1). Learn: 1. The danger of sin. 2. The certainty of judgment. — T.W. Zephaniah 3:5. - The shamelessness of sin. I. A FACT. 1. Asserted by Scripture. In addition to the statement of the text, that "the unjust knoweth no shame," may be cited other declarations to the same effect from both the Old (Jeremiah 3:3; Jeremiah 6:15; Jeremiah 8:12) and the New (Ephesians 4:19; Philippians 3:19) Testaments. 2. Proved by experience. Besides the individuals to whom the above passages allude, persons are often met with in actual life who not only seem, but so far as can be discovered from their behaviour actually are, insensible to shame. II. A ENIGMA. 1. Shame the fruit of sin. Exemplified in the case of Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:25; Genesis 3:7). Shame is the outward sign of the soul’s inward consciousness of guilt. 2. Sin the death of shame. If shame does not lead to repentance, and so to the destruction of sin, sin will soon assert its supremacy over shame and lead to its extinction. III. A . Teaching: 1. The possibility of complete spiritual deteriotation. When a soul can no longer feel ashamed on account of sin, when its moral perceptions have become darkened, and its conscience is deadened, the process of spiritual or religious degeneration has reached its lowest point. The soul is practically dead in trespasses and in sins. It has become essentially and permanently unjust. 2. The impossibility of ultimate red, raptly. The soul that cannot blush is at least perilously near the condition of those of whom it is written, "It is impossible to renew them again unto repentance" (Hebrews 6:6). — T.W. Zephaniah 3:8-13. - The gracious acts of Jehovah; or, Israel’s glorious future. I. THE OF ISRAEL. (Zephaniah 3:8.) 1. The time indicated. The day that Jehovah riseth up to the prey; i.e. to take for himself as a booty or spoil out of the nations he visits a people who shall desire his salvation and confess his Name. Among those who shall then be captured by Jehovah will be Israel, or at least a remnant thereof, who shall be brought again to their own land. The time thus indicated began with Persia’s overthrow of Babylon, to which doubtless the prophet’s language primarily refers, continued till the advent of Christ, in whom Jehovah rose up not merely to bring, redemption to the pious remnant of Israel (Luke 1:68), but to take out of the Gentiles a people for his Name (Acts 15:14), and will not terminate till the close of the present era, during which, by the gospel, is being gathered out of all nations and kindreds, peoples and tongues, a people for Jehovah, of whom ancient Israel was but a shadow and a type (Matthew 8:11; Luke 13:29; Revelation 7:9). 2. The instrumentality declared. A work of judgment upon the nations of the earth, which work again commenced with the destruction of Babylon, and will only be finished when Christ appears a second time to execute judgment upon all (Jude 1:15), and in particular to pour out his wrath upon the impenitent and unbelieving (2 Thessalonians 1:7, 2 Thessalonians 1:8; Hebrews 10:27; Revelation 6:17). As in Zephaniah’s time Jehovah declared it to be his fixed purpose to hold such an assize of the nations, so has he revealed his intention to hold another and a grander at the end of time (Acts 17:31); and as he further maintained (to adopt another rendering) that the holding of such an assize, with what would inevitably result from it, viz. "the devouring of all the earth with the fire of his jealousy," i.e. the destruction of his enemies by his judgments, and the salvation of his people by his grace, should be a clear vindication of his righteousness, so does he in respect of the final judgment claim that its decisions will manifest to all the righteous character of himself and his government (Romans 2:2, Romans 2:5; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; Revelation 16:5). 3. The duty prescribed. To wait for Jehovah. Addressed, not to the whole wicked and corrupt nation (Hitzig), but to its pious remnant (Keil and Delitzsch, Pusey, Fausset, Farrar), this counsel was in effect: (1) A warning against apostasy. Though Jehovah’s judgments should descend upon the nation, they, the meek of the land (Zephaniah 2:3), were not to discontinue either believing in Jehovah or practising his religion, but were to steadfastly adhere to both. (2) An intimation of mercy. Since, even before the judgment fell, Jehovah counselled them to wait for him after it had fallen, the sense could only be that he had it in contemplation to interpose in his own time for their deliverance. (3) An encouragement to hope. In the darkest hours of their despondency, when the nation’s fortunes should be at the lowest ebb, they should not yield to despair, but look expectantly forward to the good time coming. The duty here prescribed that of God’s people collectively and individually at all times, but especially in seasons of calamity and affliction. II. THE OF ISRAEL. (Verses 9, 10.) 1. The accession of the Gentiles. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/pulpit-commentary/