@Zep 1:1-18. GOD'S SEVERE JUDGMENT ON JUDAH FOR ITS IDOLATRY AND NEGLECT OF HIM: THE RAPID APPROACH OF THE JUDGMENT, AND THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF ESCAPE.
1. days of Josiah--Had their idolatries been under former kings, they
might have said, Our kings have forced us to this and that. But under
Josiah, who did all in his power to reform them, they have no such
excuse.
son of Amon--the idolater, whose bad practices the Jews clung to,
rather than the good example of Josiah, his son; so incorrigible were
they in sin.
Judah--Israel's ten tribes had gone into captivity before this.
2. utterly consume--from a root to "sweep away," or "scrape off
utterly." See @Jer 8:13, Margin, and here.
from off the land--of Judah.
3. Enumeration in detail of the "all things" (@Zep 1:2; compare
@Jer 9:10 Ho 4:3).
the stumbling-blocks--idols which cause Judah to offend or stumble
(@Eze 14:3,4,7).
with the wicked--The idols and their worshippers shall be involved
in a common destruction.
4. stretch out mine hand--indicating some remarkable and unusual work
of vengeance (@Isa 5:25 9:12,17,21).
Judah--including Benjamin. These two tribes are to suffer, which
thought themselves perpetually secure, because they escaped the
captivity in which the ten tribes were involved.
Jerusalem--the fountainhead of the evil. God begins with His sanctuary
(@Eze 9:6), and those who are nigh Him (@Le 10:3).
the remnant of Baal--the remains of Baal worship, which as yet Josiah
was unable utterly to eradicate in remote places. Baal was the
Phoenician tutelary god. From the time of the Judges (@Jud 2:13),
Israel had fallen into this idolatry; and Manasseh lately had set up
this idol within Jehovah's temple itself (@2Ki 21:3,5,7). Josiah
began his reformation in the twelfth year of his reign (@2Ch 34:4,8),
and in the eighteenth had as far as possible completed it.
Chemarims--idol priests, who had not reached the age of puberty;
meaning "ministers of the gods" [SERVIUS on Æneid, 11], the same name
as the Tyrian Camilli, r and l being interchangeable
(compare @Ho 10:5, Margin).
Josiah is expressly said (@2Ki 23:5,
Margin) to have "put down the Chemarim." The Hebrew root means
"black" (from the black garments which they wore or the marks which they branded on their foreheads); or "zealous," from their
idolatrous fanaticism. The very "name," as well as themselves, shall be
forgotten.
the priests--of Jehovah, of Aaronic descent, who ought to have used
all their power to eradicate, but who secretly abetted, idolatry
(compare @Zep 3:4 Eze 8:1-18 22:26 44:10). From the priests Zephaniah
passes to the people.
5. worship the host of heaven--Saba: whence, in contrast to
Sabeanism, Jehovah is called Lord of Sabaoth.
upon the housetops--which were flat
(@2Ki 23:5,6,12 Jer 19:13 32:29).
swear by the Lord--rather, "swear to
JEHOVAH" (@2Ch 15:14);
solemnly dedicating themselves to Him (compare @Isa 48:1 Ho 4:15).
and--"and yet (with strange inconsistency,
@1Ki 18:21 Eze 20:39 Mt 6:24) swear by Malcham," that is,
"their king" [MAURER]:
the same as Molech (see on Am 5:25),
and "Milcom the god of . . . Ammon" (@1Ki 11:33). If Satan have half
the heart, he will have all; if the Lord have but half offered to Him,
He will have none.
6. This verse describes more comprehensively those guilty of defection from Jehovah in any way (@Jer 2:13,17).
7. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord--(@Hab 2:20). Let the
earth be silent at His approach [MAURER]. Or, "Thou whosoever hast
been wont to speak against God, as if He had no care about earthly
affairs, cease thy murmurs and self-justifications; submit thyself to
God, and repent in time" [CALVIN].
Lord . . . prepared a sacrifice--namely, a slaughter of the guilty
Jews, the victims due to His justice (@Isa 34:6 Jer 46:10 Eze 39:17).
bid his guests--literally, "sanctified His called ones" (compare
@Isa 13:3). It enhances the bitterness of the judgment that the
heathen Chaldeans should be sanctified, or consecrated as it were,
by God as His priests, and be called to eat the flesh of the elect
people; as on feast days the priests used to feast among themselves on
the remains of the sacrifices [CALVIN]. English Version takes it not
of the priests, but the guests bidden, who also had to "sanctify"
or purify themselves before coming to the sacrificial feast
(@1Sa 9:13,22 16:5). Nebuchadnezzar was bidden to come to take
vengeance on guilty Jerusalem (@Jer 25:9).
8. the princes--who ought to have been an example of good to others,
but were ringleaders in all evil.
the king's children--fulfilled on Zedekiah's children (@Jer 39:6);
and previously, on Jehoahaz and Eliakim, the sons of Josiah
(@2Ki 23:31,36 2Ch 36:6; compare also @2Ki 20:18 21:13). Huldah
the prophetess (@2Ki 22:20) intimated that which Zephaniah now more
expressly foretells.
all such as are clothed with strange apparel--the princes or
courtiers who attired themselves in costly garments, imported from
abroad; partly for the sake of luxury, and partly to ingratiate
themselves with foreign great nations whose costume as well as their
idolatries they imitated, [CALVIN]; whereas in costume, as in other
respects, God would have them to be separate from the nations.
GROTIUS
refers the "strange apparel" to garments forbidden by the law, for
example, men's garments worn by women, and vice versa, a heathen usage
in the worship of Mars and Venus (@De 22:5).
9. those that leap on the threshold--the servants of the princes, who,
after having gotten prey (like hounds) for their masters, leap
exultingly on their masters' thresholds; or, on the thresholds of the
houses which they break into [CALVIN].
JEROME explains it of those
who walk up the steps into the sanctuary with haughtiness.
ROSENMULLER
translates, "Leap over the threshold"; namely, in imitation of the
Philistine custom of not treading on the threshold, which arose from the
head and hands of Dragon being broken off on the threshold before the
ark (@1Sa 5:5). Compare @Isa 2:6, "thy people . . . are soothsayers
like the Philistines." CALVIN'S
view agrees best with the latter clause
of the verse.
fill . . . masters' houses with violence, &c.--that is, with goods
obtained with violence, &c.
10. fish gate--(@2Ch 33:14 Ne 3:3 12:39). Situated on the east
of the lower city, north of the sheep gate
[MAURER]: near the stronghold
of David in Milo, between Zion and the lower city, towards the west
[JEROME]. This verse describes the state of the city when it was
besieged by Nebuchadnezzar. It was through the fish gate that he entered
the city. It received its name from the fish market which was near it.
Through it passed those who used to bring fish from the lake of Tiberias
and Jordan. It answers to what is now called the Damascus gate
[HENDERSON].
the second--namely, the gate which was second in dignity
[CALVIN].
Or, the second or lower part of the city. Appropriately, the fish
gate, or extreme end of the lower part of the city, first resounds with
the cries of the citizens as the foe approaches; then, as he advances
further, that part of the city itself, namely, its inner part; lastly,
when the foe is actually come and has burst in, the hills, the higher
ones, especially Zion and Moriah, on which the upper city and temple
were founded [MAURER]. The second, or lower city, answers to Akra,
north of Zion, and separated from it by the valley of Tyropoeon running
down to the pool of Siloam
[HENDERSON]. The Hebrew is translated
"college," @2Ki 22:14; so
VATABLUS would translate here.
hills--not here those outside, but those within the walls: Zion,
Moriah, and Ophel.
11. Maktesh--rather, "the mortar," a name applied to the valley of
Siloam from its hollow shape [JEROME].
The valley between Zion and
Mount Olivet, at the eastern extremity of Mount Moriah, where the
merchants dwelt. @Zec 14:21, "The Canaanite," namely, merchant
[Chaldee Version]. The Tyropoeon (that is, cheese-makers')
valley below Mount Akra [ROSENMULLER].
Better Jerusalem itself, so
called as lying in the midst of hills (@Isa 22:1 Jer 21:13) and as
doomed to be the scene of its people being destroyed as corn or drugs
are pounded in a mortar (@Pr 27:22)
[MAURER]. Compare the
similar image of a "pot" (@Eze 24:3,6). The reason for the
destruction is subjoined, namely, its merchant people's greediness
of gain.
all the merchant people--literally, the "Canaanite people": irony: all
the merchant people of Jerusalem are very Canaanites in greed for
gain and in idolatries (see on Ho 12:7).
all . . . that bear silver--loading themselves with that which will
prove but a burden (@Hab 2:6).
12. search . . . with candles--or lamps; so as to leave no dark corner
in it wherein sin can escape the punishment, of which the Chaldeans are
My instruments (compare @Zep 1:13 Lu 15:8).
settled on their lees--"hardened" or crusted; image from the crust
formed at the bottom of wines long left undisturbed (@Jer 48:11).
The effect of wealthy undisturbed ease ("lees") on the ungodly is
hardening: they become stupidly secure (compare @Ps 55:19 Am 6:1).
Lord will not do good . . . evil--They deny that God regards human
affairs, or renders good to the good; or evil to the evil, but that all
things go haphazard (@Ps 10:4 Mal 2:17).
13. Therefore their goods shall become a booty, &c.--Fulfilling the prophecy in @De 28:30,39 (compare @Am 5:11).
14. voice of . . . day of . . . Lord--that is, Jehovah ushering in that
day with a roar of vengeance against the guilty (@Jer 25:30 Am 1:2).
They who will not now heed (@Zep 1:12) His voice by His prophets, must
heed it when uttered by the avenging foe.
mighty . . . shall cry . . . bitterly--in hopeless despair; the might
on which Jerusalem now prides itself, shall then fail utterly.
15. wasteness . . . desolation--The Hebrew terms by their similarity of sounds, Shoah, Umeshoah, express the dreary monotony of desolation (see on Na 2:10).
16. the trumpet--namely, of the besieging enemy (@Am 2:2).
alarm--the war shout [MAURER].
towers--literally "angles"; for city walls used not to be built in a
direct line, but with sinuous curves and angles, so that besiegers
advancing might be assailed not only in front, but on both sides, caught
as it were in a cul-de-sac; towers were built especially at the angles.
So TACITUS describes the walls of Jerusalem
[Histories, 5.11.7].
17. like blind men--unable to see whither to turn themselves so as to
find an escape from existing evils.
flesh--Hebrew, "bread"; so the Arabic term for "bread" is used
for "flesh" (@Mt 26:26).
18. Neither . . . silver nor . . . gold shall . . .
deliver them, &c.--(@Pr 11:4).
fire of his jealousy--(@Eze 38:19); His wrath jealous for His
honor consuming the guilty like fire.
make even a speedy riddance of all--rather, a "consummation" (complete
destruction: "full end," @Jer 46:28 Eze 11:13) "altogether sudden"
[MAURER]. "A consumption, and that a sudden one"
[CALVIN].