THE WORD OF THE LORD WHICH CAME UNTO ZEPHANIAH THE SON OF CUSHI, THE SON OF GEDALIAH, THE SON OF AMARIAH, THE SON OF HEZEKIAH - It seems likely that more forefathers of the prophet are named than is the wont of Holy Scripture, because the last so named was some one remarkable. Nor is it impossible t... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL UTTERLY CONSUME ALL THINGS - Better “all.” The word is not limited to “things” “animate” or “inanimate” or “men;” it is used severally of each, according to the context; here, without limitation, of “all.” God and all stand over against one another; God and all which is not of God or in God.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STUMBLING-BLOCKS WITH THE WICKED - Not only shall the wicked be utterly brought to an end, or, in the other meaning of the word, “gathered into bundles to be taken away,” but all causes of stumbling too; everything, through which others can fall, which will not be until the end of all things. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL ALSO STRETCH OUT MINE HAND - As before on Egypt . Judah had gone in the ways of Egypt and learned her sins, and sinned worse than Egypt. “The mighty Hand and stretched-out Arm” Jeremiah 2:10, with which she had been delivered, shall be again “stretched out,” yet, not for her but “upon” her, “... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEM THAT WORSHIP THE BEST OF HEAVEN UPON THE - (flat) housetops This was fulfilled by Josiah who destroyed “the altars that were on the top of the upper chamber of Ahaz” 2 Kings 23:12. Jeremiah speaks as if this worship was almost universal, as though well-near every roof had been profaned by t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEM THAT ARE TURNED BACK FROM - (Literally, have turned themselves back from following after) the Lord From this half-service, the prophet goes on to the avowed neglect of God, by such as wholly fall away from Him, not setting His will or law before them, “but turning away from” Him. It is thei... [ Continue Reading ]
HOLD THY PEACE AT THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD GOD - (Literally, “Hush,” in awe “from the face of God.”) In the presence of God, even the righteous say from their inmost heart, “I am vile, what shall I answer Thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth” Job 40:4. “Now mine eye seeth Thee, wherefore I abhor... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL PUNISH - (Literally, visit upon). God seems oftentimes to be away from His own world. People plot, design, say, in word or in deed, “who is Lord over us?” God is, as it were, a stranger in it, or as a man, who hath “taken a journey into afar country.” God uses our own language to us. “I will... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL PUNISH ALL THOSE THAT LEAP ON THE THRESHOLD - Neither language nor history nor context allow this to be understood of the idolatrous custom of Ashdod, not to tread on the threshold of the temple of Dagon. It had indeed been a strange infatuation of idolatry, that God’s people should adopt an... [ Continue Reading ]
A CRY FROM THE FISH-GATE - “The fish-gate” was probably in the north of the wall of “the second city.” For in Nehemiah’s rebuilding, the restoration began at the sheep-gate Nehemiah 3:1 (so called doubtless, because the sheep for the sacrifices were brought in by it), which, as being near the temple... [ Continue Reading ]
HOWL, YE INHABITANTS OF MAKTESH - Literally, “Mortar” , “in which,” Jerome says, “corn is pounded; a hollow vessel, and fit for the use of medical men, in which properly ptisans are wont to be beaten (or made). Striking is it, that Scripture saith not, ‘who dwell in the valley or in the alley,’ but... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SEARCH - (Literally, “diligently”). The word is always used of a minute diligent search, whereby places, persons, things, are searched and sifted one by one in every corner, until it be found whether a thing be there or no . Hence, also of the searching out of every thought of the heart, eith... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THEIR GOODS - Literally, “And their strength.” It is the simple sequel in God’s Providence. It is a continued narrative. God will visit those who say, that God does not interfere in man’s affairs, and, it shall be seen Jeremiah 44:28 whose words shall stand, God’s or their’s. All which God... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GREAT DAY OF THE LORD IS NEAR - The prophet again expands the words of Joel, accumulating words expressive of the terrors of that Day, showing that though “the great and very terrible Day of the Lord” Joel 2:31, (Joel had said) “a day of darkness and gloominess, of clouds and of thick darkness”... [ Continue Reading ]
A DAY OF WRATH - In which all the wrath of Almighty God, which evil angels and evil men have treasured to them for that day, shall be poured out: “the” day of wrath, because then they shall be brought face to face before the presence of God, but thenceforth they shall be cast out of it forever. A D... [ Continue Reading ]
A DAY OF THE TRUMPET AND ALARM - o that is, of the loud blast of the trumpet, which sounds alarm and causes it. The word is especially the shrill loud noise of the trumpet (for sacred purposes in Israel itself, as ruling all the movements of the tabernacle and accompanying their feasts); then also o... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL BRING DISTRESS UPON MEN - I will hem them in, in anguish on all sides. God Himself shall meet them with His terrors, wherever they turn. “I will hem them in, that they may find it so” . THAT THEY SHALL WALK LIKE BLIND MEN - Utterly bereft of counsel, seeing no more than the blind which way to... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER THEIR SILVER NOR THEIR GOLD SHALL BE ABLE TO DELIVER THEM IN THE DAY OF THE LORD’S WRATH - Gain unjustly gotten was the cause of their destruction. For, as Ezekiel closes the like description; “They shall cast their silver into the streets, and their gold shall be removed; their silver and t... [ Continue Reading ]