III. (1-4) The prophet denounces the corruption and moral obduracy which characterise all classes in Jerusalem. This denunciation comes in with startling abruptness. The prophet does not even name the object of his reproof. The literal rendering is, _Woe, rebellious and polluted, thou oppressive ci... [ Continue Reading ]
OBEYED NOT THE VOICE. — Better, _hearkened not to the voice_ — _i.e.,_ of Jehovah, when He addresses her, as in Zephaniah 2:1. She trusts not in Jehovah, but in her own wealth (Zephaniah 1:12); she draws not nigh to her God, but to Baal and Moloch (Zephaniah 1:4).... [ Continue Reading ]
TILL THE MORROW. — Better, _on the morrow._ The meaning is just the opposite to that given in the Authorised Version. They are so greedy that they devour their prey instantly, leaving _no_ portion of it for the morrow.... [ Continue Reading ]
LIGHT AND TREACHEROUS PERSONS. — Better, _braggarts and men of treachery. _... [ Continue Reading ]
(5-7) In contradistinction to this universal corruption, Jehovah daily exemplifies the law of righteousness, yet sinners are not moved to repentance (Zephaniah 3:5). He sets forth the great judgments He has executed on other sinful nations, but the warning is not heeded (Zephaniah 3:6).... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NATIONS. — Those that were destroyed by the agency of Israel on invading the Promised Land; those also which were cut off by the Assyrians and the other great powers whom God used as His instruments (Isaiah 37:26).... [ Continue Reading ]
I SAID, SURELY THOU WILT FEAR ME... — Better, _I said, Wouldest thou only fear me? wouldest thou receive correction? then should her dwelling-place not be destroyed, according to all that I have appointed for them; but they only speeded their infamous doings._ Our Saviour’s lamentation over Jerusale... [ Continue Reading ]
(8-10) This is an enlargement of the consolation addressed to the “meek of the earth” in Zephaniah 2:3, and of the prediction of Zephaniah 2:11. The great day of the Lord, which shall overthrow all that opposes itself to His sovereignty, shall also introduce an extension of religious knowledge to th... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE PEOPLE. — Better, _To the peoples,_ or _nations._ A PURE LANGUAGE. — The discord of Babel shall, as it were, give place to unity of language, when the worship of “gods many” shall yield to the pure service of Jehovah, whom men shall “with one mind and one mouth glorify.”... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAUGHTER OF MY DISPERSED. — _i.e.,_ dropping the Hebrew idiom, “my dispersed people.” Even from the southern limit of the known world shall the new Church draw adherents. The “dispersed people” are not Jewish exiles, but the Gentile tribes of the dispersion (of Genesis 11:8) which have been hith... [ Continue Reading ]
NO MORE BE HAUGHTY... — His very privileges — the adoption and the Shechinah, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the Temple service — had hitherto been used by the Jew as a pretext for obduracy. “We have Abraham for our father,” “The temple of the Lord are these:” such was their respo... [ Continue Reading ]
(11-13) Jerusalem shall then have no occasion to blush for obdurate iniquity (Zephaniah 3:5), for she shall be inhabited by a remnant who have learnt meekness and righteousness in the school of adversity.... [ Continue Reading ]
AFFLICTED. — _ânî,_ a condition which is likely to make them also “meek,” _ânâv,_ instead of “haughty.”... [ Continue Reading ]
(14-20) The blessedness of Jerusalem when she has been thus brought through suffering to glory.... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKEN AWAY THY JUDGMENTS. — _i.e._, removed what He had “appointed concerning them” (Zephaniah 3:7) in the way of punishments. THE KING OF ISRAEL. — The recognition of Jehovah as _king_ is elsewhere a prominent feature in the portraiture of the extended dispensation. Thus we have, “Say among the he... [ Continue Reading ]
Compare Isaiah 35:3; Isaiah 62:11, _et seq. _... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WILL REST... — Better, _He will keep silence in His love; He will exult over thee with a shout of joy._ Unutterable yearnings and outbursts of jubilant affection are both the expressions of sexual love. By a bold anthropomorphism, both are attributed to the Heavenly Bridegroom, as He gazes on “a... [ Continue Reading ]
The festival of the accomplishment of salvations is represented under the figure of the joyous Feast of Tabernacles, as in Zechariah 14:16. None shall be impeded from attending on this joyous occasion, for the oppressors shall be overthrown (Zephaniah 3:19). TO WHOM THE REPROACH OF IT WAS A BURDEN.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL UNDO. — Better, _I will deal with,_ as in Ezekiel 23:25. The clauses following are based on Micah 4:6; Deuteronomy 26:19.... [ Continue Reading ]
See Deuteronomy 30:3, _et seq._... [ Continue Reading ]