Zephaniah 1:11

Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh,.... The name of a street in Jerusalem, as Aben Ezra; perhaps it lay low in the hollow of the city, and in the form of a mortar, from whence it might have its name, as

Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off.

Howl, cry aloud, and bitterly, ye inhabitants of Maktesh: some read it appellatively: the mortar in which of old, before the corn-mill was known and used, they did pound and beat their corn for bread; they also pounded spices. Others say it is the lower town, or valley of Cedron in Jerusalem, a deep valley that surrounded the mountain of the temple, to which, fancied like a deep mortar, they gave the name Maktesh. All the merchant people; who were wont either to lodge in this place when they came to trade, or, if Jewish merchants, dwelt there, which was much to the advantage of the place; but now, by the invasion of the land, and by the siege, all trade is cut off, and many merchants either slain or made slaves. All they that bear silver, that brought it with them to pay for what they bought up, and so enriched the inhabitants of this Maktesh, all that traded and paid ready money, are cut off. Others say the money-changers or bankers are here meant by them that bear silver, persons that furnished all sorts of people with silver for goods laid to pledge or bartered. Are cut off, i.e. shall be as surely as if it were already done.

Zephaniah 1:11 Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off.Ver. 11. Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh] Or, of the mortar, or of the low and hollow place, of the base town, where grain was ground in mortars, before mills were in use. These are here called upon to "turn their laughter to mourning, and their joy into heaviness, to weep and howl for the evils that shall come upon them," James 4:9; James 5:1, but especially for their sins, the cause of those miseries; for God’ s judgments upon sinners are feathered from themselves: as a fowl shot with an arrow feathered from her own body. For all the merchant people are cut down] The merchant men were wont to furnish the mortar men, such as dealt in grain, spicery, and the like. These shall be cut down, as being more like Canaanites (a people devoted to destruction) than Israelites, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of their help, and the sword of their excellency, Deuteronomy 33:29. See Hosea 12:13. He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand, he loveth to oppress, see Amos 8:5-6 Micah 6:10-12. Merchandise well managed is of great use to kingdoms and states, for many reasons. 1. For determining the counsels and strength of other nations. 2. For procuring the love and friendship of foreign princes and people. 3. For exchanging of commodities; for non omnis fert omnia tellus. not everything is born from all ground. 4. For gaining experience of many and great matters; this caused Thales, Hippocrates, and Solon to exercise merchandise. 5. It occasioned the building of many famous cities: Massilia for one, as Plutarch writeth. Nevertheless this honourable profession is much abused by those whom Nahum calleth cankerworms, Nahum 3:16, for their covetousness, luxury, oppression, bringing in unnecessary wars (that emasculate and dissolve men’ s spirits), and heretical books that undo their souls; and, lastly, for their carrying out the wealth of their country to strangers, yea, to enemies sometimes. Hence they are justly cut down by God, and are to be ordered by the magistrates according to Leviticus 19:35-36 Deuteronomy 25:15 Ezekiel 45:9-12. All they that bear silver are cut off] The rich traders, that had marsupia plena full purse, and carried money in great burdens, these shall be also cut off or silenced, have nothing to say for themselves why they should not be destroyed with the rest, as those that have been involuti argento, as the Vulgate translation hath it here, so wrapped up in their money, and affected to it, as that it hath rather possessed them than they it. Cor habent in aere non in aethere, "their heart goeth after their covetousness," Ezekiel 33:31. Here they are called portatores argenti, silver carriers, sumpter horses, laden with thick clay. Silver is that which the basest element yieldeth, the most savage Indians get, servile apprentices work, Midianitish camels carry, miserable muck worms admire, covetous Jews swallow, unthirsty ruffians spend.

(11) Maktesh.—Better, the mortar, a term indicating probably some part of the city lying in a hollow: perhaps that part which was in the valley of Tyropœon. This quarter is described by Josephus as “full of houses” (B.J. V. iv. § 1). Hence some detect in the name “mortar” an allusion to the noisy din of the commerce here conducted. The name occurs here only. Some suppose that it is a term coined by Zephaniah, to signify how everything in Jerusalem should be bruised to pieces as in a mortar. Merchant people.—Literally, people of Canaan, a phrase used elsewhere for traders and merchants, and therefore not to be restricted to its original signification here. All they that bear silver.—Literally, all they that are laden with silver. Another mode of designating this commercial class.

Verse 11. Maktesh] Calmet says this signifies a mortar, or a rock in form of a mortar, and was the name of a quarter of Jerusalem where they hulled rice, corn, &c., according to St. Jerome. Some think the city of Jerusalem is meant, where the inhabitants should be beat and pounded to death as grain is pounded in a mortar. Newcome translates it, the lower city, and considers it the valley in Jerusalem, which divided the upper from the lower city. They that bear silver] The merchants, moneychangers, usurers, rich men.

11. ye inhabitants of Maktesh] The term Maktesh is rendered “hollow-place,” Judges 15:19, and mortar, Proverbs 27:22. Some depression or valley in the city is referred to: Hitzig thinks of that between Acra and the Temple area, and others of the valley of the Tyropœon or cheese-makers, a depression, now filled up with the rubbish of many centuries, which ran from north to south, dividing the city into two parts. The probability is that the Maktesh lay in the northern part of the city. It was on this side that Jerusalem was most liable to attack, and the prophet has in view throughout an invasion by a foe from the north. all the merchant people] lit. the people of Canaan. The Canaanites or Phenicians were the chief traders in Palestine, and the name Canaan came to be used for merchant. It is scarcely actual Canaanites that are referred to here; already in Hosea 12:7 the term Canaan is applied figuratively to Ephraim, and in Ezekiel 16:29; Ezekiel 17:4, Chaldea is called the “land of Canaan,” i.e. the merchant land. In Isaiah 23:8 the word Canaan seems to be used in the plur., and certainly in a figurative sense: “her (Tyre’s) traffickers are the honourable of the earth.” In Proverbs 31:24 the form Canaanite is used for merchant, and so perhaps Job 41:6 (Heb. 40:30). are cut down] R.V. are undone, as Isaiah 6:5; the word is usually rendered cut off, Hosea 10:7; Hosea 10:15. All they that bear silver] Or, money. The reference is not to the trade of silversmiths, but rather to merchants in general.

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).

11. Maktesh — This must be another portion of the city. The context suggests that it was the quarter of the merchants, but its location is uncertain; it is not improbable, however, that it also