Zephaniah 2:1

Gather yourselves together,.... This is said to the people of the Jews in general; that whereas the judgments of God were coming upon them, as predicted in the preceding chapter Zephaniah 1:1, it was

Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; Gather yourselves together - to a religious assembly, to avert the judgment by prayers, (Joe 2:16, "Gather the people, sanctify

CHAPTER 2 An exhortation to repentance, . The judgment of the Philistines, of Moab and Ammon, , of Ethiopia, , and Assyria, . Gather yourselves together; call a solemn assembly, as , proclaim a fast. Let all have notice given to meet on this work, and, being gathered together, search yourselves, your hearts and ways, and repent. Gather together; repeated to affect them the more, and to hasten them to it, and make them serious in it. O nation of the Jews, yet a people, yet my people, though next door almost to being no people. Not desired; neither desirous to return, nor desirable in your return; foolishly unwilling to return, and utterly unworthy to be received on your return: yet gather together, search your ways, and try what you may do for your safety.

Zephaniah 2:1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;Ver. 1. Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together] Excutite vos, iterumque excutite. Fan yourselves, yea, fan yourselves (Tremell.). The precept is doubled, as it is likewise Numbers 3:40 2 Corinthians 13:5, to show the necessity of our doing it, as also the utility if well done; and, lastly, our crossness and averseness thereunto, together with God’ s exceeding great desire that it should be thoroughly done for our greatest good. Grievous things he had threatened in the former chapter; all which to prevent, he here prescribeth them a course of self-examination, and thereupon sound conversion; so true is that of an ancient, Ideo minatur Deus ut non puniat, God doth therefore threaten that he may not punish (Isidore). It is as if God should thus say, Behold, thou art in danger of destruction; is it not therefore high time to search, yea, to be serious and exact in the scrutiny? to gather thy dispersed wits together, to summon the sobriety of thy senses before the bar of thy best judgment? to consider and consult what is fit to be done in this case? to have thine eyes in thine head, with Solomon’ s wise man? Ecclesiastes 2:14; yea, to have thine eyes like the windows in Solomon’ s temple, broad inward, 1 Kings 6:4. Men’ s minds are naturally as ill set as their eyes; they turn neither of them inward. Lamiae or witch-like, they are sharp sighted abroad to discern other men’ s faults; but blind at home to take notice of their own. Nature shows no sin: What is our iniquity or our sin? said those in Jeremiah, when wrath was even breaking out upon them, Jeremiah 16:10; so Hosea 12:8. Men deal with their souls as some do with their bodies; who, when their beauty is decayed, they desire to hide it from themselves by false glasses, and from others by painting; so their sins, from themselves by false glosses, and from others by excuses. But he that thus hideth his sins cannot prosper, Proverbs 28:13, he must not look for Gaius’ s prosperity, 3 John 1:2, but for further hardness of heart, Proverbs 28:14, and horror of conscience, Psalms 32:3. For God will not rap up men’ s bones before they are set, nor lap up their sores before they are searched. Wherefore search you, search you, O nation, &c. Search yourselves to the quick, sift you to the bran, lay your hands upon your hearts, thrust them deep into your bosoms, with Moses, so shall you take them out again leprous as snow, Exodus 4:6.

II. (1-3) An exhortation to seek God before His day of vengeance is revealed.

CHAPTER II The prophet, having declared the judgments which were ready to fall on his people, earnestly exhorts them to repentance, that these judgments may be averted, 1-3. He then foretells the fate of other neighbouring and hostile nations: the Philistines, 4-7; Moabites and Ammonites, 8-11; Ethiopians, 12; and Assyrians, 13. In the close of the chapter we have a prophecy against Nineveh. These predictions were accomplished chiefly by the conquests of Nebuchadnezzar. NOTES ON CHAP. II Verse 1. Gather yourselves] Others, sift yourselves. Separate the chaff from the wheat, before the judgments of God fall upon you. O nation not desired - unlovely, not delighted in; hated because of your sin. The Israelites are addressed.

Chap. Zephaniah 2:1-3. Exhortation to men to seek righteousness, if perchance they may be hid in the Day of the Lord 1. The prophet addresses himself to Judah. Gather yourselves together] The sense is obscure. The verb (ḳ ?ash) is used of gathering straw, Exodus 5:12, sticks, Numbers 15:32; 1 Kings 17:10; 1 Kings 17:12, and does not otherwise occur. It is very doubtful if the word could be used in a metaphorical or mental sense, collect yourselves, that is, reflect, that ye may understand and repent. Rothstein (in Kautzsch’s Bible) suggests a root ḳ ?ûsh, and renders, Bow yourselves and be bowed, but the Arabic verb on which he bases this sense (ḳ ?áwisa, 5 taḳ ?áwwasa) is a denominative from ḳ ?aus “a bow,” and does not mean to bow down but to be bow-shaped, or curved in the back. With more plausibility Ewald appealed to the Aramaic word signifying to be old (ḳ ?âsh), assuming that the primary sense of the word was to be (become) withered, grey in colour. If this primary sense could be established his rendering turn pale! i.e. be ashamed, might be accepted, as it would agree very well with the next clause. Budde proposes at once to read be ashamed (root, bôsh), but if this common word had originally stood in the text it is not easy to understand how the present difficult reading could have arisen. There is a similarly obscure word in Isaiah 46:8. O nation not desired] R.V. O nation that hath no shame, marg. longing. In usage the Heb. word means to long, to desire greatly, but this sense is supposed to be secondary, the primary meaning being to be pale, whitish (hence the word silver in Heb., = “white money”). The radical meaning of most Heb. words signifying “to be ashamed” is to be (become) white, because to be ashamed meant, to be practically confounded, and terror or dismay was an element in the feeling.

Having set forth the terrors of the Judgment Day, the prophet adds an earnest call to repentance; and then declares how judgments, forerunners of that Day, shall fall, one by one, on those nations

TO , Zephaniah 2:1-3.As the Book of Zephaniah is arranged now, Zephaniah 2:1-3, is connected closely with Zephaniah 2:4-15.