Zephaniah 1

Zephaniah Chapter One“ The word of Jehovah which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah” (Zephaniah 1:1). In these lines we have the prophet’ s family lineage. That he traces his ancestry to Hezekiah, shows that he was of the” seed royal,” i.e., the house of David. He dates his book by telling us it was produced “ in the days of Josiah” the king of Judah. Josiah reigned from 639-608 B. C. The Sins of Judah Delineated (Zephaniah 1:2-18).

“ I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from the face of the ground, saith Jehovah” (Zephaniah 1:2-3). Zephaniah gets right to the point, God is going to judge the earth! The destructiveness will be comparable to that of Noah’ s day. None will escape and many will perish! In the ravages of war, all creatures suffer.

Soldiers lived off the ground they occupied. All things eatable were taken. More particularly, he mentions beasts, birds and fish to emphasize that nothing will escape the horrors of the coming day of God’ s judgment. The word “ stumblingblocks” is derived from a Hebrew term that mean “ ruins.” It is rendered “ heaps of rubble” in the NIV. He evidently uses the term metaphorically to describe the ruined state of affairs in the nation. They had ruined personal integrity, the sacredness of marriage, God’ s religion and government.

It would certainly include the idolatry that was rampant in the land. He hastens to add thus “ saith Jehovah.” His message was not of his own making, it was indeed, God given.

“ And I will stretch out my hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarim with the priests; and them that worship the hosts of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship, that swear to Jehovah and swear by Malcam; and them that are turned back from following Jehovah; and those that have not sought Jehovah, nor inquired after him” (Zephaniah 1:4-6). God announces that he will personally take charge of the coming judgment. The primary purpose of the judgment will be to purge the nation of Judah of the corrupting idolatry into which they had fallen. Specifically he mentions:

1. “ The remnant of Baal.” Baal was the chief god of the Canaanites whom the Hebrews displaced. He was the sun god and thought to be the god of procreation and good harvests. He was worshiped with vile rites of gluttony, drunkenness and ritual fornication. Baal worship was pure idolatry and strictly forbidden (Exodus 20:4-6).
2. “ The name of the Chemarim with the priests.” The word “ chemarim” means “ priest.” That which is condemned are the unlawful priests who were looked to by the people. Some were priests of Baal and other heathen deities and some were the unapproved priests such as Jereboam I installed in Israel (1 Kings 12:31).
3. “ Them that worship the host of heaven.” Sinful man has always been allured by the sun, moon and stars. While rejecting the God who made them, they adore the creation and think that the heavenly orbs can somehow affect their lives. God strictly forbade the Hebrews from engaging in such worship (Deuteronomy 4:19). Even in this well-educated scientific age, multitudes are still consulting their horoscopes.
4. “ Them that swear by to Jehovah and…Malcam.” Malcam, sometimes called Milcom or Molech was the chief god of the wicked Ammonites. To him human sacrifices were offered (Jeremiah 32:35). In this verse he condemns their attempt to hold both the worship of Jehovah and that of Malcam. The blending of diverse and even contradictory religions is called “ syncretism.” The surviving members of the Northern Kingdom intermarried with the idolatrous Gentiles sent there by the king of Assyria. “ They feared Jehovah, and served their own gods” (2 Kings 17:33). Elijah confronted this same problem. He challenged the people “ If Jehovah be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). The New Age religion of our day is thoroughly syncrestic.
5. Godless apostates among the Hebrews are “ turned back from following Jehovah.” “ Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord Jehovah; for the day of Jehovah is at hand: for Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath consecrated his guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of Jehovah’s sacrifice, that 1 will punish the princes, and the king’ s sons, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel. And in that day I will punish all those that leap over the threshold, that fill their master’ s house with violence and deceit” (Zephaniah 1:7-9). In the presence of Almighty God, sinful men are expected to hold their peace and be silent (Habakkuk 2:20). There is no questioning God’ s decision, no arguing their case. Their only choice was to listen to His decree and accept it as just.

A sacrifice always involved the death of an animal. A portion of the sacrifice was consumed on the altar and the rest eaten by the priest and the one offering the sacrifice. As used by the prophet, God is going to sacrifice the wicked among his people Judah. He cites those with whom he has a just grievance.

1. Princes and king’ s sons and all who are clothed with foreign apparel. These were men who held high positions in government. To help his people remember that they belonged to Jehovah, God had prescribed that their apparel be marked with fringes of blue (Numbers 15:38). The worldly among them chaffed at having to display the insignia of their religion, preferring the latest styles and fashions of the Gentile world. Many Christians have this same problem. They cast aside the modest apparel prescribed by Paul for the suggestive fashions of worldly designers.
2. Those who leap over the threshold. This alludes to a pagan superstition borrowed from the Philistines (1 Samuel 5:5). From the day that their god Dagon fell before the ark of Jehovah, “ neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’ s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon…” (1 Samuel 5:5). It was a silly superstition borrowed from their pagan neighbors.
3. Those who fill their master’ s house with violence and deceit. This refers to those agents of the king or perhaps of other powerful men, who used violence and deceit to extort the wealth and possessions of the common folks for their masters. All of those mentioned above are on God’ s list of transgressors deserving special attention when he comes to judge the world. “ And in that day, saith Jehovah, there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. Wail, ye inhabitants of Maktesh; for all the people of Canaan are undone; all they that were laden with silver are cut off” (Zephaniah 1:10-11). “ That day” is the day of the Lord when the invading army appears. “ The fish gate” was located in the northern wall of the city (2 Chronicles 33:14). It would be where the fish merchants would sell their goods. The “ cry” would be of alarm at the approach of the destroying army. “ The second quarter” was the more recent extension to the city. It enlarged the walls to the north and west. From the new quarter of the city the citizens would see and hear the approach of the invading horde. “ The Maktesh” was the likely the bazaar where the merchants who were laden with silver did their business.

Maktesh literally means “ mortar” but that does not help us in identifying the place. Sarcastically, he call the merchants “the people of Canaan.” The word canaanite means “ merchant.” Canaanites would not likely have been allow to set up shop in the holy city. But the Jewish merchants were not much different than those of their Canaanite neighbors. We can imagine the fear and consternation that would sweep through the city’ s population when they learned that an attack was immanent. “ And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps; and I will punish the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, Jehovah will not do good, neither will he do evil. And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: yea, they shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof* (Zephaniah 1:12-13). God forewarns the people that none can escape the coming judgment for he himself will “ search Jerusalem with lamps,** finding and routing the wicked from their hiding places. This reminds us of Diogenes of Sinopes who walked through Athens with a lamp in hand. When asked what he was doing, he said he was looking for an honest man. God promises he will punish those who “ are settled on their lees…” i.e., congealed in their wickedness.

Lees are the solid particles in the wine that settles to the bottom of the container. The wine was left on the lees to improve its flavor. If left too long it caused the wine to sour. When the wine was to be used, it was strained to remove the lees. The people of Judah had tolerated sin and vice in their lives and it had corrupted the whole of their society. It had also hardened their hearts causing them to deny that God had any interest in their lives, be they good or evil, nor would he reward the good or punish the evil.

This is a kind of “ practical atheism” that manifests itself in the attitude of many who call themselves Christians. Zephaniah warns that their wealth will be taken as spoil by the invading soldiers. The fine homes they had built while ignoring God, they would not live to enjoy. Nor would they live to enjoy the wine their vineyards had produced.

“ The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of Jehovah; the mighty man crieth there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements” (Zephaniah 1:14-16). For the righteous, the day of the Lord is a day of joy and happiness, a day of blessings and receiving rewards but for the wicked of Zephaniah’ s day it was the opposite. With poetic flourish he paints a dreary scene of a city overrun by a cruel enemy. God’ s wrath is poured upon them by the hands of the Babylonian army. The defending army will be routed.

The civilians will be fleeing in terror. The city will be burning, the clouds of smoke ascending to the heavens. Amid the screams and chaos he hears the war trumpet signaling and directing the troops. It is indeed a mournful and pathetic picture he paints. The defensive walls and battlements had not been sufficient to withstand the punishment God had imposed on them. “ And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah’ s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he will make an end, yea, a terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land” (Zephaniah 1:17-18). Their disaster is God’ s doing. In such chaos and confusion, a blind person cannot tell where he is or where he is going. He wanders aimlessly and so will the citizens of Jerusalem. Because of their great burden of sin, they will pay a fearful price.

Violent death will overtake many of them. They will be slaughtered without pity by enemy soldiers. Their dead bodies will be left to rot like the dung heaps in a pasture. In their acquisition of wealth they had forgotten God. When the day of reckoning comes their gold and silver will not save them. They had ignored, despised and insulted their God and now “ a terrible end” will overtake them. Zephaniah Chapter OneVerse 1 Zephaniah announced his theme at once, following his identification of himself as God’s spokesman (Zephaniah 1:1), that being the universal final judgment of the whole world (Zephaniah 1:2-3). Would the Jews escape the terrors of that day? Certainly not! Passing from the general to the specific, a device which Dummelow described as being in harmony with the “genius of the Semitic mind,"[1] Zephaniah detailed the effect of the judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem (Zephaniah 1:4-7) and pointed out that it would fall heavily upon sinners of every rank (Zephaniah 1:8-13). The terrible day of the Lord will burst suddenly upon the whole earth and all of its inhabitants (Zephaniah 1:14-18). Zephaniah 1:1“The word of Jehovah which came unto Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.“See the introduction for full discussion of this superscription which is received by this writer as genuine and Zephaniah’s own claim of divine authority for what is included in his prophecy. All subjective, imaginative, unscientific objections to this view have been proved to be worthless. It appears to be quite obvious that Zephaniah’s reason for including so many of his ancestors in this verse was for the purpose of indicating his royal descent from the good king Hezekiah of Judah. It is barely possible that there could have been another reason. His father was Cushi, which means “an Ethiopian or a Cushite."[2] The offspring resulting from a Hebrew girl’s marrying a foreigner “would not have been accepted in the Jewish community unless he could show a pure Jewish pedigree for at lease three generations (Deuteronomy 23:8)."[3] That also could have entered into this unusual inclusion of four of his forbears in Zephaniah’s superscription. There are many internal evidences that require us to believe that the portion of Josiah’s long reign of 39 years during which the prophet delivered his message was the first part, before the reforms. Verse 2 “I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah.““This is a proclamation of the universal judgment of God."[4] “Ground,” as rendered in this verse would be more clearly rendered “earth” as in the Revised Standard Version.” I will utterly sweep everything from the face of the earth, says the Lord.” This is an assertion of God’s sovereign right and power (also his intention) to judge the whole earth (not land, as in the King James Version)."[5]Eakin pointed out that the Hebrew in this passage literally means: “I will cut off mankind ([‘adam]) from the face of the earth ([‘adamah])."[6] This is extremely illuminating, for it reveals that the primeval sentence upon Adam for his rebellion against God, which, of course, was death, would at last be executed in the final judgement and destruction of Adam in the person of his total posterity, the unique exceptions being the redeemed in Christ. “Saith Jehovah …” In the proclamation of final and universal judgment, “The prophet is merely the vehicle of the Divine announcement."[7] “Those who would tell us that Zephaniah’s prophetic insight came merely from an informed political prognosticator, do so only by ignoring the prophet’s claim."[8] The message is from God, not from Zephaniah. Verse 3 “I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from the face of the ground, saith Jehovah.““The birds of the heavens … fishes of the sea …” Even that life which survived the divine judgement of the great flood would be included in the final destruction. By such an emphasis as this, Zephaniah shows that, “The approaching judgment will be general over all the earth, and as terrible as the judgment of the flood (Genesis 6:7)."[9]“I will cut off man from the face of the ground, saith Jehovah …” (See Eakin’s comment on this sentence given under Zephaniah 1:2, above.) Barnes translated as follows: “I will cut off the whole race of man from the face of the earth, saith the Lord” … All this shall be fulfilled in the Day of Judgment, and all other fulfillment’s are earnests of the final judgment."[10]As Hailey warned, “This all-embracing declaration is not to be explained away simply as hyperbole."[11] That the race of Adam, running wild in their rebellion against God, will most surely be eventually terminated is, in fact, the theme of the entire Bible. True, God promised death to Adam “in the day” that he rebelled; but what is that day? It is the current dispensation, as indicated in the writer of brew’s reference to this whole period as “the seventh day,” the very day in which Adam sinned (Hebrews 4:4-6). An understanding of this also explains why this judgment is always spoken of by the prophets as being “at hand.” Moreover, all of the lesser judgments that have fallen, throughout history, upon Israel, Judah, Babylon, Assyria, Jerusalem, and Rome, etc., are but tokens and reminders of the eventual catastrophe that God has promised as the termination of his Operation Adam! One of these lesser judgments, which Zephaniah would immediately expound, was upon Judah and Jerusalem; and all of them are like the ultimate Judgment in that man himself is to blame for them because of his sin and wickedness. Verse 4 “And I will stretch out my hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarin with the priests.““I will stretch out my hand upon Judah …” The popular misunderstanding of the Judgment Day among the Jews regarded it as a day of personal triumph for themselves over their Gentile enemies, an error Amos had sought to correct a century prior to Zephaniah (Zephaniah 3:18-20). It was therefore necessary for Zephaniah to warn Judah that they would not escape divine judgment while living in rebellion against the Lord. All the world is wicked; but, “The sin of God’s people is worst of all, precisely because they are God’s people. As Peter has it, ‘Judgment must begin at the house of God’ (1 Peter 4:17)."[12]“Cut off the remnant of Baal …” Reid thought that, “This implies that reform had begun,"[13] but such an implication is not in the passage at all. As a matter of fact, some translate it, “The vestige of Baal”; and as Taylor noted (see introduction) it does not require the deduction that only a vestige of Baal remained, having rather the meaning that, even the last vestiges of Baal will be rooted out. Furthermore, many ancient authorities render this place “the name of Baal,” including the Septuagint,[14] thus making it parallel with the “name of the Chemarin” in the next clause. Thus, no valid argument for dating Zephaniah after Josiah’s reform can be made from this. “And the name of the Chemarin with the priests …” “Chemarin is the usual Aramaic word for priest, which comes from a root whose meaning is ’to be black.’"[15] “It means ‘black-robed’ and is applied to idolatrous priests (2 Kings 23:5; Hosea 10:5)."[16]Verse 5 “And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship and swear to Jehovah and swear by Malcam.“These verses (Zephaniah 1:4-6) give the reasons why God’s judgment would fall upon Judah. They might all be summed up in a word, “apostasy” from the knowledge and worship of God. “Worship the host of heaven …” Astrology and the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as practiced by the Assyrians and Babylonians, became common among Jewish idolaters (2 Kings 23:11; Jeremiah 19:13; Ezekiel 8:16). As Stephen said, “God turned and gave them up to serve the host of heaven” (Acts 7:42). “And swear by Jehovah and swear by Malcam …” Worshipping God and any other god, or anything else, adds up to apostasy. The Jews did in fact mention the true God, but in the same breath they honored and served Baal, Malcam, and other pagan deities. Hanke and other scholars have identified the “Malcam” of this passage with “Molech, a Semitic deity honored by the sacrifices of children."[17] Our Lord himself made it plain that one cannot serve “two masters” (Matthew 6:24). The syncretism of ancient Israel in their foolish efforts to worship both the true God and the pagan deities has its counterpart in our own society today. As Gill noted: “The Assyrian worship of the planets has infected the people of God in their preoccupation with horoscopes."[18] Christianity today is likewise seeking a peaceful co-existence and accommodation with Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, etc. “The World Council of Churches is itself a form of religion syncretism."[19] Colin W. Williams, dean of the Yale Divinity school stated that, “What is true for the Buddhist in his situation may be as valid for him as mine is for me”; and Max Therian, speaking before the World Council in New Delhi, affirmed that truth and charity were taught by both Mohammed and Jesus, declaring that both are “recognized as Master and Prophet."[20] Such views are totally wrong; “There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” Of all the pagan deities, none was any more despicable than Molech; and Israel’s participation in his worship is Biblically attested in the fact that at least three of their kings engaged in it (Ahab, 1 Kings 16:34; Ahaz, 2 Kings 16:3, and Manasseh (2 Kings 21:6). Jeremiah responded to such a situation with the ironic question: “Will ye steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods, and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by my name, saying, we are delivered to do these abominations?” (Jeremiah 7-8-10). Such also are Christians who fancy, “That they can serve together the world and the Lord Jesus Christ, and please two masters, God and Mammon."[21]Verse 6 “And them that are turned back from following Jehovah; and those that have not sought Jehovah, nor inquired after him.“This is addressed to the vast company of the irreligious who have given up all pretense of serving God or of manifesting any concern whatever regarding God’s will. Taylor stated that this verse might properly be rendered thus: “The wicked, in the pride of his countenance, does not go to church."[22]Verse 7 “Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord Jehovah; for the day of Jehovah is at hand: for Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath consecrated his guests.““Hold thy peace …” Jamieson rendered this, “Let the earth be silent at God’s approach,"[23] similar to the words in Habakkuk 2:20. He also gave Calvin’s comment on this place, thus: “Thou, whosoever who has 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.” “The day of the Lord is at hand …” All of the judgments of God are “at hand,” whether partial and specific, as in the case of the approaching destruction of Judah, or that eventual day, that Day when Jesus Christ shall appear as the Judge of all men. In the case of the destruction of Judah, it was “at hand” in the most immediate sense. “Zephaniah’s prophecy of the doom of Israel was fulfilled less than forty years later in the fall of Jerusalem and the great exile."[24] The final Judgment is “at hand” in that it will be the terminal of the Adamic race upon the earth, and toward which the human family is madly rushing in full and reckless speed. In the dispensational sense, this is still the day in which Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. All of the prophets spoke of the final judgment as “at hand.” “Jehovah hath prepared a sacrifice …““This sacrifice is the Jewish nation; those who are invited to the sacrificial meal are not beasts and birds of prey, as in Ezekiel 39:17, but the nations which God has consecrated to war that they may consume Jacob (Jeremiah 10:25)."[25]God’s ownership and employment of the destroying nations called to punish Judah is the same here as inMatthew 22:7 where Jesus indicated the same thing regarding the Roman armies that would destroy Jerusalem, saying, “The king was wroth, and sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” It is annoying that so many commentators go out of their way in these verses to tell how Zephaniah believed that the destruction of Jerusalem was about to take place by the Scythians, paying lip service to the allegation that Zephaniah was no prophet at all, but merely an astute political prognosticator. As a matter of truth, Herodotus’ vague story does not mention Judah at all, nor is there the slightest proof that Zephaniah ever heard of the Scythians. If Zephaniah, in reality foretold the destruction of Jerusalem by the Scythians, who could believe that the Jews gathered up the words of his prophecy and preserved them in the sacred Canon for over 25 centuries? Dean’s comment is: “The vague account of Herodotus (i. 105) gives no support to the assertion that the Scythians. invaded Palestine in Josiah’s reign; nor is there a trace of knowledge of such irruption in either Zephaniah or Jeremiah."[26]As Ironside said, this “sacrificial feast” with Judah as the victim strongly reminds us of the “Supper of the great God (Revelation 19:17-18)”;[27] thus indicating that the immediate judgment about to fall on Jerusalem and the ultimate Final Judgment are one, the first being a token of the ultimate. Verse 8 “And it shall come to pass in the day of Jehovah’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes and the king’s sons and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.““Punish the princes and the king’s sons …” Some have professed to find a difficulty here, because Josiah, who was under the age of twenty at the time we believe Zephaniah was written would not have had any children in the times of Zephaniah old enough to fall under the criticism given here. However, “The Septuagint translation used ‘house of the king’ here, and that may be more accurate."[28] If that should not be allowed, “the king’s sons” might refer to the sons of preceding kings who would still have been living when Zephaniah wrote. Another possibility is that Zephaniah here spoke of Judah in a general sense, not focusing upon the reign of Josiah at all. Certainly a number of “king’s sons” died without mercy during God’s terrible judgment upon Judah. For example, Zedekiah who was carried away to Babylon saw his sons put to death before his eyes, and then he himself was blinded by the barbarous Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:1-7). “Such as are clothed with foreign apparel …” It is hard to believe that God would have punished his people for any innocent preference of one kind of clothing or another; so what is meant here is that something most shameful and reprehensible was involved in the wearing of the “foreign apparel” here mentioned. “Grotius said this refers to clothing forbidden by the law, e.g., men’s garments worn by women, and vice versa, a heathen usage in the worship of Mars and Venus (Deuteronomy 2:5)."[29] By aping the popular fashions of Assyria and other pagan nations, the leaders of the people were also showing their willingness to receive the philosophy and morals of the pagans. It is only a small step between accepting the dress of pagans and accepting their teachings. Verse 9 “And in that day will I punish all that leap over the threshold, that fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.“Some have tried to make “leap over the threshold” here a reference to some pagan custom; but we believe that Barnes was correct in viewing the second clause as an explanation of the first. “Neither language, nor history, nor context allow this to be understood of the idolatrous customs of Ashdod. The same persons who “leap over the threshold” are those who “fill their master’s house with violence."[30]We believe Hailey was correct: “it is more plausible that the term had become a common term for burglary and thievery."[31]Despite our preference for the views of such writers as Hailey and Barnes on this passage, the possibility remains that some pagan significance might have pertained to leaping over the threshold. Eakin noted that: “The threshold was judged in antiquity to be the abode of a demon (or demons), thus a place of particular danger. In Roman times this belief found expression in the protective carrying of a bride across the threshold."[32]Verse 10 “And in that day, saith Jehovah, there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills. Wail, ye inhabitants of Maktesh; for all the people of Canaan are undone; all they that are laden ‘with silver are cut off.““The fish gate …” This was one of the north entrances to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 3:1-6). The second quarter was where Huldah the prophetess lived (2 Kings 22:14). Maktesh is not elsewhere mentioned in the Bible. Perhaps all of these places were in the north sector of the city, indicating that the invasion would come from the north. “The hills …” probably refers to the terrain upon which the city was built. “All the people of Canaan are undone …” This is not a reference to the original Canaanites, but to the Jews who had adopted the customs, the clothing, the religion, and the immorality of the old Canaanites, thus becoming in themselves another Canaan. The word for “Canaan” may also be translated Phoenician or trafficker. (See under Hosea 12:7 for further discussion of this.) It was the shameful wickedness of the original Canaanites that caused God to remove them from the land and to re-populate the area with Israel; now that Israel had themselves become “Canaan,” God had no choice but to remove them also. Verse 12 “And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps; and I will punish the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, Jehovah will not do good, neither will he do evil.““I will search Jerusalem with lamps …” Here is the reason why ancient and mediaeval artists depicted Zephaniah as the man with a lamp or candle, thus missing the main point that it is not Zephaniah who will search Jerusalem, but the Lord God Almighty. This verse deals particularly with people who hide from responsibility; and the thrust of it is that God will find and punish them anyway. In the fall of Jerusalem depicted here, it doubtless happened exactly as it did in 70 A.D., an event described by Josephus: “Princes and priests and chieftains were dragged from sewers, pits, caves, and tombs, where they had hidden themselves in fear of death, and were mercilessly slain wherever they were found."[33]“I will punish the men that are settled on their lees …” As explained in the next clause, these were the people who were totally indifferent to God, the practical atheists who did not take God into account as either a plus or minus factor in their lives. They simply lived as if God were not. The figure of being “settled on their lees” is most appropriate. Laetsch commented on it thus: “Judah had settled down on its dregs and impurities (the “lees” is the solid waste that settles to the bottom in the wine-making process; and unless the wine is periodically removed from these, it is ruined), until the lusts of its wicked flesh had completely permeated the good wine of sanctification and obedience to the Lord and had changed God’s chosen people to a nation of hardened iniquity, equaling and surpassing the Gentiles in moral impurities, shameless vices, and self-satisfied lip-service."[34]The classical comment of George Adam Smith has also been cited by many commentators in this context: “We have today the same mass of obscure, nameless persons, who oppose their almost unconquerable inertia against all vital religion. The great causes of God and humanity are not defeated by the hot assaults of the devil, but by the slow, crushing, glacier-like mass of thousands and thousands of indifferent nobodies. God’s causes are never destroyed by being blown up, but by being sat upon."[35]This figure of being settled “on their lees,” described by Taylor as, “perhaps the most striking in the whole book,"[36] was also used by Jeremiah: “Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his scent is not changed (Jeremiah 48:11).” In a word, the Judah of Zephaniah’s day was permeated by a large class of those revealed in the New Testament as Laodiceans, “neither cold nor hot,” and fit only to be spat out. Verse 13 “And their wealth shall become a spoil, and their houses a desolation: yea, they shall build houses, but shall not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but shall not drink the wine thereof.“Language of this kind was often used by the prophets to described the kind of destruction that was in store for Judah. A military disaster would overwhelm them. Verse 14 “The great day of Jehovah is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of Jehovah; the mighty man crieth there, bitterly.“The blatant and persistent sins of the chosen people were “the voice” that proclaimed the near approach of judgment; and, if it was true of ancient Judah, is it not also true that when the same wickedness is rampant in the whole world that such is “the voice” of the approaching final Judgment of all men? Of course it is. “We live in times when these “signs” are all about us. Whether they portend the declining days of our culture and the beginning of another era, or the soon coming of the “Final Day” is irrelevant. In either case, we would be fools not to share with the prophets (of both Testaments) the sense of urgent need for preparation and repentance."[37]This 14th verse, and to the end of the chapter, is a detailed enlargement upon the terrors of eternal judgment, presented in the hope of breaking through the persistent indifference and complacency of the people of God. Verse 15 “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.“The Vulgate rendition of the first two phrases is Dies Irae, Dies Illa, the title and opening line of the famous mediaeval hymn by Thomas of Celano, sung by churches all over the world as a solemn Requiem. The translation of the hymn is itself an appropriate commentary on this whole passage: “Day of wrath! O day of mourning! See fulfilled the prophet’s warning, Heaven and earth in ashes burning! O what fear man’s bosom rendeth When from heav’n the Judge descendeth, On whose sentence all dependeth! Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth; Through earth’s sepulchres it ringeth; All before the throne it bringeth. Death is struck, and nature quaking, All creation awaking, To its Judge an answer making.” Verse 16 “A day of the trumpet and alarm, against the fortified cities, and against the high battlements.“All of the places of human security will be useless in the day of God’s judgment, whether in a local and specific judgment like that which came upon Judah forty years after Zephaniah, or in the day of great terror that is prophesied to conclude human habitation of the earth. The only true security is in the knowledge and service of God. Verse 17 “And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as dung.“Modern men reject any conception of an eternal judgment, but in doing so they overlook one thing. Christ, the sovereign head of our holy religion, emphatically endorsed and expanded the very conception that is found here in Zephaniah and in the other prophets. The reason for the universal destruction accompanying that day is the rebellion of men against their God and Creator. In rejecting the very reason for which they were created, men, as a result, lose all cosmic and eternal value. Their blood and flesh alone, unadorned by a soul in tune with God, becomes as worthless as dust, fit only for a sewer. This verse is a promise that God will enforce such a judgment upon the wicked. Verse 18 “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; ‘for he will make an end, yea, a terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land.““Neither their silver nor their gold …” All of the material things upon which men set their hearts are worthless in any eternal sense. The great judgment of God will not be conducted upon the basis or what any man has, but upon the basis of what he is, and whether or not he loves and serves God. “Whole land shall be devoured by fire …” The apostle Peter elaborated this description of the earth’s destruction by fire in 2 Peter 3:10-13, a thing that the apostle most surely would not have done without the certain knowledge that what he wrote was in full harmony with the will and teachings of the Saviour of all men. “End … of all them that dwell in the land …” Our version (American Standard Version) is weak in this passage. The Revised Standard Version is surely correct in the rendition, “In the fire of his jealous wrath, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full, yea, sudden end, he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.” It is thus clear that the final judgment is in view, for the totality of men will be involved in it. It is a marvel to some that Zephaniah seems to confuse the end of Judah and the end of the world; but, as Carson noted: “The near and the distant often merge as the prophets survey the horizon of events. Events which are historically separate are often seen in a timeless sequence.” [38]The powerful message of these final verses of Zephaniah 1 should be heeded by all men. God’s eternal judgment will most certainly occur. There will be a time in history when the Son of Man shall suddenly appear in the vault of heaven with ten thousand of his angels, taking vengeance upon them that know not God and obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It will a time of “bad news” for Adam’s rebellious race. “All the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him when they see the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven in power and great glory” (Matthew 24:29-30). All of the smooth infidels who have scoffed at holy religion will dramatically discover their fatal error, and the mightiest of all the earth shall scream for the rocks and mountains to fall upon them and hide them from the face of the Lamb and from him that sitteth upon the throne, a throne which they would not believe even existed! Yes, preaching on the theme of Eternal Judgment has been grossly abused; and, as Edgar said: “Fear that we may be classed with those melodramatic preachers who delight to portray the tortures of the damned have too easily made us forget this whole dimension of Biblical preaching."[39]Nevertheless, our fears of human disapproval ought not to interfere with loyalty in regard to what Jesus Christ himself plainly taught. There can be no faithfulness to Christ without preaching the doctrine of Eternal Judgment. The thunders of the Great Assize most certainly reverberate throughout the dramatic chapters of Zephaniah.

Zephaniah 1:1

Zephaniah 1:1. Word of the Lord came unto Zephaniah denotes that the prophet wrote by inspiration of God. Days of Josiah definitely gives us the date of the book which was near the end of the kingdom of Judah.

Zephaniah 1:2

Zephaniah 1:2. Utterly consume means to remove the things from the land.

Zephaniah 1:3

Zephaniah 1:3. Consume still means to remove, although it is used somewhat figuratively with reference to dumb creatures, for we know from history that there was no actual disturbance of such things. But by removing the people from the land it removed them from all use of them. The idols were the chief stumblingblocks of God’s people so that is what is meant that would be removed. History shows that Israel never committed idolatry after the return from captivity.

Zephaniah 1:4

Zephaniah 1:4. Jerusalem was the capital of Judah and it was doomed to be taken into captivity out off the remnant of Baal refers directly to the idols and they were to be cut off even before the people were removed. (See 2 Kings 23:4-5.)

Zephaniah 1:5

Zephaniah 1:5. Host of heaven upon the housetops refers to the worship of the stars, and the people went to their housetops for that practice. Swear by the Lord and by Malcham (national idol of the Ammonites) means they tried to mix the idolatrous worship with that at the true God of Israel.

Zephaniah 1:6

Zephaniah 1:6. Cut off is still the verb that tells what is to happen to certain evil characters. Turned back from the Lord means those who proved unfaithful to Him and directed their attention to idols. These persons did not seek information from the Lord nor even make any inquiry after Him.

Zephaniah 1:7

Zephaniah 1:7. Hold thy peace has about the same force as the bid for “silence” in Habakkuk 2:20. Day ot the Lord means the day of judgment against Judah when she was to be taken into captivity. Prepared a sacrifice Is figurative and refers to the turning over of Judah to the Babylonians. Bid his Guests. When a man makes a feast he invites a number of guests, and in like manner the Lord bids the whole world to behold the judgments about to be sent upon a disobedient people.

Zephaniah 1:8

Zephaniah 1:8. The leaders in Jerusalem were chiefly responsible for the corruptions of the nation and they are given special notice here.

Zephaniah 1:9

Zephaniah 1:9. Leap on the threshold means those who enter the houses or their abominable masters and thus endorse them in their evil way of ltfe.

Zephaniah 1:10

Zephaniah 1:10. The gates and hills are mentioned which indicates that the tumult to be caused by the Invasion would be general.

Zephaniah 1:11

Zephaniah 1:11. Maktesh was a spot in Jerusalem that was evidently a commercial center. The traffic had become quite estionable and the merchants were to be punished for it which is the reason they are told to howl.

Zephaniah 1:12

Zephaniah 1:12. Candles should not convey the thought of a weak light because such articles in ancient times were not made as they are today. The original word means something that would furnish a searchIng light. Lees are the settlings of wine that has become fixed and undisturbed. It is used figuratively to indicate the feeling of satisfaction that the leading men in Jerusalem had in spite of the warning predictions of the prophets that a calamity was soon coming upon the city. Not do good or evil means that they did not believe that the Lord was really going to do anything about the situation. They had lulled the peopIe into a state of indifference as to their conduct by the false prophecies of peace made to them by the corrupt teachers.

Zephaniah 1:13

Zephaniah 1:13. This verse is a prediction of the invasion from the Babylonian army that was to take possession of the property of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Zephaniah 1:14

Zephaniah 1:14. The great day of the Lord is near. Zephaniah wrote this in the days of Josiah which was less than a quarter of a century before the captivIty.

Zephaniah 1:15

Zephaniah 1:15. This verse describes the terrible conditions that came upon the land at the siege and capture of Judah by the Babylonian army. The fulfiIlment of the prediction is recorded in 2 Kings 24, 25.

Zephaniah 1:16

Zephaniah 1:16. The trumpet was sounded in a time of war and this is a prediction of such an occasion. Fenced cities were those that were walled and fortified, but all such means of protection or defence were destined to prove insufficient.

Zephaniah 1:17

Zephaniah 1:17. This verse is a description of the humiliation to come upon the men of Judah when the Babylonians came against the land. The reason for all this terrible judgment is expressed by the words because they have sinned against the Lord.

Zephaniah 1:18

Zephaniah 1:18. Sometimes a victorious army can be induced to make peace by the offer of money. But the Babylonians were not wanting that, instead they were bent on the subjugation of the city of Jerusalem and its surrounding territory.