It has been disputed what the enemies are with whose desolating inroads he threatens Judah. The ordinary and most probable opinion is that the foes whose period of invasion was " a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities and against the high towers" (ch. i. If.), were the Chaldaeans. Hitzig especially, Cramer too, and Eichhorn, supposed the prophet to refer to a Scythian invasion, the history of which they imagine has been preser\'ed by Herodotus (i, 105). But tlie general style of the oracle, and the sweeping vengeance which it menaces against Assyria, Philistia, Ammon, and Cush, as well as against Judah, by some great and unnamed power, point to the ChaldiBan expedition whicli, under Nebuchadnezzar, laid Jerusalem waste, and carried U> Babylon its enslaved population. The contemporary prophecies of Jeremiah contemplate the mustcrings, onset, and devastations of the same victorious hosts. The former part of Zephaniah's prediction is "a day of clouds and of thick darkness," but in the closing section of it light is sown for the righteous : " The king of Is- rael, the Lord, is in the midst of thee ; he will rejoice over thee with joy ; he will rest in his love."
IV. Sli/le.—We cannot by any means award so low a
character to Zephauiali's style as is done by Ue Wette (Kiiileil. § 245), who describes it as being often heavy and tedious. It has not the sustained majesty of Isaiah, or the sublime and original energy of .loel: it has no prominent feature of distinction ; yet its delineations arc graphic, and many of its tuuclios are bold and striking. Kor example, in tlie tirst chapter the prophet groups to- gether in his descriptions of the national idolatry sev- eral characteristic exhibitions of its forms and worship. The verses are not tame and prosaic portraiture, but form a series of vivid sketches. The poet seizes on the more strange peculiarities of the heathen worship — ut- termg denunciations on the renniant of IJaal, tlie wor- shippers of Cheuiarim — the star-adorers, tlie devotees of iMalcham, the fanatics who clad themselves in strange apparel, and those whi> in some superstitious mummery leai)ed upon the threshold (liochart, llkroz. c. 36). Not a few verses occur in the course of the prophecy which, in tone and dignity, are not unworthy to be associated with the more distinguished cfl'usions of the Hebrew bards. A few paronomasia' occur (i, 15 and ii, 1-4), and occasionally there is a peculiar rejietition of a leading word in the formation of a climax (ii, 15).
Jalin {Introd. § 132) and Eichhorn assert that Zeph- aniah has borrowed to a considerable extent from the earlier prophets, especially from Isaiah ; yet the simi- larity of such passages as Isa. xxxiv, 11 to Zeph. ii, 14, or Isa. xlvii, 8 to Zeph. ii, 15, or Isa. xviii, 1 to Zeph. iii, 10, or Isa. xvi, G to Zeph. ii, 8, is not sufficient evi- dence that Zephaniah was Isaiah's imitator. The clauses of resemblance are idiomatic in nature, and seem to have been of proverbial force and currency, so that both proph- ets may have taken them from the national iixus lo- quendi. Coincidences of expression have also been noted between Zephaniah and some of his contemporaries, particularly Jeremiah (Eichhorn, A"j«/ei7. § 595; Rosen- miiller, Procem. vi). Between Zeph. i, 5 and Jer. viii, 2 We can perceive little similarity of language, though the same superstitious custom is referred to, and a com- parison of Zeph. i, 12 with Jer. xlviii, 11 leads to such a conclusion as we have already stated, as the phrase com- mon to both passages — "settled on the lees" — must have been one in wide circulation in a wine country like Juda>a. It was altogether groundless, therefore, in some of the older critics, such as Isidore and Schinidius (Prokffom.in Sophon.), to style Zephaniah the abbrevia- tor of Jeremiah. Kesemblances have also been traced between Zephaniah and Amos, and between him and his successor Ezekiel; but to call these imitations is rash indeed, if we reflect on the similarity of the topics discussed, and the peculiar range of imagery and phrase- ology which is common to Hebrew propiietic poetry, and which was the stereotyped language of the inspired brotherhood. The language of Zeiiliaiiiah is pure: it has not the classic case and elegance of the earlier com- positions, but it wants the degenerate feebleness and Aramaic corruption of the succeeding asra. Zephaniah is not expresslj' quoted in the New Test. ; but clauses and expressions bccur which seem to have been formed from his prophecy (Zeph. iii, 9; Rom. xv. 0. etc.). He was, in fine, as Cyril of Alexandria terms liim (Pierfat. in Soph. tom. iii), "a true prophet, and filled with the Holv (ihost, and bringing his oracles from the mouth of (iod."
The chief characteristics of this book are the unify and harmony of the composition, the grace, energy, and dignity of its style, and tiie rapid and effective alterna- tions of threats and promises. ItJi proplietical import is ciiielly shown in the accurate predictions of the deso- lation which has fallen upon each of tlic nations de- nounced for their crimes; Ethiopia, which is menaced with a terrible invasion, being alone exempted from the doom of perpetual ruin. The general tone <tf the last portion is Messianic, but without any specific reference to the [lerson of our I>ord. — Kitto; Smith.