The Pulpit Commentary — Zephaniah — Section 4

EXPOSITION. limina.ry monition (Gen. vi. 7). From off CHAPTER I. the land ; from the face of the earth, not Vere. 1-18.-Pe.rt I. THE JuDGMENT the land of Judah a.lone. Se.ith the Lord· UPON Al,L THE WOBLD 1 AND UPON JUDAH IN is _the_ saying of Jehovah. The prophet i~ thlB 1s merely the vehicle of the Divine PARTIOULAR. announcement. Ver. 1.-§ 1. Title and inscription. The Ver. 3.-Me.n and beast, etc. This is not word of the Lord (see note on Micah i. I). mere hyperbole to express the utter we.sting Zephaniah, "Whom the Lord shelters" an~ destruction that were impending, but (see lutroduction, § II.). The son of, etc. pomts to the mysterious connection between 'fbe genealogy thus introduced shows that man and the lower creation, how in a!?ree- the prophet we.a of illustrious descent· or ment with the prime.I curse even material it me.y be inserted to distinguish him f~om nature suffers for man's sin (Gen. iiL 17 ; others who bore the same name. Hizkia.h. Rom. viii. 22). If we expect a new heaven The same name which is elsewhere written and e. new earth, we know that God will in our version Hezeldah. Whether the show his wrath against the old creation great King of Judah is here meant may defiled with sin (2 Pet. iii. 10; comp. J er. well be questioned (see Introduction). iv. 25; ix. 9, etc.; Hos. iv. 3). And th• Other prophets have prefixed their genea.- stumbling-blocks with the wicked. 1-iot ~ogies to their books (see Zech. i. 1 ; and the sinners only shall be swept aw!!.y bv m the Apocrypha., Baruch i. 1). In the this judgment, bnt also all offences, L1J. days of Josiah. Zephaniah here gathers into causes of stumbling, whether idols or other one_ volume the denunciations and predictions incentives to departure from truth and wlu_ch he had uttered during tile reign of right. Septuagint, Kal a.rr8evf,rrouaw ol J osmh, ~oth before and after the great a.rref',iis, "and the ungodly shall be weak; " reformo.t1on effected by that good king Vulgate, et 'l"U.irnEl impioru.m eru.nt. These (2 Kings xxiii. ). versions seem to have missed the point. I will cut off man. It is ,,n man's account Vers. 2, 3.-§ 2. The prelude, announeing that this jndgment is s6nt--a truth which tke judgment upon the whole world. the prophet enforces by reiteration. Ver. 2.-I will utterly consume; literally, Vera. 4-6.-§ 3. The judgment ioill fall talcing away I will make an end. Jeremiah especially upon Judah and Jerusalem for (viii. 13) uses the same expression. The their iddat,,.y. prophet begins abruptly with this announce- ment of universe.I judgment before he Ver. :1:.-I will also stretch ont mine warns Judah in particular of the punish- hand. This expression is used when God ment that a.waits her, because his position is ah< at to do great things or inflict nots.hie is th~t the way to salvation is through puni,hment (see Exocl. iii. 20; xv. 12; chnst1semeut. Vulge.te, congregans congre- Deu 1. iv. 34; Isa. v. 25; Jer. Ii. 25, etc.). gabo, where the verb must be used in J111e.h. lu so far as Judah was rebellious the sense of "gathering for destruction." P.nd wioked, it shoulJ incur the judicial All things. More expressly defined in the punishment. Judgment was to begin at following verse. This awful warning recalls tho house of God (I Pet. iv. 17), the sin of the judgmcnt of the Flood 11nd the pre- the chosen people being more heinous than :i.i,;l'llA NIAH. B 2 THE BOOK OF ZEPHANIAH. [en. 1. 1-18.