The Pulpit Commentary — Zephaniah — Section 41

wh_ich could not ~tberwise be ~~cured thAn by patient continua~ce in well-doing (Matt. xu,·. 13; Rom. 11. 7; Rev. 11. 10). 3, Its urgency. Proclaimed by the threefold "seek." The like diligenoe demancied of all in the matter of religion. (l) Because of ~he _majesty of him whose service it is <2 Chron. ii. 6 ; 1 'l'im. vi. 16). (2) Because of its mtrinsic excellence as a purely spll'itual service (lohn iv. 24; Rom. xii. 1). (3) Because ol the momentous issues involved in it accordmg as it is sincere or insincere (Job ,iii. 13; Prov. :x. 28). (4) Because of the shortness and uncert&inty of man's opportunity on earth to make his calling and election sure (Eccles. ix.10; Eph. v. 16; l)h iI. iv. 5). III. AN ENCOURAGING CONSOLATION. I . ..A. promise of safety for the righteous. Not ~ doubtful promise, though introduced by" it may be." From this phrase it cannot be mferred that the prophet was uncertain whether the meek in the land would be pro- tected in the day when Jehovah poured out his wrath upon Judah and Jerusalem; or whether the meek generally would be sheltered in the day of judgment. Merely he intimated that the hiding would be difficult; not the hiding of them by ,Tehovah, with whom nothing could be bard or easy, but the supplying by them of the moral and spiritual conditions without which God's hiding of them could not come to pass, The ultimate salvation of the meek is guaranteed (Ps. c:xli:x. 4; Matt. v. 5); but the actual process, in time, of saving them is attended by so many difficulties that there is need for constant watchfulness against the danger of coming short. 2. ..A. threatening of doom for the ungodly. If the difficulty of saving the righteous be so great, what possible loophole of escape can there be for the ungodly (Luke xxiii. 31; 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18)? The overthrow of the wicked an additional security to the salvation of the righteous.-T. W. Vera. 4-15.-lJivinejudgments upon heathen nations. L THE NATIONS SPECIFIED. 1. Philistia in the west. (1) Its situation. "The sea-coast," "the region of the sea," or "the track by the sea." Extending along the Mediterranean, from Gaza in the south to Jaffa in the north, and reaching back to the hill-country of Judah in the west, it consisted of two parallel strips of land; one "of undulating plains, .about twelve miles in breadth, bordering on the sea-coast, elevated from fifty to a hundred feet above the sea-level, without distinctive features, and composed of the richest alluvial deposit;" and another "twelve to fifteen miles wide, consisting of a series of hills and spurs from five hundred to eight hundred feet above the seo.-level, and broken through by broad valleys" (' Picturesque Palestine,' iii. 151). (2) Its names. "The land of the Philistines," "of the Cherethites," "of Canaan." Of these the first describes it as a land whose inhabitants had been originally" immigrants," Philistia-in Hebrew Pelesheth, in the Assyrian inscriptions Pilastu, Pilasta, and Palastav-being derived from a root signifying "to wander about." The second depicts these inhabitants from a tribe settled in the south-west of the country, the Cherethitcs, a race of" Cutters," or "Executioners," who had achieved their settlements by means of the sword (Amos ix. 7). Whether they came originally from Crete (Gesenius, Hitzig, Baur in Riehm's • Handworterbuch '), which must then be identified with Caphtor (Deut. ii. 23; Jer. ::xlvii. 5), settling down first on the Egyptian coast (Gen. x. 14), an~ gra~ually creeping north towards the Palestinian coast, though extremely probable, 1B still a matter of debate. The names of Philistine kings preserved in Assyrian inscriptions and bearing a more or less Semitic character suggest that the people must have been of Semitic origin (Schrader, 'Die Keilin~chriften,' 2 auf. 167). _The _t1:ir~ nam~, Ca~aan, "Low- land," was probably given to 1t because that had been its pnm1t1ve d~s1gnat10n, ~l_th?ugh the appellation afterwards was transferred to the whole country, Just as Ph1hst1.a. or Palestine was. (3) Its chief cities. Four mentioned-Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Ekron-in the .Assyrian inscriptions Haziti, Iskaluna, .Asdudu, and .Amkarwna. 'fheir early histories may be learnt from Scripture. Gaza, the modern Guzzeh, originally inhabited by the Avim (Deut. ii. 23), and, prior to ~he conque~t of Palestine, by the Caphtorim or Philistines, and a remnant of the Anak1m_(Josh. x1. 22~, was the scene of Samson's feats of strength imprisonment, and destruction, and the site of a temple of Dagon (J udg. xvi. 1-3, 21.'.._30). Ashkelon, situated on the sea (Josh. xiii. 3), had also been the scene of one of Samson's feats (Judg. xiv. 19). Asbdod possessed a temple of Dagon, in which the captured ark was placed (I Sam. v.). Ekron, the most northern OU. It, 1-16.) THE BOOK OF ZEPHANJAH. 89