The Pulpit Commentary — Zephaniah — Section 49

viz. the Moabites and the Ammonites, who 'were descended from Lot, and thereforo blood-rele.tions, and who manifested,hostility to Israel on every possible occasion." 'l'ho pa!'se.ge suggests three facts. l. THAT GOOD MEN ARE OFTEN BUllJEOT TO ANNOYANCES FROM THE UNGODLY WORLD. "I have heard the reproach [abuse] of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people [abused my nation], and magnified themsch-e8 aga.inst their border." These people, the Moabites and the Ammonites, were constantly annoying and abusing the chosen people in the time of Moses. Balak, the King of the Moabites, songht to destroy the Israelites by means of Ilalaam's curses (Numb. xxii.). And in the time of the judges, both peoples endeavoured to oppress Israel (Judg. iii. 12; x. 7). The charge here probably refers to the hostile attitude 11!\Sumed by both tribes at all times toward the people of God. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah accused them of annoying them (Isa. xvi. 6; Jer. xlviii. 29). The hostile conduct of Moab and Ammon towards Israel is only a. specimen and an illustration of the antagonism of wicked men towards the truly pious. They " reproach" them; they charge them with superstition, fanaticism, cant, hypocrisy. 'l'heir re-;-ilings are often bitter and constant. "It bas been," says an old writer, " the common lot of God's people in all ages to be reproached and reviled on one account or another." There is an eternal enmity between the two seeds-the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. The conduct of a. truly good man can scarcely fail to exa.sp~rate worldly and ungodly people. It condemns their selfishness, their greed, their falsehood, their pleasures. "If the world hate you, ye know that i\ hated me belore," etc.; "If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call those of the household!" "Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother; and wherefore slew he him? because his own works, were evil, and his brother's righteous." In corrnpt society, we may lay it down as a truth that the better a man is, the more pure, honest, true, ri~hteous, the more he will be bated and annoyed by his neighbours. The best men, the men of whom '' the world is not worthy," are always persecuted. IL THAT THESE ANNOYANCES ESOAl'E NOT THE NOTICE OF Goo, "I have heard the reproach of Moab." I have heard the whole, all their calumnies, reproaches, revilings; not a word has escaped me, not a syllable bas been lost. Observe : 1. God's attentiffl to the min'l/,te concerns of human life. He who is the Maker and Manager of the universe, to whom the creation is as nothing and Jess than nothing, is not indifferent to the utters.noes of little human creatures on this earth, which is itself a mere speck in space. "I have beard the reproaches." " He sees with equal eye, as God of a.11, A here perish, or a. sparrow fall." 2. God's special interest in his people. Good men are his children, as dear to him as the apple of the eye; and whatever happens to them, even a. reproachful word, affects him. It is truly consoling, it is energizing, to know that the great Father is interested in all that pertains to us. ". Thine ~yes are open upo!1 all the wa:l'.'s of t!ie s~ns of men : to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of bis domgs " (Jcr. mii. 19). 111. THAT GoD WILL NOT FAIL TO CHASTISE THE AUTHORS OP SUCH ANNOYANCES. "Therefore as I live, sa.itb the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and salt-pits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of _my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. This shall they have for their pride becaUBe they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of bosts.n Mark : 1. The doom of those reproachers. ' " They shall be as Sodom and Gomorrah." "This simile," says Keil, "was rendered a. very natural one by the situation of the two lands ~n the n~ig~bour~~ of the Dead. Sea. It affirms the utter destruction of the two tribes." '!heir lanu 1s to abound with "nettles,and i;alt-pits," the products and proofs of utter ruin. 2. The cause of their doom. "This ~hall they have for their pride." All the ~ersecutors o!the good will meet with a terribl~ chastisement. Sooner or later God will avenge bis own elect. Hence let the godly victims of persecution, when they are "reviled, revile not again;" "Vengeance OH, II, 1-16.] THE BOOK OF ZEPHANI.AH. 47