Zephaniah 2 commentary

The prophet calls to national repentance, as the only way to prevent national ruin. A nation not desiring, that has not desires toward God, is not desirous of his favour and grace, has no mind to repent and reform. Or, not desirable, not having any thing to recommend them to God; to whom God might justly say, Depart from me; but he says, Gather together to me that you may seek my face. We know what God's decree will bring against impenitent sinners, therefore it highly concerns all to repent in the accepted time. How careful should we all be to seek peace with God, before the Holy Spirit withdraws from us, or ceases to strive with us; before the day of grace is over, or the day of life; before our everlasting state is determined! Let the poor, despised, and afflicted, seek the Lord, and seek to understand and keep his commandments better, that they may be more humbled for their sins. The chief hope of deliverance from national judgments rests upon prayer.

Those are really in a woful condition who have the word of the Lord against them, for no word of his shall fall to the ground. God will restore his people to their rights, though long kept from them. It has been the common lot of God's people, in all ages, to be reproached and reviled. God shall be worshipped, not only by all Israel, and the strangers who join them, but by the heathen. Remote nations must be reckoned with for the wrongs done to God's people. The sufferings of the insolent and haughty in prosperity, are unpitied and unlamented. But all the desolations of flourishing nations will make way for the overturning Satan's kingdom. Let us improve our advantages, and expect the performance of every promise, praying that our Father's name may be hallowed every where, over all the earth.

The Prophet, after having spoken of God’s wrath, and shown how terrible it would be, and also how near, now exhorts the Jews to repentance, and thus mitigates the severity of his former doctrine, provided their minds were teachable. We hence learn that God fulminates in his word against men, that he may withhold his hand from them. The more severe, then, God is, when he chastises us and makes known our sins, and sets before us his wrath, the more clearly he testifies how precious and dear to him is our salvation; for when he sees us rushing headlong, as it were, into ruin, he calls us back by threatening and chastisements. Whenever, then, God condemns us by his word, let us know that he will be propitious to us, if, touched with true repentance, we flee to his mercy; for to effect this is the design of all his reproofs and threatening.

There follows then a seasonable exhortation, after the Prophet had spoken of the dreadfulness of God’s vengeance. Gather yourselves, he says, gather, ye nation not worthy of being loved. Others read — Search among yourselves, search; and interpreters differ as to the root of the verb; some derive it from קשש, koshesh, and others from קוש, kush; while some deduce the verb from the noun קש kosh, which signifies chaff or stubble. But however this may be, I consider the real meaning of the Prophet to be — Gather yourselves, gather; for this is what grammatical construction requires. I do not see why they who read search yourselves, depart from the commonly received meaning, except they think that the verb gather does not suit the context; but it suits it exceedingly well. Others with more refinement read thus — Gather the chaff, gather the chaff, as though the Prophet ridiculed the empty confidence of the people. But as I have already said, he no doubt shows here the remedy, by which they might have anticipated God’s judgment, with which he had threatened them. He indeed compares them to stubble, as we find in the next verse, but he shows that still time is given them to repent, so that they might gather themselves, and not be dissipated; as though he said — The day of your scattering is at hand; ye shall then vanish away like chaff, for ye shall not be able to stand at the breath of the Lord’s wrath. But now while God withholds himself, and does not put forth his hand to destroy you, gather yourselves, that ye may not be like the chaff. There are then two parts in this passage; the first is, that if the Jews abused, as usual, the forbearance of God, they would become like the chaff, for God’s wrath would in a moment scatter them; but the Prophet in the meantime reminds them that a seasonable time for repentance was still given them; for if they willingly gathered themselves, God would spare them. Before then the day of Jehovah’s wrath shall come; gather, he says, yourselves The verb, found only in five other places — Exodus 5:7,12; Numbers 15:32,33; and 1 Kings 17:10,12, means to collect, to gather, and not “to search,” as said by Kimchi, and adopted by Marckius; nor “to bind,” as rendered by Henderson. The import of the passage is considered by all to be an invitation to repentance, though the words are differently rendered. It is difficult to see the meaning when it is said — “Gather yourselves, yea, gather,” etc, except such an assembly is meant as is recommended by Joel 1:14; the kind of gathering being well understood, it is not mentioned. “Gather yourselves,” that is, to offer prayers, says Grotius. “Be ye assembled — συνάχθητε,” is the rendering of the Septuagint. — Ed.

But the way of gathering is, when men do not vanish away in their foolish confidences, or when they do not indulge their own lusts; for whenever men give loose reins to wicked licentiousness, and thus go astray in gratifying their corrupt lusts, or when they seek here and there vain confidences, they expose themselves to a scattering. Hence the Prophet exhorts them to examine themselves, to gather themselves, and as it were to draw themselves together, that they might not be like the chaff. Hence he says, — gather yourselves, yea, gather, ye nation not loved

Some take the participle נכסף, necasaph, in an active sense, as though the Prophet had said that the Jews were void of every feeling, and had become wholly hardened in their stupidity. But I know not whether this can be grammatically allowed. I therefore follow what has been more approved. The nation is called not worthy of love, because it did not deserve mercy; and God thus amplifies and renders illustrious his own grace, because he was still solicitous about the salvation of those who had willfully destroyed themselves, and rejected his favor. Though then the Jews had by their depravity so alienated themselves from God, that there was no reason why he should save them, he yet still continued to call them back to himself. It is therefore a remarkable proof of the unfailing grace of God, when he shows love to a nation wholly worthy of being hated, and is concerned for its safety. [כסף] is found as a verb in four other places, Genesis 31:30; Job 14:15; Psalm 17:12; and Psalm 84:3. It means to be or to grow pale, either through love, as in Genesis and Job, or through hunger, as in the first Psalm referred to, or through longing for God’s house, as in the last, or through shame, as some — such as Grotius, Dathius, and Gesenius, suppose to be the case here; and they therefore give this rendering — “O nation without shame;” or, “not ashamed.” This idea is favored by the Septuagint — “unteachable — ἀπαίδευτον.” In no instance is it found in a passive sense as to the feeling through which the paleness is occasioned, and therefore “worthy of love,” or “desired,” cannot be its proper rendering. Buxtorf give its meaning in Niphal — “desiderio affici — to be touched with or to feel a desire.” Hence the person spoken of is the subject, not the object, of the desire. According, then, to the use of the verb, the rendering here is to be — “Ye nation that feels no desire,” that is, for God and his law, or, “that feels no shame,” that is, for its sins. The paraphrase of the Targum is — “not willing to be converted to the law,” which corresponds with the idea which has been stated.

Marckius considers that the nation is here described as having “no desire,” that is for that which was good, and that its torpidity and indifference as to religion is what is set forth. And such is the view of Cocceius; it had no thirst for righteousness, no desire for the kingdom of God — the mark of an unregenerated mind. — Ed.

He then adds, Before the decree brings forth. Here the Prophet asserts his own authority, and that of God’s other servants: for the Jews thought that all threatening would come to nothing, as it is the case with most men at this day who deride every true doctrine, as though it were nothing but an empty sound. Hence the Prophet ascribes birth to his doctrine. It is indeed true, that the word decree has a wider meaning; but the Prophet does not speak here of the hidden counsel of God. He therefore calls that a decree, which God had already declared by his servants: and the meaning is, that it is not beating the air when God denounces his vengeance on sinners by his Prophets, but that it is a fixed and unchangeable decree, which shall at length be effected. But the similitude of birth is most apposite; for as the embryo lies hid in the womb, and then emerges in due time into light; so God’s vengeance, though hid for a time, will yet in due season be accomplished, when God sees that men’s wickedness is past a remedy. We now understand why the Prophet says, that the time was near when the decree should bring forth.

Then he says, Pass away shall the chaff in a day. Some read, Before the day comes, when the stubble (or chaff) shall pass away. But I take יום, ium, in another sense, as meaning that the Jews shall quickly pass away as the chaff; the like expression we have also met in Hosea. He says then that the Jews would perish in a day, in a short time, and as it were in a moment; though they thought that they would not be for a long time conquered. Pass away, he says, shall they like chaff It is difficult to make the words bear this sense. Hardly a sentence has been more variously rendered. The most satisfactory solution perhaps is to regard it parenthetic, and to consider “the day” as that allowed for repentance: it was to pass away quickly, like the chaff carried away by the wind —

As the chaff passing away will be the day:

Both Marckius and Henderson regard this as the meaning. Then the whole verse might be thus translated —

2. Before the bringing forth of the decree, (As the chaff passing away will be the day,) Before it shall come upon you, The burning of Jehovah’s anger; Before it shall come upon you, The day of the anger of Jehovah.

Literally it is, “Before it shall not come,” etc., or, “During the time when it shall not come,” etc. [בטרם] may be rendered “while;” then the version would be —

While it shall not come upon you, The burning of Jehovah’s anger; While it shall not come upon you, The day of the anger of Jehovah.

There are several MSS. which omit the two first lines; but evidently without reason. They are retained in the Septuagint.

Possibly the second line may refer to the speedy execution of “the decree,” that its day would pass quickly. Its birth, or its bringing forth was its commencement; and the second line may express its speedy execution: it would be carried into effect with the quickness by which the chaff is carried away by the wind —

As the chaff passing away will be its day.

The word [עבר] is, in either case, a participle, and the auxiliary verb is understood, as often is the case in Hebrew, and must partake of the tense of the context. — Ed.

Then he adds, Before it comes, the fury of Jehovah’s wrath; the day of Jehovah’s wrath, gather ye yourselves. He says first, before it comes upon you, the fury of wrath, and then, the day of wrath. He repeats the same thing; but some of the words are changed, for instead of the fury of wrath, he puts in the second clause, the day of wrath; as though he had said, that they were greatly deceived if they thought that they could escape, because the Lord deferred his vengeance. How so? For the day, which was nigh, though not yet arrived, would at length come. As when one trusting in the darkness of the night, and thinking himself safe from the danger of being taken, is mistaken, for suddenly the sun rises and discovers his hiding-place; so the Prophet intimates, that though God was now still, it would yet be no advantage to the Jews: for he knew the suitable time. Though then he restrained for a time his wrath, he yet poured it forth suddenly, when the day came and the iniquity of men had become ripe.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that as we continue in various ways to provoke thy wrath, we may at length be awakened by the blasting of that trumpet which sounds in our ears, when thou proclaimest that thou wilt be the judge of the world, and testifies also the same so plainly in the gospel, so that we may, with our minds raised up to thee, learn to renounce all the depraved lusts of the world, and that having shaken off our torpidity, we may so hasten to repent, that we may anticipate thy judgment, and so find that we are reconciled to thee, as to enjoy thy goodness, and ever to retain the taste of it, in order that we may be enabled to renounce all the allurements and pleasures of this world, until we shall at length come to that blessed rest, where we shall be filled with that unspeakable joy, which thou hast promised to us, and which we hope for in Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Twenty-second

Zephaniah 2:3

3. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.

3. Quaerite Jehovam omnes mansueti terrae, qui judicium ejus fecerunt (pro fecistis;) quaerite justitiam, quaerite mansuetudinem, si forte abscondamini in die irae Jehovae.

Here the Prophet turns his discourse to a small number, for he saw that he could produce no effect on the promiscuous multitude. For had his doctrine been addressed in common to the whole people, there were very few who would have attended. We would therefore have been discouraged had he not believed that some seed remained among the people, and that the office of teaching and exhorting had not been in vain committed to him by God. But he shows at the same time that the greater part were wholly given up to destruction. We now see why the Prophet especially addresses the meek of the land; for few undertook the yoke, though they had been already broken down by many calamities. And it hence appears that the fruit of correction was not found equal in all, for God had chastised the good and the bad, the whole people, from the least to the greatest; they had all been laid prostrate by many evils, yet the same ferocity remained, as God complains in Isaiah, that he labored in vain in punishing that refractory nation. Isaiah 1:5

But we are here taught that though ministers of the word may think that they spend their labor to no purpose, while they sing to the deaf, as the proverb is, they ought not yet to depart from the course of their vocation; for there will ever be some who will really show, after a long time, that they had been divinely and wonderfully saved, so as not to perish with others. But what the Prophet had especially in view was to show, that the faithful ought not to regard what the multitude may do, or how they live; but that when God invites them to repentance, and gives them a hope of pardon, they ought without delay to come to him, that they might not perish with the rest. And it deserves to be noticed, that when God raises his voice, some harden others, and thus men lead one another into ruin. Thus it happens that all teaching becomes unsuccessful. Hence the Prophet applies a remedy, by showing how preposterous it is when some follow others; for in this way they increase the ranks of the rebellious; but that if there be any who are meek, they ought to be teachable, when God stretches forth his hand and shows that he will be propitious, provided they return to the right way.

He calls them meek who had profited under the scourges of God; for the Hebrews consider ענוים, onuim, to be the afflicted, deriving the word from ענה, one, to afflict, or to be humble. But as men for the most part are not subdued except by scourges, they call, by a metaphor, ענוים, onuim, the meek, such as have been subdued: for men grow wanton in their pleasures, and abundance commonly produces insolence; but by adversity they learn to become meek. Hence our Prophet calls those the meek of the land who were submissive to God, after having been chastised by him. For we know, that though God may smite the wicked, they yet continue to have a stiff and iron neck and a brazen front: but the faithful are tamed, as Jeremiah confesses as to himself; for he says that he was like an untamed heifer before he was chastised by God’s scourges. So the Prophet directs his discourse to the few who had felt the afflicting hand of God, and had been thus humbled. Newcome renders the adjective "lowly,” and the noun “lowliness;” but Marckius and Henderson render the first “humble,” as the Septuagint do — ταπεινοι, and the second “humility.” They were those who had been made humble by affliction. The design of affliction is to make us humble, submissive to God’s will; and this is the effect of sanctified affliction. It is somewhat singular that the verb means to afflict and to be humble, as though affliction were needful to render us humble. The word [ענות], occurs in 2 Samuel 22:36, and Psalm 18:35, and is rendered “gentleness” in our common version, but more correctly in our Prayer-book version “loving correction.” Perhaps the best rendering would be “humbling affliction;” and the idea of humbling affliction making great is very striking. The word used by the Septuagint is παιδεια — discipline; and the Vulgate is the same. — Ed.

He bids them to seek Jehovah, and yet he says that they had wrought his judgment. These two clauses seem inconsistent with each other; for if they had been previously alienated from God, justly might the Prophet bid them to return to the right way; but as they had devoted themselves to religion, and formed their life according to the rule of uprightness, the Prophet seems to have exhorted them without reason to seek God. But the passage is worthy of special notice; for we hence learn that even the best are roused by God’s scourges to seek true religion with greater ardor than they had before done. Though then it be our object to serve God and to follow his word, yet when calamities arise and God appears as a judge, we ought to be stimulated to greater care and diligence; for it never is the case that any one of us fully performs his duty. Let us then remember, that we are roused by God whenever adversity impends over us, and when God himself shows by manifest signs that he is displeased. This is the reason why the Prophet bids the pious doers of righteousness to seek God, however much they were before devoted to what was just and upright.

There was also another reason: we know how grievously faith is tried, when the good and wicked are indiscriminately and without any difference chastised by God’s hand; for the godly are then tempted to think that it avails them nothing that they have labored sincerely to serve God; they think that this has all been in vain and to no purpose, for they are brought into the same miseries with others. As then this temptation is enough to shake even the strongest, the Prophet here exhorts the faithful to persevere, as though he had said, that in the first confusion no difference would be found between the good and the wicked as to their circumstances, for God would afflict both alike, but that the end would be different; and that there was therefore no reason for them to despond or to think it of no advantage to seek God: for he would at length really show that he approved of their integrity; as though he had said, God will not remunerate you at the first moment; but your patience will at length find that he is a just judge, who has regard for his people, and delivers them in their extremity.

To do the judgment of God in this place is to form the life according to the righteousness of the law. The word משפט, meshepheth, has various meanings in Scripture. Sometimes, and indeed often, it designates the punishment which God allots to the wicked: but it frequently means equity or the rule of right living. Hence to do judgment is to observe what is righteous and just, to abstain from what is wrong and injurious. But the Prophet calls it the judgment of God, because it is what he prescribes in his word and what he approves. For we know that men blend various things, by which they would prove themselves to be just and righteous: but they deceive themselves, except they form their life especially according to what God requires. We now perceive what the Prophet means; and he afterwards defines what it is to seek God; for the latter part of the verse is added as an explanation, that the faithful might understand how God is to be sought.

For hypocrites, as soon as God invites them, accumulate many rites, and weary themselves much in things of no value. In short, they think that they have sufficiently sought God when they have performed a number of ceremonies. But by over-acting they trifle as it were with God, and thus deceive themselves. Thus we see repentance profaned. They under the Papacy prattle enough about repentance, but when they are asked to define it, they begin with contrition; and yet no displeasure at sin is mentioned by them, nor any real love of righteousness, but they talk about attrition and contrition, and then immediately they leap to confession; and this is the principal part of repentance: they afterwards come to satisfactions. Thus repentance among the Papists is nothing else but a some kind of mistaken solicitude, by which they labor to pacify God, as though they came nigh him: nay, the satisfactions of the Papacy are nothing else but obstructions between God and men.

This evil has been common in all ages. The Prophet, therefore, does not without reason define what the true and rightful way of seeking God is, and that is, when righteousness is sought, when humility is sought. By righteousness he understands the same thing as by judgment; as though he had said, Advance in a righteous and holy course of life, for God will not forget your obedience, provided your hearts grow not faint, and ye persevere to the end. We hence see that God complains, not only when we obtrude external pomps and devices I know not what, as though he might like a child be amused by us; but also when we do not sincerely devote our life to his service. And he adds humility to righteousness; for it is difficult even for the very best of men not to murmur against God when he severely chastises them. We indeed find how much their own delicacy embitters the minds of men when God appears somewhat severe with them. Hence the Prophet, in order to check all clamors, exhorts the faithful here to cultivate humility, so that they might patiently bear the rigor by which God would try them, and might suffer themselves to be ruled by his hand. Peter had the same thing in view when he said, Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. (1 Peter 5:6.) We now then see why the Prophet requires from the faithful not only righteousness but also humility; it was, that they might with composed minds wait for the deliverance which God had promised. They were not in the interval to murmur, nor to give vent to their own perverse feelings, however severely God might treat them.

We may hence gather a profitable instruction: The Prophet does not address here men who were depraved and had wholly neglected what was just and right, but he directs his discourse to the best, the most upright, the most holy: and yet he shows that they had no other remedy, but humbly and patiently to bear the chastisement of God. It then follows that no perfection can be found among men, such as can meet the judgment of God. For were any to object and say, that they devoted themselves to righteousness, there is yet a just reason why they should humble themselves; for we are all guilty before God, and no one can clear himself, inasmuch as when any one examines his own conscience, he finds that he is not free from sin. However conscious then we may be of acting uprightly, and God himself may be a judge to us, and the Holy Spirit the witness of our true and real integrity; yet when the Lord summons us before his tribunal, let us all, from the least to the greatest, learn to confess ourselves guilty and exposed to judgment.

He afterwards adds, If it may be (or, it may be) ye shall be concealed The idea is not “protected,” as given by Newcome, but “secreted” or concealed as in a hiding-place. “Hid” is the version of Henderson, and also of Marckius. — Ed. in the day of Jehovah’s anger. The Prophet speaks not doubtingly, as though the faithful were uncertain as to God’s favor: but he had another thing in view, — that though no hope remained as to the perceptions of men, yet the faithful would not lose their labor, if they sought God; for in their worst circumstances they would find him propitious to them and their safety secured by his kindness. Hence we see, that the Prophet in these words points out the disastrous character of the event, but no deficiency in the love of God. Though the Lord is ready to pardon, nay, of his own self anticipates his people, and kindly invites them to himself; it is yet necessary for them to consider how wonderful is his power in preserving his elect, when all things seem desperate. It may then be, he says, when the Jews understood that all things were in a state of extreme despair: and the Prophet said this, partly that the reprobate and the perverse might know that they were to perish, and partly that the faithful might appreciate the more the favor of God, when they saw themselves delivered from death by a miracle, and found that it would be a kind of resurrection, when God became their deliverer. Hence the Prophet, in order to commend to God’s children his salvation, which he offers them, and to render more illustrious God’s favor, makes use of the particle אולי, auli, it may be. In the meantime he fulminates, as I have already said, against the reprobate, that they might understand that it was all over with them. It follows —

Zephaniah 2:4, 5

4. For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.

4. Quia Aza derelicta erit, et Aksalon in vastiationem; Asdod in meridie expellent, et Ekron dissipabitur.

5. Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.

5. Heus habitatores funiculi maris (vel, regionis) gens Cretim; sermo Iehovae contra vos Canaan, terra Philistim; et exterminabo te, ne sit habitator.

The Prophet begins here to console the elect; for when God’s vengeance had passed away, which would only be for a time against them, the heathens and foreigners would find God in their turn to be their judge to punish them for the wrongs done to his people; though some think that God’s judgment on the Jews is here described, while yet the Prophet expressly mentions their neighbors: but the former view seems to me more suitable, — that the Prophet reminds the faithful of &future change of things, for God would not perpetually afflict his chosen people, but would transfer his vengeance to other nations. The meaning then is — that God, who has hitherto threatened the Jews, would nevertheless be propitious to them, not indeed to all the people, for a great part was doomed to destruction, but to the remnant, whom the Lord had chosen as a seed to himself, that there might be some church remaining. For we know, that God had always so moderated the punishment he inflicted on his people, as not to render void his covenant, nor abolish the memory of Abraham’s race: for this reason he was to come forth as their Redeemer.

Since then the Prophet speaks here against Gaza, and Ashkelon, and Ashdod, and Akron, and the Philistine, and the Cretians and others, he intended no doubt to add courage to the faithful, that they might not despair of God’s mercy, though they might find themselves very grievously oppressed; for he could at length put an end to his wrath, after having purged his Church of its dregs. And this admonition the faithful also need, that they may not envy the wicked and the despisers of God, as though their condition were better or more desirable. For when the Lord spares the wicked and chastens us, we are tempted to think that nothing is better than to shake off every yoke. Lest then this temptation should have assailed the faithful, the Prophet reminded them in time, that there was no reason why the heathens should flatter or congratulate themselves, when God did not immediately punish them; for their portion was prepared for them.

He mentions Gaza first, a name which often occurs in scripture. The Hebrews called it Aza; but as ע, oin, is the first letter, the Greeks have rendered it Gaza, and heathen authors have thought it to be a Persia word, and it means in that language a treasure. But this is a vain notion, for it is no doubt a Hebrew word. He then adds Ashkelon, a city nigh to Gaza. In the third place he mentions Ashdod, which the Greeks have translated Azotus, and the Latins have followed the Greeks. He names Ekron in the last place. All these cities were near to the Jews, and were not far from one another towards the Moabites and the Idumeans. This verse, literally rendered, retains more of its poetic character, —

4. For Gaza, forsaken shall she be, And Ashkelon shall be a desolation; Ashdod, at mid-day shall they drive it out, And Ekron shall be rooted up.

In the first and the last line there is a correspondence in the sound of the words.

The following presents another instance of the nominative case absolute, —

5. Woe to the dwellers of the line of the sea, The nation of the Kerethites! The word of Jehovah is against you: Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.

The line of the sea, meaning the coast along the shore, is so called, says Henderson, “from the custom of using a cord or line in measuring off or dividing a territory.”

Some derive “Kerethites” from [כרת], to cut off, to destroy; and so they were cutters off or destroyers. They were celebrated men of war in the time of David, 2 Samuel 8:18. “Philistines” mean emigrants, says Henderson; the word being derived from a verb, which signifies, in the Ethiopic language, to rove, to migrate. — Ed.

He then adds, Ho! (or, woe to, הו) the inhabitants of the line of the sea. The region of the sea he calls Galilee; and he joins the Kerethites and the Philistine. Some think that he alludes to the troops, who carried on war under David; for he had chosen his garrison soldiers from that nation, that is, from the people of Galilee, and had called them Kerethites and Philistine. But I know not whether the Prophet spoke so refinedly. I rather think, that he refers here to those heathen nations, which had been hostile to the Jews, though vicinity ought to have been a bond of kindness. Hence he includes them all in the name of Canaan: for I do not take it here, as some do, as signifying merchants; for the Prophet evidently means, that however called, they were all Canaanites, who had been long ago doomed to destruction. Since then those regions had been enemies to the Jews, the Prophet intimates that God would become the defender of his chosen people.

The word of Jehovah is against you. God, who has hitherto threatened his own people, summons you to judgment. Think not that you will escape unpunished for having vexed his Church. For though God designed to prove the patience of his people, yet neither the Moabites, nor the rest, were excusable when they cruelly oppressed the Jews; yea, when they purposed through them to fight with God himself, the creator of heaven and earth. He afterwards adds, There shall be no inhabitant, for God would destroy them all. We now see that the Prophet had no other design but to alleviate the bitter grief of the faithful by this consolation, — that their miseries would be only for a time, and that God would ere long punish their enemies. It follows —

Zephaniah 2:6, 7

6. And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.

6. Et erit funiculus maris (id est, regio; sed metaphorice Hebraei vocant regionem, funiculum, propter distributionem) habitaculum caulis pastorum et septa ovium.

7. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the LORD their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.

7. Et erit regio reliquiis domus Jehudah, apud eos pascentur, in domibus Ascalon vesperi accubabunt; quia visitabit Jehova Deus ipsorum ipsos, et reducet captivitatem eorum.

The Prophet confirms what he has before said respecting the future vengeance of God, which was now nigh at hand to the Moabites and other neighboring nations, who had been continually harassing the miserable Jews. Hence, he says, that that whole region would become the habitation of sheep. It is a well known event, that when any country is without inhabitants shepherds occupy it; for there is no sowing nor reaping there, but grass alone grows. Where, therefore, there is no cultivation, where no number of men are found, there shepherds find a place for their flocks, there they build sheep cots. It is, therefore, the same as though the Prophet had said, that the country would be desolate, as we find it expressed in the next verse. The words, [נות כרת רעים], are rendered by Calvin, “habitaculum caulis pastorum — an habitation (or a dwelling) for the sheepcots of shepherds.” The Targum takes the two first words in the singular number; the second is evidently so, and the first may be so also: and [כרת] certainly does not mean sheepcots, but digging, from [כרה], to dig. The reference is either to the pits dug for watering the flock, as Piscator thinks, o rto the subterraneous huts, or caves, dug for the purpose of shelter, as Drusius and Bochart suppose. Junius and Tremelius render the words, “sheepcots, the delvings of shepherds;” and Drusius, “dwellings of the digging out of shepherds,” i.e., dwellings dug out by shepherds. The most literal and the easiest construction is, “dwellings, the digging of shepherds.” Then the verse might be thus rendered, —

And the line of the sea shall be dwellings, Dug out by shepherds, and folds for sheep.

Parkhurst quotes Harmer, who says, “the Eastern shepherds make use of caves very frequently, sleeping in them and driving their flocks into them at night. The mountains bordering on the Syrian coast are remarkable for the number of caves, and are found particularly in the neighborhood of Ashkelon.” How fully then was this prophecy fulfilled. — Ed.

He immediately adds, but for a different reason, that the coast of the sea would be a habitation to the house of Judah. And there is here a striking divergence from the flocks of shepherds to the tribe of Judah, which was as it were, the chosen flock of God. The Prophet then, after having said that the region would be waste and desolate, immediately adds, that it would be for the benefit of the chosen people; for the Lord would grant there to the Jews a safe and secure rest. But the Prophet confines this to the remnant; for the greater part, as we have already seen, were become so irreclaimable, that the gate of mercy was completely closed against them. The Prophet, at the same time, by mentioning a remnant, shows that there would always be some seed from which God would raise up a new Church; and he also encourages the faithful to entertain hope, so that their own small number might not terrify them; for when they considered themselves and found themselves surpassed by a vast multitude, they might have thought that they were of no account. Lest then they should be disheartened the Prophet says that this remnant would be the object of God’s care; for when he would visit the whole coast of the sea and other regions, he would provide there for the Jews a safe habitation and refuge.

That line then, he says, shall be for the residue of the house of Judah; feed shall they in Ashkelon, and there shall they lie down in the evening; that is, they shall find in their exile some resting-place; for we know that the Jews were not all removed to distant lands; and they who may have been hid in neighboring places were afterwards more easily gathered, when a liberty to return was permitted them. This is what the Prophet means now, when he says, that there would be a refuge in the night to the Jews among the Moabites and other neighboring nations.

A reason follows, which confirms what I have stated, for Jehovah their God, he says, will visit them. We hence see that the Prophet mitigates here the sorrow of exile and of that most grievous calamity which was nigh the Jews, by promising to them a new visitation of God; as though he had said, Though the Lord seems now to rage against you, and seems to forget his own covenant, yet he will again remember his mercy, when the suitable time shall come. And he adds, he will restore their captivity; and he added this, that he might show that his favor would prove victorious against all hindrances. The Jews might indeed have raised this objection, Why does not the Lord help us immediately; but he, on the contrary, allows our enemies to remove us into exile? The Prophet here calls upon them to exercise patience; and yet be promises, that after having been driven into exile, they should again return to their country; for the Lord would not suffer that exile to be perpetual. It now follows —

Zephaniah 2:8

8. I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.

8. Audivi opprobrium Moab, et contumelias filiorum Ammon, quibus exprobrarunt populo meo, et se extulerunt contra terminum ipsorum.

The Prophet confirms what I have just said of God’s vengeance against foreign enemies. Though all the neighboring nations had been eager in their hostility to the Jews, yet we know that more hatred, yea and more fury, had been exhibited by these two nations than by any other, that is, by the Moabites and the Ammonites, notwithstanding their connection with them by blood, for they derived their origin from Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew. Though, then, that connection ought to have turned the Moabites and the Ammonites to mercy, we yet know they always infested the Jews with greater fury than others, and as it were with savage cruelty. This is the reason why the Prophet speaks now especially of them. Some indeed take this sentence as spoken by the faithful; but the context requires it to be ascribed to God, and no doubt he reminds them that he looked down from on high on the proud vauntings of Moab which he scattered in the air, as though he had declared that it was not hidden or unknown to him how cruelly the Moabites and Ammonites raged against the Jews, how proud and inhuman they had been. And this was a very seasonable consolation. For the Jews might have been swallowed up with despair, had not this promise been made to them. They saw the Moabites and the Ammonites burning with fury, when yet they had not been injured or provoked. They also saw that they made gain and derived advantage from the calamities of a miserable people. What could the faithful think? These wicked men not only harassed them with impunity, but their cruelty and perfidy towards them was gainful. Where was God now? If he regarded his own Church, would he not have interposed? Lest then a temptation of this kind should upset the faithful, the Prophet introduces God here as the speaker, —

I have heard, he says, the reproach of Moab; I have heard the revilings of Amman: “Nothing escapes me; though I do not immediately show that these things are regarded by me, yet I know and observe how shamefully the Moabites and the Ammonites have persecuted you: they at length shall find that I am the guardian of your safety, and that you are under my protection.” We now apprehend the Prophet’s design. Nearly the same words are used by Isaiah, Isaiah 16:1, and also by Jeremiah Jeremiah 48:1, they both pursue the subject much farther, while our Prophet only touches on it briefly, for we see that what he says is comprised in very few words. But by saying that the reproach of Moab and the revilings of the children of Amman had come into remembrance before God, what he had in view was — that the Jews might be assured and fully persuaded that they were not rejected and forsaken, though for a time they were reproachfully treated by the wicked. The Prophet indeed takes the words reproach and revilings, in an active sense. That is, the reproach cast by Moab, and the revilings uttered by Ammon. — Ed.

He then adds, By which they have upbraided any people. God intimates here that he does not depart from his elect when the wicked spit, as it were, in their faces. There is indeed nothing which so much wounds the feelings of ingenuous minds as reproach; there is not so much bitterness in hundred deaths as in one reproach, especially when the wicked licentiously triumph, and do this with the applauding consent of the whole world; for then all difference between good and evil is confounded, and good conscience is as it were buried. But the Prophet shows here, that the people of God suffer no loss when they are thus unworthily harassed by the wicked and exposed to their reproach.

He at last subjoins that they had enlarged over their border. Some consider mouth to be understood — they have enlarged the mouth against their border; and the word, it is true, without any addition, is often taken in this sense; but in this place the construction is fuller, for the words על-גבולם, ol-gebulam, over their border, follow the verb. The Prophet means that God’s wrath had been provoked by the petulance of both nations, for they wished to break. up, as it were, the borders, which had been fixed by God. The land of Canaan, we know, had been given to the Jews by an hereditary right; — When the Most High, says Moses, divided the nations, he set a line for Jacob. Deuteronomy 32:8. It is indeed true that the possessions of the nations were allotted to them by the hidden counsel of God; but there was a special reason as to his chosen people; for the Lord had made Abraham the true possessor of that land, even for ever. Genesis 17:8. Now the Moabites were confined, as it were, to a certain place; the Lord had assigned to them their own inheritance. When, therefore, they sought to go beyond and to invade the land of the Jews, God’s wrath must have been kindled against them; for they thus fought, not against mortals, but against God himself; for by removing the borders fixed by him, they attempted to subvert his eternal decree. We now then understand why the Prophet says that the children of Moab and of Ammon had enlarged over the border of those who had been placed in the land of Canaan by God’s hand; for they not only sought to eject their neighbors, but wished and tried to take away from God’s hand that inheritance which the Lord had given to Abraham, and given, as I have said, in perpetuity. There is a difference as to the meaning of the last line. Newcome adopts our common version, —

And magnified themselves against their border

Henderson’s rendering is essentially the same —

And carried themselves haughtily against their border.

The verb [נדל] is transitive and intransitive in Kal — to make great and to be great; it seems to partake of a similar character in Hiphil, as it is found here, to magnify, and to grow great or proud, and hence to exult or to triumph; and when followed by [על], as here, to exult over a person or a country, — see Job 19:5; Psalm 35:26; 38:17; Ezekiel 35:13. In these verses “to exult over” would be the best rendering; as also in 10th verse of this chapter. The idea of enlarging or extending over, as adopted by Jerome and Dathius, as well as by Calvin, is not countenanced by any other passage. The best rendering here is —

And exulted over their border.

This line corresponds with the revilings of Ammon, as the preceding does with the reproach of Moab. That it was the triumphant and exulting language of Ammon is evident, because it was what was heard — “I have heard,” etc. The particle [אשר], rendered here “quibus — by which,” and “wherewith” by Newcome, is rendered “who” by Marckius and Henderson — “who have reproached on my people;” and this is the most natural construction. Some have rendered it “because.” — Ed.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast been pleased to consecrate us a peculiar people to thyself, we may be mindful of such an invaluable favor, and devote ourselves woody to thee, and so labor to cultivate true sincerity as to bear the marks of thy people and of thy holy Church: and as we are so polluted by so many of the defilements of our own flesh and of this world, grant that thy Holy Spirit may cleanse us more and more every day, until thou bringest us at length to that perfection to which thou invites us by the voice of thy gospel, that we may also enjoy that blessed glory which has been provided for us by the blood of thy only begotten Son. Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Twenty-third.

Zephaniah 2:9, 10

9. Therefore as I live, saith 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 saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.

9. Propterea vivo ego, dicit Jehova exercituum, Deus Israel, quod Moab sicuti Sodoma erit, et filii Ammon sicuti Gomorrha, productio urticae et fodina salis, et vastitas in perpetuum: reliquiae populi mei diripient eos, et residuum gentis meae possidebit eos.

10. This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts.

10. Hoc illis pro superbis sua, quia exprobrarunt et insultarunt super populum Jehovae exercituum.

In order to cheer the miserable Jews by some consolation, God said, in what we considered yesterday, that the wantonness of Moab was known to him; he now adds, that he would visit with punishment the reproaches which had been mentioned. For it would have availed them but little that their wrongs had been observed by God, if no punishment had been prepared. Hence the Prophet reminds them that God is no idle spectator, who only observes what takes place in the world; but that there is a reward laid up for al the ungodly. And these verses are to be taken in connection, that the faithful may know that their wrongs are not unknown to God, and also that he will be their defender. But that the Jews might have a more sure confidence that God would be their deliverer, he interposes an oath. God at the same time shows that he is really touched with when he sees his people so cruelly and immoderately harassed, when the ungodly seem to think that an unbridled license is permitted them. God therefore shows here, that not only the salvation of his people is an object of his care, but that he undertakes their cause as though his anger was kindled; not that passions belong to him but such a form of speaking is adopted in order to express what the faithful could never otherwise conceive an idea of, that is, to express the unspeakable love of God towards them, and his care for them.

He then says that he lives, as though he had sworn by his own life. As we have elsewhere seen that he swears by his life, so he speaks now. Live do I, that is, As I am God, so will I avenge these wrongs by which my people are now oppressed. And for the same reason he calls himself Jehovah of hosts, and the God of Israel. In the first clause he exalts his own power, that the Jews might know that he was endued with power; and then he mentions his goodness, because he had adopted them as his people. The meaning then is that God swears by his own life; and that the Jews might not think that this was done in vain, his power is brought before them, and then his favor is added.

Moab, he says, shall be like Sodom, and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah, even for the production of the nettle and for a mire of salt; This clause is rendered differently by some. The word [ממשק] occurs only here. It is rendered by the Targum by a word which means a "deserted place,” and so Newcome renders it, “A deserted place for the thorn:” so also do Drusius, Grotius, Piscator, and Marckius. The Septuagint have mistaken the word for “Damascus,” and give a version of the whole clause wholly foreign to the context. Henderson thinks that the word has the same meaning with [משך], to draw out, to extend, and gives this version, “A region of overrunning brambles.” This is far-fetched. The word, [חרול], rendered “nettle” by Calvin, Grotius, and others, cannot be so taken, according to Drusius and Bochart, for in Job 30:7, men are said to gather under it. It is found besides only in Proverbs 24:31. It may be rendered either a thorn or a bramble. The other part of the sentence is literally “a digging place for salt.”

Moab was to be like Sodom, and Ammon like Gommorah, not as to the manner of their ruin, but as to the extent of it. It was to be an entire overthrow. Their habitation was not to become a pool of water like Sodom and Gommorah, but a place where the bramble was to grow, and salt might be dug. And it was to be “a desolation,” [עד-עולם], “for ages;” for the word means an indefinite time. So Drusius regards it here as meaning a long time. But some consider the “desolation,” as having reference to the people and not to the place. If so, the rendering were wholly obliterated. Moab and Ammon, as a separate people, are altogether extinct. The whole verse is as follows —

9. Therefore, as I live, Saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab like Sodom shall be, And the children of Ammon like Gomorrah, The desert of the thorn and the excavation of salt, Yea, a desolation for ages; The remnant of my people shall plunder them, And the residue of my nation shall possess them.

The two last lines refer to the children of Ammon, as the two preceding especially to Moab. The country of Moab was on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, and that of Ammon was north-east, of Moab. Both were subdued and led captive by Nebuchadnezzar about four or six years after the captivity of Judah. They were afterwards partially restored, especially the children of Ammon, as Tobiah was their chief in the time of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 4:3. They were “plundered,” as recorded in 1 Maccabees 5:35,51, by Judas Maccabeus. Of Moab we read nothing at that time: but it appears, that for ages it has been desolate. “Not one,” says Burckhart, the traveler, “of the ancient cities of Moab exists as tenanted by man,” and he speaks of “their entire desolation.” Another modern traveler, Seetzen, a Russian, speaking of Ammon, says, “All this country, formerly so populous, is now changed into a vast desert.” — Ed. that is, their lands should be reduced to a waste, or should become wholly barren, so that nothing was to grow there but nettles, as the case is with desert places. As to the expression, the mine (fodina) or quarry of salt, it often occurs in scripture: a salt-pit denotes sterility in Hebrew. And the Prophet adds, that this would not be for a short time only; It shall be (he says) a perpetual desolation. He also adds, that this would be for the advantage of the Church; for the residue of my people shall plunder them, and the remainder of my nation shall possess them. He ever speaks of the residue; for as it was said yesterday, it was necessary for that people to be cleansed from their dregs, so that a small portion only would remain; and we know that not many of them returned from exile.

The import of the whole is, that though God determined to diminish his Church, so that a few only survived, yet these few would be the heirs of the whole land, and possess the kingdom, when God had taken vengeance on all their enemies.

It hence follows, according to the Prophet, that this shall be to them for their pride. We see that the Prophet’s object is, to take away whatever bitterness the Jews might feel when insolently slandered by their enemies. As then there was danger of desponding, since nothing, as it was said yesterday, is more grievous to be borne than reproach, God does here expressly declare, that the proud triumph of their neighbors over the Jews would be their own ruin; for, as Solomon says, ‘Pride goes before destruction.’ Proverbs 16:18. And he again confirms what he had already referred to — that the Jews would not be wronged with impunity, for God had taken them under his guardianship, and was their protector: Because they have reproached, he says, and triumphed over the people of Jehovah of hosts. He might have said, over my people, as in the last verse; but there is something implied in these words, as though the Prophet had said, that they carried on war not with mortals but with God himself, whose majesty was insulted, when the Jews were so unjustly oppressed. It follows —

Zephaniah 2:11

11. The Lord will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.

11. Terribilis Iehova super eos, quia consumpsit omnes deos terrae: et adorabit eum quisque ex loco suo, omnes insulae gentium.

He proceeds with the same subject, — that God would show his power in aiding his people. But he calls him a terrible God, who had for a time patiently endured the wantonness of his enemies, and thus became despised by them: for the ungodly, we know, never submit to God unless they are constrained by his hand; and then they are not bent so as willingly to submit to his authority; but when forced they are silent. The word, [נורא], is rendered “to be feared,” by Cocceius and Henderson, and [עליהם], “above them,” that is, “the gods of the earth,” mentioned in the next line; it being considered an instance of a pronoun preceding its noun. But this is forced; and it is not necessary. Moab and Ammon are evidently referred to; and what is said is, that God would be terrible to them, as well as to others, for he would famish or destroy all the gods of the earth. And then in the next verse he mentions other nations. Some extend what is here said to gospel-times; but there seems no reason for this, inasmuch as God’s judgment is the subject of the Prophet. — Ed. This is what the Prophet means in these words; as though he had said, that the wicked now mock God, as they disregard his power, but that they shall find how terrible an avenger of his people he is, so that they would have to dread him. And then he compares the superstitions of the nations with true religion; as though he had said, that this would be to the Jews as a reward for their piety, inasmuch as they worshipped the only true God, and that all idols would be of no avail against the help of God. And this was a necessary admonition; for the ungodly seemed to triumph for a time, not only over a conquered people, but over God himself, and thus gloried in their superstitious and vain inventions. The Prophet, therefore, confirms their desponding minds; for God, he says, will at length consume all the gods of the nations

The verb רזה, reze, means strictly to make lean or to famish, but is to be taken here metaphorically, as signifying to consume. God then will famish all the inventions of the nations: and he alludes to that famine which idols had occasioned through the whole world; as though he had said, that God’s glory would shortly appear, which would exterminate whatever glory the false gods had obtained among them, so that it would melt away like fatness.

He at last adds, that the remotest nations would become suppliants to God; for by saying, adore him shall each from his place, Literally —

And bow down to him, every one from his place, Shall all the islands of the nations. he doubtless means, that however far off the countries might be, the distance would be no hindrance to God’s name being celebrated, when his power became known to remote lands. And, for the same reason, he mentions the islands of the nations, that is, countries beyond the sea: for the Hebrews, as it has been elsewhere observed, call those countries islands which are far distant, and divided by the sea. By the earth the Jews understood the great continent of all Asia and Africa, to which they had acces by land; and by the isles of the sea they understood the places to which they sailed by sea, particularly all Europe. Sir I. Newton on Daniel, p. 276.” — Newcome. In short, the Prophet shows, that the redemption of the people would be so wonderful, that the fame of it would reach the farthest bounds of the earth, and constrain foreign nations to give glory to the true God, and that it would dissipate all the mists of superstition, so that idols would be exposed to scorn and contempt. It follows —

Zephaniah 2:12

12. Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.

12. Etiam vos Ethiopes, interfecti gladio meo ipsi (alii vertunt, cum ipsis.)

The Prophet extends farther the threatened vengeance, and says, that God would also render to the Ethiopians the reward which they deserved; for they had also harassed the chosen people. But if God punished that nation, how could Ammon and Moab hope to escape? For how could God spare so great a cruelty, since he would visit with punishment the remotest nations? For the hatred of the Moabites and of the Ammonites, as we have said, was less excusable, because they were related to the children of Abraham. They ought, on this account, to have mitigated their fierceness: besides, vicinity ought to have rendered them more humane. But as they exceeded other nations in cruelty, a heavier punishment awaited them. Now this comparison was intended for this end — that the Jews might know that God would be inexorable towards the Moabites, by whom they had been so unjustly harassed, since even the Ethiopians would be punished, who yet were more excusable on account of their distance.

As to the words, some regard the demonstrative pronoun המה, eme, they, as referring to the Babylonians, and others, to the Moabites. I prefer to understand it of the Moabites, if we read, like them, or with them, as these interpreters consider it: for they regard the particle את, at, with, or כ, caph, like, to be understood, Ye Ethiopians shall be slain by my sword like them, or with them. It would in this case doubtless apply to the Moabites. But it seems to me that the sentence is irregular, even ye Ethiopians, and then, they shall be slain by any sword. The Prophet begins the verse in the second person, summoning the Ethiopians to appear before God’s tribunal; he afterwards adds in the third person, they shall be slain by my sword. Newcome cuts the knot, here by an emendation, by [אתם], ye, for [המה], they; and Houbigant, by [תהיו], ye shall be, — “the wounded of my sword shall ye be.” This is according to the Septuagint; but the former is more in accordance with the Hebrew idiom; for the pronoun is often used without the auxiliary verb. Some take [המה] as ipsi in Latin, connected with vos, ye yourselves. Then the rendering would be —

Also ye Cushites, The slain of my sword shall ye yourselves be.

But what Calvin says is not uncommon in the Prophet, the abrupt change of persons. — Ed.

God calls whatever evils were impending over the Ethiopians his sword; for though they were destroyed by the Chaldeans yet it was done under the guidance of God himself. The Chaldeans made war under his authority, as the Assyrians did, who had been previously employed by him to execute his vengeance. It follows —

Zephaniah 2:13

13. And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.

13. Et extendet manum suam ad Aquilomen, et perdet Assyriam, et ponet Ninevem in vastitatiem, desolationem instar deserti.

The Prophet proceeds here to the Assyrians, whom we know to have been special enemies to the Church of God. For the Moabites and the Ammonites were fans only, as we have elsewhere seen, as they could not do much harm by their own strength. Hence they stirred up the Assyrians, they stirred up the Ethiopians and remote nations. The meaning, then, is, that no one of all the enemies of the Church would be left unpunished by God, as every one would receive a reward for his cruelty. He speaks now of God in the third person; but in the last verse God himself said, that the Ethiopians would be slain by his sword. The Prophet adds here, He will extend his hand to the north; that is, God will not complete his judgments on the Ethiopians; but he will go farther, even to Nineveh and to all the Assyrians.

Nineveh, we know, was the metropolis of the empire, before the Assyrians were conquered by the Babylonians. Thus Babylon then recovered the sovereignty which it had lost; and Nineveh, though not wholly demolished, was yet deprived of its ruling power, and gradually lost its name and its wealth, until it was reduced into a waste; for the building of Ctesiphon, as we have elsewhere seen, proved its ruin. But the Prophet, no doubt, proceeds here to administer comfort to the Jews, lest they should despair, while the Lord did not interfere. And the extension of the hand means as though he said, that his own time is known to the Lord, and that he would put forth his power when needful. Assyria was north as to Judea: hence he says, to the north will the Lord extend his hand, and will destroy Assyria; he will make Nineveh a desolation, that it may be like the desert. It follows —

Zephaniah 2:14

14. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work.

14. Et cubabunt in medio ejus greges, omnes bestiae gentium: etiam onocrotalus, etiam noctua (alii vertunt, pro onocrotalo, ibin, alii, cuculum; alii, pro noctua, ericium) in postibus ejus pernoctabunt; vox cantabit in fenestra, in poste vastitatis (alii vertunt, corvum; sed nomen vastitatis, quod postulat ratio grammaticae, retinendum nobis est,) quia nudavit cedrum (vel, contignationem.)

The Prophet describes here the state of the city and the desolation of the country. He says, that the habitations of flocks would be in the midst of the city Nineveh. The city, we know, was populous; but while men were so many, there was no place for flocks, especially in the middle of a city so celebrated. Hence no common change is here described by the Prophet, when he says, that flocks would lie down in the middle of Nineveh; and he adds, all wild beasts. For beasts, which seek seclusion and shun the sight of men, are wont to come forth, when they find a country desolate and deserted; and they range then at large, as it is the case after a slaughter in war; and when any region is emptied of its inhabitants, the wolves, the lions, and other wild beasts, roam here and there at full liberty. So the Prophet says, that wild beasts would come from other parts and remote places, and find a place where Nineveh once stood. It is literally, “every wild beast of the nation,” — [נוי], — “of the land,” in the Septuagint. What is meant is, every wild beast that beloned to that country. — Ed. He adds that the bitterns, or the storks or the cuckoos, and similar wild birds would be there. Both Newcome and Henderson render the two words, “the pelican and the porcupine.” The former says that [קאת], “pelican,” comes from [קאה], to vomit, because it casts up fish or water from its membranaceous bag; and [קפד], “porcupine,” according to Bochart, is from the verb, which means to cut off as by a bite, or rather, he says, from its Syriac meaning, to dread, for it is a solitary animal. See Newcome. But Parkhurst contends that it is the hedgehog, and both the Septuagint and Vulgate render it so.

What Calvin translates “in postibus ejus,” [בכפתויה], is rendered by Newcome, “in the carved lintels thereof,” by Henderson, “in her capitals,” and by Parkhurst, “in her door-porches,” i.e. when thrown down. — Ed. As to their various kinds, I make no laborious research; for it is enough to know the Prophet’s design: besides, the Jews themselves, who boldly affirm that either the bittern or the stork is meant, yet adduce nothing that is certain. What, in short, this description means, is — that the place, which before a vast multitude of men inhabited, would become so forsaken, that wild beasts and nocturnal birds would be its only inhabitants.

But we must bear in mind what I have stated, that all these things were set before the Jews, that they might patiently bear their miseries, understanding that God would become their defender. For this is the only support that remains for us under very grievous evils, as Paul reminds us in the first chapter of the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians; for he says, that the time will come when the Lord shall give to us relief and refreshment, and that he will visit our adversaries with punishment 2 Thessalonians 1:1.

The Prophet mentions especially Nineveh, that the Jews might know that there is nothing so great and splendid in the world which God does not esteem of less consequence than the salvation of his Church, as it is said in Isaiah, I will give Egypt as thy ransom. So God threatens the wealthiest city, that he might show how much he loved his chosen people. And the Jews could not have attributed this to their own worthiness; but the cause of so great a love depended on their gratuitous adoption. It afterwards follows —

Zephaniah 2:15

15. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

15. Haec urbs exultabunda, quae sedebat confidenter, quae dicebat in corde suo, Ego et non praeter me amplius: quomodo facta est in vastationem, cubile animalibus? Quisquis transierit (vel, omnis viator) super eam subilabit, agitabit manum suam.

He seems to have added this by way of anticipation, lest the magnificent splendor of the city Nineveh should frighten the Jews, as though it were exempt from all danger. The Prophet therefore reminds them here, that though Nineveh was thus proud of its wealth, it could not yet escape the hand of God; nay, he shows that the greatness, on account of which Nineveh extolled itself, would be the cause of its ruin; for it would cast itself down by its own pride: as a wall, when it swells, will not long stand; so also men, when they inwardly swell, and vent their own boastings, burst; and though no one pushes them down, they fall of themselves. Such a destruction the Prophet denounces on the Ninevites and the Assyrians.

This, he says, is the exulting city, which sat in confidence. Isaiah reprobates in nearly the same words the pride of Babylon: but what Isaiah said of Babylon our Prophet justly transfers here to Nineveh. But he no doubt had respect to the Jews, and exhibits Nineveh in its state of ruin, lest the power of that city should dazzle their eyes; for we are seized with wonder, when anything grand and splendid presents itself to us. Here then Zephaniah makes a representation of Nineveh and sets it before the Jews: Behold, he says, ye see this city full of exultation; ye also see that it rests as in a state of safety; for it is conscious of no fear; it regards itself exempt from the common lot of men, as though it was built in the clouds. This city, he says, is above all others celebrated; but let not frail and evanescent splendor terrify you; for God will doubtless in his own time overthrow it and reduce it to nothing.

Let us also in the meantime observe what I have lately referred to, — that the cause of the ruin of Nineveh is described, which was, that it had promised to itself a perpetuity in the world. But let us remember, that in this city is presented to us an example, which belongs in common to all nations, — that God cannot endure the presumption of men, when inflated by their own greatness and power, they do not think themselves to be men, nor humble themselves in a way suitable to the condition of men, but forget themselves, as though they could exalt themselves above the heavens.

But it is necessary to examine the words: Nineveh said in her heart, I, and besides me no other. By these words the Prophet means, that Nineveh was so blinded by its splendor that it now defied every change of fortune. Had Babylon spoken thus, it would have been no wonder, for it had taken from Nineveh its sovereignty. But we see that the same pride infatuates people as well as superior kings; for each thinks himself to be great alone, and when he compares himself with others, he looks on them as far below him, as though they were placed beneath his feet. Thus then the Prophet shows in few words what was the cause of the ruin of Nineveh: it thought that its condition on the earth was fixed and perpetual. If then we desire to be protected by God’s hand, let us bear in mind what our condition is, and daily, yea, hourly prepare ourselves for a change, except God be pleased to sustain us. Our stability is to depend only on the aid of God, and from consciousness of our infirmity, to tremble in ourselves, lest a forgetfulness of our state should creep in.

He afterwards adds, How has it become a desolation? The Prophet accommodates his words to the capacities of men: for the ruin of Nineveh might have appeared incredible. Hence the Prophet by a question rouses the minds of the faithful, that they might not doubt the truth of what God declared, for he would work in an extraordinary manner. This how then intimates, that the Jews ought not to be incredulous, while thinking that Nineveh was on all sides fortified, so as to prevent the occurrence of anything disastrous: for God would, in a wonderful manner and beyond what is usual, overthrow it. How, then, has it become a desolation, a resting-place for beasts?

He then subjoins, Every one who passes by will hiss and shake his hand. The Prophet seems to point out the future reproach of Nineveh, and to confirm also by a different mode of speaking what he had before said, that its ruin would be wonderful; for the shaking of the hand and hissing are marks of reproach: Behold Nineveh, which so much flattered itself! we now see only its sad ruins. The Prophet, I have no doubt, means here by hissing and the shaking of the hind, that Nineveh would become an ignominious spectacle to all people: and the same mode of speaking often occurs in the Prophets. All shall hiss at thee; that is, I will make thee a reproach and a disgrace. Then the Prophet, as I have already said, still declares the same truths that the ruin of Nineveh would be like a miracle; for all those who pass by would be amazed; as though he had said, Behold, they will hiss — What is this? and then they will shake the hand — What can be firm in this world? We see the principal seat of empire demolished, and differing nothing from a desert. We now perceive the meaning of the Prophet.

As this doctrine is also necessary for us at this day, we must notice the circumstances to which we have referred. If, then, our enemies triumph now, and their haughtiness is intolerable, let us know, that the sooner the vengeance of God will overtake them; if they are become insensible in their prosperity, and secure, and despise all dangers, they thus provoke God’s wrath, and especially if to their pride and hardness they add cruelty, so as basely to persecute the Church of God, to spoil, to plunder, and to slay his people, as we see them doing. Since then our enemies are so wanton, we may see as in a mirror their near destruction, such as is foretold by the Prophet: for he spoke not only of his own age, but designed to teach us, by the prophetic spirit, how dear to God is the safety of his Church; and the future lot of the ungodly till the end of the world will no doubt be such as Nineveh is described here to have been that though they swell with pride for a time, and promise themselves every success against the innocent, God will yet put a stop to their insolence and check their cruelty, when the proper time shall come. I shall not today begin the third chapter, for it contains a new subject.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou triest us in the warfare of the cross, and arouses most powerful enemies, whose barbarity might justly terrify and dishearten us, were we not depending on thine aid, — O grant, that we may call to mind how wonderfully thou didst in former times deliver thy chosen people, and how seasonably thou didst bring them help, when they were oppressed and entirely overwhelmed, so that we may learn at this day to flee to thy protection, and not doubt, but that when thou becomest propitious to us, there is in thee sufficient power to preserve us, and to lay prostrate our enemies, how much soever they may now exult and think to triumph above the heavens, so that they may at length know by experience that they are earthly and frail creatures, whose life and condition is like the mist which soon vanishes: and may we learn to aspire after that blessed eternity, which is laid up for us in heaven by Christ our Lord. Amen.

CHAPTER 3

Lecture One Hundred and Twenty-fourth

Zephaniah 3:1, 2

1. Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!

1. Vae pollutae et inquinatae, urbi direptrici (vel, fraudatrici.)

2. She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.

2. Non audivit ad vocem; non suscepit disciplinam (vel, correctionem;) in Iehova non est confisa; ad Deum suum non appropinquarit.

CHAPTER 2

Zep 2:1-15. Exhortation to Repent before the Chaldean Invaders Come. Doom of Judah's Foes, the Philistines, Moab, Ammon, with Their Idols, and Ethiopia and Assyria.

1. Gather yourselves--to a religious assembly, to avert the judgment by prayers (Joe 2:16) [Grotius]. Or, so as not to be dissipated "as chaff" (Zep 2:2). The Hebrew is akin to a root meaning "chaff." Self-confidence and corrupt desires are the dissipation from which they are exhorted to gather themselves [Calvin]. The foe otherwise, like the wind, will scatter you "as the chaff." Repentance is the gathering of themselves meant.

nation not desired--(Compare 2Ch 21:20), that is, not desirable; unworthy of the grace or favor of God; and yet God so magnifies that grace as to be still solicitous for their safety, though they had destroyed themselves and forfeited all claims on His grace [Calvin]. The Margin from Chaldee Version has, "not desirous," namely of returning to God. Maurer and Gesenius translate, "Not waxing pale," that is, dead to shame. English Version is best.

2. Before the decree bring forth--that is, Before God's decree against you announced by me (Zep 1:1-18) have its fulfilment. As the embryo lies hid in the womb, and then emerges to light in its own due time, so though God for a time hides His vengeance, yet He brings it forth at the proper season.

before the day pass as the chaff--that is, before the day for repentance pass, and with it you, the ungodly, pass away as the chaff (Job 21:18; Psa 1:4). Maurer puts it parenthetically, "the day (that is, time) passes as the chaff (that is, most quickly)." Calvin, "before the decree bring forth" (the predicted vengeance), (then) the chaff (the Jews) shall pass in a day, that is, in a moment, though they thought that it would be long before they could be overthrown. English Version is best; the latter clause being explanatory of the former, and so the before being understood, not expressed.

3. As in Zep 2:1 (compare Note, see on Zep 1:12) he had warned the hardened among the people to humble themselves, so now he admonishes "the meek" to proceed in their right course, that so they may escape the general calamity (Psa 76:9). The meek bow themselves under God's chastisements to God's will, whereas the ungodly become only the more hardened by them.

Seek ye the Lord--in contrast to those that "sought not the Lord" (Zep 1:6). The meek are not to regard what the multitudes do, but seek God at once.

his judgment--that is, law. The true way of "seeking the Lord" is to "work judgment," not merely to be zealous about outward ordinances.

seek meekness--not perversely murmuring against God's dealings, but patiently submitting to them, and composedly waiting for deliverance.

it may be ye shall be hid--(Is 26:20; Am 5:6). This phrase does not imply doubt of the deliverance of the godly, but expresses the difficulty of it, as well that the ungodly may see the certainty of their doom, as also that the faithful may value the more the grace of God in their case (1Pe 4:17-19) [Calvin]. Compare 2Ki 25:12.

4. For--He makes the punishment awaiting the neighboring states an argument why the ungodly should repent (Zep 2:1) and the godly persevere, namely, that so they may escape from the general calamity.

Gaza shall be forsaken--In the Hebrew there is a play of similar sounds, Gaza Gazubah; Gaza shall be forsaken, as its name implies. So the Hebrew of the next clause, Ekron teeakeer.

at the noonday--when on account of the heat Orientals usually sleep, and military operations are suspended (2Sa 4:5). Hence an attack at noon implies one sudden and unexpected (Jr 6:4, 5; 15:8).

Ekron--Four cities of the Philistines are mentioned, whereas five was the normal number of their leading cities. Gath is omitted, being at this time under the Jews' dominion. David had subjugated it (1Ch 18:1). Under Joram the Philistines almost regained it (2Ch 21:16), but Uzziah (2Ch 26:6) and Hezekiah (2Ki 18:8) having conquered them, it remained under the Jews. Am 1:6; Zec 9:5, 6; Jr 25:20, similarly mention only four cities of the Philistines.

5. inhabitants of the seacoast--the Philistines dwelling on the strip of seacoast southwest of Canaan. Literally, the "cord" or "line" of sea (compare Jr 47:7; Eze 25:16).

the Cherethites--the Cretans, a name applied to the Philistines as sprung from Crete (De 2:23; Jr 47:4; Am 9:7). Philistine means "an emigrant."

Canaan ... land of the Philistines--They occupied the southwest of Canaan (Jos 13:2, 3); a name which hints that they are doomed to the same destruction as the early occupants of the land.

6. dwellings and cottages for shepherds--rather, "dwellings with cisterns" (that is, water-tanks dug in the earth) for shepherds. Instead of a thick population and tillage, the region shall become a pasturage for nomad shepherds' flocks. The Hebrew for "dug cisterns," Ceroth, seems a play on sounds, alluding to their name Cherethites (Zep 2:5): Their land shall become what their national name implies, a land of cisterns. Maurer translates, "Feasts for shepherds' (flocks)," that is, one wide pasturage.

7. remnant of ... Judah--those of the Jews who shall be left after the coming calamity, and who shall return from exile.

feed thereupon--namely, in the pastures of that seacoast region (Zep 2:6).

visit--in mercy (Ex 4:31).

8. I have heard--A seasonable consolation to Judah when wantonly assailed by Moab and Ammon with impunity: God saith, "I have heard it all, though I might seem to men not to have observed it because I did not immediately inflict punishment."

magnified themselves--acted haughtily, invading the territory of Judah (Jr 48:29; 49:1; compare Zep 2:10; Psa 35:26; Ob 12).

9. the breeding of nettles--or, the overspreading of nettles, that is, a place overrun with them.

salt pits--found at the south of the Dead Sea. The water overflows in the spring, and salt is left by the evaporation. Salt land is barren (Jud 9:45; Psa 107:34, Margin).

possess them--that is, their land; in retribution for their having occupied Judah's land.

10. (Compare Zep 2:8).

their pride--in antithesis to the meek (Zep 2:3).

11. famish--bring low by taking from the idols their former fame; as beasts are famished by their food being withheld. Also by destroying the kingdoms under the tutelage of idols (Psa 96:4; Is 46:1).

gods of the earth--who have their existence only on earth, not in heaven as the true God.

every one from his place--each in his own Gentile home, taught by the Jews in the true religion: not in Jerusalem alone shall men worship God, but everywhere (Psa 68:29, 30; Mal 1:11; Joh 4:21; 1Co 1:2; 1Ti 2:8). It does not mean, as in Is 2:2; Mi 4:1, 2; Zec 8:22; 14:16 that they shall come from their several places to Jerusalem to worship [Maurer].

all ... isles of ... heathen--that is, all the maritime regions, especially the west, now being fulfilled in the gathering in of the Gentiles to Messiah.

12. Fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar (God's sword, Is 10:5) conquered Egypt, with which Ethiopia was closely connected as its ally (Jr 46:2-9; Eze 30:5-9).

Ye--literally, "They." The third person expresses estrangement; while doomed before God's tribunal in the second person, they are spoken of in the third as aliens from God.

13. Here he passes suddenly to the north. Nineveh was destroyed by Cyaxares and Nabopolassar, 625 B.C. The Scythian hordes, by an inroad into Media and thence in the southwest of Asia (thought by many to be the forces described by Zephaniah, as the invaders of Judea, rather than the Chaldeans), for a while interrupted Cyaxares' operations; but he finally succeeded. Arbaces and Belesis previously subverted the Assyrian empire under Sardanapalus (that is, Pul?), 877 B.C.

14. flocks--of sheep; answering to "beasts" in the parallel clause. Wide pastures for sheep and haunts for wild beasts shall be where once there was a teeming population (compare Zep 2:6). Maurer, needlessly for the parallelism, makes it "flocks of savage animals."

beasts of the nations--that is, beasts of the earth (Ge 1:24). Not as Rosenmuller, "all kinds of beasts that form a nation," that is, gregarious beasts (Pr 30:25, 26).

cormorant--rather, the "pelican" (so Psa 102:6; Is 34:11, Margin).

bittern--(Is 14:23). Maurer translates, "the hedgehog"; Henderson, "the porcupine."

upper lintels--rather, "the capitals of her columns," namely, in her temples and palaces [Maurer]. Or, "on the pomegranate-like knops at the tops of the houses" [Grotius].

their voice shall sing in the windows--The desert-frequenting birds' "voice in the windows" implies desolation reigning in the upper parts of the palaces, answering to "desolation ... in the thresholds," that is, in the lower.

he shall uncover the cedar work--laying the cedar wainscoting on the walls, and beams of the ceiling, bare to wind and rain, the roof being torn off, and the windows and doors broken through. All this is designed as a consolation to the Jews that they may bear their calamities patiently, knowing that God will avenge them.

15. Nothing then seemed more improbable than that the capital of so vast an empire, a city sixty miles in compass, with walls one hundred feet high, and so thick that three chariots could go abreast on them, and with fifteen hundred towers, should be so totally destroyed that its site is with difficulty discovered. Yet so it is, as the prophet foretold.

there is none beside me--This peculiar phrase, expressing self-gratulation as if peerless, is plainly adopted from Is 47:8. The later prophets, when the spirit of prophecy was on the verge of departing, leaned more on the predictions of their predecessors.

hiss--in astonishment at a desolation so great and sudden (1Ki 9:8); also in derision (Job 27:23; La 2:15; Eze 27:36).

Gather yourselves - Others, sift yourselves. Separate the chaff from the wheat, before the judgments of God fall upon you. O nation not desired - unlovely, not delighted in; hated because of your sin. The Israelites are addressed.

Ye meek of the earth - ענוי anavey, ye oppressed and humbled of the land.

It may be ye shall be hid - The sword has not a commission against you. Ask God, and he will be a refuge to you from the storm and from the tempest.

Gaza shall be forsaken - This prophecy is against the Philistines. They had been greatly harassed by the kings of Egypt; but were completely ruined by Nebuchadnezzar, who took all Phoenicia from the Egyptians; and about the time of his taking Tyre, devastated all the seignories of the Philistines. This ruin we have seen foretold by the other prophets, and have already remarked its exact fulfillment.

The sea-coasts, the nation of the Cherethites - The sea-coasts mean all the country lying on the Mediterranean coast from Egypt to Joppa and Gaza. The Cherethites - the Cretans who were probably a colony of the Phoenicians. See on 1Sam 30:14 (note), and Amo 9:7 (note).

And the sea-coasts shall be dwellings - Newcome considers כרת keroth as a proper name, not cottages or folds. The Septuagint have Κρητη, Crete, and so has the Syriac. Abp. Secker notes, Alibi non extat כרת, et forte notat patriam των כרתים. "The word כרת is not found elsewhere, and probably it is the name of the country of the Cherethim."

The coast shall be for the remnant - Several devastations fell on the Philistines. Gaza was ruined by the army of Alexander the Great, and the Maccabees finally accomplished all that was predicted by the prophets against this invariably wicked people. They lost their polity, and were at last obliged to receive circumcision.

I have heard the reproach of Moab - God punished them for the cruel part they had taken in the persecutions of the Jews; for when they lay under the displeasure of God, these nations insulted them in the most provoking manner. See on Amo 1:13 (note), and Gen 19:25 (note); Deu 29:23 (note); Isa 13:19 (note); Isa 34:13 (note); Jer 49:18 (note); Jer 50:40 (note).

The breeding of nettles - That is, their land shall become desolate, and be a place for nettles, thorns, etc., to flourish in, for want of cultivation.

Because they have reproached - See on Zep 2:8 (note).

He will famish all the gods of the earth - They shall have no more sacrifices; their worship shall be entirely destroyed. Idolaters supposed that their gods actually fed on the fumes and spirituous exhalations that arose from the burnt-offerings which they made unto their idols. It is in reference to this opinion that the Lord says, "He will famish all the gods of the land."

Ye Ethiopians also - Nebuchadnezzar subdued these. See Jer 46:2, Jer 46:9; Eze 30:4, Eze 30:10. See also on Amo 9:7 (note).

He will - destroy Assyria - He will overthrow the empire, and Nineveh, their metropolitan city. See on Jonah and Nahum.

And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her - Nineveh was so completely destroyed, that its situation is not at present even known. The present city of Mossoul is supposed to be in the vicinity of the place where this ancient city stood.

The cormorant קאת kaath; and the bittern, קפד kippod. These Newcome translates, "The pelican and the porcupine."

Their voice shall sing in the windows - The windows shall be all demolished; wild fowl shall build their nests in them, and shall be seen coming from their sills, and the fine cedar ceilings shall be exposed to the weather, and by and by crumble to dust. See the note on Isa 34:11-14 (note), where nearly the same terms are used.

I have in another place introduced a remarkable couplet quoted by Sir W. Jones from a Persian poet, which speaks of desolation in nearly the same terms. "The spider holds the veil in the palace of Caesar:

The owl stands sentinel in the watchtower of Afrasiab."

This is the rejoicing city - The city in which mirth, jocularity, and pleasure, reigned without interruption.

And wag his hand - Will point her out as a mark and monument of Divine displeasure.

Gather yourselves - Call a solemn assembly, proclaim a fast. Not desired - Or, not desirous. Unwilling to return, and unworthy to be received on your return.

The decree - Before God's decree is put in execution. The day - Before the day of your calamities. As the chaff - Carry you away as the wind carries chaff away.

Seek - Fear, worship, depend on him alone. Ye meek - Ye humble ones. Wrought his judgment - Obeyed his precepts. Seek righteousness - Continue therein. Seek meekness - Patiently wait on the just and merciful God. Hid - Under the wing of Divine Providence.

For - It is time to seek God; for your neighbours, as well as you, shall be destroyed. Gaza - A chief city of the Philistines. They - The Babylonians. Shall drive - Into captivity. At the noon day - It shall be taken by force at noon.

The inhabitants - All the Philistines. Cherethites - Or destroyers, men that were stout, fierce, and terrible to their neighbours. O Canaan - That part that the Philistines kept by force from the Jews.

For shepherds - Instead of cities full of rich citizens, there shall be only cottages for shepherds.

The coast - The sea - coast, the land of the Philistines. The remnant - That survive the captivity. Shall feed - Their flocks. In the houses - In places where these formerly stood. They - Both shepherds and flocks. Shall visit - In mercy.

Of nettles - Not cultivated, but over - run with nettles. Salt - pits - A dry, barren earth, fit only to dig salt out of. The residue - That return out of Babylon. Possess them - Settle upon those parts of their lands, that are fit for habitation.

Famish - Take away all their sacrifices and drink - offerings. The gods - Idols of those lands. From his place - Not only at Jerusalem, but every where.

By my sword - The Chaldeans are called God's sword; because God employed them.

He - God. The north - Assyria, which lay northward of Judea, and due north from Babylon.

All the beasts - All sorts of beasts which are found in those countries. The bittern - A bird that delights in desolate places.

This - So the prophet triumphs over her. There is none - None like me, or that can contend with me.

1 GAther your selves together , yea, gather together , O nation not desired .

Call a solemn assembly, as Ioel 1.14. proclaim a fast. Let all have notice given to meet on this work, and being gather'd together, search your selves, hearts, and wayes and repent.

Repeated to affect them the more and to hasten them to it, and make them serious in it.

Of the Iews, yet a people, yet my people, though next door almost to being no people.

Neither desirous to return, nor desirable in your return, foolishly unwilling to return, and utterly unworthy to be received on your return, yet gather together, search your wayes, and try what you may do for your safety.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 paragraph]

2 Before the decree bring forth , before the day pass as the chaffe : before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORDs anger come upon you.

The word of the Prophet which declares the purpose of God against this sinful people.

The decree is pregnant, nay hath gone a great while, but is now like a woman near her full time ready to bring forth, be you speedy in your Repentance, lest your Miseries break forth of the Womb of Divine Vengeance and destroy you.

The day of your calamities, Babylon's rage, and Gods just displeasure.

Carry you away as the Wind carrieth chaffe away for the fire, while the good grain is gathered and preserved.

As a storm from on high with violence irresistible and destructive, and the warning is doubled to make them take it.

The heat of Anger. It was Jealousie like fire, chap. 1.18. and here 'tis the heat of that fire, intimating the greatness of the Anger.

3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth , which have wrought his judgment , seek righteousness , seek meekness : it may be , ye shall be hid in the day of the LORDs Anger.

Turn to him with sound and true Repentance, pray for pardon, engage in new obedience, enquire in the Law what is your Duty and do it; fear, worship, depend on the Lord alone.

Ye humble ones who have not hardned your selves with the stubborn, proud, Idolatrous Hypocrites, but have trembled at the Word of the Lord.

Of Iudaea which is here spoken of, as chap. 1.2.

Obey'd his precepts, so doth the Scripture express obedience to the Law of God by doing judgment, D[illegible: 2 letters]t. 4.5. Psal. 119.121.

Enquire, and know the righteousness which God commandeth which you ought to persist in▪ and continue ye in it.

Carry it humbly towards God, and patiently under his Corrections, so want on the just, and merciful God.

This is sufficient to raise hope, if it be not sure, if it be hard, yet 'tis not impossible.

Under the wing of Divine protecting Providence kept safe, from, or in, these troubles, they shall be either averted or abated.

Marginal references: Joel 2.14. Amos 5.15. Jonah 3.9.

4 For Gaza shall be forsaken and Ashkelon a desolation : they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day , and Ekron shall be rooted up .

It is time to seek some refuge, high time to seek it in God, for your neighbours, as well as you, shall be destroy'd, there shall be no refuge for you among your neighbours.

A chief City of the Philistins, very strong by its situation, and by art fortified a Frontier toward Egypt, and not full three miles from the Sea.

When the conquering Army of the Chaldeans shall come against it, shall be forsaken either by the flight or captivity of the inhabitants.

Another of the strong Cities of the Philistines which fell to the Tribe of Dan, and was a Maritine Town.

Utterly wasted, so the abstract doth imply.

Babylonians. Vid. Ezek. 25.15, 16, 17.

Into captivity, cast them out of their own and force them into a strange land.

A strong fortified City of Palestina called in after times Azotus.

It shall be taken by force at Noon, or the Citizens led away captive in the heat of the day, and under parching heats.

Famous for its infamous Idolatry where Baalzebub was worshipp'd, the chief Seat of Devil-worship.

Utterly extirpated, no more to spring up. Vid. Ier. 47.4, 5. it shall be as a Tree pull'd up by the Roots, or maimed, as Horses that are houghed, as Iosh. 11.9.

Marginal references: Amos 1.6. Zech. 9.5.

5 Wo unto the inhabitants of the seacoasts ; the nation of the Cherethites : the word of the LORD is against you: O Canaan : the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant .

Now all the Philistines are threatned, whereas before he named onely those four Cities.

The Coasts of the great, or western Sea, now the Mediterrane, on which the Philistines of old did dwell.

Or destroyers, men that were stout but fierce and perhaps terrible to Neighbours and Forreigners that had the hard hap to be forced on their Coasts by violence of Sea. They were great Souldiers, and lived Switzer-like, Guards to David, it may be to other Kings also.

His purpose, his threats too by his Prophet.

That part that the Philistines did by force keep from the Iewes.

Though the Chaldeans be the men shall destroy, yet the Lord will do it also; they his servants, he chief, in doing it.

No more Cities, nor Citizens to dwell therein.

6 And the sea-coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds , and folds for flocks.

This confirms the former, tells us what shall be in those parts, instead of Cities full of rich Citizens, there shall be Cottages for shepherds watching over their flocks.

7 And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah , they shall feed thereupon, in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the LORD their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity .

The Sea-coast, the land of the Philistines.

Either that escaped, as some did, or else survived the Captivity.

The Two Tribes, one nam'd, both included.

Their flocks.

In places where houses of Ashkelon formerly stood.

Both Shepherds and Flocks too.

The everlasting Iehovah.

From their Fathers by Covenant.

In mercy remembring his covenant with them.

Or shall send to receive their Prisoners, or Captives, or return their Captivity, and by the command of Cyrus give them liberty of returning into their own Countrey.

Marginal references: Or, when.

8 ¶ I have heard the reproach of Moab , and the revilings of the children of Ammon whereby they have reproached my people , and magnified themselves against their border .

Either the Prophet for himself, or for the People, speaks this, or else more likely in the name of God, assures the Iewes that God had heard, observed, resented, and was highly displeased with that he heard.

A people of near kin to the Iewes born of Lot's daughter, seated Eastward of Canaan, upon the Dead Sea, and Iordan, a powerful people and as proud; whose Pride broke out on all occasions against the Iews, as appears from first to last, Isa. 16.6. and Ier. 48.27, 30. brand them as very proud.

A people as near as Moab to Jewish blood, and as bitter against them, Ne[illegible: 1 letter]. 4.2, 3. bitter scoffers, and Jearers.

Either in the War, or at the taking of Jerusalem, or when the captive Jewes were led by their borders into captivity: Ezek. 25.3. puts these all together.

Either boasting what they themselves were, or what they would have dont, or what they will do against Israel, recovering their old pretended Right and Estate.

Invading their Frontiers, and spoiling them with insolence.

Marginal references: Jer. 49.1.

9 Therefore as I live saith 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 .

The most solemn Oath, fit for none but God himself to use. Vid. Ezek. 14.16.

Who have all things at my disposal and can arm all Creatures against these proud Revilers.

Who by Covenant am Israel's God, and Israel is my people, in whose reproaches I am reproached.

This is a proverbial speech in Scripture phrase to speak great destruction, as Isa. 1.9. Moab and Ammon were not destroy'd by fire, as Sodom and Gomorrah, but the next words are an explication of these.

Not Cultivated, but run over with Nettles, as if 'twere onely to breed them.

A salt, dry, barren Earth fit onely to dig salt out of it.

Never more to be manured and inhabited▪ [illegible: 1 letter]r not for a long, a very long time.

Either the few left with Gedaliah, or the Remnant that return'd out of Babylon.

Provoked by the injuries of Moab, and Ammon, shall take Arms, overcome, and spoil them.

Settle upon their Lands, and dwell in those parts that are fit for habitation.

Marginal references: Isa. 15.[illegible: 1 letter] 48. Ez[illegible: 2 letters] ▪ [illegible: 1 letter] Amos 2.[illegible: 1 letter]; Amo[illegible: 1 letter] 1.[illegible: 1 letter]

10 This shall they have for their pride because they have reproached , and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts .

This grievous ruin like Sodoms, this just Retaliation, they insulted over Israel, Israel shall tread on them.

Haughty mind and carriage. See ver. 8. let. e

Defam'd, spoke lies, and scandals against the Iewes, lessening them.

Their Persons and Exploits.

Against the onely people of the Lord of Hosts who suffer'd reproach with his People and in them, for Moabites and Ammonites, as others boasted of their Gods above the True God.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] 1[illegible: 1 letter].[illegible: 1 letter] Jer. [illegible: 2 letters].[illegible: 2 letters]

11 The LORD will be terrible unto them : for he will famish all the gods of the earth , and men shall worship him , every one from his place , even all the isles of the heathen .

Or, The Lord who is to be feared is against or above them, and will make it appear that he is terrible in his doings.

Moabites and Ammonites and their Gods, of whom they gloried.

Starve; though now their Altars are filled with Sacrifices, and their bowles run over, as if they designed to make their Gods fat, but they shall want their Sacrifices and Drink-offerings, these shall be few or quite cease, and their Priests grow lean. There shall be a consumption among them all.

Idols, heathen Gods.

Of those Lands, Dagon, Che[illegible: 2 letters]sh, Molech, &c. that are Gods no where else but on Earth, and among the deceived, or Gods of the Earth, as sons of the Earth, vile spurious Gods.

Of that Countrey whose Gods are undone, or all men shall know, own and worship the God of Israel.

Where he dwelleth, not onely at Ierusalem, or in this mount, but every where.

Either literally, as we now see it fulfilled, or as the Jewes interpret Isles to be Transmarine places. So they wait for his Law, as foretold Isa. 42.4.

Of all Nations in all parts of the World. This is eminently fulfilled by the prevailing of the Gospel.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]

12 ¶ Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain i by my sword.

The Prophet doth not speak of the African Aethiopians, south of Egypt, but of the Arabian Aethiopians much nearer to Canaan, whose Countrey was called Cusaea, with the addition Aethiopia Cusaea. See Habak. 3.7. let. a.

Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldeans called here Gods Sword, for God imploy'd and prospered them.

Punish'd by War, and your people cut off.

Marginal references: Is[illegible: 1 letter] 1[illegible: 1 letter].1 and 2[illegible: 1 letter].4 Ezek. 3[illegible: 1 letter].[illegible: 1 letter]

13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north , and destroy Assyria , and will make Nineveh a desolation and dry like a wilderness .

The Lord God of Israel, or the Chaldean Monarch as God's Servant herein.

Engage all his power, and use it to the utmost.

i. e. As follows Assyria, which lay Northward of Iudaea, but more due North from Babylon if I mistake n[illegible: 1 letter]t.

Overthrow that great and antient Kingdom of [illegible: 1 word], of which more at large in Na[illegible: 1 letter]um tot.

Chief City of that Kingdom. Vid. Nah. 1.1.

Most desolate, [illegible: 1 span]

Will turn those well-watered places into dry, thirsty and barren land as a wilderness.

Marginal references: I[illegible: 1 letter]a. 1[illegible: 1 letter].[illegible: 1 letter] Ezek. [illegible: 1 letter]1.[illegible: 1 letter] N[illegible: 2 letters]. [illegible: 1 letter].12 and 3.1[illegible: 1 letter]

14 And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her , all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it: their voice shall sing in the windows , desolation shall be in the thresholds : for he shall uncover the cedar work.

Ninev[illegible: 1 letter]h shall be so razed that Flocks of Cattel shall lie down in the midst of it, as before of the Philistines, ver. 6.

All sorts of beasts which are found in those. Countreys, the tame under the guard of watching shepherds, and wild ones seeking their prey will a[illegible: 2 letters]end about those places.

Birds that are solitary, and delight in desolate places, in Reedy Fens, where they seek their food, and are look'd on as unlucky Birds.

Shall either make their nests there▪ or seek and choose their Lodging there; they shall roost there in the night upon the Pillars, or Turrets or Pinacles.

These doleful Creatures shall make a more doleful noise, that shall be all the Musick to be heard in their desolate Windows.

The lowest part of their houses, from top to bottom nothing but wastes and ruine, instead of Beautiful Ladies looking out at Windows and Doors, and singing; now cormorants and bitterns, and their doleful Notes.

Or when the Babylonian hath burnt the houses, or beat down the curious Roofs and coverings of Cedar, the beauty and the defence of their houses.

Marginal references: Cr, Pelican.; Isa. 24.11, 14.; Or, [illegible: 1 word], or [illegible: 1 word]; Or, when he [illegible: 1 word] uncovered.

15 This is the rejoycing city that dwelt carelesly , that said in her heart : I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation , a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her, shall hiss and wag his hand .

We may suppose the Prophet, or the Iewes, or all passengers standing still and wondring, nay upbraiding Nineveh, all Mirth and Jollity once, but now all sorrow and grief.

In so great confidence, and security, as if it had been impossible she should ever have fa[illegible: 1 letter]n from her glory.

Perswaded her self into an opinion very ill becoming any, but God himself.

None that can contend with me, that will be so hardy as to attempt against me, none able to overthrow me. Somewhat like T[illegible: 1 letter]rus. Ez[illegible: 1 letter]k. 28.12, &c.

She thought none was like her in Glory, Power and Wealth: now there is none like her indeed▪ but it is for Misery, and Desolations. It may be either the speech of one that laments and wonders at it, or of one that rejoyceth at it.

Where Palaces for Princes stood, now are places for Beasts, where Nobles dwelt, now do ignoble Cattle couch.

Deride their arrogancy and condemn their ungodly pride and security, yet with some pity toward this desolate City.

Marginal references: Isa. 4[illegible: 1 letter].[illegible: 1 letter].

Zep 2:1-3

Call to conversion. - Zep 2:1. “Gather yourselves together, and gather together, O nation that dost not grow pale. Zep 2:2. Before the decree bring forth (the day passes away like chaff), before the burning wrath of Jehovah come upon you, before the day of Jehovah’s wrath come upon you. Zep 2:3. Seek Jehovah, all ye humble of the land, who have wrought His right; seek righteousness, seek humility, perhaps ye will be hidden in the day of Jehovah’s wrath.” The summons in Zep 2:1 is addressed to the whole of Judah or Israel. The verb qōshēsh, possibly a denom. from qash, signifies to gather stubble (Exo 5:7, Exo 5:12), then generally to gather together or collect, e.g., branches of wood (Num 15:32-33; 1Ki 17:10); in the hithpoel, to gather one’s self together, applied to that spiritual gathering which leads to self-examination, and is the first condition of conversion. The attempts of Ewald and Hitzig to prove, by means of doubtful etymological combinations from the Arabic, that the word possesses the meanings, to grow pale, or to purify one’s self, cannot be sustained. The kal is combined with the hiphil for the purpose of strengthening it, as in Hab 1:5 and Isa 29:9. Nikhsâph is the perf. nipahl in pause, and not a participle, partly because of the לא which stands before it (see however Ewald, §286, g), and partly on account of the omission of the article; and nikhsâph is to be taken as a relative, “which does not turn pale.” Kâsaph has the meaning “to long,” both in the niphal (vid., Gen 31:30; Psa 84:3) and kal (cf. Psa 17:12; Job 14:15). This meaning is retained by many here. Thus Jerome renders it, “gens non amabilis, i.e., non desiderata a Deo;” but this is decidedly unsuitable. Others render it “not possessing strong desire,” and appeal to the paraphrase of the Chaldee, “a people not wishing to be converted to the law.” This is apparently the view upon which the Alex. version rests: ἔθνος ἀπαίδευτον. But although nikhsâph is used to denote the longing of the soul for fellowship with God in Psa 84:3, this idea is not to be found in the word itself, but simply in the object connected with it. We therefore prefer to follow Grotius, Gesenius, Ewald, and others, and take the word in its primary sense of turning pale at anything, becoming white with shame (cf. Isa 29:22), which is favoured by Zep 3:15. The reason for the appeal is given in Zep 2:2, viz., the near approach of the judgment. The resolution brings forth, when that which is resolved upon is realized (for yâlad in this figurative sense, see Pro 27:1). The figure is explained in the second hemistich. The next clause כּמוץ וגו does not depend upon בּטרם, for in that case the verb would stand at the head with Vav cop., but it is a parenthesis inserted to strengthen the admonition: the day comes like chaff, i.e., approaches with the greatest rapidity, like chaff driven by the wind: not “the time passes by like chaff” (Hitzig); for it cannot be shown that yōm was ever used for time in this sense. Yōm is the day of judgment mentioned in Zep 1:7, Zep 1:14-15; and עבר here is not to pass by, but to approach, to come near, as in Nah 3:19. For the figure of the chaff, see Isa 29:5. In the second בּטרם is strengthened by לא; and חרון אף, the burning of wrath in the last clause, is explained by יום אף יי, the day of the revelation of the wrath of God.

Zep 2:4-5

Destruction of the Philistines. - Zep 2:4. “For Gaza will be forgotten, and Ashkelon become a desert; Ashdod, they drive it out in broad day, and Ekron will be ploughed out. Zep 2:5. Woe upon the inhabitants of the tract by the sea, the nation of the Cretans! The word of Jehovah upon you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines! I destroy thee, so that not an inhabitant remains. Zep 2:6. And the tract by the sea becomes pastures for shepherds’ caves, and for folds of sheep. Zep 2:7. And a tract will be for the remnant of the house of Judah; upon them will they feed: in the houses of Ashkelon they encamp in the evening; for Jehovah their God will visit them, and turn their captivity.” The fourth verse, which is closely connected by kı̄ (for) with the exhortation to repentance, serves as an introduction to the threat of judgment commencing with hōi in Zep 2:5. As the mentioning of the names of the four Philistian capitals (see at Jos 13:3) is simply an individualizing periphrasis for the Philistian territory and people, so the land and people of Philistia are mentioned primarily for the purpose of individualizing, as being the representatives of the heathen world by which Judah was surrounded; and it is not till afterwards, in the further development of the threat, that the enumeration of certain near and remote heathen nations is appended, to express more clearly the idea of the heathen world as a whole. Of the names of the Philistian cities Zephaniah makes use of two, ‛Azzâh and ‛Eqrōn, as a play upon words, to express by means of paronomasia the fate awaiting them. ‛azzâh, Gaza, will be ‛azûbhâh, forsaken, desolate. ‛Eqrōn, Ekron, will be tē‛âqēr, rooted up, torn out of its soil, destroyed. To the other two he announces their fate in literal terms, the shemâmâh threatened against Ashkelon corresponding to the ‛ăzūbhâh, and the gârēsh predicated of Ashdod preparing the way for Ekron’s tē‛âqēr. בּצּהרים at noon, i.e., in broad day, might signify, when used as an antithesis to night, “with open violence” (Jerome, Kimchi); but inasmuch as the expulsion of inhabitants is not effected by thieves in the night, the time of noon is more probably to be understood, as v. Cölln and Rosenmüller suppose, as denoting the time of day at which men generally rest in hot countries (2Sa 4:5), in the sense of unexpected, unsuspected expulsion; and this is favoured by Jer 15:8, where the devastation at noon is described as a sudden invasion. The omission of Gath may be explained in the same manner as in Amo 1:6-8, from the fact that the parallelism of the clauses only allowed the names of four cities to be given; and this number was amply sufficient to individualize the whole, just as Zephaniah, when enumerating the heathen nations, restricts the number to four, according to the four quarters of the globe: viz., the Philistines in the west (Zep 2:5-7); the Moabites and Ammonites comprised in one in the east (Zep 2:8-10); the Cushites in the south (Zep 2:11, Zep 2:12); and Asshur, with Nineveh, in the north (north-east), (Zep 2:13-15). The woe with which the threat is commenced in Zep 2:5 applies to the whole land and people of the Philistines. Chebhel, the measure, then the tract of land measured out or apportioned (see at Deu 3:4; Deu 32:9, etc.). The tract of the sea is the tract of land by the Mediterranean Sea which was occupied by the Philistines (chebhel hayyâm = 'erets Pelishtı̄m). Zephaniah calls the inhabitants gōi Kerēthı̄m, nation of the Cretans, from the name of one branch of the Philistian people which was settled in the south-west of Philistia, for the purpose of representing them as a people devoted to kârath, or extermination. The origin of this name, which is selected both here and in Eze 25:16 with a play upon the appellative signification, is involved in obscurity; for, as we have already observed at 1Sa 30:14, there is no valid authority for the derivation which is now current, viz., from the island of Crete (see Stark, Gaza, pp. 66 and 99ff.). דּבר יי עליכם forms an independent sentence: The word of the Lord cometh over you. The nature of that word is described in the next sentence: I will destroy thee. The name Kena‛an is used in the more limited sense of Philistia, and is chosen to indicate that Philistia is to share the lot of Canaan, and lose its inhabitants by extermination.

Zep 2:6-7

The tract of land thus depopulated is to be turned into “pastures (nevōth, the construct state plural of nâveh) of the excavation of shepherds,” i.e., where shepherds will make excavations or dig themselves huts under the ground as a protection from the sun. This is the simplest explanation of the variously interpreted kerōth (as an inf. of kârâh, to dig), and can be grammatically sustained. The digging of the shepherds stands for the excavations which they make. Bochart (Hieroz. i. p. 519, ed. Ros.) has already given this explanation: “Caulae s. caulis repletus erit effossionis pastorum, i.e., caulae a pastoribus effossae in cryptis subterraneis ad vitandum solis aestum.” On the other hand, the derivation from the noun kērâh, in the sense of cistern, cannot be sustained; and there is no proof of it in the fact that kârâh is applied to the digging of wells. Still less is it possible to maintain the derivation from יכר (Arab. wkr), by which Ewald would support the meaning nests for kērōth, i.e., “the small houses or carts of the shepherds.” And Hitzig’s alteration of the text into כּרת = כּרים, pastures, so as to obtain the tautology “meadows of the pastures,” is perfectly unwarranted. The word chebhel is construed in Zep 2:6 as a feminine ad sensum, with a retrospective allusion to 'erets Pelishtı̄m; whereas in Zep 2:7 it is construed, as it is everywhere else, as a masculine. Moreover, the noun chebhel, which occurs in this verse without the article, is not the subject; for, if it were, it would at least have had the article. It is rather a predicate, and the subject must be supplied from Zep 2:6 : “The Philistian tract of land by the sea will become a tract of land or possession for the remnant of the house of Judah, the portion of the people of God rescued from the judgment. Upon them, viz., these pastures, will they feed.” The plural עליהם does not stand for the neuter, but is occasioned by a retrospective glance at נות רעים. The subject is, those that are left of the house of Judah. They will there feed their flocks, and lie down in the huts of Ashkelon. For the prophet adds by way of explanation, Jehovah their God will visit them. Pâqad, to visit in a good sense, i.e., to take them under His care, as is almost always the meaning when it is construed with an accusative of the person. It is only in Psa 59:6 that it is used with an acc. pers. instead of with על, in the sense of to chastise or punish. שׁוּב שׁבוּת as in Hos 6:11 and Amo 9:14. The keri שׁבית has arisen from a misinterpretation. On the fulfilment, see what follows.

Zep 2:8-10

The judgment upon Joab and Ammon. - Zep 2:8. “I have heard the abuse of Moab, and the revilings of the sons of Ammon, who have abused my nation, and boasted against its boundary. Zep 2:9. Therefore, as I live, is the saying of Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Yea, Moab shall become like Sodom, and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrha, an inheritance of nettles and salt-pits, and desert for ever. The remnant of my nation will plunder them, the residue of my nation will inherit them. Zep 2:10. Such to them for their pride, that they have despised and boasted against the nation of Jehovah of hosts.” The threat now turns from the Philistines in the west to the two tribes to the east, viz., the Moabites and Ammonites, who were descended from Lot, and therefore blood-relations, and who manifested hostility to Israel on every possible occasion. Even in the time of Moses, the Moabitish king Balak sought to destroy Israel by means of Balaam’s curses (Numbers 22), for which the Moabites were threatened with extermination (Num 24:17). In the time of the judges they both attempted to oppress Israel (Jdg 3:12. and Jdg 10:7.; cf. 1Sa 11:1-5 and 2 Samuel 10-12), for which they were severely punished by Saul and David (1Sa 14:47, and 2Sa 8:2; 2Sa 12:30-31). The reproach of Moab and the revilings of the Ammonites, which Jehovah had heard, cannot be taken, as Jerome, Rashi, and others suppose, as referring to the hostilities of those tribes towards the Judaeans during the Chaldaean catastrophe; nor restricted, as v. Cölln imagines, to the reproaches heaped upon the ten tribes when they were carried away by the Assyrians, since nothing is know of any such reproaches. The charge refers to the hostile attitude assumed by both tribes at all times towards the nation of God, which they manifested both in word and deed, as often as the latter was brought into trouble and distress. Compare Jer 48:26-27; and for giddēph, to revile or blaspheme by actions, Num 15:30; Eze 20:27; also for the fact itself, the remarks on Amos 1:13-2:3. יגדּילוּ על גב, they did great things against their (the Israelites') border (the suffix in gebhūlâm, their border, refers to ‛ammı̄, my people). This great doing consisted in their proudly violating the boundary of Israel, and endeavouring to seize upon Israelitish territory (cf. Amo 1:13). Pride and haughtiness, or high-minded self-exaltation above Israel as the nation of God, is charged against the Moabites and Ammonites by Isaiah and Jeremiah also, as a leading feature in their character (cf. Isa 16:6; Isa 25:11; Jer 48:29-30). Moab and Ammon are to be utterly exterminated in consequence. The threat of punishment is announced in Zep 2:8 as irrevocable by a solemn oath. It shall happen to them as to Sodom and Gomorrha. This simile was rendered a very natural one by the situation of the two lands in the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea. It affirms the utter destruction of the two tribes, as the appositional description shows. Their land is to become the possession of nettles, i.e., a place where nettles grow. Mimshâq, hap leg., from the root mâshaq, which was not used, but from which mesheq in Gen 15:2 is derived. Chârūl: the stinging nettle (see at Job 30:7), which only flourishes in waste places. Mikhrēh melach: a place of salt-pits, like the southern coast of the Dead Sea, which abounds in rock-salt, and to which there is an allusion in the threat of Moses in Deu 29:22. “A desert for ever:” the emphasis lies upon ‛ad ‛ōlâm (for ever) here. The people, however, i.e., the Moabites and Ammonites themselves, will be taken by the people of Jehovah, and be made their possession. The suffixes attached to יבזּוּם and ינחלוּם can only refer to the people of Moab and Ammon, because a land turned into an eternal desert and salt-steppe would not be adapted for a nachălâh (possession) for the people of God. The meaning is not, they will be their heirs through the medium of plunder, but they will make them into their own property, or slaves (cf. Isa 14:2; Isa 61:5). גּויי is גּוי with the suffix of the first person, only one of the two י being written. In Zep 2:10 the threat concludes with a repetition of the statement of the guilt which is followed by such a judgment.

The fulfilment or realization of the threat pronounced upon Philistia, Moab, and Ammon, we have not to look for in the particular historical occurrences through which these tribes were conquered and subjugated by the Chaldaeans, and to some extent by the Jews after the captivity, until they eventually vanished from the stage of history, and their lands became desolate, as they still are. These events can only come into consideration as preliminary stages of the fulfilment, which Zephaniah completely passes by, since he only views the judgment in its ultimate fulfilment. We are precluded, moreover, from taking the words as relating to that event by the circumstance, that neither Philistia on the one hand, nor Moabites and Ammonites on the other, were ever taken permanent possession of by the Jews; and still less were they ever taken by Judah, as the nation of God, for His own property. Judah is not to enter into such possession as this till the Lord turns the captivity of Judah (Zep 2:7); that is to say, not immediately after the return from the Babylonish captivity, but when the dispersion of Israel among the Gentiles, which lasts till this day, shall come to an end, and Israel, through its conversion to Christ, be reinstated in the privileges of the people of God. It follows from this, that the fulfilment is still in the future, and that it will be accomplished not literally, but spiritually, in the utter destruction of the nations referred to as heathen nations, and opponents of the kingdom of God, and in the incorporation of those who are converted to the living God at the time of the judgment, into the citizenship of the spiritual Israel. Until the eventual restoration of Israel, Philistia will remain an uninhabited shepherds’ pasture, and the land of the Moabites and Ammonites the possession of nettles, a place of salt-pits and a desert; just as the land of Israel will for the very same time be trodden down by the Gentiles. The curse resting upon these lands will not be entirely removed till the completion of the kingdom of God on earth. This view is proved to be correct by the contents of Zep 2:11, with which the prophet passes to the announcement of the judgment upon the nations of the south and north.

Zep 2:11 “Fearful is Jehovah over them, for He destroyeth all the gods of the earth; that all the islands of the nations, every one from its place, may worship Him.” Whilst עליהם refers to what precedes, the next clause in the reason assigned points to the announcement of judgment upon the remaining nations of the earth in Zep 2:12.; so that Zep 2:11 cannot be taken either as the conclusion of the previous threat, or as the commencement of the following one, but leads from the one to the other. Jehovah is terrible when He reveals Himself in the majesty of Judge of the world. The suffix appended to עליהם does not refer to עם יהוה, but to the להם in Zep 2:10, answering to the Moabites and Ammonites. Jehovah proves Himself terrible to these, because He has resolved to destroy all the gods of the earth. Râzâh, to make lean; hence to cause to vanish, to destroy. He causes the gods to vanish, by destroying the nations and kingdoms who relied upon these gods. He thereby reveals the nothingness of the gods, and brings the nations to acknowledge His sole deity (Mic 5:12). The fall of the false gods impels to the worship of the one true God. וישׁתּחווּ לו is the consequence, the fruit, and the effect of Jehovah’s proving Himself terrible to the nations and their gods. איּי הגּוים, islands of the Gentiles, is an epithet taken from the islands and coastlands of Europe, to denote the whole of the heathen world (see at Isa 41:1). The distributive עישׁ ממּקומו refers to haggōyı̄m as the principal idea, though not in the sense of “every nation,” but in that of every individual belonging to the nations. Mimmeqōmō, coming from his place: the meaning is not that the nations will worship Jehovah at their own place, in their own lands, in contradistinction to Mic 4:1; Zec 14:16, and other passages, where the nations go on pilgrimage to Mount Zion (Hitzig); but their going to Jerusalem is implied in the min (from), though it is not brought prominently out, as being unessential to the thought. With regard to the fulfilment, Bucer has correctly observed, that “the worship of Jehovah on the part of the heathen is not secured without sanguinary wars, that the type may not be taken for the fact itself, and the shadow for the body .... But the true completion of the whole in the kingdom of Christ takes place here in spirit and in faith, whilst in the future age it will be consummated in all its reality and in full fruition.” Theodoret, on the other hand, is too one-sided in his view, and thinks only of the conversion of the heathen through the preaching of the gospel. “This prophecy,” he says, “has received its true fulfilment through the holy apostles, and the saints who have followed them; ... and this takes place, not by the law, but by the teaching of the gospel.”

Zep 2:12-15

After this statement of the aim of the judgments of God, Zephaniah mentions two other powerful heathen nations as examples, to prove that the whole of the heathen world will succumb to the judgment. Zep 2:12. “Ye Cushites also, slain of my sword are they. Zep 2:13. And let him stretch out his hand toward the south, and destroy Asshur; and make Nineveh a barren waste, a dry place, like the desert. Zep 2:14. And herds lie down in the midst of it, all kinds of beasts in crowds: pelicans also and hedgehogs will lodge on their knobs; the voice of the singer in the window; heaps upon the threshold: for their cedar-work hath He made bare. Zep 2:15. This the city, the exulting one, the safely dwelling one, which said in her heart, I, and no more: how has she become a desolation, a lair of beasts! Every one that passeth by it will hiss, swing his hand.” As a representative of the heathen dwelling in the south, Zephaniah does not mention Edom, which bordered upon Judah, or the neighbouring land of Egypt, but the remote Ethiopia, the furthest kingdom or people in the south that was known to the Hebrews. The Ethiopians will be slain of the sword of Jehovah. המּה does not take the place of the copula between the subject and predicate, any more than הוּא in Isa 37:16 and Ezr 5:11 (to which Hitzig appeals in support of this usage: see Delitzsch, on the other hand, in his Comm. on Isaiah, l.c.), but is a predicate. The prophecy passes suddenly from the form of address (in the second person) adopted in the opening clause, to a statement concerning the Cushites (in the third person). For similar instances of sudden transition, see Zep 3:18; Zec 3:8; Eze 28:22.Calvin correctly says: “The prophet commences by driving them, in the second person, to the tribunal of God, and then adds in the third person, 'They will be,' etc.” חללי חרבּי is a reminiscence from Isa 66:16 : slain by Jehovah with the sword. Zephaniah says nothing further concerning this distant nation, which had not come into any hostile collision with Judah in his day; and only mentions it to exemplify the thought that all the heathen will come under the judgment. The fulfilment commenced with the judgment upon Egypt through the Chaldaeans, as is evident from Eze 30:4, Eze 30:9, as compared with Josephus, Ant. x. 11, and continues till the conversion of that people to the Lord, the commencement of which is recorded in Act 8:27-38. The prophet dwells longer upon the heathen power of the north, the Assyrian kingdom with its capital Nineveh, because Assyria was then the imperial power, which was seeking to destroy the kingdom of God in Judah. This explains the fact that the prophet expresses the announcement of the destruction of this power in the form of a wish, as the use of the contracted forms yēt and yâsēm clearly shows. For it is evident that Ewald is wrong in supposing that ויט stands for ויּט, or should be so pointed, inasmuch as the historical tense, “there He stretched out His hand,” would be perfectly out of place. נטה יד (to stretch out a hand), as in Zep 1:4. ‛al tsâphōn, over (or against) the north. The reference is to Assyria with the capital Nineveh. It is true that this kingdom was not to the north, but to the north-east, of Judah; but inasmuch as the Assyrian armies invaded Palestine from the north, it is regarded by the prophets as situated in the north. On Nineveh itself, see at Jon 1:2 (p. 263); and on the destruction of this city and the fall of the Assyrian empire, at Nah 3:19 (p. 379). Lishmâmâh is strengthened by the apposition tsiyyâh kammidbâr.

Nineveh is not only to become a steppe, in which herds feed (Isa 27:10), but a dry, desolate waste, where only desert animals will make their home. Tsiyyâh, the dry, arid land - the barren, sandy desert (cf. Isa 35:1). בּתוכהּ, in the midst of the city which has become a desert, there lie flocks, not of sheep and goats (צאן, Zep 2:6; cf. Isa 13:20), but  כּל־חיתו־גוי , literally of all the animals of the (or a) nation. The meaning can only be, “all kinds of animals in crowds or in a mass.”  גּוי  is used here for the mass of animals, just as it is in Joe 1:6 for the multitude of locusts, and as עם is in Prov. 30:35-36 for the ant-people; and the genitive is to be taken as in apposition. Every other explanation is exposed to much greater objections and difficulties. For the form חיתו, see at Gen 1:24. Pelicans and hedgehogs will make their homes in the remains of the ruined buildings (see at Isa 34:11, on which passage Zephaniah rests his description). בּכפתּריה, upon the knobs of the pillars left standing when the palaces were destroyed (kaphtōr; see at Amo 9:1). The reference to the pelican, a marsh bird, is not opposed to the tsiyyâh of Zep 2:13, since Nineveh stood by the side of streams, the waters of which formed marshes after the destruction of the city. קול ישׁורר cannot be rendered “a voice sings,” for shōrēr, to sing, is not used for tuning or resounding; but yeshōrēr is to be taken relatively, and as subordinate to קול, the voice of him that sings will be heard in the window. Jerome gives it correctly: vox canentis in fenestra. There is no necessity to think of the cry of the owl or hawk in particular, but simply of birds generally, which make their singing heard in the windows of the ruins. The sketching of the picture of the destruction passes from the general appearance of the city to the separate ruins, coming down from the lofty knobs of the pillars to the windows, and from these to the thresholds of the ruins of the houses. Upon the thresholds there is chōrebh, devastation (= rubbish), and no longer a living being. This is perfectly appropriate, so that there is no necessity to give the word an arbitrary interpretation, or to alter the text, so as to get the meaning a raven or a crow. The description closes with the explanatory sentence: “for He has laid bare the cedar-work,” i.e., has so destroyed the palaces and state buildings, that the costly panelling of the walls is exposed. 'Arzâh is a collective, from 'erez, the cedar-work, and there is no ground for any such alteration of the text as Ewald and Hitzig suggest, in order to obtain the trivial meaning “hews or hacks in pieces,” or the cold expression, “He destroys, lays bare.” In Zep 2:15 the picture is rounded off. “This is the city,” i.e., this is what happens to the exulting city. עלּיזה, exulting, applied to the joyful tumult caused by the men - a favourite word with Isaiah (cf. Isa 22:2; Isa 23:7; Isa 24:8; Isa 32:13). The following predicates from היּושׁבת to עוד are borrowed from the description of Babel in Isa 47:8, and express the security and self-deification of the mighty imperial city. The Yod in 'aphsı̄ is not paragogical, but a pronoun in the first person; at the same time, 'ephes is not a preposition, “beside me,” since in that case the negation “not one” could not be omitted, but “the non-existence,” so that אפסי = איני, I am absolutely no further (see at Isa 47:8). But how has this self-deifying pride been put to shame! איך, an expression of amazement at the tragical turn in her fate. The city filled with the joyful exulting of human beings has become the lair of wild beasts, and every one that passes by expresses his malicious delight in its ruin. Shâraq, to hiss, a common manifestation of scorn (cf. Mic 6:16; Jer 19:8). היניע יד, to swing the hand, embodying the thought, “Away with her, she has richly deserved her fate.”

The People Exhorted to Repent. (b. c. 612.)

1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; 2 Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord 's anger come upon you. 3 Seek ye the Lord , all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord 's anger.

Here we see what the prophet meant in that terrible description of the approaching judgments which we had in the foregoing chapter. From first to last his design was, not to drive the people to despair, but to drive them to God and to their duty—not to frighten them out of their wits, but to frighten them out of their sins. In pursuance of that he here calls them to repentance, national repentance, as the only way to prevent national ruin. Observe,

I. The summons given them to a national assembly (v. 1): Gather yourselves together. He had told them, in the last words of the foregoing chapter, that God would make a speedy riddance of all that dwelt in the land, upon which, one would think, it should follow, "Disperse yourselves, and flee for shelter where you can find a place." When the decree had absolutely gone forth for the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, that was the advice given (Matt. xxiv. 16), Then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains; but here it is otherwise. God warns, that he may not wound, threatens, that he may not strike, and therefore calls to the people to use means for the turning away of his wrath. The summons is given to a nation not desired. The word signifies either, 1. Not desiring, that has not any desires towards God or the remembrance of his name, is not desirous of his favour or grace, but very indifferent to it, has no mind to repent and reform. "Yet come together, and see if you can stir up desires in one another." Thus God is often found of those that sought him not, nor asked for him, Isa. lxv. 1. Or, 2. Not desirable, no ways lovely, nor having any thing in them amiable, or which might recommend them to God. The land of Israel had been a pleasant land, a land of delight (Dan. xi. 41); but now it is unlovely, it is a nation not desired, to which God might justly say, Depart from me; but he says, "Gather together to me, and let us see if any expedient can be found out for the preventing of the ruin. Gather together, that you may in a body humble yourselves before God, may fast, and pray, and seek his face. Gather together, to consult among yourselves what is to be done in this critical juncture, that every one may consider of it, may give and take advice, and speak his mind, and that what is done may be done by consent and so may be a national act." Some read it, "Enquire into yourselves, yea, enquire into yourselves; examine your consciences; look into your hearts; search and try your ways; enquire into yourselves, that you may find out the sin by which God has been provoked to this displeasure against you, and may find out the way of returning to him." Note, When God is contending with us it concerns us to enquire into ourselves.

II. Arguments urged to press them to the utmost seriousness and expedition herein (v. 2): "Do it in earnest; do it with all speed before it is too late, before the decree bring forth, before the day pass." The manner of speaking here is very lively and awakening, designed to make them apprehensive, as all sinners are concerned to be, 1. That their danger is very great, that their all lies at stake, that it is a matter of life and death, which therefore well requires and well deserves the closest application of mind that can be. It is not a trifle, and therefore is not a thing to be trifled about. It is the fierce anger of the Lord that is kindled against them, and is just ready to kindle upon them, that devouring fire which none can dwell with, which none can make head against or hold up their head under. "It is the day of the Lord's anger, the day set for the pouring out of the full vials of it, that you are threatened with, that great day of the Lord" spoken of, ch. i. 14. "Are you not concerned to prepare for that day?" 2. That it is very imminent: "Bestir yourselves now quickly, before the decree bring forth, and then it will be too late, the opportunity will be lost and never retrieved. The decree is as it were big with child, and it will bring forth the day, the terrible day, which shall pass as chaff, which shall hurry you away into captivity as chaff before the wind." We know not what a day may bring forth (Prov. xxvii. 1), but we do know what the decree will bring forth against impenitent sinners, whom therefore it highly concerns to repent in time, in the accepted time. Note, It is the wisdom of those whom God has a controversy with to agree with him quickly, while they are in the way, before his fierce anger comes upon them, not to be turned away. In a case of this nature delays are highly dangerous and may be fatal; they will be so if by them the heart is hardened. How solicitous should we all be to make our peace with God before the Spirit withdraw from us, or cease to strive with us, before the day of grace be over or the day of life, before our everlasting state shall be determined on the other side of the great gulf fixed!

III. Directions prescribed for the doing of this effectually. It is not enough to gather together in a consternation, but they must seriously and calmly apply to the duty of the day (v. 3): Seek you the Lord. That they might find mercy with God, they are here put upon seeking; for so is the rule—Seek, and you shall find. A general call was given to the whole nation to gather together, but little good is to be expected from the far greater part of them; if the land be saved, it must be by the interest and intercession of the pious few, and therefore to them the exhortation here is particularly directed. And observe, 1. How they are described—they are the meek of the earth, or of the land. It is the distinguishing character of the people of God that they are the meek ones of the earth; this is their badge; it is their livery. They are modest, and humble, and low in their own eyes; they are mild, and gentle, and yielding to others, not soon angry, not very angry, not long angry; they are the quiet in the land, Ps. xxxv. 20. And they are subject and submissive to their God, to all his precepts and all his providences. Actuated by this principle and disposition, they have wrought his judgments, that is, have obeyed his laws, observed his institutions, have made conscience of their duty to him, and have laid out themselves for the advancement of his honour and interest in the world. 2. What they are required to do; they must seek, which denotes both a careful enquiry and a constant endeavour, that they may know and do their duty. (1.) They must seek the Lord, seek his favour and grace, address him upon all occasions, ask of him what they need, seek him early, seek him diligently, and continue seeking him. (2.) They must seek righteousness. "Seek to God for the performance of his promises to you, and see to it that you abound yet more in duty to him; seek for the righteousness of Christ to be imputed to you, for the graces of God's Spirit to be implanted in you; hunger and thirst after them." (3.) They must seek meekness. This is a grace they were so eminent for that they were denominated the meek of the land, and yet this they must seek. Note, Those that are ever so good must still strive to be better, those that have ever so much grace must be still praying and labouring for more. Nay, those that excel in any particular grace must still seek to excel yet more in that, because in that most assaults will be made upon them by their enemies, in that most is expected from them by their friends, and in that they are most apt to be themselves secure. Si dixisti, Sufficit, periisti—Say but, I am all that I ought to be, and you are undone. In the difficult trying times approaching, the meek will find exercise for all the meekness they have, and all little enough, and therefore should seek it earnestly, and pray that when God in his providence gives them occasion for it he would by his grace enable them to exercise it, to show all meekness to all men, in all instances, that, as the day is, so may the strength be.

IV. Encouragements given to take these directions: It may be, you shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger. 1. "You particularly that are the meek of the earth. Though the day of the Lord's anger do come upon the land, yet you shall be safe, you shall be taken under special protection. Verily it shall be well with thy remnant, Jer. xv. 11. Thy life will I give unto thee for a prey, Jer. xlv. 5. I will deliver thee in that day, Jer. xxxix. 17. It may be, you shall be hid; if any be hid, you shall." Good men cannot be sure of temporal preservation, for all things come alike to all, but they are most likely to be hid, and stand fairest for a distinguishing care of Providence. It is expressed thus doubtfully to try if they will trust the goodness of God's nature, though they have but the it may be of a promise, and to keep up in them a holy fear and watchfulness lest they should seem to come short, and should do any thing to throw themselves out of the divine protection. Note, those that hold fast their integrity, in times of common iniquity, have reason to hope that God will find out a hiding-place for them, where they shall be safe and easy, in times of common calamity. They shall be hid (as Luther says) aut in cœlo, aut sub cœlo—either in heaven or under heaven, either in the possession of heaven or under the protection of heaven. Or, 2. "You of this nation, though it be a nation not desired, yet, in the day of the Lord's anger with the neighbouring nations, when his judgments are abroad, you shall be hid; your land shall be preserved for the sake of those few meek ones that stand in the gap to turn away the wrath of God." It concerns us all to make it sure to ourselves that we shall be hid in the great day of God's wrath; and, if we hide ourselves in the chambers of duty, God will hide us in chambers of safety, Isa. xxvi. 20. If we prepare an ark, that shall be our hiding-place, Gen. vii. 1.

The Punishment of the Philistines. (b. c. 612.)

4 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up. 5 Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the Lord is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. 6 And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks. 7 And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.

The prophet here comes to foretel what share the neighbouring nations should have in the destruction made upon those parts of the world by Nebuchadnezzar and his victorious Chaldees, as others of the prophets did at that time, which is designed, 1. To awaken the people of the Jews, by making them sensible how strong, how deep, how large, the inundation of calamities should be, that the day of the Lord, which was near, might appear the more dreadful, and they might thereby be quickened to prepare for it as for a general deluge. 2. To comfort them with this thought, that their case, though sad, should not be singular (Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris—The wretched find it consolatory to have companions of their woe), and much more with this, that though God had seemed to be their enemy, and to fight against them, yet he was still so far their friend, and an enemy to their enemies, that he resented, and would revenge, the indignities done them.

In these verses we have the doom of the Philistines, who were near neighbours, and old enemies, to the people of Israel. Five lordships there were in that country; only four are here named—Gaza and Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron; Gath, the fifth, is not named, some think because it was now subject to Judah. They were the inhabitants of the sea-coasts (v. 5), for their country lay upon the Great Sea. The nation of the Cherethites is here joined with them, which bordered upon them (1 Sam. xxx. 14) and fell with them, as is foretold also, Ezek. xxv. 16. The Philistines' land is here called Canaan, for it belonged to that country which God gave to his people Israel, and was inserted in the grant made to them, Josh. xiii. 3. This land is yet to be possessed (five lords of the Philistines), so that they wrongfully kept Israel out of the possession of it (Judg. iii. 3), which is now remembered against them. For, though the rights of others may be long detained unjustly, the righteous God will at length avenge the wrong.

I. It is here foretold that the Philistines, the usurpers, shall be dispossessed and quite extirpated. In general, here is a woe to them (v. 5), which, coming from God, denotes all misery: The word of the Lord is against them—the word of the former prophets, which, though not yet accomplished, will be in its season, Isa. xiv. 31. This word, now by this prophet, is against them. Note, Those are really in a woeful condition that have the word of the Lord against them, for no word of his shall fall to the ground. Those that rebel against the precepts of God's word shall have the threatenings of the word against them. The effect will be no less than their destruction, 1. God himself will be the author of it: "I will even destroy thee, who can make good what I say and will." 2. It shall be a universal destruction; it shall extend itself to all parts of the land, both city and country: Gaza shall be forsaken, though now a populous city. It was foretold (Jer. xlvii. 6) that baldness should come upon Gaza; Alexander the Great razed that city, and we find (Acts viii. 26) that Gaza was a desert. Ashkelon shall be a desolation, a pattern of desolation. Ashdod shall be driven out at noon-day; in the extremity of the scorching heat they shall have no shade, no shelter to protect them; but then, when most incommoded by the weather, they shall be forced away into captivity, which will be an aggravating circumstance of it. Ekron likewise shall be rooted up, that had been long taking root. The land of the Philistines shall be dispeopled; there shall be no inhabitant, v. 5. God made the earth to be inhabited (Isa. xlv. 18), otherwise he would have made it in vain; but, if men do not answer the end of their creation in serving God, it is just with God that the earth should not answer the end of its creation in serving them for a habitation; man's sin has sometimes subjected it to this vanity. 3. It shall be an utter destruction. The sea-coast, which used to be a harbour for ships and a habitation for merchants, shall now be deserted, and be only cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks (v. 6), and then perhaps put to better use than when it was possessed by the lords of the Philistines.

II. It is here foretold that the house of Judah, the rightful owners, shall recover the possession of it, v. 7. The remnant of those that shall return out of captivity, when God visits them, shall be made to lie down in safety in the houses of Ashkelon, to lie down in the evening, when they are weary and sleepy. There they shall feed themselves and their flocks. Note, God will at length restore his people to their rights, though they may be long kept out from them.

The Punishment of Various Nations. (b. c. 612.)

8 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border. 9 Therefore as I live, saith 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. 10 This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts. 11 The Lord will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.

The Moabites and Ammonites were both of the posterity of Lot; their countries joined, and, both adjoining to Israel, they are here put together in the prophecy against them.

I. They are both charged with the same crime, and that was reproaching and reviling the people of God and triumphing in their calamities (v. 8): They have reproached my people; while God's people kept close to their duty it is probable that they reproached them for the singularities of their religion; and now that they had revolted from God, and fallen under his displeasure, they reproached them for that too. It has been the common lot of God's people in all ages to be reproached and reviled upon one account or other. Thus the old serpent spits his venom; and pride is at the bottom of it; it is in their pride that they have magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts, thinking themselves as good as they, as great, and every way as happy. It is the comtempt of the proud that God's people are filled with, Ps. cxxiii. 4. They have spoken big (so some read it, magna locuti sunt—they have spoken great things) against their border (v. 8), against those of them that bordered upon their country, whom upon all occasions they insulted, or against the property they claimed, which they disputed, or the protection they boasted of, which they ridiculed; they spoke big against the people of the Lord of hosts as a deserted abandoned people. Great swelling words of vanity are the genuine language of the church's enemies. "But I have heard them" (says God), "and will let you know that I have heard them. I have heard, and I will reckon for them," Jude 15. And, if God hears the reproaches and revilings we are under, it is a good reason why we should be as a deaf man that hears not, Ps. xxxviii. 14, 15. Nay, God not only takes notice of, but interests himself in the reproaches cast on his people, because they are his; and it is certain that those who look with disdain upon the people of the Lord of hosts thereby dishonour the Lord of hosts himself. See this very thing charged on Moab and Ammon, Ezek. xxv. 3, 8.

II. They are both laid under the same doom. Associates in iniquity may expect to be such in desolation. See with what solemnity sentence is pronounced upon them, v. 9. It is the Lord of hosts, the sovereign Lord of all, who has authority to pass this sentence and ability to execute it; it is the God of Israel, who is jealous for their honour; it is he that has said it, nay, he has sworn it, As I live, saith the Lord. The sentence is, 1. That the Moabites and Ammonites shall be quite destroyed; they shall be as Sodom and Gomorrah, the marks of whose ruins in the Dead Sea lay near adjoining to the countries of Moab and Ammon; they shall, though not by the same means (even fire from heaven), Yet almost in the same manner, be laid waste; not again to be inhabited, or not of a long time. The country shall produce nothing but nettles, instead of corn; and there shall be brine-pits, instead of the pleasant fountains of water with which the country had abounded. 2. That Israel shall be too hard for them, shall spoil them of their goods and possess their country by lawful war. Note, Proud men sometimes, by the just judgment of God, fall under the mortification of being trampled upon themselves by those whom once they haughtily trampled upon. And this shall they have for their pride.

III. Other nations shall in like manner be humbled, that the Lord alone may be exalted (v. 11): The Lord will be terrible unto the Moabites and Ammonites in particular, who have made themselves a terror to his Israel. For, 1. Heathen gods must be abolished. They have long had possession, and their worshippers have both glorified them and gloried in them. But the Lord will famish all the gods of the earth, will starve them out of their strong-holds. The Pagans had a fond conceit that their idols were regaled by their offerings, and did eat the fat of their sacrifices, Deut. xxxii. 38. Omnia comesta à Belo—Bel has eaten all. But it is here promised that when the Christian religion is set up in the world men shall be turned from the service of these dumb idols, shall forsake their altars, and bring no more sacrifices to them, and thus they shall be famished, or made lean (as the word is), their priests shall. This intimates the vanity of those idols; it lies in the power of their worshippers to famish them; whereas the true God says, If I were hungry, I would not tell thee. It intimates also the victory of the God of Israel over them. Now know we that he is greater than all gods. 2. Heathen nations must be converted; when the gospel gets ground, by it men shall be brought to worship him who lives for ever (for that is the command of the everlasting gospel, Rev. xiv. 7), every one from his place; they shall not need to go up to Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel, but wherever they are, they may have access to him. I will that men pray every where. God shall be worshipped, not only by all the tribes of Israel and the strangers who join themselves to them, but by all the isles of the heathen. This is a promise which looks favourably upon our native country, for it is one of the most considerable of the isles of the Gentiles, by which God will be glorified.

Ethiopia and Assyria Threatened. (b. c. 612.)

12 Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. 13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. 14 And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. 15 This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

The cup is going round, when Nebuchadnezzar is going on conquering and to conquer; and not only Israel's near neighbours, but those that lay more remote, must be reckoned with for the wrongs they have done to God's people; the Ethiopians and the Assyrians are here taken to task. 1. The Ethiopians, or Arabians, that had sometimes been a terror to Israel (as in Asa's time, 2 Chron. xiv. 9), must now be reckoned with: They shall be slain by my sword, v. 12. Nebuchadnezzar was God's sword, the instrument in his hand with which these and other enemies were subdued and punished, Ps. xvii. 14. 2. The Assyrians, and Nineveh the head city of their monarchy, are next set to the bar, to receive their doom: He that is God's sword will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria, and make himself master of it. Assyria had been the rod of God's anger against Israel, and now Babylon is the rod of God's anger against Assyria, Isa. x. 5. He will make Nineveh a desolation, as was lately and largely foretold by the prophet Nahum. Observe, (1.) How flourishing Nineveh's state had formerly been (v. 15): This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly. Nineveh was so strong that she feared no evil, and therefore dwelt carelessly and set danger at defiance; she was so rich that she thought herself sure of all good, and therefore was a rejoicing city, full of mirth and gaiety; and she had such a dominion that she admitted no rival, but said in her heart, "I am, and there is none besides me that can compare with me, no city in the world that can pretend to be equal with me." God can with his judgments frighten the most secure, humble the most haughty, and mar the mirth of those that most laugh now. (2.) How complete Nineveh's ruin shall now be; it shall be made a desolation, v. 13. Such a heap of ruins shall this once pompous city be that it shall be, [1.] A receptacle for beasts, such a wilderness that flocks shall lie down in it; nay, such a waste, desolate, frightful place, that wild beasts, shall take up their abode there; the melancholy birds, as the cormorant and bittern, shall make their nests in what remains of the houses, as they sometimes do in old ruinous buildings that are uninhabited and unfrequented. The lintels, or chapiters of the pillars, the windows and thresholds, and all the fine cedar-work curiously engraven, shall lie exposed; and on them these rueful ominous birds shall perch, and their voice shall sing. How are the songs of mirth turned into hideous horrid noises! What little reason have men to be proud of stately buildings, and rich furniture, when they know not what all the pomp of them may come to at last! [2.] A derision to travellers. Those that had come from far, to gratify their curiosity with the sight of Nineveh's splendour, shall now look on her with as much contempt as ever they looked upon her with admiration (v. 15): Every one that passes by shall hiss at her, and wag his hand, making light of her desolations, nay, and making sport with them—"There is an end of proud Nineveh." They shall not weep, and wring their hands (the adversities of those are unpitied and unlamented who were insolent and haughty in their prosperity), but they shall hiss and wag their hands, forgetting that perhaps their own ruin is not far off.

CHAP. II.

Verſe 1. GAther your ſelvs together, yea together) Excut ite vos, iterumque excutite. Fanne your ſelves, yea fanne your ſelves. The precept is doubled,Tremeli. as it is likewiſe Num. 3.40. and 2 Cor. 13.5. to ſhew the neceſſity of our doing it, as alſo the utility if well done, and laſtly our croſſneſſe and averſneſſe thereunto, together with Gods exceeding great deſire that it ſhould be throughly done for our greateſt good. Grievous things he had threatened in the former chapter: all which to prevent, he here preſcribeth them a courſe of ſelfe-examination, and thereupon ſound converſion: ſo true is that of an ancient Ideo minatur Deus ut non puniat, Iſid. God doth therefore threaten that he may not puniſh. It is as if God ſhould thus ſay, Behold thou art in danger of deſtruction; is it not therefore high time to ſearch, yea to be ſerious and exact in the ſcrutiny? to gather thy diſperſed wits together, to ſummon the ſobriety of thy ſenſes before the barre of thy beſt judgement? to conſider and conſult what is fit to be done in this caſe? to have thine eyes in thine head, with Solomons wiſe man Eccleſ. 2.14? Yea to have thine eyes like the windowes in Solomons Temples, broad inward 1 King. 6.4. Mens minds are naturally as ill ſet as their eyes: they turne neither of them inward. Lamiae-like they are ſharp ſighted abroad to diſcern other mens faults: but blinde at home to take notice of their own. Nature ſhewes no ſinne: what is our iniquity or our ſin, ſaid thoſe in Jeremy when wrath was even breaking out upon them Jer. 16.10? ſo Hoſ, 12.8. Men deal with their ſouls as ſome doe with their bodies; who, when their beauty is decayed, they deſire to hide it from themſelves by falſe glaſſes, and from others by painting: ſo their ſinnes, from themſelves by falſe gloſſes, and from others by excuſes. But he that thus hideth his ſinnes cannot proſper, Prov. 28.13. he muſt not look for gains his proſperity 3 Joh. 2. but for further hardneſſe of heart, Prov. 28.14. and horrour of conſcience Pſal. 32.3. For God will not ſcarfe mens bones before they are ſet, nor lap up their ſores before they are ſearcht. Wherefore Search you, ſearch you O Nation, &c. Search your ſelves to the quick, ſift you to the branne, lay your hands upon your hearts, thruſt them deep into your boſomes with Moſes, ſo ſhall you take them out again leprous as ſnow Exod. 4.6. Commune with your conſciences and be ſtill, or make a pauſe. Pſal. 4.4. lay a peremptory charge upon them to be true to you, and to doe their office impartially, in laying open how many tranſgreſſions are wrapt up in your ſinnes, Levit. 16.21. in bringing them all forth to you, as they in Ezra brought forth the veſſels of the Sanctuary, by number and by w[illegible: 1 letter]ight, Ezra 8.34. in their circumſtances and aggravations. Why ſhould God ſay unto thee of thy ſinnes,, as once Samuel did to Jeſſe of his ſonnes, Are theſe all thy children? Conſcience, if not charged to the contrary, and well watched, will either lye to thee, as Gehezi did to his Maſter: or at leaſt ſubſtract a part of thy ſinnes, as Ananias and Saphira did a part of the price. Search therefore, and follow your work cloſe, that ye may ſay with Ephraim Jer. 31.19. After that I was made known to my ſelfe, I repented, and with David, I examined my wayes, and finding all out of order, I turned my feet to my teſtimonies, Pſal. 119.59.

O nation not deſired] As not deſireable: having nothing of worth in thee wherefore any ſhould be found of thee, or ſeek any further after thee, Daniel was a man of deſires, chap. ut veniant defiderati omnium gentium Jun. 9.23. David a man after Gods own heart. Moſes fair to God, Acts 7.20. The Saints are the deſired ones of all Nations, as ſome read that text Hag. 2.7. The precious ſonnes of Zion comparable (not to ſilver onely, as the word here uſed importeth, but) to ſine gold, Lam. 4.2. As for the wicked, they are all droſſe, Ezek 22.18, 19. and God doth ſo little deſire them, as that he putteth them away, or maketh them to ceaſe as droſſe, Pſal. 119.119. and commandeth others to doe the like by them, Prov. 25.4, 5. Some take the words in the active ſenſe, and render them, O n[illegible: 1 letter]tion not deſirous: viz. to ſearch thy wayes and turne again to me. Thou that haſt no minde to be dealing with thy ſelfe, or to draw nigh to me, but hadſt as leife bee knockt on the head, as doe either: Gens vacua deſiderio. O nation void of any good deſires.Auguſt. Whereas tota Chriſtiani hominis vita ſanctum deſiderium eſt, the whole life of a good Chriſtian is one continuate deſire after God, his kingdome, and the righteouſneſſe thereof. Mat. 6.33. he followeth after it Prov. 21.21. as an Apprentice followeth his trade, though he be not his craftsmaſter. Some faint deſires, luskiſh longings, ſhort-winded wiſhes may be found in a wicked man; but they riſe not up to the full height of well-knit reſolution for God. Like they are to Meteors that are carried above the earth, but not united to the Element of fire: therefore they fall and return to their firſt principles: like ice which melteth in the day, and hardeneth again in the night: like the ſluggard in his bed, that puts out his arme to riſe, and then pulls it in again. See Pſal. 78.34.38.

Verſe 2. Before the decree bring forth] The decree is great-bellied, and will ſhortly bring forth, if not prevented. There is an execution towards: and if courſe bee not timouſly taken, ye are like to pay, not the debt onely, but charges and dammages: Look to it quickly before the decree &c. Here are three cautionary Befores, as there are four comfortable Yets to be read Zach. 1.17. God yet offers them mercy as Alezander did thoſe he warred againſt, whiles the lamp burned: and as Tamerlane, whiles the white flag was hanged out. See Ier. 18.7.8.

Before the day paſſe as the chaffe] Before that day of the Lord that is near, very near, chap. 1. Verſe 14.15. Paſſe upon you, and ye become as chaffe before the wind, as the duſt of the mountains before the whirlewind. O fan you, fan you: or elſe God will fan you after another faſhion: ſearch you, or he will ſoone ſearch you with candles, chap 1.12. gather your ſelves together, or he will gather your ſouls with ſinners, and your lives with bloudy men, Pſal. 26.9. would men but judge themſelves, God would not judge them, 1 Cor. 11.31. did they but ſee their ſinnes to confeſſion, they ſhould never ſee them to their confuſion Prov. 28.13. would they but meet God, as Abigail did David, they might diſarm his indignation. Saving a little pains in this caſe, doubleth it: and the beſt that can come of negligence is repentance. It is better that we ſhould try our ſelves, then that he ſhould try us in his furnace of temptation, or other affliction. Do it therefore before the day paſſe as the chaffe, or before the chaffe or ſtubble paſſe in that day, paſſe before the wind wherewith God ſhall winnow you, who would not winnow your ſelves. The ſcholer that will not ſcan his own verſes, ſhall find that his maſter will ſcan them to his coſt. And the tradeſman that will not caſt up his books, ſhall have his books to caſt up him at length.

Before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you] As a mighty torrent of fire, ſuch as you are never able to avoid or abide. Abuſed mercy turneth into fury: neither will God ſuffer his patience to ſtand ſtill for a ſinning ſtock. Twice in a breath theſe hypocrites are here told what to truſt unto, for more ſuretie.

Verſe 3. ſeek ye the Lord all ye meek of the earth] Here the prophet turneth himſelfe to the better ſort: for upon thoſe hypocritical halters afore mentioned he had but loſt his ſweet words; he did but waſh a blackmore. We read not in Scripture of any hypocrites converſion, and what wonder? for whereas after ſinne, converſion is left as a means to cure all other ſinners, what means to recover him who hath converted converſion it ſelfe into ſinne? This made our Saviour ſay to his Diſciples concerning the Phariſees thoſe cankered hypocrites, Let them alone, Mat. 15.14 and himſelfe weary of waſting words upon them called to the multitude and ſaid. here ye and underſtand, verſe 10. In like ſort this Prophet here, Seek ye the Lord:, for it is paſt time of day with them to ſeek him: therefore they ſhall goe with their flocks, and their herds to ſeek the Lord, but they ſhall not find him: he hath withdrawn himſelfe from them. Hoſ. 5.6. Concerning ſeeking the Lord ſee the Note on Am. 5.6.8.

All ye meek of the earth] This is the character, the diſtinctive note of a true Chriſtian: who as he is ſure to be afflicted (affliction and meekneſſe grow both upon the ſame root in the holy tongue) ſo by affliction hee is meekened and mortified, his fleſh is crucified with the affections and luſts: and ſo he is fitted to ſeek the Lord, to lie at his feet and ſay, ſpeak Lord, for thy ſervant heareth. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Septuag. The e meek and lowly ones are they whom God will teach Pſal. 25.9. beautifie Pſal. 149.4. ſolace Iſai 29.19. and 61.1. ſave, God will ſave the humble perſon. Job. 22.29. Now meekneſſe and humility are a pair of twin-ſiſters, never aſunder.Sorores collactanea. See how they goe coupled, Mat. 11.29. and the Seventy render this text, all the lowly of the earth, that are as low as th earth, in your own eyes and eſteeme.

Which have wrought his judgement] i.e. have been doing at it, qui feciſtis praecepta etſi non perfeciſtis who aime at perfection though ye cannot attain to it, [non-Latin text not transcribed], quaſi [non-Latin text not transcribed]. ſolo aquatus. Pſal. 103.18. who think upon his Commandements to doe them, having reſpect to them all, and wiſhing well to the worke, Pſal. 118.5, 6. which God graciouſly accepteth as a working his judgement and yet would have you to abound more and more. Wherefore,

Seeke righteouſneſſe, ſeek meekneſſe] i. e. further meaſures of holineſſe, and degrees of grace. Let him that is holy be holy ſtill, let him perſevere, grow, and advance forward toward the high prize propoſed unto him taking for his motto that of Charles 5. Plus ultra further yet, perfecting holineſſe in the fear of God, 2 Cor. 7. 1. So 1. Tim. 6.11. But thou O man of God, (that is, O godly man, as the life of God is put for a godly life, Eph. 4.18. ſee 2 Kings 4.9.) fly theſe things (what things? heterodoxies. ver. 3, 4, 5. and love of money ver. 9, 10.) And follow after (Gr. perſecute, purſue alacriter & acriter) righteouſneſſe, this is the totum hominis Ecleſ. 12.13. the bonum hominis Mic. 7.8. and by way of diſtribution comprehendeth (as to God) godlineſſe and faith, (as to men) love, patience, meekneſſe.

It may be ye ſhall be hid in the day of the Lords wrath] poſſibly ye may, probably ye ſhall be; pardon of ſinne ye ſhall be ſure of; mitigation alſo of ſorrow, if not prevention: ſaved ye ſhall be, or more gently handled, or ſo inwardly calmed, that ye ſhall be able to call your ſouls to reſt, when others are at their wits ends. You ſhall be ſafe under the covert of Gods wings, and in the hollow of his hand: when others that are without God in the world, ſhall be as a naked man in a ſtorm, an unarmed man in the field, or as a ſhip at Sea without anchor, ſubject to daſh and ſplit againſt rocks, and quick ſands.

Verſe 4. For Gaza ſhall be forſaken and Aſkelon &c.) Here is dainty Rhetoricke in the Originall. This Prophet was (as Quintilian ſaith a good Oratour ought to be) Vir bonus, dicendi peritus, a good man, and a maſter of ſpeech. The Hebrew tongue ſeemeth to have bin in the prime and flouriſh when Eſay, Micah, and Zephany prophecied, like as the Latine was about Tullies time. The Philiſtines are here threatened, for a terrour to the impenitent Jews, who ſhould taſt of the ſame whip, and for the comfort of the Godly, who ſhould be hid when theſe their enemies ſhould be utterly deſtroyed. Gaza was ſo forſaken, according to its Propheſie, that it was therehence called Gaza the deſart: Askelon according to its name became ignis ignominia the reproach of the fire that waſted it, and (as a mercileſſe element) laid it deſolate.Act. 8.26. Aſhdod (called in the New Teſtament Azotus Act. 8.) ſhall alſo (according to its Etymon) be waſted with fire, and her inhabitants driven into a far country as Captives at high noon, when the Sun (in thoſe hot climates eſpecially) is moſt parching and ſcorching: they ſhall be driven out with all the diſadvantage that may be.

And Ekron ſhall be rooted out] Ekron was the place where Beelzebub the Prince of Devils had his throne.Virg. The Poets put it for hell. Flectere ſi nequeo ſuperos, Acheronta movebo. Threatened it is therefore here (not without an elegancy that cannot be engliſhed) with utter extirpation The grand-devill had neſted and neſtled himſelfe as near the holy land as might be: [non-Latin text not transcribed] &c. but he ſhall not long reſt there, the Hebrew child will diſquiet the great Pan: &e.

Verſe 5. Woe to the Inhabitants of the ſea coaſt] Theſe were the Philiſtines: they lay between the Jewes and the Sea: God having ſo diſpoſed of it, that his people might not have much commerce with forreign nations nor learn their manners. Into havens and maritime towns there is uſually a conflux of vices, like as there is of waters into the Sea: witneſſe Tyre and Sydon, Corinth, Carthage, Capernaum, &c. Hence that proverb maritimi mores: and that cenſure of ſuch people littorales duri, horridi, immanes, latrociniis dedicit omnium denique peſſimi, Thoſe that dwell by the Sea-ſide are uſually ill-conditioned, fierce, cruell, theeviſh, and the worſt of men. Theſe Philiſtines were no better, and are therefore here put under a woe, and threatened with utter deſtruction.

The nation of the Cherethites] i. e. Deſtroyers: ſo the Philiſtines had ſtiled themſelves, as glorying to have conquered and cut off many people. The old Latine tranſlation rendreth it Gens perditorum The nation of Deſtroyers: ſo doth Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus, Now it comes to their turn to be deſtroyed, according to Eſay 33.1. That theſe Cherethites were a ſort of Philiſtines See 1 Sam. 30.14, 16. Ezek. 25.16. That they were valiant men appears by that legion of them that guarded David 2 Sam. 9.4. and 15.18. and were highly eſteemed by him, becauſe they ſtuck to him in his affliction at Gath, and alſo when Abſolom was up in arms 2 Sam. 15.18.

the word of the Lord is againſt you] And not onely againſt Iſrael. This was ſpoken, as for the terrour of thoſe Philiſtines, who thought themſelves out of the reach of Gods rod, and ſlighted his word, ſo for the comfort of the people of God, who thought much that themſelves ſhould be ſo ſeverely dealt with, and the uncircumciſed Philiſtines ſcape ſcot-free.

O Canaan the land of the Philiſtines] Indeed of the Iſraelites, Joſh. 13.3. but held by force by the Philiſtienes, who were of the ſtock of the Canaanites, but not ſubdued; and had detained part of the land from the right owners for 800. years and upwards; and now they come to be reckoned with. Subitò tollitur qui diu toleratur.

I will even deſtroy thee, that there ſhall be no inhabitant] No ſetled inhabitant, that ſhall fix there, as the word ſignifieth. Thus Poena venit gravior, quo mage ſera venit, the longer God ſtayes, the heavier he ſtrikes.

Verſe 6. And the ſea-coaſts ſhall be dwellings and cottages for ſhepherds] It ſhall be waſt and untilled, and therefore unfrequented by any but ſhepherds, who pitch their tents up and down, where they may beſt feed their flocks in deſert places.

and folds for flocks] God may do thus in his juſt judgement upon his enemies, that live in his good land, and not by his good lawes: but wo be to our Depopulatours, that drive out men, and put in cattle: that betray townes, as Rome did Carthage, with a diſtinction, We will ſave the city, but deſtroy the towne. How dangerous it is to prove Abaddons, appeareth by Gods puniſhing hand upon William the Conquerours, iſſue in New-forreſt, wherein 36. Pariſh Churches had been demoliſhed by him, with the removing of all the inhabitants, to make room for beaſts, or dogs-game. There his ſecond ſonne Richard was gored in hunting by a Deer;Speed. Rufus his other ſonne, miſtaken for a Deer, was by chance ſhot thorow with an arrow. Henry likewiſe his Nephew, whileſt he hotly purſued the chaſe, was ſtruck by a bough into the jawes: and, as Abſalom, left hanging untill he died.

Verſe 7. And the coaſt ſhall be for the remnant of the houſe of Iudah] Who had not onely their owne countrey kept empty for them all the 70. yeers of captivity, and not any diſplaced to make room at their return, (ſee the Note on Zach. 7.14.) but liberty to make uſe of the Philiſtines countrey: which was alſo further ſubdued by the Maccabees, but eſpecially by the Apoſtles, who preached the Goſpel, and planted Churches in thoſe parts, as we read in the Acts chap. 8.26, 40. and chap. 9.32, 35, 36.

they ſhall feed thereupon] They ſhall go in and out, and find paſture, under the great Shepherd and Biſhop of their ſouls, who ſhall feed them daily,Joh. 10. 1 Pet. 4. and daintily among the lillies by the powerfull preaching of the Goſpel among them.

In the houſes of Aſhkelon ſhall they lie down in the evening] Ʋbi temporis circumſtantia ſecuritatem notat, ſaith Gualther, The circumſtance of time noteth their ſpirituall ſecurity: evenings are oft dark and dangerous. They ſhall lie down as cattle do, that take no care; they know whom they have truſted, and are fearleſſe.

for the Lord their God ſhall viſit them] Viſit and redeem his people, raiſing up an horn of ſalvation for them, Luke 1.68, 69. His viſits are not empty viſits, Pſal. 8.5. his favours are not like the winter-Sun, that lighteth, but heateth not, &c.

and turn away their captivity] to their unexpreſſible comfort, Pſal. 126.1. but eſpecially when Chriſt aſcending up on high leadeth captivity captive, &c. Col. 2.14, 15. Epheſ. 4.8.

Verſe 8. I have heard the reproach of Moab] How can he but hear who is all ear? who is both above us, and within us, in whom we ſubſiſt, Col. 1.17. And what will he ſooner be ſenſible of then the reproachings of his people? See Eſay 37.23. and 57.3, 4. But draw near hither ye ſonnes of the ſorcereſſe, the ſeed of the adulterer, and the whore. (See how he becalls them) Againſt whom do ye ſport your ſelves? againſt whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of tranſgreſſion, a ſeed of falſhood? The Moabites and Ammonites were great jearers of the Jews, and revilers of their religion. Theſe reproaches leniter volant, non leniter violant, cruell mockings the Apoſtle calleth them, Heb. 11.36. David felt them as a murthering weapon in his bones, Pſal. 42.10. God will call ſuch men to an heavie reckoning one day as deride the power of godlineſſe, and the profeſſours thereof. Bede ſaith, that this was the great ſinne of the ancient Britanes, immediately before their deſtruction by the Saxons: and it is at this day both a preſage and deſert of our ruine, that as the Turks count all fools to be ſaints, ſo men with us account all ſaints to be fools.

and the revilings of the children of Ammon] How good they were at it, we may ſee in thoſe words of Sanballat, and his copeſmate Tobiah the Ammonite, Neh. 4.2, 3. words as full of pride and ſcorne, as profane wit, or rancoured malice could make them: and they lay ſo heavy upon Nehemiahs ſpirit, that hee could not eaſe himſelf but by breathing heavenward, verſe 4. Hear, O our God, for we are deſpiſed, and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity, &c. Hear, ſaith Nehemiah: I have heard it, ſaith God. Thou haſt ſeen it, ſaith the Pſalmiſt, for thou beholdeſt miſchief and ſpite to requite it with thine hand, Pſal. 10.14.

and magnified themſelves] by ſpeaking big and bluſtring words, bubbles of words, great ſwelling words, full of wind, 2 Pet. 2.18. theſe ſhall finde, that ſuch words are not winde, but will be required in fire, Jude 15. God is an utter enemy to boaſting and threatning Bragadochios.

Verſe 9. Therefore as I live [This is Gods oath: ſo, As true as I live, Num. 14.21. with Pſal. 95.10. therefore they are to blame that uſe it in their common talk.

Surely Moab ſhal be as Sodom, &c.] Whereas they think that I either hear not their revilings, or regard them not, I ſhall make Moab and Ammon ſmart and ſmoak for them.

even the breeding of nettles and ſalt pits] They ſhall not indeed be conſumed with fire from heaven: but their land ſhall lie waſte for a long ſeaſon. Nettles grow in barren places, and are good for nothing, unleſſe it be the buds at firſt coming. Pliny writeth,Hiſt. Nat. l. 31. c. 7. that where ſalt is digg'd, little good elſe groweth. See Judg. 9.45. Pſal. 107.34.

for a perpetuall deſolation] Certain it is, that thoſe nations carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar were never reſtored: but that in after-times a mixt multitude of vagrants, out of many nations met there, taking upon them the old title of Arabians, and living by rapine and robbery. Out of theſe came Mahomet, founder of the Turkiſh Empire and Superſtition, who overturned the Chriſtian Churches, there planted by the Apoſtles, (as was here fore-prophecied, The reſidne of my people ſhall ſpoil them, &c. See verſe 7.) Confer Gal. 1.17. and ſoon over-run all the Eaſt and South, as Popery did all the Weſt and North, at the ſame time.

Verſe 10. This ſhall they have for their pride] Moabites were as much noted for their pride, as now the Spaniards are: and are therefore here devoted to deſtruction. Pride goeth before a fall, &c. A bulging wall ſtands not long: a joynt luxated and ſwelled, till that be down, cannot be ſet. God reſiſteth the proud, 1 Pet. 5.5. he bringeth thoſe ungodly down to the ground, Pſal. 147.6.

becauſe they have reproached, &c.] And all this out of the pride of their hearts, which breaketh out, as a maſter-pock, in their carriage: ſo that the pride of Moab teſtifieth to his face, and it ſhall be to him an abomination of deſolation.

Verſe 11. The Lord will be terrible unto them] For he ſhall march forth in battle-array againſt proud perſons, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. 1 Pet. 5.5. and ſtain the pride of all their glory: he will pull them down from their pinacle of ſelf-exaltation, and make them know themſelves to be but men. Attilas, king of the Hunnes, proudly gave out, that the ſtarres fell before him, the earth trembled at his preſence, and that hee would bee the ſcourge of all nations. But what became of him? He died ſuddenly by a flux of blood,P. Jovius. breaking out at his mouth and choking him, on his wedding-day at night. It were eaſie to inſtance further, in Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, Herod the king of Tyre,Pſal. 76.12. &c. With God is terrible Majeſty, Job 37.22. he is terrible to the kings of the earth, whiles he cutteth off their ſpirits. Heb. he ſlippeth them off, as one ſhould ſlip off a flower betwixt ones fingers; or a bunch of grapes off the vine; ſo ſoon is the buſineſſe done.

For he will famiſh all the gods of the earth] He will caſt them into an atrophy, into a conſumption. This was fulfilled, partly when Nebuc[illegible: 1 letter] adnezzar deſtroyed the Nations,Dan. 4. and proclaimed the true God to be the onely God, but principally when Chriſt came in the fleſh, and ſent out his Apoſtles to decry thoſe Heathen deities, and to preach the everlaſting Goſpel, ſaying with a loud voice. Fear God, and give glory to him, &c: and worſhip him that made heaven, earth, ſea, and fountains of waters, Rev. 14.7. Now it was, that Satan fell like lightening from heaven, the oracles were ſilenced, the Heathen Emperours amazed at the prevailing power of the Goſpel in deſpite of them, the very names of moſt of the gods of the earth were aboliſhed, the Temple of Apollo at Delphos fired from heaven; and at that very time when Julians embaſſadours were there to enquire what ſhould be the iſſue of the Perſian warr. Thus the Heathen ſuperſtition fell flat to the ground, their gods were famiſhed for want of worſhippers and ſacrifices &c. And the ſame we hope and wait for to befall the Antichriſtian rout and religion. That Idol is grown very leane, and hath loſt a collop as we ſay. Bellarmine is very ſenſible,Lib. 3. de Pont. Rom. cap. 21. and bewailes the buſineſſe, that ever ſince we began to count and call the Pope Antichriſt, he hath ſuffered no ſmall decayes and loſſes in the chriſtian churches. He hath indeed, and more and more ſhall do till he be left as leane as a rake, and all his plumes pulled, his credit crackt, his honour laid in the duſt.

and men ſhall worſhip him] Heb. bow down to him. He is thy Lord, and bow thou down unto him, Pſal. 45.11. Body and ſoule both muſt ſtoop to God:Zanchy. and both at once 2 Cor. 6.20. Swenck feldians. (Stinkfeldians Luther called them from their ill ſavour) take away all externall ſervice: ſo do the Nicodemites. Hypocrites draw nigh to God with their lipps only, when their hearts are elſewhere: their bodies are in ſacellis, their hearts in ſacculis as Ezek. 33.31. But the true Iſraelites give God both inward and outward worſhip: he doth ponere dextram in pectore, as Perſius phraſeth it: being ſhod with the preparation of the Goſpel, he treads it not awry, neither too much outward as the formaliſt, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. nor too much inward as the Swenckfeldian. He looks upon our late worſhip-ſcorners, our high-attainers as the laſt brood of Beelzebub: and reckons that to caſt off ordinances is to caſt away the remedy 2 Chron. 36.15, 16. Prov. 29.1.

every one from his place] Not at Jeruſalem only as once, Ioh. 4.21. but in all places, pure hands and hearts ſhall be lift up, without wrath, without doubting:1 Tim. 2.8. both in church and chamber: any place whatſoever ſhall be a ſufficient oratory, ſo that God be worſhipped in ſpirit and in truth, and the publike not neglected.

even all the Iſles of the Heathen] that is, all countries, though not encompaſſed with the ſea: for the Jews called all lands Iſlands which they could not come at but by water. That God ſhall be worſhipped in the foure corners of the earth, ſee the Note on Deut. 6.4. It was the laſt ſpeech of dying Chryſoſtom, Glory be to God from all creatures: Let the Jeſuites at the end of their books ſubſcribe Laus Deo & beatae Virgini, Let this be the badge of the Beaſt: let us cry To God alone be glory all the world ever.

Verſe 12. Ye Ethiopians alſo, ye ſhall be ſlaine by my ſword] which is long enough to reach you, though far remote. The Poets faine that Jupiter was wont to be feaſted by the Ethiopians: but that ſhall not ſave them from Gods ſore and great ſtrong ſword. Nebuchadnezzar, to whom God had given Ethiopia, and Egypt and Saba as a ranſome for his people Eſa. 43.3. See Prov. 11.8. with the Note. The Ethiopians and Egyptians were ſubdues together Ier. 46.2. Eſay 18.1, 2. It is now inhabited by the Abyſſines (a kind of mongrell-chriſtians) and called Preſter-lohns countrey; where they ſay they have this cuſtome amongſt others: In their great ſolemnities they have a cup of gold born before them, filled within, and beſmeared without with dirt, yet ſo as the gold appeareth: and next to this cup is carried a crucifix. Hereby they would ſhew that man ſhould be pure as gold: but being within and without defiled by ſin, he is reſtored by Chriſt crucified, ſo as that the gold of Gods graces appeareth in him here in part, and ſhall do hereafter in all perfection.

Verſe 13. And he will ſtretch out his hand againſt the North] i. e. againſt Aſſyria (which lay north from Judea) as is preſently added by way of expoſition.Selnec. paedag. Christ. par. 2. pag. 118. the ſcripture ſometimes hath its own interpretation annexed as Ioh. 2.19, 21. and 7.39. Howſoever, the Rabbines have this ſaying amongit them, Nulla eſt objectio inloge quae non habet ſolutionem in latere; i.e. there is not any doubt in the Law, but may be reſolved by the context.

and deſtroy Aſſyria] caſt this rod of his wrath into the fire, after the he had worn it to the ſtump (as that Martyr ſaid) upon other nations.

and will make Niniveh a deſolation] See Nah. 2. with the Notes.

Verſe 14. And flocks ſhall lie down in the middeſt of her &c.] Here are various and vehement expreſſions of the dreadfull face of her deſolations. Omnia congerit que vaſtitatem horribilem denotare ſolent, ſaith Gulather, becauſe it was held a thing almoſt impoſſible that Niniveh ſhould be deſtroyed. Hence that admiration of byſtanders and beholders ver. 15. But what can be impoſſible to the Almighty? and what will not He do for his churches cauſe and comfort? See ver. 6.

all the beaſts of the nations] which ſhall come from farr to haunt this new-deſert. beau-deſert. See Iſai. 13.21, 22. and obſerve that Parallell texts, like glaſſes ſet one againſt another, do caſt a mutuall light. The lapidary brighteneth his hard diamond with the duſt ſhaved from it ſelf: ſo muſt we clear hard ſcriptures.

both the Cormorant (or Pellican) and the Bittern] Thoſe inauſpicate birds of prey that are ſignes both of Gods curſe and mans miſery Eſa. 34.11. The former hath its name in Hebrew from vomiting, and ſeemeth, ſaith One, to be the ſame that we call the Shovelard, which ſwalloweth ſhelfiſhes, and after vom[illegible: 1 letter]teth them to get the fiſh.Nat. hiſt. lib. 10. cap. 3. The later liveth about lakes, ſaith Pliny, and with her beake beateth the fiſh out of the ſhell with great vehemency.

ſhall lodge in the upper-lintels of it] beautified with pomegranates, flowers and other curious garniſhes, a are wont to be ſeen at the proches of places.

their voice ſhall ſing in the windowes] the black Saints, as they ſay; where was wont to be heard all manner of muſick and melodious noiſes, Luxus cedet in luctum, their merry dances ſhall end in a miſerable downfall.

deſolation ſhall be in the threſholds] which were wont to be worn out with the abundance of clients and paraſites, tracing over them.

for he ſhall uncover the cedar-work] i. e. God, or the enemy by Gods appointment, ſhall uncover the roof made of Cedar, for better continuance. Cedar is ſtrong and durable: and by reaſon of the dryneſſe of it the timber chawneth not, rotteth not:Phyſic. l. 2. yea, it hath a property to preſerve other things from putrefaction, ſaith Scribonius. The Ninivites raftered their houſes with it, as they ſay the Africanes do with whale-bones. But now that God ſhall barr them and expoſe them to the injury of wind and weather, how can they ſtand? and what can be in the threſholds but deſolation?

Verſe 15. This is the re[illegible: 1 letter]oycing city] Exultabunda, that could ſtand on no ground, but was ready to leape out of her skin as it were: her inhabitants were meer mirth mongers altogether ſet upon the merry pin: like the people of Tombu[illegible: 1 letter]um in Africke, who ſpend their whole time in ſinging and dancing. Now the caſe is altered, and the Church, out of zeale for Gods glory, thus inſulteth over them.

that dwelt careleſly] As if ſcituate in the clouds, above all feare; and altogether inſuperable. Security uſhereth in deſtruction. See Ier. 49.31, 32.

that ſaid in her heart I am, and there is none beſides me] This was a proud word indeed. I am is one of God Almighties names Exod. 3.14. and There is none beſides me, is one of his titles Eſa. 45.5.21. and 48.12. Thus empty man would be ſomething (the toad would ſwell to the bigneſſe of an oxe) though man be born like a wild-aſſes colt Iob 11.12. and man being in honour underſtandeth not, that he is, Pſal. 49.20. p[illegible: 1 letter]coribus merticinis. Tremel. or ſhortly ſhall be, like the beaſts that periſh: that die of the murraine, and ſo become carrion good for nothing.

Ʋnde ſuperbit homo cujus conceptio turpis, Naſcipoena, labor vita, neceſſe meri?

How is ſhe become a deſolation!] Here the Prophet Niniven in Theatro ſtatuit, & traducit apud Judaeos (ſaith Calvin) ſetteth Niniveh upon the ſtage, and ſheweth his Jewes the tragicall end of her: how ſhe ſhould wonderfully be brought down beyond all expectation. God delighteth o make himſelf marvelous: he is the onely true Thaumaturgus.

every one that paſſeth by her ſhall hiſs and wagg his hand] In ſcorn, horrour and diſdaine; and why, See Nah. 3.19. with the Note. Lam. 2.15, 17. 1 King. 9.8. Ezek. 27.36. Mic. 6.16. Surely God ſcorneth the ſcorners Prov. 3.34. and maketh that the mercileſſe find no mercy, Iam. 2.13.