Zephaniah 2:11

The Lord [will be] terrible unto them,.... To the Moabites and Ammonites in the execution of his judgments upon them, and make their proud hearts tremble; for with him is terrible majesty; he is

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 Lord will be terrible; 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. Unto them; Moabites and Ammonites, and their gods, of whom they gloried. He will famish; starve; though now their altars are filled with sacrifices, and their bowls 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. All the gods, idols, heathen gods, of the earth; of those lands, Dagon, Chemosh, 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. Men shall worship him; men of that country whose gods are undone, or all men, shall know, own, and worship the God of Israel. Every one from his place, where he dwelleth, not only at Jerusalem, or in this mount, but every where. All the isles; either literally, as we now see it fulfilled, or as the Jews interpret isles to be transmarine places. So they wait for his law, as foretold . Of the heathen; of all nations in all parts of the world. This is eminently fulfilled by the prevailing of the gospel.

Zephaniah 2:11 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.Ver. 11. The Lord will be terrible unto them] For he shall march forth in battle array against proud persons, 1 Peter 5:5, and stain the pride of all their glory (’Aντιτασσεται); he will pull them down from their pinnacle of self-exaltation, and make them know themselves to be but men. Attilas, king of the Huns, proudly gave out that the stars fell before him, the earth trembled at his presence, and that he would be the scourge of all nations. But what became of him? He died suddenly by a flux of blood, breaking out at his mouth and choking him, on his weddingday at night. It were easy to instance further, in Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, Herod, the king of Tyro, &c. "With God is terrible majesty," Job 37:22, "he is terrible to the kings of the earth, while he cutteth off their spirits," Psalms 76:12. Heb. he slippeth them off, as one should slip off a flower between one’ s fingers, or a bunch of grapes off the vine; so soon is the business 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 Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the nations, and proclaimed the true God to be the only God, Daniel 4:34, 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, a worship him that made heaven, earth, sea, and fountains of waters," Revelation 14:7. Now it was that Satan fell like lightning from heaven, the oracles were silenced, the heathen emperors 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 Delphi fired from heaven; and at that very time when Julian’ s ambassadors were there to inquire what should be the issue of the Persian war. 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 lean, and hath lost a collop, as we say. Bellarmine is very sensible, and bewails the business, that ever since we began to count and call the Pope antichrist he hath suffered no small decays and losses in the Christian Churches. He hath indeed, and more and more shall do, till he be left as lean as a rake, and all his plumes pulled, his credit cracked, his honour laid in the dust. And men shall worship him] Heb. Bow down to him.

(11) Famish.—Literally as in margin “make lean:” to “cause to disappear.” Every one from his place.—It is difficult to accept Keil’s theory of a pregnant construction, “each one coming from his place:” scil. to Jerusalem. This passage, therefore, is one of the very few which foretell that the worship of Jehovah shall find centres outside the Holy Land. The usual prediction, on the other hand, represents the converted nations as “flowing” to Jerusalem. Isles.—Better, sea coasts.

Verse 11. 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."

11. will be terrible unto them] lit. over them. Malachi 1:14, “I am a treat king, and my name terrible among the nations.” For “terrible” Sept. reads, will appear. he will famish all the gods] lit., as marg., make lean (Isaiah 17:4). Hitzig, followed by Keil, thinks the meaning to be, that by destroying all the nations the Lord will make lean or enfeeble all their gods, for the vigour of the god is proportionate to the robustness and power of the nation. This kind of reflection is not likely to have passed through the mind of the prophet. His idea appears to be that by terrible deeds Jehovah will make Himself known to the nations, who will fear Him alone, perceiving the impotency of their former gods; comp. Isaiah 2:20; Isaiah 30:22, and Ezekiel 25 ff. The use of the term make lean in regard to gods is certainly strange. every one from his place] i.e. each individual person, not each nation. The phrase “from his place” seems to mean, everyone where he dwells, the idea being that, without making pilgrimages to Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3; Zechariah 8:22; Zechariah 14:16), the peoples shall worship Jehovah, every man in his own land (Malachi 1:11). The prep, from might have a pregnant sense, each coming from his place, but this meaning is decidedly less natural. the isles of the heathen] The term “isles” appears to have been applied to the island-like coasts of the Mediterranean, and then to have been used of distant countries in general, Isaiah 41:1; Isaiah 59:18, Ezekiel 39:6.

The Lord will be terrible unto - (upon) them that is, upon Moab and Ammon, and yet not in themselves only, but as instances of His just judgment. Whence it follows, “For He will famish all the gods of the earth” (Rup.).

8-11. The doom of Moab and Ammon. On the location of these nations see comments on Amos 1:13-15; Amos 2:1-3.