Zephaniah 1

Zephaniah 1:1-6

After the title of the book, ver. 1. here is, 2. A threatening of the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, an utter destruction by the Chaldeans, ver. 2-4. 2. A charge against them for their gross sin, which provoked God to bring that destruction upon them, ver. 5, 6, and so he goes on in the rest of the chapter, setting back the judgments before them, that they might prevent them or prepare for them; and the sins that destroy them, that they might judge themselves, and justify God in what was brought upon them. (1.) They must hold their peace, because they had greatly sinned, ver. 7-9. But (2.) They shall have because the trouble will be great. The day of the Lord is near, and it will be a terrible day, ver. 10-18.

THE word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cufi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon king of Judah. 2. I will utterly consume all things from off the land, faith the LORD. 3. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the flumbling-blocks with the wicked, and I will cut off man from off the land, faith the LORD. 4. I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests; 5. And them that worship the host of heaven upon the house tops, and them that worship, and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham; 6. And them that turned back from the LORD, and those that have not fought the LORD, nor enquired for him.

We have,

1. An account of the penman of this prophecy, Zephaniah, whose ancestors for four generations back are mentioned, probably as men of distinguished note; and some have thought

him of the blood-royal, and a descendant from Hezekiah, king of Judah, the same word in the original as Hizkiah. He lived in the bell times, even in the reforming reign of Josiah; and yet we find the people at bottom, many of them at least, notwithstanding their apparent change, continued bad, very bad, or quickly relapsed, and departed from their promising beginnings. Of so short continuance are the effects wrought by the most zealous reformers among a backfinding people. The word of the Lord came to the prophet; for he spoke not in his own name, but as the Spirit gave him utterance.

2. The burden of his prophecy is the approaching destruction of the land of Judea, and all things therein, both man and beast.

(1.) I will consume and cut off man from off the land, faith the Lord; even the good men that yet remain will be involved in the national calamity. But the wicked are especially intended; against them the Lord will stretch out his hand, in wrath to finite and consume them from the earth, with their flumbling-blocks, those hated idols, which was their mortal sin. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place; those who, notwithstanding all Josiah’s care, still continued the worship of Baal; and the name of the Chemarims with the priests. The Chemarims were idolatrous priests, as the word is translated, 2 Kings xxiii, 5. so called either from the black garments they wore, or from their faces blackened with the smoke of the trees where they sacrificed. These should be cut off, yet their very name buried in oblivion, or mentioned with deciliation. And those who on house-tops worship the host of heaven, shall share the same fate; with all those who swear by the Lord, or to the Lord and Malcham, or Melodi, seeking to reconcile the inconsistent services of both, and pretending to worship them together, irreconcileable as that must for ever be; and them that are turned back from the Lord; apostates from the profession they once made; and those that have not fought the Lord, nor enquired for him; careless and prayerless sinners, who never troubled themselves about God, his worship, or service; these will be destroy together. Nate, (1.) The prayerless soul is a lost soul. (2.) They who seek to reconcile their religion with the ways of the world, and would serve God and Mammon too, just go as far as the devil desires. If they swear by Malcham, conform to the maxims, customs, or vanities of the world, they may serve God in form as much as they please, but they will be numbered with the transgressors.

(2.) 1 Bishop Ch-11 No. Chap. H. (2.) I will conform the length, the forfeiture of the human, and the fiber of the sea; being designed for man’s comfort, they are involved in his punishment, when by sin he forfeits all his merceness. Choc. 6. Jm. chid. 7. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD it at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. 8. And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD’s sacrifice, that I will punish the prisoners, and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel. 9. In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their crafters houses with violence and deceit. 10. And it shall come to pass in that day, faith the LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish-gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crafting from the hills. 11. Howl, ye inhabitants of Makteth, for all the merchant-people are cut down: all they that bear silver are cut off. 12. And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their legs; that lay in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will be do evil. 13. Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a defolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.

Zephaniah 1:7-13

The day of vengeance approaches, and the nation, as a sacrifice to divine justice, is ready to be offered up; and the Lord hath bid his guests, the Chaldeans, or the fowls of the heaven, to feed upon the carcasses of the Slain.

1. Those are described who are devoted to defraction.

(1.) The princes and king’s children; for judgment begins with the highest; and all such as are clothed with strange apparel; either the settlements in which they worshipped their idols, or they affected in their dress to imitate their heathen neighbours in fancy and extravagance, and their closets proclaimed the pride and vanity of their hearts.

(2.) The oppressors, who leap on the threshold, who daringly thank themselves in at their neighbour’s doors, and seize what comes to hand; filling their matters houses with violence and deceit; who let them on this wreckedness, and protect them from justice and punishment.

(3.) The rich merchants, and all they that bear silver, having plenty of money to trade, and buy and sell, and get gain.

(4.) All that are settled upon their lies; living in pleasure, affluence, ease, and carnal security, and this beginning infidelity; that say in their heart, though, like many other practical atheists, they dare not openly avow their sentiments. The Lord will not do good, neither will be do evil; denying his providential government of the world; and that neither his service would be attended with reward, nor sin with any punishment; leaving him out of their sight, and intimating in fact that there was no God. And as it is so much for their interest there should be none, for such as these God will assuredly detect and punish. I will search the poison with candles, that none may be able to hide themselves; and punish them with judgment from which none shall be able to escape. Note, Many are driven to the dreadful and deceitful refuge of infidelity, that they may silence conscience thereby, and enjoy their guilty pleasures undisturbed.

2. Their cry will be terrible when the stroke of vengeance descends. In that day, faith the Lord, there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish-gate, of the miserable inhabitants flying before their Chaldean pursues; and a great crafting from the hills; either of the enemy shouting and rushing on to the Slaughter, or of the houses of the nobles, built on the highest part of Zion and Morfah, now plundered and beat to the ground. Heal, ye inhabitants of Makteth, a street of Jerusalem, into which the enemy broke; or it is put for the whole body of the people howling over their defoliations. Their merchants are cut down, and their substance a spoil to the Chaldeans: yea, their gods are became a boaty; so far from being able to help them, unable to deliver themselves. Their houses, which they built, flattering themselves with a long abode in them, are became a defoliation; and the plundered they planted, afford their produce not to them, but to their conquerors.

3. The prophet, with all others who are like him, are commanded to hold their peace at the presence of the Lord God, not daring to dispute against his righteous judgments, nor suffered to open their mouths to pray for a people devoted to defraction.

4. The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasfeth greatly, from the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. 15. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and divine. II.

stress, a day of warreness and defolation, a day of darkness and gloomeness, a day of closed and thick darkness. 16. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. 17. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have finned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dull, and their flesh as the dung. 18. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath, but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

Zephaniah 1:14-18

If any thing can alarm the sinners in Zion, the prophet’s awful warnings must surely do it.

1. The great day of the Lord, when he will take vengeance on the Jews by the sword of the Chaldeans, is near; it is near, and hasfeth greatly; but a moment remains to fly from this devouring fire. It is madeeth for the sinner to slander, whose damnation flamboath not.

2. This will be a day of terror and dismay. The voice of the day of the Lord will strike a panic into the boldest; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly, like women quite dilipitated, and wringing their hands when they should go by the sword. That day is a day of wrath; of the wrath of God, and of the fury of the Chaldeans, his instruments of vengeance: a day of trouble and distress, to the miserable inhabitants; of warreness and defoliation to the whole land, to Jerusalem, the temple, and all the cities thereof: a day of darkness and gloomeness, a day of clouds and thick darkness, without a gleam of hope, and big with despair. A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers, spreading horror and dismay on every tide. A day of the Lord’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and the king’s heart, and

3. Defraction universal and unavoidable will ensue. Their blood shall be poured out as dull, so profusely, so disregarded; and their flesh as the dung; their carcasses left unburied on the earth. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; for in that day they profit not: but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his zealously; so furious, so impalacable, nothing can stay the raging flames: for he shall make even a greedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land, and leave them neither root nor branch. Note, It is a fearful thing indeed to fall into the hands of a jealous God.

4. Sin, sin, that accursed thing, is the cause of all this misery. Because they have finned against the Lord; this is the provocation, and the sting of every affliction: it is this which puts the worm that never dies into the conscience, and kindles the flames that never can be quenched. O sin, sin, what hast thou done?