Albert Barnes Commentary Zephaniah 2:5

"Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea-coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Jehovah is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines; I will destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant." — Zephaniah 2:5 (ASV)

The “woe,” having been pronounced on the five cities apart, now falls upon the whole nation of the Cherethites or Philistines. The Cherethites are only named as equivalent to the Philistines, probably because they were originally a distinct immigration of the same people. The name is used by the Egyptian slave of the Amalekite (1 Samuel 30:14) for those whom the author of the first book of Samuel calls Philistines (1 Samuel 30:16). Ezekiel uses the name parallel with that of “Philistines,” with reference to the destruction that God would bring upon them.

The word of the Lord—does not come to them, but “upon” them, overwhelming them. To them He does not speak in good, but in evil; not in grace, but in anger; not in mercy, but in vengeance.

Philistia was the first enemy of the Church. It showed its enmity to Abraham and Isaac and wished that they should not sojourn among them (Genesis 21:34; Genesis 26:14–15; Genesis 26:28). They were the hindrance that prevented Israel from going straight to the promised land (Exodus 13:17). When Israel passed the Red Sea, “sorrow” took hold of them (Exodus 15:14). They were close to salvation in body, but far in mind. They are called “Canaan,” as they were a chief nation of it (Genesis 15:21), and in that name lay the original source of their destruction.

They inherited the sins of Canaan and with them his curse, preferring the restless beating of the barren, bitter sea on which they lived, “the waves of this troublesome world,” to being a part of the true Canaan. They would absorb the Church into the world, and master it, subduing it to the pagan Canaan, not subdue themselves to it, and become part of the heavenly Canaan.