Albert Barnes Commentary Zephaniah 2:7

"And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed [their flocks] thereupon; in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening; for Jehovah their God will visit them, and bring back their captivity." — Zephaniah 2:7 (ASV)

And the coast shall be - Or probably, “It shall be a portion for the remnant of the house of Judah.” He uses the word employed in the first assignment of the land to Israel, and also in reference to the whole people as belonging to God: “Jacob is the ‘lot’ of His inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:9).

“The tract of the sea,” which, with the rest, was assigned to Israel—which, for its unfaithfulness, was seldom, even in part, possessed, and at this time was wholly forfeited—should be a portion for the mere “remnant” which should be brought back.

David used the word in his psalm of thanksgiving when he had brought the ark to the city of David, how God had confirmed the covenant to Israel, saying, “Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance” (1 Chronicles 16:18; Psalms 105:11); and Asaph, “He cast out the heathen before them and divided to them an inheritance by line” (Psalms 78:55).

It is the reversal of the doom threatened by Micah: “Thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the Lord” (Micah 2:5). The word is revived by Ezekiel in his ideal division of the land to the restored people (Ezekiel 47:13).

For “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” (Romans 11:29). The promise, which had slumbered during Israel’s faithlessness, should be renewed to its old extent.

“There is no prescription against the Church.” The boat threatens to sink; it is tossed, half-submerged, by the waves; but its Lord “rebukes the wind and the sea; wind and sea obey Him, and there is a great calm” (Matthew 8:26–27).

For the remnant of the house of Judah - Yet, who except Him in whose hand are human wills could now foresee that Judah should, like the ten tribes, rebel, be carried captive, and yet, though like and worse than Israel in its sin (Jeremiah 3:8–11; Ezekiel 16:48–52; Ezekiel 23:11), should, unlike Israel, be restored?

The rebuilding of Jerusalem was, their enemies pleaded, contrary to sound policy (Ezra 4:12–16); the plea was for the time accepted, for the rebellions of Jerusalem were recorded in the chronicles of Babylon (Ezra 4:19–22). Yet the falling short of the complete restoration depended on their own wills. God turned again their captivity, but only those “whose spirit God stirred” willed to return.

The temporal restoration was the picture of the spiritual. Those who returned had to give up lands and possessions in Babylonia, and a remnant only chose the land of promise at such cost. Babylonia was as attractive as Egypt formerly.

In the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening - One city is named for all. “They shall lie down,” he says, continuing the image from their flocks, as Isaiah, in a similar passage: “The first-born of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety” (Isaiah 14:30).

The true Judah shall overspread the world; but it too shall only be a remnant. These shall, in safety, “go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9).

“In the evening” of the world they shall find their rest, for then also, in the time of antichrist, the Church shall be but a remnant still.

“For the Lord their God shall visit them,” for He is the Good Shepherd, who came to seek the one sheep which was lost and who says of Himself, “I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick” (Ezekiel 34:16).

And in the end, He will more completely “turn away their captivity,” bring His banished to their everlasting home—the Paradise from which they have been exiled—and separate forever the sheep from the goats who now oppress and scatter them abroad (Ezekiel 34:17–19).