Charles Ellicott Commentary Zephaniah 1
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Zephaniah 1
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Zephaniah 1
"The word of Jehovah which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah." — Zephaniah 1:1 (ASV)
Hizkiah. —Or, Hezekiah; possibly the king of that name (see Introduction I.).
"The word of Jehovah which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah. And I will stretch out my 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 Chemarim with the priests; and them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them that worship, that swear to Jehovah and swear by Malcam; and them that are turned back from following Jehovah; and those that have not sought Jehovah, nor inquired after him." — Zephaniah 1:1-6 (ASV)
Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem is impending on account of a religious apostasy of various forms and degrees. The wide range of this judgment.
"I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah." — Zephaniah 1:2-3 (ASV)
In this extensive denunciation there is clearly a reminiscence of Genesis 7:23. The “fishes of the sea,” however, are substituted for the “creeping things.” The prophecy in Manasseh’s reign (2 Kings 21:13) should be compared.
"I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah." — Zephaniah 1:3 (ASV)
The stumblingblocks with the wicked. — that is, the enticements to sin together with the sinners. The word macshêlâh is used in Isaiah 3:6 in the sense of “a ruin.” Here, however, such a meaning would not be appropriate. It is exactly the πάντα τὰ σκάνδαλα of Matthew 13:41, a passage in which we may perhaps see a reminiscence of the text before us.
"And I will stretch out my 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 Chemarim with the priests;" — Zephaniah 1:4 (ASV)
The remnant of Baal. — That is, Baal worship shall be completely and utterly abolished. Not even a remnant of it shall be left. The term “remnant” does not necessarily imply, as Kleinert argues, that a large part of Baal worship had already been overthrown by Josiah’s reformation.
The Chemarims. — In 2 Kings 23:5, this is the designation of the “idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places.” The term is used again in Hosea 10:5. Even the very name of these intruders is to be abolished.
The priests. — These are probably a certain section of the Jewish priesthood who had winked at this establishment of false worship.
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