John Calvin Commentary Zephaniah 2

Here the Prophet turns his discourse to a small number, because he saw that he could produce no effect on the general multitude. For if his doctrine had been addressed in common to the whole people, very few would have listened. We would therefore have been discouraged if he had not believed that some seed remained among the people, and that the office of teaching and exhorting had not been committed to him by God in vain. But he shows at the same time that the greater part were wholly given up to destruction. We now see why the Prophet especially addresses the meek of the land; for few submitted to the yoke, though they had already been broken down by many calamities. And from this it appears that the fruit of correction was not found equal in all, for God had chastised the good and the bad, the whole people, from the least to the greatest; they had all been laid prostrate by many evils, yet the same ferocity remained, as God complains in Isaiah, that he labored in vain in punishing that rebellious nation (Isaiah 1:5).

But we are taught here that even though ministers of the word may think they labor to no purpose, singing to the deaf, as the proverb says, they still ought not to depart from the course of their calling; for there will always be some who will truly show, after a long time, that they had been divinely and wonderfully saved, so as not to perish with others.

But what the Prophet had especially in view was to show that the faithful should not focus on what the multitude may do, or how they live. Instead, when God invites them to repentance and gives them a hope of pardon, they should come to him without delay, so that they might not perish with the rest.

And it deserves to be noticed that when God raises his voice, some harden others, and thus people lead one another into ruin. In this way, all teaching becomes unsuccessful. Therefore, the Prophet applies a remedy by showing how absurd it is when some follow others, for in this way they increase the ranks of the rebellious. But if there are any who are meek, they should be teachable when God extends his hand and shows that he will be gracious, provided they return to the right way.

He calls them meek who had profited under the chastisements of God. For the Hebrews consider ענוים (onuim) to be the afflicted, deriving the word from ענה (one), to afflict, or to be humble. But as most people are not subdued except by chastisements, they metaphorically call ענוים (onuim) the meek—those who have been subdued. For people become unrestrained in their pleasures, and abundance commonly produces insolence; but by adversity, they learn to become meek. Therefore, our Prophet calls those the meek of the land who were submissive to God, after having been chastised by him. For we know that though God may strike the wicked, they still continue to have a stiff and iron neck and a shameless face. But the faithful are tamed, as Jeremiah confesses concerning himself, for he says that he was like an untamed heifer before he was chastised by God’s afflictions. So the Prophet directs his discourse to the few who had felt the afflicting hand of God and had thus been humbled.

He commands them to seek Jehovah, and yet he says that they had wrought his judgment. These two clauses seem inconsistent with each other. For if they had previously been alienated from God, the Prophet might justly have commanded them to return to the right way. But as they had devoted themselves to religion and formed their lives according to the rule of uprightness, the Prophet seems to have exhorted them without reason to seek God.

But the passage is worthy of special notice, for from this we learn that even the best people are roused by God’s chastisements to seek true religion with greater ardor than they had before. So, although it is our object to serve God and to follow his word, yet when calamities arise and God appears as a judge, we should be stimulated to greater care and diligence; for it is never the case that any one of us fully performs his duty.

Let us then remember that we are roused by God whenever adversity hangs over us, and when God himself shows by clear signs that he is displeased. This is the reason why the Prophet commands the pious doers of righteousness to seek God, however much they were previously devoted to what was just and upright.

There was also another reason: we know how severely faith is tried when the good and wicked are indiscriminately and without any difference chastised by God’s hand. For the godly are then tempted to think that it benefits them nothing that they have labored sincerely to serve God; they think that this has all been in vain and to no purpose, because they are brought into the same miseries as others.

Since this temptation is enough to shake even the strongest, the Prophet here exhorts the faithful to persevere, as if he had said that in the initial confusion no difference would be found between the good and the wicked regarding their circumstances, for God would afflict both alike, but the end would be different. Therefore, there was no reason for them to lose heart or to think it of no advantage to seek God, for he would eventually truly show that he approved of their integrity. It is as if he had said, God will not reward you at the first moment, but your patience will in the end discover that he is a just judge, who has regard for his people and delivers them in their direst need.

To do the judgment of God in this place means to form one’s life according to the righteousness of the law. The word משפט (meshepheth) has various meanings in Scripture. Sometimes, and indeed often, it designates the punishment God allots to the wicked; but it frequently means equity or the rule of right living. Therefore, to do judgment is to observe what is righteous and just, and to abstain from what is wrong and injurious. But the Prophet calls it the judgment of God because it is what he prescribes in his word and what he approves. For we know that people blend various things by which they would prove themselves to be just and righteous, but they deceive themselves unless they form their lives especially according to what God requires. We now perceive what the Prophet means. He afterwards defines what it is to seek God, for the latter part of the verse is added as an explanation, so that the faithful might understand how God is to be sought.

For hypocrites, as soon as God invites them, accumulate many rites and greatly weary themselves in things of no value. In short, they think that they have sufficiently sought God when they have performed a number of ceremonies. But by over-acting, they, as it were, trifle with God and thus deceive themselves.

Thus we see repentance profaned. Those under the Papacy prattle enough about repentance, but when they are asked to define it, they begin with contrition. Yet no displeasure at sin is mentioned by them, nor any real love of righteousness; instead, they talk about attrition and contrition, and then immediately they jump to confession, which they consider the principal part of repentance. Afterwards, they come to satisfactions. Thus, repentance among the Papists is nothing but some kind of mistaken solicitude by which they labor to pacify God, as though they came near him. Indeed, the satisfactions of the Papacy are nothing else but obstructions between God and humanity.

This evil has been common in all ages. The Prophet, therefore, does not without reason define what the true and rightful way of seeking God is: that is, when righteousness is sought, when humility is sought. By righteousness, he understands the same thing as by judgment. It is as if he had said, Advance in a righteous and holy course of life, for God will not forget your obedience, provided your hearts do not grow faint, and you persevere to the end.

From this we see that God complains not only when we impose external pomps and I know not what kind of devices, as though he might be amused by us like a child, but also when we do not sincerely devote our lives to his service. And he adds humility to righteousness, for it is difficult even for the very best of people not to murmur against God when he severely chastises them.

We indeed find how much their own sensitivity embitters people’s minds when God appears somewhat severe with them. Therefore, the Prophet, in order to check all complaints, exhorts the faithful here to cultivate humility, so that they might patiently bear the rigor by which God would test them, and might allow themselves to be ruled by his hand. Peter had the same thing in view when he said, Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God (1 Peter 5:6). We now see then why the Prophet requires from the faithful not only righteousness but also humility: it was so that they might with composed minds wait for the deliverance God had promised. In the meantime, they were not to murmur, nor to give vent to their own perverse feelings, however severely God might treat them.

From this we may gather a profitable instruction: The Prophet does not address here people who were depraved and had wholly neglected what was just and right, but he directs his discourse to the best, the most upright, the most holy. And yet he shows that they had no other remedy but to humbly and patiently bear the chastisement of God.

It then follows that no perfection can be found among human beings that can meet the judgment of God. For if any were to object and say that they devoted themselves to righteousness, there is still a just reason why they should humble themselves; for we are all guilty before God, and no one can clear himself, since when anyone examines his own conscience, he finds that he is not free from sin.

However conscious then we may be of acting uprightly, and God himself may be a judge to us, and the Holy Spirit the witness of our true and real integrity, yet when the Lord summons us before his tribunal, let us all, from the least to the greatest, learn to confess ourselves guilty and exposed to judgment.

He afterwards adds, If it may be (or, it may be) ye shall be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger. The Prophet speaks not doubtingly, as if the faithful were uncertain about God’s favor. Instead, he had another thing in view: that though no hope remained according to human perception, yet the faithful would not lose their labor if they sought God; for in their worst circumstances, they would find him gracious to them and their safety secured by his kindness.

Therefore, we see that the Prophet in these words points out the disastrous character of the event, but no deficiency in the love of God. Though the Lord is ready to pardon, indeed, he himself anticipates his people and kindly invites them to himself, it is still necessary for them to consider how wonderful his power is in preserving his elect when all things seem desperate.

It may then be, he says, when the Jews understood that all things were in a state of extreme despair. The Prophet said this partly so that the reprobate and the perverse might know that they were to perish, and partly so that the faithful might more greatly appreciate the favor of God when they saw themselves delivered from death by a miracle, and found that it would be a kind of resurrection when God became their deliverer. Therefore, the Prophet, in order to commend to God’s children his salvation, which he offers them, and to make God’s favor more illustrious, makes use of the particle אולי (auli), meaning "it may be." In the meantime, he thunders, as I have already said, against the reprobate, so that they might understand that it was all over for them. It follows—

The Prophet confirms what I have just said about God’s vengeance against foreign enemies. Though all the neighboring nations had been eager in their hostility to the Jews, yet we know that more hatred, and even more fury, had been exhibited by these two nations than by any other: that is, by the Moabites and the Ammonites, despite their connection with them by blood, for they were descended from Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew.

Though that connection, then, ought to have turned the Moabites and the Ammonites to mercy, yet we know they always plagued the Jews with greater fury than others, and, as it were, with savage cruelty. This is the reason why the Prophet now speaks especially of them. Some, indeed, interpret this sentence as spoken by the faithful; but the context requires it to be attributed to God. And no doubt He reminds them that He looked down from on high on the proud boasts of Moab, which He scattered in the air, as though He had declared that it was not hidden or unknown to Him how cruelly the Moabites and Ammonites raged against the Jews, and how proud and inhuman they had been.

And this was a very timely consolation. For the Jews might have been swallowed up with despair, had this promise not been made to them. They saw the Moabites and the Ammonites burning with fury, even though they themselves had not been injured or provoked. They also saw that these enemies profited and derived advantage from the calamities of a miserable people.

What could the faithful think? These wicked men not only harassed them with impunity, but their cruelty and treachery towards them was also profitable. Where was God now? If He regarded His own Church, would He not have intervened? Lest, then, a temptation of this kind should upset the faithful, the Prophet introduces God here as the speaker:

I have heard, He says, the reproach of Moab; I have heard the revilings of Ammon: “Nothing escapes Me; though I do not immediately show that these things are regarded by Me, yet I know and observe how shamefully the Moabites and the Ammonites have persecuted you. They will eventually find that I am the guardian of your safety, and that you are under My protection.”

We now understand the Prophet’s design. Nearly the same words are used by Isaiah in Isaiah 16:1, and also by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 48:1. They both pursue the subject much further, while our Prophet only touches on it briefly, for we see that what he says is expressed in very few words.

But by saying that the reproach of Moab and the revilings of the children of Ammon had come into remembrance before God, his purpose was this: that the Jews might be assured and fully convinced that they were not rejected and forsaken, though for a time they were treated with reproach by the wicked. The Prophet indeed takes the words “reproach” and “revilings” in an active sense.

He then adds, By which they have upbraided many people. God implies here that He does not depart from His elect when the wicked spit, as it were, in their faces.

There is indeed nothing which so much wounds the feelings of sincere minds as reproach; there is not so much bitterness in a hundred deaths as in one reproach, especially when the wicked wantonly triumph and do this with the applauding approval of the whole world. For then all difference between good and evil is confused, and a good conscience is, as it were, buried.

But the Prophet shows here that the people of God suffer no loss when they are thus unjustly harassed by the wicked and exposed to their reproach.

He at last adds that they had enlarged over their border. Some consider “mouth” to be understood here, meaning: “they have enlarged the mouth against their border.” And it is true that the word, by itself, is often taken in this sense. But in this place, the construction is fuller, for the words על-גבולם (ol-gebulam), meaning “over their border,” follow the verb.

The Prophet means that God’s wrath had been provoked by the insolence of both nations, for they wished to break up, as it were, the borders which God had established. The land of Canaan, we know, had been given to the Jews by hereditary right. As Moses says, When the Most High divided the nations, He set a line for Jacob.

Deuteronomy 32:8. It is indeed true that the possessions of the nations were allotted to them by the hidden counsel of God, but there was a special reason regarding His chosen people; for the Lord had made Abraham the true possessor of that land, even forever. Genesis 17:8.

Now the Moabites were confined, as it were, to a certain place; the Lord had assigned to them their own inheritance. When, therefore, they sought to go beyond and to invade the land of the Jews, God’s wrath must have been kindled against them, for they thus fought not against mortals, but against God Himself; for by removing the borders fixed by Him, they attempted to subvert His eternal decree.

We now, then, understand why the Prophet says that the children of Moab and of Ammon had enlarged over the border of those who had been placed in the land of Canaan by God’s hand. For they not only sought to expel their neighbors, but wished and tried to take away from God’s hand that inheritance which the Lord had given to Abraham, and given, as I have said, permanently.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as You have been pleased to consecrate us as a special people to Yourself, we may be mindful of such an invaluable favor, and devote ourselves wholly to You, and so labor to cultivate true sincerity as to bear the marks of Your people and of Your holy Church; and as we are so polluted by so many of the defilements of our own flesh and of this world, grant that Your Holy Spirit may cleanse us more and more every day, until You bring us at last to that perfection to which You invite us by the voice of Your gospel, that we may also enjoy that blessed glory which has been provided for us by the blood of Your only begotten Son. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

He proceeds with the same subject: that God would show his power in aiding his people. But he calls him a terrible God, who had for a time patiently endured the brazen rebellion of his enemies, and so became despised by them. For the ungodly, we know, never submit to God unless they are constrained by his hand. Then, they are not inclined to submit willingly to his authority; but when forced, they are silent.

This is what the Prophet means in these words; as if he had said that the wicked now mock God, as they disregard his power, but that they shall find how terrible an avenger of his people he is, so that they would have to dread him. And then he compares the superstitions of the nations with true religion; as if he had said that this would be to the Jews a reward for their piety, since they worshipped the only true God, and that all idols would be of no avail against the help of God.

And this was a necessary admonition. For the ungodly seemed to triumph for a time, not only over a conquered people but over God himself, and so gloried in their superstitious and vain inventions. The Prophet, therefore, strengthens their desponding minds, for God, he says, will finally consume all the gods of the nations.

The verb רזה, reze, strictly means to make lean or to famish, but is to be understood here metaphorically, as meaning to consume. God then will famish all the inventions of the nations. He alludes to that famine which idols had caused throughout the whole world. It is as if he had said that God’s glory would soon appear, which would exterminate whatever glory the false gods had gained among them, so that it would melt away like fat.

He finally adds that the remotest nations would become supplicants to God. For by saying, adore him shall each from his place, he doubtless means that however distant the countries might be, the distance would be no obstacle to God’s name being celebrated when his power became known in remote lands. And, for the same reason, he mentions the islands of the nations, that is, countries beyond the sea. For the Hebrews, as has been observed elsewhere, call those countries 'islands' which are far distant and separated by the sea. In short, the Prophet shows that the redemption of the people would be so wonderful that its fame would reach the farthest bounds of the earth, compelling foreign nations to give glory to the true God, and that it would dispel all the mists of superstition, so that idols would be exposed to scorn and contempt. It follows—

The Prophet extends further the threatened vengeance and says that God would also render to the Ethiopians the reward they deserved, for they had also harassed the chosen people. But if God punished that nation, how could Ammon and Moab hope to escape? For how could God spare such great cruelty, since He would visit with punishment the remotest nations?

The hatred of the Moabites and of the Ammonites, as we have said, was less excusable because they were related to the children of Abraham. On this account, they ought to have mitigated their fierceness; besides, vicinity ought to have rendered them more humane. But as they exceeded other nations in cruelty, a heavier punishment awaited them.

Now, this comparison was intended for this purpose—that the Jews might know that God would be inexorable towards the Moabites, by whom they had been so unjustly harassed, since even the Ethiopians would be punished, who yet were more excusable on account of their distance.

As for the words, some regard the demonstrative pronoun המה, eme, they, as referring to the Babylonians, and others, to the Moabites. I prefer to understand it as referring to the Moabites, if we read, 'like them,' or 'with them,' as these interpreters consider it: for they regard the particle את, at, with, or כ, caph, like, to be understood, You Ethiopians shall be slain by my sword like them, or with them. It would in this case doubtless apply to the Moabites.

But it seems to me that the sentence is irregular: even you Ethiopians, and then, they shall be slain by any sword. The Prophet begins the verse in the second person, summoning the Ethiopians to appear before God’s tribunal; he then adds in the third person, they shall be slain by my sword.

God calls whatever evils were impending over the Ethiopians His sword; for though they were destroyed by the Chaldeans, yet it was done under the guidance of God Himself. The Chaldeans made war under His authority, as the Assyrians did, who had been previously employed by Him to execute His vengeance. It follows—

The Prophet now addresses the Assyrians, whom we know to have been particular enemies of the Church of God. For the Moabites and the Ammonites were merely instigators, as we have seen elsewhere, since they could not do much harm by their own strength. Therefore, they stirred up the Assyrians; they stirred up the Ethiopians and remote nations.

The meaning, then, is that none of the enemies of the Church would be left unpunished by God, as each one would receive a reward for his cruelty. He speaks now of God in the third person, but in the previous verse God Himself said that the Ethiopians would be slain by His sword. The Prophet adds, He will extend his hand to the north; this means that God will not limit His judgments to the Ethiopians, but He will go further, even to Nineveh and all the Assyrians.

Nineveh, we know, was the capital of the empire before the Assyrians were conquered by the Babylonians. Thus Babylon recovered the sovereignty it had lost. And Nineveh, though not completely demolished, was nevertheless deprived of its ruling power and gradually lost its name and wealth, until it was reduced to a wasteland; for the building of Ctesiphon, as we have seen elsewhere, proved its ruin.

But the Prophet, no doubt, intends here to offer comfort to the Jews, so that they would not despair while the Lord did not yet intervene. The phrase "extension of the hand" signifies, as it were, that the Lord knows His own time and that He would exert His power when necessary. Assyria was north of Judea; therefore, he says, to the north will the Lord extend His hand and will destroy Assyria; He will make Nineveh a desolation, so that it becomes like the desert.