John Calvin Commentary Zephaniah 3:11

"In that day shalt thou not be put to shame for all thy doings, wherein thou hast transgressed against me; for then I will take away out of the midst of thee thy proudly exulting ones, and thou shalt no more be haughty in my holy mountain." — Zephaniah 3:11 (ASV)

Here the Prophet teaches us that the Church would be different when God removed the dross and gathered to himself a pure and chosen people. The Prophet stated this so that the faithful might not think it hard that God so diminished his Church that scarcely a tenth part remained. For it was a sad and bitter thing that only a very few remained out of a vast multitude. It was inevitable, then, that the ruin of their brethren greatly affected the Jews, though they knew them to be reprobate. We indeed see how Paul felt a sympathy when he saw that his own nation was alienated from God (Romans 9:6–8).

So it was necessary that some consolation should be given to the faithful, so that they might patiently bear the diminution of the Church, which had been previously predicted. Therefore, the Prophet, to moderate their grief, says that this would be for their good, for in this manner the reproaches by which the Jewish name had been polluted and rendered abominable were to be removed.

You shall not be ashamed, he says, for the sins by which I have been offended. Why? For you shall be cleansed, for it is God’s purpose to reserve a few by whom he will be purely worshipped. Some think that he does not speak here of the remission of sins, but on the contrary, of a pure and holy life, which follows regeneration. It is as though he had said, "There will be no reason anymore for you to be ashamed of your life; for when I shall chasten you, you will then fear me, and your correction will lead to a newness of life. Since then your life will not be the same as before, and since my glory shall shine forth among you, there will be no cause why you should be ashamed.”

But this is a strained view and cannot be reconciled with the Prophet's words, for he says, You shall no more be ashamed of the sins by which you have transgressed against me. From this we see that this cannot be applied otherwise than to the remission of sins. But the last clause has led interpreters astray, for the Prophet adds, For I will take away from the midst of you those who exult. However, the Prophet’s design, as I have stated, was different from what they have supposed.

He shows that there was no reason for the Jews to lament and deplore the diminution of the Church, because the best compensation was offered to them: that by this small number God would be purely served. For when the body of the people was complete, it was, we know, a mass of iniquity. How then could Israel glory in its vast number, since they were all like the giants carrying on war against God? When God now collects only a few, these few would at length acknowledge that they had been preserved in a wonderful manner, so that religion and the true worship of God should not be extinguished in the earth.

We now perceive the Prophet’s design, but I will endeavor to make this clearer by a comparison. Suppose that in a city licentiousness of life so prevails that the people may seem to be irreclaimable. When it happens that the city itself falls away from its power and original state, or is reformed in some other way (though not without loss), and is thus led to improve its morals, this would be a compensation to the good. It would give courage to the godly and ease their grief, so that they would patiently submit, even though the city did not have the same abundance, wealth, or enjoyments.

How so? Because those who remained would form a body of people free from reproach and disgrace. When disease is removed from the human body, the body itself is necessarily weakened, and it is sometimes necessary to amputate a limb so that the whole body may be preserved. In this case, there is a grievous diminution, but as there is no other way of preserving the body, the remedy ought to be patiently endured.

The Prophet now speaks of the city Jerusalem in a similar manner: You shall not be ashamed of the sins by which you have transgressed against me. How so? Because they were to be separated from the profane and gross despisers of God; for as long as the good and the evil were mixed together, it was a reproach common to all.

Jerusalem was then a den of robbers; it was, as it were, a hell on earth, and all were alike exposed to the same infamy, for the pure part could not be distinguished, as a mass of evil prevailed everywhere. The Prophet now says that you shall not be ashamed of your former infamy.

Why? "Because God will separate the chaff from the wheat and will gather the wheat; you shall be, as it were, in the storehouse of God; the chosen seed shall alone remain; there will be such purity that the glory of the Lord shall shine forth among you. You shall not therefore be ashamed of the disgraceful deeds by which you are now contaminated."

We now apprehend the meaning of the words. But it may seem strange that the Prophet should say that sins should be covered by oblivion, which the Jews ought indeed to have thought of often and almost at all times, according to what Ezekiel says: You will then remember your ways, and be ashamed (Ezekiel 16:61).

That is, when God shall be pacified. Ezekiel says that the fruit of repentance would be that the faithful, covered with shame, would condemn themselves. Why so? Because the reprobate proceed in their wicked courses, as it were, with closed eyes, and as has been previously said, they know no shame. Though God charges them with their sins, they yet despise and reject every warning with a shameless front; indeed, they kick against the goads.

Since it is so, Ezekiel justly says that shame would be the fruit of true repentance, according to what Paul also says in the sixth chapter to the Romans: Of which you are now ashamed (Romans 6:21). He intimates that when they were sunk in their unbelief, they were so given to shameful deeds that they did not perceive their abomination.

They began therefore to be ashamed when they became illuminated. The Prophet seems now to cut off this fruit from repentance, but what he says should be understood differently: that is, that the Church would then be free from reproach. For the reprobate would be separated, all the filth would be taken away, when God gathered only the remnant for himself; for in this manner, as has been said, the wheat would be separated from the chaff.

You shall not then be ashamed in that day of evil deeds; for I will take away from the midst of you those who exult. He shows how necessary the diminution would be, for all must have perished if God had not cut off the putrid members. However severe and full of pain the remedy would be, it should still be considered tolerable, for the Church, that is, the body, could not otherwise be preserved.

But it may be again objected that the Church is cleansed from all spots, since the reprobate are taken away. For he says, You shall not be ashamed of the evil deeds by which you have sinned, literally, against me, that is, by which you have transgressed against me. God here addresses, it may be said, the faithful themselves. He then does not speak of the evil deeds of those whom the Lord had rejected.

But the answer is easy: When he says that the Church had sinned, he refers to that mixture by which no distinction is made between the wheat and the chaff. We may say that a city is impious and wicked when the majority so much exceeds the good in number that the good do not appear. When therefore among ten thousand men there are only thirty or even a smaller number who are anxious for a better state of things, the whole group will generally be counted wicked on account of the larger portion, for the others are hidden and, as it were, covered over and buried. Zephaniah then justly and correctly declares that the Jews had transgressed against God, for in that mixed multitude the elect could not have been distinguished from the reprobate. But he now promises that there would be a distinction when God took away the proud, who exulted in vain boasting. For he says, I will take away from the midst of you those who exult in your pride.

Some render the word in the abstract as "the exultations of your pride," but the term עליזים, found here, is never in construction rendered "exultations." It is therefore undoubtedly to be understood as referring to men. He then names the pride of the people, and yet he addresses the elect, who were afterwards to be gathered. What does this mean? It means what we have already stated: that before the Church was cleansed from her pollution and filth, there was a common exultation and insolence against God, for these words were everywhere heard:

We are God’s holy people,
we are a chosen race,
we are a royal priesthood,
we are a holy inheritance (Exodus 19:6).

Since, then, these boastings were in the mouth of them all, the Prophet says that it was the pride of the whole people. I will then take away, he says, from the midst of you those who exult in your pride.

He afterwards adds, You shall no more add to take pride in my holy mountain. Here the Prophet points out the main source of the evil, because the Jews had hardened themselves in perverse self-confidence, as they thought that all things were lawful for them, since they were God’s chosen people.

Jeremiah also in a similar manner represents their boasting as false, when they pretended to be the temple of God (Jeremiah 7:4). So our Prophet condemns this pride because they concealed their sins under the shadow of the temple and thought it a sufficient defense that God dwelt on Mount Zion. To show, then, that the people were incurable without being cleansed from this pride, the Prophet says, I will take away those who exult—How did they exult?—in your pride. And what was this pride? That they inhabited the holy mount of God, besides which there was no other sanctuary of God on earth.

As they then imagined that God was thus bound to them, they insolently despised all admonitions, as though they were exempt from every law and restraint. You shall not then add to take pride in my holy mountain.

We now see then how careful we should be, lest the favors of God, which ought by their brightness to guide us to heaven, should darken our minds. But as we are extremely prone to arrogance and pride, we should carefully seek to conduct ourselves in a meek and humble manner when favored with God’s singular benefits.

For when we begin falsely to glory in God’s name and to put on an empty mask to cover our sins, it is all over with us, since to our wickedness, our contempt of God, and other evil lusts and passions, perverseness is added; for we persevere in our course, as it were, with an iron and inflexible neck. Thus, indeed, it happens to all hypocrites who elate themselves through false pretenses as to their connection with God.