John Gill Commentary Zephaniah 1

The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi. This is the title of the book, which expresses the subject matter of it, the word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum; and shows the divine authority of it; that it was not of himself, nor from any man, but was of God; as well as describes the penman of it by his descent: who or what this his father was; whether a prophet, according to the rule the Jews give, that, when the name of a prophet and his father's name are mentioned, he is a prophet, the son of a prophet; or, whether a prince, a person of some great family, and even of the blood royal, as some have thought, is not certain; or who those after mentioned: the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah; which last name, consisting of the same letters with Hezekiah, king of Judah, some have thought, as Aben Ezra, that he is intended; and that Zephaniah was a great-grandson of his; and which some think is confirmed by his style and diction, and by the freedom he used with the king's family, (Zephaniah 1:8) but it is objected, that, if so it was, Hizkiah, or Hezekiah, would have been called king of Judah; that it does not appear that Hezekiah had any other son besides Manasseh; and that there was not a sufficient distance of time from Hezekiah for four descents; and that, in fact, there were but three generations from him to Josiah, in whose days Zephaniah prophesied, as follows; though it is very probable that these progenitors of the prophet were men of note and character, and therefore mentioned, as well as to distinguish him from others of the same name.

who lived in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah: not Amos, as the Arabic version: Amon and Manasseh, who reigned between Hezekiah and Josiah, were both wicked princes, and introduced idolatrous worship among the Jews; which Josiah in the twelfth year of his reign began to purge the people from, and endeavoured a reformation; but whether it was before or after that Zephaniah delivered out this prophecy is not certain; it may seem to be before, by the corruption of the times described in it; and so it may be thought to have some influence upon the after reformation.

though it is thought by many it was after; since, had he been in this office before the finding of the book of the law, he, and not Huldah the prophetess, would have been consulted, (2 Kings 22:14) nor could the people so well have been taxed with a perversion of the law, had it not been as yet found, (Zephaniah 3:4) and, besides, the reformation seems to be hinted at in this prophecy, since mention is made of the remnant of Baal, which supposes a removal of many of his images; and also notice is taken of some that apostatized after the renewal of the covenant, (Zephaniah 1:4Zephaniah 1:6) moreover, the time of the Jews' destruction and captivity is represented as very near, (Zephaniah 1:7Zephaniah 1:14) to which Dr. Lightfoot ^F6 adds, that the prophet prophesies against the king's children, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah, for their new fashions, and newfangled apparel, (Zephaniah 1:8) and therefore it must be in the latter part of his reign; and, if so, it shows how a people may relapse into sin after the greatest endeavours for their good, and the best of examples set them.

Mr. Whiston ^F7 and Mr. Bedford ^F8 place him in the latter part of his reign, about 611 or 612 B.C.: there were three that prophesied about this time, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, and Huldah the prophetess; of whom the Jewish Rabbins say, as Kimchi quotes them, Jeremiah prophesied in the streets, Zephaniah in the synagogues, and Huldah among the women.

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: Works, vol. 1. p. 117.
• F7: Chronological Tables, cent. 9.
• F8: Scripture Chronology, p. 674.

I will utterly consume all [things] from off the land,
saith the Lord .
] That is, from the land of Judah, by means of the Chaldeans or Babylonians: this is a general denunciation of the judgments of God, the particulars follow: or, "in gathering I will gather"; all good things out of the land; all the necessaries of life, and blessings of Providence; all that is for the sustenance and pleasure of man, as well as all creatures, by death or captivity; and so the land should be entirely stripped, and left naked and bare. The phrase denotes the certainty of the thing, as well as the utter, entire, and total consumption that should be made, and the vehemence and earnestness in which it is expressed.

I will consume man and beast
Wicked men for their sins, and beasts for the sins of men; and, as a punishment for them, the creatures whom they have abused to the gratifying of their lusts: I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea ;

so that there shall be none for the use of man, which are both delicate food; the latter were not consumed at the general deluge. Kimchi thinks this is said by way of hyperbole; but it is possible for these to be consumed, as men by famine, pestilence, and captivity, and beasts by murrain; so the fowls of the air by the noisomeness of it; and the fishes of the sea, that is, such as were in the sea of Tiberias, and other lakes in Judea, by the stagnation of the waters, or by some disease sent among them; unless wicked men, comparable to them, are intended; though they are expressly mentioned, both before and after:

and the stumblingblocks with the wicked :
that is, idols, which are stumblingblocks to men, and cause them to offend and fall; these, together with those that made them, and the priests that sacrificed unto them, and the people that worshipped them, should be consumed from off the land: or, "the stumblingblocks of the wicked"; for (ta) is sometimes used as a sign of the genitive case, as Noldius ^F9 observes; and so the Vulgate Latin version and the Targum render it:

and I will cut off men from off the land, saith the Lord :
this is repeated for the certainty of it; or else this designs another sort of men from the former; and that, as before wicked men are designed, here such as are not perfectly wicked, as Kimchi observes; yea, the righteous should be carried captive, so that the land should be left desolate, without men, good or bad; for even good men may fall in a general calamity, and be cut off from the land, though not from the Lord.

The Septuagint indeed here render it wicked men. The phrase, "saith the Lord", is twice expressed, for the certain confirmation of it; for it may be concluded it will be, since God has said it again and again that it shall be.

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 122.

I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah
Under whom the tribe of Benjamin is comprehended, which are only designed; the ten tribes had been carried captive in Hezekiah's time many years before this: not "to Judah", as beckoning to come and hearken to him, as calling to repentance and reformation; this he had done, but was rejected, and therefore determines to stretch out his hand "upon" them; nor "over Judah", to protect and defend them; but "upon Judah", exerting his power, stirring up his wrath, and executing his vengeance; and this is dreadful and intolerable to bear! and when his hand is stretched out, it cannot be turned back; and when laid on, can never be removed, till he pleases: and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem ;
the metropolis of Judea, the royal seat of the kings of the house of David; where were the temple of the Lord; the ark, the symbol of his presence; the altar, where his priests sacrificed, and the place where his people worshipped; and yet these inhabitants should not escape the hand of the Lord, having sinned against him; nor should these things be any security to them:

and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place ;
either what of the idolatry of Baal, or belonging to it, remained among the Jews after the ten tribes were carried captive; which must be the sense, if this prophecy was before the reformation was begun by Josiah; or, if after, the meaning is, what was left unremoved by him, as any of the images of Baal, or altars erected for his worship, or vessels consecrated to his service, or groves that were for his use; all which would be cut off and destroyed by the Chaldeans, as well as the worshippers of him that remained: [and] the name of the Chemarims with the priests ;
that is, the priests of Baal, with the priests of the tribe of Levi, who sometimes tampered and officiated with them in idolatrous service; for the word "Chemarim" is translated "idolatrous priests", (2 Kings 23:5) said to be put down by Josiah, in whose days Zephaniah prophesied; and must be the same with these, and it is used for such in (Hosea 10:5) so called, either from the black garments they wore, as some think; or from the colour of their faces, smutted with the smoke of the incense they frequently offered; or of the fires in which they sacrificed, or made the children to pass through to Molech. Hillerus ^F11 thinks they are the same with those heathen priests called "Phallophori"; deriving the word from one in the Arabic language, which has the signification of the "Phalli"; which were obscene images, carried about in an impudent manner by the priests of Bacchus, in the performance of his sacred rites: The carrying of them was first instituted by Isis, as Plutarch

``and the name of their worshippers with their priests;'' one and the other; priests of Baal, and apostate priests of the Lord; the worshippers of Baal, and those that attend upon his priests, shall all feel the weight of Jehovah's hand, and the lighting down of his arm with indignation.

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: Onomastic. Sacr. p. 113.
• F12: says; and if this was the case here, it is no wonder they should be so severely threatened. Some take them to be a sort of servants or ministers to the priests of Baal, who waited on them at the time of service; and so are distinguished from them in this clause, taking the word "priests" in it to design the priests of Baal; and the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "the name of sextons with the priests". The word is used now by the Jews for Popish monks that live in cloisters; and Elias Levita ^F13 thinks these here are so called from their living in such like recluse places. The Targum is,
• F13: Tishbi, p. 163. Vid. Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud. in voce (rmk) .

And upon them that worship the host of heaven upon the
house tops
The sun, moon, and stars, which some worshipped upon their house tops; the roofs of their houses being flat,as the roofs of the houses of the Jews generally were; from here they had a full view of the host of heaven,and worshipped them openly; and fancied, the nearer they were to them, the more acceptable was their service;see (Jeremiah 19:13) : and them that worship, [and] that swear the Lord, and that swearby
Malcham ;
that is, that worship the true God, or at least pretend to do so, and swear by him when they take an oath:or, "that swear to the Lord"; as the words ^F14 may be rendered; that swear allegiance to him, tobe true and faithful to him, to serve and obey him, and to keep his statutes and ordinances; and yet theyswear by Malcham also, or Milchom, or Melchom, the same with Molech, or Moloch, the god of the Ammonites.These were such as partly worshipped God, and partly idols; they divided their religion and devotion betweenthem, sometimes served the one, and sometimes the other; they halted between two opinions, and were a sort ofoccasional conformists;

and such were as detestable to God as those that worshipped idols; as the Papistsare, who pretend to worship God and their images, or God in them, and with them; and so all such persons thatseek for justification and salvation, partly by their own works, and partly by Christ, are displeasing to theLord, and miss of the thing; stumbling at the stumbling stone, and so fall and perish.

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: (hwhyl Myebvnh) "qui jurant Domino", Drusius; "qui jurant Jehovae", Cocceius; "jurantes Domino Jehovae", Burkius.