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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Z E P H A N I A H.
CHAP. II.
In this chapter we have,
I. An earnest exhortation to the nation of the Jews to repent and make
their peace with God, and so to prevent the judgments threatened before
it was too late
(ver. 1-3),
and this inferred from the revelation of God’s wrath against them in
the foregoing chapter. II. A denunciation of the judgments of God
against several of the neighbouring nations that had assisted, or
rejoiced in, the calamity of Israel.
1. The Philistines,
2. The Moabites and Ammonites,
3. The Ethiopians and Assyrians,
All these shall drink of the same cup of trembling that is put into the
hands of God’s people, as was also foretold by other prophets before
and after.
| The People Exhorted to Repent. | B. C. 612. |
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1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation
not desired;
2 Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the
chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before
the day of the LORD‘s anger come upon you.
3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have
wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may
be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD‘s anger.
Here we see what the prophet meant in that terrible description of the
approaching judgments which we had in the foregoing chapter. From first
to last his design was, not to drive the people to despair, but to
drive them to God and to their duty–not to frighten them out of their
wits, but to frighten them out of their sins. In pursuance of that he
here calls them to repentance, national repentance, as the only way to
prevent national ruin. Observe,
I. The summons given them to a national assembly
(v. 1):
Gather yourselves together. He had told them, in the last words
of the foregoing chapter, that God would make a speedy riddance of
all that dwelt in the land, upon which, one would think, it should
follow, “Disperse yourselves, and flee for shelter where you can find a
place.” When the decree had absolutely gone forth for the last
destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, that was the advice given
Then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains; but
here it is otherwise. God warns, that he may not wound, threatens, that
he may not strike, and therefore calls to the people to use means for
the turning away of his wrath. The summons is given to a nation not
desired. The word signifies either,
1. Not desiring, that has not any desires towards God or the
remembrance of his name, is not desirous of his favour or grace, but
very indifferent to it, has no mind to repent and reform. “Yet come
together, and see if you can stir up desires in one another.” Thus
God is often found of those that sought him not, nor asked
for him,
Isa. lxv. 1.
Or,
2. Not desirable, no ways lovely, nor having any thing in them
amiable, or which might recommend them to God. The land of Israel had
been a pleasant land, a land of delight
(Dan. xi. 41);
but now it is unlovely, it is a nation not desired, to which God
might justly say, Depart from me; but he says, “Gather
together to me, and let us see if any expedient can be found out
for the preventing of the ruin. Gather together, that you may in
a body humble yourselves before God, may fast, and pray, and seek his
face. Gather together, to consult among yourselves what is to
be done in this critical juncture, that every one may consider of it,
may give and take advice, and speak his mind, and that what is done may
be done by consent and so may be a national act.” Some read it,
“Enquire into yourselves, yea, enquire into yourselves;
examine your consciences; look into your hearts; search and try your
ways; enquire into yourselves, that you may find out the sin by
which God has been provoked to this displeasure against you, and may
find out the way of returning to him.” Note, When God is contending
with us it concerns us to enquire into ourselves.
II. Arguments urged to press them to the utmost seriousness and
expedition herein
(v. 2):
“Do it in earnest; do it with all speed before it is too late,
before the decree bring forth, before the day pass.” The manner
of speaking here is very lively and awakening, designed to make them
apprehensive, as all sinners are concerned to be,
1. That their danger is very great, that their all lies at stake, that
it is a matter of life and death, which therefore well requires and
well deserves the closest application of mind that can be. It is not a
trifle, and therefore is not a thing to be trifled about. It is the
fierce anger of the Lord that is kindled against them, and is
just ready to kindle upon them, that devouring fire which none
can dwell with, which none can make head against or hold up
their head under. “It is the day of the Lord’s anger, the day
set for the pouring out of the full vials of it, that you are
threatened with, that great day of the Lord” spoken of,
“Are you not concerned to prepare for that day?”
2. That it is very imminent: “Bestir yourselves now quickly, before
the decree bring forth, and then it will be too late, the
opportunity will be lost and never retrieved. The decree is as it were
big with child, and it will bring forth the day, the terrible
day, which shall pass as chaff, which shall hurry you away into
captivity as chaff before the wind.” We know not what a day may
bring forth
but we do know what the decree will bring forth against impenitent
sinners, whom therefore it highly concerns to repent in time, in the
accepted time. Note, It is the wisdom of those whom God has a
controversy with to agree with him quickly, while they are in the way,
before his fierce anger comes upon them, not to be turned away. In a
case of this nature delays are highly dangerous and may be fatal; they
will be so if by them the heart is hardened. How solicitous should we
all be to make our peace with God before the Spirit withdraw from us,
or cease to strive with us, before the day of grace be over or the day
of life, before our everlasting state shall be determined on the other
side of the great gulf fixed!
III. Directions prescribed for the doing of this effectually. It is not
enough to gather together in a consternation, but they must seriously
and calmly apply to the duty of the day
(v. 3):
Seek you the Lord. That they might find mercy with God, they are
here put upon seeking; for so is the rule–Seek, and you shall
find. A general call was given to the whole nation to gather
together, but little good is to be expected from the far greater
part of them; if the land be saved, it must be by the interest and
intercession of the pious few, and therefore to them the exhortation
here is particularly directed. And observe,
1. How they are described–they are the meek of the earth, or of
the land. It is the distinguishing character of the people of
God that they are the meek ones of the earth; this is their
badge; it is their livery. They are modest, and humble, and low in
their own eyes; they are mild, and gentle, and yielding to others, not
soon angry, not very angry, not long angry; they are the quiet in
the land,
Ps. xxxv. 20.
And they are subject and submissive to their God, to all his precepts
and all his providences. Actuated by this principle and disposition,
they have wrought his judgments, that is, have obeyed his laws,
observed his institutions, have made conscience of their duty to him,
and have laid out themselves for the advancement of his honour and
interest in the world.
2. What they are required to do; they must seek, which denotes
both a careful enquiry and a constant endeavour, that they may know and
do their duty.
(1.) They must seek the Lord, seek his favour and grace, address
him upon all occasions, ask of him what they need, seek him early, seek
him diligently, and continue seeking him.
(2.) They must seek righteousness. “Seek to God for the
performance of his promises to you, and see to it that you abound yet
more in duty to him; seek for the righteousness of Christ to be imputed
to you, for the graces of God’s Spirit to be implanted in you; hunger
and thirst after them.”
(3.) They must seek meekness. This is a grace they were so
eminent for that they were denominated the meek of the land, and
yet this they must seek. Note, Those that are ever so good must
still strive to be better, those that have ever so much grace must be
still praying and labouring for more. Nay, those that excel in any
particular grace must still seek to excel yet more in that, because in
that most assaults will be made upon them by their enemies, in that
most is expected from them by their friends, and in that they are most
apt to be themselves secure. Si dixisti, Sufficit, periisti–Say
but, I am all that I ought to be, and you are undone. In the
difficult trying times approaching, the meek will find exercise for all
the meekness they have, and all little enough, and therefore should
seek it earnestly, and pray that when God in his providence gives them
occasion for it he would by his grace enable them to exercise it, to
show all meekness to all men, in all instances, that, as the day
is, so may the strength be.
IV. Encouragements given to take these directions: It may be, you
shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.
1. “You particularly that are the meek of the earth. Though the
day of the Lord’s anger do come upon the land, yet you shall be safe,
you shall be taken under special protection. Verily it shall be well
with thy remnant,
Jer. xv. 11.
Thy life will I give unto thee for a prey,
Jer. xlv. 5.
I will deliver thee in that day,
Jer. xxxix. 17.
It may be, you shall be hid; if any be hid, you shall.” Good men
cannot be sure of temporal preservation, for all things come alike
to all, but they are most likely to be hid, and stand fairest for a
distinguishing care of Providence. It is expressed thus doubtfully to
try if they will trust the goodness of God’s nature, though they have
but the it may be of a promise, and to keep up in them a holy
fear and watchfulness lest they should seem to come short, and should
do any thing to throw themselves out of the divine protection. Note,
those that hold fast their integrity, in times of common iniquity, have
reason to hope that God will find out a hiding-place for them, where
they shall be safe and easy, in times of common calamity. They shall be
hid (as Luther says) aut in cœlo, aut sub cœlo–either
in heaven or under heaven, either in the possession of heaven or
under the protection of heaven. Or,
2. “You of this nation, though it be a nation not desired, yet,
in the day of the Lord’s anger with the neighbouring nations, when his
judgments are abroad, you shall be hid; your land shall be
preserved for the sake of those few meek ones that stand in the gap to
turn away the wrath of God.” It concerns us all to make it sure
to ourselves that we shall be hid in the great day of God’s wrath; and,
if we hide ourselves in the chambers of duty, God will hide us in
chambers of safety,
If we prepare an ark, that shall be our hiding-place,
| The Punishment of the Philistines. | B. C. 612. |
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4 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they
shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted
up.
5 Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the
Cherethites! the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the
land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there
shall be no inhabitant.
6 And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for
shepherds, and folds for flocks.
7 And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah;
they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they
lie down in the evening: for the LORD their God shall visit them,
and turn away their captivity.
The prophet here comes to foretel what share the neighbouring nations
should have in the destruction made upon those parts of the world by
Nebuchadnezzar and his victorious Chaldees, as others of the prophets
did at that time, which is designed,
1. To awaken the people of the Jews, by making them sensible how
strong, how deep, how large, the inundation of calamities should be,
that the day of the Lord, which was near, might appear the more
dreadful, and they might thereby be quickened to prepare for it as for
a general deluge.
2. To comfort them with this thought, that their case, though sad,
should not be singular (Solamen miseris socios habuisse
doloris—The wretched find it consolatory to have companions of
their woe), and much more with this, that though God had seemed to
be their enemy, and to fight against them, yet he was still so far
their friend, and an enemy to their enemies, that he resented, and
would revenge, the indignities done them.
In these verses we have the doom of the Philistines, who were near
neighbours, and old enemies, to the people of Israel. Five lordships
there were in that country; only four are here named–Gaza and
Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron; Gath, the fifth, is not
named, some think because it was now subject to Judah. They were the
inhabitants of the sea-coasts
(v. 5),
for their country lay upon the Great Sea. The nation of the
Cherethites is here joined with them, which bordered upon them
and fell with them, as is foretold also,
The Philistines’ land is here called Canaan, for it belonged to that
country which God gave to his people Israel, and was inserted in the
grant made to them,
This land is yet to be possessed (five lords of the
Philistines), so that they wrongfully kept Israel out of the
possession of it
(Judg. iii. 3),
which is now remembered against them. For, though the rights of others
may be long detained unjustly, the righteous God will at length avenge
the wrong.
I. It is here foretold that the Philistines, the usurpers, shall be
dispossessed and quite extirpated. In general, here is a woe to them
(v. 5),
which, coming from God, denotes all misery: The word of the Lord is
against them–the word of the former prophets, which, though not
yet accomplished, will be in its season,
This word, now by this prophet, is against them. Note, Those are really
in a woeful condition that have the word of the Lord against them, for
no word of his shall fall to the ground. Those that rebel against the
precepts of God’s word shall have the threatenings of the word
against them. The effect will be no less than their destruction,
1. God himself will be the author of it: “I will even destroy
thee, who can make good what I say and will.”
2. It shall be a universal destruction; it shall extend itself to all
parts of the land, both city and country: Gaza shall be
forsaken, though now a populous city. It was foretold
that baldness should come upon Gaza; Alexander the Great razed
that city, and we find
that Gaza was a desert. Ashkelon shall be a desolation, a
pattern of desolation. Ashdod shall be driven out at noon-day;
in the extremity of the scorching heat they shall have no shade, no
shelter to protect them; but then, when most incommoded by the weather,
they shall be forced away into captivity, which will be an aggravating
circumstance of it. Ekron likewise shall be rooted up,
that had been long taking root. The land of the Philistines shall be
dispeopled; there shall be no inhabitant,
v. 5.
God made the earth to be inhabited
(Isa. xlv. 18),
otherwise he would have made it in vain; but, if men do not answer the
end of their creation in serving God, it is just with God that the
earth should not answer the end of its creation in serving them for a
habitation; man’s sin has sometimes subjected it to this vanity.
3. It shall be an utter destruction. The sea-coast, which used to be a
harbour for ships and a habitation for merchants, shall now be
deserted, and be only cottages for shepherds and folds for
flocks
(v. 6),
and then perhaps put to better use than when it was possessed by the
lords of the Philistines.
II. It is here foretold that the house of Judah, the rightful owners,
shall recover the possession of it,
v. 7.
The remnant of those that shall return out of captivity, when
God visits them, shall be made to lie down in safety in the
houses of Ashkelon, to lie down in the evening, when they
are weary and sleepy. There they shall feed themselves and their
flocks. Note, God will at length restore his people to their rights,
though they may be long kept out from them.
| The Punishment of Various Nations. | B. C. 612. |
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8 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the
children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and
magnified themselves against their border.
9 Therefore as I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon
as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and salt-pits, and a
perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them,
and the remnant of my people shall possess them.
10 This shall they have for their pride, because they have
reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the
LORD of hosts.
11 The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will famish
all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one
from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.
The Moabites and Ammonites were both of the posterity of Lot; their
countries joined, and, both adjoining to Israel, they are here put
together in the prophecy against them.
I. They are both charged with the same crime, and that was reproaching
and reviling the people of God and triumphing in their calamities
(v. 8):
They have reproached my people; while God’s people kept close to
their duty it is probable that they reproached them for the
singularities of their religion; and now that they had revolted from
God, and fallen under his displeasure, they reproached them for that
too. It has been the common lot of God’s people in all ages to be
reproached and reviled upon one account or other. Thus the old serpent
spits his venom; and pride is at the bottom of it; it is in their pride
that they have magnified themselves against the people of the Lord
of hosts, thinking themselves as good as they, as great, and every
way as happy. It is the comtempt of the proud that God’s people
are filled with,
They have spoken big (so some read it, magna locuti
sunt–they have spoken great things) against their border
(v. 8),
against those of them that bordered upon their country, whom upon all
occasions they insulted, or against the property they claimed, which
they disputed, or the protection they boasted of, which they ridiculed;
they spoke big against the people of the Lord of hosts as
a deserted abandoned people. Great swelling words of vanity are
the genuine language of the church’s enemies. “But I have heard
them” (says God), “and will let you know that I have heard them. I
have heard, and I will reckon for them,”
And, if God hears the reproaches and revilings we are under, it is a
good reason why we should be as a deaf man that hears not,
Ps. xxxviii. 14, 15.
Nay, God not only takes notice of, but interests himself in the
reproaches cast on his people, because they are his; and it is certain
that those who look with disdain upon the people of the Lord of hosts
thereby dishonour the Lord of hosts himself. See this very thing
charged on Moab and Ammon,
II. They are both laid under the same doom. Associates in iniquity may
expect to be such in desolation. See with what solemnity sentence is
pronounced upon them,
v. 9.
It is the Lord of hosts, the sovereign Lord of all, who has
authority to pass this sentence and ability to execute it; it is the
God of Israel, who is jealous for their honour; it is he that has
said it, nay, he has sworn it, As I live, saith the Lord. The
sentence is,
1. That the Moabites and Ammonites shall be quite destroyed; they
shall be as Sodom and Gomorrah, the marks of whose ruins in the
Dead Sea lay near adjoining to the countries of Moab and Ammon; they
shall, though not by the same means (even fire from heaven), Yet almost
in the same manner, be laid waste; not again to be inhabited, or not of
a long time. The country shall produce nothing but nettles,
instead of corn; and there shall be brine-pits, instead of the
pleasant fountains of water with which the country had abounded.
2. That Israel shall be too hard for them, shall spoil them of
their goods and possess their country by lawful war. Note,
Proud men sometimes, by the just judgment of God, fall under the
mortification of being trampled upon themselves by those whom once they
haughtily trampled upon. And this shall they have for their
pride.
III. Other nations shall in like manner be humbled, that the Lord alone
may be exalted
(v. 11):
The Lord will be terrible unto the Moabites and Ammonites in
particular, who have made themselves a terror to his Israel. For,
1. Heathen gods must be abolished. They have long had possession, and
their worshippers have both glorified them and gloried in them. But
the Lord will famish all the gods of the earth, will
starve them out of their strong-holds. The Pagans had a fond conceit
that their idols were regaled by their offerings, and did eat the
fat of their sacrifices,
Deut. xxxii. 38.
Omnia comesta à Belo–Bel has eaten all. But it is here
promised that when the Christian religion is set up in the world men
shall be turned from the service of these dumb idols, shall forsake
their altars, and bring no more sacrifices to them, and thus they shall
be famished, or made lean (as the word is), their priests shall.
This intimates the vanity of those idols; it lies in the power of their
worshippers to famish them; whereas the true God says, If I were
hungry, I would not tell thee. It intimates also the victory of the
God of Israel over them. Now know we that he is greater than all
gods.
2. Heathen nations must be converted; when the gospel gets ground, by
it men shall be brought to worship him who lives for ever (for that is
the command of the everlasting gospel,
every one from his place; they shall not need to go up to
Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel, but wherever they are, they may
have access to him. I will that men pray every where. God shall
be worshipped, not only by all the tribes of Israel and the strangers
who join themselves to them, but by all the isles of the
heathen. This is a promise which looks favourably upon our native
country, for it is one of the most considerable of the isles of the
Gentiles, by which God will be glorified.
| Ethiopia and Assyria Threatened. | B. C. 612. |
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12 Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.
13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and
destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry
like a wilderness.
14 And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the
beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall
lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the
windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall
uncover the cedar work.
15 This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that
said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is
she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every
one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.
The cup is going round, when Nebuchadnezzar is going on
conquering and to conquer; and not only Israel’s near neighbours, but
those that lay more remote, must be reckoned with for the wrongs they
have done to God’s people; the Ethiopians and the Assyrians are here
taken to task.
1. The Ethiopians, or Arabians, that had sometimes been a terror to
Israel (as in Asa’s time,
must now be reckoned with: They shall be slain by my sword,
v. 12.
Nebuchadnezzar was God’s sword, the instrument in his hand with which
these and other enemies were subdued and punished,
2. The Assyrians, and Nineveh the head city of their monarchy, are next
set to the bar, to receive their doom: He that is God’s sword
will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy
Assyria, and make himself master of it. Assyria had been the rod of
God’s anger against Israel, and now Babylon is the rod of God’s anger
against Assyria,
He will make Nineveh a desolation, as was lately and largely
foretold by the prophet Nahum. Observe,
(1.) How flourishing Nineveh’s state had formerly been
(v. 15):
This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly. Nineveh was so
strong that she feared no evil, and therefore dwelt carelessly and set
danger at defiance; she was so rich that she thought herself sure of
all good, and therefore was a rejoicing city, full of mirth and gaiety;
and she had such a dominion that she admitted no rival, but said in her
heart, “I am, and there is none besides me that can compare with
me, no city in the world that can pretend to be equal with me.” God can
with his judgments frighten the most secure, humble the most haughty,
and mar the mirth of those that most laugh now.
(2.) How complete Nineveh’s ruin shall now be; it shall be made a
desolation,
v. 13.
Such a heap of ruins shall this once pompous city be that it shall be,
[1.] A receptacle for beasts, such a wilderness that flocks shall
lie down in it; nay, such a waste, desolate, frightful place, that
wild beasts, shall take up their abode there; the melancholy birds, as
the cormorant and bittern, shall make their nests in what
remains of the houses, as they sometimes do in old ruinous buildings
that are uninhabited and unfrequented. The lintels, or chapiters
of the pillars, the windows and thresholds, and all the
fine cedar-work curiously engraven, shall lie exposed; and on
them these rueful ominous birds shall perch, and their voice shall
sing. How are the songs of mirth turned into hideous horrid noises!
What little reason have men to be proud of stately buildings, and rich
furniture, when they know not what all the pomp of them may come to at
last!
[2.] A derision to travellers. Those that had come from far, to
gratify their curiosity with the sight of Nineveh’s splendour, shall
now look on her with as much contempt as ever they looked upon her with
admiration
(v. 15):
Every one that passes by shall hiss at her, and wag his
hand, making light of her desolations, nay, and making sport with
them–“There is an end of proud Nineveh.” They shall not weep, and
wring their hands (the adversities of those are unpitied and unlamented
who were insolent and haughty in their prosperity), but they shall
hiss and wag their hands, forgetting that perhaps their own ruin
is not far off.
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