ZEPHANIAH CHAPTER 1
The word; the declaration of the purpose of God, either spoken audibly, or clearly manifested by signs.
Of the Lord, God of Israel; here is the Divine authority of this prophecy with which the prophet's word is seconded.
Which came: the precise manner how it came we need not inquire into;
Zephaniah did not hammer out of his own brain any such news, he received from God what he communicated to them. Zephaniah; by derivation of the name. it is one hidden of the Lord, whom God doth hide, or God's secretary; or else one that is God's Watchman, whom God hath set over the house of Judah, as Ezekiel is said to be, Ezekiel 3:17 .
The son of Cushi, & c. his pedigree here gives us no certainty what his progenitors were, whether prophets, or only eminent known men; or whether he were, as some think him, the great-grandson of Hezekiah, the name being the same.
In the days of Josiah; before the captivity; he was then contemporary with Jeremiah and Ezekiel. prophesied before the captivity, and foretells much like what Jeremiah or Ezekiel did.
Amon; whose reign was very full of impiety and idolatry, and hastened the captivity upon Judah. This Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which Manasseh had made, 2 Chronicles 33:22 .