CRITICAL NOTES.]
Zephaniah 2:4. For] The punishment of neighbouring states a warning. Five nations, from all quarters of the earth, to indicate universality of judgment. Gaza] and cities of Philistines (cf. Amos 1:6-8; Isaiah 20:1). Noon-day] Not by thieves at night; but in the hottest part of day, generally spent in rest (2 Samuel 4:5), and less likely for attack; hence sudden invasion (Jeremiah 15:8).
Zephaniah 2:5. Cherethites] Cretans. The connection of Philistines with Crete early noticed (1 Samuel 30:14; 2 Samuel 8:18; 1 Chronicles 18:17; Ezekiel 25:16). Cherethites (from a verb, to cut off) were used as executioners in the royal army of Judah, and would be cut off by Jehovah [cf. Wordsworth].
Zephaniah 2:6. Sea coast] Lit. line of the sea, i.e. the region or coast along the sea-shore, and so called from the custom of using a cord or line in measuring off or dividing a territory (cf. with the same application, the coast of the sea, Jeremiah 47:7; Ezekiel 25:16) [Henderson]. Cottages] A proverbial description for utter desolation (cf. Zephaniah 2:14-15); shepherds excavated or dug huts underground to protect from the sun.
Zephaniah 2:7. Feed] The Jews restored to their land, not any longer annoyed by Philistines, would dwell safely. Visit] in mercy (Exodus 4:31).
HOMILETICS
THE JUDGMENT UPON THE PHILISTINES.—Zephaniah 2:4-7
Punishment to neighbouring states is now threatened. Under five nations all mankind are included. The Philistines, as a near malicious enemy, are mentioned first. “Out of the five cities, woe is pronounced upon the same four as Amos (Amos 1:6-8) before, Jeremiah soon after (Jeremiah 25:20), and Zechariah (Zechariah 9:5-6) later. Gath, the fifth, had probably remained with Judah since Uzziah and Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 26:6; 2 Kings 18:8). The name of the place itself is regarded in the sentence, that it may suggest the thought of the doom pronounced upon it. The names expressed boastfulness, and so, in the Divine judgment, carried their own sentence with them, and this sentence is pronounced by a slight change in the word” [Pusey]. The four capitals include the whole territory and people.
I. The splendid cities will be destroyed. The chief cities are threatened with open and violent attack, with entire desolation and depopulation.
1. Gaza shall be forsaken (Azzah, strong, shall be, Azoobah, desolated). Though strong, and able to resist the conqueror for four or five months, its defenders perished in the battle. Alexander sold its inhabitants, and repeopled it from the neighbourhood.
2. Ekron shall be uprooted (Ekron, deep rooting, shall be Te-aker, rooted out). Not a vestige of the place is now left. It is only known by name, say travellers. Man builds, and God pulls down. Man plants, and God uproots. The most flourishing trade, the most deeply-rooted society, may be torn out of the soil and carried away.
3. Ashkelon shall become a desolation. The present city is a ghastly skeleton. The soil is good, but peasants who cultivate it live outside in mud-huts, under the impression that God has left the place and permitted evil spirits to dwell there.
4. Ashdod shall be suddenly overtaken. “They (the enemies) shall drive out Ashdod at the noon-day.” The power of Dagon (1 Samuel 5) could not defend it. When its inhabitants were taking repose and sleep, and thought themselves most secure—when evil was least expected, it would prove most fatal. The judgments of God would suddenly overtake them. Neither antiquity nor valour, neither natural strength nor the power of their gods, would protect these cities. The word of God was against them, and their doom was inevitable. “I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof; and I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.”
II. The whole population will be taken away. “Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea-coast.” Every epithet in Zephaniah 2:5 is selected with a view of deepening the gloom of terrible denunciation. “The terrors are encompassed by hints drawn from the latent omen of the Kerethite name, and from the ancient Canaanite traditions.”
1. The fertility of the land would be cursed. Shepherds will dig it up to build their huts, and shelter their flocks.
2. Seats of industry will be abandoned.
3. The country would be repeopled. “This once fertile tract by the sea, thickly dotted with the crowded hives of human industry, with fair cities inhabited by free brave men, afterwards a desert, accursed by God, and abandoned by man, ‘shall become pastures, with huts for shepherds, and folds for sheep.’ Through the mountain gorges the flocks of the restored Hebrews will descend on the green flowery plains, knowing no want, fearing no evil, because the shepherds go before them with staff and rod” [S. Cox]. “I will even destroy thee that there shall be no inhabitant.” “In that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Zephaniah 2:4. The judgments threatened upon others an argument for the ungodly to repent, and for the godly to persevere in well-doing, that they may escape the general calamity.
Zephaniah 2:5-6. Woe.
1. The source of the woe. “The word of the Lord.”
2. The cause of the woe. They were of the posterity, possessed the land, and inherited the sins of Canaan.
3. The consequences of the woe.
(1) Destruction.
(2) Universal destruction. “Woe to the people who have the word of God against them. To them he speaketh not in good, but in evil; not in grace, but in anger; not in mercy, but in vengeance” [Pusey].
Zephaniah 2:7. The fall of the enemy, the restoration of the elect of Israel. The remnant of Baal driven out, to make room for the remnant of God. Notice—
1. The blessings bestowed.
(1) Visited by God. “The Lord their God shall visit them.” In mercy and loving-kindness (Exodus 4:31).
(2) Delivered. “And turn away their captivity.”
(3) Restored to possessius “His visits are not empty visits (Psalms 8:5); his favours are not like the winter sun, that lighteth but heateth not” [Trapp].
2. The source of the blessings. The covenant of “the Lord their God.” Covenant rights will not fail, after long delay and many disappointments.
3. The method of securing the blessings. After captivity and calamity. Through much tribulation we enter heaven. But the word is sure. “Be thou faithful.”
In chap. 1 Zephaniah 2:8-9, God had threatened to “visit” the men of Judah and Jerusalem; now he promises to “visit” them: the same Heb. verb used in both places; but now by a slight change of construction (páguad, construed with an accusative of the person instead of with al), the verb itself shows that God is about to visit them in grace. And the grammatical hint is expanded in the words which follow: God is about to visit them, that he may “turn their captivity,” as he turned that of Job by giving them freedom for bondage, peace for war, wealth for want. The peace and abundance of this happier time are charmingly expressed in the opening clauses of Zephaniah 2:7 [S. Cox].