Zephaniah 2:11 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

For he will famish, &c.— He will dissipate. Houbigant. But Bishop Warburton observes, that the expression, as it stands in our version, is noble, and alludes to the popular superstitions of Paganism, which conceived that the gods were nourished by the steam of sacrifices. But when were the heathen gods thus famished, but in the first ages of Christianity? Every one from his place, or in his place; that is to say, they were not to go up to Jerusalem to worship;—even all the isles of the heathens. But when did they worship the God of Israel, every one from his place, before the preaching of the apostles? Then indeed their speedy and general conversion distinguished them from the rest of the nation. Houbigant observes, that the calling of the Gentiles is mentioned here very appositely, and in its proper place, as in order of time it followed soon after the kingdom of the Maccabees.