Zephaniah 1:7 - The Biblical Illustrator

Reader Related Verse
Bible Comments

The day of the Lord is at hand.

The day of war, the day of horrors

The war day is represented here--

I. As a day of enormous sacrifice.

1. Sacrifice of life. Among several classes.

(1) Royalty.

(2) Nobility.

(3) Traders.

(4) The masses.

2. Sacrifice of property.

II. As a day of Divine retribution. All the horrors of war are here represented as judgments from the Almighty. In using war as a punishment for sin it may be observed--

1. That all who perish in war righteously deserve their fate.

2. That warriors, in executing the Divine justice, demonstrate the enormity of the evil requiring punishment.

3. War, as an officer of Divine justice, reveals the amazing freedom allowed to the sinner in this world, and God’s controlling power over hostile forces. (Homilist.)

Related Commentaries of Zephaniah 1:7

Zephaniah 1:7-18

7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bidb his guests.

8 And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I will punishc the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.

9 In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.

10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills.

11 Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off.

12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settledd on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.

13 Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.

14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.

17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.

18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.