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.
This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly. Nothing then seemed more improbable than that the capital of so vast an empire, a city 60 miles in compass, with walls 100 feet high, and so thick that three chariots could go abreast on them, and with 1,500 towers, should be so totally destroyed that its site is with difficulty discovered. Yet so it is, as the prophet foretold.
That said in her heart, I am, and there is none besides me. This special phrase, expressing self-congratulation, as if peerless, is plainly adopted from Isaiah 47:8. The later prophets leant on the predictions of their predecessors, and gave them their inspired sanction, even as these lean on the Pentateuch and Psalms.
Every one that passeth by her shall hiss - in astonishment at a desolation so great and sudden, as was threatened by God against the temple its dedication by Solomon, in the event of Israel's apostasy (1 Kings 9:8); also, in derision (Job 27:23; Lamentations 2:15; Ezekiel 27:36).
Remarks:
(1) National repentance is the only sure safeguard against national overthrow. Without it a people cannot be in favour with God. Even Israel, His elect nation, became for a time, through want of it, a "nation not desired" (Zephaniah 2:1).
(2) The soul is like the "chaff" (Zephaniah 2:2), soon dissipated by the storms of carnal desire, and therefore needs to "gather itself together" by self-examination and earnest seeking after God, "before the day" for repentance pass, and with it the unconverted, "as the chaff, pass away" through "the fierce anger of the Lord."
(3) Whereas "the wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God" (Psalms 10:4), even under chastisements, "the meek of the earth" bend humbly to the chastening of their Heavenly Father, and in patient trust and hope "seek, the Lord," not only in outward ordinances, but in the active exercise of "judgment, righteousness, and meekness" (Zephaniah 2:3). Therefore, whereas to the eye of sense no means of escape in the general calamity are apparent, yet God Himself will be their hiding-place in the day of His anger against the world.
(4) The punishment, "desolation," and "rooting up" of others for sin (Zephaniah 2:4), is the strongest reason why we should repent, if we be as yet unconverted, or persevere in faith, if converted. Prayer is the best way alike to obtain and to maintain spiritual life. The present is the time for prayer, while still God waits to be gracious, and before the day of life, and with it the day of grace, be past.
(5) Woe be to the people who "have the word of the Lord against" them! (Zephaniah 2:5.) For what then can be for them? Let all beware of provoking God to withdraw His Spirit from them. For if God once cease to strive with them in mercy, He will contend with them in judgment, and then nothing but utter destruction is before them.
(6) The fall of Judah's foes (Zephaniah 2:7) is the signal for the restoration of the elect "remnant of Judah." For though He has long visited His elect nation in displeasure, yet, as being "the Lord their God," He "shall visit them" in loving-kindnesses, "and turn away their captivity." This is the comfort of all the people of God of every nation, that their chastisements are comparatively "for a small moment," whereas God's promise to them finally is, "With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, smith the Lord thy Redeemer" (Isaiah 54:8).
(7) "Revilings" against the people of God (Zephaniah 2:8) only bring ten-fold reproach on the reviler at last. Pride, haughtiness, and injustice are peculiarly offensive before the great God. When the enemy "magnifies himself against" the possessions and against "the people" of God, it is against "the Lord of hosts" (Zephaniah 2:10) that he really magnifies himself. And God will reckon with the transgressor accordingly. "This shall they have for their pride," saith God.
(8) The ungodly fancy that, because they escape immediate punishment, God takes no cognizance of their crimes: and believers at times are cast down because of the delay in the vindication of their cause; but God assures the former, to their confusion, and the latter, to their unspeakable comfort, "I have heard" (Zephaniah 2:8), I know it all. Let this be our stimulus to a holy walk, and to patient forgetting world-kingdoms, once so flourishing, are the necessary endurance unto the end.
(9) All the "terrible" destructions of the God-preparations for the setting up of the kingdom of God and His Christ. When God hath turned into "desolation," not only Nineveh and Babylon, but also their last spiritual antitype, "the rejoicing city, that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none besides me" (Zephaniah 2:15), the Lord shall make "the kingdoms of this world the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ" (Revelation 11:15), and "men shall worship Him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the pagan" (Zephaniah 2:11). May that glorious kingdom soon come, and to this end may every obstacle in its way be speedily removed!