Zephaniah 2

GAther your selves together Call a solemn assembly, as Ioel 1.14. proclaim a fast. Let all have notice given to meet on this work, and being gather'd together, search your selves, hearts, and wayes and repent., yea, gather together Repeated to affect them the more and to hasten them to it, and make them serious in it., O nation Of the Iews, yet a people, yet my people, though next door almost to being no people. not desired Neither desirous to return, nor desirable in your return, foolishly unwilling to return, and utterly unworthy to be received on your return, yet gather together, search your wayes, and try what you may do for your safety..

Before the decree The word of the Prophet which declares the purpose of God against this sinful people. bring forth The decree is pregnant, nay has gone a great while, but is now like a woman near her full time ready to bring forth, be you speedy in your Repentance, lest your Miseries break forth of the Womb of Divine Vengeance and destroy you., before the day The day of your calamities, Babylon's rage, and Gods just displeasure. pass as the chaffe Carry you away as the Wind carrieth chaffe away for the fire, while the good grain is gathered and preserved.: before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon As a storm from on high with violence irresistible and destructive, and the warning is doubled to make them take it. you, before the day of the LORDs anger come upon you. The heat of Anger. It was Jealousie like fire, chap. 1.18. and here 'tis the heat of that fire, intimating the greatness of the Anger.

Seek Turn to him with sound and true Repentance, pray for pardon, engage in new obedience, enquire in the Law what is your Duty and do it; fear, worship, depend on the Lord alone. ye the LORD, all ye meek Ye humble ones who have not hardned your selves with the stubborn, proud, Idolatrous Hypocrites, but have trembled at the Word of the Lord. of the earth Of Iudaea which is here spoken of, as chap. 1.2., which have wrought his judgment Obey'd his precepts, so does the Scripture express obedience to the Law of God by doing judgment, D t. 4.5. Psal. 119.121., seek righteousness Enquire, and know the righteousness which God commandeth which you ought to persist in and continue ye in it., seek meekness Carry it humbly towards God, and patiently under his Corrections, so want on the just, and merciful God.: it may be This is sufficient to raise hope, if it be not sure, if it be hard, yet 'tis not impossible., ye shall be hid Under the wing of Divine protecting Providence kept safe, from, or in, these troubles, they shall be either averted or abated. in the day of the LORDs Anger.

For It is time to seek some refuge, high time to seek it in God, for your neighbours, as well as you, shall be destroy'd, there shall be no refuge for you among your neighbours. Gaza A chief City of the Philistins, very strong by its situation, and by art fortified a Frontier toward Egypt, and not full three miles from the Sea. shall be forsaken When the conquering Army of the Chaldeans shall come against it, shall be forsaken either by the flight or captivity of the inhabitants. and Ashkelon Another of the strong Cities of the Philistines which fell to the Tribe of Dan, and was a Maritine Town. a desolation Utterly wasted, so the abstract does imply.: they Babylonians. Vid. Ezek. 25.15, 16, 17. shall drive Into captivity, cast them out of their own and force them into a strange land. out Ashdod A strong fortified City of Palestina called in after times Azotus. at the noon day It shall be taken by force at Noon, or the Citizens led away captive in the heat of the day, and under parching heats., and Ekron Famous for its infamous Idolatry where Baalzebub was worshipp'd, the chief Seat of Devil-worship. shall be rooted up Utterly extirpated, no more to spring up. Vid. Ier. 47.4, 5. it shall be as a Tree pull'd up by the Roots, or maimed, as Horses that are houghed, as Iosh. 11.9..

Wo unto the inhabitants Now all the Philistines are threatned, whereas before he named only those four Cities. of the seacoasts The Coasts of the great, or western Sea, now the Mediterrane, on which the Philistines of old did dwell.; the nation of the Cherethites Or destroyers, men that were stout but fierce and perhaps terrible to Neighbours and Forreigners that had the hard hap to be forced on their Coasts by violence of Sea. They were great Souldiers, and lived Switzer-like, Guards to David, it may be to other Kings also.: the word His purpose, his threats too by his Prophet. of the LORD is against you: O Canaan That part that the Philistines did by force keep from the Iewes.: the land of the Philistines, I will Though the Chaldeans be the men shall destroy, yet the Lord will do it also; they his servants, he chief, in doing it. even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant No more Cities, nor Citizens to dwell therein..

And the sea-coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds This confirms the former, tells us what shall be in those parts, instead of Cities full of rich Citizens, there shall be Cottages for shepherds watching over their flocks., and folds for flocks.

And the coast The Sea-coast, the land of the Philistines. shall be for the remnant Either that escaped, as some did, or else survived the Captivity. of the house of Judah The Two Tribes, one nam'd, both included., they shall feed Their flocks. thereupon, in the houses of Ashkelon In places where houses of Ashkelon formerly stood. shall they Both Shepherds and Flocks too. lie down in the evening: for the LORD The everlasting Iehovah. their God From their Fathers by Covenant. shall visit In mercy remembring his covenant with them. them, and turn away their captivity Or shall send to receive their Prisoners, or Captives, or return their Captivity, and by the command of Cyrus give them liberty of returning into their own Countrey..

¶ I have heard Either the Prophet for himself, or for the People, speaks this, or else more likely in the name of God, assures the Iewes that God had heard, observed, resented, and was highly displeased with that he heard. the reproach of Moab A people of near kin to the Iewes born of Lot's daughter, seated Eastward of Canaan, upon the Dead Sea, and Iordan, a powerful people and as proud; whose Pride broke out on all occasions against the Iews, as appears from first to last, Isa. 16.6. and Ier. 48.27, 30. brand them as very proud., and the revilings of the children of Ammon A people as near as Moab to Jewish blood, and as bitter against them, Ne. 4.2, 3. bitter scoffers, and Jearers. whereby they have reproached my people Either in the War, or at the taking of Jerusalem, or when the captive Jewes were led by their borders into captivity: Ezek. 25.3. puts these all together., and magnified Either boasting what they themselves were, or what they would have dont, or what they will do against Israel, recovering their old pretended Right and Estate. themselves against their border Invading their Frontiers, and spoiling them with insolence..

Therefore as I live says The most solemn Oath, fit for none but God himself to use. Vid. Ezek. 14.16. the LORD of hosts Who have all things at my disposal and can arm all Creatures against these proud Revilers. the God of Israel Who by Covenant am Israel's God, and Israel is my people, in whose reproaches I am reproached., Surely Moab shall be as Sodom This is a proverbial speech in Scripture phrase to speak great destruction, as Isa. 1.9. Moab and Ammon were not destroy'd by fire, as Sodom and Gomorrah, but the next words are an explication of these., and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles Not Cultivated, but run over with Nettles, as if 'twere only to breed them., and salt-pits A salt, dry, barren Earth fit only to dig salt out of it., and a perpetual desolation Never more to be manured and inhabited r not for a long, a very long time., the residue Either the few left with Gedaliah, or the Remnant that return'd out of Babylon. of my people shall spoil Provoked by the injuries of Moab, and Ammon, shall take Arms, overcome, and spoil them. them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them Settle upon their Lands, and dwell in those parts that are fit for habitation..

This This grievous ruin like Sodoms, this just Retaliation, they insulted over Israel, Israel shall tread on them. shall they have for their pride Haughty mind and carriage. See ver. 8. let. e because they have reproached Defam'd, spoke lies, and scandals against the Iewes, lessening them., and magnified themselves Their Persons and Exploits. against the people of the LORD of hosts Against the only people of the Lord of Hosts who suffer'd reproach with his People and in them, for Moabites and Ammonites, as others boasted of their Gods above the True God..

The LORD will be terrible Or, The Lord who is to be feared is against or above them, and will make it appear that he is terrible in his doings. unto them Moabites and Ammonites and their Gods, of whom they gloried.: for he will famish Starve; though now their Altars are filled with Sacrifices, and their bowles run over, as if they designed to make their Gods fat, but they shall want their Sacrifices and Drink-offerings, these shall be few or quite cease, and their Priests grow lean. There shall be a consumption among them all. all the gods Idols, heathen Gods. of the earth Of those Lands, Dagon, Che sh, Molech, &c. that are Gods no where else but on Earth, and among the deceived, or Gods of the Earth, as sons of the Earth, vile spurious Gods., and men shall worship him Of that Countrey whose Gods are undone, or all men shall know, own and worship the God of Israel., every one from his place Where he dwelleth, not only at Ierusalem, or in this mount, but every where., even all the isles Either literally, as we now see it fulfilled, or as the Jewes interpret Isles to be Transmarine places. So they wait for his Law, as foretold Isa. 42.4. of the heathen Of all Nations in all parts of the World. This is eminently fulfilled by the prevailing of the Gospel..

¶ Ye Ethiopians The Prophet does not speak of the African Aethiopians, south of Egypt, but of the Arabian Aethiopians much nearer to Canaan, whose Countrey was called Cusaea, with the addition Aethiopia Cusaea. See Habak. 3.7. let. a. also, ye shall be slain i by my Nebuchadnezzar and his Chaldeans called here Gods Sword, for God imploy'd and prospered them. sword. Punish'd by War, and your people cut off.

And he The Lord God of Israel, or the Chaldean Monarch as God's Servant herein. will stretch out his hand Engage all his power, and use it to the utmost. against the north i. e. As follows Assyria, which lay Northward of Iudaea, but more due North from Babylon if I mistake n t., and destroy Assyria Overthrow that great and antient Kingdom of, of which more at large in Na um tot., and will make Nineveh Chief City of that Kingdom. Vid. Nah. 1.1. a desolation Most desolate, and dry like a wilderness Will turn those well-watered places into dry, thirsty and barren land as a wilderness..

And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her Ninev h shall be so razed that Flocks of Cattel shall lie down in the midst of it, as before of the Philistines, ver. 6., all the beasts All sorts of beasts which are found in those. Countreys, the tame under the guard of watching shepherds, and wild ones seeking their prey will a end about those places. of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern Birds that are solitary, and delight in desolate places, in Reedy Fens, where they seek their food, and are look'd on as unlucky Birds. shall lodge in the upper lintels Shall either make their nests there or seek and choose their Lodging there; they shall roost there in the night upon the Pillars, or Turrets or Pinacles. of it: their voice shall sing in the windows These doleful Creatures shall make a more doleful noise, that shall be all the Musick to be heard in their desolate Windows., desolation shall be in the thresholds The lowest part of their houses, from top to bottom nothing but wastes and ruine, instead of Beautiful Ladies looking out at Windows and Doors, and singing; now cormorants and bitterns, and their doleful Notes.: for Or when the Babylonian has burnt the houses, or beat down the curious Roofs and coverings of Cedar, the beauty and the defence of their houses. he shall uncover the cedar work.

This is the rejoycing city We may suppose the Prophet, or the Iewes, or all passengers standing still and wondring, nay upbraiding Nineveh, all Mirth and Jollity once, but now all sorrow and grief. that dwelt carelesly In so great confidence, and security, as if it had been impossible she should ever have fa n from her glory., that said in her heart Persuaded her self into an opinion very ill becoming any, but God himself.: I am, and there is none beside None that can contend with me, that will be so hardy as to attempt against me, none able to overthrow me. Somewhat like T rus. Ez k. 28.12, &c. me: how is she become a desolation She thought none was like her in Glory, Power and Wealth: now there is none like her indeed but it is for Misery, and Desolations. It may be either the speech of one that laments and wonders at it, or of one that rejoyceth at it., a place for beasts to lie down Where Palaces for Princes stood, now are places for Beasts, where Nobles dwelt, now do ignoble Cattle couch. in! every one that passeth by her, shall hiss and wag his hand Deride their arrogancy and condemn their ungodly pride and security, yet with some pity toward this desolate City..