Zephaniah 2:9 Komentář

In this chapter we have, I. An earnest exhortation to the nation of the Jews to repent and make their peace with God, and so to prevent the judgments threatened before it was too late (Zep 2:1-3), and this inferred from the revelation of God's wrath against them in the foregoing chapter. II. A denunciation of the judgments of God against several of the neighbouring nations that had assisted, or rejoiced in, the calamity of Israel. 1. The Philistines (Zep 2:4-7). 2. The Moabites and Ammonites (Zep 2:8-11). 3. The Ethiopians and Assyrians (Zep 2:12-15). All these shall drink of the same cup of trembling that is put into the hands of God's people, as was also foretold by other prophets before and after.

Therefore [as] I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel The Lord here swears by himself, by his life; partly to show how provoked he was at, and how grievously he resented, the injuries done to his people; and partly to observe the certain fulfilment of what is after declared; and it might be depended upon it would surely be done, not only because of his word and oath, which are immutable; but because of his ability to do it, as "the Lord of hosts", of armies above and below; and because of the covenant relation that subsisted between him and Israel, being their God; and therefore would avenge the insults and injuries done them: surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah; that is, should be utterly destroyed, as these cities were; whose destruction is often made use of to express the utter ruin and destruction of any other people; otherwise it is not to be supposed that these countries were to be destroyed, or were destroyed, in like manner, by fire from heaven; the similitude lies in other things after expressed: [even] the breeding of nettles; or "left to nettles" F17; or rather to "thorns", as the Targum: and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it "the dryness of thorns", though to a very poor sense. In general the meaning of the phrase is, that those countries should be very barren and desolate, like such places as are overrun with nettles, thorns, briers, and brambles; and these so thick, that there is no passing through them without a man's tearing his garments and his flesh: for Schultens F18, from the use of the word F19 in the Arabic language, shows that the words are to be rendered a "thicket of thorns which tear"; and cut the feet of those that pass through them; and even their whole body, as well as their clothes; and, wherever these grow in such plenty, it is a plain sign of a barren land, as well as what follow: and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation; signifying that the countries of Moab and Ammon should be waste, barren, and uncultivated, as the above places were, where nothing but nettles grew, as do in great abundance in desolate places; and where saltpits should be, or heaps of salt, as Kimchi interprets it; and wherever salt is found, as Pliny F20 says, it is a barren place, and produces nothing; though Herodotus F21 speaks of places where were hillocks of salt, and very fruitful; and where the people used salt in manuring and improving their ground; which must be accounted for by the difference of climate and soil: this passage is produced by Reland F23 to prove that the lake Asphaltites is not the place, as is commonly believed, where Sodom and Gomorrah stood; since those cities were not overflown, or immersed in and covered with water, but were destroyed by fire and brimstone, and so became desolate; and had no herbs and plants, but nettles, and such like things; and such these countries of Moab and Ammon should be, and ever remain so, at least for a long time; and especially should be desolate and uninhabited by the former possessors of it; see ( Deuteronomy 29:23 ) this was fulfilled about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, when Nebuchadnezzar, as Josephus F24 relates, led his army into Coelesyria, and made war upon the Ammonites and Moabites, and subjected them to him, who were the inhabitant of it, as the same writer says F25: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them; that is, the Jews, the remnant of them that returned from Babylon: now these, in the times of the Maccabees, and those that descended from them, seized on several places in these countries, and possessed them; for, after these countries had been subdued and made desolate by Nebuchadnezzar, they became considerable nations again. Josephus F26 says the Moabites in his time were a great nation; though in the third century, as Origen F1 relates, they went under the common name of Arabians; and, even long before the times of Josephus, they were called Arabian Moabites, as he himself observes; when he tells us that Alexander Jannaeus subdued them, and imposed a tribute on them; and who also gives us an account of the cities of the Moabites, which were taken and demolished by them, as Essebon, Medaba, Lemba, Oronas, Telithon, Zara, the valley of the Cilicians, and Pella; these he destroyed, because the inhabitants would not promise to conform to the rites and customs of the Jews F2; though Josephus ben Gorion, who also makes mention of these cities as taken by the same prince, says F3 he did not demolish them, because they entered into a covenant and were circumcised; and he speaks of ten fortified cities of the king of Syria, added at the same time to the kingdom of Israel, not destroyed: likewise the children of Ammon, after their captivity by Nebuchadnezzar, became a powerful people: we read of the country of the Ammonites in ``Then Jason, who had undermined his own brother, being undermined by another, was compelled to flee into the country of the Ammonites.'' (2 Maccabees 4:26) and, in the times of Judas Maccabeus, Timotheus, their general, got together a strong and numerous army, which being worsted by Judas, he took their city Jasoron, or Jaser, ``Afterward he passed over to the children of Ammon, where he found a mighty power, and much people, with Timotheus their captain.'' (1 Maccabees 5:6) carried their wives and children captive, and burnt their city F4; and this people, as well as the Moabites in the third century, as before observed, were swallowed up under the general name of Arabians; and neither of them are any more; all which has fulfilled this prophecy, and those of Jeremiah and Amos concerning them: this, likewise, in a spiritual sense, might have a further accomplishment in the first times of the Gospel, when it was preached in these countries by the apostles, and churches were formed in them; and may be still further accomplished in the latter day, when those parts of the world shall be possessed by converted Jews and by Gentile Christians. Kimchi owns it may be interpreted as future, of what shall be in the times of the Messiah. FOOTNOTES: F17 (lwrx qvmm) "locus urticae derelictus", Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 1. col. 872. Stockius, p. 629.; "derelictio urticae", Burkius. So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 68. 2. F18 De Defect. Hodiern. Ling. Heb. p. 32. F19 <arabic> "laceravit, laceratus est", Golius, col. 2231. Castel. col. 2165. F20 Nat. Hist. l. 31. c. 7. "Salsa autem tellus----frugibus infelix." Virgil. Georgic. l. 2. F21 Melpomene, sive l. 4. c. 182, 183. F23 Palestina Illustrata, l. 1. c. 38. p. 254, 255. F24 Antiqu. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 7. F25 Ibid. l. 1. c. 11. sect. 5. F26 Antiqu. l. 1. c. 11. sect. 5. F1 Comment. in Job, fol. 2. 1. A. F2 Antiqu. l. 13. c. 13. sect. 5. c. 15. sect. 4. De Bello Jud. l. 1. c. 4. sect. 2. F3 Hist. Heb. l. 4. c. 12. p. 297. F4 Joseph. Antiqu. l. 12. c. 8. sect. 1. 1 Maccab. v. 6.

(Ver. 8 onwards) I have heard the reproach of Moab and the blasphemies of the sons of Ammon, who have reproached my people and magnified themselves against their borders. Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God (God remains silent), the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Moab shall be like Sodom, and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah, a land of thorns and salt pits, and a desolation forever. The remnant of my people shall plunder them; the survivors of my nation shall possess them. This will happen to them because of their pride, for they have blasphemed and exalted themselves above the people of the Lord of hosts. The Lord will be terrible against them; He will destroy all the gods of the earth, and men from their places will worship Him, even all the coastlands of the nations. I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the insults of the people of Ammon, with which they have reproached My people and exalted themselves against their borders. Therefore, as I live, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab shall be like Sodom, and the people of Ammon like Gomorrah, a possession of nettles and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of My people shall plunder them, and the remainder of My nation shall possess them. This shall be their lot in return for their pride, because they have reproached and exalted themselves against the Lord of hosts. The Lord will be known to them; He will destroy all the gods of the nations on the earth, and men from their places will worship Him, even all the coastlands of the nations. Except for the prophet Daniel, who frequently sees visions of four kingdoms and explains their differences using various images (Dan. VIII), Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel also do this, so that after seeing the vision of Judah against the other nations surrounding it, they prophesy and proclaim what will happen to them according to the specific events, and they dwell on the description of these events for a longer time. Now the prophet Zephaniah does the same, although briefly, in the same manner. For against the Philistines, against whom the previous threat has been made, he says, 'Gaza shall be destroyed, and Ascalon shall be turned into a desert, Ashdod shall be driven away to the south, and Accaron shall be uprooted.' Now a prophecy is woven against Moab and the sons of Ammon, or as it has been added in the Septuagint, against Damascus, which is called Aram in Isaiah (Chapter 17), because they, who had offered aid to Nebuchadnezzar, devastated Judah, trampled on its sanctuary, and even destroyed the temple, and having subjugated the people of Israel, they blasphemed the Lord. Indeed, Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, after destroying the cities of the Jews, oppressed other nations, and so it happened that those who had insulted the people of God were themselves pressed by the same distress of evils, and held captive Judah, whom they thought they had subjected. Therefore, before the captivity came under King Josiah, while Jerusalem and the temple were still standing, a prophecy is directed against the insolent, so that the evils that once afflicted the people of God would be alleviated by the evils of other nations. I heard, he said, the reproach of Moab, which is now called Areopolis, and the blasphemies of the sons of Ammon, which itself is also called the second city of Arabia after Bosra Philadelphia: in which they reproached my people, and having expelled the Jews, they extended their borders in their land. Therefore, because they blasphemed me and reproached my people, I, the Lord of hosts, who am able to fulfill what I threaten, and the God of Israel, who myself suffer injury among my people, will make Moab like Sodom, and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah. We find such visions in Isaiah and Jeremiah, and we will find the same things that we now read here. The dryness of thorns and heaps of salt, and a desert forever, for which I do not know why the Seventy translated Damascus as uprooted and abandoned, unless I am mistaken, deceived by the ambiguity of the word: for the dryness that is said in Hebrew Mamasac (), if the first letter Mem is changed and Dalath is taken, has the same remaining letters as Damascus, and can be read instead of the previous word Damasec. But it is asked how these cities, that is, Moab and the sons of Ammon, were reduced to Sodom and Gomorrah, and as dry as thorns and heaps of salt, they will not be built again forever? And indeed, there is no difficulty in explaining that they were laid waste like Sodom and Gomorrah. However, what follows: They will be deserted forever, we interpret either as the destruction of their kingdom (because they were later overthrown by the Chaldeans and lost their kingdom, and then were either attacked by the Antiochians or the Ptolemies, and finally submitted their necks to the Roman Empire), or certainly it must be taken exceedingly: for Lolam signifies both eternity and age: from which it can be understood as referring to one age, or for some time, or one generation. And those who remain from the people of Israel shall be devastated, and they shall possess the blasphemous aid once of the Chaldeans. But this shall happen to them because of their pride, for they have blasphemed and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts, who will be terrible over them, and his terror will not destroy the proud. He will not shed the blood of blasphemers, but he will destroy and weaken all their idols, so that those who were previously held by error and did not feel the blessings of the Lord, pressed by the necessity of evils, may know that idols are of no use and may each worship him from his own place, all the islands of the nations. So far according to the Hebrew. Now let us turn to the Septuagint interpreters, and let us compel the Jews, who only follow the history, to explain to us when Moab and the sons of Ammon became like Sodom and Gomorrah, and like a heap of ruins, and deserted forever; they should show the sulphurous rains, the vineyards, the land turned into ashes and dust, the sea that once was a well of salt, now called the Dead Sea, flooded: when the Jews plundered them, when the remaining Israelite nations possessed them. But what is the indignation of the Lord against blasphemy and insults? Not against Moab and Ammon, but against the whole earth, so that every person from their own place may worship Him, all the islands of the nations? What is more, He grants more favor to those who blaspheme, so that they may turn from error to salvation. But if they wish to say that after the return from Babylon these nations were subject to the people of Israel, first we will demand the authority of the Scriptures, from which they can prove this: then, when they are unable to demonstrate it, we will grant them that it happened as they say: that it was the justice of God to blaspheme the ancestors and reproach the forefathers, and then repay it to the grandchildren. Since certainly that statement, which was previously said in the Law, that the sins of the fathers will be visited upon the children in the third and fourth generation (Exodus 20), is dissolved by Ezekiel: 'As I live,' says the Lord, 'this parable shall no longer be spoken; but the soul that sins, it shall die' (Ezekiel 18:20). And at the same time, observe that it is a parable that has been spoken, and it does not mean what the words on the surface suggest. But if it is unjust to impute to grandchildren the sins of their grandfather that they have committed, how much more unjust is it for the folly of the Jews to hope for this to happen at the end of the world, when it is not their Christ, as they suppose; but the Antichrist that is to come. For whenever they are pressed in history, so that they may teach that what has been said is completed, they immediately leap to future times of Christ, and they promise and say to themselves after many centuries all the things that they cannot explain, and that Moab, and the sons of Ammon, and Egypt, and the Philistines, and Edom, which now insult the Jews, will be punished at that time. Let us therefore ask them why God punishes these nations in particular, and not the entire world in which the Jews have been scattered far and wide. For if Moab deserves rebuke, insulting the Jews, and the sons of Ammon and the other nations around, why isn't Gaul rebuked? why doesn't he threaten Britain? why is Spain exempt from punishment? for what reason is nothing said about Italy? why is Africa silent? and to say it once, when the whole world holds the Jews captive, why do only the nations that are around it commit so much wickedness, to the point that they are particularly named? Now, as for what we said before, that Damascus is not named in Hebrew either by the Prophet, or by any of the other Prophets anywhere when predicting what will happen to the Gentiles, we will also prove from the very order of the Scripture. For in connection with the words: 'I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the blasphemies of the children of Ammon', he adds immediately afterwards: 'because Moab will be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah.' Therefore, what follows: 'And Damascus, deserted, like a heap of grain, should have sent something from Damascus, as he had said about two nations: Moab will be like Sodom, and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah, whose sins he had already mentioned: thus he would have described the insults or blasphemies of the Damascenes, so that it would appear fitting to inflict punishment afterwards. But even this itself that is said: 'Like a heap of grain', which in Greek is said ὡς θιμωνία ἁλὸς, we think were translated by the LXX as ἁλὸς, that is, of salt; but by the uneducated, who mistook θιμωνίαν, that is, a heap of grain or produce, for ἁλὸς, adding the two letters ω and ν, as if to indicate the abundance of produce, ἅλωνος, that is, of a threshing floor, was used. It is said about the variety and error of interpretation, and about the difficulty of history. However, the learned man compares spiritual things with spiritual things, and does not seek the things that are below, but the things that are above, and with Christ rises from the underworld, and taking off the old man, puts on the new, he will bring accusations against the teachers of the contrary doctrines of the Church, who themselves also seem to be of the lineage of Abraham, and to have escaped the fire of Sodom and Gomorrah, and to dwell in the city of Segor. But because their generation is in darkness, and they cannot see the light of truth (for they have turned away from God the Father, which is interpreted from the names Lot and Moab), and they have ceased to be the sons of God (which is called my people), and they have stood still in a dark cave conceived from incestuous marriages: therefore, even to this day, insulting the simplicity of the children of Judah, they desire to magnify their possession beyond its boundaries, of which it is said in Proverbs: Do not move the everlasting boundaries, which your fathers have set (Prov. XXII, 28). See heretics in dialectics, applauding themselves in rhetoric and in all the dogmas of sophisms, despising the simplicity of the Church, and considering it unworthy of their mysteries, which they have imagined as idols for themselves, and mocking them as worthless. And you do not seek out what are the reproaches of Moab and the insults of the sons of Ammon, in which they reproached the people of God. Therefore, the Lord swore by Himself, saying: As I live, says the Lord. And beautifully to distinguish the dead gods, who are called idols, God of Israel speaks of Himself as living, that is, the God of the people who see Him: and thus these nations, that is, Moab and the sons of Ammon, of whom we have spoken above, are blaspheming. They will be like Sodom and Gomorrah, not because they come from Sodom and Gomorrah, but because they blaspheme the people of God and act against Israel. They will be reckoned as Sodom and Gomorrah, and they will be destroyed in the same way as those cities were destroyed before, having no trace of strength and life. It is no wonder if we understand this about heretics, since they are considered like Sodom and Gomorrah, as it is also said to the ecclesiastics who did not observe God's commandments and have departed from his precepts, through Isaiah: Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, and give ear to the law of the Lord, you people of Gomorrah (Isaiah 1:10). And to the elders desiring to corrupt the chastity of the Church under the guise of Susanna, Daniel says: This is the judgment of God: the seed of Canaan, and not of Judah (Daniel 13). And so that you may know that whenever Sodom and Gomorrah and Egypt are mentioned, it is not about those provinces that we see with our eyes, but about other spiritual things that the prophetic discourse warns us about: read in the Apocalypse of John: The place in which the Lord was crucified is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt (Rev. XI, 8). Therefore, if Jerusalem, in which the Lord was crucified, is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, why should not, on the other hand, Egypt and Sodom and Gomorrah, if they have done the works of Jerusalem and the land of Judah, be transferred to the land of the Lord's inheritance? Finally, David was not of the priests, nor was he allowed to eat the showbread (I Sam. 21), but because his works were increasing one by one, and Saul's persecution was advancing his virtues, therefore in his flight he doesn't hesitate, suddenly he becomes a high priest, and he receives the showbread, and he does not violate God's command. We have said all of this because Moab will be like Sodom, and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah. Damascus, which also means 'drinking blood' or 'blood shed,' will be abandoned by God's mercy, like a heap of salt. For since its ruler is King Aretha, and the people of Damascus want to kill Paul, and he is let down through the wall in a basket (Acts 9), it is not said to Damascus: You are the salt of the earth; nor is that called salt, which is always offered in sacrifices, but rather that which is tasteless and about which it is written in the Gospel: But if salt has lost its taste, with what shall it be salted? It is useless, neither for the earth, nor for the dung heap; but it is thrown out, so that it may be trampled underfoot by men (Matthew 5, 13). And so Moab, and Ammon, and Damascus, who prepared themselves against the knowledge of the Lord, and blasphemed the people of God, and said many insults against him, and wanted to extend their boundaries in the land of the Church, and possess the people of God, they will be deserted and destroyed, and the remaining people of God, that is, the men educated in the Holy Scriptures, will plunder them, and the remaining of the Lord's people will possess them, and this will be their disgrace, because they reproached and magnified themselves against the Almighty Lord. See the mercy, see the compassion of the Lord: His boundaries are insulted, He is blasphemed, His territories are plundered. And what does He do? He sends to the remnants of His people, of whom we have spoken, to divide those who blaspheme against Him, and to lead them into His possession. For it is much better for a fool to serve the wise, and for his foolishness to be corrected by the wisdom of the Lord, than for him to be abandoned to his own foolishness. Therefore, the almighty Lord will come, and He will be more clearly revealed to those who now do not know Him, whom they are ignorant of. And He will destroy all doctrines, that is, their gods, and the idols of the various nations, so that when the statues, which they had composed in their own understanding, are demolished, the nations may turn to the Lord, and each one may worship Him in his own place whom they did not know before.

The prophet, having declared the judgments which were ready to fall on his people, earnestly exhorts them to repentance, that these judgments may be averted, Zep 2:1-3. He then foretells the fate of other neighboring and hostile nations: the Philistines, Zep 2:4-7; Moabites and Ammonites, Zep 2:8-11; Ethiopians, Zep 2:12; and Assyrians, Zep 2:13. In the close of the chapter we have a prophecy against Nineveh. These predictions were accomplished chiefly by the conquests of Nebuchadnezzar.

The breeding of nettles - That is, their land shall become desolate, and be a place for nettles, thorns, etc., to flourish in, for want of cultivation.

EXHORTATION TO REPENT BEFORE THE CHALDEAN INVADERS COME. DOOM OF JUDAH'S FOES, THE PHILISTINES, MOAB, AMMON, WITH THEIR IDOLS, AND ETHIOPIA AND ASSYRIA. (Zep 2:1-15) Gather yourselves--to a religious assembly, to avert the judgment by prayers (Joe 2:16) [GROTIUS]. Or, so as not to be dissipated "as chaff" (Zep 2:2). The Hebrew is akin to a root meaning "chaff." Self-confidence and corrupt desires are the dissipation from which they are exhorted to gather themselves [CALVIN]. The foe otherwise, like the wind, will scatter you "as the chaff." Repentance is the gathering of themselves meant. nation not desired--(Compare Ch2 21:20), that is, not desirable; unworthy of the grace or favor of God; and yet God so magnifies that grace as to be still solicitous for their safety, though they had destroyed themselves and forfeited all claims on His grace [CALVIN]. The Margin from Chaldee Version has, "not desirous," namely of returning to God. MAURER and GESENIUS translate, "Not waxing pale," that is, dead to shame. English Version is best.

the breeding of nettles--or, the overspreading of nettles, that is, a place overrun with them. salt pits--found at the south of the Dead Sea. The water overflows in the spring, and salt is left by the evaporation. Salt land is barren (Jdg 9:45; Psa 107:34, Margin). possess them--that is, their land; in retribution for their having occupied Judah's land.

Exhortation to Repentance in View of the Judgment - Zephaniah 2:1-3:8 Zephaniah, having in the previous chapter predicted the judgment upon the whole world, and Judah especially, as being close at hand, now summons his people to repent, and more especially exhorts the righteous to seek the Lord and strive after righteousness and humility, that they may be hidden in the day of the Lord (Zep 2:1-3). The reason which he gives for this admonition to repentance is twofold: viz., (1) that the Philistians, Moabites, and Ammonites will be cut off, and Israel will take possession of their inheritances (Zep 2:4-10), that all the gods of the earth will be overthrown, and all the islands brought to worship the Lord, since He will smite the Cushites, and destroy proud Asshur and Nineveh (Zep 2:11-15); and (2) that even blood-stained Jerusalem, with its corrupt princes, judges, and prophets, will endure severe punishment. Accordingly, the call to repentance is not simply strengthened by the renewed threat of judgment upon the heathen and the ungodly in Judah, but is rather accounted for by the introduction of the thought, that by means of the judgment the heathen nations are to be brought to acknowledge the name of the Lord, and the rescued remnant of Israel to be prepared for the reception of the promised salvation.