Sofonia 1:16 Commento

After the title of the book (Zep 1:1) here is, I. A threatening of the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem, an utter destruction, by the Chaldeans (Zep 1:2-4). II. A charge against them for their gross sin, which provoked God to bring that destruction upon them (Zep 1:5, Zep 1:6); and so he goes on in the rest of the chapter, setting both the judgments before them, that they might prevent them or prepare for them, and the sins that destroy them, that they might judge themselves, and justify God in what was brought upon them. 1. They must hold their peace because they had greatly sinned (Zep 1:7-9). But, 2, They shall howl because the trouble will be great. The day of the Lord is near, and it will be a terrible day (Zep 1:10-18). Such fair and timely warning as this did God give to the Jews of the approaching captivity; but they hardened their neck, which made their destruction remediless.

A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, &c.] The trumpet of the enemy, sounding the alarm of war against the fenced cities of Judea, which were taken before Jerusalem; calling and gathering the soldiers together, and animating them to the assault of them; and blowing them in a way of triumph; and as expressive of victory, having got possession of them: and against the high towers; or "corners" F24; towers being usually built corner-wise, and full of corners, and on the corners of walls of cities; sometimes these signify princes, magistrates, and great men, ( Zechariah 10:4 ) . FOOTNOTES: F24 (twnp) "pinnas", Montanus, Castalio; "angulos", Junius & Tremellius, Burkius.

(Verse 15, 16.) The voice of the day of the Lord is bitter: there the strong shall be troubled: the day of wrath, that day shall be a day of tribulation and distress, a day of calamity and wretchedness, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and whirlwinds, a day of the trumpet and the cry against fortified cities, and against the high corners. LXX: The voice of the day of the Lord is bitter and harshly appointed: there the strong shall be troubled: the day of wrath, that day shall be a day of tribulation and necessity, a day of wretchedness and perdition, a day of darkness and whirlwinds, a day of clouds and gloominess, a day of the trumpet and the cry against fortified cities, and against the high corners. According to the above, either take from the Babylonian captivity or from the extreme sufferings they endured from the Romans, over which the Lord wept for Jerusalem, saying: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to you (Matthew 23:37), and so on. Truly, a preferred vengeance has been sought from the blood of Abel the just to the blood of Zechariah, whom they killed between the temple and the altar (2 Chronicles 24); and finally, concerning the Son of God, saying: His blood be on us and on our children, they experienced a bitter day, because they had provoked the Lord to bitterness; a day appointed by the Lord, on which not just anyone, but the strongest men are humbled, and wrath will come upon them in the end. For often, indeed, they had endured the anger of the Lord before, but that anger had not been the consummation and end (Matthew 27:25). Why now is it necessary to describe the great calamities they endured in each captivity, and how those who rejected the light of the Lord were cast into darkness and gloom, and those who refused to listen to the trumpets of the solemn days heard the clamor (or clangor) of warriors? But as for the fortified cities and high corners of Judea, which have been completely destroyed, I think that it is a judgment of the eyes rather than the ears: especially for us who now live in this province, we can see, we can prove what has been written. We can hardly see small traces of ruins in once great cities. In Shiloh, where the tabernacle and the ark of the Lord's Covenant were, we can barely see the foundations of the altar. That city of Gibeah, Saul's city, is completely destroyed to its foundations (Joshua 18). Ramah and Bethoron and the other noble cities built by Solomon are now just small villages. Let us read Josephus and the prophecy of Zephaniah, and we will see his ((Al. we will see)) history: and this is not only about the captivity, but until the present day, the treacherous colonizers, after killing the servants and finally the Son of God, except for mourning, are prohibited from entering Jerusalem, and in order to be allowed to mourn the ruin of their city, they buy it at a price, those who once bought the blood of Christ now buy their own tears: and not even their weeping is free for them. Do you see on the day when Jerusalem was captured and demolished by the Romans, the mournful people coming together, the decrepit old women and men covered in rags and years, demonstrating the anger of the Lord in their bodies and appearance? The crowd of miserable people gathers, and with the Lord's shining and radiant resurrection, with the flag of the cross also shining from the Mount of Olives, they lament the ruins of their temple, the miserable people, and yet it is not to be pitied: still there are tears on their cheeks, and livid arms, and scattered hair, and a soldier demands his reward, so that they may be allowed to weep more; and does anyone doubt, when they see these things, about the day of tribulation and distress, the day of calamity and misery, the day of darkness and gloom, the day of clouds and whirlwinds, the day of the trumpet and clangor? For they have trumpets even in mourning, and, according to the prophecy, the voice of solemnity has turned into lamentation. They wail over the ashes of the Sanctuary, and over the destroyed altar, and over once fortified cities, and over the lofty corners of the temple, from which they once cast James, the brother of the Lord. These things have been said about the captivity of the Jews. Furthermore, if we apply the day of the Lord, as mentioned above, to the end of the world or to the end of each person's life, the interpretation will be clear, that the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, full of necessity and anger, and the strong will be troubled there, for even the holy ones will be saved, but as if through fire. That day will be a day of tribulation, distress, and calamity, a day of misery when they will declare: Woe to us, for we have become miserable. It will be a day of darkness: For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light (John 3:20); and it is necessary that those who hate the light will be enveloped in darkness. It will be a day of fog and whirlwind; for the storm of the Lord will come upon them, and the sound of the trumpet, as the Apostle indicates, saying: In the last trumpet (1 Corinthians 15:52). For there will be a day of trumpet and the sound of shouting over fortified cities, which they had built for themselves in the multitude of sins, just as Cain had. And over the high corners, wicked works and those deviating from the straight path of the Lord (or deviating from the straight path). Therefore, the hypocrites, the Pharisees, are also accused by the Savior, because they pray in the street corners (Matthew VI). For the straight and narrow path that leads to paradise is narrow and difficult, and it leads to life. But the path is narrow and crooked, wide, and spacious, which leads to death (Matt. VII). At the same time, amidst the words of the severity of the Lord, perceive His mercy, that for this reason the days are bitter, and the days of wrath, and the days of tribulation, and the days of trumpet and clamor, so that poorly fortified cities and perverse angles may be destroyed.

But let them hear how the prophet Zephaniah holds out over them the power of divine rebuke, saying, Behold the day of the Lord cometh, great and horrible, the day of wrath, that day; a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of cloud and whirlwind, a day of trumpet and clangour, upon all fenced cities, and upon all lofty corners. For what is expressed by fenced cities but minds suspected, and surrounded ever with a fallacious defence; minds which, as often as their fault is attacked, suffer not the darts of truth to reach them? And what is signified by lofty corners (a wall being always double in corners) but insincere hearts; which, while they shun the simplicity of truth, are in a manner doubled back upon themselves in the crookedness of duplicity, and, what is worse, from their very fault of insincerity lift themselves in their thoughts with the pride of prudence? Therefore the day of the Lord comes full of vengeance and rebuke upon fenced cities and upon lofty corners, because the wrath of the last judgment both destroys human hearts that have been closed by defences against the truth, and unfolds such as have been folded up in duplicities. For then the fenced cities fall, because souls which God has not penetrated will be damned. Then the lofty corners tumble, because hearts which erect themselves in the prudence of insincerity are prostrated by the sentence of righteousness.

GOD'S SEVERE JUDGMENT ON JUDAH FOR ITS IDOLATRY AND NEGLECT OF HIM: THE RAPID APPROACH OF THE JUDGMENT, AND THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF ESCAPE. (Zep. 1:1-18) days of Josiah--Had their idolatries been under former kings, they might have said, Our kings have forced us to this and that. But under Josiah, who did all in his power to reform them, they have no such excuse. son of Amon--the idolater, whose bad practices the Jews clung to, rather than the good example of Josiah, his son; so incorrigible were they in sin. Judah--Israel's ten tribes had gone into captivity before this.

the trumpet--namely, of the besieging enemy (Amo 2:2). alarm--the war shout [MAURER]. towers--literally "angles"; for city walls used not to be built in a direct line, but with sinuous curves and angles, so that besiegers advancing might be assailed not only in front, but on both sides, caught as it were in a cul-de-sac; towers were built especially at the angles. So TACITUS describes the walls of Jerusalem [Histories, 5.11.7].

Judgment upon All the World, and upon Judah in Particular - Zephaniah 1 The judgment will come upon all the world (Zep 1:2, Zep 1:3), and will destroy all the idolaters and despisers of God in Judah and Jerusalem (Zep 1:4-7), and fall heavily upon sinners of every rank (Zep 1:8-13). The terrible day of the Lord will burst irresistibly upon all the inhabitants of the earth (Zep 1:14-18).