เศฟันยาห์ 1:17 วิจารณ์

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.

And I will bring distress upon men Not upon men in general, but particularly on the men of Judea, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; and especially those that were in the fenced cities and high towers; and who might think themselves safe and secure; but, being besieged, should be distressed with famine and pestilence, and with the enemy; and more especially when stormed, and a breach made, and the enemy just entering: that they shall walk like blind men; not knowing which way to go, where to turn themselves, what methods to take, or course to steer, no more than a blind man. The phrase is expressive of their being at their wits' ends, void of all thought and consultation: because they have sinned against the Lord; and therefore he gives them up, not only into the hand of the enemy, but unto an infatuation of spirit, and a judicial blindness of mind: and their blood shall be poured out as dust; in great quantities, like that, without any regard to it, without showing any mercy, and as if it was of no more value than the dust of the earth. The Targum is, ``their blood shall be poured out into the dust;'' or on it, and be drunk up by it: and their flesh as the dung; or their carcasses, as the same paraphrase; that is, their dead bodies shall lie unburied, and rot, and putrefy, and shall be cast upon fields like dung, to fatten them. The word for "flesh", in the Hebrew language, signifies bread or food; because dead bodies are food for worms; but in the Arabic language, as Aben Ezra and Jarchi observe, it signifies "flesh".

(Verse 17, 18.) And I will trouble the people, and they shall walk as blind, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their bodies like dung; but their silver and gold shall not be able to save them in the day of the Lord's wrath, and all the earth shall be devoured by the fire of his zeal: for he will make a speedy consumption of all the inhabitants of the earth. LXX: And I will trouble the people, and they shall walk as blind, because they have sinned against the Lord, and he shall pour out their blood like dust, and their flesh like the dung of oxen; and their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's anger, and all the earth shall be consumed by the fire of his zeal: for he will make a speedy and complete destruction upon all the inhabitants of the earth. It is not difficult to say, according to the previous meaning, that Jerusalem, which endured because of the cross of the Lord, has suffered: for the visitation of the Lord has departed from it, and all men in Judea have been troubled, and because of the greatness of the affliction they have walked like blind men, not knowing what to do. And they have suffered this because they have sinned against the Lord, that is, against the Son of God. For because they have shed the blood of the prophets and the blood of Christ, their blood has been poured out like the earth in the whole region, and their bodies have remained unburied, like dung upon the face of the earth. Those who amassed great wealth through excessive greed, hoarding silver and gold, were unable to free themselves from the wrath of the Lord on the day of judgment. For the fire of the Lord's zeal burned against them and consumed the entire province. And there was no respite in their midst, for forty-two years after the crucifixion of the Lord, Jerusalem was surrounded by an army and its downfall came swiftly, not only for Jerusalem but also for all the inhabitants of the land of Judaea. But in the end, whether of the world or of each individual, all men who remained as men will be troubled, and the dead will be like men. And they will walk as blind, for they have lost the light of virtues, and they will not have a place for repentance: and they will suffer these things because they have sinned against the Lord. For if the Lord is justice, truth, holiness, and other virtues, whoever has acted unjustly, lied, and pursued vice and sins, has sinned against the Lord. But what follows, 'And their blood will be poured out like the earth, and their bodies like the dung of bulls,' seems absurd, that in the resurrection of the dead and in the consummation of the world and judgement, we should say that blood is poured out and bodies lie like dung. Therefore, what is said to Noah, 'And I will require the blood of your lives from the hand of every beast, and from the hand of man, and from the hand of his brother I will require the life of man, who sheds the blood of man: by man shall his blood be shed' (Gen. IX, 5, 6), it is ridiculous to believe this in the resurrection, and it cannot hold true in this life. For how many have shed blood, and their blood has not been shed? And others have killed a man with poison or hanging, and yet when the man is dead, no blood has been shed? Therefore, how is the Lord going to shed their blood in vengeance when the one who kills has not shed blood? Therefore, the blood of man, which is the vital principle by which he is nourished, sustained, and lives, must be understood: whoever sheds it, either through scandal or perverse doctrine, will be poured out by him on the day of judgment, that is, what he seemed to have as vital, he will be forced to lose. According to this kind of blood, and flesh is understood, of which Isaiah says: All flesh is grass (Isa. XL, 6). And in Genesis the Lord said: My spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh (Gen. VI, 3). And the Apostle, speaking of both: Flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God: neither will corruption inherit incorruption of God (Al. God is silent) (I Cor. XV, 50). Therefore, on the day of consummation, whether general or specific, all blood that has been shed will cry out to the Lord, and it will appear in the midst, and the works of blood and earthly things will lie as dust and filth, and the rich, with their silver and gold, will not be able to free themselves on the day of wrath, with him who is dying hearing: Fool, this night your soul will be taken from you; and what you have prepared, whose will it be (Luke XII, 20)? Not that we deny that the rich can be saved from death by gold and silver; for the redemption of a man's soul is his own wealth (Prov. XIII, 8); but rather that they cannot be saved at that time when they must forsake their riches out of necessity. For all the earth and everything that is earthly will be devoured by the zeal of the Lord. And when he says 'zeal,' understand that he is still speaking of one who loves the Lord. For if he did not love the human soul, he would never be zealous for it; and, in the likeness of a husband, he would avenge the sin of his wife, whom he would not be angry with if he did not love her. And the Lord will do this with haste for all the inhabitants of the earth, those who have completely devoted themselves to the earth and are not strangers or foreigners, as the righteous one who speaks: I am a stranger in the land, and a foreigner like all my ancestors (Ps. XXXVIII, 13). And again, elsewhere, not wanting to dwell any longer in the tent of the flesh, he testifies with tearful voice, saying: Woe is me, for my journey has been prolonged (Ps. CXIX, 5). For we who are in this body's tabernacle, groan and lament: Miserable wretch that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom. VII, 24)?

They shall walk like blind men - Be in the most perplexing doubt and uncertainty; and while in this state, have their blood poured out by the sword of their enemies, and their flesh trodden under foot.

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.

like blind men--unable to see whither to turn themselves so as to find an escape from existing evils. flesh--Hebrew, "bread"; so the Arabic term for "bread" is used for "flesh" (Mat 26:26).

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).

In the midst of this tribulation the sinners will perish without counsel or help. Zep 1:17. "And I make it strait for men, and they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Zep 1:18. Even their silver, even their gold, will not be able to save them on the day of Jehovah's fury, and in the fire of His wrath will the whole earth be devoured; for He will make an end, yea a sudden one, to all the inhabitants of the earth." והצרתי reminds of the threat of Moses in Deu 28:52, to which Zephaniah alluded in Zep 1:16. And in הלכוּ כּעורים the allusion to Deu 28:29 is also unmistakeable. To walk like the blind, i.e., to seek a way out of the trouble without finding one. This distress God sends, because they have sinned against Him, by falling away from Him through idolatry and the transgression of His commandments, as already shown in Zep 1:4-12. But the punishment will be terrible. Their blood will be poured out like dust. The point of comparison is not the quantity, as in Gen 13:16 and others, but the worthlessness of dust, as in Kg2 13:7 and Isa 49:23. The blood is thought as little of as the dust which is trodden under foot. Lechūm, which occurs again in Job 20:23, means flesh (as in the Arabic), not food. The verb shâphakh, to pour out, is also to be taken per zeugma in connection with this clause, though without there being any necessity to associate it with Sa2 20:10, and regard lechūm as referring to the bowels. For the fact itself, compare Kg1 14:10 and Jer 9:21. In order to cut off all hope on deliverance from the rich and distinguished sinners, the prophet adds in Zep 1:18 : Even with silver and gold will they not be able to save their lives. The enemy will give no heed to this (cf. Isa 13:17; Jer 4:30; Eze 7:19) in the day that the Lord will pour out His fury upon the ungodly, to destroy the whole earth with the fire of His wrathful jealousy (cf. Deu 4:24). By kol-hâ'ârets we might understand the whole of the land of Judah, if we looked at what immediately precedes it. But if we bear in mind that the threat commenced with judgment upon the whole earth (Zep 1:2, Zep 1:3), and that it here returns to its starting-point, to round off the picture, there can be no doubt that the whole earth is intended. The reason assigned for this threat in Zep 1:18 is formed after Isa 10:23; but the expression is strengthened by the use of אך־נבהלה instead of ונחרצה, the word round in Isaiah. Kâlâh: the finishing stroke, as in Isaiah l.c. (see at Nah 1:8). אך, only, equivalent to "not otherwise than," i.e., assuredly. נבהלה is used as a substantive, and is synonymous with behâlâh, sudden destruction, in Isa 65:23. The construction with 'ēth accus. as in Nah 1:8.