these waters, but His intention of interposing for His people's salvation. V. 9. Thy bow was made quite naked, drawn forth from the quiver and made ready to send forth its arrow, according to the oaths of the tribes, even Thy word, literally, "sworn are the scourges by the word, rods of chastisement are sworn by the word," that is, the chastisements of Jehovah are definitely decided upon and even supported by oaths. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers, as when masses of water rush from the mountains, or when tidal waves cut deep gullies into the earth. V. 10. The mountains saw Thee, and they trembled, shaken by storms and earthquakes; the overflowing of the water passed by, a torrent of water, from subterranean sources or as the result of a cloudburst, rushes along; the deep, the abyss of the ocean, uttered His voice and lifted up His hands on high, in a mighty noise accompanying their breaking forth. V. 11. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation, or have entered their dwelling, so that a terrifying darkness ensues; at the light of Thine arrows they went and at the shining of Thy glittering spear, as God manifested Himself as the judge of the world, executing justice and righteousness upon all men. V. 12. Thou didst march through the land in indignation, through all the countries of the earth; Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger, stamping them under foot. V. 13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, Israel, as representative of all true children of God, even for salvation with Thine Anointed, all the leaders of the people being types of the Messiah, by whom the Lord's kingdom would be permanently established. Thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, crushing the Chaldean nation with its ruler, typical of the antichristian forces, by discovering the foundation unto the neck, laying bare the foundations being the same as razing the entire building to the ground. Selah. V. 14. Thou didst strike through with his staves, piercing with the spear or weapons of the wicked one, the head of his villages, the ruler of his hordes, or the chief of his princes, so that the soldiers of the hostile armies would turn one against the other; they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me, rushing in to disperse the people of Israel; their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly, that is, the enemies are like assassins, who delight in pouncing upon the unsuspecting wayfarer and

in taking his life. V. 15. Thou didst walk through the sea with Thine horses, as when Jehovah destroyed the army of Pharaoh and delivered His people, through the heap of great waters, upon the billows of great waters, the expression serving to bring out the almighty power of Jehovah in the deliverance of His people. Thus the majesty of the Lord in overcoming all His enemies is set forth in a word-painting of singular beauty and power, with the Messianic background clearly in evidence.

A PLEA FOR MERCY. — V. 16. When I heard, my belly trembled, namely, with terror at the revelation of the mighty judgment of Jehovah, my lips quivered at the voice, so that he was unable to steady them; rottenness entered into my bones, a feeling of overpowering weakness, and I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble, quietly, in silent submission, awaiting the day of distress. When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops, or, "when he comes up against the people who will attack it," when the conquest on the part of the invader may be expected. V. 17. Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive, as it brings forth its blossoms and yields its fruit, shall fail, shriveling up, and the fields shall yield no meat, no grain for food; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls, orchards and cultivated fields are barren, granaries and barns are empty in consequence of the desolation of the land caused by the enemy; v. 18. yet I will rejoice in the Lord, in spite of all these afflictions, I will joy in the God of my salvation, exulting in Him on whom the salvation of all mankind rests. V. 19. The Lord God is my Strength, Ps. 27, 1, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet, strong and sure-footed, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places, on the heights of salvation to which one climbs from the valley of affliction on the basis of the confidence of faith. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments, this being a note to the leader of the Templemusic, directing him to have the psalm accompanied by music on stringed instruments. The God of salvation is on the side of His children, so that they are safe in the midst of all their enemies and will eventually enjoy the fulness of the redemption earned and prepared by the Messiah.

The prophet Zephaniah ("Jehovah hides") himself traces his family back to Hizkiah, or Hezekiah, and there seems to be little doubt that this is the king of that name and that Zephaniah was of royal descent. He prophesied under King Josiah, and was therefore a contemporary of Jeremiah, of Habakkuk, and of the prophetess Huldah, in the last half of the seventh century before Christ. The date of his book may safely be placed at about the year 625 B. C. His preaching, of which a summary is offered in his book, strongly supported the king in his work of reforming the Jewish Church.

The Book of Zephaniah offers his prophecies in a condensed form and in a continuous discourse. Its theme is the great day of Jeho

vah's judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem, as well as upon the entire sinful world. But his powerful, at times overwhelmingly impressive call to repentance concludes with a most cheering promise of salvation through the Messiah.

The style of the book, though not uniformly sublime, is graphic and vivid in the presentation of details. There are passages which agree to a remarkable extent with the sayings of former prophets, a factor which supports the brotherhood existing between the inspired men of that day. The comforting promises of the third chapter are the outstanding feature of the entire book.1)

1) Cp. Fuerbringer, Einleitung in das Alte Testament, 92. 93.

The Universality of the Judgment. THE NATURE OF THE JUDGMENT. V. 1. The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah, being communicated to him by special revelation of the Lord, the prophet tracing his genealogy as follows: the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, four representative members from his ancestry being given, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, who made the last consistent effort to bring about a reformation, of the people. V. 2. I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord, sweeping it off the face of the earth in an utter devastation. V. 3. I will consume man and beast, even the creatures being affected by the universality of the judgment; I will consume the fowls of the heaven and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked, that is, whatever men have offended and transgressed with together with the objects of their idolatry; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord, certainly destroying them off the face of the earth, in a last great destruction. V. 4. I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, the particular object of His wrath, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for the people of the land followed the inhabitants of the capital in their transgressions; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, for there were still such as adhered to his idolatrous worship, and the name of the Chemarim, the idol-priests, those engaged in the worship of Baal, with the priests, for these also had polluted themselves and were therefore destined for destruction, v. 5. and them that worship the host of heaven upon the

housetops, regarding sun, moon, and stars as their gods; and them that worship and that swear by the Lord and that swear by Malcham, by their king, so that they tried to combine the service of the true God and that of Baal, solemnly pledging themselves to the latter's service, v. 6. and them that are turned back from the Lord, drawing back from Jehovah, and those that have not sought the Lord nor enquired for Him, both the openly wicked and the irreligious being included in the list of Jehovah's enemies. V. 7. Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God! ready to submit to His judgment as outlined above; for the day of the Lord is at hand, when His punishment must strike the transgressors; for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, the Jewish nation itself, He hath bid His guests, namely, the world-powers and their allies, all ready to devour Judah. V. 8. And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, when His punishment is put into effect, that I will punish the princes, the mighty ones, the dignitaries of state, and the king's children, all those belonging to the royal family, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel, their dress showing that they were estranged from the national spirit and customs. V. 9. In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, namely, that of the temple of Dagon, the idol of the Philistines, 1 Sam. 5, 5, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit, bringing their money and their treasures, unjustly acquired as they are, into the houses of their idols. V. 10. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that there shall be the noise of a

cry, of a woeful shout, from the fish-gate, that through which the road to Joppa passed, and an howling from the second, from the lower city, where the attack of the enemy would be launched, and a great crashing from the hills, those extending upward from the lower city. The Lord set out to punish, and His judgment was thorough, as it always is in the case of such as refuse to heed His words of warning.

THE EXTENT OF THE JUDGMENT. V. 11. Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, meaning the mortar, a small section of Jerusalem, so called because it presented a depression or hollow, for all the merchant people are cut down, entirely destroyed; all they that bear silver, the traders laden with silver, who occupied that part of the lower city, are cut off. V. 12. And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with candles, investigating even the dark and hidden corners, so that not one of the wrongdoers is overlooked, and punish the men that are settled on their lees, like old wine which is not drawn off, a fit picture of moral and religious indifference, Jer. 48, 11, that say in their heart, The Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil, that is, there is no need of worry, matters will go on as they always have been. V. 13. Therefore their goods shall become a booty, to be robbed by the enemies, and their houses a desolation, in the overthrow of the city; they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them, the destruction taking place before they can move into them, and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof. Cp. Amos 5, 11; Micah 6, 15. V. 14. The great day of the Lord, the day of His mighty judg

ment, is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, there will be no further delay, even the voice of the day of the Lord, or, "Hark! the day of Jehovah"; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly, the hero crying in bitter lamentation, because he cannot save himself, and must yield to the power of the foe. V. 15. That day is a day of wrath, cp. Is. 19, 18, a day of trouble and distress, of anguish and pressure, Job 15, 24, a day of wasteness and desolation, of the greatest devastation, a day of darkness and gloominess, Joel 2, 2, a day of clouds and thick darkness, Deut. 4, 11, v. 16. a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, in proclaiming God's power upon a sinful people, in the war-signal of desolation, and against the high towers, the battlements of the forts. V. 17. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, groping about in a futile effort to escape from existing evils, because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, in endless quantities, and their flesh as the dung, which is not regarded. V. 18. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath, they would not be able to buy themselves off when His fury is once set in motion; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, His indignation jealous for His honor; for He shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land, consuming them with a suddenness which they had not anticipated. Even so will the Day of Judgment come upon a world which, as a whole, is not prepared for the Lord's last advent. Cp. Matt. 24, 44.

The Lord's Call to Repentance. THE EXHORTATION AND THE DOOM OF THE PHILISTINES.-V. 1. Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, as for a penitential assembly with earnest self-examination, O nation not desired, literally, "that does not grow pale," which till now has felt no sense of shame, v. 2. before the decree bring forth, when, according to God's plan, the day of judgment upon Judah would suddenly come, before the day pass as the chaff, coming on quickly as when the wind carries the chaff along, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you, as it surely would if they would not show the proper repentance. V. 3. Seek ye the Lord, in proper repentance, all ye meek of the earth, the humble of the land, those who were still disposed to be guided by His will, which have wrought His judgment, observed His right, trying to fulfil the decrees of His holy Word;

seek righteousness, with ever greater truth and sincerity, seek meekness, with all humility, with a constant sense of their own unworthiness; it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger, so that the Lord would make use of mercy rather than a strict accounting and save them in the general overthrow. This exhortation is now supported by a reference to the doom of three heathen nations. V. 4. For Gaza shall be forsaken, overthrown and forgotten, and Ashkelon a desolation; they shall drive out Ashdod, the chief seat of the worship of Dagon, at the noon day, since she would be helpless even at midday, so that there would be no need of resorting to a night attack, and Ekron shall be rooted up. The four Philistine city-states here mentioned are clearly representative of the entire country, as the next statements show. V. 5. Woe unto the inhabitants of the seacoast, of the plains along the Mediterranean sea, the nation of

the Cherethites, for a part of the Philistines, at least, traced their descent to the ancient people of Crete; the word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, the word Canaan here applied chiefly to the lowlands of Palestine to the west; I will even destroy thee that there shall be no inhabitant, the nation as such to be destroyed. V. 6. And the seacoast, then teeming with the life of rich commercial cities, shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, dugouts and shanties, or places for pastures where they would carry on the work of their calling, and folds for flocks, the land reverting to the use of nomads. V. 7. And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah, those whom the Lord would lead back to their own country; they shall feed thereupon, making the country a pasture-ground; in the houses of Ashkelon, which would no longer be inhabited, shall they lie down in the evening; for the Lord, their God, shall visit them, the remnant of Judah, whom He intended to make the nucleus of a renewed people, and turn away their captivity. The members of the Jewish nation that returned from Babylonia were those in whose midst the Lord preserved His Church and among whom He established the Church of the New Testament. So the Messianic idea is brought out even in this connection.

THE DOOM OF MOAB, ETHIOPIA, AND ASSYRIA. — V. 8. I have heard the reproach of Moab, cp. Jer. 48, 27, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, the two nations east of Jordan and of the Dead Sea, which were related to the children of Israel, but later became the enemies of God's people and made known their hostility in bitter blasphemies, whereby they have reproached my people, in proud mockery and scorn, and magnified themselves against their border, acted violently against the boundary of the Lord's people, constantly attempting to get into possession of some of Israel's territory. V. 9. Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, the supreme Ruler of the world, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, being overwhelmed by the destruction which was the fate of their ancestor's cities, even the breeding of nettles, a weed growing only in desolate places, and salt-pits, on the shore of the Dead Sea, and a perpetual desolation, a desert until the end of time; the residue of My people shall spoil them, take possession of their land, and the remnant of My people shall possess them, these events being typical of the destruction of the sinners and the redemption of the Lord's people. V. 10. This shall they have

was

for their pride, in proper retaliation for the manner in which they had dealt with Jehovah's people, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts. V. 11. The Lord will be terrible unto them, dealing with them in a manner which is bound to strike terror to their hearts; for He will famish, or destroy, all the gods of the earth, all the idols in which men placed their trust; and men shall worship Him, acknowledging His supremacy, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen, namely, when men from every nation of the earth would be gained for the Gospel-truth, this being a further Messianic feature in this chapter. V. 12. Ye Ethiopians also, representatives of the heathen nations of the South, ye shall be slain by My sword, the statement in the third person dismissing them as of no further importance. V. 13. And He will stretch out His hand against the North, and destroy Assyria, powerful though it was at that time, and will make Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, Jonah 1, 2, a desolation, although it then surrounded by a network of irrigation canals, and dry like a wilderness. The prophet purposely devotes more time to Assyria, because it was at that time the greatest worldpower and particularly hostile to the Lord's people. V. 14. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, the former great city having been leveled to the ground and reverted back to a pasture-ground, all the beasts of the nations, beasts of all kinds in droves or great masses; both the cormorant, the pelican, and the bittern, or hedge-hog, shall lodge in the upper lintels of it, on the capitals of pillars standing in the midst of the ruins; their voice shall sing in the windows, or, “hark how the singer sings in the window," where he has built his nest; desolation, or dirt, shall be in the thresholds; for He shall uncover the cedar work, all the beautiful cedar paneling of their palaces the Lord has torn away, and it has fallen into decay. V. 15. This is the rejoicing city, where shouts of gayety were heard without ceasing, that dwelt carelessly, in perfect security, that said in her heart, in proud self-confidence, I am, and there is none beside me. How is she become a desolation, a deserted place, a place for beasts to lie down in! a lair for the animals of the desert. Every one that passeth by her shall hiss and wag his hand, both astonished and gratified at the overthrow of the proud city. It is a graphic description of the manner in which the Lord carried out His judgments upon His enemies.

The Doom of Jerusalem and the Messianic

Promise.

THE OBDURACY OF THE CAPITAL CITY. - V. 1. Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, stubborn and full of uncleanness, to the oppressing city! where violence against the weak and downtrodden was the order of the day. V. 2. She obeyed not the voice, paying no attention to the Lord's admonitions; she received not correction, the instruction or discipline which was intended to be of benefit to her; she trusted not in the Lord, placing no confidence in His exhortations and promises; she drew not near to her God, she has become indifferent to Jehovah. V. 3. Her princes within her are roaring lions, bent upon rapine and murder; her judges are evening wolves, driven forth by hunger in the evening, their greed being insatiable; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow, their voracious appetite causing them instantly to devour their victims, laying nothing aside for the next day. V. 4. Her prophets are light and treacherous persons, boastful and faithless knaves; her priests have polluted the Sanctuary, desecrating the Temple by their neglect of the prescribed sacrifices or by their blasphemous manner in offering them; they have done violence to the Law, simply setting aside the precepts of God whose guardians they were supposed to be. V. 5. The just Lord is in the midst thereof, He, the righteous One, having left nothing untried; He will not do iniquity, He commits no wrong; every morning doth He bring His judgment to light, giving evidence of the justice of all His dealings; He faileth not, no blame, therefore, rests on Him. But the unjust knoweth no shame, the wicked people of Jerusalem are not influenced either by the example of God or by His threat of punishment. V. 6. I have cut off the nations, also as an act of warning for Israel; their towers are desolate, their walls and fortresses leveled to the ground; I made their streets waste, the roads obliterated, that none passeth by; their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, that there is none inhabitant, all this being done, in part at least, to serve as an example of warning to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. V. 7. I said, Surely thou wilt fear Me, the kindness and tenderness of the warning being emphasized; thou wilt receive instruction, if only thou wouldst suffer thyself to be taught! So their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them, or, "in accordance with all that I had appointed concerning them"; that is, Jehovah hoped still to have mercy on them, so that He would not have to send the threatened punishment; but they rose early, zealous for their wicked

works, and corrupted all their doings, they were eager to speed their perverted actions, their infamous deeds. Thus many a godless person refuses to heed the Lord's call to repentance and deliberately plunges all the more deeply into transgressions of every kind.

THE SALVATION OF THE DAUGHTER OF ZION. V. 8. Therefore wait ye upon Me, saith the Lord, this merciful invitation being extended to all who will still listen to His words, until the day that I rise up to the prey, when He pours out His wrath upon the nations; for My determination is to gather the nations, to carry out His punishment upon them, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger, all the burning wrath which He has stored up against them; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy, by the zeal which He would show on His great Day of Judgment. That is the promise of the Messianic period, the elimination of the enemies as a factor in interfering with the progress of the Lord's kingdom. V. 9. For

then will I turn to the people a pure language, by purifying their sinful lips and thereby enabling them to call upon Him with pure lips, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, in the true unity of a common faith which is described in John 17 and Eph. 4, to serve Him with one consent, literally, "with one shoulder," all bearing together the pleasant yoke of Jehovah. V. 10. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, from the remotest corners of the earth, My suppliants, those who would worship Jehovah in spirit and in truth, even the daughter of My dispersed, gained for the Lord from the midst of a strange nation, shall bring Mine offering, turning to Him with true worship. V. 11. In that day shalt thou, the restored Israel, the Church of the New Testament, not be ashamed for all thy doings wherein thou hast transgressed against Me, there being no more occasion for such a feeling; for then I will take away out of the midst of thee them that rejoice in thy pride, the wicked and blasphemous whom the prophet had described at the beginning of the chapter, and thou shalt no more be haughty because of My holy mountain, all boastfulness and pride being eliminated in favor of a meek and humble submission to Jehovah's reign of mercy. V. 12. I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, one fully conscious of its absolute dependence upon the grace and mercy of the covenant God, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord, placing all their confidence in Him alone. V. 13. The remnant of Israel, the nucleus of the Jewish Church, which would become the stock of the Church of the New Testament, shall not do