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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Zephaniah 2:1 - 2:7
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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 he guided by His will, which have wrought His judgment, observed His right, trying to fulfill 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 hack 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.