Zephaniah 1:7-13 Hold your peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD has prepared a sacrifice… I. THE INTENDED VICTIMS. 1. Their persons catalogued. (1) The royal household. Josiah exempted on account of his piety (2 Kings 22:19, 20; 2 Chronicles 34:27, 28) - a testimony at once to Divine faithfulness and to the superior advantage of godliness (Psalm 17:7; Psalm 91:9, 10; 2 Peter 2:9; Revelation 3:10). But included were the princes, or "the heads of the tribes and families who naturally filled the higher offices of state" (Keil); the king's sons, either Josiah's children, then quite young, Jehoiakim being six and Jehoahaz four years of age, and Zedekiah not yet born; or Josiah's brothers and uncles who were also king's sons; and the superior servants of the palace, who are probably referred to as those who "leap over the threshold and fill their masters' house with violence and deceit" (ver. 9). (2) The rich merchants of Jerusalem. Described by their residence, their occupation, their prosperity, and their doom. The part of the city in which they were located, named most likely by the prophet himself, Maktesh, or "The Mortar," was "most probably the depression which ran down between Acra on the west, and Bezetha and Moriah on the cast, as far as the fountain of Shiloah" (Keil), "the cheese makers' valley" of Josephus, styled by the present day inhabitants El-Wad, or "The Valley." There they traded, lending money upon usury, and were called by the prophet "people of Canaan," because of their resemblance to Canaanitish or Phoenician merchants. With such success had they carried on their business, that they were "laden with silver." Yet were they doomed to be destroyed, ground to pieces, and bruised to death, by the Babylonian conquerors, like corn in a mortar when the pestle descendeth. (3) The irreligious debauchees and rioters of the metropolis generally. Characterized as persons who had settled on their lees, and said in their hearts, "The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil." (For an explanation of the figure, consult Exposition, and see homily on ver. 12.) The language pointed to those whose material. prosperity had been their moral and religious ruin, who, having grown wealthy and luxurious, had also become atheistical at least in practice, saying in their hearts, and acting as if they believed, that either there was no God at all, or if there were, that he was perfectly indifferent to their characters and conduct - a form of infidelity that has seldom lacked representatives among foolish and ungodly men (Job 22:12-14; Psalm 10:4; Psalm 14:1, 94:6, 7). 2. Their sins specified. (1) Of the royal household, two - wearing foreign clothes and leaping over the threshold. The former referred to the custom of copying the dress and with that the manners and luxuries of heathen peoples, and in particular, in Josiah's time, of Egypt and Assyria, or Babylon. Among the Egyptians "the dress of the king was most gorgeous, consisting of robes of the most beautiful stuffs and the richest ornaments" (Budge, 'Dwellers on the Nile,' p 181). Nahum (Nahum 2:3) describes the Assyrian soldiery as arrayed "in scarlet;" while Ezekiel (Ezekiel 23:12, 15) depicts the Assyriam warriors as "clothed most gorgeously," and speaks of the Chaldeans as "girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads." Of course, the sin against which the prophet inveighed was not the mere adoption of Egyptian, Assyrian, or Babylonian habiliments, but the inclination to look to and lean upon, to follow after and copy, these nations in their luxuries and idolatries rather than to remain faithful to Jehovah's Law and worship, which the imitation of their dress revealed. Clothes, according [o Carlyle ('Sartor Resartus,' 1:1), are "the vestural tissue which man's soul wears as its outmost wrappage and overall, wherein his whole other tissues are included and screened, his whole faculties work, his whole self lives, moves, and has its being." Hence a person's dress is no mean indication of a person's inner self. "Outward dress," says Pusey, "always betokens the inward mind, and in its turn acts upon it." In Isaiah's tim, the Jerusalem ladies were distinguished for gay attire and wanton hearts (Isaiah 3:23). Peter (1 Peter 3:3) exhorts Christian women to adorn themselves," not with that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel, but with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit." The latter of the two sins charged against the royal household, that of leaping over the threshold, is believed (Calvin, Keil, Ewald, Pusey, Farrar) to allude, not to the custom of leaping over the threshold of the king's palace (Hitzig) in imitation of Dagoa's priests, who, when they entered their idol's temple in Ashdod, trode not upon its threshold (1 Samuel 5:5); but to the practice, observed probably by "dishonourable servants of the king," of intruding into other people's houses in order to deprive them of their property through violence and fraud, and with the spoils so obtained to enrich the king, whose dependants they were, and whose favour they desired to retain. Should this interpretation be correct, it suggests useful thoughts about the distribution of guilt, or the mutual responsibility of masters and servants for each other's evil deeds. If the king's servants merely carried out the orders of their royal master, they were no less criminal in Heaven's sight than he; if they acted on their own motion, the king who profited by their plunder became a partner of their guilt. (2) Of the merchants, also two - avarice and usury. Had they been merely successful traders who, had prospered through honest dealing, they had not been condemned; but they were "laden with silver," acquired through nefarious practices such as deceit and usury. Wealth honourably obtained is no offence against Hearers, and, if righteously employed, may contribute to the happiness and influence of both the individual possessor and the community of which he is a member; riches heaped up by wicked arts are a curse to those who have them, and often go as they have come by violence and fraud. To "provide things honest in the sight of all men" (Romans 12:17) should be the aim of all, but especially of Christians. "On the bells of the horses of trade and commerce should be, Holiness unto the Lord" (Zechariah 14:20). Happy the nation "whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth" (Isaiah 23:8). (3) Of the debauchees and rioters, two - self-indulgence and infidelity. "Settled upon their lees," they abandoned themselves to the gratification of their sinful desires and corrupt inclinations, closed their minds and hearts against better things, and proceeded to daring and presumptuous unbelief, denying the Divine providence if not challenging the Divine existence. All sin tends to lead the soul away from God, to cause it first to shut out thoughts of God, and finally to conclude that God has ceased to be. 3. Their punishments proclaimed. (1) The sinners of the royal house would be called to account for their iniquities. Though God seemed to be at a distance from them, like a man upon a far journey, he would return and visit upon them the evil deeds of which they had been guilty. Nations no more than individuals, and persons in high station no more than persons in low, can escape the just judgment of God (Romans 2:3). (2) The merchants would be despoiled of their unjust games (Isaiah 33:1), and themselves overwhelmed with ruin (Jeremiah 17:11). If good men are sometimes deprived of wealth at a stroke, as Job was, and thus seem to have no advantage above their wicked neighbours, they are never, as these are, utterly undone by the loss of material possessions. In the fall of their houses they do not themselves perish, but find in God a Portion larger, more satisfying and secure, than their silver or gold (Habakkuk 3:17, 18). (3) The debauchees and rioters would be dragged forth from their darkest retreats and requited for their sensuality and unbelief. "The same diligence which Eternal Wisdom used to seek and to save that which was lost, lighting a candle and searching diligently till it find each lost piece of silver, the same shall Almighty God use that no hardened sinner shall escape" (Pusey). II. THE OFFICIATING PRIESTS. 1. Jehovah himself. "I will punish;" "I will punish; "I will search;" and "I will punish," saith the Lord. Whatever subordinate agents or secondary causes may be employed to inflict Divine vengeance upon rebellious nations and wicked men, the hand that directs these agents and wields these causes is God's. He is "the Judge of all the earth" (Genesis 18:25), and "shall judge the people righteously" (Psalm 67:4), rendering to every man "according to his work" (Psalm 62:11). He "shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:14). "He hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world" (Acts 17:31). 2. Jehovah's ministers. Described as his called and sanctified ones; i.e. not personally holy, but specially consecrated for the work to which they were appointed. (1) In the case under consideration these were to be the Chaldean armies, which in little more than thirty years were to fall upon Jerusalem, and pour out upon it the vials of Jehovah's wrath (2 Chronicles 36:16, 17). (2) In the world generally the events of his providence are the instruments selected for the execution of his victims (Psalm 111:7). (3) The last minister of judgment will be his Son, into whose hands he hath committed all judgment (John 5:22), and before whose tribunal all must appear (2 Corinthians 5:10). To him belong the epithets "called" and "sanctified" in their highest sense. III. THE ENCOMPASSING SPECTATORS. The faithful remnant of Israel, those who still adhered to Jehovah and mourned as did Josiah, Jeremiah, and Zephaniah, Huldah the prophetess, Hilkiah the priest, and others, over the degenerate condition of the nation. So in the world still are God's believing people called to witness, and often actually do witness, the execution of God's judgments upon the ungodly. So in the last day, when the vials of Divine indignation will be outpoured upon the finally impenitent, the saints who have been counted worthy to attain Christ's kingdom and glory will behold the appalling scene, as Abraham beheld the burning of the cities of the plain, and will say, "Hallelujah I salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God; for true and righteous are his judgments" (Revelation 19:1, 2). IV. THE RESULTING IMPRESSIONS. Pointed to in the solemn "Hush! be still" (ver. 7), with which the prophet opened his roll of woe. When he summoned the spectators to be silent before the face of Jehovah, he signified that silence was to be the effect produced upon their spirits by the spectacle they were about to witness. And this silence would be one: 1. Of awe; as they contemplated the overpowering revelation of the majesty of God, of his holiness and justice, of his power and fidelity, which would be afforded by his judgments upon the wicked. 2. Of submission; as they recognized the equity of those judgments by which sin was punished, the Divine Law vindicated, and God's glory proclaimed. 3. Of amazement; as they marvelled how ever they who had once themselves been sinful, had through grace escaped those calamities which they saw overtaking the wicked. Learn: 1. That God deals with men and nations upon the principle of moral retribution. 2. That neither national nor individual wickedness, if unrepented of, can evade its just recompense of reward. 3. That God's judgments upon both will ultimately be approved by all. - T.W. Parallel Verses KJV: Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. |
    |