The prophet's firm faith in the A. M. cir. 3404. B. C. cir. 600. HABAKKUK. a whirlwind to scatter me: their Ol. cir. XLV. 1. rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir. annum 17. е 15 Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters. upon the poor Israelites, when they appeared to be hemmed in by sea, and no place for their escape. If we follow the common reading, it seems to intimate that the troops of Pharaoh, in their confusion (for God shone out upon them from the cloud) fell foul of each other; and with their staves, or weapons, slew one another but the head of the villages or towns, i. e., Pharaoh, was drowned with his army in the Red Sea. Verse 15. Thou didst walk through the sea] There was no occasion to hurry across; all was safe, for God had divided the waters and his terrible cloud had removed from before, and stood behind them, so that it was between them and the Egyptians. See Exod. xiv. 19, 20. Verse 16. When I heard, my belly trembled] The prophet, having finished his account of the wonders done by Jehovah, in bringing their fathers from Egypt into the promised land, now returns to the desolate state of his countrymen, who are shortly to be led into captivity, and suffer the most grievous afflictions; and although he had a sure word of prophecy that they should be ultimately delivered, yet the thoughts of the evils they must previously endure filled his soul with terror and dismay; so that he wishes to be removed from earth before this tribulation should come, that his eyes might not behold the desolations of his country. When he (Nebuchadnezzar) cometh up unto the people, (the Jews,) he will invade them (overpower and carry them away captive) with his troops. Verse 17. Although the fig tree shall not blossom] tiphrach,“ shall not flourish," shall not put forth its young figs, for the fig tree does not blossom. young figs appear as soon as the old ones are ripe, as I have often had occasion to observe. The This verse most nervously paints the desolate state of the land of Judea during the captivity. In its hemistich form, it may be translated thus: For the fig tree shall not flourish, I will joy in the God of my salvation. i mercy and goodness of God. A. M. cir 3404. B. C. cir. 600. Ol. cir. XLV. 1. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir. annum 17. 17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The Lord GOD is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my P stringed instruments. 1 Isa. lxi. 16; lxi. 10. Psa. xxvii. 1. 2 Sam. xxii. 34; Psa. xviii. 33. Deut. xxxii. 13; xxxiii. 29.— Heb. neginoth; Psa. iv. title. The Vulgate has : Yet I in the Lord will rejoice, And will exult in Jesus my God. The Targum countenances this version :— · ,veana bemeimra dagat abia ואנא במימרא דיי אבוע "But in the WORD of the Lord will I rejoice," i. e., the personal, substantial Word of Jehovah. These two verses give the finest display of resignation and confidence that I have ever met with. He saw that evil was at hand, and unavoidable; he submitted to the dispensation of God, whose Spirit enabled him to paint it in all its calamitous circumstances. He knew that God was merciful and gracious. He trusted to his promise, though all appearances were against its fulfilment; for he knew that the word of Jehovah could not fail, and therefore his confidence is unshaken. No paraphrase can add any thing to this hymn, which is full of inexpressible dignity and elegance, leaving even its unparalleled piety out of the question. Verse 19. The Lord God is my strength] This is an imitation, if not a quotation, from Psa. xviii. 32, 33, where see the notes. Will make me to walk upon mine high places] This last verse is spoken in the person of the people, who seem to anticipate their restoration; and that they shall once more rejoice in the hills and mountains of Judea. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.] This line, which is evidently a superscription, leads me to suppose that when the prophet had completed his short ode, he folded it up, with the above direction to the master singer, or leader of the choir, to be sung in the temple service. Many of the Psalms are directed in the same way. "To the master singer;" or, "chief musician :" to be sung, according to their nature, on different kinds of instruments, or with particular airs or tunes. Neginoth, which we translate stringed instruments, means such as were struck with a plectrum, or excited by some kind of friction or pulsation; as violins and cymbals, or tambarines are. I do not think that the line makes any part of the prophecy, but merely the superscription or direction of the work when it was finished. The ending will appear much more dignified, this line being separated from it. THE BOOK PROPHET OF THE ZEPHANIAH. Chronological Notes relative to this book, upon the supposition that it was written in the twelfth year of the reign of Josiah, king of Judah. Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3374.-Year of the Julian Period, 4084.-Year since the Flood, 1718.-Year from the vocation of Abram, 1291.-Year from the foundation of Solomon's temple, 382.-Year since the division of Solomon's monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 346. Year since the conquest of Corebus at Olympia, usually called the first Olympiad, 147.-Third year of the thirty-seventh Olympiad.-Year from the building of Rome, according to the Varronian computation, 124.-Year of the era of Nabonassar, 118.-Year since the destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, 92.-Year before the birth of Christ, 626.-Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 630.-Cycle of the Sun, 24.-Cyele of the Moon, 18.-Eighteenth year of Phraortes, king of Media. This monarch is supposed by some to have been the same with the Arphaxad of the Apocrypha.-Eleventh year of Philip I., king of Macedon.-Twenty-second year of Archidamus, king of Lacedæmon, of the family of the Proclidæ.-Fifteenth year of Eurycrates II., king of Lacedæmon, of the family of the Eurysthenida.-Twenty-ninth year of Cypselus, who had seized upon the government of Corinth.Forty-second year of Psammitichus, king of Egypt, according to Helvicus-Tenth year of Kiniladachus, king of Babylon, according to the same chronologer. This monarch was the immediate predecessor of Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar.-Second year of Sadyattes, king of Lydia.-Eleventh year of Ancus Martius, the fifth king of the Romans.-Twelfth year of Josiah, king of Judah. CHAPTER I. This chapter begins with denouncing God's judgments against Judah and Jerusalem, 1-3. Idolaters, and sinners of several other denominations, are then particularly threatened; and their approaching visitation enlarged on, by the enumeration of several circumstances which tend greatly to heighten its terrors, 4-18. 4. M. cir. 3374. A. 4. M. cir. 3374. B. C. cir. 630. cir. XXXVII. 3. 124. the THE word of the LORD which of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah a Heb. By taking away NOTES ON CHAP. I. Verse 1. The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah] Though this prophet has given us so large a list of his ancestors, yet little concerning him is known, because we know nothing certain relative to the persons of the family whose names are here introduced. We have one chronological note which is of more value for the correct understanding of his prophecy than the other could have been, how circumstantially soever it had been delivered; viz., that he prophesied in the days of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah; and from the description which he gives of the disorders which prevailed in Judea in a Judah. B. C. cir. 630. cir. XXXVII. 3. his time, it is evident that he must have prophesied before the reformation made by Josiah, which was in the eighteenth year of his reign. And as he predicts the destruction of Nineveh, chap. ii. 13, which, as Calmet remarks, could not have taken place before the sixteenth of Josiah, allowing with Berosus twentyone years for the reign of Nabopolassar over the Chaldeans; we must, therefore, place this prophecy about the beginning of the reign of Josiah, or from B. C. 640 to B. C. 609. But see the chronological notes. Verse 2. I will utterly consume all things] All being now ripe for destruction, I will shortly bring a universal scourge upon the land. He speaks particu- to God, and their blood poured out before the altar. larly of the idolaters. Verse 3. I will consume man and beast] By war, and by pestilence. Even the waters shall be infected, and the fish destroyed; the air become contaminated, and the fowls die. Verse 4..I will cut off the remnant of Baal] I think he refers here, partly at least, to the reformation which Josiah was to bring about. See the account, 2 Kings xxii. 5. The Chemarims] The black-robed priests of different idols. See the note on 2 Kings xxiii. 5. These were put down by Josiah. Verse 5. The host of heaven] Sun, moon, planets, and stars This worship was one of the most ancient and the most common of all species of idolatry; and N had a greater sembiance of reason to recomA See 2 Kings xxi. 5, 19; Jer. xix. 13, Phức songs by the Lord, and that swear by Maltesocating the name of an idẻ with that of The Most High For Micham, see on Hos. iv. 15, and Tomo o Phon hat are turned back] Who have tomated the true God, and become idolaters. Vanagairea for to] Have not desired to know Asco 7. Bold, by peace at the presence of the Lord (rose) 21 has, the same as hush, hist, among us. Remontances are now useless. You had time to acquaint yourselves with God; you would not you guy dow in vain; destruction is at the door. Ok. Died back prepared a sacrifice] A slaughter of the people. No kick did his guests] The Babylonians, to whom he has given a commission to destroy you. An all testival sacrifices, 1. The victims were offered 754 2. The people who were invited feasted upon the sacrifice. See on Isa. xxxiv. 6. Verse 8. I will punish the princes, and the king's children] After the death of Josiah the kingdom of Judah saw no prosperity, and every reign terminated miserably; until at last King Zedekiah and the king's children were cruelly massacred at Riblah, when Nebuchadnezzar had taken Jerusalem. Strange apparel] I really think this refers more to their embracing idolatrous customs and heathen usages, than to their changing their dress. They acquired new habits, as we would say; customs, that they used as they did their clothing—at all times, and in every thing. Verse 9. That leap on the threshold] Or, that leap over the threshold. It is most probable that the Philistines are here meant. After the time that Dagon fell before the ark, and his hands were broken off on the threshold of his temple, his worshippers would no more set a foot upon the threshold, but stepped or leaped over it, when they entered into his temple. The Chaldee understands this of the Philistines, without giving this reason for it. Some understand it of haughtiness and pride: others think that leaping on the threshold refers to the customs of the Arabs, who used to ride into people's houses, and take away whatever they could carry; and that this is the reason why, in several parts of the East, they have their doors made very low, to prevent those depredators from entering. In this manner, we learn the Persians have frequently oppressed the poor Armenians, going on horseback into their houses, and taking whatever they thought proper. stands it in this way. Mr. Harmer under Verse 10. A cry from the fish-gate] This gate, which is mentioned Neh. iii. 3, was opposite to ( 48* ) Destruction by the B. C. cir. 630. Olymp. cir. XXXVII. 3. A. U. C. cir. 124. W CHAP. I. A. M. cir. 3374. of a cry from the fish-gate, 13 Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but a not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof. 14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. v2 Chron. xxxiii. 14. x James v. 1.— Heb. curded, or thickenedy Jer. xlviii. 11; Amos vi. 1.—2 Psa. xciv. 7. a Deut. xxviii. 30, 39; Amos. v. 11. Mic. vi. 15. Joel ii. 1, 11. Joppa; and perhaps the way in which the news came of the irruption of the Chaldean army, the great crashing from the hills. The second] Or second city, may here mean a part of Jerusalem, mentioned 2 Kings xxii. 14, 2 Chron. xxxiv. 22. Verse 11. Maktesh] Calmet says this signifies a mortar, or a rock in form of a mortar, and was the name of a quarter of Jerusalem where they hulled rice, corn, &c., according to St. Jerome. Some think the city of Jerusalem is meant, where the inhabitants should be beat and pounded to death as grain is pounded in a mortar. Babylonians threatened, B. C. cir. 630. cir. XXXVII. 3 A. U. C. cir 124. 15 That day is a day of A. M. cir. 3374. wrath, a day of trouble and Olymp. distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. 16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. 17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. h Verse 15. That day is a day of wrath] See the parallel passages in the margin, and the notes there. From the fourteenth to the sixteenth verse inclusive there is a most beautiful amplification of the disasters that were coming on Jersusalem; the invasion, incursion, attack, carnage, confusion, horrible din occasioned They that bear silver] The merchants, money- by the sound of the trumpet, the cries of the people, changers, usurers, rich men. Newcome translates it, the lower city, and considers it the valley in Jerusalem, which divided the upper from the lower city. and the shrieks and groans of the dying, are pointed Verse 12. I will search Jerusalem with candles] I out with great force and mighty effect. will make a universal and thorough search. That are settled on their lees] Those who are careless, satisfied with the goods of this life; who trust in their riches, and are completely irreligious; who, while they acknowledge that there is a God, think, like the Aristotelians, that he is so supremely happy in the contemplation of his own excellences, that he feels it beneath his dignity to concern himself with the affairs of mortals. Verse 13. Their goods (in which they trust) shall become a booty] To the Chaldeans. They shall have Verse 17. 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. Verse 18. Their silver nor their gold] In which they trusted, and from which they expected happi ness; these shall not profit them in this awful day. And God will bring this about speedily; and a speedy riddance-a universal desolation, shall in a short time take place in every part of the land. 755 An earnest exhortation ZEPHANIAH. CHAPTER II. to repentance The prophet, having declared the judgments which were ready to fall on his people, earnestly exhorts them to He then foretells the fate of other neighbouring resent suce, that these judgments may be averted, 1–3. and bestilt mapons : the Pulistines, 4–7; Moabites and Ammonites, 8-11; Ethiopians, 12; and AssyThese predictions were ras, 13. In the close of the chapter we have a prophecy against Nineveh. acrominis keng a handy by the conquests of Nebuchadnezzar. GATHER B. C. cir. 630. ATHER yourselves to thee, that there shall be no in- 4. M. cir. 3374. 2 Before the decree bring forth, 3 Scek ve de Lesa ve mees of the 16 And the sea-coasts shall be Olymp. cir. XXXVIL 3. A. U. C. cir. 124. 7 And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the LORD their God shall visit them, and 9 turn away their captivity. SI have heard the reproach of Moab, and *the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border. 9 Therefore as I ve, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall 4.00 2 Se Chorethies; the be as Sodem, and the children of Ammon as a de Lean is azuist ven; O1 Cazaan, Gomorrah, * even the breeding of nettles, and even destroy salt-pits and a perpetual desolation: the 3 11 |