Bible Commentaries

Zephaniah 2. Doom on Philistia [Moab and Ammon], Ethiopia, and Assyria.

Zephaniah 2:1-7. Having spent its rage on Judah, the storm of Divine judgment sweeps south by the Philistian sea-board, uprooting cities and their inhabitants, driving them off like chaff, and leaving the once fertile plain a pasturage for shepherds and folds for flocks.

Zephaniah 2:1. The meaning of the first words is highly uncertain. An attractive suggestion yields, "Get you shame, yea, be abashed, O nation unabashed," the reference being to the Philistines, rather than Judah, as many scholars maintain.

Zephaniah 2:2. The text here is both corrupt and overladen. The original should perhaps be reduced to read, "Ere ye become fine dust, as chaff which passeth away."

Zephaniah 2:3. A late interpolation, offering escape for the meek and humble (of Judah).

Zephaniah 2:4. "As for Ashdod—by noon-day (after but a morning's siege) they shall rout her."

Zephaniah 2:5. Cherethites: a parallel designation of the Philistines, in allusion to their Cretan origin (p. 56, 1 Samuel 30:14*, Ezekiel 25:16).

Zephaniah 2:6. Here also the text is overladen. Read simply, "And thou shalt become pastures for shepherds and folds for flocks."

Zephaniah 2:7. The first and last clauses are clearly post-exilic additions (after the manner of Zephaniah 2:3), turning the prophecy into a glorification of "the remnant of Judah." The original may have read as follows: "By the seashore shall they feed; in the houses of Ashkelon at even shall they lay them down."

Zephaniah 2:8-10. Into the natural context of the passage a later writer has woven a prophecy of vengeance on Moab and Ammon for their revilings and insults heaped upon Judah (on the day of Jerusalem's downfall), For this their land shall become waste as Sodom and Gomorrah, a perpetual desolation, overrun by nettles and saltpits, while the remnant of Judah shall plunder them and hold them in bondage.

Zephaniah 2:9. a possession: an obscure word, probably meaning "inherited by."—The desolation of Sodom and Gomorrah was proverbial (cf. Isaiah 1:9).

Zephaniah 2:11. A still later addition, universalising the judgment, but following it up with a prophecy of Yahweh s world-wide reign.

Zephaniah 2:12. Probably the original sequel to the oracle of doom (Zephaniah 2:1-7). The natural path of the storm would be through Egypt to Ethiopia; but the doom on Egypt is absent, while even that on Ethiopia is suspiciously brief. The prophecy may have been curtailed in process of redaction.

Zephaniah 2:13-15. While one arm of the devastating flood has passed through Palestine to Egypt and Ethiopia, another sweeps north to Assyria, overwhelming the proud capital Nineveh, making her a desolation, the haunt of lonely herds and creatures of the waste.

Zephaniah 2:14. For "beasts of the nations" read "beasts of the field" (LXX).—For qol, "voice," read kos, the little owl that haunted ruins (cf. Psalms 102:6), and for horeb, "drought" (mg.), read ‘oreb, "the raven" (LXX): thus, "The owl shall hoot in the window, the raven at the doorstep" (cf. Isaiah 34:11). The closing phrase is a mere dittograph to the opening words of Zephaniah 2:15.—On the desolation of Nineveh cf. Nahum 2:11 ff.