Chapter two of the prophecy opens with a divine call to Judah. “Gather yourselves together, Ο nation not desired,” or “not desirous,” as the marginal note states. Judah was not desirable in the eyes of God, nor desirous of serving God in righteousness; hence the exhortation to correct their conduct “before the fierce anger of the Lord” comes upon them. “Seek ye the Lord,” says Zephaniah, “seek righteousness, seek meekness”; and especially do the words apply to those who are still “meek,” and who have “wrought His judgement,” or obeyed His commandments. To those Zephaniah says in effect, “Continue to seek righteousness,” for “it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger”; and this brings to mind again, the meaning of the prophet’s name, which is, “Whom the Lord hides,” or, “Hidden of God,” and it recalls also the words of Psalm thirty-one, “How great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence from the pride of man.” “For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people; He will beautify the meek with salvation.” Verses four and onwards turn our thoughts to judgements to be meted out upon the nations surrounding Judah. Those nations include Philistia in the west, Moab and Ammon in the east, Ethiopia1 in the south and Assyria in the north. It is noticeable, therefore, that all the regions round about Judah are involved, north, south, east and west; and with regard to distant Ethiopia, the Divine record shows that part of Shishak’s Egyptian army was composed of Ethiopians. These details have their importance because of the words of the prophet in verse seven. “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 turn away their captivity.”
But in verse four, it would appear that the immediate object of the prophet is to emphasise the imminence of the destruction which was to come upon the Philistine cities of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron; a destruction which came in the form of invasion by the Babylonian army, and later by the armies of Pharaoh Necho and Alexander the Great. “The sea coast” (verse five) “the nation of the Cherethites,” and the reference to Canaan, all indicate this same Philistine coast which had to be over-run and destroyed and made into “pastures with caves for shepherds,” or as the A.V. gives it, “The sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.” For centuries Philistia has been mainly pastures with caves for shepherds, but in verse seven the prophet, at the instigation of the Holy Spirit puts a higher and future meaning upon his words. “The coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah.” How often do we meet with this word “remnant” in the writings of the Minor Prophets, and how often does it refer most obviously to the redeemed remnant, the regathered flock, shall feed—when He beautifies the meek with salvation! So here, in verse seven of Zephaniah chapter two, the ransomed of the Lord, the redeemed remnant, the regathered flock, shall feed—and feed their flocks—in this coastal region around Gaza and Ashkelon and Ashdod and Ekron; for, says Zephaniah, “the Lord their God shall visit them and turn away their captivity.” God will reverse their captivity, and in these verses Zephaniah is predicting not only Judah’s impending captivity, but also the final and future restoration of Judah’s fortunes. Parallel passages of similar import are found in Joel’s prophecy “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem—,”2 and in the writings of the prophet Zechariah “For the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.”3 One Biblical commentator, seeing this ultimate fulfilment of Zephaniah’s words, says, “The full accomplishment of this prophecy concerning the overthrow of Philistia, must be looked for in the Messianic era, when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of Christ, and so in the subsequent predictions.” Again, in verse nine of Zephaniah chapter two, after the statement concerning the judgements on Moab and Ammon, we have the expression, “The residue of My people shall possess them.” There again is the mention of the residue; the remnant who will be divinely blessed and who, according to verse eleven, will worship the God of Heaven, for all other gods will have been “famished,” that is, reduced to leanness and destroyed; idolatry will have been abolished. Verse eleven has reference to conditions which will exist in the Kingdom of God when everyone will worship the one true God of Heaven.
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Author: A. Akeroyd
Keywords: Zephaniah, Prophet Zephaniah, Book of Zephaniah
Bible reference(s): Zephaniah 2
Source: “The Prophecy of Zechariah,” The Testimony, Vol. 32, No. 383, November 1962, pp. 368-9.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.