Zephaniah 1:7

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. HOLD THY PEACE AT THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD GOD - (Habakkuk 2:20, "The Lord is in his holy temple let all the earth keep silence before him"). Let the earth be silent at his approach (Maurer). Or, 'Thou, whosoever hast been wont to speak against God, as if He had no care about earthly affairs, cease thy murmurs and self-justifications: submit thyself to God, and repent in time,' (Calvin, etc.) FOR THE LORD HATH PREPARED A SACRIFICE - namely, a slaughter of the guilty Jews, the victims due to His justice (Isaiah 34:6, "The Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the lan...

The Prophet confirms here what he has previously taught, when he bids all _to be silent before God_; for this mode of speaking is the same as though he had said, that he did not terrify the Jews in vain, but seriously set before them God’s judgment, which they would find by experience to be even more than terrible. He also records some of their sins, that the Jews might know that he did not threaten them for nothing, but that there were just causes why God declared that he would punish them. This is the substance of the whole. Let us first see what the Prophet means by the word, silence. Something has been said of this on the second chapter of Habakkuk. We said then that by silence is meant submission; and to make the thing more clear, we said that we were to notice the contrast between the silence to which men calmly submit, and the contumacy, which is ever clamorous: for when men seek...

7-13 God's day is at hand; the punishment of presumptuous sinners is a sacrifice to the justice of God. The Jewish royal family shall be reckoned with for their pride and vanity; and those that leap on the threshold, invading their neighbours' rights, and seizing their possessions. The trading people and the rich merchants are called to account. Secure and careless people are reckoned with. They are secure and easy; they say in their heart, the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil; that is, they deny his dispensing rewards and punishments. But in the day of the Lord's judgment, it will clearly appear that those who perish, fall a sacrifice to Divine justice for breaking God's law, and because they have no interest by faith in the Redeemer's atoning sacrifice....

Verse 7. _HOLD THY PEACE AT THE PRESENCE OF THE LORDS GOD_] הס _has_, the same as _hush, hist_, among us. Remonstrances are _now_ useless. You had time to acquaint yourselves with God; you would not: you cry now in vain; destruction is at the door. _THE LORD HATH PREPARED A SACRIFICE_] A slaughter of the people. _HE HATH BID HIS GUESTS_] The Babylonians, to whom he has given a commission to destroy you. In all festivals sacrifices, 1. The victims were offered to God, and their blood poured out before the altar. 2. The people who were invited feasted upon the sacrifice. See on Isaiah 34:6....

HOLD THY PEACE AT THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD GOD - (Literally, “Hush,” in awe “from the face of God.”) In the presence of God, even the righteous say from their inmost heart, “I am vile, what shall I answer Thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth” Job 40:4. “Now mine eye seeth Thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” Job 42:5. “Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, O Lord, for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified” Psalms 143:2. How much more must the “man without the wedding garment be speechless” Matthew 22:11, and every false plea, with which he deceived himself, melt away before the F

EXPOSITION. ZEPHANIAH 1:1 Part I. THE JUDGMENT UPON ALL THE WORLD, AND UPON JUDAH IN PARTICULAR. ZEPHANIAH 1:1 § 1. _Title and inscription. _THE WORD OF THE LORD (see note on Micah 1:1). Zephaniah, "Whom the Lord shelters" (see Introduction, § II.). THE SON OF, etc. The genealogy thus introduced shows that the prophet was of illustrious descent; or it may be inserted to distinguish him from others who bore the same name.

HOLD THY PEACE AT THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD GOD,.... When he comes forth, and appears in the way of his judgments, do not dispute the point with him, or pretend to offer reasons against his proceedings, or in order to disprove the justice of them; stand in awe and reverence of him, who is the Lord God omniscient and omnipotent, holy, just, and true; humble yourselves under his mighty hand; be still, and know that he is God; and let not one murmuring and repining word come out of your mouth. The Targum is, "let all the wicked of the earth perish from before the Lord God:'' FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD [IS] AT HAND; the time of his vengeance on the Jewish nation for their sins, which he had fixed in his mind, and had given notice of by his prophets: this began to take place at Josiah's death, after which the Jews enjoyed little peace and prosperity; and his successor reigned but three months,...

FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD As in the other Prophets, the approaching invasion of Nebuchadnezzar is treated as an adumbration of the true day of the Lord in which all earth-judgments will culminate, to be followed by the restoration and blessing of Israel and the nations in the kingdom. See "Day of the Lord" (Isaiah 2:10); (Revelation 19:11). "Israel"; (Genesis 12:2); (Genesis 12:3); (Romans 11:26). Compare Joel 1, 2....

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS CHAPTER 1 The Day of the Lord, the Day of Judgment _ 1. The judgment of all the world (Zephaniah 1:1) _ 2. The judgment will destroy the evildoers in Judah (Zephaniah 1:4) 3. The day of the Lord (Zephaniah 1:14) Zephaniah 1:1. The first verse is the superscription, and tells us, as pointed out in the introduction, of the connection of Zephaniah and the date of his prophecy. Then comes the announcement of the judgment. It is to consume all things from off the face of the land, man and beast, the fowls of heaven, the fishes of the sea, and end the stumb

THE DOOM OF JUDAH AND JERUSALEM. Zephaniah 1:2. Riding as it were on the crest of a tidal wave of destruction, which sweeps off man and beast from the face of the ground, Yahweh stretches His hand against Judah and Jerusalem, the centre of the world's offence, to cut off the priests and worshippers of Baal, together with all such as prostrate themselves before the host of heaven, mingle the worship of Yahweh with that of Molech, or otherwise prove traitor to the God of their fathers, withdrawing from His allegiance and ceasing to inquire after Him. ZEPHANIAH 1:2. GROUND: the cultivated, inhabited, civilised world. Zephaniah 1:3. For the stumbling-blocks with (a rendering as dubious as it