Zephaniah 2:13

And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. AND HE WILL STRETCH OUT HIS HAND AGAINST THE NORTH, AND DESTROY ASSYRIA. Here he passes suddenly to the north. Nineveh was destroyed by Cyaxares and Nabopolassar 625 BC The Scythian hordes, by an inroad into Media, and thence into the southwest of Asia (thought by many to be the forces described by Zephaniah as the invaders of Judea, rather than the Chaldeans), for awhile interrupted Cyaxares' operations; but he finally succeeded. Arbaces and Belesis previously subverted the Assyrian empire under Sardanapalus (i:e., Pul?) 877 BC...

The Prophet proceeds here to the Assyrians, whom we know to have been special enemies to the Church of God. For the Moabites and the Ammonites were fans only, as we have elsewhere seen, as they could not do much harm by their own strength. Hence they stirred up the Assyrians, they stirred up the Ethiopians and remote nations. The meaning, then, is, that no one of all the enemies of the Church would be left unpunished by God, as every one would receive a reward for his cruelty. He speaks now of God in the third person; but in the last verse God himself said, that the Ethiopians would be slain by his sword. The Prophet adds here, _He will extend his hand to the north_; that is, God will not complete his judgments on the Ethiopians; but he will go farther, even to Nineveh and to all the Assyrians. Nineveh, we know, was the metropolis of the empire, before the Assyrians were conquered by the...

4-15 Those are really in a woful condition who have the word of the Lord against them, for no word of his shall fall to the ground. God will restore his people to their rights, though long kept from them. It has been the common lot of God's people, in all ages, to be reproached and reviled. God shall be worshipped, not only by all Israel, and the strangers who join them, but by the heathen. Remote nations must be reckoned with for the wrongs done to God's people. The sufferings of the insolent and haughty in prosperity, are unpitied and unlamented. But all the desolations of flourishing nations will make way for the overturning Satan's kingdom. Let us improve our advantages, and expect the performance of every promise, praying that our Father's name may be hallowed every where, over all the earth....

Verse Zephaniah 2:13. _HE WILL - DESTROY ASSYRIA_] He will overthrow the empire, and _Nineveh_, their metropolitan city. See on Jonah and Nahum....

Zephaniah began by singling out Judah amid the general destruction, “I will also stretch out My Hand upon Judah” Zephaniah 1:4; he sums up the judgment of the world in the same way; “He will stretch out, or, Stretch He forth, “His Hand against the north and destroy Asshur, and make Nineveh a desolation.” Judah had, in Zephaniah’s time, nothing to fear from Assyria. Isaiah Isaiah 39:6 and Micah Micah 4:10 had already foretold, that the captivity would be to Babylon. Yet of Assyria alone the prophet, in his own person, expresses his own conformity with the mind of God. Of others he had said, “the word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, and I will destroy thee; As I live, saith the Lord, Moab shall be as Sod

EXPOSITION. VERSE 2:1-3:8 Part II. EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE AND TO PERSEVERANCE. ZEPHANIAH 2:1 § 1. The prophet urges all to examine their ways before the day of the Lord come; and he prays the righteous to seek the Lord more earnestly, in order that they may be safe in the judgment. ZEPHANIAH 2:1 GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER. So the versions; and this rendering is probably correct. The prophet calls upon his nation to assemble themselves together in order to take mutual counsel or to make general confession and supplication to God. Another rendering, based on some alteration

AND HE WILL STRETCH OUT HIS HAND AGAINST THE NORTH,.... Either the Lord, or Nebuchadnezzar his sword; who, as he would subdue the nations that lay southward, he would lead his army northward against the land of Assyria, which lay to the north of Judea, as next explained: AND DESTROY ASSYRIA; that famous monarchy, which had ruled over the kingdoms of the earth, now should come to an end, and be reduced to subjection to the king of Babylon: AND WILL MAKE NINEVEH A DESOLATION; which was the capital city, the metropolis of the Assyrian monarchy: Nahum prophesies at large of the destruction of this city: [AND] DRY LIKE A WILDERNESS; which before was a very watery place, situated by rivers, particularly the river Tigris; so that it was formerly like a pool of water, Nahum 2:6 but now should be dry like a heath or desert, Dr. Prideaux places the d

NINEVEH (_ See Scofield) - (Nahum 1:1). _...

CHAPTER S 2-3:8 The Call to Repentance in View of the Judgment _ 1. The call to repentance (Zephaniah 2:1) _ 2. The judgment of the Philistines (Zephaniah 2:4) 3. The judgment of Moab and Ammon (Zephaniah 2:8) 4. The judgment of the other nations (Zephaniah 2:11) 5. The woe and warning to Jerusalem and His people (Zephaniah 3:1) Zephaniah 2:1. As we found it in Joel, so it is here. In view of the co

AND HE. See note on "For", Zephaniah 2:4. STRETCH OUT HIS HAND. Idiom for executing judgment. THE NORTH: i.e. against Assyria, because although west of Canaan, the road and entrance was by the north....