Zephaniah 1:4

1:1-6 Ruin is coming, utter ruin; destruction from the Almighty. The servants of God all proclaim, There is no peace for the wicked. The expressions are figurative, speaking every where desolation; the land shall be left without inhabitants. The sinners to be consumed are, the professed idolaters, and those that worship Jehovah and idols, or swear to the Lord, and to Malcham. Those that think to divide their affections and worship between God and idols, will come short of acceptance with God; for what communion can there be between light and darkness? If Satan have half, he will have all; if the Lord have but half, he will have none. Neglect of God shows impiety and contempt. May none of us be among those who draw back unto perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

Zephaniah 1:4-6 . I will also stretch out my hand upon Judah — I will manifest my power upon Judah, as I have done upon Israel. And I will cut off the remnant of Baal — The altars, or places of worship, dedicated to Baal, which still remain in this place, namely, Jerusalem; and the name of the Chemarims — Of the idolatrous priests, for so the same word is rendered 2 Kings 23:5 , where see the note; with the priests — That is, I will destroy these together with the priests of the tribe of Levi, who have been joined in the worship of idols, in which, as we learn from Ezekiel 8:11 ; Ezekiel 22:26 , some of them were joined. And them that worship the host of heaven upon the house-tops — They were wont to worship the moon and stars upon the roofs of their houses, which were made flat. And that swear by the Lord, and by Malcham — That join the worship of idols to that of the true God. Malcham is the same with Moloch, to whom many of the people of Judah continued to offer their children, as Jeremiah upbraids them, Jeremiah 7:31 ; Jeremiah 19:5 ; and that, it seems, after the reformation that Josiah had made. Swearing is an act of religious worship, or a solemn invocation of God, as a witness and a judge, Deuteronomy 10:20 ; and therefore the Israelites were expressly forbidden to swear by idols, Joshua 23:7 . And them that are turned back, &c. — That are apostates to idolatry.

I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the {b} Chemarims with the priests; (b) Who were an order of superstitious priests appointed to minister in the service of Baal, and were as his special chaplains; read 2Ki 23:5, Ho 10:5.

I will also, Heb. And I will, or, And I have ; so prophets speak of what shall most certainly be as if already done. Stretch out mine hand: this seems to intimate. some immediate stroke from God, he speaks so in Jeremiah 51:25 Ezekiel 6:14 14:13 25:13 . Upon Judah; Benjamin is included, though Judah only is named. Upon all the inhabitants; it will be universal destruction of them, either by sword, famine, pestilence, or captivity; both citizens and sojourners, all shall perish, or suffer by some or other of these ways. Of Jerusalem: though it was the holy city, beautified with the temple of God, yet all should not secure it, Jeremiah 7:4 Ezekiel 9:6 . I will cut off the remnant of Baal; whatsoever remains of the idolatry of Baal, both the idols, their temples, sacrifices, priests, ornaments, and worshippers: whether this refers to times after the reformation by Josiah, or to times before it, needs not scrupulously be inquired into. From this place: this idolatry had filled Jerusalem itself. The names; both the persons, and the memory of them also, for names includeth both. The Chemarims; either called so from their black garments they went in, or from their swarthy colour accustomed by the black smoke of incense, which they were almost continually in; or door-keepers, sextons of Baal; or voluntary servants; or such as the popish monks, some ministers of Baal distinct from the priests.

4. stretch out mine hand—indicating some remarkable and unusual work of vengeance (Isa 5:25; 9:12, 17, 21). Judah—including Benjamin. These two tribes are to suffer, which thought themselves perpetually secure, because they escaped the captivity in which the ten tribes were involved. Jerusalem—the fountainhead of the evil. God begins with His sanctuary (Eze 9:6), and those who are nigh Him (Le 10:3). the remnant of Baal—the remains of Baal worship, which as yet Josiah was unable utterly to eradicate in remote places. Baal was the Phœnician tutelary god. From the time of the Judges (Jud 2:13), Israel had fallen into this idolatry; and Manasseh lately had set up this idol within Jehovah's temple itself (2Ki 21:3, 5, 7). Josiah began his reformation in the twelfth year of his reign (2Ch 34:4, 8), and in the eighteenth had as far as possible completed it. Chemarims—idol priests, who had not reached the age of puberty; meaning "ministers of the gods" [Servius on Æneid, 11], the same name as the Tyrian Camilli, r and l being interchangeable (compare Ho 10:5, Margin). Josiah is expressly said (2Ki 23:5, Margin) to have "put down the Chemarim." The Hebrew root means "black" (from the black garments which they wore or the marks which they branded on their foreheads); or "zealous," from their idolatrous fanaticism.

The very "name," as well as themselves, shall be forgotten. the priests—of Jehovah, of Aaronic descent, who ought to have used all their power to eradicate, but who secretly abetted, idolatry (compare Zep 3:4; Eze 8:1-18; 22:26; 44:10). From the priests Zephaniah passes to the people.

4 . The prophet turns to Judah and Jerusalem. Though the Day of the Lord was the revelation of Jehovah to the world, and therefore a thing universal, the centre of the judgment in the view of the pre-exile prophets was Israel (Amos 1, 2; Isaiah 2, 3), for judgment began at the house of God ( Amos 3:2 ). With the exile the judgment on Israel seemed to have been fulfilled, and during the exile and later the judgment of the Day of the Lord is represented as falling on the heathen world (Isaiah 13; Zechariah 1-6), and its issue is Israel’s redemption. But after the Restoration, when Israel was again a people and far from answering to its ideal, prophets have to threaten it anew with the refiner’s fire of the Day of the Lord ( Malachi 3:2 ff.). I will also stretch ] And I will stretch out my hand , i.e. in order to smite, Isaiah 5:25 ; Isaiah 9:12 ; Isaiah 14:26-27 . As in Amos 1, 2 the cloud laden with judgment trails round the horizon, discharging itself on one nation after another, and finally settles over Israel, so here Jehovah’s wrath against all created things concentrates itself on Judah and Jerusalem. the remnant of Baal from this place ] The words “from this place” imply that Zephaniah lived in Jerusalem. The term Baal appears to he used, particularly in later writers, not only of Baal proper, but also of the images of Jehovah, and even in a wider way of Jehovah under any false conception of His being.

Worship rendered nominally to Jehovah, but unworthy of Him, and implying an inadequate conception of His nature, was stigmatised as Baal-worship. The expression the remnant , besides its natural sense of “that which is left,” may mean “the whole,” so that “remnant of Baal” may have the sense of “false worship wholly” ( Isaiah 14:22 ), and this is probably the meaning here. For “remnant” Sept. gives names of Baal, a rendering which may be due to the influence of Hosea 2:17 , “I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth.” Cf. Zechariah 13:2 . the name of the Chemarims ] The A.V. plur. Chemarims is of the same sort as Cherubims ( Genesis 3:24 ) and Seraphims ( Isaiah 6:2 ); in Heb. the word Chemarim (pronounced Kemârim) is itself a plural. The term is derived from an Aramaic root, meaning “to be black,” but whether the priests were so named as “black-robed” or for some other reason is not certain. In addition to the present passage the word is used in Hosea 10:5 of the priests of the calves in the northern kingdom, and in 2 Kings 23:5 of the priests of the high places in the cities of Judah and outside Jerusalem (A.V. idolatrous priests ). In the latter passage the construction leaves it somewhat uncertain whether the strictly idolatrous priests who offered sacrifice to Baal, the sun and the moon, be also included among the Chemarim.