Zephaniah 2:7

2:4-15 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.

And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah,.... The same tract of land become so desolate through the Chaldeans, should in future time, when those that remained of the Jews were returned from their captivity in Babylon, be inhabited by them. This was fulfilled in the times of the Maccabees, when the cities of Palestine, being rebuilt, were subdued by the Jews, and fell into their hands; and it is plain that in the times of the apostles those places were inhabited by the Jews, as Gaza, Ashdod, and others, Acts 8:26 and perhaps will, have a further accomplishment in the latter day, when they shall be converted and return to their own land: they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening; either the shepherds shall feed their flocks here, and cause them to lie down in the evening on the very spot of ground where the houses of Ashkelon stood.

This place is very properly represented as on the sea coast; for so it was; Philo (s) says, who some time dwelt there, that it was a city of Syria by the sea: or rather the remnant of Israel shall feed and dwell here, and lie down in safety; and this was made good in a spiritual sense, when the apostles of Christ preached the Gospel in those parts, and were the instruments of converting many; and there they fed them with the word and ordinances, and caused them to lie down in green pastures, in great ease and security: for the Lord their God shall visit them: in a way of grace and mercy, bringing them out of Babylon into their own land, and enlarging their borders there; and especially by raising up Christ, the horn of salvation, for them; and by sending his Gospel to them, and making it effectual to their conversion and salvation: and turn away their captivity; in a literal sense from Babylon; and in a spiritual sense from sin, Satan, and the law; and may have a further respect to their present captivity in both senses. (s) Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 8. p. 398.

And the coast shall be for the {e} 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. (e) He shows why God would destroy their enemies, because their country would be a resting place for his Church.

The coast, the sea-coast, the land of the Philistines, shall be for the remnant, either that escaped, as some did, or else survived the captivity; of the house of Judah; the two tribes, one named, both included. They shall feed thereupon; their Rocks. In the houses of Ashkelon, in places where houses of Ashkelon formerly stood, shall they lie down in the evening; both shepherds and flocks too. The Lord, the everlasting Jehovah, their God, from their fathers by covenant, shall visit them, in mercy remembering his covenant with them, and turn away their captivity, or shall send to receive their prisoners or captives; or return their captivity, and by the command of Cyrus give them liberty of returning into their own country.

Verse 7. - And the coast shall be for the remnant, etc.; it will be a tract for the remnant. The district will be the possession of the Jews, who should be restored to their land ( Obadiah 1:19 ). Zephaniah virtually predicts the Captivity and the return, and intimates that the destruction of hostile nations is the means of advancing true religion. They shall feed their flocks thereupon . Where the Philistine cities stood shall be the pasture ground of the Israelites' flocks. Ashkelon . One city is mentioned as a type of all. For . This is the reason why they are permitted to triumph thus. Shall visit. In a good sense, to protect and cherish ( Exodus 4:31 ; Ruth 1:6 ; Psalm 8:4 ; Zechariah 10:3 ; Luke 1:68 ). Turn away ( reverse ) their captivity. Bring them back from their exile to their own land (comp. Joel 3:1 ; Micah 4:10 ). The phrase, however, is often (and possibly here) used metaphorically for the abolishment of misery and the restoration to a happy condition (comp. Deuteronomy 30:3 ; Job 42:10 (15); Jeremiah 29:14 ). The full accomplishment of this prophecy concerning the overthrow of Philistia is of a spiritual nature, and must be looked for in the Messianic era, when the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of Christ; and so in the subsequent predictions. Zephaniah 2:7

7 . The promise of the surrounding countries to Israel as its possession is more common in later writings; Obadiah 1:19 ff.; Zechariah 9:7 ; but comp. already Amos 9:12 ; Isaiah 11:14 ; Jeremiah 49:2 . turn away their captivity ] R.V. bring again their captivity . The sense of the expression is not quite certain. Others render: restore their prosperity ( Job 42:10 ), or, turn their fortunes , Hosea 6:11 ; Amos 9:14 . The phrase does not imply that the Exile had taken place.

And the coast shall be - Or probably, "It shall be a portion for the remnant of the house of Judah." He uses the word, employed in the first assignment of the land to Israel ; and of the whole people as belonging to God, "Jacob is the 'lot' of His inheritance" Deuteronomy 32:9 . "The tract of the sea," which, with the rest, was assigned to Israel, which, for its unfaithfulness, was seldom, even in part, possessed, and at this time, was wholly forfeited, should be a portion for the mere "remnant" which should be brought back. David used the word in his psalm of thanksgiving, when he had brought the ark to the city of David, how God had "confirmed the covenant to Israel, saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance" 1 Chronicles 16:18 ; Psalm 105:11 ; and Asaph, "He cast out the he athen before them and divided to them an inheritance by line" Psalm 78:55 . It is the reversal of the doom threatened by Micah, "Thou shalt have none, that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the Lord" Micah 2:5 . The word is revived by Ezekiel in his ideal division of the land to the restored people Ezekiel 47:13 . "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance" Romans 11:29 .

The promise, which had slumbered during Israel's faithlesshess, should be renewed to its old extent. : "There is no prescription against the Church." The boat threatens to sink; it is tossed, half-submerged, by the waves; but its Lord "rebukes the wind and the sea; wind and sea obey Him, and there is a great calm" Matthew 8:26-27 . For the remnant of the house of Juda - Yet, who save He in whose hand are human wills, could now foresee that Judah should, like the ten tribes, rebel, be carried captive, and yet, though like and worse than Israel in its sin Jeremiah 3:8-11; Ezekiel 16:48-52; Ezekiel 23:11, should, unlike Israel, be restored? The re-building of Jerusalem was, their enemies pleaded, contrary to sound policy Ezra 4:12-16 : the plea was for the time accepted, for the rebellions of Jerusalem were recorded in the chronicles of Babylon Ezra 4:19-22. Yet the falling short of the complete restoration depended on their own wills. God turned again their captivity; but they only, "whose spirit God stirred," willed to return. The temporal restoration was the picture of the spiritual. They who returned had to give up lands and possessions in Babylonia, and a remnant only chose the land of promise at such cost. Babylonia was as attractive as Egypt formerly.

The tract of land thus depopulated is to be turned into "pastures (nevōth, the construct state plural of nâveh) of the excavation of shepherds," i.e., where shepherds will make excavations or dig themselves huts under the ground as a protection from the sun. This is the simplest explanation of the variously interpreted kerōth (as an inf. of kârâh, to dig), and can be grammatically sustained. The digging of the shepherds stands for the excavations which they make. Bochart (Hieroz. i. p. 519, ed. Ros.) has already given this explanation: "Caulae s. caulis repletus erit effossionis pastorum, i.e., caulae a pastoribus effossae in cryptis subterraneis ad vitandum solis aestum." On the other hand, the derivation from the noun kērâh, in the sense of cistern, cannot be sustained; and there is no proof of it in the fact that kârâh is applied to the digging of wells. Still less is it possible to maintain the derivation from יכר (Arab. wkr), by which Ewald would support the meaning nests for kērōth, i.e., "the small houses or carts of the shepherds." And Hitzig's alteration of the text into כּרת equals כּרים, pastures, so as to obtain the tautology "meadows of the pastures," is perfectly unwarranted. The word chebhel is construed in Zephaniah 2:6 as a feminine ad sensum, with a retrospective allusion to 'erets Pelishtı̄m; whereas in Zephaniah 2:7 it is construed, as it is everywhere else, as a masculine.