Zephaniah 3:13

3:8-13 The preaching of the gospel is predicted, when vengeance would be executed on the Jewish nation. The purifying doctrines of the gospel, or the pure language of the grace of the Lord, would teach men to use the language of humility, repentance, and faith. Purity and piety in common conversation is good. The pure and happy state of the church in the latter days seems intended. The Lord will shut out boasting, and leave men nothing to glory in, save the Lord Jesus, as made of God to them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Humiliation for sin, and obligations to the Redeemer, will make true believers upright and sincere, whatever may be the case among mere professors.

This is the remnant, according to the election of grace, the few the Lord reserved for himself, left in the land, and in his church, for his own glory; who, being truly convinced of sin, and brought to believe in Christ, should leave and forsake their former course of sinning; not that they should be without sin, or none be committed by them; but should not live in it, and be workers of it; make a trade of sinning, and continue therein; or should not commit the sin against the Holy Ghost, as great numbers of the Jews did, in rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, against clear evidence, and the light of their own consciences: nor speak lies; in common talk and conversation; which a child of God, a true believer in Christ, a real Christian, should not and dare not do, Isaiah 63:8 or doctrinal lies, lies in hypocrisy; such doctrines as are not of the truth of the Gospel, but contrary to it; such as the doctrine of justification by works; atonement by ceremonial sacrifices; acceptance with God, through the merits of their fathers; and keeping the traditions of the elders; and other Jewish lies and fables of the same stamp; but rejected by those who have embraced the truth, as it is in Jesus: neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; having clean hearts created and right spirits renewed in them; being Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile, and true followers of Jesus, in whom nothing of this kind could be found: for they shall feed, like a flock of sheep, to which

The remnant of Israel, preserved in captivity and dispersion, purified in the furnace of affliction, and now returned to their own land, shall not do iniquity; shall not commit the sins they formerly committed, not provoke God with their abominations as before; it is not a prediction of a sinless, but of a reformed state; they shall be righteous, and taught of God, no more idolaters. Nor speak lies; they shall love truth, and speak truth, or, in a larger sense, shall be honest and upright amongst men. A deceitful tongue; a false accuser or witness, like Doeg, or Jezebel’s evidences against Naboth; according to that, Psalm 15:2 24:4 . For they shall feed; or, they shall feed also, &c.; so it will be a blessing added as a crown of their piety and truth. Or if you read it, for they shall feed, & c., it gives you a reason why they shall not by frauds and lies, as formerly, sin against one another; they shall have a sufficiency by honest ways, and from God’s blessing, and shall not be under any great temptation to dishonesty and lying. None shall make them afraid: frights made David, Abraham, and others to forget truth; here none should fright them, and they should not fear to speak the truth: their lips pure, Zephaniah 3:9 ; they trust in the Lord, Zephaniah 3:12 ; therefore shall not lie. Here is a cluster of spiritual promises with the temporal.

The remnant of Israel, preserved in captivity and dispersion, purified in the furnace of affliction, and now returned to their own land, shall not do iniquity; shall not commit the sins they formerly committed, not provoke God with their abominations as before; it is not a prediction of a sinless, but of a reformed state; they shall be righteous, and taught of God, no more idolaters. Nor speak lies; they shall love truth, and speak truth, or, in a larger sense, shall be honest and upright amongst men. A deceitful tongue; a false accuser or witness, like Doeg, or Jezebel’s evidences against Naboth; according to that, Psalm 15:2 24:4 . For they shall feed; or, they shall feed also, &c.; so it will be a blessing added as a crown of their piety and truth. Or if you read it, for they shall feed, & c., it gives you a reason why they shall not by frauds and lies, as formerly, sin against one another; they shall have a sufficiency by honest ways, and from God’s blessing, and shall not be under any great temptation to dishonesty and lying. None shall make them afraid: frights made David, Abraham, and others to forget truth; here none should fright them, and they should not fear to speak the truth: their lips pure, Zephaniah 3:9 ; they trust in the Lord, Zephaniah 3:12 ; therefore shall not lie. Here is a cluster of spiritual promises with the temporal.

Verse 13. - The remnant of Israel (see note on ver. 12). Though they claim no worldly eminence, the true Israelites shall be conspicuous for spiritual graces. Shall not do iniquity. Their acts shall be just and holy; their daily conduct such as becomes the children of God's election ( Leviticus 19:2 ; 1 John 3:9 ). Nor speak lies. There shall be no lying prophets there, and all fraud and double-dealing shall be abolished. The proof of their righteous conduct is found in the favour of the Lord and the security in which they shall live. For they shall feed, etc. The remnant is compared to a "little fleck" ( Luke 12:32 ), of which the Lord is the Shepherd (comp. Micah 7:14 ). The blessing is that promised to Israel in the Law if she kept the commandments ( Leviticus 26:5, 6 ). Vers 14-20. - § 3. Israel shall be cam forted and largely blessed by the presence of Jehovah and exalted to honour in the eyes of all the world. Zephaniah 3:13

13 . The remnant of Israel ] After the great judgment of the day of the Lord, only a remnant shall be left ( Joel 2:28-32 ). The idea that only a remnant shall be saved is common to all the prophets; Isaiah called his son Shear-jashub, “a remnant shall turn,” making him a living sign to king ( Isaiah 7:3 ) and people of his conviction that a great judgment was impending. Cf. Isaiah 10:21-23 . shall not do iniquity ] Comp. Zephaniah 3:5 , where it is said of the Lord “he doeth no iniquity.” In those days the people shall be like their God. His Spirit within them shall rule their life: Ezekiel 36:25-27 . For they shall feed ] The figure is the very common one of flocks feeding and lying down in complete security. Cf. Isaiah 17:2 ; Ezekiel 34:25 ; Ezekiel 34:28 . The word for does not assign their perfect security from all trouble without as the reason for the righteousness that shall prevail within, though of course security from all external evils would permit and help the peaceable expansion of the community and the growth of religious life among them. The words introduced by for rather restate under another aspect the peaceful and happy condition of the people, already described in Zephaniah 3:12-13 a .

The remnant of Israel - The same poor people, the "true Israel" of whom God said, "I leave over" (the word is the same) "a poor people," few, compared with the rest who were blinded; of whom the Lord said, "I know whom I have chosen" John 13:18 . These "shall not do iniquity nor speak lies." Cyril: "This is a spiritual adorning, a most beautiful coronet of glorious virtues. For where meekness and humility are and the desire of righteousness, and the tongue unlearns vain words and sinful speech, and is the instrument of strict truth, there dawns a bright and most perfect virtue. And this beseems those who are in Christ. For the beauty of piety is not seen in the Law, but gleams forth in the power of Evangelic teachings." Our Lord said of Nathanael, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile" John 1:47, and to the Apostles, "I send you forth as sheep among wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves" Matthew 10:16; and of the first Christians it is said, "they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house did eat their merit with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people" Acts 2:46-47. This is the character of Christians, as such, and it was at first fulfilled; "whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin" 1 John 3:9; "whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not" 1 John 5:18.