Zephaniah 2                                                                               

Zephaniah 2:1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;

• Gather = collect
• Not desired = not desirable

2 Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you.

• What day?
• Judgment day

3 Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger.

• Psalms 27:4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.
  5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
  6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.
  7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
  8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
• Isaiah 26:20 Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.

4 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.

• Gaza shall be forsaken
• For Gaza = "Mine anger shall be upon Gaza, saith the Lord"
• Ashkelon = Now "Askalan, on the coast of Philistia
• Desolation = ruin = Long since fulfilled.
• Aahdod Now Esdud = The same as Azotus in Acts 8:40 But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Cæsarea.
• At the noon day =  during the noon day siesta.
• Ekron . . . rooted up

5 Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the Lord is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.

• Woe unto the land of the Philistines, the nation of the Cherethites, Canaan
• Sea coast = or, country by the sea

6 And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.

• Dwellings = pastures
• Cottages = pens

7 And the coast shall be for the 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.

• Be for = "be for a possession to"
• Them = the remnant of Judah

8 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.

• Moab = Hebrew word  (of his father), Mo'abites.
• Moab was the son of the Lot's eldest daughter, the progenitor of the Moabites.
• Zoar was the cradle of the race of Lot.
• From this centre the brother tribes spread themselves.
• The Moabites first inhabited the rich highlands which crown the eastern side of the chasm of the Dead Sea, extending as far north as the mountain of Gilead, from which country they expelled the Emims, the original inhabitants.
• I have heard = "My judgment shall come upon Moab, for I have heard"
• Isaiah 15:1 The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence

9 Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.

• Genesis 19:24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;
  25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
• People = nation (Revelation 17:15)
• Possess = inherit

10 This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts.

11 The Lord will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.

• Notice = gods of the earth
• Famish = cause to waste away
• The isles = The coast=land
• Heathen = nations
• Genesis 10:5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

12 Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.

• What's the sword?
• God's word, they're spiritually dead to God's Word (Ezekiel 37)
• Revelation 2:16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
• Revelation 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
• Psalms 149:6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand;
• Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God

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.

• Stretch out His hand = idiom for executing judgment
• The north = against Assyria, because although west of Canaan, the road and entrance was by the north.

14 And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work.

• Cedar work = the wainscotting

15 This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

• Wag his hand = idiom expressive of derision

• Exactly 2520 years from the exile of Benjamin, Iceland became an independent nation.

 

•  The first tribe to be conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh, in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4, 1776.

 

• Study the book: Abrahamic Covenant, (A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt - page 25