Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zephaniah 1:15
That day [is] a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
15. a day of wrath ] i.e. of the outpouring of the wrath of God. The effects of this wrath are then detailed: (1) trouble and distress; (2) wasteness and desolation; (3) darkness and gloominess, clouds and thick darkness. The combination “trouble and distress” is found again Job 15:24; cf. Isa 30:6; “wasteness” or devastation “and desolation,” Job 38:27; and the phrase “a day of darkness,” &c. Joe 2:2. Cf. Isa 13:10; Amo 5:18. These supernatural terrors are not to be regarded as figures, they are realities; the world is a human and moral world: nature is convulsed and dissolved in man’s judgment, and transfigured and glorified in his redemption. The first words of the Vulgate translation of this verse, Dies ir dies illa, were adopted by Thomas of Celano as the opening words of his splendid hymn on the Last Judgment. See Trench, Sacred Latin Poetry, p. 296.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A day of wrath – In which all the wrath of Almighty God, which evil angels and evil men have treasured to them for that day, shall be poured out: the day of wrath, because then they shall be brought face to face before the presence of God, but thenceforth they shall be cast out of it forever.
A day of trouble and distress – Both words express, how anguish shall narrow and hem them in; so that there shall be no escape; above them, God displeased; below, the flames of Hell; around, devils to drag them away, and Angels casting them forth in bundles to burn them; without, the books which shall be opened; and within, conscience leaving them no escape.
A day of wasteness and desolation – In which all things shall return to their primeval void, before the Spirit of God brooded upon the face of the waters, His presence being altogether withdrawn.
A day of darkness and gloominess – For sun and moon shall lose their brightness, and no brightness from the Lamb shall shine upon the wicked, but they shall be driven into outer darkness.
A day of clouds and thick darkness – Hiding from them the Face of the Sun of Righteousness, and covering Him, so that their prayers should not pass through Lam 3:44.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. That day is a day of wrath] See the parallel passages in the margin (Isa 22:5; Jer 30:7; Joe 2:2, Joe 2:11; Amo 5:18; Zep 1:18), and the notes there. From the fourteenth to the sixteenth verse inclusive (Zep 1:14-16) there is a most beautiful amplification of the disasters that were coming on Jerusalem; the invasion, incursion, attack, carnage, confusion, horrible din occasioned by the sound of the trumpet, the cries of the people, and the shrieks and groans of the dying, are pointed out with great force and mighty effect.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That day, great day, Zep 1:14,
is a day of wrath, from the Chaldeans; and from the Lord, actively, upon the Jews, passively.
A day of trouble and distress: here the prophet heapeth up words of much the same sense, to express the grievousness of the troubles of those times which shall suddenly come upon them; most distressing trouble, none knowing how to bear it, or where to hide from it.
Of wasteness and desolation; most desolate wasteness in city, villages, and fields; every where the spoiling soldier shall lay waste, carrying away all he can, and destroying what he cannot carry away,
Of darkness and gloominess; possibly it might be so as to the temper of the air, dark and gloomy, but figuratively I am sure it was so.
Of clouds and thick darkness; either literally, from the heavens clouded over them, or (if it refer, as it may, to the day of sacking Jerusalem, and effects of it) darkness, gloominess, clouds, and thick darkness, arising from the smoke and fire of the city every where fired by the enemy; but metaphorically these speak the most unparalleled calamities.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. wasteness . . . desolationTheHebrew terms by their similarity of sounds, Shoah,Umeshoah, express the dreary monotony of desolation (see on Na2:10).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
That day [is] a day of wrath,…. Both of the wrath of God against his people for their sins; these judgments being the effects of his wrath, provoked by their iniquities; and of the wrath and cruelty of the Chaldeans, exercised in a furious manner:
a day of trouble and distress; to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they being taken and led captive, their houses plundered and demolished, and the whole city and temple laid in ruins:
a day of wasteness and desolation; of the whole country of Judea, and the metropolis of it; of their houses, fields, and vineyards:
a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness: as it might be in a natural sense; the displeasure of God being shown in the very heavens, by the darkness and gloominess of them, and the thick clouds with which they were covered; and made still more dark and gloomy by the burning of the city, and the smoke of it; and, in such circumstances, gloominess and melancholy must sit upon the minds of men: and thick clouds and darkness portend greater troubles and calamities coming on; and the whole is expressive of great adversity; for, as light frequently designs prosperity, so darkness adversity.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet shows here how foolish they were who extenuated God’s vengeance, as hypocrites and all wicked men are wont to do. Hence he accuses the Jews of madness, that they thought that the way of reconciliation would be easy to them, when they had by their perverseness provoked God to come against them as an armed enemy. For though the ungodly do not promise to themselves anything of God’s favor, yet they entertain vain imaginations, as though he might with no trouble be pacified: they do not think that he will be propitious to them, and yet in the meantime they deride his vengeance. Against this kind of senselessness the Prophet now inveighs. We have stated in other places, that these kinds of figurative expressions were intended solely for this end—to constrain men to entertain some fear, for they willfully deluded themselves: for the Prophets had to do, partly with open despisers of God, and partly with his masked worshipers, whose holiness was hypocrisy.
This, then, was the reason why he said, that that day would be a day of wrath, and also a day of distress and of affliction, (83) of tumult and desolation, (84) of darkness and of thick darkness, of clouds and of mist. In short, he intended to remove from the Jews that confidence with which they flattered themselves, yea, the confidence which they derived from their contempt of God: for the flesh is secure, while it has coverts, where it may withdraw itself from the presence of God. True confidence cannot exceed moderation, that is, the confidence that is founded on God’s word, for thus men come nigh to God: but the flesh wishes for no other rest but in the forgetfulness of God. And we have already seen in the Prophet Amos, (Amo 5:18,) why the day of Jehovah is painted as being so dreadful; he had, as I have said, to contend with hypocrites, who made an improper use of God’s name, and at the same time slumbered in gross insensibility. Hence Amos said, It will be a day, not of light, but of darkness; not of joy, but of sorrow. Why then do ye anxiously expect the day of the Lord? For the Jews, glorying in being the chosen people of God, and trusting only in their false title of adoption, thought that everything was lawful for them, as though God had renounced his own authority. And thus hypocrites ever flatter themselves, as though they held God bound to them. Our Prophet does not, as Amos, distinctly express these sentiments, yet the meaning of the words is the same, and that is, that when God ascends his tribunal, there is no hope for pardon. He at the same time cuts off from them all their vain confidences; for though God excludes all escapes, yet hypocrites look here and there, before and behind, to the right hand and to the left.
The Prophet therefore intimates, that there would be everywhere darkness and thick darkness, clouds and mists, affliction and distress,—Why? because it would be the day of wrath; for God, after having borne patiently a long time with the Jews, and seen that they perversely abused his patience, would at length put forth his power. And that they might not set up their own strongholds against God, he says, that war was proclaimed against the fortified cities and high citadels. We hence see that he deprives the Jews of all help, in order that they might understand that they were to perish, except they repented, and thus return into favor with God. It shall then be a day of the trumpet and of shouting, (85) —How? on all fortified cities. For the Jews, as it is usually done, compared the strength of their enemies with their own. It was not their purpose to go forth beyond their own borders: and they thought that they would be able to resist, and be sufficiently fortified, if any foreign enemy invaded them. The Prophet laughs to scorn this notion, for God had declared war against their fortified cities. It follows —
(83) The original words are similar in sound and meaning; the first, [ צרה ], comes from a verb which means to inclose, to confine, to straiten, and it may be rendered, narrowness, confinement, straitness, distress. The other, [ מצוקה ], is oppression, as the verb means to press down, to press close.
(84) Waste or confusion is, [ משואה,שאה ], derived from the same root, may be rendered desolation. The two next words, “darkness” and “thick darkness,” occur in Joe 2:2. In the same passage we have also “the day of cloudiness and of entire darkness,” literally, bare or naked darkness; for the word is, [ ערפל ], derived, as I conceive, from [ ער ], bare, and [ אפל ], thick darkness. There is a gradation in the words used in each line; the second word is stronger than the first.— Ed.
(85) Rather “acclamation,” the triumphant voice of conquerors. As an attempt to preserve the distinctive character of each word in this singular passage, I offer the following version—
15. A day of extreme wrath shall be that day, A day of distress and oppression, A day of waste and of desolation, A day of darkness and of thick darkness, A day of cloudiness and of entire darkness;
16. A day of the trumpet and of acclamation Over the cities that are inclosed, And over the towers which are lofty.
The word [ עברה ], “extreme wrath,” means such wrath as passes over all bounds—overflowing wrath. We are obliged to use the word darkness three times for lack of suitable terms. The first is the common darkness of the night, the second is a grosser darkness, and the third is complete darkness. The words “gloominess” and “obscurity,” used by Newcome and Henderson, are not sufficiently strong, and convey not the meaning.— Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) Clouds and thick darkness.As when Jehovah revealed Himself on Mount Sinai: see Deu. 4:11.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15, 16. “In order to depict more fully the terrible character of this day, Zephaniah crowds together in Zep 1:15-16 all the words supplied by the language to describe the terror of the judgment.”
Day of wrath A day on which the wrath of Jehovah will manifest itself against everything that is impure and sinful (see on Nah 1:2). The effects of this manifestation are described in the rest of the verse (compare Isa 22:5).
1. Trouble and distress Men will not know what to do (Job 15:24).
2. Wasteness and desolation The land will be wasted and thus share in the judgment (Job 38:27).
3. Darkness gloominess, clouds thick darkness If meant to be understood literally, the words express the thought that nature also will be affected by the terrible judgment (see on Joe 2:2; Joe 2:30-31); they might, however, be used figuratively (see on Amo 5:18). Zep 1:16 shows that war will be the means of executing the judgment.
Trumpet Better, horn (see on Hos 5:8).
Alarm The same word is translated “shouting” in Amo 1:14; Amo 2:2 (see there). The shouting of the attacking soldiers and the sound of the signal horns will be heard everywhere.
Fenced cities Of Judah (compare Isa 2:15; Mic 5:11).
High towers R.V., “battlements.” The corners and battlements of the walls surrounding the cities (2Ch 26:15).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zep 1:15. Of wasteness Calamity or tumult. Zep 1:17. Their flesh] Their carcases.
REFLECTIONS.1st, We have,
1. An account of the inspired penman of this prophesy, Zephaniah, whose ancestors for four generations prior to him are mentioned, probably as men of distinguished note; and some have thought him of the blood-royal, and a descendant from Hezekiah, king of Judah, the same word in the original as Hizkiah. He lived in the best times, even in the reforming reign of Josiah; and yet we find that the people in reality, many of them at least, notwithstanding their apparent change, continued bad, very bad; or they quickly relapsed, and departed from their promising beginnings. Of so short continuance are the effects wrought by the most zealous reformers among a backsliding people. The word of the Lord came to the prophet; for he spake not in his own name, but as the Spirit gave him utterance.
2. The burden of his prophesy is the approaching destruction of the land of Judaea, and all things therein, both man and beast.
[1.] I will consume and cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord; even the good men that yet remain will be involved in the national calamity. But the wicked are especially intended: against them the Lord will stretch out his hand, in wrath to smite and consume them from the earth, with their stumbling-blocks, those hated idols, which constituted their mortal sin. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place; those who, notwithstanding all Josiah’s care, still continued the worship of Baal: and the name of the Chemarims with the priests. The Chemarims were idolatrous priests, as the word is translated, 2Ki 23:5 so called either from the black garments that they wore, or from their faces blackened with the smoke of the fires where they sacrificed. These should be cut off, yea, their very name buried in oblivion, or mentioned with detestation. And those who on house-tops worship the host of heaven shall share the same fate; with all those who swear by the Lord, or to the Lord and Melchom, or Moloch, seeking to reconcile the inconsistent services of both, and pretending to worship them together, irreconcileable as that must for ever be: and them that are turned back from the Lord, apostates from the profession which they once made: and those that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him, careless and prayerless sinners, who never troubled themselves about God, his worship, or service; these will he destroy together. Note; (1.) The prayerless soul is a lost soul. (2.) They who seek to reconcile their religion with the ways of the world, and would serve God and Mammon together, just go so far as the devil desires. If they swear by Melchom, conform to the maxims, customs, or vanities of the world, they may serve God in form as much as they please, but they will be numbered with the transgressors.
[2.] I will consume the beasts, the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea; being designed for man’s comfort, they are involved in his punishment, when by sin he forfeits all his mercies.
2nd, The day of vengeance approaches, and the nation, as a sacrifice to divine justice, is ready to be offered up; and the Lord hath bid his guests, the Babylonians, or the fowls of the heaven, to feed upon the carcases of the slain.
1. Those are described who are devoted to destruction.
[1.] The princes, and the king’s children; for judgment begins with the highest: and all such as are clothed with strange apparel; either the vestments in which they worshipped their idols; or they affected in their dress to imitate their heathen neighbours in finery and extravagance, and their clothes proclaimed their pride and the vanity of their hearts.
[2.] The oppressors, who leap on the threshold, who daringly thrust themselves in at their neighbour’s door, and seize what comes to hand; filling their master’s houses with violence and deceit; who set them on this wickedness, and protect them from justice and punishment.
[3.] The rich merchants, and all they that bear silver, having plenty of money to trade, and buy and sell, and get gain.
[4.] All that are settled on their lees; living in pleasure, affluence, ease, and carnal security; and this begetting infidelity; that say in their heart, though, like many other practical atheists, they dare not openly avow their sentiments, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil; denying his providential government of the world; and that neither his service would be attended with reward, nor sin with any punishment; leaving him out of their sight, and intimating, in fact, that there was no God. And as it is so much for their interest that there should be none, sensualists would fain persuade themselves that there is none: but such as these God will assuredly detect and punish. I will search Jerusalem with candles, that none may be able to hide themselves; and punish them with judgments from which none shall be able to escape. Note; Many are driven to the dreadful and deceitful refuge of infidelity, that they may silence conscience thereby, and enjoy their guilty pleasures undisturbed.
2. Their cry will be terrible when the stroke of vengeance descends. In that day, saith the Lord, there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish-gate, of the miserable inhabitants flying before their Chaldean pursuers; and a great crushing from the hills; either of the enemy shouting and rushing on to the slaughter, or of the houses of the nobles, built on the highest part of Zion and Moriah, now plundered and beat to the ground. Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, a street of Jerusalem into which the enemy broke; or it is put for the whole body of the people, howling over their desolations; Their merchants are cut down, and their substance is become a spoil to the Chaldeans: yea, their goods are become a booty; and their houses, which they built, flattering themselves with a long abode in them, are become a desolation; and the vineyards that they planted, afford their produce not to them, but to their conquerors.
3. The prophet with all others who are like him are commanded to hold their peace at the presence of the Lord God, not daring to dispute against his righteous judgments, nor suffered to open their mouths to pray for a people devoted to destruction.
3rdly, If any thing can alarm the sinners in Zion, the prophet’s awful warnings must surely do it.
1. The great day of the Lord, when he will take vengeance on the Jews by the sword of the Babylonians, is near; it is near, and hasteth greatly; but a moment remains to fly from this devouring fire. It is madness for the sinner to slumber, whose damnation slumbereth not.
2. This will be a day of terror and dismay. The voice of the day of the Lord will strike a panic into the boldest; the mighty men shall cry there bitterly, quite dispirited, and wringing their hands when they should grasp the sword. That day is a day of wrath; of the wrath of God, and of the fury of the Chaldeans, his instruments of vengeance: a day of trouble and distress to the miserable inhabitants; of wasteness and desolation to the whole land, to Jerusalem, the temple, and all the cities thereof: a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, without a gleam of hope, and big with despair: A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers, spreading horror and dismay on every side. And I will bring distress upon men, perplexed, and not knowing which way to turn; that they shall walk like blind men, rushing upon their own ruin.
3. Destruction universal and unavoidable will ensue. Their blood shall be poured out as dust, so profusely, so disregarded; and their flesh as the dung; their carcases left unburied on the earth. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; for in that day they profit not: but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; so furious that nothing can stay the raging flames: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land, and leave them neither root nor branch. Note; It is a fearful thing indeed to fall into the hands of a jealous God.
4. Sin, sin, that accursed thing, is the cause of all this misery. Because they have sinned against the Lord; this is the provocation, and the sting of every affliction: it is this which puts the worm that never dies into the conscience, and kindles the flames which never can be quenched. O sin, sin, what hast thou done!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Zep 1:15 That day [is] a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
Ver. 15. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress ] By this synathroismos, or heap of words, the prophet would frighten and arouse these dead and indolent sinners, settled upon their lees, so wedded and wedged to their wicked practices that nothing can sunder them but an extraordinary touch from the hand of Heaven. See Joe 2:1-3 cf. Amo 5:18-20 , See Trapp on “ Amo 5:18 “ See Trapp on “ Amo 5:19 “ See Trapp on “ Amo 5:20 “ and consider what the terror of the Lord’s last day will be.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wrath. trouble, &c. Note the Figure of speech Synonymia (App-6).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
is: Zep 1:18, Zep 2:2, Isa 22:5, Jer 30:7, Amo 5:18-20, Luk 21:22, Luk 21:23, Rom 2:5, 2Pe 3:7, Rev 6:17
a day of darkness: Job 3:4-8, Joe 2:2, Joe 2:11
Reciprocal: 1Sa 2:9 – be silent Job 15:23 – the day Job 21:30 – day Isa 8:22 – look Isa 13:10 – General Jer 4:19 – sound Jer 46:10 – the day Eze 34:12 – in the cloudy Zep 1:10 – in Mat 24:29 – shall the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Zep 1:15. This verse describes the terrible conditions that came upon the land at the siege and capture of Judah by the Babylonian army. The fulfiIlment of the prediction is recorded in 2 Kings 24, 25.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
The prophet wanted to emphasize the danger his complacent hearers faced even more strongly. He described the effects of the day of the Lord on people by using five synonymous word pairs. If would be a day marked by emotional distress and anguish as well as physical destruction and devastation. The prophet described the terror as darkness and gloom, and clouds and blackness. Trumpet blast and battle cry picture the tumult of that day. The fortified cities of Judah would face invasion, and the high corner towers of their walls would come under siege.