Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zephaniah 1:6
And them that are turned back from the LORD; and [those] that have not sought the LORD, nor inquired for him.
6. In this verse also one class of persons is described in two ways: those who have turned away from Jehovah and who do not seek Him. Comp. the prophet’s exhortation ch. Zep 2:2, “seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And them that are turned back from – (Literally, have turned themselves back from following after) the Lord From this half-service, the prophet goes on to the avowed neglect of God, by such as wholly fall away from Him, not setting His will or law before them, but turning away from Him. It is their misery that they were set in the right way once, but themselves turned themselves back, now no longer following God, but their own lusts, drawn away and enticed Jam 1:14 by them. How much more Christians, before whose eyes Christ Jesus is set forth, not as a Redeemer only but as an Example that they should follow His steps! 1Pe 2:21.
And those that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for Him – This is marked to be a distinct class. And those who. These did not openly break with God, or turn away overtly from Him; they kept (as men think) on good terms with Him, but, like the slothful servant, rendered Him a listless heartless service. Both words express diligent search. God is not found then in a careless way. They who seek Him not diligently Mat 2:8, do not find Him. Strive, our Lord says, to enter in at the strait gate, for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able Luk 13:24. She who had lost the one piece of silver, sought diligently Luk 15:8, until she had found it.
Thus, he has gone through the whole cycle. First, that most horrible and cruel worship of Baal, the idolatrous priests and those who had the name of priests only, mingled with them, yet not openly apostatizing; then the milder form of idolatry, the star-worshipers; then those who would unite the worship of God with idols, who held themselves to be worshipers of God, but whose real king was their idol; then those who openly abandoned God; and lastly those who held with Him, just to satisfy their conscience-qualms, but with no heart-service. And so, in words of Habakkuk and in reminiscence of his awful summons of the whole world before God, he sums up;
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. Them that are turned back] Who have forsaken the true God, and become idolaters.
Nor inquired for him] Have not desired to know his will.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Them that are turned back; apostates, who have forsaken the Lord and his worship, or that are turned atheists, or that in matter of religion have taken up not what is purest and truest, but what is nearest and most in fashion.
That have not sought the Lord; sluggishly neglected to examine pretended religions, according to the law, which they might and ought to have done, and who have embraced a fall religion instead of the true.
Nor inquired for him: though the prophets have preached against this apostacy, and called the priests and people to forsake the idols, and inquire after God, yet they would not inquire; these also are here doomed to destruction.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. This verse describes morecomprehensively those guilty of defection from Jehovah in any way(Jer 2:13; Jer 2:17).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And them that are turned back from the Lord,…. Who once were worshippers of him, but now become apostates, and had turned their backs on him and his worship. Some think this describes those who renewed their covenant with God in Josiah’s time, and after that revolted from him, who must be very abominable to him; and therefore he threatens to stretch out his hand, and pour out his wrath upon them:
and [those] that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him; profane abandoned sinners, that lived without God in the world, and as if there was no God; never concerned themselves about the worship of him, having no faith in him, love to him, or fear and reverence of him; so far were they from seeking him in the first place diligently, zealously, and with their whole heart, that they never sought him at all; nor took any pains to get any knowledge of him, or of his mind and will, and manner of worship; but were altogether careless about these things, and unconcerned for them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet seems here to include, as it were, in one bundle, the proud despisers of God, as well as those idolaters of whom he had spoken. It may yet be, that he describes the same persons in different words, and that he means that they were addicted to their own superstitions, because they were unwilling to serve God sincerely and from the heart, and even shunned everything that might lead their attention to true religion. And this view I mostly approve; for what some imagine, that their gross contempt of God is here pointed out, is not sufficiently supported. I therefore rather think that the idolaters are here reproved, that they might not suppose that they could by subterfuges wash away their guilt; for they were wont to cover themselves with the shield of ignorance, when they were overcome, and their impiety was fully proved: I did not think so; but, on the contrary, my purpose was to worship God. Since, then, the superstitious are wont to hide themselves under the covering of ignorance, the Prophet here defines the idolatry of the people, and briefly shows that it was connected with obstinacy and wickedness.
They did not seek Jehovah; but, on the contrary, they turned willfully away from him, and sought, as it were designedly, to extinguish true religion. Nor was it to be wondered at, that so grievous and severe a sentence was pronounced on them; for they had been taught by the law how God was to be served. How was it, then, that errors so gross had crept in? Doubtless, God had kindled the light of celestial truth, which clearly showed the way of true religion; but as men ever seek to perform some frivolous trifles, the Israelites and the Jews, when they felt ashamed openly and manifestly to reject the true God, labored at the same time to add many ceremonies, that their impiety might be thus concealed. This is the reason why the Prophet says that they turned back; that is, that they could not be excused on the ground of ignorance, but that they were perfidious and apostates, who had preferred their own idols to the true God; though they knew that he could not be rightly worshipped, but according to the rule prescribed in the law, they yet neglected this, and heaped together many superstitions.
And, doubtless, we shall find that the fountain of all false worship is this—that men are unwilling truly and from the heart to serve God; and, at the same time, they wish to retain some appearance of religion. For there is nothing omitted in the law that is needful for the perfect worship of God: but as God requires in the law a spiritual worship, hence it is that men seek hiding-places, and devise for themselves many ceremonies, that they may turn back from God, and yet pretend that they come to him. While they sedulously labor in their own ceremonies, it is indeed true that the worship of God and religion are continually on their lips: but, as I have said, it is all hypocrisy and deception; for they accumulate ceremonies, that there might be something intervening between God and them. It is not, therefore, without reason that the Prophet here accuses the Jews that they turned back from Jehovah, and that they sought him not. How so? For there was no need of a long, or of a difficult, or of a perplexed enquiry; for the Lord had freely offered himself to them. How, then, was it that they were blind in the midst of light, except that they knowingly and willfully followed their own inventions? (72)
The same is the case at this day with the Papists: for though they may glamour a hundred times that they seek to worship God, it is quite evident that they willfully go astray; inasmuch as they so delight themselves with their own inventions, that they do not purely and from the heart devote and consecrate themselves to God.
We now, then, see that this verse was added, as an explanation, by the Prophet, that he might deprive the Jews of their false plea of ignorance, and show that they sinned willfully; for they would have been sufficiently taught by the law, had they not adopted their own inventions, which dazzled their eyes and all their senses. It follows—
(72) Calvin has omitted to notice the last words in the verse, “Nor enquire of him;” which Henderson, adopting a modern phraseology, has rendered, “nor apply to him.” The reading ought to be, as many MSS. have it, [ דרשוהו ]. The verb means to enquire of, to consult, and also to regard or to care for. They did not enquire of God as to his will, or they did not show any regard for him. See Gen 25:0 : 22; Eze 20:1; and also Deu 11:12; Job 3:4. To seek the Lord is to seek his favor and communion with him; to enquire of the Lord is to seek the knowledge of his will in any difficulty.— Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Schmieder observes that the enumeration of Zep. 1:4-6 extends from gross external to refined internal apostasy. The Lord will destroy (1) the idols of Baal; (2) their priests; (3) those who openly worship them on housetops; (4) the secret worshippers; (5) those who, without worshipping idols, have apostatised in their hearts; (6) those who are indifferent to religion.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Zep 1:6 And them that are turned back from the LORD; and [those] that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.
Ver. 6. And them that are turned back from the Lord ] Not gross idolaters, but yet treacherous backsliders, that fall off from their former forwardness, that turn from the holy commandments, 2Pe 2:21 , that depart a post Dominum, from after the Lord, as the Hebrew here hath it, apostates, those worst of men, that do not only not fulfil after the Lord, as Caleb, but utterly forsake him. A heavier judgment awaiteth such. “God shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity,” Psa 125:5 .
And those that have not sought the Lord, nor enquired after him
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
from = from after.
sought . . . enquired. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 4:29, where the two Hebrew verbs are in the same order, and are rendered “seek . . . seek”). App-92.
LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah.(with ‘eth) = Jehovah Himself.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
turned: 1Sa 15:11, Psa 36:3, Psa 125:5, Isa 1:4, Jer 2:13, Jer 2:17, Jer 3:10, Jer 15:6, Eze 3:20, Hos 4:15, Hos 4:16, Hos 11:7, Heb 10:38, Heb 10:39, 2Pe 2:18-22
and those: Psa 10:4, Psa 14:2, Psa 14:3, Isa 43:22, Hos 7:7, Rom 3:11, Heb 2:3
Reciprocal: Jos 23:12 – go back Rth 1:15 – gone back 2Sa 22:22 – have not Job 15:4 – castest off Job 23:11 – his way Job 34:27 – turned Psa 44:18 – heart Psa 53:3 – Every Psa 101:3 – them Psa 119:10 – my whole Pro 2:13 – leave Pro 14:14 – backslider Pro 21:16 – wandereth Jer 10:25 – call Jer 11:10 – turned Jer 18:10 – do Jer 34:11 – General Eze 18:24 – when Hos 4:10 – left Amo 5:7 – leave Luk 11:26 – and the Joh 6:66 – of his Col 1:23 – ye continue 2Th 1:8 – that know 2Pe 2:21 – to turn Rev 3:15 – thou
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Zep 1:6. Cut off is still the verb that tells what is to happen to certain evil characters. Turned back from the Lord means those who proved unfaithful to Him and directed their attention to idols. These persons did not seek information from the Lord nor even make any inquiry after Him.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Judgment would come, too, on all God’s people who had apostatized, namely, departed from loving and following Yahweh, and had stopped praying to Him. They might not have participated in pagan idolatry, but if their love had grown cold, they were still guilty (cf. Rev 2:1-7). The Lord commanded His people to love Him wholeheartedly (cf. Deu 6:5). They may have forgotten Him, but He had not forgotten them.
"Sometimes it is the apathetic and indifferent who are more responsible for a nation’s moral collapse than those who are actively engaged in evil, or those who have failed in the responsibilities of leadership." [Note: Peter C. Craigie, Twelve Prophets, 2:114.]
In this pericope the prophet identified three types of idolatry: "the overtly pagan, the syncretistic, and the religiously indifferent." [Note: Hannah, p. 1526.] Practitioners of all three would draw punishment from Yahweh.
How does this promise to judge the Israelites harmonize with the earlier prophecy that God would destroy the whole earth (Zep 1:2-3)? This is an example of a prophet’s foreshortened view of the future in which he could not see the difference in time between some events that he predicted (cf. Isa 61:1-3; Dan 11:35-36; et al.). God judged Israel when the Babylonians overran Judah and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C. He will also judge the Israelites in the Tribulation (cf. Jer 30:7; Revelation 6-18; et al.). Zephaniah described God’s judgment of the people of Judah without specifying exactly when He would judge them. Most of what Zephaniah prophesied in this pericope found fulfillment, at least initially, in 586 B.C.