9<\/strong>. those that leap on the threshold<\/em> ] Rather: leap<\/strong> (or, spring) over<\/strong> the threshold. The priests of Dagon avoided treading on the threshold of his temple because the idol had fallen upon it (1Sa 5:5<\/span>). The connexion here, however, implies that leaping over the threshold is rather an act of violence, suggesting forcible invasion of the house, for the next clause, “that fill their master’s house with violence,” is a further description of those that leap over the threshold.<\/p>\n fill their masters’ houses<\/em> ] More probably: their master’s house<\/strong>, reference being to the king. Zep 1:8-9<\/span> seem to have a common subject, the princes and king’s children, that is, the officers of the king and the members of the royal family. Probably persons belonging to the collateral branches of the royal house filled judicial and other offices in the government.<\/p>\n with violence and deceit<\/em> ] Or, wrong and fraud<\/em>. The words do not mean that wrong and fraud are committed in<\/em> the house of the king, but that his house is filled with the proceeds of such things, cf. Isa 3:14-15<\/span>. What is alluded to is the perversion of justice practised by the princes and the royal family for purposes of gain. At a later time Ezek. makes a similar complaint against the princes and royal house (ch. Eze 22:25-29<\/span>. In Eze 22:25<\/em><\/span> read princes<\/em>).<\/p>\n I will punish all those that leap on the threshold – <\/B>Neither language nor history nor context allow this to be understood of the idolatrous custom of Ashdod, not to tread on the threshold of the temple of Dagon. It had indeed been a strange infatuation of idolatry, that Gods people should adopt an act of superstitious reverence for an idol in the very instance in which its nothingness and the power of the true God had been shown. Nothing is indeed too brutish for one who chooses an idol for the true God, preferring Satan to the good God. Yet, the superstition belonged apparently to Ashdod alone; the worship of Dagon, although another form of untrue worship, does not appear, like that of Baal, to have fascinated the Jews; nor would Zephaniah, to express a rare superstition, have chosen an idiom, which might more readily express the contrary, that they leapt on the threshold, not over it.<\/P> They are also the same persons, who leap on the threshold, and who fill their masters houses with violence and deceit. Yet, this relates, not to superstition, but to plunder and goods unjustly gotten. As then, before, he had declared Gods judgments upon idolatry, so does he here upon sins against the second table, whether by open violence, or secret fraud, as do also Habakkuk Hab 1:2-3<\/span>, and Jeremiah Jer 5:27<\/span>. All, whether open or hidden from man, every wrongful dealing, (for every sin as to a neighbors goods falls under these two, violence or fraud) shall be avenged in that day. Here again all which remains is the sin. They enriched, as they thought, their masters by art or by force; they schemed, plotted, robbed; they succeeded to their hearts wish; but, ill-gotten, ill-spent! They filled their masters houses quite full; but wherewith? with violence and deceit, which witnessed against them, and brought down the judgments of God upon them.<\/P> <\/p>\n Verse 9. That leap on the threshold<\/B><\/I>] Or, that leap over the<\/I> threshold<\/I>. It is most probable that the Philistines<\/I> are here meant. After the time that Dagon fell before the ark, and his hands were broken off on the threshold of his temple, his worshippers would no more set a foot upon the threshold, but stepped or leaped over it, when they entered into his temple. The Chaldee<\/I> understands this of the Philistines, without giving this reason for it. Some understand it of haughtiness and pride: others think that leaping on the threshold<\/I> refers to the customs of the Arabs, who used to ride into people’s houses and take away whatever they could carry; and that this is the reason why, in several parts of the East, they have their doors made very low, to prevent those depredators from entering. In this manner, we learn the Persians<\/I> have frequently oppressed the poor Armenians<\/I>, going on horseback into their houses, and taking whatever they thought proper. Mr. Harmer<\/I> understands it in this way.<\/P> <\/p>\n In the same day; <\/B>not to be taken for a single day, but more largely for that time wherein God would visit and punish. <\/P> That leap on the threshold; <\/B>insolently, and with rage, break open the doors of such whose goods they seize, upon pretence of forfeitures or fines; a sin that Ezekiel both taxed and threatened, Eze 8:17<\/span>; 12:19<\/span>; 45:9<\/span>. <\/P> Their masters; <\/B>either the oppressing kings, whose officers these were, or public officers and judges, whose servants thus did (to enrich their masters) spoil the poor and the oppressed. <\/P> With violence; <\/B>goods taken away by force, and kept as much against right, as at first taken away without right; <\/P> and deceit, <\/B>by false accusations, and by suborned evidence for proof, and by perjuries. <\/P> <\/p>\n 9. those that leap on thethreshold<\/B>the servants of the princes, who, after having gottenprey (like hounds) for their masters, leap exultingly on theirmasters’ thresholds; or, on the thresholds of the houses which theybreak into [CALVIN].JEROME explains it ofthose who walk up the steps into the sanctuary with haughtiness.<\/I>ROSENMULLER translates,”Leap over<\/I> the threshold”; namely, in imitation ofthe Philistine custom of not treading on the threshold, which arosefrom the head and hands of Dragon being broken off on the thresholdbefore the ark (1Sa 5:5<\/span>). CompareIsa 2:6<\/span>, “thy people . . .are soothsayers like the Philistines.<\/I>” CALVIN’Sview agrees best with the latter clause of the verse. <\/P> fill . . . masters’ houseswith violence,<\/B> &c.that is, with goods obtained withviolence,<\/I> &c.<\/P><\/p>\n In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold<\/strong>,…. Not in a ludicrous way, who, by dancing and leaping, made sport for persons, and brought their masters much gain, as the damsel possessed with a spirit of divination did, Ac 16:16<\/span> rather, that entered rashly and irreverently into the house of God; or else in an idolatrous way, who, when they went into an idol’s temple, did not tread upon the threshold, but leaped over it, as the priests of Dagon, after the fall of that idol on the threshold, 1Sa 5:4<\/span>. So the Targum,<\/p>\n “and I will visit all those that walk in the laws (or according to the customs) of the Philistines;”<\/p>\n whose idol Dagon was: but it seems better to interpret it of such, who, seeing houses full of good things, in a rude, bold, insolent manner, thrust themselves, or jumped into them, and took away what they pleased; or when they returned to their masters’ houses with their spoil, who set them on, and encouraged them in these practices, leaped over the threshold for joy of what they had got, as Aben Ezra observes; which agrees with what follows:<\/p>\n which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit<\/strong>; that is, with goods got by rapine and force, and by fraudulent ways and methods: this is to be understood of the servants of great men, who, to feed the ambition and avarice of their masters, used very oppressive methods with inferior persons to get their substance from them, and gratify their masters. Cocceius interprets these “three” verses of the day of Christ’s coming in the flesh being at hand, when the true sacrifice should be offered up, and God would call his people to feed by faith upon it; when all civil power and authority in the sanhedrim and family of David should be removed from the Jews; and all friendship with the nations of the world, signified by likeness of garments; and the priestly dignity, the priests, according to him, being those that leaped over the threshold; that is, of the house of the Lord, the temple, and filled it with the spoil of widows’ houses, unsupportable precepts, and false doctrines.<\/p>\n (9) Their masters houses.<\/strong>Better, their lord<\/em>s house,<\/em> meaning the temple of their idol-deity. Probably the true interpretation of this obscure verse is that the idolaters had adopted a usage prevalent in the Philistine temples of Dagonthat of leaping over the threshold on entering the idols temple. (See 1Sa. 5:5<\/span>.) When they entered it they filled it with violence and deceit by bringing thither offerings acquired by fraud and oppression. Another interpretation makes the verse relate exclusively to plunder and unjust acquisition of goods. Leaping the threshold is then expounded as a sudden rushing into houses to steal the property of strangers, and the offenders are identified as servants of the king, who thought they could best serve their master by extorting treasures from their dependants by violence and fraud (Ewald). It does not seem likely that such malpractices would have been tolerated among the retainers of the pious Josiah; it is possible, however, to suppose that he had not yet acquired sufficient authority to check them.<\/p>\n Zep 1:9<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>Those that leap on the threshold<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> Over the threshold. <\/em>Houbigant. Calmet observes, that this alludes to the custom of the Philistines, when they enter the temple of Dagon; but the author of the Observations <\/em>is of a different opinion. That notion can have nothing to recommend it, says he, I think, but its being supposed by so old a writer as the Chaldee paraphrast: he is of opinion, that it alludes to the custom of riding into the houses, spoken of in the note on Pro 17:19<\/span> and he observes, that such as are clothed with strange apparel, <\/em>Zep 1:8<\/span> are words which, in this connection, seem only to mean the rich, who are conscious of such power and influence, as to dare in a time of oppression and danger to avow their riches, and who therefore were not afraid to wear the costly manufactures of strange countries, <\/em>Eze 27:7<\/span> though they were neither magistrates, nor of a royal descent. A great number of attendants is a modern piece of oriental magnificence. It appears to have been so anciently. See Ecc 5:11<\/span>. These servants now, <\/em>it is most certain, frequently attend their master on horseback, <\/em>richly attired, sometimes to the number of twenty-five or thirty. If they did so anciently, such a number of servants attending great men, (who are represented by this very prophet, ch. Zep 3:3<\/span> as at that time, in common, terrible oppressors) may be naturally supposed to ride into the people’s houses, and having gained an admission by deceit, to force from them by violence large contributions; for this riding into houses is now practised by the Arabs, and consequently might be practised by others too anciently. <\/em>It is not now peculiar to the Arabs; <\/em>for Le Bruyn, after describing the magnificent furniture of several of the Armenian merchants at Julfa, that suburb of Ispahan in which they live, tells us, that the front door of the greatest part of these houses is very small, partly to hinder the Persians from entering into them on horseback, <\/em>and partly that they may less observe the magnificence within. To which should be added, what he elsewhere observes, that these Armenians are treated with great rigour and insolence by the Persians. If this text refers to a violence of this sort, they are the thresholds of the oppressed <\/em>over which they leaped; not the thresholds of the oppressive masters, <\/em>(which some have supposed,) when they returned home loaden with the spoil. See Observations, <\/em>p. 57. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Zep 1:9 In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Ver. 9. In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold<\/strong> ] i.e.<\/em> Great men’s officers, who by an absolute power went into other men’s houses, and to whom no doors were shut, saith Mr Diodati. These leap upon the threshold, that is, with great impudence and insolence, they invade and spoil other men’s houses, and do what they wish, like so many lurdaines,<\/em> or lord danes: neither dare any question or control them. Lo, such things were done in good Josiah’s days without his consent or so much as knowledge; for none might be suffered to come to him with a complaint; always being shut up by those great ones about him, whose houses were by that means filled with violence and deceit, that is, with those ill-gotten goods, got by wrench and wile from the right but unrelieved possessors, through the might and sleight of those unconscionable subordinates.<\/p>\n those that leap, &c. No reference to idolatrous practice, as in 1Ki 18:26; but to the servants of rulers sent to enter the houses of others and steal Figure of speech Periphrasis (App-6), for robbers. <\/p>\n on = over. <\/p>\n violence and deceit. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), App-6, for the booty procured. <\/p>\n those: Or, “that leap over the threshold,” by which is probably meant the Philistines, who, after the time that Dagon fell before the ark and was broken on the threshold, leaped over it when entering his temple. <\/p>\n leap: 1Sa 5:5 <\/p>\n which: 1Sa 2:15, 1Sa 2:16, 2Ki 5:20-27, Neh 5:15, Pro 29:12, Act 16:19 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Lev 6:4 – which he 1Ki 18:26 – leaped upon the altar Isa 59:6 – their works Jer 17:11 – he that Eze 8:17 – for Eze 18:7 – hath spoiled Eze 28:16 – filled Amo 3:10 – who Mic 6:10 – the treasures Zep 1:13 – their goods<\/p>\n Zep 1:9. Leap on the threshold means those who enter the houses or their abominable masters and thus endorse them in their evil way of ltfe.<\/p>\n 1:9 In the same day also will I punish all those that {e} leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit.<\/p>\n (e) He means the servants of the rulers who invade other men’s houses, and rejoice and leap for joy, when they can get any gain to please their master with.<\/p>\n The Lord would also punish those who leaped over the thresholds of their neighbors in their zeal to plunder them and who filled the temple with gifts taken through violence and deceit. Another view of leaping over the threshold is that this expression describes a superstition that anyone who walked on a building’s threshold would have bad luck (cf. 1Sa 5:5). In this case the temple in view might be the temple of Baal. "Their lord" is literally "Their Baal" (cf. Zep 1:4).<\/p>\n In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit. 9. those that leap on the threshold ] Rather: leap (or, spring) over the threshold. The priests of Dagon avoided treading on the threshold of his temple because the idol had … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zephaniah 1:9”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22807\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"