Chap. Zep 2:1-3<\/span>. Exhortation to men to seek righteousness, if perchance they may be hid in the Day of the Lord<\/p>\n 1<\/strong>. The prophet addresses himself to Judah.<\/p>\n Gather yourselves together<\/em> ] The sense is obscure. The verb ( ash<\/em>) is used of gathering straw<\/em>, Exo 5:12<\/span>, sticks<\/em>, Num 15:32<\/span>; 1Ki 17:10<\/span>; 1Ki 17:12<\/span>, and does not otherwise occur. It is very doubtful if the word could be used in a metaphorical or mental sense, collect yourselves<\/em>, that is, reflect, that ye may understand and repent. Rothstein (in Kautzsch’s Bible) suggests a root sh<\/em>, and renders, Bow yourselves and be bowed<\/em>, but the Arabic verb on which he bases this sense ( wisa<\/em>, 5 tawwasa<\/em>) is a denominative from aus<\/em> “a bow,” and does not mean to bow down but to be bow-shaped, or curved in the back. With more plausibility Ewald appealed to the Aramaic word signifying to be old<\/em> ( sh<\/em>), assuming that the primary sense of the word was to be<\/em> (become) withered<\/em>, grey in colour. If this primary sense could be established his rendering turn pale!<\/em> i.e. be ashamed, might be accepted, as it would agree very well with the next clause. Budde proposes at once to read be ashamed<\/em> (root, bsh<\/em>), but if this common word had originally stood in the text it is not easy to understand how the present difficult reading could have arisen. There is a similarly obscure word in Isa 46:8<\/span>.<\/p>\n O nation not desired<\/em> ] R.V. O nation that hath no shame<\/em>, marg. longing<\/em>. In usage the Heb. word means to long<\/em>, to desire greatly, but this sense is supposed to be secondary, the primary meaning being to be pale, whitish (hence the word silver<\/em> in Heb., = “white money”). The radical meaning of most Heb. words signifying “to be ashamed” is to be<\/em> (become) white<\/em>, because to be ashamed meant, to be practically confounded, and terror or dismay was an element in the feeling.<\/p>\n Having set forth the terrors of the Judgment Day, the prophet adds an earnest call to repentance; and then declares how judgments, forerunners of that Day, shall fall, one by one, on those nations around, who know not God, and shall rest upon Nineveh, the great beautiful ancient city of the world. Jerome: See the mercy of God. It had been enough to have set before the wise the vehemence of the coming evil. But because He willeth not to punish, but to alarm only, Himself calleth to repentance, that He may not do what He threatened. Cyril: Having set forth clearly the savageness of the war and the greatness of the suffering to come, he suitably turns his discourse to the duty of calling to repentance, when it was easy to persuade them, being terrified. For sometimes when the mind has been numbed, and exceedingly bent to evil, we do not readily admit even the will to repent, but fear often drives us to it, even against our will. He calls us then to friendship with Himself. For as they revolted, became aliens, serving idols and giving up their mind to their passions, so they would, as it were, retrace their steps, and lay hold of the friendship of God, choosing to serve Him, nay and Him Alone, and obey His commandments. Wherefore, while we have time, while the Lord, in His forbearance as God, gives way, let us enact repentance, supplicate, say weeping, remember not the sins and offences of my youth Psa 25:7<\/span>; let us unite ourselves with Him by sanctification and sobriety. So shall we be sheltered in the day of wrath, and wash away the stain of our falls, before the Day of the Lord come upon us. For the Judge will come, He will come from heaven at the due season, and will reward each according to his work.<\/P> Gather yourselves together, yea gather together – <\/B>o<\/SUP>, rather, Sift yourselves, yea sift . The exact image is from gathering stubble or dry sticks, which are picked up one by one, with search and care.<\/P> So must men deal with the dry and withered leaves of a past evil life. The English rendering however, comes to the same meaning. We use, collect oneself for bringing oneself, all ones thoughts, together, and so, having full possession of oneself. Or gathering ourselves might stand in contrast with being abroad, as it were, out of ourselves amid the manifoldness of things seen. Jerome: Thou who, taken up with the business of the world, hurriest to and fro amid divers things, return to the Church of the saints, and join thyself to their life and assembly, whom thou seest to please God, and bring together the dislocated members of thy soul, which now are not knit together, into one frame of wisdom, and cleave to its embrace. Gather yourselves into one, wherein ye have been scattered; to the One God, from whom they had wandered, seeking pleasure from His many creatures; to His one fold and Church, from which they had severed themselves outwardly by joining the worship of Baal, inwardly, by serving him and his abominable rites; joining and joined to the assembly of the faithful, by oneness of faith and life.<\/P> In order to repent, a man must know himself thoroughly; and this can only be done by taking act by act, word by word, thought by thought, as far as he can, not in a confused heap or mass, as they lie in any mans conscience, but one by one, each picked up apart, and examined, and added to the sear unfruitful heap, plucking them as it were, and gathering them out of himself, that so they may, by the Spirit of burning, the fire of Gods Spirit kindling repentance, be burned up, and not the sinner himself be fuel for fire with them. The word too is intensive, Gather together all which is in you, thoroughly, piece by piece (for the sinners whole self becomes chaff, dry and empty). To use another image, Sift yourselves thoroughly, so that nothing escape, as far as your diligence can reach, and then – And gather on, that is, glean on; examine yourselves, not lightly and after the manner of dissemblers before God, but repeatedly, gleaning again and again, to see if by any means anything have escaped: continuing on the search and ceasing not.<\/P> The first earnest search into the soul must be the beginning, not the end. Our search must be continued, until there be no more to be discovered, that is, when sin is no more, and we see ourselves in the full light of the presence of our Judge. For a first search, however diligent, never thoroughly reaches the whole deep disease of the whole man; the most grievous sins hide other grievous sins, though lighter. Some sins flash on the conscience, at one time, some at another; so that few, even upon a diligent search, come at once to the knowledge of all their heaviest sins. When the mist is less thick, we see more clearly what was before one dark dull mass of imperfection and misery. : Spiritual sins are also with difficulty sifted, (as they are,) by one who is carnal. Whence it happens, that things in themselves heavier he perceives less or very little, and conscience is not grieved so much by the memory of pride or envy, as of impurities and crimes.<\/P> So having said, Sift yourselves through and through, he says, sift on. A diligent sifting and search into himself must be the beginning of all true repentance and pardon. : What remains, but that we give ourselves wholly to this work, so holy, and needful? Let us search and try our ways and our doings , and let each think that he has made progress, not if he find not what to blame, but if he blame what he finds. Thou hast not sifted thyself in vain, if thou hast discovered that thou needest a fresh sitting; and so often has thy search not failed thee, as thou judgest that it must be renewed. But if thou ever dost this, when there is need, thou dost it ever. But ever remember that thou needest help from above and the mercy of Jesus Christ our Lord Who is over all, God blessed forever. The whole course of self-examination then lies in two words of divine Scripture. And withal he warns them, instead of gathering together riches which shall not be able to deliver them in the day of trouble, to gather themselves into themselves, and so judge themselves thoroughly , that they be not judged of the Lord 1Co 11:31-32<\/span>.<\/P> O nation not desired – <\/B>o<\/SUP>, that is, having nothing in itself to be desired or loved, but rather, for its sin, hateful to God. God yearneth with pity and compassion over His creatures; He hath a desire to the work of His Hands . Here Israel is spoken to, as what he had made himself, hateful to God by his sins, although still an object of His tender care, in what yet remained to him of nature or grace which was from Himself.<\/P> <\/p>\n Zep 2:1-3<\/span><\/p>\n Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Sin and repentance, the bane and antidote<\/strong><\/p>\n An <\/em>exhortation to the men of Judah to repent ere the Chaldean invaders approach and wreak destruction on their land.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The suffering that follows sin is sometimes very terrible. Sin brings to a people famines, pestilences, wars, hells.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The suffering expresses Gods antagonism to sin. The fierce anger of the Lord, or, as Henderson has it, the burning anger of Jehovah. The connection between sin and misery is a beneficent arrangement. It is well that misery should pursue wrong.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>The preparation for repentance. Gather yourselves together. It is well for sinners in the prospect of their doom to meet and confer concerning their relations to Almighty God.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The nature of repentance. Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth; or, as Henderson renders it, Seek ye Jehovah, all ye humble of the earth. There are two seekings here.<\/p>\n (1)<\/strong> The seeking of God. He is not far from every one of us. But we are all away from Him in sympathy. The other seeking is–<\/p>\n (2)<\/strong> The seeking of goodness. Seek righteousness, seek goodness.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>The urgency of repentance. 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 Lords anger come upon you. (Homilist.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Seek righteousness, seek meekness<\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n True way of seeking God<\/strong><\/p>\n The prophet defines what the true and rightful way of seeking God is, and that is, when righteousness is sought, when humility is sought. By righteousness he understands the same thing as by judgment; as though he had said, Advance in a righteous and holy course of life, for God will not forget your obedience, provided your hearts grow not faint, and ye persevere to the end. We hence see that God complains, not only when we obtrude external pomps and devices, I know not what, as though He might like a child be amused by us; but also when we do not sincerely devote our life to His service. And he adds humility to righteousness; for it is difficult even for the very best of men not to murmur against God when He severely chastises them. We indeed find how much their own delicacy embitters the minds of men when God appears somewhat severe with them. Hence the prophet, in order to check all clamours, exhorts the faithful here to cultivate humility, so that they might bear patiently the rigour by which God would try them, and might suffer themselves to be ruled by His hand (1Pe 5:6<\/span>). The prophet requires humility, in order that they might with composed minds wait for the deliverance which God had promised. They were not in the interval to murmur, nor to give vent to their own perverse feelings, however severely God might treat them. We may hence gather a profitable instruction. The prophet does not address here men who were depraved, and had wholly neglected what was just and right, but he directs his discourse to the best, the most upright, the most holy: and yet he shows that they had no other remedy, but humbly and patiently to bear the chastisement of God. It then follows that no perfection can be found among men, such as can meet the judgment of God. (John Calvin.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger<\/strong>.–<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Prayer and providence<\/strong><\/p>\n Zephaniah could not promise the people exemption from the trials that should come upon them from the Chaldeans. But neither was it possible for him, or any other, to say how much, in the way of mitigation of those threatened evils, might be effected by prayer, by effort, by an humble seeking unto the Lord their God. It may be–a theology from which these words should be excluded, would, if it met with universal acceptance, go far towards turning the world upside down. It would paralyse all the powers of our religious nature. It would take from under us all grounds for trusting in a moral providence. Let certainty, in relation to the Divine Being, be as fixed a thing as you will, I must have some room left for a peradventure–must be permitted to believe that there are possibilities in the future of indeterminate issue. This indeterminateness may be looked at in two different ways.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>These words suppose, if they do not directly affirm, the doctrine of a moral providence; as opposed to the doctrine of fatalism; or of irresistible necessity. There is a constant, continuous, moral superintendence over the affairs of men, for moral purposes. God never permits secondary agencies to go out of His own hands. This view is not more a disclosure of revelation, than it is an essential element of our first conceptions of an Infinite Being. On the <\/strong>Christian showing of what God is, we cannot admit His existence without admitting His providence also. Of course nothing more is contended for, than the fact of a special providence overruling the affairs of men. Of the methods of our preservation, or deliverance, in trying circumstances, we often know nothing.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Take the words it may be, as against that unchanging fixity of natural laws, which it is the fashion of a modern philosophy to make the grand autocratic power in the universe of God. The form of the objection is, that since cause and effect, in the natural world, are joined together by a nexus of undeviating certainty, all prayer for the modification of events, occurring in the order of physical law, is absurd. But this not only limits the agency of the Divine Being in the natural world, but strikes at the root of all our conceptions of God as a moral governor. God and nature, upon this theory, make up the universe, and the only relation which God has to nature is to keep the wondrous machine going. A high and impersonal abstraction governs all things. Free moral agents, in this apparatus of eternal sequences, there are none, either in relation to God or man. What is the foundation fallacy of this reasoning? But prayer asks for no violation of any inevitable law of sequence. It is merely an appeal to Infinite Wisdom to devise some method for our relief. This is the fault we charge upon the so-called scientific objection. It assumes that all the events in this worlds history, however intimately affecting mans happiness, depend for their accomplishment on physical laws only, rather than, as they do, upon those laws liable to be modified in their operation by the intervention or volition of moral agents. Just here, where a fixed thing is intercalated with an unfixed thing, room is left for the putting forth of human effort, and the offering up of faithful prayer. The assumption is entirely gratuitous that, in praying against any form of apprehended danger, I expect the laws of the material world to be suspended, or altered, or put out of course, in any miraculous way. My prayer only goes upon the supposition that there are multitudinous agencies in God, which may be employed to turn a threatened evil aside, or to modify its operation before it reaches me.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Seek the Lord by earnest prayer.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Take care not to stipulate for any particular form of relief. (D. Moore, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The saints hiding-place<\/strong><\/p>\n Notice <\/em>the matter of the exhortation to the godly, which is, To seek the Lord, to seek righteousness, to seek meekness. The subjects or persons upon whom this exhortation falls. The meek of the earth. And the motive pressing thereto. It may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger. Ye shall surely be hidden from the wrath to come, and it may be from the wrath present.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Seek the Lord Himself, not His goods, but His goodness.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Seek righteousness.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Seek truth.<\/p>\n Divine discipline<\/strong><\/p>\n (with chap. <\/strong>3. <\/span>Zep 3:11-12<\/span>):–The prophet spoke, and in fact it happened that judgment fell; the nations passed, Israel was chastised; it went into captivity. And there did come back that meek, that poor, that afflicted people, despised even of the Samaritans–those feeble Jews. They came back trusting in Jehovah; they laid the foundations of that piteous and miserable new temple. Its very foundations cause contempt; those who remember the old temple could but weep. But this new temple was to be clothed with a glory which the old temple had never known. It was the religion of humanity that Was to come out from that regenerated and purged people–that little band of the meek of the earth. Brethren, we speak of poetical justice, and we mean by that generally when we want to see the lines of ideal actions clear and unblurred. We have to look to our great works of fiction, to some great drama, or poem, or novel, and there, if they are great of their kind, we see the ideal lines of Divine judgment, and of human progress, standing out clear and vivid in that which the imagination of the artist conceives. And the artist must conceive it for us, and teach us through these ideal lines, because, in the most of our ordinary experience, the lines of Divine action, of human experience, are blurred and confused in the mixture and confusion of this common earthly scene. But it is not always so. There are days of the Lord. The days of the Lord are the moments in history when the ideal issues appear, and the Divine hand is plain. Such a moment was the judgment and the restoration of Israel. There have been other such moments in history, like the decay of Spain, like the French Revolution, like the collapse of Napoleon. There are moments in history when God bares His arms and speaks plainly. It might be so again one day upon what is proud and exalting in this English nation of ours. Anyway, God does it. Beyond our sight He will do it, or m our sight from time to time He does it. That is the Divine method. Always, it is through this discipline, whereby God must single out for progress those who will consent to be chastened into meekness. But for to-day let us leave again the scene of political and social history, and trace this method of God again in the individual soul. There again, the method of Divine discipline, the method whereby we, individual after individual, are prepared for effective fruitfulness, is this same method of chastening. One after another, in our pride and our haughtiness, we have to be chastened into that quality which–it is the very paradox of Divine justice–is the one really strong and effective quality in the progress of the human soul, and it is meekness. Disciplined into effective meekness–that is the verdict which might be written upon the history of every single human soul which fulfils in any real measure the purpose of God. Englishmen are proud; we know it. In a certain way we are proud of being proud. Look round about in the world. What are the spectacles, the strange and overpowering spectacles, which we behold of the <\/strong>insolence of human pride? From time to time the record of some millionaire in America or South Africa or England is laid bare to us–some one who confessedly, and before the eyes of men, bids defiance to all the laws of mercy, and simply sets himself to scrape together gold, almost professedly making gold his god, and trampling under foot the laws of mercy and of justice and of consideration. And there are smaller men who never rise into note, or come before the public either in their rise or their catastrophe, who are in their humbler sphere doing the same thing. Or, look at him, that rich young man, that Superbus, who feels that the land is made for him. Look at him as he goes out into life with his preposterous claim for amusement, for luxury, for self-satisfaction, with the recklessness of his selfish lusts, as he does despite to every law that ought to bind men in mercy and consideration and purity, because he must gratify his passion at all costs in that claim for amusement, in that almost riotous estimation of himself; so that, as one looks at him in his arrogance, one wonders why God stands it, and why a very little thunderbolt is not sent about its business to despatch him there in the impotence of his vanity. God does not strike them with thunderbolts; God has other methods. He is the Father of each one. In slow and patient silence God waits; God provides for them His judgment. It waits upon them; it will come at last in this world, so that we can see it; or beyond this world, where it is dark to our vision, God will judge them. But the question is this–When the judgment falls, how will it strike? Surely they will know that God is God, they will know at the last it is the fool that saith in his heart, There is no God. Yes, they will know that they were fools. But the question is, in what disposition of mind? Will it be to them mere punish-meat, mere retribution, or will it be to them purging, healing, disciplining chastisement? That is the question. No question so far as the intention of God is concerned; in Gods intention these judgments are for chastisement, for discipline, for recovery. But there is a soul that has worked itself into a stubbornness which will not bend, and perforce can only be broken. That is the question. Pharaoh is in the old story raised up in the scene of human history, to stand as the type of the soul that must be broken because it will not bend. But, <\/em>on the other hand, our Bible, Old and New Testament, is full of the gracious pictures of those whom the chastisement of God has slowly, and at last, disciplined into that effective meekness which is the one charm, the beauty of the children of God. Moses, brought up in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and in the splendid opportunities of that court–we read of him how, in the pride of strong manhood, he went out to be the deliverer of his people. He met with nothing but rebuffs. Who made thee a leader and deliverer? and he fled alarmed and baffled, and, in the back side of the desert, through the long discipline of silence, away from all political interests, Moses learned the lesson of meekness, and he goes back, that old call of God not withdrawn, now effective because meek. Moses was very meek. O Lord, I am not eloquent, neither now nor since. Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant. Pass to the New Testament. Think of those words to Peter, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself; when thou shalt be old, others shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. It is the record of experience of every one. Limitations crowd in upon us. There are multitudes of things which in our hateful arrogance we thought we would do. We find we cannot do them. Limitations close in upon us–hindrances, disappointments, sufferings, pain. How are we to bear it all? Are we to become all the more querulous, resentful, irritating, or is each stroke of the Divine discipline to be the learning to us all a lesson, so that all the more, stroke after stroke, the soul learning its limitations, is forced into the line of Divine correspondence, and made meek is made effective? So it was with the proud and the impulsive Peter, so that that late writing of his, that epistle of his, is full, as hardly any other book of the New Testament is full, of the rich power of the spirit of meekness. Or Saul the Pharisee, yielding at last with one blow to the Divine claim, and becoming, for all that Jewish pride of his, once and for ever the slave of the meek Jesus. These are the meek of the earth; because they are meek, therefore, in the kingdom of God, the effective–the men who do fruitful things, the men whose work lasts because they are the followers of Him who was meek and lowly in heart. Jesus had no pride to be overcome. What are you expecting of this human life of yours? It matters so much what we expect. Pleasure, success? Ah, yes! There is in this human heart of ours an inextinguishable thirst for happiness. And it is there, God-given. Do not listen to those altruistic philosophers of our modern time who would tell us that to have care for ourselves is simple and radical selfishness. Nay, the Bible throughout is true to what I call the ineradicable instinct of the human heart. God made us, and because He made us we are made for happiness, we are made to realise ourselves. But the question is, How? Look for happiness, make it your aim, hunt for pleasure, and you are baffled. It is by the law of indirectness that we are to realise happiness. He that sayeth his life, seeketh his own life, he shall lose it; he that loseth it, he shall save it. That is the law. Here in this world we are set to gain character. So we are to expect discipline. It is one of the simple laws of human life, character develops by discipline, develops through pain. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. Therefore this is the point, a point of supreme importance when you come to think about your life. Am I, I as I am to-day, I being the sort of man I am, am I yielding myself so that God by disciplining me can make me meek and, in meekness, effective? That very thing which I have always said is the one thing I could not stand, when it comes, as it probably does come, if I set myself too much to rebel against it–when it comes, how do I take it? Have I that measure of spiritual insight and thoughtfulness which enables me to say, This is just that moulding, graving tool which is so necessary to rub off that sharp angle, to blot out that dark stain, to do this or that or the other necessary work in my character? Do I regard it as the trenchant treatment of the <\/strong>surgeon who is to again make me sound? Humiliation is the way to humility. Learn the lesson which the humiliation contains for us, to become the wiser man, the more docile while not the less resolute. That is the discipline of God–point by point, step by step, biting after biting of the tool, smiting after smiting of the hammer. So it is, moulding after moulding of the Divine hand, we are to be brought into shape. Now, I say it, there is not a day of our life in which it does not make a real vital difference whether we have had this expectation in our will, our intelligence, our heart, so that when the blow, little or great, comes, the disappointment, be it never so trivial, it may teach us the lesson. The little humiliation may come on its way and speed on as a messenger which has fulfilled its obligation and done its duty. For it has taught us something, and we go to bed something wiser men and women than we got up in the morning. There is hardly a department of life in which there are not great and vital changes which are needed. Yes, but are we fit to do them? That is the question. Perhaps we have willingness, but have we what is a part of meekness–patience? Do we arrive with our enthusiasm, our ideal enthusiasm, and then shrink altogether from the <\/strong>task of drudgery? Because you know there are only two qualities by which anything finally effective can be done–enthusiasm and drudgery, and they are no good apart. Or, is it vanity? Yes, I offered myself to work on that particular committee, I offered myself to do that good job which surely was for the bettering of mankind. But then I thought that I was to be secretary, or I was to be put into the chair, and somebody else who surely had no better claim than I was put there. Or, is it the refusal of pain? There it is, the pain, the ugliness, the dirt, and squalor, and to do anything effective I must be in contact with the pain and the dirt and the ugliness and the squalor. I must not be hiding myself from my own flesh. But I shrink from it, I think I cannot bear it, and the task is undone, and the Kingdom of God makes not the progress it might make because I am not with the meek and the patient, with the sorrowful and the suffering. Or, is it prayerlessness? I have my schemes, my plans, but I do not keep myself in correspondence with God. It is my own pride that guides me, my own ideas, my own schemes. The question is, whether in the larger or less sphere we will mould, mould to the Divine hand, or whether we will be that obstinate stuff, that moral character that will not mould, and which becomes the vessel of wrath, the vessel which the Divine Potter, after patient trying, finds unmalleable, and at the last must cast aside as of a stuff that will not make under the Divine hand. That is it, the Divine Potter would mould you. And is there anything to the spiritual imagination so beautiful, anything so lovely to think about, as the discipline of the soul, conscious of the hand of God upon it, and, for all its occasional wilfulness and sins and faults, ever coming back to be moulded according to the plan and will of the Divine Potter, according to the love of our Father, Who chastens us into effective meekness that at the last we may share in the glory of His kingdom as things that have realised their end in that fruitfulness which belongs to the meek? That is the consciousness which every Christian soul is sooner or later meant to have. (Bishop Gore.<\/em>)<\/p>\n CHAPTER II <\/P> The prophet, having declared the judgments which were ready to<\/I><\/P> fall on his people, earnestly exhorts them to repentance, that<\/I><\/P> these judgments may be averted<\/I>, 1-3.<\/P> He then foretells the fate of other neighbouring and hostile<\/I><\/P> nations: the Philistines<\/I>, 4-7;<\/P> Moabites and Ammonites<\/I>, 8-11;<\/P> Ethiopians<\/I>, 12;<\/P> and Assyrians<\/I>, 13.<\/P> In the close of the chapter we have a prophecy against Nineveh.<\/I><\/P> These predictions were accomplished chiefly by the conquests of<\/I><\/P> Nebuchadnezzar.<\/I> <\/P> NOTES ON CHAP. II<\/P> <\/P> Verse 1<\/span>. Gather yourselves<\/B><\/I>] Others, sift yourselves<\/I>. Separate<\/I> the chaff<\/I> from the wheat, before the judgments of God fall upon you. O nation not desired – unlovely<\/I>, not delighted in; hated because of your sin. The Israelites are addressed.<\/P> <\/p>\n Gather yourselves together; <\/B>call a solemn assembly, as Joe 1:14<\/span>, proclaim a fast. Let all have notice given to meet on this work, and, being gathered together, search yourselves, your hearts and ways, and repent. <\/P> Gather together; <\/B>repeated to affect them the more, and to hasten them to it, and make them serious in it. <\/P> O nation<\/B> of the Jews, yet a people, yet my people, though next door almost to being no people. <\/P> Not desired; <\/B>neither desirous to return, nor desirable in your return; foolishly unwilling to return, and utterly unworthy to be received on your return: yet gather together, search your ways, and try what you may do for your safety. <\/P> <\/p>\n 1. Gather yourselves<\/B>to areligious assembly,<\/I> to avert the judgment by prayers (Joe2:16<\/span>) [GROTIUS]. Or,so as not to be dissipated “as chaff” (Zep2:2<\/span>). The Hebrew<\/I> is akin to a root meaning “chaff.”Self-confidence and corrupt desires are the dissipation from whichthey are exhorted to gather themselves<\/I> [CALVIN].The foe otherwise, like the wind, will scatter you “as thechaff.” Repentance is the gathering of themselves<\/I> meant. <\/P> nation not desired<\/B>(Compare2Ch 21:20<\/span>), that is, notdesirable; unworthy of the grace or favor of God; and yet God somagnifies that grace as to be still solicitous for their safety,though they had destroyed themselves and forfeited all claims on Hisgrace [CALVIN]. The Margin<\/I>from Chaldee Version<\/I> has, “not desirous,” namely ofreturning to God. MAURERand GESENIUS translate,”Not waxing pale,” that is, dead to shame. EnglishVersion<\/I> is best.<\/P><\/p>\n Gather yourselves together<\/strong>,…. This is said to the people of the Jews in general; that whereas the judgments of God were coming upon them, as predicted in the preceding chapter Zep 1:1<\/span>, it was high time for them to get together, and consider what was to be done at such a juncture; it was right to call a solemn assembly, to gather the people, priests, and elders, together, to some one place, as Joel directs, Joe 1:14<\/span> the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the temple, and the people of the land to their respective synagogues, and there humble themselves before the Lord; confess their sins, and declare their repentance for them; and pray that God would show favour to them, and avert his wrath and judgments from them: or, “gather the straw” y; from yourselves, and then gather it from others, as follows: or, “first adorn yourselves”, and “then others”, as in the Talmud z; and the sense is the same with the words of Christ, “first cast out the beam out of thine own eye”, c. Mt 7:3<\/span> and the meaning of both is, first correct and amend yourselves, and then reprove others: this sense is given by the Jewish commentators, and is approved by Gussetius a: or “search yourselves” b as some render the word; and that very diligently, as stubble is searched into, or any thing searched for in it; let the body of the people inquire among themselves what should be the cause of these things; what public sins prevailed among them, for which they were threatened with an utter destruction; and let everyone search into his own heart and ways, and consider how much he has contributed to the bringing down such sad calamities upon the nation: thus it became them to search and inquire into their state and circumstances of affairs, in a way of self-examination; or otherwise the Lord would search them in a way of judgment, as threatened Zep 1:12<\/span> or “shake out” c, or “fan yourselves”, as others; remove your chaff by repentance and reformation, that you be not blown away like chaff in the day of God’s wrath, as afterwards suggested:<\/p>\n yea, gather together<\/strong>; or “search”, or “shake out”, or “fan”, as before: this is repeated, to show the necessity and importance of it, and the vehemency of the prophet in urging it:<\/p>\n O nation not desired<\/strong>; by other nations, but hated by them, as Abarbinel observes; not desirable to God or good men; not amiable or lovely for any excellencies and goodness in them, but the reverse; being a disobedient and rebellious people; a seed of evildoers, laden with iniquity, who, from the crown of the head to the sole of the feet, were full of wounds, bruises, and putrefying sores; or of disorders and irregularities, sins and transgressions, comparable to them; and therefore, instead of being desirable, were loathsome and abominable: or, as some render the word, “O nation void of desire” d; or “not affected” with it; who had no desire after God, and the knowledge of his will; after his word and worship; after a return unto him, and reconciliation with him; after his favour, grace, and mercy; not desirous of good things, nor of doing any. So the Targum,<\/p>\n “gather together, and come, and draw near, this people who desire not to return to the law.”<\/p>\n Joseph Kimchi, from the use of the word in the Misnic language, renders it, “O nation not ashamed”: of their evil works, being bold and impudent; and yet, such was the goodness and grace of God to them, that he calls them to repentance, and gives them warning before he strikes the blow.<\/p>\n y “legite paleas vestras”, Gussetius. “proprie est stipulas colligere”, Drusius, Piscator, Tarnovius. z T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 107. 2. Bava Bathra, fol. 60. 2. Sanhedrin, fol. 19. 1. a Ebr. Comment. p. 763. b “Scrutamini”, Pagninus “disquirite”, Munster “examinate”, Vatablus; “perscrutamini”, Cocceius. c “Excutite vos”, Junius Tremellius, Tarnovius so Stockius, p. 975. d “vacua desiderio”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “quae nullo desiderio afficeris”, Burkius; “quae nullo tenteris affectu”, Munster.<\/p>\n Call to conversion. – Zep 2:1<\/span>. “Gather yourselves together, and gather together, O nation that dost not grow pale.<\/em> Zep 2:2<\/span>. Before the decree bring forth (the day passes away like chaff), before the burning wrath of Jehovah come upon you, before the day of Jehovah’s wrath come upon you.<\/em> Zep 2:3<\/span>. Seek Jehovah, all ye humble of the land, who have wrought His right; seek righteousness, seek humility, perhaps ye will be hidden in the day of Jehovah’s wrath.” <\/em> The summons in Zep 2:1<\/span> is addressed to the whole of Judah or Israel. The verb qoshesh <\/em>, possibly a denom.<\/em> from qash <\/em>, signifies to gather stubble (Exo 5:7<\/span>, Exo 5:12<\/span>), then generally to gather together or collect, e.g., branches of wood (Num 15:32-33<\/span>; 1Ki 17:10<\/span>); in the hithpoel<\/em>, to gather one’s self together, applied to that spiritual gathering which leads to self-examination, and is the first condition of conversion. The attempts of Ewald and Hitzig to prove, by means of doubtful etymological combinations from the Arabic, that the word possesses the meanings, to grow pale, or to purify one’s self, cannot be sustained. The kal<\/em> is combined with the hiphil<\/em> for the purpose of strengthening it, as in Hab 1:5<\/span> and Isa 29:9<\/span>. Nikhsaph <\/em> is the perf. nipahl<\/em> in pause, and not a participle, partly because of the which stands before it (see however Ewald, 286, g<\/em>), and partly on account of the omission of the article; and nikhsaph <\/em> is to be taken as a relative, “ which<\/em> does not turn pale.” Kasaph <\/em> has the meaning “to long,” both in the niphal<\/em> (vid., Gen 31:30<\/span>; Psa 84:3<\/span>) and kal<\/em> (cf. Psa 17:12<\/span>; Job 14:15<\/span>). This meaning is retained by many here. Thus Jerome renders it, “ gens non amabilis <\/em>, i.e., non desiderata a Deo <\/em>;” but this is decidedly unsuitable. Others render it “not possessing strong desire,” and appeal to the paraphrase of the Chaldee, “a people not wishing to be converted to the law.” This is apparently the view upon which the Alex. version rests: . But although nikhsaph <\/em> is used to denote the longing of the soul for fellowship with God in Psa 84:3<\/span>, this idea is not to be found in the word itself, but simply in the object connected with it. We therefore prefer to follow Grotius, Gesenius, Ewald, and others, and take the word in its primary sense of turning pale at anything, becoming white with shame (cf. Isa 29:22<\/span>), which is favoured by Zep 3:15<\/span>. The reason for the appeal is given in Zep 2:2<\/span>, viz., the near approach of the judgment. The resolution brings forth, when that which is resolved upon is realized (for yalad <\/em> in this figurative sense, see Pro 27:1<\/span>). The figure is explained in the second hemistich. The next clause does not depend upon , for in that case the verb would stand at the head with Vav<\/em> cop., but it is a parenthesis inserted to strengthen the admonition: the day comes like chaff, i.e., approaches with the greatest rapidity, like chaff driven by the wind: not “the time passes by like chaff” (Hitzig); for it cannot be shown that yom <\/em> was ever used for time in this sense. Yom <\/em> is the day of judgment mentioned in Zep 1:7<\/span>, Zep 1:14-15<\/span>; and here is not to pass by, but to approach, to come near, as in Nah 3:19<\/span>. For the figure of the chaff, see Isa 29:5<\/span>. In the second is strengthened by ; and , the burning of wrath in the last clause, is explained by , the day of the revelation of the wrath of God.<\/p>\n Zep 2:3<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> But because the judgment will so speedily burst upon them, all the pious especially – anve ha’arets <\/em>, the quiet in the land, (Amo 2:7<\/span>; Isa 11:4<\/span>; Psa 37:11<\/span>) – are to seek the Lord. The humble ( anavm <\/em>) are described as those who do Jehovah’s right, i.e., who seek diligently to fulfil what Jehovah has prescribed in the law as right. Accordingly, seeking Jehovah is explained as seeking righteousness and humility. The thought is this: they are to strive still more zealously after Jehovah’s right, viz., righteousness and humility (cf. Deu 16:20<\/span>; Isa 51:1<\/span>, Isa 51:7<\/span>); then will they probably be hidden in the day of wrath, i.e., be pardoned and saved (cf. Amo 5:15<\/span>). This admonition is now still further enforced from Zep 2:4<\/span> onwards by the announcement of the coming of judgment upon all the heathen, that the kingdom of God may attain completion.<\/p>\n The People Exhorted to Repent.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 612.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; 2 Before the decree bring forth, before<\/I> the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD<\/B> come upon you, before the day of the LORD<\/B>‘s anger come upon you. 3 Seek ye the LORD<\/B>, 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<\/B>‘s anger.<\/P> Here we see what the prophet meant in that terrible description of the approaching judgments which we had in the foregoing chapter. From first to last his design was, not to drive the people to despair, but to drive them to God and to their duty–not to frighten them out of their wits, but to frighten them out of their sins. In pursuance of that he here calls them to repentance, national repentance, as the only way to prevent national ruin. Observe,<\/P> I. The summons given them to a national assembly (v.<\/I><\/span> 1<\/span>): Gather yourselves together.<\/I> He had told them, in the last words of the foregoing chapter, that God would make a speedy riddance of all that dwelt in the land,<\/I> upon which, one would think, it should follow, “Disperse yourselves, and flee for shelter where you can find a place.” When the decree had absolutely gone forth for the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, that was the advice given (Matt. xxiv. 16<\/span>), Then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains;<\/I> but here it is otherwise. God warns, that he may not wound, threatens, that he may not strike, and therefore calls to the people to use means for the turning away of his wrath. The summons is given to a nation not desired.<\/I> The word signifies either, 1. Not desiring,<\/I> that has not any desires towards God or the remembrance of his name, is not desirous of his favour or grace, but very indifferent to it, has no mind to repent and reform. “Yet come together,<\/I> and see if you can stir up desires in one another.” Thus God is often found of those that sought him not,<\/I> nor asked for him,<\/I> Isa. lxv. 1<\/I><\/span>. Or, 2. Not desirable,<\/I> no ways lovely, nor having any thing in them amiable, or which might recommend them to God. The land of Israel had been a pleasant land, a land of delight<\/I> (Dan. xi. 41<\/span>); but now it is unlovely, it is a nation not desired,<\/I> to which God might justly say, Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>Sin exposes man to ruin. It was sin, in the form of idolatry and gross immorality, that exposed the Jewish people to the terrible doom that was now hanging over them.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>That repentance delivers man from ruin.<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>As it bears upon the principles of a Divine administration. Is the use of such language as it may be, compatible with that fixed order of procedure by which, it is commonly assumed, the Almighty governs the world?<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Consider the subject in relation to human agency. Or what man may and ought to do towards the same object.<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>God hath His days of anger. Take anger properly for a passion, and then there is none in God. Take anger for the effects and fruits thereof, and so it is not with God as mercy is. Yet He hath His days of anger. The more excellent a person, the sooner he is moved to anger. Now there is most excellency in God, and therefore sin being a contempt of Him, He cannot but be moved to anger. Anger is the dagger that love wears to save itself, and to hurt all that wrongs the thing loved: there is infinite love in God, and therefore there must needs be anger too. God has three houses that He puts men into: an house of instruction, an house of correction, an house of destruction. It is not in itself unlawful to be angry, only your anger must be unto reformation, as Gods is. If there be wrath m God, how infinitely are our souls bound unto Jesus Christ, by whom we are delivered from the wrath to come, reconciled to God, and made friends to Him. And being friends, His very wrath and anger are our friends also.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>In days of angst, God is very willing to <\/strong>hide, save, and defend His people. God knows how to deliver from danger by danger, from death by death, from misery by misery. Much of the saints preservation is put into the hand of angels. Those that hide the saints are sure to be hidden by God. Those that keep the word of Gods patience, have a promise to be hidden by God. Those are sure to be hidden by God in evil times, that fear not the fears of men. And those that remain green and flourishing in their religion, notwithstanding all the ,scorching heats of opposition that do fall on them. And the <\/strong>meek of the earth shall be hidden by God.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>Though God is willing to hide His own people in evil times, yet He doth sometimes leave them at great uncertainties. They have more than a may be for their eternal salvation. But as for our temporal and outward salvation, God doth sometimes leave His people to a may be. God loves to have His people trust to the goodness of His nature.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>When His people have only a may be, it is their duty to seek unto God. There is no such way to establish our thoughts as to commit our ways unto God. The text points unto three things–<\/p>\n
V. <\/strong>If any man can do any good in the day of Gods anger, it is the meek of the earth. Therefore the text calls on them specially to seek the Lord. The meek have the promise of the earth. The meek do most honour Christ, the <\/strong>way of Christ, and the Gospel. A meek person leaves his cause with God and his revenge to Him. The meek person is most fit for the service of God. Hereby, even your meekness, ye walk as becometh the Gospel, ye inherit the earth, are made like unto Jesus Christ, have a great power and credit in heaven for yourselves and others, and shall be hidden in the evil day. (W. Bridge, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/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: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n