4 I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place: the name of the idolatrous and pagan priests,
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The Prophet explains still more clearly why he directed his discourse in the last verse against the beasts of the earth and the birds of heaven, even for this end--that the Jews might understand that God was angry with them. I will stretch forth, he says, my hand on Judah and on Jerusalem. God, then, by executing his vengeance on animals, intended to exhibit to the Jews, as in a picture, the dreadfulness of his wrath, which yet they despised and regarded as nothing. The stretching forth of God's hand I have elsewhere explained; and it means even this--that he stretches forth his hand when he acts in an unusual manner, and employs means beyond what is common. We indeed know that God has no hands, and we also know that he performs all things by his command alone: but as everything seen in the world is called the work of his hands, so he is said to stretch forth his hand when he mentions a work that is remarkable and worthy of being remembered. In a like manner, when I intend to do some slight work, I only move my hand; but when I have some difficult work to do, I prepare myself more carefully, and also stretch forth my arms. This metaphor, then, is intended only for this purpose, to render men more attentive to God's works, when he is set forth as stretching forth his hand. But he says, on Judah and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The kingdom of Israel had now been abolished, and the ten tribes had been led into exile; and a few only of the lowest and the poorest remained. The Jews thought themselves safe for ever, because they had escaped that calamity. This is the reason why the Prophet declares that God's judgment was impending not only over the kingdom of Judah, but also over the holy city, which thought itself exempt from all such evil, because there were the sacrifices performed, and there was the royal city, and, in short, because God had testified that his habitation was to be there for ever. Since, then, by this vain confidence the inhabitants of Jerusalem deceived themselves and others, Zephaniah specifically addresses them. And as he had before spoken of the wicked, he intended here, no doubt, sharply to reprove the Jews, as though he said by way of anticipation, There is no reason for you to enquire who are the wicked; for ye yourselves are they, even ye who are the holy people of God and God's chosen inheritance, ye who are the race of Abraham, who flatter yourselves so much on account of your excellency; ye are the wicked, who have not hitherto ceased to provoke the vengeance of God. And at the same time he shows, as it were by the finger, some of their sins, though he mentions others afterwards: but he speaks now of their superstitions. I will cut off, he says, the remnants of Baal and the name of Chamerim. The severity of the Prophet may seem here again to be excessive, for being so incensed against superstitions which had been abolished by the great zeal and singular diligence of the king; but, as we have already intimated, he regarded not so much the king as the people. For though they dared not openly to adulterate God's worship, they yet cherished those corruptions at home to which they had before been accustomed, as we see to be done at this day. For when it is not allowed to worship idols, many mutter their prayers in secret and invoke their idols: and, in short, they are restrained only by the fear of men from manifesting their own impiety; and in the meantime, they retain before God the same abominations. So it was in the time of Josiah; the people were wedded to their corruptions, and this we may easily conclude from the words of Zephaniah: for the remnants of Baal were not seen in the temple, nor in the streets, nor in their chapels, nor in the high places; but their hidden impiety is here discovered by the Spirit of God; and no doubt their sin was the more heinous and less excusable, because the people refused to follow their pious leader. It was indeed the most abominable ingratitude; for when they saw that the right worship was restored to them, they preferred to remain fixed in their own filth, rather than to return to God, even when they had liberty to do so, and also when that pious king extended his hand to them. As to the word kmrym, chemarim, it designated either the worshipers of Baal or some such men as our monks at this day: and they are supposed by some to have been thus called, because they were clothed in black vestments; while others think that they derived this name from their fervor, because they were madly devoted to their superstitions, or because they had marks on their foreheads, or because they imposed, as is commonly the case, on the simple by the ardor of their zeal. The name is also found in 2 Kings 23:1 in the account given of Josiah: for it is said there, that the kmrym, chemarim, were taken away, together with other abominations of superstition. But as Zephaniah connects priests with them, it is probable that they were a kind of people like the monks, who did not themselves offer sacrifices, but were a sort of attendants, who undertook vows and offered prayers in the name of the whole people. For what some think, that they were thus called because they burnt incense, appears not to me probable; for then they must have been priests. They were then inferior to the sacrificers, and occupying a station between them and the people, like the monks and hermits of this day, who deceive foolish men by their sanctity. Such, then, were the Chemarim. [1] But as Josiah could not attain his object, so as immediately to cleanse the land from these pollutions, we need not wonder that at this day we are not able immediately to remove superstitions from the world: but let us in the meantime ever proceed in our course. Let those endued with authority, who bear the sword, that is, all magistrates, perform their office with greater diligence, inasmuch as they see how difficult and protracted is the contest with the ministers of idolatry. Let also the ministers of the gospel earnestly cry against idolatry, and all ungodly ceremonies, and not desist. Though they may not effect as much as they wish, yet let them follow the example of Josiah. If God should in the meantime thunder from heaven, let them not be discouraged, but, on the contrary, know that their labor is approved by him, and never doubt of their own safety; for though all were destroyed, their godly efforts would not be in vain, nor fail of a reward before God. Thus, then, ought all God's servants to animate themselves, each in his particular sphere and vocation, whenever they have to contend with superstitions, and with such corruptions as vitiate and adulterate the pure worship of God.
1 - The word is found in two other places, 2 Kings 23:5, and Hosea 10:5. In the latter text the priests of the calf of Bethaven are thus called; in the former, they are said to be those who "burnt incense in the high places." From this fact, Parkhurst concludes, that they were called scorched, as the word means, by their fumigating fires. The "priests" mentioned here were the sacrifices, while the "Chemarim" were the incense-burners. There were "altars" (not an altar) reared for Baal in the temple; one, as it seems, for sacrifices, and the other for incense. See 2 Kings 21:3. In 2 Chronicles 34:4, 5, the priests and sacrificers are alone mentioned; but in 2 Kings 23:5, where the same things are recorded, the Chemarim and incense are alone named. The Prophet in this passage mentions both. Some, as Cocceius and Henderson, have been disposed to think that the unfaithful priests of the true God are here meant. But the other view is more consistent with the whole passage. If we retain not the original word, we may thus render the line,-- The name of the incense-burners with the priests; That is, those who burnt incense and those who offered sacrifices to Baal.--Ed.
I will also stretch out Mine Hand - As before on Egypt . Judah had gone in the ways of Egypt and learned her sins, and sinned worse than Egypt. "The mighty Hand and stretched-out Arm" Jeremiah 2:10-11, with which she had been delivered, shall be again "stretched out," yet, not for her but "upon" her, "upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem." In this threatened destruction of all, Judah and Jerusalem are singled out, because "judgment" shall "begin at the house of God" 1-Peter 4:17; Jeremiah 25:29. They who have sinned against the greater grace shall be most signally punished. Yet, the punishment of those whom God had so chosen and loved is an earnest of the general judgment. This too is not a partial but a general judgment "upon "all" the inhabitants of Jerusalem."
And I will cut off the remnant of Baal - that is, to the very last vestige of it. Isaiah unites "name and residue" Isaiah 14:22, as equivalents, together with the proverbial, posterity and descendant. Zephaniah distributes them in parallel clauses, "the "residue" of Baal and the "name" of the Chemarim." Good and evil have each a root, which remains in the ground, when the trunk has been hewn down. There is "a remnant according to the election of grace," when "the rest have been blinded" Romans 11:5, Romans 11:7; and this is a "holy seed" Isaiah 6:13 to carry on the line of God. Evil too has its remnant, which, unless diligently kept down, shoots up again, after the conversion of peoples or individuals. The "mind of the flesh" remains in the regenerate also. The prophet foretells the complete excision of the whole "remnant of Baal," which was fulfilled in it after the captivity, and shall be fulfilled as to all which it shadows forth, in the Day of Judgment. "From this place;" for in their phrensy, they dared to bring the worship of Baal into the very temple of the Lord 2-Kings 23:4. Ribera: "Who would ever believe that in Jerusalem, the holy city, and in the very temple idols should be consecrated? Whoso seeth the ways of our times will readily believe it. For among Christians and in the very temple of God, the abominations of the pagan are worshiped. Riches, pleasures, honors, are they not idols which Christians prefer to God Himself?"
And the name of the Chemarim with the priests - Of the "idolatrous priests" the very name shall be cut off, as God promises by Hosea, that He will "take away the names of Baalim" Hosea 2:17, and by Zechariah, that He "will cut off the names of the idols out of the land" Zac 13:2. Yet this is more. Not the "name" only "of the Chemarim," but themselves with their name, their posterity, shall be blotted out; still more, it is God who cuts off all memory of them, blotting them out of the book of the living and out of His own.
They had but a name before, "that they were living, but were dead" Revelation 3:1. Jerome: "The Lord shall take away names of vain glory, wrongly admired, out of the Church yea, the very names of the priests with the priests who vainly flatter themselves with the name of Bishops and the dignity of Presbyters without their deeds. Whence he markedly says, not, "and the deeds of priests with the priests," but the "names;" who only bear the false name, of dignities, and with evil works destroy their own names." The "priests are priests of the Lord," who live not like priests, corrupt in life and doctrine and corrupters of God's people (see Jeremiah 2:8;Jeremiah 5:31). The judgment is pronounced alike on what was intrinsically evil, and on good which had corrupted itself into evil. The title of priest is no where given to the priest of a false God, without some mention in the context, implying that they were idolatrous priests; as the priests of Dagon 1-Samuel 5:5, of the high places as ordained by Jeroboam 1-Kings 13:2, 1-Kings 13:33; 2-Kings 23:20; 2-Chronicles 11:15, of Baal 2-Kings 10:19; 2-Kings 11:18; 2-Chronicles 23:17, of Bethel Amos 7:10, of Ahab 2-Kings 10:11, of those who were not gods 2-Chronicles 13:9, of On, where the sun was worshiped . "The priests" then were God's priests, who in the evil days of Manasseh had manifoldly corrupted their life or their faith, and who were still evil.
The "priests" of Judah, with its kings its princes and the people of the land, were in Jeremiah's inaugural vision enumerated as those, who "shall," God says, "fight against thee, but shall not prevail against thee" Jeremiah 1:18-19. "The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew Me not" Jeremiah 2:7-8. In the general corruption, "A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land, the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule at their hands" Jeremiah 5:30-31 : "the children of Israel and the children of Judah, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, have turned unto Me the back, and not the face" Jeremiah 32:32-33. Jeremiah speaks specifically of heavy moral sins. "From the prophet even unto the priest everyone dealeth falsely" Jeremiah 6:13; Jeremiah 8:10; "both prophet and priest are profane" Jeremiah 23:11; "for the sins of her prophets, the iniquities of her" Lamentations 4:13. And Isaiah says of her sensuality; "the priests and the prophets have erred through strong drink; they are swallowed up of wine; they are out of the way through strong drink" Isaiah 28:7.
I will cut off the remnant of Baal - I think he refers here, partly at least, to the reformation which Josiah was to bring about. See the account, 2-Kings 23:5 (note).
The Chemarims - The black-robed priests of different idols. See the note on 2-Kings 23:6. These were put down by Josiah.
I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, [and] the name of the (b) Chemarims with the priests;
(b) Who were an order of superstitious priests appointed to minister in the service of Baal, and were as his special chaplains; read (2-Kings 23:5; Hosea 10:5).
I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah,.... Under whom the tribe of Benjamin is comprehended, which are only designed; the ten tribes having been carried captive in Hezekiah's time many years before this: not "to Judah", as beckoning to come and hearken to him, as calling to repentance and reformation; this he had done, but was rejected, and therefore determines to stretch out his hand "upon" them; nor "over Judah", to protect and defend them; but "upon Judah", exerting his power, stirring up his wrath, and executing his vengeance; and this is dreadful and intolerable to bear! and when his hand is stretched out, it cannot be turned back; and when laid on, can never be removed, till he pleases:
and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the metropolis of Judea, the royal seat of the kings of the house of David; where were the temple of the Lord; the ark, the symbol of his presence; the altar, where his priests sacrificed, and the place where his people worshipped; and yet these inhabitants should not escape the hand of the Lord, having sinned against him; nor should these things be any security to them:
and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place; either what of the idolatry of Baal, or belonging to it, remained among the Jews after the ten tribes were carried captive; which must be the sense, if this prophecy was before the reformation was begun by Josiah; or, if after, the meaning is, what was left unremoved by him, as any of the images of Baal, or altars erected for his worship, or vessels consecrated to his service, or groves that were for his use; all which would be cut off and destroyed by the Chaldeans, as well as the worshippers of him that remained:
and the name of the Chemarims with the priests; that is, the priests of Baal, with the priests of the tribe of Levi, who sometimes tampered and officiated with them in idolatrous service; for the word "Chemarim" is translated "idolatrous priests", 2-Kings 23:5 said to be put down by Josiah, in whose days Zephaniah prophesied; and must be the same with these, and it is used for such in Hosea 10:5 so called, either from the black garments they wore, as some think; or from the colour of their faces, smutted with the smoke of the incense they frequently offered; or of the fires in which they sacrificed, or made the children to pass through to Molech. Hillerus (k) thinks they are the same with those heathen priests called "Phallophori"; deriving the word from one in the Arabic language, which has the signification of the "Phalli"; which were obscene images, carried about in an impudent manner by the priests of Bacchus, in the performance of his sacred rites: the carrying of them was first instituted by Isis, as Plutarch (l) says; and if this was the case here, it is no wonder they should be so severely threatened. Some take them to be a sort of servants or ministers to the priests of Baal, who waited on them at the time of service; and so are distinguished from them in this clause, taking the word "priests" in it to design the priests of Baal; and the Vulgate Latin version renders it, "the name of sextons with the priests". The word is used now by the Jews for Popish monks that live in cloisters; and Elias Levita (m) thinks these here are so called from their living in such like recluse places. The Targum is,
"and the name of their worshippers with their priests;''
one and the other; priests of Baal, and apostate priests of the Lord; the worshippers of Baal, and those that attend upon his priests, shall all feel the weight of Jehovah's hand, and the lighting down of his arm with indignation.
(k) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 113. (l) De Iside & Osiride. (m) Tishbi, p. 163. Vid. Buxtorf. Lex. Talmud. in voce
stretch out mine hand--indicating some remarkable and unusual work of vengeance (Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 9:12, Isaiah 9:17, Isaiah 9:21).
Judah--including Benjamin. These two tribes are to suffer, which thought themselves perpetually secure, because they escaped the captivity in which the ten tribes were involved.
Jerusalem--the fountainhead of the evil. God begins with His sanctuary (Ezekiel 9:6), and those who are nigh Him (Leviticus 10:3).
the remnant of Baal--the remains of Baal worship, which as yet Josiah was unable utterly to eradicate in remote places. Baal was the PhÅnician tutelary god. From the time of the Judges (Judges 2:13), Israel had fallen into this idolatry; and Manasseh lately had set up this idol within Jehovah's temple itself (2-Kings 21:3, 2-Kings 21:5, 2-Kings 21:7). Josiah began his reformation in the twelfth year of his reign (2-Chronicles 34:4, 2-Chronicles 34:8), and in the eighteenth had as far as possible completed it.
Chemarims--idol priests, who had not reached the age of puberty; meaning "ministers of the gods" [SERVIUS on Ãneid, 11], the same name as the Tyrian Camilli, r and l being interchangeable (compare Hosea 10:5, Margin). Josiah is expressly said (2-Kings 23:5, Margin) to have "put down the Chemarim." The Hebrew root means "black" (from the black garments which they wore or the marks which they branded on their foreheads); or "zealous," from their idolatrous fanaticism. The very "name," as well as themselves, shall be forgotten.
the priests--of Jehovah, of Aaronic descent, who ought to have used all their power to eradicate, but who secretly abetted, idolatry (compare Zephaniah 3:4; Ezekiel. 8:1-18; Ezekiel 22:26; Ezekiel 44:10). From the priests Zephaniah passes to the people.
The judgment coming upon the whole earth with all its inhabitants will fall especially upon Judah and Jerusalem. Zephaniah 1:4. "And I stretch my hand over Judah, and over all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and cut off from this place the remnant of Baal, the name of the consecrated servants, together with the priests. Zephaniah 1:5. And those who worship the army of heaven upon the roofs, and the worshippers who swear to Jehovah, and who swear by their king. Zephaniah 1:6. And those who draw back from Jehovah, and who did not seek Jehovah, and did not inquire for Him." God stretches out His hand (יד) or His arm (זרוע) to smite the ungodly with judgments (compare Zephaniah 6:6, Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 5:15, with Isaiah 5:25; Isaiah 9:11, Isaiah 9:16, Isaiah 9:20; Isaiah 10:4; Isaiah 14:26.). Through the judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem He will cut off שׁאר הבּעל, the remnant of Baal, i.e., all that remains of Baal and of idolatry; for Baal or the Baal-worship stands per synecdochen for idolatry of every kind (see at Hosea 2:10). The emphasis lies upon "the remnant," all that still exists of the Baal-worship or idolatry, even to the very last remnant; so that the emphasis presupposes that the extermination has already begun, that the worship of Baal no longer exists in undiminished force and extent. It must not be limited, however, to the complete abolition of the outward or grosser idolatry, but includes the utter extermination of the grosser as well as the more refined Baal-worship. That the words should be so understood is required by the parallel clause: the name of the consecrated servants together with the priests. Kemârı̄m are not prophets of Baal, but, as in 2-Kings 23:5 and Hosea 10:5, the priests appointed by the kings of Judah for the worship of the high places and the idolatrous worship of Jehovah (for the etymology of the word, see at 2-Kings 23:5). The kōhănı̄m, as distinguished from these, are idolatrous priests in the stricter sense of the word (i.e., those who conducted the literal idolatry). The names of both the idolatrous priests of Jehovah and the literal priests of the idols are to be cut off, so that not only the persons referred to will disappear, but even their names will be heard no more. Along with the idols and their priests, the worshippers of idols are also to be destroyed. Just as in Zephaniah 1:4 two classes of priests are distinguished, so in Zephaniah 1:5 are two classes of worshippers, viz., (1) the star-worshippers, and (2) those who tried to combine the worship of Jehovah and the worship of idols; and to these a third class is added in Zephaniah 1:6. The worship of the stars was partly Baal-worship, the sun, moon, and stars being worshipped as the bearers of the powers of nature worshipped in Baal and Asherah (see at 2-Kings 23:5); and partly Sabaeism or pure star-worship, the stars being worshipped as the originators of all growth and decay in nature, and the leaders and regulators of all sublunary things (see at 2-Kings 21:3). The worship took place upon the roofs, i.e., on altars erected upon the flat roofs of the houses, chiefly by the burning of incense (Jeremiah 19:13), but also by the offering of sacrifices (2-Kings 23:12; see the comm. in loc.). "They offered the sacrifices upon the roofs, that they might be the better able to see the stars in the heavens" (Theodoret). Along with the star-worshippers as the representatives of literal idolatry, Zephaniah mentions as a second class the worshippers who swear partly to Jehovah, and partly by their king, i.e., who go limping on two sides (1-Kings 18:21), or try to combine the worship of Jehovah with that of Baal. Malkâm, their king, is Baal, who is distinctly called king in the inscriptions (see Movers, Phnizier, i. pp. 171-2), and not the "earthly king of the nation," as Hitzig has erroneously interpreted the Masoretic text, in consequence of which he proposes to read milkōm, i.e., Moloch. נשׁבּע with ל signifies to take an oath to Jehovah, i.e., to bind one's self on oath to His service; whereas נשׁבּע with ב (to swear by a person) means to call upon Him as God when taking an oath. The difference between the two expressions answers exactly to the religious attitude of the men in question, who pretended to be worshippers of Jehovah, and yet with every asseveration took the name of Baal into their mouth. In Zephaniah 1:6 we have not two further classes mentioned, viz., "the vicious and the irreligious," as Hitzig supposes; but the persons here described form only one single class. Retiring behind Jehovah, drawing back from Him, turning the back upon God, is just the same as not seeking Jehovah, or not inquiring after Him. The persons referred to are the religiously indifferent, those who do not trouble themselves about God, the despisers of God.
The remnant - Whatsoever remains of the idolatry of Baal. This place - Jerusalem. The name - Both the persons, and the memory of them. The Chemarims - Either called so from their black garments they went in, or, from their swarthy colour occasioned by the black smoak of incense: they were door - keepers, and sextons of Baal. The priests - The priests of Baal.
*More commentary available at chapter level.