Cocceius, Van Till.
ritual, efpecially the latter; which is fo great and glorious in itfelf, fo fuitable to their cafe, fo complete and perfect, and makes fo much for the glory of all the divine perfections, and “is all of — free grace, and lafts for ever: this falvatiom is pe- ~ culiar to the people of God; it is theirs, and theirs only; it is what they choofe and prefer to all other ways of falvation; it is brought and applied to them by the Spirit, and which they appropriate to themfelves under his witneflings; and then it is - they can and do rejoice: particularly falvation and deliverance from antichriftianifm in all the branches of it may be chiefly pointed at, as the matter and - ground ‘of joy; and the enjoyment: of « gofpelprivileges in the full extent of them; the word and ordinances in their power and purity; and the prefence of Chrift in them. sawn ¥. 19. Ihe Lord God is my firength, &e.] The author and giver of natural and fpiritual ftrength, ‘as he is to all his people; he is the ftrength of their hearts when ready to faint and fink, and of their graces, faith, hope, love, patience, &c. and continues,’ and increafes them, and draws’ them forth into lively aéts and exercife; and of their lives, natural and fpiritual, which he fapports and maintains, fecures and defends; from him they have their ftrength to perform the duties of religion, to oppofe their fpiritual enemies, fin, fatan, and the werld; and to bear them up under all. trials and affli@tions, and carry them thro’ them, and deliver out of them, and which is principally intended here: the church, tho’ in dittrefs,« and prefled with forrows, yet believed the ftrength of Chrift would be made perfect in her weaknefs, and fhe fhould be upheld by him under all, and brought out of it: and he will make my feet like hind’s feet; fwift as they, as the Targum, which are very fwift; and on account of the fwiftnefs of them is the.comparifon ufed: and which is to be underftood, not barely of the Fews being fwift of foot to’ returh to their own country, when the time of their converfion is come; or to purfue their enemies, as Kimchi, that is, Gog or the Turks, having got the victory over them: but of all chriftians, whofe feet will be fwift to run in a lively, chearful man* ner, the way: of Chrift’s commandments; ‘their fouls being ftrengthened, and their hearts enlarged with the love and grace of God; and to furmount ~ with eafe all difficulties and obftruétions that lie in their way: and chiefly this regards the minifters of the gofpel, and the {wift progrefs they will make in fpreading it in the world; as the apoftles and firft minifters.of the word, having their feet fhod with the preparation of the gofpel of peace, went fwiftly thro’ all parts of the world, even to the ends of the earth with it; fo in the latter day many will run to and fro, every where preaching the everlafting gofpel toall nations; the knowledge of it fhall greatly increafe; fee Dan. xii. 4. Rev. xiv. 6. this paffage fees to be taken out of P/- xviii. 34. and there may be not only an allufion to’ the iwiftnefs of thofe creatures, but to the ftrength and firmnefs of their feet; fo that they can go upon rocks and mountains fecurely, and tread and walk, and even run upon them with fafety; and this fenfe is directed to, not only by what follows, concerning walking on high places; but by the word order, and fettle ®; and this agrees with the nature of thofe creatures, whofe feet are not only
{wift, but firm, they tread fure and ftable; hence hinds and harts are by the poets * called, the Jrazen footed binds or bavis, becaule of the firmnefs and ftability of their going;. and it is an obfervation of Farchi’s *, that the teet of the females ftand firmer and more upright than the feet of the males; wherefore both-here, and in Pf. xviii. 34. not harts, but hinds are made mention of; and fo this may alfo denote the ftability of the faints in thofe times, both minifters and common chriftians, in the exercife of grace, and in the performance of duty; their hearts will be eftablifhed in the faith of Chrift, and in love to him, and in the hope of eternal life by him’;' all'which they will be fettled in, and will hold faft, and not let go; and will be ftedfaft and immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord their God; and fo in the gofpel of Chrift, and in the ordinances of it; their fouls will be eftablifhed in and with the doétrines of grace, and will continue ftedfaftly in them, and abide by, and keep the ordinances as they have been delivered to them; nor will any difficulties, which may feem like hills, and mountains, and cragged rocks, deter or difcourage them, or move them from the hope of the gofpel, or from their duty; but they fhall walk on fecurely and firmly: and be will make me to walk upon mine high places; meaning not fo much the high places of the land of Fudea, fome part of it being mountainous, tho’ there may be fome reference to them; but it fignifies the exalted ftate of the church after the troublefome times, when it fhall be exalted above the hills, and eftablifhed on the top of the mountains; when Chrift the Lamb, with his 144000 fealed ones fhall ftand upon mount Zion with harps in their hands, having gotten the victory over. the antichriftian beaft and his image; and when the faints fhall have the dominion of the world; and
¢ Fixerit zripedem cervam licet
Vincunt zripedes ter terno Neftore cervi.
the kingdom and the greatnefs of it, under the whole heaven fhall be given to them, J/ ii. 2. Rev. xiv. 1, and xv. 1. Dan. vii: 27, as well as they thall be in lively, {piritual and heavenly frames of foul; mount up with wings as eagles; foar aloft in the exercife of faith; dwell on high in the contemplation of divine things; have their affections fet on things above; and their converfation in heaven,. whilft they are on earth: efpecially this may be faid of them, when they fhall have the glory of God upon them in the new Feru/alem-ftate, and fhall dwell in’ the new heavens, and the new earth, with Chrift at the head of them; and when they fhall poffefs the ultimate glory in the higheft heavens to all eternity; fee Devt. xxxiii. 29. and thus ends this prayer of Habakkuk; which ferves to draw out the defires of good men after the flourithing eftate of the kingdom and intereft of Chrift; to affift their faith in the belief, hope, and expectation of it; and to lead their views to its fummit and perfection, notwithftanding all the difficulties and difcouragements that may lie in its way: and being of fo much moment and importancé, that it might remain and continue, and be of ufe to the church in fucceeding ages; the prophet delivered or directed it to the chief finger, to be fet to tune, and fung by him, as David’s prayers, and others, fometimes were, and to be preferved for futuré ufefulnefs: and this he would have fung (he fays)
upon my firinged inftruments; which were either invented by him, or ufed»by him in the temple, or were his own property: or he fent this prayer or ode to him, who was over thefe inftruments, had the care and ufe of them; and which were fuch as were to be ftricken with the hand, bone or quill; and are the’ fame that are called Neginoth in the title of the fourth P/a/m, and others.
Zi 20 9 be: Bocdrposd en: ANG oak 6 seer ah HIS book in fome Hebrew copies is called Sepher Zephaniah, the book of Zephaniah. Its title in the Vulgate Latin verfion is, the prophecy of Zephaniah; and in the Syriac verfion, the prophecy of the prophet Zephaniah, and fo the Arabic verfion calls him a prophet; and he is the laft of the minor prophets that prophefied before the Badylonifh captivity. The time of his prophefying, as well as his parentage, are expreffed ch. i. 1. andtherefore need not be enquired into; only the fad miftake of Hobbes * may be obferved, who makes him to be the moft ancient of the prophets, and to be cotemporary with Amaziah and Uzziah| kings of Yudab, when he is exprefsly faid to pro-| phefy in the days of Fofiab. Pfeudo-Epiphamus » calls him a prophet of Sarabathe, of a mountain of that name, and fays he was of the tribe ef Simeon, and in this J/dore ° agrees with. him; and both affirm that he died and was buried. in his own native place; but the author of the Cippi Hebraici * fays, he was buried at Geba in mount Lebanon, in the midft of acave fhut up, where his! {chool continues; and from which place the-clouds never depast, and where alfo are flowing fountains. His name, according to Ferom, fignifies, either the
Lord's watch-tower, or watchman; or elle, the fecret of the Lord; or, his hidden one, deriving his name, either from P35, which fignifies to /ook out, as a watchman from his tower;. or from yD¥,
FTER the title of the book, ¥. 1. follows the Lord’s threatning of the land of Fudea with an utter confumption of it, and of all creatures in it, for the fins of its inhabitants, efpecially their idolatry and apoftacy, ¥. 2, 3, 45 5, 6. and this is reprefented under the notion of. a facrifice, to which guefts are. bid; and which ‘even princes, and thofe of the blood royal fhould ‘not efcape, nor minifters. of ftate, or {uch who filled their mafters houfes with violence, ¥.\7, 8, 9. Some particular places are mentioned, where’ there fhould be a great noife of crying and howling,.and, efpecially ‘fernufalem, which fhould be diligently; fearched, and its goods become a booty,. and its, houfes defolate, ¥. 10, 11, 12, 13.. This deftruction is fpoken of as near at hand, and is defcribed as very terrible and diftrefling, ¥. 14, 15,16, 17. and as inevitable, nothing would be able to deliver from it, y¥. 18.
y. 1. The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the fonof Cufhi, 8cc.] This is the title of the book, which exprefies the fubject-matter of it, the word of the Lord; the word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum; and fhews the divine to bide; which latter derivation is beft; and fome interpret it, @ revealer of the fecrets, or bidden things of the Lord; and take it to be much the fame with Zapbhnath-Paaneab, the name given to Fofeph by Pharaoh, Gen. xli. 45. and is of the fame fignifi- _ cation: but Hillerus* interprets the name ot Zephaniah, the Lord hid bimfelf; which agrees with the times in which he lived. That this prophecy was wrote by himfelf, there need be no doubt of; nor of the authenticknefs of it, being always received by the Fewi/b fynagogue as authentic; andas it appears to be from its ftile and manner of compofition; from the fubject-matter of it agreeing with other parts of {cripture, efpecially with feremiab and Ezekiel; and from the accomplifhment of various prophecies in it. There are indeed fome fpurious things which have been afcribed to him, as the analepfis or aflumption of Zephaniah the prophet, and the prophecy of Zephaniah, confifting of fix hundred verfes; but thefe are apooryphal, and have no likenefs\to this prephecy; in which he foretels
‘the deftruction of the Fews by the Chaldeans for their fins, which he inveighs againft, and calls them-to repentance for them, as alfo the ruin of many other nations, all which came to pafs; as well as he \prophefies.of the calling of the Gentiles, and the converfion of the Fews, andiof the comfortable ftate of the church in gofpel-times, and efpecially in the latter day.
authority of it; that it was not of himfelf, nor from any man, but was of God; as well as de- {cribes the pen-man of it by his defcent: who or what this his father was; whether a prophet, according to the rule the Fews give, that when. the name of.a prophet and his father’s name ate men-
‘tioned, he is ajprophet, the fon of a prophet; or ‘whether.a prince, a perfon of fome great family, and even of the blood royal, as fome have thought, is not.certain,; or who thofe after-mentioned: the fon “of Gedaliah, the fou of Amariah, the fon of Hizkiab; which aft name, confifting of the fame letters with Hezekiah king of Fudab, fome have thought,
‘as. Aben Exra, that he is intended; and that Zephaniah was a great grandfon of his; and which fome think is confirmed by his ftile and diétion, and by the freedom he ufed with the king’s family, y. 8. but it is objected, that if fo it was, Hizkiah or Hezekiah would have been called king of Fadab; that it does not appear that Hezekiah had any other fon befides Manaffeh, and that there was not a fufficient diftance of time from Hezekiab for four defcents; and that, in faét, there were but three generations from him to Fo/iah, in whofe days Zephaniah prophefied, as follows; tho’ it is very probable that thefe progenitors of the pro- ‘thinks this is faid by way of yperboles but it is
“phet were men of note and character, and therefore mentioned, as well as to diftinguifh him from others of the fame name, who lived ix the days of Fofiah the fon of Amon king of Fudab not Amos, as the Aradic verfion: Amon and Manafeh, who reigned between Hezekiah and Fefiah, were both wicked princes, and introduced idolatrous worfhip among the Fews; which Fo/ab in the twelfth year of his reign began to purge the people from, and endeavoured a reformation; but whether it was ‘before or after that Zephaniah delivered out this prophecy, is not certain; it may feem to be betore, by the corruption of the times deferibed in it; and fo it may be thought to have fome influence upon the after reformation; though it is thought by many it was after; fince had he been in this office before the finding of the book of the law, he, and not-Huldab the prophetefs, would have been confulted, 2 Kings xxii, 14, nor could the people fo well have been taxed with a perverfion of the law, had it not been as yet found, ch. iii. 4. and béfides;: the reformation, fees to be hinted at in this» prophecy, fince mention is made of the. remnant of Baal, which fuppofes a removal of many of his images; and alfo, notice ‘is taken of fome that apoftatized after the renewal of the covenant,-ch, i. 4, 6.. moreover, the time of the ‘Jews deftruction and captivity is reprefented as very near, ¥. 7, 14. which began a little after the death of Yofiah, in the fourth year of Febaiakim; to which Dr. Lightfoot ‘ adds, that the prophet prophefies againft the king’s children, Fehoahaz, Feboiakim, and Zeédekiah, for their new fafhions, and new fangled apparel, ¥. 8. and therefore it muft be in the latter part of his reign; and if fo, it fhews how a people may relapfe into fin after the greateft endeavours for their good, and the beft of examples fet them. MreWayton * and Mr. Bedford ® place him in the latter part of his reign, about 611 or-612 before Chrift: there were three that prophefied about this time, Zepaniab, Jeremiah, and Huldab the prophetefs; of whom the Fewifb Rabbins fay, as Kimchi quotes them, Seremiab prophefied in the ftreets, Zephaniah in the fynagogues, and Huldab among the women. y. 2. I will utterly confume all. things from off - the land, faith the Lord.| That is, from the land of Fudab, by means of the Chaldeans or Babylonians: this is a general denunciation of the judgments of God, the particulars follow: or, in gathering I will gather, all good things out of the land; all the neceflaries of life, and bleffings of providence; all that is for the fuftenance and pleafure of man, as well as all creatures by death or captivity; and fo the land fhould be entirely ftripped, and left maked, and bare. The phrafe denotes the certainty of the thing, as well as the utter, entire and total confumption that fhould be made, and the vehemence and earneftnefs in which -it is exprefied. '
¥. 3. I will confume maw and beaft, &c.| Wicked poffible for thefe to be confumed, as men by famine, peftilence and captivity, and beafts by murrain;-fo the fowls of the air by the noifomnels of it; and the fifhes of the fea, that is, fuch as were in the fea of Tiberias, and other lakes in Fudea, by the ftagnation of the waters, or by fome difeafe fent among them; unlefs wicked men, comparable to them, areintended; tho’ they are exprefsly mentioned, both before and after: and the jtumbling- blocks with the wicked; that is, idols, which are ftumbling-blocks to men, and caufe them to offend and fall; thefe, together with thofe that made them, and the priefts that facrificed unto them, and the people that worfhipped them, fhould be confumed from.off the land: or, the ftumbling-blocks of the wicked, for M& is fometimes ufed as a fign of the genitive cafe, as No/dius ' obferves; and fo the Vulgate Latin verfion, and the Targum render it: and L will cut off men from off the land, faith the Lord;
this is repeated for the certainty of it; or elfe this defigns another fort of men from the former;
and that, as before wicked: men are defigned, here fuch as are not perfectly wicked, as Kimchi obferves; yea, the righteous fhould be carried captive, fo that the land fhould be left defolate, without men, good or bad; for even good men may fall in a general calamity, and be cut off from the land, tho” not from the Lord. The Septuagint indeed here render it, wicked men. The phrafe, faith the Lord, is twice exprefled for the certain confirmation of it; for it may be concluded it will be, fince God has faid it again and again that it fhall be.
¥.4. Twill alfo firetch out mine hand upon Fudab,
&c.] Under whom the tribe of Bexjamin is comprehended, which are only defigned; the ten tribes having been carried captive in Hezckiah’s time many years before this:, not o Fudab, 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 ftretch out his hand wpon them, nor over Fudab, to protect and defend them; but upon Fudab, exerting his power, ftirring up his wrath, and executing his vengeance; and this is dreadful and intolerable to bear! and when his hand is ftretched out, it cannot be turned back, and when laid on, can never be removed, till he pleafes: and upon all the inhabitants of Ferufalem, the metropolis of Fudea, the royal feat of the kings of the houfe of David; where were the temple of the Lord; the ark, the fymbol of his pretence; the altar, where his priefts facrificed, and the place where his people worfhipped; and yet thefe inhabitants fhould not efcape the hand of the Lord, having finned againft him; nor fhould thefe things be any fecurity 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 mutt be the fenfe, if this prophecy was before the reformation was begun by Jofab;
men for their fins, and beafts for the fins of men; and as a punifhment for them, the creatures whom - they have abufed to the gratifying of their lufts: or if after, the meaning is, what was left unremoved by him, as any of the images of Baal,- or altars erected for his worfhip, or veifels confecrated
I will confume the fowls of the heaven, and the fifbes of the fea, fo that there fhall be none for the ufe - of man, which are both delicate food; the latter were not confumed at the general deluge. Kimchi to his fervice, or groves that were for his ufe; all | which would be cut off and deftroyed by the Céa/- deans, as well as the worfhippers of him that. re-
/mained: and the name of the Chemarim with the priefts; that is, the priefts of Baal, with the priefts of the tribe of Levi, who fometimes tampered and officiated with them in idolatrous fervice; for the wotd Chemarim is tranflated, tdolatrous priefis, 2 Kings xxiii. 5. faid to be put down by Fofahb, in whofe days Zephaniah prophefied; and muft be the fame with thefe, and it is ufed for fuch in Hof x. 5. fo called, either from the black garments they wore, as fome think; or from the colour of. their faces, {mutted with the fmoke of the incenfe they frequently offered; or of the fires in which they facrificed, or made the children to pafs thro’ to Moloch. Hillerus * thinks they are the fame with thofe heathen priefts called Phallophori, deriving the word from one in the Arabic language, which has the fignification of the Phalli; which were ob- _ Scene images, carried about in an impudent manner by the priefts of Bacchus, in the performance of his facred rites: the carrying of them was firft inftituted by Js, as Plutarch’ fays; and if this was the cafe here, it is no wonder they fhould be fo feverely threatened. Some take them to be a fort of fervants or minifters to the priefts of Baal, who waited on them at the time of fervice; and fo are diftinguifhed from them in this claufe, taking the word priefs in it to defign the priefts of Baal, and the Vulgate Latin verfion renders it, the name of Jextons with the priefts. The word is ufed now by the Fews for popifh monks that live in cloifters and Elias Levita ™ thinks, thefe here are fo called from their living in fuch like reclufe places. The Targum is, ‘and the name of their worfhippers with “* their priefts;” one and the other; priefts of Baal, and apoftate priefts of the Lord; the worfhippers of Baal, and thofe that attend upon his priefts, fhall all feel the weight of Jehovah’s hand, and the lighting down of his arm with indignation, ¥. 5. And upon them that worfpip the hoft of beaven upon the houfe-tops, &c.] The fun, moon, and ftars, which fome worfhipped upon their houfetops; the roofs of their houfes being flat, as the roofs of the houfes of the Yews generally were; from hence they had a full view of the hoft of heaven, and worfhipped them openly; and fanfied the nearer they were to them, the more acceptable was their fervice; fee Fer. xix. 13: and them that worfhip, and that fwear by the Lord, and that [wear by Malcham, that is, that worfhip the true God, or at leaft pretend to do fo,~and fwear by him when they take an oath: or, that /wear to the Lord, as the words " may be rendered; that {wear allegiance to him, to be true and faithful to him, to jerve and obey him, and to keep his ftatutes and ordinances; and yet they {ware by Malcham alfo, or Milchom, or Melchom, the fame with Molech, or Moloch, the god of the Ammonites. ‘Thefe were fuch as partly worfhipped God, and partly idols; they divided their religion and devotion between them, fometimes ferved the one, and fometimes the other; they halted between two opinions, and were a fort of occafional conformifts; and fuch were as deteftable to God, as thofe that worfhipped idols; as the papifts are, who pretend to worfhip God and their images, or God in them, and with them; and fo all {uch perfons that feek for jutti-