Zephaniah 1

Zephaniah 1:1-18 . GOD'S SEVERE JUDGMENT ON JUDAH FOR ITS IDOLATRY AND NEGLECT OF HIM: THE RAPID APPROACH OF THE JUDGMENT, AND THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF ESCAPE.

1. days of Josiah--Had their idolatries been under former kings, they might have said, Our kings have forced us to this and that. But under Josiah, who did all in his power to reform them, they have no such excuse.
son of Amon--the idolater, whose bad practices the Jews clung to, rather than the good example of Josiah, his son; so incorrigible were they in sin.
Judah--Israel's ten tribes had gone into captivity before this.

2. utterly consume--from a root to "sweep away," or "scrape off utterly." See Jeremiah 8:13 , Margin, and here.
from off the land--of Judah.

3. Enumeration in detail of the "all things" ( Zephaniah 1:2 ; compare Jeremiah 9:10 , Hosea 4:3 ).
the stumbling-blocks--idols which cause Judah to offend or stumble ( Ezekiel 14:3 Ezekiel 14:4 Ezekiel 14:7 ).
with the wicked--The idols and their worshippers shall be involved in a common destruction.

4. 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 Phoenician 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 Æneid, 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 , 22:26 , 44:10 ). From the priests Zephaniah passes to the people.