Zephaniah 3:4

4 Her prophets are wanton, faithless men; her priests profane what is sacred, they do violence to the law.

Zephaniah 3:4 Meaning and Commentary

Zephaniah 3:4

Her prophets [are] light [and treacherous persons
The false prophets, as the Targum and Kimchi explain it: these seem to design the lawyers spoken of in the New Testament, whose business it was to interpret the law to the people; these were "light" men, good for nothing, of no worth and value; light in knowledge, as Kimchi gives the sense of the word; men of no brains; empty headed men, that had no substantial knowledge; giddy, unstable, and inconstant, and compliant with the humours and vices of the people; men of no gravity in their countenance, speech, and conversation. Schultens F1, from the use of the word in the Arabic language, renders it "proud", as these men were, proud boasters; for, though they had but a superficial knowledge of things, they boasted of much, and carried it with a haughty and insolent air to the common people: and they were "treacherous" to God, and to his truths, and to the souls of men, and took away the key of knowledge from them; and particularly were so to Christ, of whom they were the betrayers and murderers, delivering him up into the hands of the Gentiles to be scourged and crucified, ( Matthew 20:18 Matthew 20:19 ) : her priests have polluted the sanctuary;
the temple; by selling, or suffering to be sold in it, various things, whereby it became a den of thieves, which once was called a house of prayer, ( Matthew 21:12 Matthew 21:13 ) and also our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the sanctuary or temple was a type, by denying, blaspheming, and reproaching him, and by shedding his blood: they have done violence to the law;
by not teaching it as they should; and by their false glosses, senses, and interpretations of it; and by the traditions of the elders they preferred unto it, and whereby they made it void; see ( Matthew 5:1-48 ) and ( Matthew 15:1-39 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F1 Animadv. Philol. in Job, p. 144.

Zephaniah 3:4 In-Context

2 She listens to no voice, she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the LORD, she does not draw near to her God.
3 Her officials within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning.
4 Her prophets are wanton, faithless men; her priests profane what is sacred, they do violence to the law.
5 The LORD within her is righteous, he does no wrong; every morning he shows forth his justice, each dawn he does not fail; but the unjust knows no shame.
6 "I have cut off nations; their battlements are in ruins; I have laid waste their streets so that none walks in them; their cities have been made desolate, without a man, without an inhabitant.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.