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Zephaniah 3:8
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Zephaniah 3:8 Meaning and Commentary
Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord
Or "nevertheless" F6: this is said to the disciples and followers of Christ among the Jews; for there were some few that did fear the Lord, and received his doctrine, and submitted to his ordinances, and walked in his ways; and these are encouraged to wait upon the Lord; upon the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; or for him, and to expect that he would appear, and work salvation and deliverance for them, when distress should come upon the unbelieving Jews: until the day that I rise up to the prey:
until the day that he rose from the dead, quickly after which he ascended to heaven, leading captivity captive; Satan, and his principalities and powers, which he made a prey and spoil of upon the cross: or, till I rise "up for a testimony", or witness F7; of his being the true Messiah; for his resurrection from the dead was the signal he gave as a testimony of it, ( Matthew 12:39 Matthew 12:40 ) . Some render it, "till I rise up to perpetuity": or, "for ever" F8; for, when Christ rose from the dead, he rose to an immortal life, never to die more; and ever live he does to make intercession for his people, to secure their happiness for them, and to preserve them unto it; and therefore they have great encouragement to wait upon him, and for him: for my determination [is] to gather the nations, that I may
assemble the kingdoms;
not the Chaldeans or Babylonians, as some; nor the armies of Gog and Magog, as Kimchi; but the Romans under Titus Vespasian, with whom were people of many nations, who came against Jerusalem, according to the decree, will, and appointment of God: to pour upon them mine indignation, [even] all my fierce anger;
not upon the nations and kingdoms assembled; but by them upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea, against whom they would be gathered; who had corrupted their doings, and provoked the Lord to stir up and pour out all his wrath upon them, in utterly destroying their nation, city, and temple: and the apostle, speaking of the same thing, at least of the beginning of it, calls it "wrath upon them to the uttermost": and which answers to the expressions of the Lord's indignation, and all his fierce anger, here used, ( 1 Thessalonians 2:16 ) : for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy;
not the whole world, and the several nations of it; but the whole land of Judea, and its inhabitants. The same phrase is used of the destruction of it by the Babylonians, ( Zephaniah 1:18 ) and which shows, that not that destruction, but the destruction by the Romans, is here meant; or otherwise a tautology is here committed; but the following words show clearly that this respects, not the former, but the latter destruction of Jerusalem; since a pure language was not given to the nations or Gentiles after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians; but has been since it was destroyed by the Romans; and which was in a few years after Christ's resurrection from the dead, predicted in the beginning of this verse; by which may be observed the connection of things in this prophecy.
F6 (Nkl) , as in Hos. ii. 14. See Noldius.
F7 (del) (eiv marturion) , Sept.
F8 "In futurum", V. L. "in perpetuum", some in Calvin; so Abendana; "in perpetuitatem", Cocceius.
Zephaniah 3:8 In-Context
Footnotes 1
- [a]. The traditional Hebrew has "assemble me"; this translation follows LXX