Zefanja 3:4

4 Haar profeten zijn lichtvaardig, gans trouweloze mannen; haar priesters verontreinigen het heilige, zij doen der wet geweld aan.

Zefanja 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.

Zefanja 3:4 In-Context

2 Zij hoort naar de stem niet; zij neemt de tucht niet aan; zij vertrouwt niet op den HEERE; tot haar God nadert zij niet.
3 Haar vorsten zijn brullende leeuwen in het midden van haar; haar rechters zijn avondwolven, die de beenderen niet breken tot aan den morgen.
4 Haar profeten zijn lichtvaardig, gans trouweloze mannen; haar priesters verontreinigen het heilige, zij doen der wet geweld aan.
5 De rechtvaardige HEERE is in het midden van haar, Hij doet geen onrecht; allen morgen geeft Hij Zijn recht in het licht, er ontbreekt niet; doch de verkeerde weet van geen schaamte.
6 Ik heb de heidenen uitgeroeid, hun hoeken zijn verwoest, Ik heb hun straten eenzaam gemaakt, dat niemand daardoor gaat; hun steden zijn verstoord, zodat er niemand is, dat er geen inwoner is.
The Dutch Staten Vertaling translation is in the public domain.