Zephaniah 3:4

4 [The] Prophets thereof were wild, and unfaithful men; [the] priests thereof defouled holy thing, they did unjustly against the law. (Its prophets were wild, and unfaithful men; its priests defiled the holy things/its priests defiled the holy place, and they did unrighteously, or wickedly, against 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 It heard not the voice of the Lord, and received not teaching, either chastising; it trusted not in the Lord, it nighed not to her God. (It did not listen to the voice of the Lord, and did not accept his discipline, or his correction; it did not trust in the Lord, it did not come near to its God.)
3 Princes thereof in middle thereof were as lions roaring; judges thereof were wolves, in the eventide they left not into morrow. (Its princes in its midst were like roaring lions; its judges were like wolves, and by the evening they had left nothing for the next morning.)
4 [The] Prophets thereof were wild, and unfaithful men; [the] priests thereof defouled holy thing, they did unjustly against the law. (Its prophets were wild, and unfaithful men; its priests defiled the holy things/its priests defiled the holy place, and they did unrighteously, or wickedly, against the Law.)
5 The Lord is just in the middle thereof, and shall not do wickedness; early, early he shall give his doom in light, and it shall not be hid; forsooth the wicked people knew not confusion. (But the Lord in its midst is just, or is righteous, and shall never do wickedness; morning after morning he bringeth forth his judgement, and it shall never be hid; but the wicked people there were still not ashamed.)
6 I lost folks, and the corners of them be destroyed; I made the ways of them desert, while there is not that shall pass. The cities of them be desolate, for a man is not left, neither any dweller. (The Lord saith, I have destroyed nations, and I have also destroyed their towers, or their fortresses; I have made their ways deserted, where there is no one who shall pass by. Their cities be desolate, for now no one is left there, not one inhabitant.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.