Matthew Henry on Zephaniah 3:1-7
One would wonder that Jerusalem, the holy city, where God was known, and his name was great, should be the city of which this black character is here given, that a place which enjoyed such abundance of the means of grace should become so very corrupt and vicious, and that God should permit it to be so; yet so it is, to show that the law made nothing perfect; but if this be the true character of Jerusalem, as no doubt it is (for God's judgments will make none worse than they are), it is no wonder that the prophet begins with woe to her. For the holy God hates sin in those that are nearest to him, nay, in them he hates it most. A sinful state is, and will be, a woeful state.
I. Here is a very…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Zephaniah 3:2
received not correction--Jerusalem is incurable, obstinately rejecting salutary admonition, and refusing to be reformed by "correction" (Jer 5:3).
trusted not in . . . Lord--Distrust in the Lord as if He were insufficient, is the parent of all superstitions and wickednesses [CALVIN].
drew not near to her God--Though God was specially near to her (Deu 4:7) as "her God," yet she drew not near to Him, but gratuitously estranged herself from Him.
Adam Clarke on Zephaniah 3:2
She obeyed not the voice - Of conscience, of God, and of his prophets.
She received not correction - Did not profit by his chastisements; was uneasy and ill-tempered under her afflictions, and derived no manner of good from these chastisements.
She trusted not in the Lord - Did not consider him as the Fountain whence all help and salvation should come; and rather sought for support from man and herself, than from God.
She drew not near to her God - Did not worship him; did not walk in his ways; did not make prayer and supplication to him.
John Gill on Zephaniah 3:2
She obeyed not the voice,.... Of his servants the prophets, as the Targum, by way of explanation, adds, who warned her of her sins and of her ruin. The inhabitants of Jerusalem hearkened not to the voice of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, who gave notice of his coming; nor to the voice of Christ himself, who stretched out his hand all the day to a disobedient and gainsaying people; nor to the voice of his apostles, whose doctrines they contradicted and blasphemed; and put away the word of God from them, thereby judging themselves unworthy of eternal life:
she received not correction; by the rod, by the judgments of God upon her: or "instruction" (y); by the Gospel preached to he…
