Verse 18
The Judeans would not be able to buy themselves out of their trouble when the Lord poured forth His wrath (cf. Ezekiel 7:19). He would devour the whole earth with the fire of His jealous rage, jealousy provoked by His people’s preference for various forms of idolatry (Zephaniah 1:4-6). He would destroy completely and terribly all the inhabitants of the earth (cf. Zephaniah 1:2-3; cf. Joel 2:1-11).
The comprehensive nature of this judgment suggests that at this point the prophet’s perspective again lifted to what we can now see will be the eschatological fulfillment of this prophecy. The Babylonian invasion only previewed it. Another possibility is that we should understand "all the earth" as referring only to the Promised Land. However, other descriptions of the worldwide extent of God’s eventual judgment of sin and sinners in this book and others make this interpretation unattractive.
Be the first to react on this!
