Zephaniah 1:8 - Exposition.

The prophet names the three classes of people who shall be smitten in this judgment. First, the princes. In the day of the Lord's sacrifice (see note on ver. 7). God is speaking; so the name of the Lord is employed instead of the pronoun (comp. Lamentations 3:66 ). I will punish; literally, visit upon (ver. 12; Amos 3:14 ). The princes. The heads of tribes and families, nobles and magistrates. The king's children ( sons ); Septuagint, τὸν οἶκον τοῦ βασιλέως , "the house of the king." The royal family, not specially the sons of Josiah, who, if they were then in existence, must have been mere children, but princes of the royal house. The reference may be particularly to the sons of the king reigning when the judgment fell (see 2 Kings 25:7 ). The king himself is not mentioned as subject to the judgment, inasmuch as he was pious and obedient ( 2 Chronicles 34:27 , etc.). In the mention of these "children" Keil finds proof of the late origin of the prophecy. Such as are clothed with strange apparel. This clause must represent the sin for which the princes are "visited." "Strange" apparel means "foreign" apparel, and this implied foreign manners and habits. The Israelites were reminded by their very dress that they were a peculiar people, consecrated to God's service ( Numbers 15:37 , etc.; Deuteronomy 22:12 ). These nobles, however, assumed the dress of the Egyptians and other nations with which they came in contact, and, despising their own national customs, copied the manners and vices of foreigners (comp. Isaiah 3:16-24 ; Ezekiel 20:32 ; 1 Macc. 1:11-15).