Verse 7
7. The judgment is imminent, Jehovah has made all preparation for its execution, and the people are summoned to wait, in awful silence, the approach of the judge.
Hold thy peace at the presence Only one word in Hebrew hush! (see on Habakkuk 2:20; Zechariah 2:13).
Day of Jehovah See on Joel 1:15. For the crisis which Zephaniah considered the harbinger (see p. 161) of the day of Jehovah see Introduction, p. 511.
Hath prepared a sacrifice The judgment is pictured as a great sacrificial feast (see on Amos 5:23) prepared by Jehovah himself; the sacrificial animals are the sinners condemned in Zephaniah 1:4-6 (compare Isaiah 25:6; Jeremiah 46:10).
Hath bid his guests R.V., “hath consecrated,” or sanctified. Only those who were clean could participate in a sacrificial meal. In this case the guests were the Scythians, who were foreigners, and therefore unclean; but Jehovah has purified them so that they can participate in the feast without fear that the wrath of Jehovah will smite them. There is a slight inconsistency in the figure, for the invaders are not content to eat the sacrifice already prepared; they themselves slay and thus help to prepare the feast.
Be the first to react on this!
