Notes, Critical and Explanatory, on the Holy Scriptures
Zephaniah 2
St Jerome says: * Before what has predicted come to pass, before the effect follow the command." * 44 It will happen as easily as dust flies away." St. Jerome.
V. Justum, mansuetum. What is just, meek. H. has justice, meekness.
The Philistines inhabited the extremity of Canaan.
The returning exiles, those who shall survive the captivity, shall occupy the territory of the Philis- tines. Abdiah v. 12.
P. St. Jerome observe*: "The prophecy i» now made against Moab and the Ammonites, or, as is added in the Scptuagint, against Damascus, which in Isaiah is styled Aram, becauso they aided Nabu- chodonosor to lay waste Juda, trample on the sanctuary, overthrow the temple, and after subduing the people of Israel, blasphemed the Lord. Nabachodonoeor and the Chaldeans, having overturned the cities of the Jews, oppressed the other nations, so that those who insulted the people of God suffered the same distress and calamities, and were fellow-slaves with Juda, whom they expected to hold in bondage. Therefore before the captivity, whilst Josiah was still king, and Jerusalem and the temple were still standing, a prophecy Is directed against the conquerors that the evils of the people of God may be in some degree alleviated by the sufferings of other nations."
P. " Desolation." The terms which signify this, or a raven, closely resemble.
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