Zep 1:7-8 | KingComments | STEP | Before the prophet continues to announce the judgment on all the aforementioned iniquities, he first calls for silence before God ( ). The reason for this is that “the day of the LORD”, the day of judgment, the day of reckoning, “is near” (cf. ; ). Man must be silent, for God has the last word. The “sacrifice” prepared for the LORD is … Judah. The “guests” who have been “consecrated” by Him are the Babylonians ( ; ; ; cf. ). How bitter it must be that God consecrates the pagan Babylonians to be His ‘priests’ to slaughter His people as sacrificial animals. If the sinner does not repent and offer himself to God as a living sacrifice ( ), he will become the victim of his own sins.

‏ Zephaniah 1:7-8

Be Silent

Before the prophet continues to announce the judgment on all the aforementioned iniquities, he first calls for silence before God (Hab 2:20). The reason for this is that “the day of the LORD”, the day of judgment, the day of reckoning, “is near” (cf. Joel 1:15; Oba 1:15). Man must be silent, for God has the last word.

The “sacrifice” prepared for the LORD is … Judah. The “guests” who have been “consecrated” by Him are the Babylonians (Isa 13:3 ; Isa 34:6; Jer 46:10; Eze 39:17; cf. Rev 19:17-18). How bitter it must be that God consecrates the pagan Babylonians to be His ‘priests’ to slaughter His people as sacrificial animals. If the sinner does not repent and offer himself to God as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), he will become the victim of his own sins.

The Punishment of the LORD

“The day of the LORD’s sacrifice” is the day of judgment He brings on the apostates and unbelievers (Zep 1:8). They have rejected the Sacrifice, His Son, and will now themselves be sacrificed to the judgment. The first to be slaughtered are “the princes” who have adopted the customs of the nations. They are the most responsible. They should have been leaders for good instead of evil. “The king’s sons” are probably those of Zedekiah (2Kgs 25:7; Jer 39:6).

The “foreign garments” may refer to the garments of the Babylonians, in which the Judeans liked to walk (Eze 23:14-15). Their fondness for it betrays the bad mind of their hearts. The LORD wants to see in their garments that they are a people set apart for Him (Num 15:38; Deu 22:11-12).

In the application, “foreign garments” refer to all kinds of outward appearances that God’s people adopt from the world and through which an inner alienation from God and His Word is shown. Our language and our way of life, including the way we dress, betray the orientation of our hearts. Garments can have a lot to do with paganism. Garments are often immoral. Whoever wears such garments preaches apostacy from God through their body language.

“Leap on the threshold” seems to refer to the zeal with which slaves of rich lords leap over the threshold of their homes, i.e. leave their homes, to rob the property of others to make their lords even richer. In doing so, they use violence and deceit, so that the houses of the rich are filled with goods they have obtained through violence and deceit.