‏ Zephaniah 2:5

The Judgment on the Philistines

When the LORD judges His people for their sins, it does not mean that he ignores or condones the sins of the surrounding heathen peoples. The cities of the Philistines in the west are the first to be judged. Philistines are a picture of depraved Christianity. They print their name on the land: Palestine. In them we see the religious posturing that tries to control and rule everything of God according to human standards.

The four main cities are mentioned: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron. Gath is missing (cf. Amos 1:6-8). As a reason for not mentioning Gath, it has been suggested that this city did not recover from the destruction that King Uzziah brought upon it (2Chr 26:6). Also in some other lists of the Philistine cities Gath does not occur (Jer 25:20; Zec 9:5-6).

Ashdod will be driven out “at noon”, which is the hottest part of the day. This means that that city will have an extra heavy judgment, because the inhabitants will have to flee at a time when in the east people usually rest because of the great heat. It also means that it will happen when one least expects to be attacked (2Sam 4:5; Jer 6:4). Attacks are usually expected at night, not during the day, and certainly not during the hottest part of the day.

The Philistines are called “Cherethites” (Zep 2:5) because of their relationship with Crete (Jer 47:4; Amos 9:7; Eze 25:16). They are a people who unlawfully took God’s land. Also in our days there are religious, spiritual powers that want to drive the people of God, the church, out of their inheritance. God will defeat those powers and put His people in possession of their inheritance. To defend and enjoy the inheritance now, He has given us His armor (Eph 6:12-18).

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