Zephaniah 1:12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees… To the Hebrew prophets the world was without meaning if it was not moral. Righteousness — the desire for it, the endeavour after it, was at the heart of things. We may thank Matthew Arnold for the phrase "The power that makes for righteousness" as a definition of God. The Hebrew prophet was a moral philosopher, a statesman, a preacher of righteousness, a declarer of God's will as expressed in the laws and tendencies of human history. He was a scientist as well as a seer, discerning the face of the sky and the signs of the times, and predicting the rise and fall of states. It was the fate of Zephaniah to fall on evil times. I. THE SUBJECT OF DIVINE JUDGMENTS. 1. They embrace the whole earth. God's moral law is co-extensive with the whole world. God's commandments are one and the same all the world over. 2. It is just as true that, though universal, God's judgments are sometimes particular and special. "I will search Jerusalem.". God begins at home. When God comes to make inquisition for sin He begins .at the sanctuary. 3. The prophet leads us into yet inner circles — "I will punish the men that are settled on their lees." The metaphor is drawn from the manufacture. By the expression two classes are intended — (1) The indifferent and ease-loving. (2) The carnally-minded.The man who settles down upon the sediment that is in him takes his tone and standard from the worse and not from the better part of his nature. 3. The innermost circle of all is occupied by those who say "in their heart, the Lord will not do good, neither will He do evil," — the practical atheists of the Church who swear by the Lord, but relegate Him to a distant corner of His domain. II. THE METHOD OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS. "Search with candles." No half-measures, no compromise with evil will satisfy Jehovah. III. THE PURPOSE OF GOD'S JUDGMENTS IS NOT SIMPLY PENAL, BUT PURIFYING AND REMEDIAL. Our God is just to forgive, loving to punish. Let the Lord work His gracious fatherly will in your life. (J. D. Thompson.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil. |
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