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Zeph.2:1–2. Gather together and be united, unpunished tongue, before you were like the flower that passes by in the day, before the wrath of the Lord came on you; before the day of the wrath of the Lord came on you. Having excellently depicted the severity of the war and the greatness of the disaster that was about to occur, He again opportunely turns his speech to arousing repentance in them, when it was already convenient to convince them, since they, presumably, were brought into fear. When the soul has become hardened and is driven by a strong inclination towards the shameful and disgraceful, then we do not even easily come to the desire to repent, but often we are driven to this against our desire by fear. So, He calls them to communicate with Himself. How they withdrew from Him and became strangers to Him, we believe, through the fact that they revered idols and betrayed their minds to the service of their own passions; and vice versa, we will think that they, as it were, return back and strive for communion with God, deciding to worship Him alone and obey His regulations. The people of Israel are called “unpunished by their tongue,” as they despise the most ancient commandment and wickedly reject the law, which guides and can lead to good of all kinds. He further threatens that if they do not unite (“contact”) with Him using the means we have just said, they will be no different from the flowers of the field, quickly dying and drying up, and will certainly be subject to the consequences of (divine) wrath. So, “until now is the time, imams, let us do good to everyone” (Gal. 6:10). As long as the Lord allows us, we will do repentance; let us be united with Him through sanctification and faith; for in this way we will find protection for ourselves in the day of wrath and wash away the filthiness of sins before the day of God comes upon us. Zeph.2:3. Seek the Lord, all you lowly people of the earth: do justice and seek righteousness 9 and answer that you may be covered in the day of the Lord’s wrath. Here it clearly shows how they can unite with God, although they are a vile people; He commands “seek the Lord, do justice and justice, and answer.” The Lord is sought by us through a thirst to do what is pleasing to Him, while removing all carelessness. We will carry out judgment by fulfilling His divine law and strictly practicing virtue. We will also gain the glory of justice, crowned with the praise of good deeds and walking the glorious and blameless path of true reverence for God and love for our brothers: “For this is the fulfillment of the law of love” (Rom. 13:10). To what I said, it is necessary, I believe, to add: “I will answer,” that is, to speak about this to others and admonish the brothers; and only in this way and not in any other way will we be perfect in virtue. So the Lord said that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who is glorified in deed and in word (Matthew 5:19), but the least is the one who tried to teach, and in sufficient measure, everything that should be done, but does not yet rise to the point of fulfilling in practice what he himself considers good and what he orders others to do. Nowhere does He mourn the leaders of the Jews, so to speak: woe to you, for you bind “heavy and poor burdens” and lay them on men, but you yourself, so to speak, do not even touch them with the edge of your finger (Matthew 23:4). So, the proof of the most perfect reverence for God is the practice of virtue and teaching others how they can become glorious. And that the labor spent on this will not remain unrewarded, this is explained by Christ’s disciple, who says: “For he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save the soul from death and cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). If anyone thinks that the expression: “I answer” indicates that care should be taken “about them” (that is, about the judgment and truth contained in the law of God), let him understand in this way; for the law of Moses also commanded concerning the words of God: “And let him that sits in the house, and walketh the way, and lieth, and riseth speak concerning them” (Deut. 6:7). And David sings: “And I will learn from thy justifications.” (Ps. 119:117). Zeph.2:4. Zane Gaza will be plundered, and Ascalon will disappear: and Azoth will be rejected at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted. Again, the speech is economic and foretells what will one day be accomplished as a comfort to the Israelites. And what it is, I’ll talk about it. When Jerusalem was devastated and the entire Jewish country was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, the neighboring foreign cities gloated over the victims, laughed at those subjected to devastation and made sacrifices to their gods, as if they had destroyed the hated people for everyone. They also dared to talk about how useless their trust in God actually turned out to be for them, and they imagined that the power of the Babylonians had become more powerful than the help from above. If any of the Jews, having left home and fled from their fatherland during the war, went to neighboring nations in the hope of finding salvation from them, he was in an even worse position, meeting people who, instead of showing proper compassion towards them, turned out to be even more cruel than the Babylonians. So, pathetic, they humiliated the glory of God, and treated those exposed to disaster cruelly and insensitively, not only denying them compassion, but also inhumanly oppressing them with their cruelty. So what? After this, at a certain time, when Cyrus finally released the Israelites, they returned from captivity and, having come to Jerusalem, began to fortify the city with walls, erected a church and finally began to console themselves with the hope of prosperity under the protection of God. When the inhabitants of Gaza, Ascalon and Azoth, the inhabitants of the city called Ekron, also the Moabites, the Edomites, the Ammonites and, in addition, some other peoples, learned about this, they were inflamed with the fire of envy and wanted to prevent those who were building a wall around the city, and with united forces they went to war against those who had returned from captivity. The battle took place in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. But the enemies were defeated and destroyed because God strengthened Israel. Thus they took the cities of the pagans by force, so that they turned them into deserts and made them stables for flocks. Now He recalls this historical event, announcing first the return from captivity, and then the future glory and victory over everyone. “Gaza will be plundered,” he says, “Askalon will go into extinction, and Azoth will be rejected before noon” (at noon it will be thrown out), that is, obviously, not in a predatory way, but in full view of everyone, according to the law of war, “Akkaron will be eradicated.” Threat is applied very subtly to the meaning of this name, for Akkaron means “eradication.” He himself, he says, will be subjected to this, as if in his very name there is an indication of the disaster that must befall him. Zeph.2:5. Woe to those who live on food 10 morstem, strangers of Crete: the word of the Lord is upon you, Canaan, the land of foreigners. Having expressed enough threats and foreshadowed what was about to happen to the inhabitants of Palestine, I mean the inhabitants of Gaza, Ascalon, Azoth and Ekron, he addressed the same word to the inhabitants of Phenicia, especially before others - to those located by the sea. Therefore he says: “Woe to those who live on their food.” Since many of the cities of Palestine were located by the sea, then, as if distinguishing the indicated cities from others, he now calls them Cretan aliens, so that from this we understand that the inhabitants of Phenicia are meant. After all, the Cretans and the inhabitants of Libya were separated from each other by a very short distance of the sea located between them, so that, as rumor says, from Crete, when the wind blows from there, sometimes the fragrance of plants is heard and Libyan animals are killed, reptiles, I say, and poisonous species. Thus the Libyans and Cretans are accepted as one people. Those who had once moved from here settled in Phenicia and erected cities, just as, no doubt, the Cappadocians once did - the cities of Palestine. That is why God, through the mouth of Amos, said: “Are you not like the sons of Ethiopia to me, the sons of Israel? Says the Lord: Did not I bring Israel out of the land of Egypt, and their foreigners from Cappadocia and the Syrians from the land? (Am.9:7) He calls the inhabitants of Palestine foreigners, and the Phoenicians Syrians, about whom he says that he brought them out of the ditch, calling the ditch, I think, Libya, because this country must lie deep and low. Their sea expands into bays, since the coast seems to run back and crashes into the sea, especially in the southernmost areas. You need to know that instead of “row”, some interpreters read: “Cyrene” 11, from which it is more clearly revealed that the Phoenicians are settlers of the Libyans, since Cyrene is the most famous city of Libya. So, he says, “the word of the Lord is upon you,” the aliens are Cretans or Libyans. “Aliens” says instead: “settlers” and “settlers”. He again calls them Canaan, for all the inhabitants of the cities of Phenicia were Canaanites, although they were initially immigrants from the Cretans. But it must be noted again that other interpreters, instead of “the strangers of Kritstia,” read “the word of the Lord to you, a lost people.” Since we needed to follow the reading of the Seventy, we brought from history what tradition tells us about and what captured the truth of the prophetic word. Zeph.2:6–7. And I will destroy you from the habitation: and Crete will be a pasture for the flocks and a fence for the sheep, and the sea will be left to the house of Judah: they will devour them in the houses of Ascalon, and in the evening they will take it from the presence of the sons of Judah: for the Lord their God will come to them, and restore their captivity. Here again he addresses them as exiles and speaks as immigrants, the truth of which history has testified. “I will destroy,” he says, “from their home,” that is, from the land in which they settled; Their cities, he says, will reach such desolation that they will become pastures and stalls for flocks. Crete calls them Phenicia or those living in Phenicia, as coming from Crete, adjacent and neighboring the Libyans. In former times they were one people; the tribes mixed with each other according to blood and laws. I said before 12 that all the nations, inflamed with envy, united and went to war against Jerusalem after the time of captivity, but during the battle that took place they were defeated in the Valley of Jehoshaphat and those who wickedly plotted against the liberated fell. So, the victorious Israelites grazed the fields of foreigners as if they were left desolate, and they used the devastated cities of the Philistines, that is, the Palestinians, as stables, because all their inhabitants were completely destroyed. So, “it will be,” he says, “already sea,” that is, the cities of the Palestinians located by the sea, which were once crowded, terrible and difficult to overcome, will be pasture for the flocks “left to the house of Judah.” Having survived captivity and barely remaining 13, they nevertheless won a victory; they “have vitati in the evening” in the cities of Ascalon, for in the evening the shepherds lock their herds of cattle in stalls. What is this such great power? And how will something happen that is beyond the probability of all reason? “For the Lord their God has come,” he says, “and bring back their captivity.” As if he were saying this: He left His anger against them, forgave them their crimes and takes up arms with them, as in ancient times with the Israelites, and grants them victory over their opponents, and this is without difficulty. So, if God turns away from us because of our sins, then we will fall under the power of our enemies and no one can save us. If He looks at us again when we strive for virtue and want to live according to the law, then we will again defeat every enemy and overcome our opponents, which He Himself will confirm, saying about every righteous person: “For I have trusted, and I will deliver” (Ps. 90:14). Zeph.2:8–9. I heard the reproaches of Moab and the reproaches of the sons of Ammon, about whom I reviled my people and magnified my borders. For this reason I live, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Moab will be like Sodom, and the children of Ammon will be like Gomorrah, and Damascus will be like a barn stack and ruined forever: and the rest of my people will I be plundered, and the remnants of my tongue will inherit them. The neighboring nations mocked the devastated Jerusalem and the Israelites subjected to disasters: they imagined that the captivity of Judea was the work of their own false gods, when, as it were, the Hand of the sovereign God, who had always helped them from above, was completely overthrown and, as it were, reduced to insignificance. And there is nothing incredible in the fact that some reached such foolishness after they fell into error, served trees and stones and did not know the real and true God. So, he says, I heard the “reproaches” of the Moabites and the “reproaches of the sons of Ammon”; for, whether with a rod or a stone, he who reproaches people who have fallen into trouble, I think, is no different from the one who opens his unbridled mouth against them, spews out and speaks such words, with which, undoubtedly, some are brought to grief and sorrow, and from which the severity of misfortune becomes even heavier. Since they turned out to be spewing blasphemous speeches against the divine glory itself, therefore, he says, having been subjected to the punishment of the Sodomites, they will reach destruction and, in their disasters, although showing a little of the suffering of Gomorrah, late and barely through what happened to them they will recognize the power of the punisher. Damascus, the glorious and famous metropolis of the Phoenicians, in which the kings had their seat, will be a heap of straw, without ears of grain and therefore having lost all value, and destined for burning or scattering. Just as gusts of wind scatter heaps of chaff in all directions, so the armies of the victors will scatter the inhabitants of conquered cities everywhere, invading like the stormiest winds. But that the executor of these punishments will one day be no other, but the very people who were subjected to disasters and humiliation, this is shown by saying: “And the remnants of my people will plunder me: and the remnants of my tongue will inherit them”; for “the remnant of the people,” as I said before, He calls those who escaped from captivity, who defeated the pagans and, taking the cities of foreigners, turned them into a complete desert. So when the God of all kindly strains the forces of the church, either bringing sorrow upon it, or allowing the persecution of the enemies attacking it, whether Hellenes or wicked heretics, let no one mock her, but let him await the end of all the struggle. Those who boldly and openly sometimes ridicule and almost scold Christ for the fact that He does not seem to protect his own or is powerless to do this will be subjected to the disasters of the Sodomites and become food for fire, and in addition, those whom they considered defeated will turn out to be their winners. Zeph.2:10–11. This is for their annoyance, because they have insulted and exalted the people of the Lord Almighty. The Lord will appear on them and consume all the gods of the languages ​​of the earth. Such is their fate, he says, such is their lot! For they, miserable ones, dared to utter insolent words and spew out blasphemous speeches against the Most ineffable Glory and, acting under the influence of their strange and unbridled insolence, almost rebelled against Him Who is above all. Since they have assigned to their own gods the glory of omnipotence, then “the Lord will be revealed to them,” that is, He will reveal His own power to them by destroying all their gods; for their churches were destroyed and fell at the hands of Israel, and the man-made idols of the conquered peoples truly turned out to be the work of human hands everywhere and in every nation. So where is the power of the gods? Or how could those who are unable to help themselves save others? On the contrary, it is a completely dull and insensitive substance: “the tongue of silver and gold, the work of human hands” (Ps. 113:12). And in order not to use such expressions anymore, let’s say in the words of the prophet: “What is the use of a sculpture, like a sculpture? having created a merger, a false dream?” (Hab. 2:18), - or as the divine David says: “Let those who do things be like them, I and all who trust in her” (Ps. 113:16). And everyone from their place will worship him, all the islands of paganism. “The Lord was revealed to them,” we say, as having destroyed all their gods – of old through the Israelites, who courageously set fire to the idols in the churches and the altars in them in the cities of foreigners; but in the truest sense, as everyone can see, this was fulfilled during the incarnation of the Only Begotten, when God the Word became like us and appeared. Therefore, the divine disciples said about the Being from the beginning, Whom they listened to, that they touched this Himself with their hands and saw it with their own eyes (1 John 1:1). As God, being inaccessible to our sight, He became visible to us (as a man), about which David also sings somewhere: “God, our God, will come, and will not be silent” (Ps. 49:3). When he became visible and “appeared on earth,” according to what is written, “and lived among men” (Bar.3:38), then the vile and unclean hordes of idols perished. The dominion of the devil has been completely destroyed: each of those who have come through faith in Christ to the knowledge of the truth, through Him and with Him brings worship to God and the Father from his place 14; God became known not only in Judea, but also in the countries and cities of the pagans, even if they were separated from Judea by the sea between them, nevertheless they come to Christ, offer prayers to Him, perform hymns and honor Him with unceasing blessings. So in ancient times “His name was great” (Ps. 75:2); Now, finally, He has become known to everyone everywhere: the earth and the sea are full of His glory. And this was precisely the fulfillment of the prophecy: “As I live, says the Lord,” and further (Is. 49:18), or: the whole earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord (Is. 6:3). So, “everyone from his place will worship him,” he says. And the law, foreshadowing the beauty of the church, built among the Israelites that ancient tabernacle, according to the model of which that famous church was erected in Jerusalem. The divine Moses, or through him God Himself, commanded the ancients that those who wished to perform religious worship from all parts of Judea should come to Jerusalem and here make sacrifices and worship God, and death served as punishment for those who made sacrifices outside the church. When the time of the canopy passed, the service in images ceased (2 Cor. 5:17), then we knew the Divinity no longer in the image, and the Most High no longer lives in churches made with hands (Acts 7:48, 17:24), but fills heaven and earth, and the underworld (Jer. 23:24). Therefore, believing that He is everywhere and everywhere, everyone, no matter where he is, worships there, as if he has God near him, saying: “I am a God who draws near, says the Lord, and not a God from afar” (Jer. 23:23). You need to know that the Holy Scriptures sometimes call islands churches that are in this world as if in the sea and surrounded by dangers in it, as if by bitter waters, struck by persecution, as if by strong waves, but established unshakably and standing on high, and not suppressed by sorrows. For through Christ the churches are steadfast and “the gates of hell will not prevail against them” (Matthew 16:18). Therefore, if anyone wanted to understand by the islands churches from the pagans, he would not depart from the truth. Zeph.2:12. And you, Murini 15, will be my weapon to strike ulcers. Remembers every tribe or people who fought against Israel and slandered the divine glory. So, from the Jews and Ammonites it passes to the Ethiopians, or to the peoples living in the east and living in the country adjacent to the land of the Persians, or to the Egyptians, as adjacent and neighboring to the Israelites, and the land of Egypt is also part of Ethiopia. And therefore, the Holy Scriptures usually call the rivers of Egypt the rivers of Ethiopia; for they also drink water from Geon, about which the Holy Scripture says: “This is the one that surrounds the whole land of Ethiopia” (Gen. 2:13). So, “you too, Ethiopians, will be my weapon of destruction.” He calls the sword of the Jews His sword, because He Himself, as I said, brings it on those who act wickedly against His glory and against the glory of Israel. But since the inspired Scripture also knows the spiritual Ethiopians, we will also talk about them, without going beyond the meaning of the words being explained. Blessed David, chanting somewhere, said, as if turning to our Lord Jesus Christ: “thou hast crushed the head of the serpent, thou hast given him slaughter to the people of Ethiopia” (Ps. 73:14); but also in another place: “The Ethiopians will fall down before him, and the enemies will lick his finger” (Ps. 72:9). And the bride depicted in the book “Song of Songs” says in one place that she is both black and beautiful (Song.1:4). So, by Ethiopians we must understand those who have, as it were, a black and darkened mind, still unenlightened and not having the divine light in them. But those who fell before Christ, like, no doubt, the bride, the enlightened ones cried out: “And bring the glory of the Lord our God upon us” (Ps. 89:17). Those who have indelible uncleanness and are in darkness will eat the head of the serpent (the apostate serpent is food for them) and will be subjected to the sword. I think that the power of these words applies primarily to the demons whom Christ wounded, depriving them of their dominion over us and with them crushing the father of darkness and the inventor of all sin and darkening the minds of the unbelievers, so that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ should not shine in them. I think the wise Isaiah himself told us about this: and it will happen “in that day, the Lord will bring a holy and great and strong sword against the dragon of the fleeing serpent, against the dragon of the evil serpent, and he will kill the dragon” (Is. 27:1). Zeph.2:13–14. And I will stretch out my hand to the north, and I will destroy the Assyrian, and I will make Nineveh arid, like a desert; and the flocks and all the beasts of the earth shall devour in the midst of it, and chameleons and hedgehogs shall nest in its nests: and the beasts shall howl in its clefts, and the corvids in its gates. I will look, he says, at the inhabitants of the countries to the east and north and, together with others, I will destroy the Assyrians, and I will add the famous Nineveh itself, the main city of the Chaldeans, to the devastated cities. It will be waterless, like impassable and uninhabited lands. Probably the prophetic word again likens the multitude of its inhabitants to waters. This is usually the Holy Scripture, and therefore, foreshadowing the attack of the Assyrians, which they made on Jerusalem, another of the holy prophets says: “Behold, the waters rise from the north, and they will be like a stream” flooding (Jer. 47: 2). So, when he says that Nineveh will be waterless, then, in my opinion, this means that it will not have inhabitants. He further assures that herds will graze in the middle of it and this, I think, serves as a sign of its complete desolation and the complete absence of inhabitants in it; for what grows in the fields will not be born in the city, and if herbs began to grow in the city, then this circumstance would serve as clear proof that it has no inhabitants at all. Added to this is a considerable number of other signs (of the same). In it, he says, “all the beasts of the earth will rest, and chameleons and hedgehogs will nest in their nests,” and in “clefts,” that is, either in pits or in caves, wild animals will howl, and crows will live in the towers above its gates. For any sane person there is no doubt that neither hedgehogs live in houses, nor animals choose places to spend the night among the city, and night crows are reluctant to live in its gates, if in these places there is no complete and very pleasant peace for creatures of such a nature; because the animals and other animals in question do not like to live with people, but (they look for such places) where great solitude and a completely calm life for them would be possible, and where the vast desert seems to provide them with security and relieves them of all fear. And if we need to add something else to this, then we must guard our hearts and beware with all our might that we do not offend God in any way, so that, having been deprived of all virtue, we do not become the dwelling place of evil and indomitable beasts, I say, unclean spirits. And this, I think, is what was beautifully and wisely said to Israel through the mouth of Jeremiah: “Thou shalt be punished with weakness and plague, O Jerusalem, let not my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee an impenetrable land, an uninhabitable land” (Jer. 6:8); if disgusting and unclean passions completely take over the mind and heart, and some beasts seem to take up residence in it, then along with them the wild crowd of unclean spirits themselves will invade them. Zeph.2:15. Zane cedar is her offering. This despicable city, live in hope, say in your hearts: I am, and there is no way for me to be left to perish as beasts? everyone passing by will shout through it and lift up their hands. Here Nineveh is criticized as being accustomed to always thinking a lot about herself, as proud and arrogant. And truly she was like this - she was very contemptuous of every people, of every state, and even paid very little attention to the Roman state. The prophet Habakkuk also testified to this, speaking about the king of Assyria: “and he will laugh at kings, and his tormenting games, and he will mock at every hard thing” (Hab. 1:10). And that the capital of the Chaldeans was extremely arrogant, extolled itself excessively and even reached the point of unbridledness in this regard, this is indicated by likening it to the height of a cedar and calling it a contemptuous one. You will find direct and undoubted confirmation of this in the words spoken by Rapsak. When he came to Judea, then, turning to those on the wall of Jerusalem, he slandered the Most High Glory, for he said: “This is what the king says: Let not Hezekiah deceive you with words that will not be able to deliver you: and let not Hezekiah say to you that God will deliver you...”; and a little after: “Did food deliver the gods of paganism, each of his country from the hand of the king of Assyria?” (Isa.36, 14, 15, 18). So here is a city that treats others with disdain and thinks too much of itself, and says: “I exist and there will be no one after me.” Since he thinks to regard such shameful and damned arrogance as high praise for himself, he will finally reach such a disastrous state that it will be necessary to say about him: “What would it be like to disappear, to be grazed by wild beasts?” The word “kako” expresses not a question and a desire to learn about something, but surprise at the unexpectedness (of an event); for great and unexpected disasters cause surprise and usually amaze those who witness them or those who learn about them. So everyone will “whistle” (whistle) over her and “raise up his hands,” striking, as I think, them one against the other and clapping in surprise, and making a sound from his lips that consists of a whistle, and not in articulate speech. Through this he beautifully portrays to us a man as if struck with amazement at the sight of unexpected disasters. So, God opposes the truly proud (James 4:6), and I affirm that the instruction is wise and worthy of attention: “Do not be exalted, lest you fall” (Sir.1:30), and again: “He who is high to build his own house seeks destruction” (Prov. 17:16). Just as buildings that rise too and immeasurably high are more likely to fall and arouse very great fear, lest they collapse on their own, so the soul of a person, due to the vanity of thoughts, has reached the point of pride, becomes weak, unstable and prone to fall. But if something is done according to the will of God, then nothing can delay it. Heb. (Khald., Sir.): “seek meekness” without having: “I will answer.” Border, border strip defined by a rope. Cyrene was called a ditch, although it lies on a very elevated place, because it was built, as it were, in a deep depression. After all, the entire Libyan country has depressions that protrude into the sea. Those. the remnant of the Jews who survived captivity. 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