From The Alpha and the Omega - Chapter Eight
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © 1995, all rights reserved Last Word Update     Zephaniah 1 is titled “The Day of the LORD’s Wrath.”
1:1 The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
1:2 I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
1:3 I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked: and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
1:4 I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal (Heb. Ba’al, bah’-al, was the Phoenician tutelary god, which Israel had fallen into idolatry with from the time of Judges on through to Josiah.) from this place, and the name of the Chemarims (Heb. kamar, kaw-mawr’, properly an ascetic, also as plural Heb. kemarim, possibly "prostrate oneself"; some claim that these idol priests, who had not reached puberty, were known as "ministers of the gods," and possibly were the same as the Tyrian Camilli.    The Hebrew root means black from the black garments which they wore, or the marks which they branded on their foreheads.) with the priests (also see 2 Kings 23:5, Hosea 10:5 for idolatrous priest, or the priest of Jehovah, of Aaronic descent, who abetted this idolatry.);
1:5 And them that worship the host of heaven (Heb. tsaba’, tsaw-baw’, army, as in Saba, in contrast to Sabeanism, Jehovah is called Lord of Sabaoth.) upon the housetops; and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham (Molech, Malcam, "their king," and also "Milcom the god of … Ammon" in I Kings 11:33.);
1:6 And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those the LORD, nor enquired for him.
1:7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.
1:8 And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.
1:9 In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.

Zephaniah 1:10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills.

    "The fish-gate" was probably in the north of the wall of "the second city."
    It was then itself at the northeast corner of Jerusalem, where towers were of most importance to strengthen the wall, and to command the approach to the wall either way.    "The fish-gate" then, lying between it and "the gate of Ephraim," must have been on the north side of the city, and so on the side where the Chaldean invasions came; yet it must have been much inside the present city, because the city itself was enlarged by Herod Agrippa on the north, as it was unaccountably contracted on the south.
    Today the fish-gate would be the Damascus (Shekham) Gate.

    And a howling from the second - city, as it is supplied in Nehemiah, who mentions the prefect set over it.    It was here that Huldah the prophetess lived, who prophesied the evils to come upon Jerusalem, after Josiah should be "gathered to" his "grave in peace."    It was probably the lower city, which was enclosed by the second wall.    It was a second or new city, as compared to the original city of David, on Mount Moriah.    On this the enemy who had penetrated by the fish-gate would first enter; then take the strongest part of the city itself.    Gareb (Jeremiah 31:39) and Bezetha were outside of the then town; they would then be already occupied by the enemy before entering the city.
    According to Henderson, the second or lower city, answers to Akra, north of Zion, and separated from it by the valley of Tyropoon running down to the pool of Siloam.

    A great crashing from the hills - These are probably Zion, and Mount Moriah on which the temple stood, and so the capture is described as complete.    Here should be not a cry or howling only, but an utter destruction.
    Mount Moriah was the seat of the worship of God;
    Mount Zion was the state, and the abode of the wealthy.    In human sight they were impregnable.    The Jebusites mocked at David's siege, as thinking their city impregnable (2 Samuel 5:6); but God was with David and he took it.    He and his successors fortified it yet more, but its true defense was that "the Lord was round about His people" Psalm 125:2, and when lie withdrew His protection, then this natural strength was but their destruction, tempting them to resist first the Chaldaeans, then the Romans.    Human strength is but a great crash, falling by its own weight and burying its owner.

Zephaniah 1:11 Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off.

    Howl, inhabitants of the mortar, for all the people of Canaan are destroyed; cut off are all that are laden with silver.    In order to express the thought that the judgment will not spare any one class of the population, Zephaniah depicts the lamentation which will arise from all parts of the city.    The voice of the cry, i.e., a loud cry of anguish will arise or resound.    The fish-gate (according to Nehemiah 3:3; Nehemiah 12:39; cf. 2 Chronicles 33:14) was in the eastern portion of the wall which bounded the lower city on the north side (See Nehemiah 3:3, Nehemiah 11:9), the second part or district of the city, is the lower city upon the hill Acra (see 2 Kings 22:14).    Shebher, fragor, does not mean a cry of murder, but the breaking to pieces of what now exists, not merely the crashing fall of the buildings, like za?qath shebher in Isaiah 15:5, the cry uttered at the threatening danger of utter destruction.    In order to heighten the terrors of the judgment, there is added to the crying and howling of the men the tumult caused by the conquest of the city.    "From the hills," i.e., "not from Zion and Moriah," but from the hills surrounding the lower city, viz., Bezetha, Gareb (Jeremiah 31:39), and others.    For Zion, the citadel of Jerusalem is evidently thought of as the place where the howling of the men and the noise of the devastation, caused by the enemy pressing in from the north and north-west, are heard.
    Hammakhtesh, the mortar (Proverbs 27:22), which is the name given in Judges 15:19 to a hollow place in a rock, is used here to denote a locality in Jerusalem.

Probably the depression which ran down between:
• Acra on the west
  
• and Bezetha (Josephus the New City (BJ, V, iv, 2) are certain suburbs of Jerusalem, north of the Temple, which were outside the second but included within the third wall.    Bezeth may be the same place.) and Moriah on the east,
  
• as far as the fountain of Siloah,
  
• and is called by Josephus "the cheese-maker's valley,"
  
• and by the present inhabitants el-Wad, i.e., the valley, and also the mill-valley.    The name "mortar" was probably coined by Zephaniah, to point to the fate of the merchants and men of money who lived there.    They who dwell there shall howl, because "all the people of Canaan" are destroyed.    These are not Canaanitish or Phoenician merchants, but Judaean merchants, who resembled the Canaanites or Phoenicians in their general business (see Hosea 12:8), and had grown rich through trade and usury.    Netil keseph, laden with silver.
  

    Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh - Literally, "Mortar," "in which," Jerome says, "corn is pounded; a hollow vessel, and fit for the use of medical men, in which properly ptisans are wont to be beaten (or made).”    Striking is it, that Scripture saith not, 'who dwell in the valley,' but who "dwell in the mortar," because as corn, when the pestle striketh, is bruised, so the army of the enemy shall rush down upon you (Jerome).

The place intended is probably so much of the valley of the Tyropoeon:
• which intersected Jerusalem from north to south,
  
• as was enclosed by the second wall, on the north,
  
• and the first wall on the south.
  
• The valley "extended as far as the fountain of Siloam,"
  
• and united with the valley of Jehoshaphat a little below Ophel.
  
• It was "full of houses," and, from its name as well as from its situation, it was probably the scene of petty merchandise, where the occasions in which men could and did break the law and offend God, were the more continual, because they entered into their daily life, and were a part of it.    The sound of the pestle was continually heard there; another sound should thereafter be heard, when they should not bruise, but be themselves bruised.
      The name "Maktesh" was probably chosen to express how their false hopes, grounded on the presence of God's temple among them while by their sins they profaned it, should be turned into true fears.    They had been and thought themselves "Mikdash," "a holy place, sanctuary;" they should be Maktesh, wherein all should be utterly bruised in pieces.
  

    The Targum states, "howl, all ye that dwell in the valley of Kidron;" and Jerome thinks the valley of Siloah is intended, which is the same; which, Adrichomius says, was broad, deep, and dark, and surrounded the temple in manner of a foss, or ditch; and was disposed in the form of a mortar, called in Hebrew "machtes"; in Latin, "pila"; in which merchants and tradesmen of all kinds dwelt.    It is thought by others to be the same which Josephus calls "the valley of the cheese mongers," which lay between the two hills Zion and Acra.    The reason of their howling is, for all the merchant people are cut down; either cut to pieces by the sword of the enemy, and become silent, as the word sometimes signifies, and the Vulgate Latin version here renders it; become so by death, and laid in the silent grave, and no more concerned in merchandise; or else stripped of all their wealth and goods by the enemy, and so cut down, broke, and become bankrupt, and could trade no more.

Maktesh, "the mortar," a name applied to the valley of Siloam from its hollow shape [Jerome].
• The valley between Zion and Mount Olivet, at the eastern extremity of Mount Moriah, where the merchants dwelt.    Zec 14:21, "The Canaanite," namely, merchant [Chaldee Version].
  
• The Tyropoon (that is, cheese-makers') valley below Mount Akra [Rosenmuller].
  
• Better Jerusalem itself, so called as lying in the midst of hills (Isa 22:1; Jer 21:13) and as doomed to be the scene of its people being destroyed as corn or drugs are pounded in a mortar (Pr 27:22) [Maurer].
  
• Compare the similar image of a "pot" (Eze 24:3, 6).
  
• The reason for the destruction is subjoined, namely, its merchant people's greediness of gain.
  

    After reading the three above sections above about the area that they in general are claiming that Zephaniah 1:10-11 is where the LORD God will make Mortar can be seen in the image of modern Jersalem area in the images that will open here Zephaniah 1:10-11 Prophecy on Jerusalem.

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: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.
1:13 Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.
1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
1:15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
1:16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
1:17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

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    This page created December 7, 2012.

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