Universal Judgment focused on Jerusalem (1:2-2:3). 

        For the conception of the Day of the Lord see ch. II. The contraction of the vision from a universal judgment to one on Jerusalem in particular is not unnatural. The Day of the Lord, though universal, always centres around Israel. For the comparison of the judgment with a sacrifice cf. Isa. 34:6.

        The various religious offences mentioned are of great in­terest to the student of religions for the light they throw on the syncretistic religion that had grown up in Jerusalem in the days of Manasseh, but for detailed explanations a commentary must be consulted. We find the conditions under Manasseh reflected also in ver. 12. His policy of keeping on good terms with his Assyrian overlord, of which his religious syncretism was largely a result, will have created some measure of pros­perity, while his flouting of the will of Jehovah and the mes­sage of the prophets passed without any very serious con­sequences for him or his people (but’see IIChron. 33:10-19 — the history of Josiah’s reign and passages like Jer. 15:4 suggest that the repentance and reformation were very superficial). So, as always, the long-suffering of God produced the belief in some that God was indifferent as to how men acted (cf. II Pet. 3:9).

        It is widely held that just as Joel’s vision of the Day of the Lord was inspired by the invasion of the locust swarms, so Zephaniah’s was by the invasion of the Scythians. If, how­ever, the opinion expressed in ch. XI (p. 81) is correct, this be­comes improbable. After all we are dealing with the typically vague language of eschatology, where everything is seen through a haze of dust (cf. pp. 51, 115).

        The corruption had gone too far for Zephaniah to share Joel’s vision of a spiritual revival. He can only see the small number of humble (2:3; better than “meek,” cf. Mic. 6:8), Isaiah’s remnant, escaping the coming wrath (cf. Isa. 26:20).