And I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of Jehovah.
Zephaniah has just described a city stripped of everyone who boasted. The verse turns from what God takes away to what He leaves behind. Why does God answer national pride with a small, hurting people? And why is their only strength a name they lean on? Older translations read "an afflicted and poor people… they shall trust in the name of the LORD," and the writers below quote it that way.
God does not simply empty the city. He also chooses who stays, and He chooses by a rule that turns human judgment upside down.
The Christian's FriendNow notice this: what is least and most despised among men is where God finds His pleasure. God will leave a "poor and afflicted people" in the middle of Jerusalem. They are poor in spirit and humbled before God because of the many sorrows they have passed through. And it is these who will trust in the name of Jehovah, as their Rock of Ages.
This lowliness is not the end of their story. One writer links it to the rule these people will one day hold, and warns against reading the verse as a picture of today.
William Kelly"I will also leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people." They need moral integrity as well as true lowliness before God can entrust them with the throne. They are destined to have the first dominion. Before that they will know a humbling, not by circumstances only but by grace in spirit. This will fit them for their future greatness.
The same writer is firm about the timing. This change is the fruit of grace, he says, but it does not picture the gospel age we live in now. It belongs to the new age still to come.
Their trust stands against the habits these people had become known for. One writer roots those habits in centuries of being hunted, and points to the change that ends them.
William KellyAnd the afflicted and poor people "shall trust in the name of Jehovah. The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies." These are the very faults they became so notorious for during their sorrowful and often persecuted stay among the nations… Where people do not know grace in Christ, persecution breeds such deceit in speech, and wrongdoing in many other ways. But the change is at hand, and it is announced here… Every old outward cause for fear will go. And even before that, the grace of God will have produced a moral change within them.
Jesus opens the Sermon on the Mount with the same description. One writer reads those opening blessings as a picture of this future company.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWe must not forget that there is also a direct application to the believing remnant of Israel. They will be waiting in the middle of great tribulations, persecutions and sufferings for the kingdom to come. When the kingdom at last comes, at the return of the King, the Son of Man, they will enter in. Let us look at the first four beatitudes from this standpoint. This people will be poor in spirit.
Two writers apply the verse beyond its own setting. One finds the same two types — the proud and the afflicted — in Laodicea, a church addressed in Revelation.
F. B. HoleThere was a minority who were like that "afflicted and poor people" of whom we read in Zephaniah 3:12. These are in contrast with "those who rejoice in your pride" and are "haughty," spoken of in the previous verse. The majority at Laodicea were of this haughty type. Yet the Lord's rebukes and chastenings did not fall on them, as they did on the minority.
Another turns it into a rule for how believers should carry themselves while they wait.
J. N. DarbyFor us it is what God says to Israel — "I will leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord." It is true that we have joys and a source of service they cannot have then. But as a remnant in the middle of a ruined age, which is one side of our position, this is the spirit in which we have to walk.
- Pride removed. God takes away those who rejoice in their pride. Whoever is left in the city is there by His choice, not by chance.
- Poverty given. The affliction is not an accident. It is a humbling by grace in spirit, and it is where God finds His pleasure.
- Trust placed. They lean on the name of the Lord as their Rock of Ages. It is the one strength the proud never thought they needed.
- Truth produced. Centuries of persecution bred lying and deceit. Grace ends them by changing the heart, not just the circumstances.
- Throne inherited. These same poor people receive the first dominion. Commentators differ on how far the verse applies today. All agree God still honours this character.
The remnant of Israel shall not work unrighteousness, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth but *they* shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
These words close a book of judgment. God has sifted a nation and removed the proud. He then describes the small group left by how they speak and how safely they live. So who are they, and what turns people known for deceit into people with no lie in their mouth?
The verse names a people who are left over. One writer sets this at a coming judgment, and says who is removed and who stays.
F. B. HoleGod will fulfil Zephaniah 3:11-13. Judgment will take the transgressors away. The afflicted and poor people who trust in the name of the Lord will be left to enjoy the blessings of the coming kingdom. These are "the remnant of Israel."
The verse names two sins: wrongdoing and lying. One writer explains where such deceit comes from, and why only grace ends it.
William Kelly"Those who are left in Israel... shall do no injustice and speak no lies." These are the very faults they have been so notorious for during their sad and often persecuted stay among the Gentiles. Deceit has especially marked the Jew in exile. It tends to be the character of a downtrodden people. People who have things their own way can afford an outward, natural honesty. But this people were hunted and destroyed for ages, so no one should wonder at it. Where people do not know grace in Christ, persecution breeds this deceit in speech, and wrongdoing in many other ways. But the change is at hand… There will be the removal of all the old occasion for outward fear; and even before this, the grace of God will have worked a moral change inside them. Outward things can never really form the heart.
The verse says what this people will not do. One writer points to what God does first, before any of it is true of them.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe restored nation will not need to be ashamed of anything they have done. The Lord in His infinite grace will have cleansed them from their iniquity. They are no longer proud and haughty, but a humbled remnant, trusting in the Lord… They will then be a righteous nation, do no iniquity, nor speak lies… But when that day comes the deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouth. They will feed and lie down and none shall make them afraid. They have become once more the sheep of His pastures, gathered by the Good Shepherd.
Both writers trace this change to God, not to easier conditions. Kelly has it starting before their circumstances improve. Gaebelein ties it to God cleansing the nation.
Why single out the mouth? One writer shows how seriously Scripture treats lying, right to its last page.
H J VineIt is striking and significant how Scripture constantly condemns lying. The last two chapters of the Bible speak with great seriousness about those who "make a lie." The last on the list of those cast out to the second death are "all liars." Satan is the father of lies. Those marked by lying in life and speech may read their doom here, unless they come to the One who can save and sanctify them. The hypocrites at this time make a "refuge of lies" (Isa. 28:15-17); but "those who are left in Israel... shall do no injustice and speak no lies" (Zeph. 3:12-13). Neither pride, nor deceit, nor lying will mark these servants. They take hold of the glorious name of the Lord and rejoice in Him with true confidence, for their righteousness is in Him.
Grazing and lying down is shepherd language, and the writers hear the twenty-third Psalm in it. The security is not self-made; it comes from the One caring for them.
The Christian's FriendThey are restored, and under the care of the Shepherd of Israel. He makes them lie down in green pastures and leads them beside the still waters. So the end is reached in the fulfilment of all their hopes and blessing… Their judgments have been taken away for ever. The enemy has been cast out. The Lord once more dwells among His people, in a far more glorious way, and they will see evil no more.
- Left — judgment removes the proud and the transgressors. What remains is the afflicted and poor who trust in the Lord's name: the remnant of Israel.
- Cleansed — God first takes away their iniquity and their pride. The clean record follows the cleansing.
- Changed — deceit marked a hunted, downtrodden people. Only God's grace working inside them ends it, because outward things never form the heart.
- Truthful — Scripture keeps testing people by their speech. Hypocrites shelter in lies; on the last page of the Bible, liars are cast out.
- Unafraid — they feed and lie down as the sheep of the Good Shepherd. The enemy is gone, and every old cause of fear with him.