Zephaniah 1:8 Strange Apparel?

satz · #1 (**permalink**) 07-17-2005, 09:43 PM

8And 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

What is the strange apparel referred to here? How does it apply to us today?

Robin · #2 (**permalink**) 07-17-2005, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by satz
8And 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

What is the strange apparel referred to here? How does it apply to us today?

What a pity to miss the entire context of God's declaration:

Zephaniah 1:7---
The Day of the LORD Is Near

7Be silent before the Lord GOD!
For the day of the LORD is near;
the LORD has prepared a sacrifice
and consecrated his guests.
8And on the day of the LORD's sacrifice--
"I will punish the officials and the king's sons
and all who array themselves in foreign attire.
9On that day I will punish
everyone who leaps over the threshold,
and those who fill their master's house
with violence and fraud.

10"On that day," declares the LORD,
"a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,
a wail from the Second Quarter,
a loud crash from the hills.
11Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar!
For all the traders[c] are no more;
all who weigh out silver are cut off.
12At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the men
who are complacent,[d]
those who say in their hearts,
'The LORD will not do good,
nor will he do ill.'
13Their goods shall be plundered,
and their houses laid waste.
Though they build houses,
they shall not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards,
they shall not drink wine from them."

14The great day of the LORD is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
15A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.

17I will bring distress on mankind,
so that they shall walk like the blind,
because they have sinned against the LORD;
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
18Neither their silver nor their gold
shall be able to deliver them
on the day of the wrath of the LORD.
In the fire of his jealousy,
all the earth shall be consumed;
for a full and sudden end
he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

There's much more of course, but to the "attire" reference it points to even those is high positions - who are not "clothed" in God's attire (Christ's righteousness)...God fearers; worshippers of YHWH.

This entire book is a double fulfillment...(common in the OT) if you read through to the end, you will see the glorious promise of Christ's first and second advent. !!!

Our application? A command to BE clothed in Christ's righteousness, else be consumed in The Judgment.

Robin

Peter · #3 (**permalink**) 07-17-2005, 10:46 PM

For your consideration:

Quote:

William Perkins on Apparel

Fifthly, mens´ attire is to be framed a prepared, according to the ancient and received custom of the country, wherein they are brought up and dwell.

Touching this rule, it is demanded, Whether, if a man see a fashion used in other countries, he may not take it up here, and use it?

Answer. He may not. For God hath threatened to visit all such as are clothed with strange apparel, Zeph. 1:9. And Paul taxeth it as a great disorder in the Church of Corinth, and even against nature, that men went in long hair, and women went uncovered, I Cor. 11,13,14. And if this be so, then what disorder is that, when men of one country frame themselves to the fashions and attires, both of men and women of other nations? This one sin is so common among us, that it hath branded our English people with the black mark of the vainest and most new-fangled people under heaven. If a stranger comes into our land, he keeps his ancient and customable attire, without varying or alteration. We, on the contrary, can see no fashion used, either by the French, Italian, or Spanish, but we take it up, and use it as our own.

satz · #4 (**permalink**) 07-17-2005, 11:30 PM

Robin, your reminder on context is well taken. The idea that the 'attire' there refers to righteousness is to be honest new to me, i will have to think over it.

Peter, how ironic you should post that, it was ready that very article by William Perkins that promoted me to post this.

To be honest, i can't see how he drew such a conclusion from scripture. i know that he is not alone in holding such a view...if i am not wrong Gill and Henry wrote the same?

Nonetheless, i don't really buy it... I don't see what the corinthian passages have to do with wearing of foreign attire. The abuses Paul condmened stemed from a universal headship principle, and not because they were against the culture of the times, per se.

So that leaves us with Zephaniah...which states God's displeasure against those who wear 'strange' or 'foreign' attire. How do we conclude he is here condemning foreign styles of dress? And even if those people were going to be punished on account of their dress, could it not rather be as a sympthom of some underlying sin, whether extravagance or the hankering after foreign nations.

The idea that we are to keep to the dress of our own country is not, to my knowledge, picked up anywhere else in scripture. In our modern age it has become even harder to distinguish what is the 'proper' dress for a country or which culture/ country a certain individual might belong to. While considerations like those are not qualification to obedience, i find it hard to imagine that God wanted to have his children bogged down in considerations like those.

What do others on the board think?

alwaysreforming · #5 (**permalink**) 07-17-2005, 11:42 PM

It seems as though "strange" or "foreign" apparel is referring to people who our "outside" of God's people. I noticed that in several places God mentions things similar to this, such as "strange tongues" or languages, and it seems to be used to indicate those that are from foreign lands that are enemies of God's people.

And Robin:
you cry "Context, context, context" more than a real estate agent cries, "Location, location, location." I like it! Keep it up!

WrittenFromUtopia · #6 (**permalink**) 07-17-2005, 11:59 PM

The three principles of sound hermeneutics are: Context, context, and context.

satz · #7 (**permalink**) 07-18-2005, 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by WrittenFromUtopia
The three principles of sound hermeneutics are: Context, context, and context.

Point taken!

heh..but to be honest, i still don't feel much nearer to understanding the passage...

WrittenFromUtopia · #8 (**permalink**) 07-18-2005, 01:02 AM

I wasn't pointing fingers, just bringing up an important truth!

satz · #9 (**permalink**) 07-18-2005, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by WrittenFromUtopia
I wasn't pointing fingers, just bringing up an important truth!

and important it is...

hope i didn't come across as being too defensive.

Robin · #10 (**permalink**) 07-19-2005, 12:30 AM

(thwacking forehead)

Hey guys, I thought it was self-evident, given I printed so much of the Text, that "foreign attire" has to do with the moral condition of God's people. The punchline really happens at the end of the story, btw.

"The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery" by Ryken, Wilhoit, Longman III offers 3 pages of explanation on the importance of garments and clothing imagery in the Bible as being highly significant. Very little of it has to do with fashion. In a very small nutshell, it can refer to physical, spiritual, economic, social and moral issues.

"Strange; foreign" denotes a sense of estrangement of Israel (due to her divided loyalties.)

Remember we're dealing with apocalyptic literature - symbolic images were easily understood by the ancient Jewish reader. We benefit when we notice patterns and repeated motifs and respect the meaning that the original writers intend. This can be done - even with out a dictionary of Biblcal motifs, if we're cautious about our presuppositions, cultural ignorance and keep the entire story in mind.

r.

turmeric · #11 (**permalink**) 07-19-2005, 12:43 AM

Remember the wedding feast where the king finds a guest with no wedding garment?

Robin · #12 (**permalink**) 07-19-2005, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by satz

Quote:

Originally posted by WrittenFromUtopia
The three principles of sound hermeneutics are: Context, context, and context.

Point taken!

heh..but to be honest, i still don't feel much nearer to understanding the passage...

Hey, Mark....

a better understanding of this passage will be had by reading the entire book.

R.

Robin · #13 (**permalink**) 07-19-2005, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by alwaysreforming
It seems as though "strange" or "foreign" apparel is referring to people who our "outside" of God's people.

Hey, Chris,

For us, it may seem so but, actually the reference is not to those outside God's people...since, the pagans were always noted by name (Canaanite; Hittite, Jebusite; NT Gentile, Etc.) Rather the term points to the idea of literal status of OT patriarchs, the nation Israel and to the NT Christians (people having their citizenship in heaven rather than on earth.) The foreigner lives in a double awareness: a sense of identity that has been lost or forfeited, a sense of homeless or strange in his current environment. The image of the foreigner is always that of the alien who lives in a country not of his own origin, either as a guest or as a permanent resident.

Why do you suppose the OT refers to all those "xyz - ites?"

r.

alwaysreforming · #14 (**permalink**) 07-19-2005, 07:55 AM

Hmmm.. I just finished reading thru these prophets the other day, and I guess a lot of it is still hard for me to understand, but thanks for the clarification.

By the way, I just received my CD yesterday! Thanks a lot for sending it to me; I can't wait to hear it!

Michael Butterfield · #15 (**permalink**) 07-19-2005, 02:19 PM

Quote:

And all such as are clothed with strange apparel - the princes or courtiers who attired themselves in costly garments imported from abroad; partly for the sake of luxury, and partly to ingratiate themselves with foreign great nations whose costume they imitated, as well as their idolatries (Calvin); whereas in costume, as in other respects, God would have them to be separate from the nations. Grotius refers the "strange apparel" to garments forbidden by the law-e.g., men's garments worn by women, and vice versa-a pagan usage in the worship of Mars and Venus (Deut 22:5, "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God." I think the reference is to the outlandish "vestments" (imported, like the idolatry itself, from the pagan abroad) in which the idolatrous Jews worshipped the idols. So the idolatrous Chemarim (Zeph 1:4) wore a black garment. Also, when the worshippers of Baal were summoned together by Jehu, and filled the house of Baal "from one end to another," Jehu "said unto him that was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought them forth vestments." What a blessed contrast is presented by the "fine linen, clean and white," granted unto the Church, even "the righteousness of saints" (Rev 19:8 ), which is the righteousness of Christ.

Robert Jamieson, Andrew Fausset, and David Brown

Michael Butterfield · #16 (**permalink**) 07-19-2005, 02:24 PM

Quote:

He also adds, And those who wear foreign apparel. 3 Some refer this to the worshipers of Baal, or his priests; but the context does not allow us to apply it to any but to courtiers, whose great delight was in apparel: for what Christ says is proved by the experience of all ages to be too true, -- that they who wear soft clothing are in king's courts. Matthew 11:8. And it is probable, that courtiers, through a foolish affectation, often changed their clothes; as it is the case with men who seek to appear great, they devise daily some new way for spending money; and though they may be more splendidly clothed than needful, yet they think it almost too sordid to wear the same apparel for a whole month; and that their prodigality may be more evident, they change also the forms of their dress. This affectation prevails far too much at this day in the world. But even then in the age of the Prophet, as it appears, the courtiers and those who had power among the people, often changed their dress, that they might the more display their pomp and attract the admiration of the simple and poor people. And it was not simple ambition, but it brought with it a contempt for others; for the rich in this way upbraided the poor, that they themselves were alone worthy of this superfluity and opulence. It was not enough for them, that they were clothed for their own comfort, and also that ornament and splendor were added; but they would have willingly made bare all others: and as it was a shame to do this, they yet showed, as far as they could, by their superfluous abundance, that they were alone worthy of such display. It was then no wonder that the Lord threatened them with so much severity.

As this vice in course of time had greatly increased, this passage of the Prophet deserves particular notice. And the more luxurious men become and the more they indulge in such varieties, and thus manifest their pride, the more carefully we ought to learn to restrain the desires of our flesh, that they may not leap over the bounds of moderation; and let those who abound in wealth be contented with what is modest and becoming; and let them especially abstain from that absurd affectation, which the Prophet evidently condemns here. It may however have been, that the Jews then sought new and unusual fashions as to their clothes from remote countries, like the French at this day, who delight in the Turkish habit; for they have too much intercourse with Turkey. So also at that time a foolish desire had possessed the hearts of the people, so as to wish to ingratiate themselves with the Chaldeans, and to make friends of them by a likeness in dress. And we may learn this from a passage in Ezekiel, where he compares them to harlots or to foolish lovers Ezekiel 23:2, etc.

for as lovers paint harlots on walls, and whoremongers and adulterers do the same; so Ezekiel accuses the Jews, that they were so inflamed with a mad desire of making a covenant with the Chaldean nation, that they had their images painted in their chambers. They also no doubt imitated their dress, in order to show that they regarded it a great happiness, if they became their friends and confederates.

John Calvin

Robin · #17 (**permalink**) 07-20-2005, 03:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by alwaysreforming
Hmmm.. I just finished reading thru these prophets the other day, and I guess a lot of it is still hard for me to understand, but thanks for the clarification.

By the way, I just received my CD yesterday! Thanks a lot for sending it to me; I can't wait to hear it!

r.