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"Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast"

Text: Zephaniah 2:5

THE TYPICAL PRONOUNCEMENT OF “WOE”

The prophets of old used a special woe to describe the state of the nations judged. The word “Woe” was pronounced against the Philistines.

“Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast,
The nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the LORD is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines:
‘I will destroy you;
So there shall be no inhabitant.'”
Zephaniah 2:5

1. The Philistines further described

a) They also occupied the seacoast.

i) Maritime power was not well-developed in those days.

ii) But the seacoast offered special opportunities to the people who lived there.

iii) They could trade far better than those who lived in-land.

b) “The nation of the Cherethites”

i) Scholars have suggested that the word means “migrant”.

ii) Some have speculated that they came from the island of Crete and then took up residence in Philistia.

iii) They were among the older inhabitants of the land of Canaan

2. “O Canaan”

a) Some of the people named there may be found in Genesis (15:19-21).

b) The reference to the Canaanites would apply to this text.

c) Canaan was called “the land of the Philistines”.

i) Not because they owned it.

ii) But because they were in Canaan for the longest time.

3. “I will destroy you”

a) Many nations had failed to destroy the Philistines.

b) Israel had tried but had not succeeded.

c) The Lord Himself would bring about the destruction of the Philistines.
(The Babylonians would be the Divine instrument of wrath and justice to vanquish them.)

4. “So there shall be no inhabitant”

a) This was literally fulfilled.

b) Philistia as a kingdom ceased to exist after the Babylonians conquered them.