2. Once gathered, they are to search out (for the word also carries
like chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger comes upon you. Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have carried out His justice; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger." — Zephaniah 2:1–3
The first chapter is entirely devoted to a terrifying declaration and description of an imminent and comprehensive judgment decreed against the land of Judah, along with the reasons for it. Yet the prophet concludes with the words I have read, offering a gracious call to repentance to avert the execution of that judgment.
Consider first the people to whom this exhortation is directed. He speaks, first, collectively to the entire nation: "Gather yourselves together, O nation," calling them to a solemn and public act of repentance. Secondly, the call applies particularly and individually to each person within the nation, especially the unrepentant: "Search yourselves, O you who are not desired." And thirdly, if none will heed him, he then directs his message especially to the godly in the land who have already repented—"who have carried out His justice." To them he says, "Seek the Lord," and so on.
Next, consider the duties he urges upon them all. Though some are addressed more directly to the ungodly and others to the godly, all are applicable to everyone alike. As laid out in the text, these express the essential elements of repentance and their proper order:
1. All, collectively, are to gather solemnly together.
2. Once gathered, they are to search out (for the word also carries this meaning) the sins of the nation that have provoked the threatened judgment.
Individually, each person is urged:
1. To search his own heart—"Search yourselves regarding your sins and your condition before God."
2. To judge yourselves as those not to be desired, that is, out of God's favor and under His wrath. For God has judged you thus
—"O nation not desired"—and He says this so that you may rightly judge yourselves.
3. To be moved by this sense of guilt to seek the Lord, to seek His favor and to appease His wrath.
4. To be sincere in this search, they must also "seek righteousness"—grace as well as mercy—otherwise, they seek
Him in hypocrisy.
5. Especially, they must seek Him with humility and meekness of spirit, with meekness above all other graces.
6. And all this must be done urgently—"before the decree brings forth."
Finally, to awaken everyone—both the wicked and the godly—he adds various motivations.
First, those meant to stir the ungodly:
1. God's patience is already heavy with a decree, and that decree is of wrath.
2. A fixed day is appointed for its fulfillment.
3. That day will reveal itself as "the fierce anger of the Lord."