Zephaniah 3:10

“From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, etc.] Either the African Ethiopia, or Arabia Chusea, which lay between Judea and Egypt: here some particular places and people are mentioned, in whom the preceding prophecy would be fulfilled. If these rivers of Ethiopia are such as ran in the midst of the country, and so point at some parts of it, though on the other side of them, then this prophecy might have its accomplishment, at least when the Evangelist Matthew went thither, and preached the Gospel, and very likely the Apostle Paul; as also when the Ethiopian eunuch was converted, who doubtless did what in him lay to promote the interest of Christ in those parts. Ben Melech makes this parallel with…”

“From beyond . . . Ethiopia my suppliants--literally, "burners of incense" (compare Psa 141:2; Rev 5:8; Rev 8:3-4). The Israelites are meant, called "the daughter of My dispersed," a Hebrew idiom for My dispersed people. "The rivers of Ethiopia" are those which enclose it on the north. In the west of Abyssinia there has long existed a people called Falashas, or "emigrants" (akin to the synonym "Philistine"). These trace their origin to Palestine and profess the Jewish religion. In physical traits they resemble the Arabs. When Bruce was there, they had a Jewish king, Gideon, and his queen, Judith. Probably the Abyssinian Christians were originally in part converted Jews. They are here made the…”

“From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia - (See Isaiah 18:1.) The farthest southern people, with whom the Jews had contact, stand as the type of the whole world beyond. The utmost bound of the known inhabited land should not be the bound of the Gospel. The conversion of Abyssinia is one, but the narrowest fulfillment of the prophecy. The whole new world, though not in the mind of the prophet, was in the mind of Him who spake by the prophet. My suppliants - He names them as what they shall be when they shall come to Him. They shall come, as needy, to the Fountain of all good, asking for mercy of the unfailing Source of all mercy. He describes the very character of all who come to God through…”

“My dispersed - The praying remnant of the scattered Jews shall return to their own land, and bring themselves an offering unto the Lord. Zephaniah 3:11”

“3:10 The rivers of Ethiopia are the distant headwaters of the Nile River. The ancient world considered the origin of the Nile a great mystery, so the expression speaks of the farthest reaches of the earth.”

“Psa 68:31, Psa 72:8-11; Isa 11:11, Isa 18:1, 7-19:15, Isa 27:12, Isa 27:13, Isa 49:20-23; Isa 60:4-12, Isa 66:18-21; Mal 1:11; Act 8:27, Act 24:17; Rom 11:11, Rom 11:12, Rom 15:16; Pe1 1:1 Zephaniah 3:11”