Zephaniah: The Coming Day Of The Lord (III)

Judgment On Judah’s Neighbors (2:1-15)

Neal Pollard

The first three verses of chapter two are actually the invitation Zephaniah extends to Judah to repent. He tries to induce them to feel shame and thereby make themselves spiritually ready “before” the decree, the burning anger, and the day of His anger (2). He pleads with them to “seek” (three times), if they might be hidden in that day.

Now, Zephaniah shifts his focus to the nations on either side of Judah. Then, he looks at two waning world powers. In each situation, God declares His judgments against them.

Philistia (4-7). This is Judah’s neighbor to the west. There is an apparent play on words in the Hebrew here. Zephaniah, who is full of sophisticated literary devices, uses words that sound like the cities mentioned that describe doom. “Gaza” (azza) would be “abandoned” (azubah). “Ekron” (eqran) would be “uprooted” (teaqer). They would be removed from their home and the remnant of Judah would occupy it after they came back from Babylon (7). 

Moab and Ammon (8-11). This is Judah’s eastern neighbors. Remember where these nations came from? Lot’s daughters each got their father pregnant following their escape from Sodom (Gen. 19:32ff). Out of such a revolting action came these two nations. These nations were a continual thorn in the side of Judah, and God had had enough of it. Ironically, nations that came about by escaping Sodom and Gomorrah would themselves become like Sodom and Gomorrah. The last mention of them, by Josephus, speaks of them as conquered victims of the Babylonians in the sixth century B.C. 

The Nubian Dynasty (12). Cush, to the south, was a fading power. They would also be overcome by Babylon. History tells us Nebuchadnezzar conquered Egypt in 568 B.C. 

Assyria and Nineveh (13-15). These are nations to the north. Nahum goes into greater detail, but Zephaniah predicts her utter destruction. In 605 B.C., it allies itself with Egypt and fights against Babylon and the Medo-Persians. At the battle of Carchemish, these emerging powers destroy the reigning powers. 

In each case, Zephaniah’s prophecies are meticulously fulfilled. Judgment was due, and it is meted out for the impenitent iniquities of these nations. The sustained point, already made, is that no one escapes the day of the Lord. The call is to be ready for it!