Tag: Zephaniah

Zephaniah: The Coming Day Of The Lord (IV)

As Zephaniah wraps up his brief prophecy, he makes a contrast. What a difference the wrath of God is, compared to the grace of God. We get to choose which side of God we face!

Judgment And Restoration (3:1-20)

Neal Pollard

After having moved from Judah to surrounding nations to speak of divine judgment, Zephaniah returns to a message of judgment against the geographical and spiritual heart of his focus–Jerusalem. Yet, as is always the case in the Bible, even in the grimmest condemnation there is a message of hope. This tells us what God desires, though the majority reject His undeserved overtures.  

Judah and Jerusalem had lost their distinctiveness and become like the nations. Every class of people that should have led the way spiritually actually stood out for their wickedness. The princes were lions rather than shepherds. The judges were wolves rather than instruments of justice. The prophets were treacherous instead of truth-tellers. The priests profaned the sanctuary rather than leading in true worship according to the law. Instead of learning from God’s judgment on the Gentiles, they had gotten more “corrupt” in their deeds (6-7). They rebelled against God, drawing His judgment against them. Prophets like Habakkuk and Jeremiah would elaborate in more detail about this. What is God’s last word of judgment against His chosen (8)? The day of Judah’s blessings would be preceded by the assembling of nations where God’s indignation and anger would be poured out. Like a wildfire cleanses an area so that regrowth can occur, judgment would precede restoration.

Zephaniah ends the book with a dramatic shift from the day of judgment looming on the horizon to “that day” (11,16) “at that time” (19-20). What kind of day would it be? A day of restoration! After judgment, they would be united (9), humble (11), and bold (13). There would be a restoration of pure speech (9-13). God would purify their lips so they would call on the Lord and serve Him. They would speak truths and not lies (13). Some have suggested that we have pictured a reversal of Babel here. At Babel (Gen. 11), God scattered nations which spoke a common language who were trying to undermine God’s will. God promises to restore a speech united in purity with men who submit to His authority. 

Their voices would not only be raised in pure speech, but they would use their voices to shout for joy from the heart (14-17). They would have plenty of reasons to rejoice, just looking at verse 17. There’s fellowship (“The Lord your God is in your midst”), salvation (“A warrior who saves”), and then this beautiful ending: “He will take delight in you with gladness. 

With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs” (NLT). What a difference it is when God wants to celebrate you rather than punish you!

What happens after exile (18-20)? After captivity, God would gather them (18), deal with their oppressors (19), save even the neediest among them (19), turn shame into praise and renown (19-20), and restore their fortunes (20). While the bulk of this brief book is about God’s wrath, the end of the book is a powerful statement about God’s grace.

Zephaniah: The Coming Day Of The Lord (III)

Judah’s neighbors had interacted with them for centuries, many times as oppressors and agitators. Judah’s judgment was coming. What about theirs?

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! 

Zephaniah: The Coming Day Of The Lord (II)

“There’s a great day coming.” Zephaniah did not know this song, yet he sung it anyway. Why? Let’s notice the first chapter of his short prophecy.

Judgement (1:1-18)

Neal Pollard

Zephaniah’s prophesy begins immediately with the future pronouncements of judgment. He begins with a judgment on the world (2-3), then narrows down to Judah. An overview of his message is that judgment is coming and it will be severe for the unprepared (1-6). No one will be exempt from this judgment (7-13). There will be no bargaining or escaping our sentence (14-18). 

How do we know that Zephaniah’s first audience is the whole world? Notice how he starts from the broadest category–“all things”–and works to the more specific. It is almost like the reverse of creation, suggesting that God will undo everything He did at creation. The idea is of total judgment on all. God had done this before, during Noah’s life. Judah would also have remembrance of this, and these warnings should make them know that they are not exempt from His judgment. 

God would bring judgment on Judah and Jerusalem, too. The judgment language is clearly evident. Notice the phrases “stretch out My hand against” (4), “cut off” (4), and “the day of the Lord.” The day of the Lord as a day of judgment is mentioned 15 times from Zephaniah 1:7-2:3. The day is described as a day of the Lord’s wrath (15,18) and later as the day of His anger (2:2-3). Why had Judah drawn such a response from God? The sins include idolatry (5), hypocrisy (5), apostasy (8), compromise (8), superstition (9), indifference (12), and greed (13). To make things worse, they felt no shame over such things (2:1). 

Zephaniah pleads with any who had goodness within them to seek God and be humble, obedient, and righteous (2:3). Judgment could not be avoided, but maybe “you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger” (2:3). By the way, that is the meaning of Zephaniah’s name (whom God hides). 

Who would experience this judgment? “All” (4), “the men” (12), and, later, the leadership (3:1-4). The guests he has set apart and consecrated for His sacrifice (7-8) are not set apart for service but for punishment. They include the princes, the king’s sons (9), people in all parts of Jerusalem (10), and “the men who are stagnant in spirit” (12). 

This would be a day of distress (17) and devouring (18). God wants Judah to appreciate that His wrath is justified, the result of man’s sinfulness. Josiah had tried to make some reforms, but he did so following decades and decades of wickedness growing more and more depraved. Revisit Manasseh’s reign (2 Chron. 33:1-9). It has been said that they worked overtime to do sin and now were going to be paid with divine punishment. Zephaniah doesn’t tell us who God will use to punish them. That job would go to prophets like Jeremiah and Habakkuk. Zephaniah’s task is to let them know that their sin had resulted in God’s justified wrath. God would not let their willful, impenitent sin go unaddressed. 

As always, we should not think that God had a short fuse and a quick trigger. He had been forbearing and patient with His people. Generation after generation, they had forgotten Him, replaced Him, and rebelled against His will. They wanted the blessings of God, but they could not be burdened with His rules. God sent prophets to warn them and try to correct their path. He had given them the law and priests to remind them of God’s revealed will. But even many of those tasked with prophetic and priestly duties forsook them and merely told the people what they wanted to hear. God’s long-suffering kindness had reached its limit. Their heritage and claim as His children would not, by itself, save them from judgment. Of all people, they knew better. But they did not do better. God would settle the matter with judgment. 

Zephaniah: The Coming Day Of The Lord (I)

A prophet who was the great-grandson of King Hezekiah? Perhaps another big surprise about Zephaniah that has to do with his ethnicity.

Introduction And Background

Neal Pollard

Zephaniah is written at an important cross-road. Established world powers were about to give way to new world powers. Judah was facing judgment for sin, if they didn’t repent (and they didn’t). Yet, the prophet is determined to show us a perfect, balanced view of God. He is just and holy, necessitating His wrath on the disobedient. But He is also gracious and merciful, longing to bless and restore. 

He begins his short prophetic book by stating his pedigree. More is known about him, just through his autobiographical genealogy, than several of the other Minor Prophets. He is the great-grandson of Hezekiah, and he prophesied during the reign of Josiah. These are the last two righteous kings of Judah before the Babylonian invasion. This would date Zephaniah’s prophecy as between 640-609 B.C., mere decades before Nebuchadnezzar makes his uninvited entrance into Jerusalem. While we can’t be certain, we believe him to be slightly before Nahum and Habakkuk in time. It’s very likely when you read the book of Zephaniah and review the reign of Josiah that the prophet wrote before Josiah made the sweeping, righteous changes in Judah. Zephaniah condemns foreign customs, astrology, religious syncretism and skepticism. 2 Chronicles 34 shows how Josiah, at different stages of his reign, eradicated these sins.

It would also make him a relative of Josiah as well as wicked Manasseh. Read 2 Kings 21 and remind yourself of how bad a king Manasseh was. He was so bad that his reign insured that Judah would face Babylonian Captivity (2 Kings 24:3-4). Between Hezekiah and Josiah, there is almost 100 years and two very wicked kings reigned in between them (Manasseh and Amon). The people are feeling the effects of unrighteous leadership that has spanned nearly a century and their lifestyles show it.

One last background fact concerning Zephaniah is he was almost certainly a black man. He is the son of Cushi, and the name means Nubian, the region immediately southeast of Egypt that today is the Sudan and Ethiopia. A Cushite dynasty ruled in Egypt from 715-663 BC, which would have brought more Nubian people into the nation of Judah (as Judah’s nearest southern neighbor). That also opens up the likelihood of interracial marriage. Zephaniah would have been the product of such, since Hezekiah, the Jew, was also an ancestor. It’s possible for a Cushite to settle in Jerusalem; After all, Ebedmelech is there a few years later when Jeremiah is imprisoned for his prophetic preaching (Jer. 38-39). Zephaniah seems very familiar with Ethiopia, mentioning it twice (2:12; 3:10).  

But his bloodline and his race are not what are important about him. His incredible message is one of judgment and grace, and those two qualities stand like two pillars at both ends of the book. 

FACTS AND TRIVIA RELATED TO OUR LECTURESHIP

Neal Pollard

When the boys were younger, I would ask them questions about Old Testament characters as part of a quiz.  Included in that were questions about the Minor Prophets.  How well do you know the following without consulting your Bible (or Google)?

  • He wondered why God used a more wicked nation to punish his own nation.
  • He repeatedly talks about “that day” near the end of his book, referring to the day of Christ and the church.
  • He asked, “Will a man rob God?” and said, “God hates divorce.”
  • He wrote to condemn Nineveh and was a prophet of comfort for God’s people.
  • He said, “The just shall live by faith.”
  • He was the Minor Prophet who spoke the most about “the day of the Lord.”
  • His message was, “Rebuild the temple.”
  • He compared his nation to a person who touched an unclean body, who became unclean.
  • His book includes the “Shigionoth.”
  • He said, “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked.”
  • He mentioned, “The Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings.”
  • He saw a flying scroll.
  • He was the great-great grandson of Hezekiah.
  • He talked about putting wages in a bag with holes.
  • He talks about a Man whose name is “The BRANCH.”

All of these answers come from either the books of Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, or Malachi.  This weekend will be more than about mere facts and information, though.  The message, principles, and application will enrich your heart and life because it is “a portion” of the Word of God. These prophets write at a significant time in Bible history, and the implications of much of their writing play out in the ministry of Christ and establishment of the church.  I hope you will come and be a part of our lectureship, if you can and for as much as you can. It will be a time of great growth and building up. Send me your answers and I’ll message you back with your “grade.” Happy test-taking!  See you here starting tomorrow night at 7 P.M.