Leon L. Combs, M.A., M.Div., Ph.D s1

Zephaniah

Chapter 1

Leon L. Combs, M.A., M.Div., Ph.D.

This book has received a lot of bad press over the years. Zephaniah certainly depended on other writers for some of his material but this seems to be evidence for his desire to summarize other prophecies. There are two groups of the Minor Prophets (MP). The first nine that ends with Zephaniah prophesied before the exile to Babylon and Habakkuk and Zephaniah were the latest of this group although Habakkuk wrote later than Zephaniah. That Zephaniah is placed later indicates that people thought that he summarized the others. The last three of the MP prophesied after the return of the Jews to Judah. Although he lists his genealogies through four generations, we know little about the man. He lists one of his ancestors as Hezekiah but he does not state that he was king so most people doubt that identification. He states that he wrote during the reign of Josiah who began his rule at age 8 in 639 B.C. and ruled for 30 years. Dating the book is a bit difficult. He prophesied the fall of Nineveh (2:13) which occurred in 612 B.C. so we know he wrote before then. Nothing in his writings indicate his knowledge of the great revival that began when the king was 18 so he must have written before 629 B.C. We can then state that he wrote between 639 and 629 B.C.

Zep 1:1-3 The word of the LORD which came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah: (2) "I will completely remove all things From the face of the earth," declares the LORD. (3) "I will remove man and beast; I will remove the birds of the sky And the fish of the sea, And the ruins along with the wicked; And I will cut off man from the face of the earth," declares the LORD.

Zephaniah begins with a statement of judgment against the entire world. Certainly the extreme language indicates that he is referring past the coming Babylonian invasion. The language of verse 3 reminds us of the Genesis account of God’s warning to Noah:  Gen 6:7 The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."  Gen 7:4 "For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made."  Gen 7:21-23 All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; (22) of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. (23) Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. But here even the fish are explicitly included, and there is no reference to any survivors as there was to Noah and his family. Zephaniah is writing in hyperbola so he may have been thinking

1 about the Babylonian invasion. But he certainly is warning the entire world of a coming judgment of God and all who are not saved will be swept away in the final judgment. Zep 1:4 "So I will stretch out My hand against Judah And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, And the names of the idolatrous priests along with the priests.

Now he is specifically prophesying against Judah and its capital city. Other OT writers used the expression of God “stretching out His hand” to indicate extreme punishment such as: Isa 5:25 On this account the anger of the LORD has burned against His people, And He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down. And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this His anger is not spent, But His hand is still stretched out. He states that God will destroy the remnant of Baal and that indicates some reforms had already come against some Baal worship but some still remained. Manasseh had instituted this detestable worship (2 Kings 21:3, 5, 7; 9:12, 17, 21) and Josiah destroyed much of this probably after some of the words of Zephaniah: 2Chron 34:4 They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars that were high above them he chopped down; also the Asherim, the carved images and the molten images he broke in pieces and ground to powder and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. The “pagan and idolatrous priests” refers to some of those remnants of Baal worship and God intended a judgment that would totally eliminate that worship. Such elimination occurred by the Babylonian invasion.

Zep 1:5-7 "And those who bow down on the housetops to the host of heaven, And those who bow down and swear to the LORD and yet swear by Milcom, (6) And those who have turned back from following the LORD, And those who have not sought the LORD or inquired of Him." (7) Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near, For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice, He has consecrated His guests.

The rooftops were ideally suited as placed to clearly observe and worship the stars and Moses had earlier written against worshiping the starry host: "And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. (Deut 4:19) Today people still religiously read their horoscopes and so worship the stars. The deity referred to as Milcom or Molech is referred to in: 1Kings 11:33 because they have forsaken Me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, doing what is right in My sight and observing My statutes and My ordinances, as his father David did. Verse six condemns those who have simply and faithlessly turned away from following the Lord. They are indifferent to Him and stopped inquiring of Him. Due to the impending judgment, Zephaniah tells them to be in silent attention before the Lord God. The day of the Lord is the day of judgement as also stated by another Minor Prophet: "For the day of the LORD draws near on

2 all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head. (Obad 1:15) The last part of verse seven is especially frightening. God has prepared His own sacrifice meaning those people of Judah who are the unfaithful! In this particular case, God has prepared the Babylonians to actually be His priests to slay the sacrifice and Isaiah even called them the “holy ones” who were summoned by the Lord: Isa 13:1-3 The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. (2) Lift up a standard on the bare hill, Raise your voice to them, Wave the hand that they may enter the doors of the nobles. (3) I have commanded My consecrated ones, I have even called My mighty warriors, My proudly exulting ones, To execute My anger. Who might God use in judgment against our country for its sins? When a person will not present himself as a living sacrifice to God, he will then become the sacrifice and victim of his own sins. Rom 12:1-2 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. (2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Zep 1:8-12 "Then it will come about on the day of the LORD'S sacrifice That I will punish the princes, the king's sons And all who clothe themselves with foreign garments. (9) "And I will punish on that day all who leap on the temple threshold, Who fill the house of their lord with violence and deceit. (10) "On that day," declares the LORD, "There will be the sound of a cry from the Fish Gate, A wail from the Second Quarter, And a loud crash from the hills. (11) "Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar, For all the people of Canaan will be silenced; All who weigh out silver will be cut off. (12) "It will come about at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And I will punish the men Who are stagnant in spirit, Who say in their hearts, 'The LORD will not do good or evil!'

God will especially single out those religious leaders who mislead the people. Note that God- fearing Josiah is not mentioned but his sons and the princes are listed for punishment. Those who wear foreign garments are imitating the Egyptian and Babylonian styles and thus reveal that their hearts are turned toward those ideals. How we look to others is a choice and reveals a lot about our hearts. If people today wear the clothes representative of other religions or political sources then we are revealing the inclinations of our hearts. Verse nine probably refers to people who steal and plunder from the temple and thus bring violence and deceit into the temple. The “Fish Gate” was in the north wall near the Damascus Gate so this is the direction prophesied of the invasion. The “Second Quarter” was near the Fish Gate and was the place where the prophetess Huldah lived (2 Kings 22:14) and she would be wailing at the invasion. The load crash from the hills would be the sound of the city being destroyed by the invasion from the hills of the city. The “Mortar” is the market district and the word chosen is appropriate since God is about to pound the people like grain in a mortar. All those doing business there will be silenced since no business will be allowed in an invasion. God will use His light to shine into the hearts of the people of Jerusalem to punish the men who are complacent about Him. These people denied the providence of God as they said the LORD will not do good or evil. Other Scriptures condemn complacency:

3  Isaiah 32:9 Rise up, you women who are at ease, And hear my voice; Give ear to my word, You complacent daughters.  Amos 6:1 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion And to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria, The distinguished men of the foremost of nations, To whom the house of Israel comes  Rev 3:13-15 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.' (14) "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: (15) 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.

Zep 1:13-16 "Moreover, their wealth will become plunder And their houses desolate; Yes, they will build houses but not inhabit them, And plant vineyards but not drink their wine." (14) Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. (15) A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, (16) A day of trumpet and battle cry Against the fortified cities And the high corner towers.

Because of their sinful actins even their houses and vineyards will not be available for them to enjoy as also stated in Leviticus: Lev 26:32-33 'I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it. (33) 'You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste. In verse 14 God states that the awful Day of Judgment is much closer in time than any of them imagined. The use of the word “listen” amplifies (no pun intended!) the seriousness of the threat. In the remaining verses He stacks the descriptive lines describing that day for a vivid emphasis. It is to be a day of wrath, trouble and distress, destruction and desolation, darkness and gloom, clouds and thick darkness, and trumpet and battle cries against the fortified cities. After all of this gloom, why is there not repentance?

Zep 1:17-18 I will bring distress on men So that they will walk like the blind, Because they have sinned against the LORD; And their blood will be poured out like dust And their flesh like dung. (18) Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the LORD'S wrath; And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end, Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth.

He then brings again the cause-effect of the situation in that this great and awful judgment will be because they have sinned against the LORD. This judgment would cause them to stagger about like blind men because they have not seen their sins for what they were. They will not be able to buy themselves out of judgment. This segment closes with the awful conclusion of a total destruction of the earth in His fire and will bring about the end of all the inhabitants of the earth as prophesied beginning in verse 3 and amplified by Peter: But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. (2 Peter 3:7)