Get Ready
This book returns to the more common prophetic format: proclaiming God’s word and judgment on sin and predicting the certain punishment for sin. It also ends with a proclamation of God’s grace and restoration of his people.
Author
Most scholars agree that Zephaniah (the name means “the Lord preserves”) wrote this book. He introduces himself at the beginning [1:1], and, in addition to the usual custom of identifying his father, traces his lineage back four generations to King Hezekiah, one of the few rulers of Judah who “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.” He prophesied during the reign of Josiah, another of the “good” kings of the southern kingdom (640-609 BCE).
Context
Zephaniah is another of the prophets from the period at the end of Judah’s existence as an independent nation (the others are Jeremiah, Nahum and Habakkuk). He preached that the kingdom would fall just as the northern kingdom of Israel had fallen one hundred years earlier. He also told the people God would judge them for the same reason: idolatry and ignoring God’s commandments.
The recent kings of Judah, Manasseh and Amon, had allowed – and in some cases encouraged – the Israelites to worship the false, fertility gods of the surrounding nations. King Josiah led a brief revival when the Law of Moses was rediscovered in the temple, but his son and grandson took the nation back into idolatry. Zephaniah’s prophecy was born out when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 587 BCE and took the captive Jewish leaders to Babylon.
Structure
This book’s organization is straightforward. Zephaniah alternates his focus on Judah and then on Judah’s enemies.
- The first chapter presents God’s judgment on Judah and describes the “Great Day of the Lord,” in which the judgment will take place.
- Chapter 2 opens with a call for the righteous to seek the Lord, so they perhaps “may be hidden on the day of the Lord’s wrath,” [2:3], then presents God’s judgment on Judah’s enemies, including Gaza, Ashkelon, Chereth, Canaan, Moab, Ammon, Ethiopia, Assyria (and Nineveh).
- The last chapter describes the sin and wickedness of Jerusalem, followed by God’s punishment of the nations and their eventual restoration.
Zephaniah closes his prophecy with a “Song of Joy” that God “will save the lame and gather the outcast, and will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth,” [3:19].
Major Themes
Zephaniah focuses almost exclusively on God’s judgment. He deals with five primary aspects of judgment in this book:
- Judgment is based on God’s righteousness and humans’ sin. The two are not compatible at all. Therefore the people can not have a relationship with God.
- Judgment is inevitable. Humans’ failure to repent and even attempt to follow God’s law means that judgment will come.
- Judgment is near. Zephaniah says judgment “is near, near and hastening fast,” [1:14]. God had told Habakkuk he was “rousing the Chaldeans” to execute his judgment on the Israelites, which would happen within thirty years of both prophets’ words.
- Judgment will be total. Zephaniah’s prophecy begins with God declaring “I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth . . . I will sweep away humans and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea,” [1:2-3].
- Judgment will be universal. God “will cut off humanity from the face of the earth,” [1:3]. He will judge all the nations and all people, and “neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath,” [1:18].
As part of this judgment Zephaniah provides a picture of the “Great Day of the Lord,” [for more see Notes on Joel]. Among the images he uses:
- Cries, wailing and crashing from the merchants as they perish.
- Punishment of the complacent who think their wealth and position will protect them.
- “A day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry,” [1:15-16].
- People will walk like they are blind and “their blood shall be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung,” [1:17].
In the midst of this terrible picture of judgment and destruction
Zephaniah provides two glimpses of God’s grace:
- Those who “seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his commands . . . may be hidden on the day of the Lord’s wrath,” [2:3].
- The promise that “The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more,” [3:15].
Ultimately, Zephaniah gives us a picture of a God of love.
Get into the Word
1. Who wrote this book? What else do we know about the author? What kings was he associated with? Why do you think he included this information when other prophets did not?
2. When did the prophet carry out his ministry? What was the military and political situation at the time? What was the spiritual situation of the nation? Who were the primary leaders of the nation? What type of leaders were they? What did they do?
3. How is this book organized? What are the primary sections of the book? What are the major subjects of the prophecy?
4. What nations are involved with this prophecy? Who is the primary nation in this judgment? What other nations does the prophet identify? What do these nations have in common?
5. How does the author close this prophecy? Why do you suppose he shifts to this subject at the end? How do you think the readers felt about this ending?
6. What is the major focus of this prophecy? How does the author approach this topic? What aspects of the subject does he deal with? What images does he use to help the reader/listener understand what is about to happen?
7. How do you respond to these images? Which image had the strongest effect on you? What did it tell you about God’s judgment? How do you think the Israelites responded to this picture of judgment?
8. When will this judgment be carried out? What phrase does the prophet use for this time? What images does he use to describe this time?
9. What does the prophet focus on at the end of this book? What advice does he give the people? What promise does he relay about the future?
Bible Trivia:
There are many other references to the “Day of the Lord” in both the Old and New Testaments. Here are a few:
- Isaiah 13:6-10
- Jeremiah 46:10
- Joel 1:15-20
- Joel 2:1-2, 31-32
- Joel 3:14-16
- Amos 5:18
- Obadiah 15
- Acts 2:20
- 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3
- 2 Peter 3:10
47: Coming judgment & Day of the Lord — Zephaniah 1:1-18
Get Ready
When you think about the future, do you tend to focus on a big picture (the world, your country, the region in which you live) or do you focus on yourself or your family? Does thinking about the future make you optimistic or apprehensive?
The Word
1The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah, in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah.
2 I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth, says the Lord.
3 I will sweep away humans and animals;
will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea.
I will make the wicked stumble. I will cut off humanity from the face of the earth, says the Lord.
4 I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests;
5 those who bow down on the roofs to the host of the heavens;
those who bow down and swear to the Lord,
but also swear by Milcom;
6 those who have turned back from following the Lord,
who have not sought the Lord or inquired of him.
7 Be silent before the Lord GOD!
For the day of the Lord is at hand;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice,
he has consecrated his guests.
8 And on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice
I will punish the officials and the king’s sons
and all who dress themselves in foreign attire.
9 On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold,
who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud.
10 On that day, says the Lord,
a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,
a wail from the Second Quarter, a loud crash from the hills.
11 The inhabitants of the Mortar wail,
for all the traders have perished;
all who weigh out silver are cut off.
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
and I will punish the people
who rest complacently on their dregs,
those who say in their hearts,
“The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.”
13 Their wealth shall be plundered,
and their houses laid waste.
Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them;
though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.
The Great Day of the Lord
14The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter,
the warrior cries aloud there.
15 That day will be a day of wrath,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.
17 I will bring such distress upon people
that they shall walk like the blind;
because they have sinned against the Lord,
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them
on the day of the Lord wrath;
in the fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed;
for a full, a terrible end he will make
of all the inhabitants of the earth. NRSV
Get into the Word
1. Who is speaking in this passage? Who is receiving or relaying this message?
2. What is the subject of this prophecy? What is going to happen to the world? To the birds and animals? To the people?
3. Who is the first target for this prophecy? What city will be judged? What types of people does God identify for this judgment? How does the prophet describe these people? Why are they being judged?
4. Who does God promise to punish? What type of people are singled out here? Why do you think they are subject to punishment?
5. What are the next subjects of judgment? What will happen in this situation? What types of people are involved at this point? Why are they included? What will happen to them?
6. What subject does the prophet present next? How does he describe this event? What images does he use? What is the impression he gives of this event? Who will be affected by it?
Get Personal
How do you respond to the concept of a righteous God? How do you feel about judgment? How has God helped you understand righteous judgment in your relationship with him?
Notes . . .
1:1. Son of — the usual practice was to identify the father, but Zephaniah goes back to his great great grandfather and identifies himself as part of the royal line.
King Josiah — became king when he was 8, started significant reforms when he was 20. When he was 26 Hilkiah, the high priest, discovered a copy of the Mosaic Law in the temple, which spurred further reforms [2 kings 22-23]. Unfortunately the reforms did not survive under his sons.
1:5. Host of the heavens — many cultures in the ancient world believed that celestial objects were gods, or were the dwelling places of gods.
Milcom — also translated “Molech,” a pagan god associated with child sacrifice.
1:6. Idolatrous priests — Israelite (Levitical) priests who combined worship of the Lord with worship of pagan gods, or who ignored God altogether and led worship of pagan idols.
1:8. Foreign attire — probably because such officials sought protection from Egypt or
Assyria,rather than trusting God for security.
1:9. Leap over the threshold — the superstitious believed that stepping on the threshold would anger the god of the household.
1:10. Fish Gate . . . Second Quarter . . . Mortar — three districts in Jerusalem that would suffer great damage that would harm the people and their livelihood.
1:12. Dregs — residue or sediment in the bottom of a container – such people were living on what was left of their former wealth.
1:13. Wealth shall be plundered — this passage echoes God’s curse on those who refuse to obey his commandments: You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house, but not live in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but not enjoy its fruit, [Deut 28:30-31].
1:14. The Great Day of the Lord — see Notes on Joel.
Memory Verse
I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth, [Zephaniah 3:19].
Next Lesson
Haggai 1: The command to rebuild the Temple.
