7. Zephaniah by Tabitha Smith
This week in our series on the minor prophets we are looking at the book of Zephaniah. Zephaniah was a contemporary of Jeremiah, Nahum and possibly Habakkuk and his prophecy was written during the reign of king Josiah of Judah. Josiah reigned between 640–609 BC. The prophecy includes reference to the future destruction of Nineveh, capital of Assyria, so it was likely written before the date of this event, which was 612 BC. The little territory of Judah was the only surviving part of the original people of Israel. The northern kingdom of Israel had been overthrown and Judah was under the control of the Assyrians.
King Josiah was a good king who undertook significant religious reform in Judah, trying to turn the people back from worshipping idols to worshipping their God. Josiah’s father, Amon, had been a wicked king, and his grandfather, Manasseh, was one of the worst kings in the history of Judah, doing evil in God’s sight and turning the people away from God. The king before Manasseh was called Hezekiah. We read his story in the book of Isaiah.
Zephaniah 1:1 provides us with Zephaniah’s family history. This is traced back as far as his great, great grandfather, Hezekiah. It is possible that this was the same king Hezekiah, meaning that Zephaniah came from a royal family.
One of the main themes of the book is the coming of the Day of the Lord. This is a phrase that appears many times in the Bible, referring to a day of judgment that would bring terror for God’s enemies and blessings for those who belong to God. Many prophetic oracles in the Bible have an element of immediate historical fulfilment in the day they were written, and another more distant application in a time yet to come. Zephaniah’s writings are no exception.
In Zephaniah 1, the prophecy launches straight into a devastating description of coming judgement. This is portrayed as an apocalyptic event, reversing the very order of creation and sweeping away both man and beast. But the focus zooms in very quickly to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and in Zephaniah 1:4 we learn about some of the things the people of Judah were doing to incur such judgment: they were worshipping Baal, worshipping the heavenly bodies, pretending to worship God but trusting instead in the pagan god Milcom. They were turning away from God and ignoring him entirely.
God levels two main accusations against his people. The first is one of syncretism. This means mixing acts of service to God with pagan religious elements. In chapter 1 verse 8 the king’s sons and officials are described as wearing foreign clothes, probably associated with other religions, and in verse 9 the curious reference to people ‘leaping over the threshold’ probably refers to another pagan custom. You can read about the possible background to this practice in 1 Samuel 5:1-5.
The second accusation of God against his people is that they have become complacent in sin. The Judeans had started to think that God didn’t really involve himself in their daily lives, so it didn’t really matter how they lived. They had reduced God in their minds to a distant, impotent deity. The prophecy describes God going through Jerusalem personally, with search lamps, to find these complacent people and punish them.
The second half of Zephaniah 1 contains a fearsome description of the Day of the Lord as a day of great darkness, distress, wrath and ruin. Nothing will be able to protect human beings, not all the wealth they have collected. They will be reduced to nothing.
Thankfully, the book doesn’t end there! In Zephaniah 2 the people of Judah are told that repentance is still possible. This is surely good news after the terrible picture painted in chapter 1. The people are warned that the day of judgement will come quickly so they need to gather together and repent, to humble themselves and seek God.
Zephaniah 2:3 proclaims:
“Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
who do his just commands;
seek righteousness; seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the anger of the Lord.”
The word ‘perhaps’ might initially suggest that Zephaniah has doubts about whether God can indeed forgive any of the people. But in fact, this statement shows that Zephaniah understands and respects God’s sovereignty. God is able to forgive, but whether he does or not is entirely up to him. Any mercy he shows to the repentant is still entirely undeserved grace.
The rest of Zephaniah 2 contains a series of oracles of judgment against the nations that surround Judah, the enemies of God’s people. The cities of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod and Ekron are Philistine cities to the west, along the Mediterranean coast. Moab and the Ammonite territory lie to the east. The Cushites originate from Ethopia and Egypt in the south, and Assyria lies to the north. The comprehensive description of judgment extending to the four corners of the known world includes the promise that God will return parts of these lands back to Judah and there is a hint of restoration to come.
However, before the people get too complacent again, Zephaniah 3 contains a hard-hitting denouncement of the city of Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. The people of God need to learn that they are not immune from God’s judgment of sin and they are just as accountable, if not more, than the pagan nations around them. The charges against the judges, officials, prophets and priests of Judah are pretty damning. They are corrupt, polluted, defiled.
Zephaniah 3:5 proclaims that:
“The Lord within her is righteous;
he does no injustice;
every morning he shows forth his justice;
each dawn he does not fail.”
So judgment is inevitable and unavoidable. God must be just and repay sin with punishment. But there is good news to come. Zephaniah 3:9 suddenly introduces a startling promise of hope. God says that there will be a day when he will change the speech of his people and make it pure again. The people will call out to God once more, they will serve him and he will restore them. A picture of unity, peace and holiness follows.
The last 6 verses of the book contain the most glorious and beautiful image of God delighting and rejoicing over his restored people. The judgement is finished, the shame is gone and restoration is possible. God does not delight in judgment, he delights in being in the midst of his people.
Zephaniah 3:17:
The LORD your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
This final prophecy seems to refer to a future time of unity and peace for God’s people. In the short term, Judah was punished and judged when the Babylonians overthrew the Assyrians. Jerusalem was taken, and many of the people were carried off into captivity. After the exile, there was a degree of restoration and some of the exiles returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the city and its walls. But the picture of complete peace and restoration was not yet fulfilled. The gathering of all God’s people, the salvation of those who are lame and broken, and the rehoming of the outcast, is something we can still look forward to.
So what do we take away from the book of Zephaniah? We are reminded of the reality of the Day of the Lord that is still to come. Jesus warned that this day of final judgment would come suddenly, like a thief in the night, and many will be unprepared. We don’t want to be like the complacent Judeans, thinking that God wouldn’t involve himself in the reality of human affairs. Jesus is coming back!
The humble people amongst the remnant of Judah hoped that their repentance might not be too late. They threw themselves upon God’s mercy. For us, living in the light of Jesus’ cross, it is because of Jesus that we can know with assurance that we do not need to fear this coming Day of the Lord. If you have believed and trusted in Jesus, there is no “perhaps” about it. Jesus has taken upon himself the judgment that would have been yours and mine and we can be certain that there is no more condemnation.
The Day of the Lord will be a day of stark contrasts. This day will be terrible for those who have lived lives separated from God, in denial of him or in opposition to him. But for those who have humbled themselves and chosen to live under his authority, it will be a day of great joy, when God comes to dwell in the midst of his people. God will sing to us, his people! He will rejoice over us. What an amazing thought! The choices we make now have eternal consequences.
I’ll finish with the words that James writes in his New Testament letter: "
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, 'He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us?' But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.' Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you!" (James 4:4-10 ESV)
