INTRODUCTION:
Zephaniah,
whose name means “YHWH has hidden” and perhaps was chosen to deliver this
prophecy because he speaks of a “hidden remnant” that remains safe during the
dreaded and awesome “Day of the LORD.” He has the longest recorded linage of
any other prophet; He was the great-great grandson of King Hezekiah, who was
one of Judah’s righteous kings. Which also meant he was related to righteous
king Josiah and there fire had access to the king and may have been very
influential in his righteous reform. He was contemporary of Nahum, Habakkuk and
Jeremiah. Oddly enough, outside of the book that bears his name, he is not
mentioned in the books of Kings or Chronicles or elsewhere in the entirety of
the Tanak; although Yeshua may have alluded to him, because Matthew 13:40-42;
24:9 sounds a lot like Zeph. 1:2-3.
Zephaniah
prophesied around the same time as Jeremiah (630 BCE) and was most likely
around during Josiah’s reign (640-608 BCE) and his reforms (631-621 BCE) which
are recorded in II Chron. 34:3-35:19. Unfortunately Josiah was the last of the
righteous and godly kings.
With the
context and time frame of Zephaniah’s words that this prophecy was the most
likely before Josiah’s reform because many passages sound much like the
condemnation of the sins of the wickedly evil King Manasseh and Amon led Israel
into and were still present as he prophesied. Josiah attempted to erase the
sins of his aforementioned predecessors in 627 BCE, the 12th year of Josiah’s
reign, which eventually ended up in a revival because while cleansing Solomon’s
Temple, a copy of the Torah was found. ALL revivals in Scripture, if one
properly studies it will find out it is a direct result of people rededicating
themselves to follow and keep the Torah. Another reason 630 BCE is most likely
the date of this writing of Zephaniah is due to there being no mention of
Babylon as a super power. The only hint of Babylon in this book is the
prophesied destruction of Assyria in which the book of Nahum divulges great
detail and names Babylon as its conqueror.
For being
such a short book, there is much to consider eschatologically when reading
Zephaniah, especially in regards to the “Day of the LORD” when the wicked will
be judged and the righteous saved and so there are many passages from Hosea,
Amos, Habakkuk and the Brit Chadasha (New Testament/Renewed Covenant) that can
be called to mind, paralleled and compared with this book. The main message was
to warn Judah and Jerusalem of impending judgment but also prophetically warn
is Philistia, Moab and Amon (the latter two are distant relatives, but enemies
of Israel through Lot), Cush and Assyria.
I have
entitled this commentary “Zephaniah’s Sardonic Siren Song” because Zephaniah’s
words are a prophetic poetic warning, like an air raid siren, warning Judah and
surrounding Gentile nations to repent.
ZEPHANIAH 1
Zephaniah
1:1 The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of
Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son
of Amon, king of Judah.
As stated in
the introduction, Zephaniah is the great-great-grandson of the righteous King
Hezekiah, and is most likely a cousin to Josiah. It is said by Radak that
Jeremiah prophesied in the public marketplaces and Zephaniah prophesied in the
synagogues to the women in Huldah (II Kings 22:14).
2 I will
utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
“It will be
the end (of the world) when I take away all things from the face of the earth
(by a consuming fire).” This is my personal rendering of this verse; the
parenthesis is my own added emphasis. If the original text does not say “fire”
how do I know this to be true? Because the first time around God wiped the face
of the earth clean through flood waters. The Torah tells us if we see something
with a blight that we first attempt to wash it with water and if it comes back
you must burn it (Lev. 13:47-59). What The LORD wiped clean on this earth was
the sin and it has come back and so now the Earth will be cleansed and purged
by Fire according to Yeshua’s Talmid, Kefa (II Peter 3:10,12) and alluded to by
Yochannon (Rev. 21:1-2).
God’s time
table, His reckoning of time is so different from ours. Ours is linear, a
marking and a progression of time; past, present and future. God’s however is
above the confines of linear time, He is above it and sees the “big picture”
and thus everything, as I call it, to Him, is an “eternal now.”
II Peter
3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day [is] with the
Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
My point is
approximately 3000 years ago through Zephaniah the end of the world was
prophesied. 2000 years ago with Yochannon (John) the Revelator the end was
proclaimed and here we are today and modern prophets speak of what the old
prophets said. So is the “END” near? Well, it’s closer than it was yesterday or
2000 or 3000 years ago.
“Thus saith
the LORD,” is tacked on as if to say it WILL happen, it is a sure thing and
there is no negotiation about it.
3 I will
consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes
of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked: and I will cut off man
from off the land, saith the LORD.
Man,
animals, plants and material things, all will be no more, from the heavens to
the sea depths and everything in between, men along with their idols (stumbling
blocks) whether fictitious gods, or wealth, power or fame; it will all go into
the flaming trash heap.
God is not a
frustrated parent who gives empty threats, He seeing the beginning from the end
all at once has a set future date in stone when it all will go down.
Hosea 4:3
Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall
languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the
fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
4 I will
also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of
Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name
of the Chemarims with the priests;
When the
countdown occurs, Judah and Jerusalem will not be exempt from the cleansing,
however as Noah and his family were safe, hidden in the Ark, so too will a
remnant during this time be hidden away and protected. This is the very
definition of Zephaniah’s name “YHWH has hidden.”
Though
Jerusalem is the Holy City, the apple of God’s eye (Deut. 32:10; Psalm 17:8;
Prov. 7:2), nonetheless it too will be infected with the blight of idolatry,
paganism and immorality, as it is was in the days of the evil king Manasseh and
Amon; just as it was further back in the days of days of Noah.
Matt. 24:37
But as the days of Noe [were], so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
If we can extract a sod level insight from Zephaniah 1:4 I’d
say that this tells me that in the time to come Christianity of the modern day
will lose its appeal and decline. Even now churches are closing faster than
ever. Where I live you can drive 20 miles and count approximately 5-8 churches
are boarded up and sit empty! Many who use to attend church are finding
alternative forms of spirituality.
“Chemarims” means idolatry persists, implying corrupt
Levites, like Eli’s sons in I Samuel 1-3. Likewise, to continue on with the
shallow sod level adaptation, chemarims can be the money hungry charlatans who
call themselves “Evangelists” whether on a circuit, TV, or Radio peddle their
perverted doctrine for a price. Nothing but self-help, new age elixir,
sprinkled with “Jesus.”
In the end, no one will remember or call to mind the wealth,
health and prosperity preachers. Like wet cotton candy the sicky sweet fluffy
doctrine will all melt away with the cold, rock solid truth.
