Zephaniah is the ninth of the twelve minor prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi). Zephaniah’s name means, “he whom the Lord protects or hides.”

Author: The Prophet Zephaniah (Zephaniah 1:1). His name, Tsephan Yahw, means “hidden God” or “He who Yah hides.”

Date written: During the reign of Josiah (640 – 609 BC).  It is suggested that Zephaniah was written at about 630 B.C.  It would have been prior to 612 B.C., which was the fall of Nineveh that happened at the time of Zephaniah’s prophecy.

Background

Zephaniah prophesied during a time in Judah’s history when they worshipped other Gods and had abandoned the LORD.  Things were so bad that they didn’t even have a copy of the Book of the Law until it was found during the restoration of the temple.

Foreign Influences

  1. Assyrian influence: 743 – 612 BC
  2. Egyptian influence (Pharaoh Neeco): 609 – 605 BC
  3. Neo Babylonian Influence
    1. 605 BC-(See Jeremiah 46:1-12) – Plundered and invaded Judah. Carried Daniel and 3 fried captives
    2. Nebuchadnezzar attacked again in 598 BC, Key elites carried away including Ezekiel. This was due to the revolt of Jehoiakim
    3. Puppet king Zedekiah revolted in 587/586, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Judah, killed the elite, and carried the people into exile.

Manasseh

  • 14th king of Judah who ruled for 55 years from 697 – 642 BC). This includes an 11-year co-reign with his father beginning when he was 12 years old.
  • Grandfather of Josiah
  • Temple prostitutes
  • The son of Hezekiah (2 Kings 21:1-18)
  • He is known as Judah’s most wicked king (See 2 Kings 21:1-26)
  • He did not seem to be affected by the godly ways of his father, Hezekiah, but rather chose the way of his grandfather, Ahaz.
  • Instituted Baal worship by erecting altars to Baal
  • He erected an image of Asherah in the Temple
  • He worshiped the sun, moon, and starts.
  • He recognized the Ammonite god, Molech to which he sacrificed his son (2 Kings 21:6)
  • He approved divination
  • He killed all who opposed him
  • Rabbinical tradition states that Manasseh had Isaiah stuffed into the trunk of a tree and sewn in half (Hebrews 11:37)
  • Ancestor of Jesus (Mark 1:10)

King Manasseh had done evil and abandoned the LORD’s way.  He was apparently afraid of the Assyrians who already conquered and destroyed Israel (the Northern Kingdom).  All of Israel’s kings were evil and did not walk in the LORD’s ways.  Manasseh was taken into captivity to Babylon temporarily where he humbled himself before the Lord and repented.  He was released and began to do good things (See 2 Chronicles 33:11-16).

Amon

  • Reigned 642 – 640 BC
  • See 2 Kings 21:19-26
  • Son of Manasseh
  • Did evil as his grandfather Manasseh
  • Josiah’s father
  • Assassinated by a palace coup (2 Kings 21:19-26, 2 Chronicles 33:20-25)

Amon continued in the evil ways of his grandfather, not in the reformed ways of his father (2 Chronicles 33:11-17).  Amon only ruled for 2 years until he was assassinated by his own servants.

Josiah

  • Became king when he was only 8 years old after his father, Amon, was assassinated
  • Followed the ways of his great-grandfather Hezekiah in that he did right by the Lord
  • Josiah was influenced perhaps by the high priest but later was greatly influenced by Zephaniah
  • At the age of 16 he destroyed the pagan altars in Jerusalem
  • At the age of 20 he destroyed the pagan altars throughout the land
  • At 28 he noticed the Temple of God needed to be repaired so he ordered it so. While renovating the Temple, a copy of the Law of Moses was found.  It was read to Josiah and he was deeply upset.  He knew then why they were approaching the day of the Lord.  They had not been doing what was written in the Law.
  • He ordered that the Law be read to the people
  • Though Josiah tried to clean up the country, the people ultimately didn’t change
  • Period of reformation
    • Early reforms of 8th and 12th years ( 2 Chron 34:3-7)
    • Great reformation in the 18th year
  • Nahum and Zephaniah are influencers of Josiah
    • Nahum predicted the fall of Ninevah.
    • Zephaniah was the cousin of Josiah
    • The book of the Law had been lost during the reign of Manasseh
    • Hilkiah found the book (2 Chron 34:8-18)
    • Josiah’s death (2 Chron 35)
    • Neeco was on his way to help Assyria fight the Babylonians
    • Josiah held Neeco up long enough so that he couldn’t help the Assyrians in time against Babylon. However, Josiah was mortally wounded in the battle with King Necho’s army.

Josiah became king of Judah after Amon’s death and ruled for 31 years (about 640 – 609 BC).  Josiah was only eight years old when he became king.  He would not have ruled at that time because of his age.  Instead, a regency comprised of priests and court officials would have ruled until Josiah was about 17 years old.  However, He sought the LORD at a young age and began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the idolatry and the things pertaining to it (See 2 Chronicles 34:1-7).  It was during the reign of Josiah that Zephaniah prophesied.  The prophet, Jeremiah was a contemporary of Zephaniah.

He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and he walked in the ways of his father (ancestor) David.  A defining point in Josiah’s reign and perhaps his life was his response to the discovery of the book of the Law (2 Kings 22:3-20, 2 Chronicles 34:8-28). It is interesting that there were priests, but no book of the law.  That would be like having preachers, but no one has a bible.  Josiah died in battle after being fatally wounded by an arrow (2 Chronicles 35:20-27).

Zephaniah prophesied during a time when Judah was not walking after the ways of the LORD.  They were deep in idol worship and had abandoned God.  Josiah warned them of God’s impending judgment for their disobedience.

Divisions of Zephaniah

Zephaniah is divided into four themes that do not coincide with the chapter divisions.  Below is the division of these three themes.  Note that these are not “official” divisions of Zephaniah, but merely the author’s understanding of how the book is divided.

  1. Judgment on Judah (1:1 – 2:3)
  2. Judgment on the surrounding nations (2:4 – 2:15)
    1. Surrounding foreign nations will be judged too
      • West – Philistia (4 – 7)
      • East – Moab, Ammon (8 – 17)
      • South – Egypt, Ethiopia (12)
      • North – Assyria (13 – 15)
  1. The indictment on Jerusalem and refusal to repent (3:1 – 3:7)
  2. The restoration of the remnant of God’s people (3:8-20)

Summary

Judah at this time existed in an environment where Assyria was the dominant nation.  Manasseh was loyal to the Assyrian king Esarhaddon. It is believed by some that this was the reason that Manasseh instituted so much idolatry into Judah.  In any case, Judah was not walking after the way of God even after the turnaround of King Manasseh.  People had turned their backs on God.

However, when Josiah came into power, he instituted many reforms to get Judah back to God.  It was not enough because in only a few years after his death, Judah would be overtaken by the Babylonians (587 BC).

Kings of Judah: Hezekiah to Josiah

Hezekiah

  1. 2 Chronicles 29 – 31
    • Hezekiah becomes King of Judah at the age of 25
    • Hezekiah brings reform and undoes what his father Ahaz did
  2. 2 Chronicles 32:1-8
    • Hezekiah defends Judah by not giving in to Assyria’s seighe by King Sennacherib.
    • See verse 7-8
  3. 2 Chronicles 32:9-19
    • King Sennacherib mocks God in an attempt to discourage the people
  4. 2 Chronicles 32:20-23
    • God delivers Judah from Sennacherib/ Sennacherib is defeated by a miracle
  5. 2 Chronicles 32:24-26
    • Hezekiah’s illness and pride
  6. 2 Chronicles 32:27-31
    • Hezekiah’s pride
  7. 2 Chronicles 32:32-33
    • Hezekiah’s death

Manasseh

  • Did evil in the sight of God – 33:1-9
  • Manasseh is restored after repenting. He was taken into captivity and then released. – 2 Chronicles 33:10-17
  • Manasseh’s death – 2 Chronicles 33:18 – 20

Amon (2 Chronicles 33:21-25)

  • Becomes king at 22 years old
  • Was a bad king
  • Servants killed him during his second year as kin

Josiah (2 Chronicles 34)-65

  • Good king
  • Undid the things done by Mennasshat
  • The Book of the Lwas was f ound
  • Realizes Judah’s sin
  • Influenced by the Law of God after it was read too him
  • Begins major reforms
  • God has mercy on Josiah regarding his prayer about the wrath coming. He heard his prayer and said that Josiah would not experience His judgment in his lifetime
  • Josiah dies in battle

Chapter 1

In verses 1-3, the LORD announces judgment on the entire land (in this context.  The word translated “land” or “earth” comes from the Hebrew word adamah, that means land, soil, earth, farm, or ground.  Humans, animals, those things that cause one to sin (stumbling blocks, i.e., in this context, the idols), and the wicked will be consumed by God’s judgment.

The attention is shifted to Judah, who would be judged by the LORD for its sin against Him.  Judah, the southern Kingdom of Israel, had fallen into idolatry because of kings Amon and Manasseh who allowed the Assyrian practices to infiltrate Judah.  At that time in Judah’s history, the Assyrian army was not as powerful as they once were.

In verses 4-7, the LORD declares judgment on Judah.  At that time, Judah practiced various forms of pagan worship primarily due to the influence of the Assyrians. The Assyrians worshipped a plethora of gods including astrological ones (god of the sun).  Judah’s idolatry was influenced by King Manasseh when Judah was a vassal to Assyria.  This meant that even Assyria’s religion was introduced into Judah even though they were not conquered like was the northern Kingdom years before.

Baal – The name of the most prominent Canaanite deity whose sphere of influence included agriculture, animal husbandry, and human sexuality.  Baal worship was introduced in the northern Kingdom when King Ahab of Israel married Jezebel (1 Kings 16:29-33).  It later infiltrated Judah (the Southern Kingdom) when Athaliah (daughter of Ahab and Jezebel) married King Jehoram (2 Kings 8:17, 18).

Milcom – Pagan god of the Ammonites.  Milcom is also known as Molech or Moloch.  Solomon built a worship site to Milcom (1 Kings 11:5, 33).  Babies were sacrificed to Milcom by fire in this religion (See Jeremiah 7:31, 19:2-6)  Many years later, King Josiah would tear this worship place down as well as others (2 Kings 23:18).

In verse seven we read, “…the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; He has consecrated His guests.” The sacrifice here refers to Judah.  The wrath of God is on Judah because of their sins.  The guests are the Chaldeans who would overtake Judah.  In time, Nebuchadnezzar was called by God to exercise His wrath and judgment on Judah. We see here that God will use those who are not godly to do His will. In this case, God used the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar to be the object to carry out His judgment on Judah for their idolatry and disloyalty to the LORD.

Judah was being judged for the following.

  1. Worshiping idols (false gods)
  2. Turning away from the LORD
  3. For not seeking the LORD
  4. Pledging loyalty to an idol god and the LORD (See Matthew 6:24)
  5. Astrology (heavenly hosts)

On the Day of the LORD

Zephaniah goes on to describe the things that will happen on the Day of the LORD, i.e., when God’s judgment arrives.

Verse 8: The princes will be punished.  Evidently, they were not ruling the way they should have been.  We can assume that they were not operating in a godly manner and even the catalyst to cause people to sin against God as they were.  They should have been an example of living God’s way, but instead, they became a stumbling block to the people.

All who are dressed in foreign (strange) clothing.  Here we have people dressed as the pagans dressed.  They were perhaps identifying themselves with the pagan practices that they were exposed to.

Verse 9: I will punish all who skip over the threshold. This phrase “skip over the threshold” seems to have been a common slang for burglary.  God would punish all those who would burglarize and plunder others’ homes.  “Who fills their master’s house with violence and deceit.”  This seems to refer to those who benefited from the plundering mentioned above.

Verse 10: Outcry from the Fish Gate.  The Fish Gate was a gate on the north wall of Jerusalem, built during King David’s time.  It is the entranceway to the outer wall of Jerusalem, Damascus Gate on the north side (Nehemiah 3:3 & 12:39, 2 Chronicles 33:14). It was through the Fish Gate that Nebuchadnezzar entered the city.  It is believed to have been so named because it is where fish would be brought into the city from the lake of Tiberias and Jordan.

Wailing from the second district (quarter).  The second district was a section of Jerusalem where Huldah the prophetess had lived. It was the lower city.  It was most likely located west of the City of David.

Crashing from the hills.  The hills that were within the city (Zion, Moriah, and Ophel)

The Hollow or Mortar.  The merchant districts.  The valley of the city.

Verses 11-13: Those who are wealthy will not find comfort or refuge from their wealth. They will not enjoy the wealth that they have.  They will lose their wealth.

The fact that “their wealth will become plunder” suggests that an enemy army will come and defeat them and take their riches away.  We know now that the Babylonians took Judah captive in 586 BC after a succession of bad kings that followed Josiah, who was a good king (See 2 Kings 25:1). It seems that the wealth was gotten unjustly (See Proverbs 11:28).

Verses 14-17: This “Great Day of the Lord” will be a terrible day.  This is a prophecy of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon would conquer Judah and take them away.  Verse 17 states that this will happen because they have sinned against the LORD.

Verse 18: We see again that the wealth of the people will be no help to them on the Great Day of the LORD.  On that day, they will be judged for their sins.  God is jealous, i.e., demands loyalty.  He will get rid of those who dwell in the land (some translations use the word earth here).

Chapter 2

Verses 2:1-3—God calls the people to change their ways, i.e., to repent.  The Day of the LORD is coming so, there is still time to repent. He calls those who are meek, who uphold justice to seek righteousness and humility that it may happen that they will be protected (hidden) from God’s anger, i.e., his wrath and judgment.

Verses 2:4-5—The surrounding Philistine areas will feel the wrath of the LORD.  They will be totally wiped out.  Buildings will be demolished, and the people will be either killed or taken into captivity.  Gaza is currently a barren and desolate place.  So is present-day Ashkelon (Assyria).  There are currently no Philistines remaining on the earth.

Verse 2:6-7—The shepherds will make shelters from the rubble that remains from buildings that were destroyed.  God will have a remnant of his people on the coast.  This remnant would one day be free.

Verses 2:8-11 – God passes judgment on the Moabites who taunted Judah.  Josiah states how God will turn their lands into a wasteland like Sodom and Gomorrah.  We also get the picture of a ghost town in the old west where tumbleweeds blow around.  Those that remain of God’s people will plunder these lands.  God will remove the false gods and all the people will come to know the one true God and worship Him.

Though God judged Judah (and Israel) by using other nations, that did not give those nations the right to act in pride against God’s people.

Verses 2:12-15

Zephaniah now pronounces the judgment of God on Assyria, that great nation as well as the Cushites.  The Cushites were a nation of people from Cush (or Ethiopia), which was located south of Egypt.  Ancient Ethiopia covered more area than modern Ethiopia.

Nineveh was one of the capitals of Assyria and one of the greatest cities at that time.  It would be turned to ruin because of God’s judgment.  It would be a place of where wild animals roam.

Chapter 3

In verses 1 – 5, we see the reasons for God’s judgment upon Judah.

  1. Judah has not obeyed God’s voice
  2. Judah has not received correction
  3. Judah has not trusted in the LORD
  4. Judah has not drawn near to God
  5. The princes and judges are corrupt and carrying nothing for the morrow.
  6. The prophets are insolent and treacherous
  7. The priests have polluted the sanctuary
  8. They have done violence to the law, i.e, they pretend that what they say comes from God when it does not.
  9. The unjust are not ashamed of their false righteousness.

God is righteous and just and never does unrighteousness.

God cut off nations and made their lands desolate places of ruin.  No one was left in these deserted places.  Yet Judah still would not receive instruction even after what they have seen.  Even the destruction of Israel did not turn them to their God (At this time in history, Israel had already been taken by the Assyrians and deported).  Despite all that Judah had seen, they still corrupted their ways.  Judgment was therefore coming.

Verse 8 – Wait on the Lord.  Here the remnant of God’s people is in sight.  He will gather the nations to judge them, to pour out his anger and wrath on them.  His jealousy will be manifested upon those judged nations.

The word jealous means intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness disposed to suspect rivalry or unfaithfulness, vigilant in guarding a possession.  A jealous person demand s absolute loyalty.  God demands loyalty from us.  That means we are not to worship any other gods.  The Bible shows us that God is intolerant of unfaithfulness.  In Zephaniah 3:8, the word jealously goes beyond mere intolerance of unfaithfulness, but rather refers to the process of executing the consequences of unfaithfulness.  It is like going on trial for infidelity.

Restoration of the Remnant

Verses 3:9-11 speak of the restoration of the remnant of God’s people.  These are those who remained loyal to God but still were gathered up when the nation was gathered by foreign nations.

God would restore to them a pure language, which comes from a pure heart.  Those who were deported would return.  They will no longer be ashamed.

God would take away from among them those who rejoice in their pride.

Verse 3:13 –  This remnant shall do no unrighteousness and speak no lies.  No deceit will be found in their mouth. They will have no more fear and be able to relax.

Rejoice

Verses 3:14-20 speak of the rejoicing and the cleaning of the slate so to speak.  They will start new with no fear and with God among them.  Judgment has been accomplished and all those who are against Juday/Isreal will be dealt with.  The remnant of God people will return home and be blessed.

Lessons Learned

There are several things that we can learn from Zephaniah.  Listed below is what I have learned from studying the book of Zephaniah.

  1. Loyalty to God is critical
    Judah was not loyal to God in that they practiced idol worship and neglected the law. We saw that when Josiah was in power that the law of God was found while renovating the temple. There were no copies of the law available at that time.  That’s like there being no bibles in America.  The kings of Judah before Josiah were evil in that they did not follow the way of God, which is justice and righteousness.
  2. God wants relationship
    God ultimately wants a relationship with His people and he will chastise them to get it
    The main thing that caused judgment was Judah’s infidelity. They were not loyal to God.  Instead they practiced the worship of other gods.  This brought on the wrath of God.
  3. Leadership can cause the whole to sin
    It was the leaders that caused Judah to sin. There was contempt for God.  True worship was not practiced.  As a matter of fact they worshipped other Gods causing the people to practice the same.  Leadership has an impact.
  4. God gives time to repent
    We see in this prophecy that God gave Judah time to repent. He had given them time to repent.  The prophecy was a warning and admonishment to turn from their wicked way.
  5. Justice is critical to God
    The leaders and the wealthy took advantage of the people. Justice was not something that was practiced.
  6. God uses other nations to judge his people
    God used the Assyrians on Isreal and Neo Babylon on Judah as the instruments of His judgment. Judah would fall into the hands of another nation (Babylon) because of their refusal to repent and turn to God.  This suggests that God will use anything to chastise His people.
  7. God judges nations
    God judged Israel and now Judah would be judged. He also declared His judgment on the nations that oppressed Judah and Israel.  God judges unrighteousness.
  8. One can die before his time.
    A person can make a critical error and die before his time. Josiah went to battle the Egyptians without the counsel of God.  He was mortally wounded and died.  If he had not done that then his reform could have continued and perhaps Judah may have turned around.  However, after his death, Judah went back to its evil ways and was soon no more.

Many people say how much God loves and how we should love.  However, they don’t realize that God’s love takes many forms.  I recall an illustration of love given like this.  A certain man loved nature and was an animal lover.  One day he saw a deer on the side of the road.  The deer was struck by a car and mortally wounded.  It was slowly dying from its injury.  Out of compassion, this man killed the deer to put it out of its misery.  His action, though seemingly cruel, was motivated by love for the creature.  What then would God do to us because of His love?  How long will He wait for us to come to Him?  How long will the call to salvation and repentance last?  What happens to those who are cruel and unjust to God’s people?

God’s love may spawn serious consequences so, we should take heed and respect and revere God.  He is a God of love, but he is also a God of wrath and a God of judgment.

We saw in this lesson the plight of God’s people, Judah.  They were following in the footsteps of their sister nation, Israel.  Israel had already been conquered and taken into captivity by the Assyrians because of their infidelity towards God and the evil that they practiced.  They were warned by the prophets but did not heed those warnings.  Judah was on the same path.

Josiah was a good king and did institute reform.  However, a critical mistake on his part caused his efforts to fall short.  He was killed in battle and his sons and grandsons returned to evil ways.  His efforts were effectively too little, too late as Judah strayed away from the path of reform and was eventually taken over and destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC.

References