The Book of
ZEPHANIAH
Author: Zephaniah
Date: About 630 B.C.
Theme: The Wrath of a Loving God
Key Words: The Day of the Lord, The Lord Is in Your Midst
Author. Zephaniah (“The LORD Has Hidden”) was a prophet to Judah. He identified himself better than any other of the minor prophets, tracing his ancestry back four generations to Hezekiah, a good king who had led the people back to God during the prophet Isaiah’s time. King Josiah, whose reform brought about a period of renewal in Jerusalem, was not only a contemporary of Zephaniah, but a distant relative. Thus the men could have been friends and equally zealous for a return to the pure worship of God.
The intimacy of emotion as well as the familiarity of place when Zephaniah writes about Jerusalem (1:10, 11) indicate that he had grown up there and was deeply troubled by prophesying the city’s destruction. According to the arrangement of Hebrew Scriptures, Zephaniah was the last of the prophets to write before the captivity. His prophecy was the swan song of the southern kingdom of Judah.
Date. Zephaniah gives the general time of his writing as being “in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah” (1:1), about 640 to 609 B.C. The height of Josiah’s reform was in the 620s. Since the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C. had not yet taken place (2:13–15), most scholars set the date of writing between 630 and 627 B.C. His contemporaries included Jeremiah and Nahum.
Background. About 100 years before this prophecy, the northern kingdom (the ten tribes of Israel) had fallen to Assyria. The people had been carried away by their captors, and the land had been resettled by foreigners. Under King Manasseh and King Amon, King Josiah’s father, tribute had been paid to keep Assyria from invading the southern kingdom.
The alliance with Assyria not only affected Judah politically, but also Assyria’s religious, social, and fashion practices set the trend in Judah. Official protection was given in Judah to the magical arts of diviners and enchanters. Astral religion became so popular that Judah’s King Manasseh erected altars for the worship of the sun, moon, stars, zodiac signs, and all the host of heaven, on the roof of the temple (2 Kin. 23:11). The worship of the mother-goddess of Assyria became a practice that involved all members of Judean families (Jer. 7:18). However, as the young Josiah took over the reins of government, the Assyrian threat was diminishing. The final blow to their power came with a Babylonian uprising that eventually resulted in the destruction of Nineveh.
After a long silence, true prophetic voices were once again heard in Judah. Along with Zephaniah, Jeremiah was encouraging the revival led by King Josiah. The Book of the Law had been found in the temple. As a consequence, the land was purged of idolatrous practices and priests, the temple was cleansed, and thousands of sacrifices were offered when Passover was once again observed (2 Chr. 34; 35).
In retrospect the reform was one of externals, since the hearts of the people had not been changed. Even so, there was a sense that everything was right with God and the world, for they were living in momentary peace and prosperity. Into this complacent atmosphere the devastating message of Zephaniah comes like a searing blast.
Content. Zephaniah viewed the political development of Israel (the northern kingdom), Judah (the southern kingdom), and all the surrounding nations from the perspective that the people should learn that God was involved in all the affairs of history. Speaking as an oracle of God, he understands that God uses foreign governments to bring about judgment upon His rebellious chosen people. Zephaniah is appalled that, after the catastrophe of the northern tribes, the people of Judah still maintain the preposterous notion that God is helpless to do good or evil (1:12).
As is true in most of the prophets, Zephaniah’s writings has three components: 1) the pronouncement of specific and often universal judgment for sin; 2) an appeal for repentance because God is righteous and willing to forgive; 3) a promise that the remnant who have made God their refuge will be saved.
Few biblical writers describe the wrath of God or the joy of God as vividly as does Zephaniah. God is seen searching the streets of Jerusalem with lamps to find the wicked He will punish (1:12); the prophecy describing the Day of the Lord in 1:14–18 is a terrible chant of doom. A call to repentance appropriately follows these passages. The first two and a half chapters prophesy judgment so complete that even nature will be consumed (1:2, 3) and “all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy” (3:8).
Because of the repeated use of the term “the day of the LORD,” the Book of Zephaniah has meaning for end times. The Day of the Lord is either the period of time or the actual day when God will bring His purposes to culmination for mankind and for the earth. The righteous will be rewarded with eternal blessing, and the wicked will be consigned to eternal damnation.
Amos was probably the first to use the term “the day of the LORD” (Amos 5:18–20). Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, and Joel all speak of it as a time of final judgment. In the New Testament “the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6) carries the same meaning. For elaboration of this concept see the note on Obadiah 15.
While the message of Zephaniah has future significance, Judah and the surrounding nations expected an immediate and local fulfillment of the prophecies. Beginning with Assyria, the judgments were fulfilled in a few years when the temple was utterly destroyed and the Jews were carried into Babylonian captivity.
Though the prophets were called by God to convey a dreadful message, they were also aware that wrath and judgment expressed only one side of God’s nature. Habakkuk eloquently reminded the Holy One “in wrath (to) remember mercy” (Hab. 3:2). In the Book of Zephaniah, God does remember, for He promises that He will purify and restore the faithful remnant (3:9). He assures this humbled people that no one will make them afraid again, for He has cast out their enemy (3:13, 15).
Then He bids them to sing, to shout, to rejoice with all their hearts. And God joins in the celebration like a victorious general returning with the comrades he has rescued. In jubilation God sings and dances and shouts for joy as He tells them of His love (3:14–17).
Zephaniah ends with God’s tender promise that He will gather all those who have been driven out and will give them fame and praise among all the people of the Earth (3:20).
Personal Application. Four timeless lessons for both believers and unbelievers are found in Zephaniah:
1. God is perfect justice as well as perfect love (3:5). If the call to repentance is continually ignored, God’s judgment must consequently fall.
2. Punishment is not God’s choice, for “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
3. To settle into the complacency of financial prosperity (1:10–13) and to participate in the ritual of a well-structured religious life without obeying God’s voice, receiving correction, or drawing near to Him (3:2) is an ever-present possibility. Even more tragic is to have no awareness of such spiritual emptiness.
4. Even to the rebellious, God offers last-minute reprieve (2:1–3). The remnant who humble themselves and seek righteousness will be hidden in the Day of the Lord’s anger (2:3). They will be gathered to Him and healed (3:18), for God dwells in their midst (3:17). This abiding promise to God’s people is the essence of the gospel.
Christ Revealed. The meaning of Zephaniah’s name (“The LORD Has Hidden”) conveys the ministry of Jesus Christ. The truth of the Passover in Egypt, where those hidden behind blood-marked doors were protected from the angel of death, is repeated in the promise of 2:3, where those meek of the earth who have upheld God’s justice will be hidden in the Day of the Lord’s anger. Colossians 3:2, 3 spells out this aspect of Christ’s ministry: “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
The rejoicing over a saved remnant (3:16, 17) is connected with the work of Jesus, the Savior. Jesus spoke, “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). The picture of a joyful Redeemer who waits to receive His own is again depicted in Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The Holy Spirit at Work. Jesus said that one of the works of the Holy Spirit would be to convict the world of judgment because the ruler of the world is judged (John 16:8–11). Since His coming, the Holy Spirit has been crying out to the world as Zephaniah did: “Gather yourselves ... before the decree is issued, or the day passes like chaff, before the LORD’s fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger comes upon you” (2:1, 2).
Now as then, a refusal of the warning is a rejection of the Holy Spirit. In the address that sealed his martyrdom, Stephen declared to the council, “You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you” (Acts 7:51).
A more joyous work of the Holy Spirit is found in the promise that God will restore to the peoples a pure language that they may serve Him with one accord (3:9). The curse of Babel was the confusion of languages, which prevented people from working in unity to achieve their evil goals (Gen. 11:1–9). The outpouring of the Spirit promised in Joel 2:28–32 came to pass on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1–11) to begin God’s process of messianic restoration. In light of Zephaniah’s prophecy, it is interesting to note that Pentecost included the dimension of languages.
Furthermore, the gift of tongues was used to bring believing Gentiles and astonished Jews together in unity of faith and purpose during Peter’s reluctant visit to the home of Cornelius (Acts 10:44–48). It is this pure language, this gift of tongues, that has also served to merge believers of widely divergent theological persuasions into the modern charismatic movement. They have been enabled to transcend boundaries of tradition and nationality and serve the Lord together in the unity of the Spirit. These may be partial fulfillments of 3:9.
Jack W. Hayford, Spirit Filled Life Study Bible
ZEPHANIAH
Author: Zephaniah
Date: About 630 B.C.
Theme: The Wrath of a Loving God
Key Words: The Day of the Lord, The Lord Is in Your Midst
Author. Zephaniah (“The LORD Has Hidden”) was a prophet to Judah. He identified himself better than any other of the minor prophets, tracing his ancestry back four generations to Hezekiah, a good king who had led the people back to God during the prophet Isaiah’s time. King Josiah, whose reform brought about a period of renewal in Jerusalem, was not only a contemporary of Zephaniah, but a distant relative. Thus the men could have been friends and equally zealous for a return to the pure worship of God.
The intimacy of emotion as well as the familiarity of place when Zephaniah writes about Jerusalem (1:10, 11) indicate that he had grown up there and was deeply troubled by prophesying the city’s destruction. According to the arrangement of Hebrew Scriptures, Zephaniah was the last of the prophets to write before the captivity. His prophecy was the swan song of the southern kingdom of Judah.
Date. Zephaniah gives the general time of his writing as being “in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah” (1:1), about 640 to 609 B.C. The height of Josiah’s reform was in the 620s. Since the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C. had not yet taken place (2:13–15), most scholars set the date of writing between 630 and 627 B.C. His contemporaries included Jeremiah and Nahum.
Background. About 100 years before this prophecy, the northern kingdom (the ten tribes of Israel) had fallen to Assyria. The people had been carried away by their captors, and the land had been resettled by foreigners. Under King Manasseh and King Amon, King Josiah’s father, tribute had been paid to keep Assyria from invading the southern kingdom.
The alliance with Assyria not only affected Judah politically, but also Assyria’s religious, social, and fashion practices set the trend in Judah. Official protection was given in Judah to the magical arts of diviners and enchanters. Astral religion became so popular that Judah’s King Manasseh erected altars for the worship of the sun, moon, stars, zodiac signs, and all the host of heaven, on the roof of the temple (2 Kin. 23:11). The worship of the mother-goddess of Assyria became a practice that involved all members of Judean families (Jer. 7:18). However, as the young Josiah took over the reins of government, the Assyrian threat was diminishing. The final blow to their power came with a Babylonian uprising that eventually resulted in the destruction of Nineveh.
After a long silence, true prophetic voices were once again heard in Judah. Along with Zephaniah, Jeremiah was encouraging the revival led by King Josiah. The Book of the Law had been found in the temple. As a consequence, the land was purged of idolatrous practices and priests, the temple was cleansed, and thousands of sacrifices were offered when Passover was once again observed (2 Chr. 34; 35).
In retrospect the reform was one of externals, since the hearts of the people had not been changed. Even so, there was a sense that everything was right with God and the world, for they were living in momentary peace and prosperity. Into this complacent atmosphere the devastating message of Zephaniah comes like a searing blast.
Content. Zephaniah viewed the political development of Israel (the northern kingdom), Judah (the southern kingdom), and all the surrounding nations from the perspective that the people should learn that God was involved in all the affairs of history. Speaking as an oracle of God, he understands that God uses foreign governments to bring about judgment upon His rebellious chosen people. Zephaniah is appalled that, after the catastrophe of the northern tribes, the people of Judah still maintain the preposterous notion that God is helpless to do good or evil (1:12).
As is true in most of the prophets, Zephaniah’s writings has three components: 1) the pronouncement of specific and often universal judgment for sin; 2) an appeal for repentance because God is righteous and willing to forgive; 3) a promise that the remnant who have made God their refuge will be saved.
Few biblical writers describe the wrath of God or the joy of God as vividly as does Zephaniah. God is seen searching the streets of Jerusalem with lamps to find the wicked He will punish (1:12); the prophecy describing the Day of the Lord in 1:14–18 is a terrible chant of doom. A call to repentance appropriately follows these passages. The first two and a half chapters prophesy judgment so complete that even nature will be consumed (1:2, 3) and “all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy” (3:8).
Because of the repeated use of the term “the day of the LORD,” the Book of Zephaniah has meaning for end times. The Day of the Lord is either the period of time or the actual day when God will bring His purposes to culmination for mankind and for the earth. The righteous will be rewarded with eternal blessing, and the wicked will be consigned to eternal damnation.
Amos was probably the first to use the term “the day of the LORD” (Amos 5:18–20). Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, and Joel all speak of it as a time of final judgment. In the New Testament “the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6) carries the same meaning. For elaboration of this concept see the note on Obadiah 15.
While the message of Zephaniah has future significance, Judah and the surrounding nations expected an immediate and local fulfillment of the prophecies. Beginning with Assyria, the judgments were fulfilled in a few years when the temple was utterly destroyed and the Jews were carried into Babylonian captivity.
Though the prophets were called by God to convey a dreadful message, they were also aware that wrath and judgment expressed only one side of God’s nature. Habakkuk eloquently reminded the Holy One “in wrath (to) remember mercy” (Hab. 3:2). In the Book of Zephaniah, God does remember, for He promises that He will purify and restore the faithful remnant (3:9). He assures this humbled people that no one will make them afraid again, for He has cast out their enemy (3:13, 15).
Then He bids them to sing, to shout, to rejoice with all their hearts. And God joins in the celebration like a victorious general returning with the comrades he has rescued. In jubilation God sings and dances and shouts for joy as He tells them of His love (3:14–17).
Zephaniah ends with God’s tender promise that He will gather all those who have been driven out and will give them fame and praise among all the people of the Earth (3:20).
Personal Application. Four timeless lessons for both believers and unbelievers are found in Zephaniah:
1. God is perfect justice as well as perfect love (3:5). If the call to repentance is continually ignored, God’s judgment must consequently fall.
2. Punishment is not God’s choice, for “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
3. To settle into the complacency of financial prosperity (1:10–13) and to participate in the ritual of a well-structured religious life without obeying God’s voice, receiving correction, or drawing near to Him (3:2) is an ever-present possibility. Even more tragic is to have no awareness of such spiritual emptiness.
4. Even to the rebellious, God offers last-minute reprieve (2:1–3). The remnant who humble themselves and seek righteousness will be hidden in the Day of the Lord’s anger (2:3). They will be gathered to Him and healed (3:18), for God dwells in their midst (3:17). This abiding promise to God’s people is the essence of the gospel.
Christ Revealed. The meaning of Zephaniah’s name (“The LORD Has Hidden”) conveys the ministry of Jesus Christ. The truth of the Passover in Egypt, where those hidden behind blood-marked doors were protected from the angel of death, is repeated in the promise of 2:3, where those meek of the earth who have upheld God’s justice will be hidden in the Day of the Lord’s anger. Colossians 3:2, 3 spells out this aspect of Christ’s ministry: “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
The rejoicing over a saved remnant (3:16, 17) is connected with the work of Jesus, the Savior. Jesus spoke, “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). The picture of a joyful Redeemer who waits to receive His own is again depicted in Hebrews 12:2, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The Holy Spirit at Work. Jesus said that one of the works of the Holy Spirit would be to convict the world of judgment because the ruler of the world is judged (John 16:8–11). Since His coming, the Holy Spirit has been crying out to the world as Zephaniah did: “Gather yourselves ... before the decree is issued, or the day passes like chaff, before the LORD’s fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger comes upon you” (2:1, 2).
Now as then, a refusal of the warning is a rejection of the Holy Spirit. In the address that sealed his martyrdom, Stephen declared to the council, “You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you” (Acts 7:51).
A more joyous work of the Holy Spirit is found in the promise that God will restore to the peoples a pure language that they may serve Him with one accord (3:9). The curse of Babel was the confusion of languages, which prevented people from working in unity to achieve their evil goals (Gen. 11:1–9). The outpouring of the Spirit promised in Joel 2:28–32 came to pass on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1–11) to begin God’s process of messianic restoration. In light of Zephaniah’s prophecy, it is interesting to note that Pentecost included the dimension of languages.
Furthermore, the gift of tongues was used to bring believing Gentiles and astonished Jews together in unity of faith and purpose during Peter’s reluctant visit to the home of Cornelius (Acts 10:44–48). It is this pure language, this gift of tongues, that has also served to merge believers of widely divergent theological persuasions into the modern charismatic movement. They have been enabled to transcend boundaries of tradition and nationality and serve the Lord together in the unity of the Spirit. These may be partial fulfillments of 3:9.
Jack W. Hayford, Spirit Filled Life Study Bible
