Zephaniah Commentary

“That terrible day of the Lord is near. . . . It will be . . . a day of ruin and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom” (Zeph 1:14-15). Zephaniah’s words send a chill through the soul. Will the day of the Lord spell the end to everything? Zephaniah’s prophecy portrays the coming judgment, but it also presents God’s promise that his faithful people will one day enjoy a world of everlasting righteousness and joy.

Setting

Zephaniah lived in changing times. Toward the end of Assyrian king Ashurbanipal’s last military campaigns, King Amon apparently led Judah to participate in the widespread anti-Assyrian uprising that took place in many of the western countries of the Near East. Since Ashurbanipal moved swiftly to crush the rebellion, Judah’s leaders assassinated Amon (around 640 BC) and replaced him with his son Josiah.

Josiah was only eight years old when he became king of Judah. He enjoyed a long reign (640–609 BC) as a righteous king. In the eighteenth year of his reign, while repairs were being made to the Temple, a scroll of the Book of the Law was found (2 Kgs 22:8; 2 Chr 34:14-15). After hearing the law read to him, Josiah led his people in renewal and reform, reinstating God-ordained religious observances (2 Kgs 23:1-25; 2 Chr 34:29–35:19).

Before this pivotal event, the kingdom of Judah largely followed the idolatrous practices of Manasseh and Amon. Judah’s people were so devoted to apostasy that it ultimately brought about their doom (2 Kgs 21:10-25; 2 Chr 33:17, 21-24).

Zephaniah prophesied early in Josiah’s reign, after the death of Amon and before the Book of the Law was rediscovered. The time was characterized by religious indifference, social injustice, and economic greed (Zeph 1:4-13; 3:1-4, 7). A true prophet of God was needed, and Zephaniah was such a man; he may have helped prepare people’s hearts for Josiah’s sweeping reforms.

Summary

Zephaniah begins his prophecy by announcing the day of the Lord. This expression signified God’s coming judgment on the sinful world (1:2-3, 14-18), including his people in Judah and Jerusalem (1:4-13). Much like the people of Israel in the time of Amos some 125 years earlier, the people of Judah looked forward to “that day” as a time when God would vindicate them by destroying their enemies. Like Amos, however, Zephaniah had to tell his people that their covenant relationship with God did not make them immune to judgment. Because the day of the Lord would fall impartially on all wicked people, Zephaniah urged his fellow citizens to repent, to seek the Lord, and to live righteously in all humility (2:1-3). Perhaps then they might experience the Lord’s protection in the coming time of wrath.

The implications of Zephaniah’s prophecy are clear. The nations neighboring Judah would suffer terrible judgment because of their crimes against God’s people, their arrogant pride, and their defiance of the Lord (2:4-15). However, Judah would not escape the Lord’s chastening hand, because its spiritual and civil leaders had led society into total corruption despite knowing God’s standards. In addition, the people of Judah had not taken proper notice of God’s sovereign judgment on other nations for crimes like their own (3:1-7).

These impending judgments were a precursor to a coming time of judgment that would engulf all nations on earth (3:8). However, judgment would not be the end: The day of judgment would come so that a day of salvation could follow (3:9-20). God promised restoration and blessing for a remnant from Israel and for all people (3:9).

Zephaniah records God’s future plan to remove all proud and arrogant people from the earth; only those who “trust in the name of the Lord” will remain (3:12). God will gather his scattered people and restore them to their land, where they will live in righteousness and safety, worshiping the Lord (3:9-12). The “remnant of Israel” will enjoy the outpouring of God’s blessings and rejoice in him forever (3:13-19). The judgment and salvation announced in Zephaniah foreshadow God’s final act of bringing judgment and salvation at the return of Jesus Christ (see Rev 19:11–22:5).

Author

Little is known of Zephaniah beyond the lineage in 1:1, which traces his ancestry to Hezekiah. Jewish and Christian expositors traditionally equate this Hezekiah with the king bearing that name (see 2 Kgs 18:1–20:20), which would mean that Zephaniah was of royal descent and probably a positive influence in the life of young King Josiah. The unusual attention to four generations of family lineage indicates at the very least that Zephaniah came from a distinguished family.

Zephaniah lived in Jerusalem and was aware of conditions there (Zeph 1:10-13). He was a man of keen spiritual sensitivity and moral perception who decried the apostasy and immorality of the people, especially those in positions of leadership (1:4-6, 9, 17; 3:1-4, 7, 11). He denounced the materialism and greed that exploited the poor (1:8, 10-13, 18). He was aware of current conditions in surrounding nations and announced God’s judgment on those nations for their sins (2:4-15). Above all, this prophet had a deep concern for the Lord’s reputation (1:6; 3:7) and for all who humbly trust in God (2:3; 3:9, 12-13).

Date

Zephaniah himself recorded that his prophetic ministry was during the time of Josiah (640–609 BC; see 1:1). Several facts suggest that Zephaniah prophesied during the early days of Josiah’s reign, before the discovery of the Book of the Law and the reforms that followed. Zephaniah reported that religious practices in Judah were still plagued by Canaanite syncretistic rites such as those that characterized the era of Manasseh (1:4-5, 9). Many people failed to worship the Lord at all (1:6), leaders were enamored of wearing the clothing of foreign merchants (1:8) who had extensive business enterprises in Jerusalem (1:10-11), and Judah’s society was beset by socio-economic ills (1:12-13, 18) and political and religious corruption (3:1-4, 7, 11). Josiah’s reforms corrected much of this (around 622 BC; 2 Kgs 23:4-14). Therefore, a date for Zephaniah’s prophecy between 635 and 622 BC is likely.

Meaning and Message

Like his contemporaries Nahum and Habakkuk, Zephaniah presents God as the sovereign Lord of earth’s history. God, the judge of all (Zeph 1:2-3, 7, 14-18; 3:8), punishes the wickedness of people (1:8-9, 17; 3:7, 11) and nations (2:4-15; 3:6). This sovereign Judge has determined a time when he will intervene in the world’s history to subdue wickedness and bring in everlasting righteousness. That day (the day of the Lord) will include all nations (1:2-4; 2:4-15; 3:8). God will pour out his wrath in judgment against humanity’s sin and rebellion.

Zephaniah focuses on the basic problem of human pride (2:15), which engenders a spirit of inner wickedness (1:3-6, 17; 3:1, 4) and causes people to reason that God will not intervene in human affairs (1:12). They go on in their violence and deceit (1:9), and their greed oppresses those around them (1:10-11, 13, 18; 3:3). God may rescind the penalty that sinners deserve if they truly repent (2:1-3), but such spiritual virtues as righteousness, humility, faith, and truth are necessary (3:12-13). God will gather and purify a humble and faithful remnant (3:9-10), restore them to their land (3:20), and give them victory over their enemies (2:7, 9). Jerusalem will be a blissful place (3:11, 18) because God will save and bless his people (3:14-20).

Zephaniah’s message of personal accountability for sin is echoed in New Testament teachings (Rom 2:5-6; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 6:17; 19:11-21). It remains true that God’s rich grace is available to those of humble heart (1 Pet 5:5-6) so that they may find forgiveness of sin (Eph 1:7) and the sure hope of everlasting life and blessedness (Titus 3:4-7; Rev 21:1–22:5).

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Prophecy of Zephaniah

This prophet is placed last, as he was last in time, of all the minor prophets before the captivity, and not long before Jeremiah, who lived at the time of the captivity. He foretels the general destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and sets their sins in order before them, which had provoked God to bring their ruin upon them, calls them to repentance, threatens the neighbouring nations with the like destructions, and gives encouraging promises of their joyful return out of captivity in due time, which have a reference to the grace of the gospel. We have, in the first verse, an account of the prophet and the date of his prophecy, which supersedes our enquiry concerning them here.

ZEPHANIAH, ninth in order of the minor prophets, prophesied "in the days of Josiah" (Zep 1:1), that is, between 642 and 611 B.C. The name means "Jehovah hath guarded," literally, "hidden" (Psa 27:5; Psa 83:3). The specification in the introductory heading, of not only his father, but also his grandfather, and great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather, implies that the latter were persons of note, or else the design was to distinguish him from another Zephaniah of note at the time of the captivity. The Jews' supposition, that persons recorded as a prophet's ancestors were themselves endowed with the prophetic spirit, seems groundless. There is no impossibility of the Hezekiah, who was Zephaniah's great-great-grandfather, being King Hezekiah as to the number of generations; for Hezekiah's reign of twenty-nine years, and his successor's reign of fifty-five years, admit of four generations interposing between. Yet the omission of the designation, "king of Judah," is fatal to the theory (compare Pro 25:1; Isa 38:9).

He must have flourished in the earlier part of Josiah's reign. In Zep 2:13-15 rhe foretells the doom of Nineveh, which happened in 625 B.C.; and in Zep 1:4 he denounces various forms of idolatry, and specially that of Baal. Now Josiah's reformation began in the twelfth and was completed in the eighteenth year of his reign. Zephaniah, therefore, in denouncing Baal worship, co-operated with that good king in his efforts, and so must have prophesied somewhere between the twelfth and eighteenth years of his reign. The silence of the historical books is no argument against this, as it would equally apply against Jeremiah's prophetical existence at the same time. Jewish tradition says that Zephaniah had for his colleagues Jeremiah, whose sphere of labor was the thoroughfares and market places, and Huldah the prophetess, who exercised her vocation in the college in Jerusalem. The prophecy begins with the nation's sin and the fearful retribution coming at the hands of the Chaldeans. These are not mentioned by name, as in Jeremiah; for the prophecies of the latter, being nearer the fulfilment, become more explicit than those of an earlier date. The second chapter dooms the persecuting states in the neighborhood as well as Judea itself. The third chapter denounces Jerusalem, but concludes with the promise of her joyful re-establishment in the theocracy.

The style, though not generally sublime, is graphic and vivid in details (compare Zep 1:4-12). The language is pure, and free from Aramaisms. There are occasional coincidences with former prophets (compare Zep 2:14, with Isa 34:11; Zep 2:15, with Isa 47:8; Zep 3:10, with Isa 18:1; Zep 2:8, with Isa 16:6; also Zep 1:5, with Jer 8:2; Zep 1:12, with Jer 48:11). Such coincidences in part arise from the phraseology of Hebrew prophetic poetry being the common language of the inspired brotherhood. The New Testament, at Rom 15:6, seems to refer to Zep 3:9.

Next: Zephaniah Chapter 1