seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Zephaniah 1:1 The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah:
2 “I will sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,”
declares the Lord.
3 “I will sweep away both man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds in the sky
and the fish in the sea—
and the idols that cause the wicked to stumble.”[a]
from the face of the earth,”
declares the Lord.
3 “I will sweep away both man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds in the sky
and the fish in the sea—
and the idols that cause the wicked to stumble.”[a]
“When I destroy all mankind
on the face of the earth,”
declares the Lord,
4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all who live in Jerusalem.
I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in this place,
the very names of the idolatrous priests—
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to worship the starry host,
those who bow down and swear by the Lord
and who also swear by Molek,[b]
6 those who turn back from following the Lord
and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him.”
on the face of the earth,”
declares the Lord,
4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all who live in Jerusalem.
I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in this place,
the very names of the idolatrous priests—
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to worship the starry host,
those who bow down and swear by the Lord
and who also swear by Molek,[b]
6 those who turn back from following the Lord
and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him.”
7 Be silent before the Sovereign Lord,
for the day of the Lord is near.
The Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
he has consecrated those he has invited.
for the day of the Lord is near.
The Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
he has consecrated those he has invited.
8 “On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice
I will punish the officials
and the king’s sons
and all those clad
in foreign clothes.
9 On that day I will punish
all who avoid stepping on the threshold,[c]
who fill the temple of their gods
with violence and deceit.
I will punish the officials
and the king’s sons
and all those clad
in foreign clothes.
9 On that day I will punish
all who avoid stepping on the threshold,[c]
who fill the temple of their gods
with violence and deceit.
10 “On that day,”
declares the Lord,
“a cry will go up from the Fish Gate,
wailing from the New Quarter,
and a loud crash from the hills.
11 Wail, you who live in the market district[d];
all your merchants will be wiped out,
all who trade with[e] silver will be destroyed.
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps
and punish those who are complacent,
who are like wine left on its dregs,
who think, ‘The Lord will do nothing,
either good or bad.’
13 Their wealth will be plundered,
their houses demolished.
Though they build houses,
they will not live in them;
though they plant vineyards,
they will not drink the wine.”
declares the Lord,
“a cry will go up from the Fish Gate,
wailing from the New Quarter,
and a loud crash from the hills.
11 Wail, you who live in the market district[d];
all your merchants will be wiped out,
all who trade with[e] silver will be destroyed.
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps
and punish those who are complacent,
who are like wine left on its dregs,
who think, ‘The Lord will do nothing,
either good or bad.’
13 Their wealth will be plundered,
their houses demolished.
Though they build houses,
they will not live in them;
though they plant vineyards,
they will not drink the wine.”
14 The great day of the Lord is near—
near and coming quickly.
The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter;
the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry.
15 That day will be a day of wrath—
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of trouble and ruin,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness—
16 a day of trumpet and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the corner towers.
near and coming quickly.
The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter;
the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry.
15 That day will be a day of wrath—
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of trouble and ruin,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness—
16 a day of trumpet and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the corner towers.
17 “I will bring such distress on all people
that they will grope about like those who are blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust
and their entrails like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the Lord’s wrath.”
that they will grope about like those who are blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust
and their entrails like dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold
will be able to save them
on the day of the Lord’s wrath.”
In the fire of his jealousy
the whole earth will be consumed,
for he will make a sudden end
of all who live on the earth.
the whole earth will be consumed,
for he will make a sudden end
of all who live on the earth.
a. Zephaniah 1:3 The meaning of the Hebrew for this line is uncertain.
b. Zephaniah 1:5 Hebrew Malkam
c. Zephaniah 1:9 See 1 Samuel 5:5.
d. Zephaniah 1:11 Or the Mortar
e. Zephaniah 1:11 Or in
Bibletrack.org is generally short and sweet. Not this morning.....
There is no question about the theme of Zephaniah; because of Judah's wickedness, they are going to be destroyed. The question arises from the usage of the word "land" by Zephaniah, as in 1:2-3 and 18. Does that mean this judgment of Zephaniah's is world wide? Two Hebrew words are used for "land" in this passage, "adamah" and "erets." They are used interchangeably by Zephaniah, and both are translated in the Old Testament as either "earth" or "land," based upon context. So, here's the question: Is this passage talking about a judgment on the earth at the end of the tribulation or a judgment on the land by the Babylonians from 605 B.C. to the middle of the sixth century? When you look at verses 1:2-3, it seems global - accompanied by complete destruction. However, the references to activities of the remnant/survivors in this book have led many (including myself) to conclude that Zephaniah is probably describing the utter devastation that the Babylonian troops will cause when they ransack the land of Judah/Jerusalem and the surrounding nations on their destructive trek through the land. Jerusalem fell in 586 B.C., and the other surrounding nations fell at various times before and after that year.
Since we have concluded that Zephaniah's prophecy of utter destruction refers directly to the Babylonian attack upon Jerusalem, the "great day of the LORD" of verse 14 looks, not to the Battle of Armageddon at the end of the Tribulation as some have maintained, but rather to the Babylonian event in 586 B.C. (II Kings 24-25). The term "in that day" (Hebrew: yowm) is frequently used in the context of judgment by the Old Testament prophets. It is used to describe a period of time when the judgment takes place, not literally a 24-hour period of time. As a matter of fact, the judgment referred to with the term "day" in chapters 1-2 points, in each instance, to this Babylonian destruction of the regional nations in the sixth and seventh centuries B.C. Prior to the Babylonian onslaught, the Egyptians tromped into Jerusalem. In actuality, the fall of Jerusalem lasted over 20 years at the hands of the Egyptians and then the Babylonians, beginning after the death of King Josiah in 609 B.C. It does injustice to the consistency of the text to interpret some of these "day" references to the Babylonian destruction and others to the yet-future battle of Armageddon found in Revelation 19:11-21. It seems that Zephaniah is certainly applying "that day" to the impending overthrow of the "land" by the Babylonians.
As a side note to these verses, notice verse 5 as Zephaniah is itemizing pagan worship in Judah, "And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops;" It would appear that this prophet is condemning the practice of astrology by the Jews. It is a fact that using the stars as predictors goes back to the Babylonians, as found in Hammurabi's tablets, predating Moses by at least 200 years. Other ancient notations on stone tablets clearly establish a belief that the stars were valid indicators of future events. More extensive collections of astronomical observations and attendant predictions have been found on cuneiform tablets known as the "Enema Anu Enlil" series. They date to sometime between 1350 and 1100 B.C., and seem to have been created for the purpose of summarizing contemporary astrological ideas. Therefore, without question, astrology had existed well over 1,000 years prior to Zephaniah's prophecy here. And...by the way, Zephaniah lists astrology as a form of pagan worship.
Verse 5 is interesting in another aspect as well - the mixing of worship of the one true God with paganism. Notice the last part of that verse 5, "them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham." In that verse, "Malcham" is the same as "Molech." You will recall that Molech is the god to which the pagans (and sometimes the Israelites) worshipped by sacrificing their children on his altar. Leviticus 20 deals harshly with the issue of Molech worship where it is stated in verse 2, "Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones." Well...here's a news flash: Here they are being indicted for the sinful practice of mixing the two (worship of God and Molech), even though they were so mutually exclusive to one another.
And finally.... this is from enduringword.com.I will cut off every trace of Baal: King Josiah inherited a corrupt nation from his father Amon and grandfather Manasseh, a nation almost wholly given over to idolatry (2 Kings 21:3-7). Here God announced judgment against the idol worshippers in Israel. Apparently both the leadership and the people heeded this announcement of judgment, because in the days of Josiah this kind of gross idolatry was put away (2 Kings 23:4-15).
In light of the complete uprooting of idolatry described in 2 Kings 23, we can see that God’s promise to cut off every trace of Baal and destroy the rest of the expressions of idolatry was fulfilled. We also see that this prophecy was an invitation, as if God said: “Baal and the idols are going to go. You can get rid of them in righteousness or I will get rid of them in judgment, but rest assured that they are going to go.” King Josiah directed the war on idolatry and the nation was blessed.
The LORD will not do good, nor will He do evil: Some people believe in God as a great “clockmaker” who created the universe, wound it up and then left it ticking without any further intervention from Him. Those who believe there is no God, or if He is He has nothing to do with man are terribly and tragically wrong.
Edward Gibbon in his book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire described the attitude towards religion in the last days of the Roman Empire – attitudes remarkably like our own today.
- The people regarded all religions as equally true.
- The philosophers regarded all religions as equally false.
- The politicians regarded all religions as equally useful.
The God I have been reading about is very much alive and very much involved even today.... when the churches are closed not because of snow or wind.... but because humans are making humans sick.
When I read the commentary from the enduringword.com site this morning.... the discussion of the "clockmaker" god got to me. I know a lot of people who think God isn't around anymore. I know a lot of people who think there is no god. I know a lot of people [preachers included] who think church is a business and they are there to keep the church full of pretty little baubles and coins. I know a lot of people who think church is for only those who conform to their view of life. I know a lot of people who think God has given up and gone.
The first thought I had this morning will be the last thought I post this morning.
Exodus 34:14 Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
