One Day We Live In Peace, Free From Enemies, Without Fear (Zephaniah 3:1-13) Series

When we read prophetic books, a lot of times, it's like reading a collection of sermons or a hymn book. If you strung together all of your pastor's sermons that he gave over the past year, and then read them all as a single message, they wouldn't make sense, right? He addresses different topics; some messages are encouraging, and others are scary. Some messages are designed to stand by themselves; others are part of a larger series and assume knowledge (preunderstanding) on your part.

I think Zephaniah 1-2 is supposed to be read, basically, as a single message (with Zephaniah 2:1-4 serving as a hinge of sorts). But when we get to chapter 3, we are supposed to read this as a distinctive message. It's related to chapters 1-2, but it's not directly connected. Maybe, we can think of it as moving from one Christmas song to another.

In chapter 3, Yahweh/the prophet are directly addressing the city of Jerusalem. Zephaniah starts by getting her attention:

(1) Hey!, rebellious and defiled one!;

the oppressing city.

(2) She hasn't heeded the voice;

She hasn't accepted discipline.

In Yahweh she hasn't trusted;

To her Elohim/God she hasn't drawn near.

One of the jokes people used to play in my junior high, was calling out an insult, and seeing who turned around. "Hey Stupid!" And if you were walking away from them, or doing something else, you had to resist the urge to look up, and avoid claiming that title as your own.

Zephaniah here calls out to Jerusalem, calling out to her with names she shouldn't like. She's rebellious, and defiled, and oppressive. She hasn't heeded Yahweh's voice-- neither his prophets, nor the book of Moses. She hasn't accepted discipline, when Yahweh has tried to correct her and bring her back to living how she should. In Yahweh she hasn't trusted; to her elohim she hasn't drawn near.

In short, she's done every single thing wrong, and Yahweh/Zephaniah rebukes her for that, hard.

This is the kind of message no one wants to hear, or admit is true. No one wants to be the junior higher who looks up, and claims these titles.

And that's as true for us, as it was for them. We read these words, and we think, "Jerusalem sure was wicked." But we have to force ourselves to consider, whether these words may be true for us as well. Are these our sins? Are we rebellious, and defiled?

In verses 3-4, Zephaniah moves from criticizing the city as a whole, to her leaders, specifically:

(3) Her officials in her midst are roaring lions;

Her exercisers of authority are the wolves of the evening.

They don't leave [anything?] for the morning.

Usually, a city or country's leaders are very careful to present themselves to their people in a flattering light. But every once in a while, some politician talks into a hot microphone, or gets caught by a hidden camera, and they are accidentally honest. They say what they really think about someone or something. And then it goes viral, and they have to try to do damage control and say they were taken out of context.

Jerusalem's leaders may say all the right things, but how do they really view the people they govern?

They view them as prey-- as people they can hunt, and feed on. The people are theirs, to use how they see fit.

And there's a sense in which this is usually how it works, right? Leaders "take" (1 Samuel 8:11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17). It's what they do.

But Jerusalem's leaders here are exceptional in this regard. Most leaders instinctively understand that you have to hold back from taking everything you want. You have to leave the people enough, that they are still motivated to work, and produce. People won't work, if they get nothing for their toil. Take too much, and people will leave (see IL; NY; NJ; CA).

These leaders, though? They leave nothing for the next day. Devour it all today, and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

In verse 4, Zephaniah goes on to criticize city's religious leadership-- her prophets, and her priests:

(4) Her prophets are boastful/reckless/undisciplined;

unfaithful people.

Her priests have polluted the sanctuary;

They have done violence to the Torah/Instruction.

So probably, a "reckless" prophet is one who pretends that he has a word from Yahweh, and gives an oracle simply from himself. They stand up, and announce, "God says, "X."" But God didn't actually say anything like that. They are just making stuff up.

Priests have a responsibility to make sure people are worshipping God correctly. And, they are the ones responsible for teaching the people what God wants from them.

These priests, though, do neither of these things.

And so what we see, in verses 1-4, is a total breakdown in society. At every level of government, Jerusalem is led by wicked, oppressive men.