Zephaniah, The Lord rejoices over the humble and meek!
Read: Zephaniah 3:14-20
As we continue into the Deep Dive into scripture we have, well you have been diving into more of the minor prophets, the last time I was here on a Sunday was when I preached on Micah. I only made it today by the hair of my teeth. I was meant to be home on Monday night, but my sailing was cancelled, and I couldn’t get home until late last night.
The thing is that things don’t always go according to plan. However, if we look into the book of Zephaniah the ninth of the minor prophets, we see that God has a plan, humans are doing things according more than often according to their plans, but they don’t always line up with God’s. Hence God gives them a heads up at the time of Zephaniah, the latter part of the seventh century BC, that he’s going to intervene. It interests me that this book is similar in some respects to the message I brought from Micah, who was alive the century before along with Isaiah, Amos and Hosea.
The central theme is that “The Day of The Lord” is coming.
Also, like Micah, the people were in for a shake up of Biblical proportions due to their behaviour, how quickly they forgot the past and what happened to their not to distant ancestors. Also tied into this prophecy are the things that occurred within ten to twenty year period, under young King Josiah. Being:
That the Book of Law was re-discovered in the temple around 621 BC, most likely being what we know as the OT book of Deuteronomy. This has a major impact on Josiah and his kingdom as he:
- Destroyed idols and places of the worship of minor gods
- He restored the Passover
- Led a national covenant renewal for the people of Judah and encouraged hid citizens to do this also
There are only three chapters to the book of Zephaniah, no doubt this also had an effect on King Josiah’s thinking and rule. Lets look at the book!
The first chapter of Zephaniah is what I would call in my understanding an oracle of coming Doom, the Lord declares a sweeping away of everything from the face of the earth, his hand stretched out against Judah. The remnant of Baal worship will be cutoff, pagan and idolatrous priests, idol worshippers, false worshippers of God and those who turn back from worshipping Him and don’t enquire of Him, royals and conceded people will be punished, those whose worship is a sacrifice of violence and deceit to their gods. The economy will collapse also. The people will build homes and plant vineyards but never get to enjoy the fruit of their labour. It appears a great takeover is coming as verse 14 of chapter 1 says “The great day of the Lord is near-near and coming quickly. Listen! The cry on the day of the Lord will be bitter, the shouting of the warrior there.” A bit like me saying “You think last week’s storm was a doozy (high winds and 10x a month’s rain in one day), it was a gentle breeze compared what was lined up for the people of Judah.”
One of the things God does faithfully in scripture and life, is that he warns his people, he lets them know their living is not up to scratch, that their sins have outcomes that will be hard to bear, destructive if not fatal. How often after a warning in scripture do we read verses like, though not exactly the same as the first three of chapter 2: “Gather together, gather together, o shameful nation, before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the day of the Lords wrath comes upon you. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility, perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.
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After this there is also a heads up for the neighbouring territories, the Philistines, Kerethites, Moabites, Ammonites are warned that the remnant of Judah will takeover their land. Things are looking good for Judah, not so flash for their neighbours.
Most of the plundering described in Zephaniah 2:4–12 occurred during the Babylonian campaigns, aka Babylon was the instrument of this occurring between 604–597 BC, especially affecting the Philistine cities:
• Ashkelon destroyed in 604 BC
• Gaza likely taken between 601–597 BC
• Ashdod and Ekron destroyed in the late 7th century BC
• Cush, being Ethiopia and Sudan received a warning, it is thought there is not a recorded historical outcome for them. That is not to say their existence has been without troubles. We all know of recent wars and famine.
For Moab and Ammon, the search material states that their predicted destruction has not yet taken place historically and is viewed by some as a future occurrence, or like Assyrian City of Nineveh in the time of Jonah, did they repent?
Chapter three contains something of the presence of the Lord with his people contained in a message to Jerusalem, a city that it appears from the start of the chapter to be ‘out of sorts’ with how God wants his people to live. What is described here is that God is looking at a humble remanent of his people who will live as his expectations have been for his people all along. Zephaniah says it like this:
Therefore wait for me,”
declares the LORD,
“for the day I will stand up to testify.[a]
I have decided to assemble the nations,
to gather the kingdoms
and to pour out my wrath on them—
all my fierce anger.
The whole world will be consumed
by the fire of my jealous anger.
Restoration of Israel’s Remnant
9 “Then I will purify the lips of the peoples,
that all of them may call on the name of the LORD
and serve him shoulder to shoulder.
10 From beyond the rivers of Cush
my worshipers, my scattered people,
will bring me offerings.
11 On that day you, Jerusalem, will not be put to shame
for all the wrongs you have done to me,
because I will remove from you
your arrogant boasters.
Never again will you be haughty
on my holy hill.
12 But I will leave within you
the meek and humble.
The remnant of Israel
will trust in the name of the LORD.
13 They will do no wrong;
they will tell no lies.
A deceitful tongue
will not be found in their mouths.
They will eat and lie down
and no one will make them afraid.” (Zephaniah 3:8-13)
This passage is directed at describing the type of people that our Lord wants us to be, those who serve, the Lord and one another shoulder to shoulder. A humble people. Humble; humility is an interesting thing, the opposite of proud. Knowing your abilities but acknowledging that they are God given, using them for the good of all and God’s purposes. Meek: knowing that you are strong, perhaps even having the ability to be destructive if not for the control that you have given over to God in your life (You the horse, Him the rider). Choosing to serve rather than chasing the cravings of the flesh, the things of this world that lead to inferior outcomes than what God’s presence, The Holy Spirit in your life will bring.
To sum this up there was a forecast from Zephaniah. A time was coming and it appeared under Josiah’s rule fairly soon, when God would bring into being for Judah and with it the Holy city of Jerusalem an age of restoration of his people in which their hearts would be seeking after Him and His way. Religious observances that had been a burden would be removed, he would rescue the lame, he will bring home his people from places where they were put to shame as Chapter 3:16-17 declare:
“On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let our hands hang limp. The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
As we live for Christ Jesus, as people of His gospel, we too know God with us, Mighty to save, he saved us through His own righteous acts. He does delight in us and as we live in His will he rejoices over us as we live humbly as a reflection of His love, not just for ourselves but that others may see our witness, our testimony of being found alive in Christ. His rejoices over us with singing.
