"The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah." - Zep 1:1
Zephaniah - Introduction
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Greetings and welcome back!... we trust everyone had a restful and enjoyable 4th of July weekend..... we took a break as well and are back with our next "minor" prophet... Zephaniah.
Nahum and Jonah, are fairly unique, they are depicted as prophets to "the nations" , because they were sent -from Israel to speak to the Assyrians at Nineveh, not to the jewish population. In contrast, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Joel and Habbakuk prophesied during the reign of king Josiah, around 639 BC, and their messages were for the people of Judah!
Unlike Nahum, Joel, & Habbakuk ... Zephaniah has a formal pedigree, given to us in V1.
Cushi is a name derived from Cush, the first born son of Ham from Noah, and ancestor of the Cushites (Genesis 10:6-8, 1 Chronicles 1:8-10). The name appears again in Jeremiah 36:14, referring to an ancestor of Jehudi, who brought the scroll of Jeremiahs prophecies to Jehoiakim, king of Judah (This was after Zephaniahs time). The name also appears in Psalm 7, this time referring to a Benjamite named Cush, an enemy of David.Lastly, In 2 Sam 18:21, David's general sends a man named Cushi to go bear tidings of Absalom's death.
It is an interesting exception in a verse that otherwise connnects all names to God... (though the "ah" names are fairly common).
Gedaliah : "Jah has become great"
Amariah : " "Jah has said/promised"
Hizkiah : " Strengthened of Jah"
Zephaniah : "Jah has secreted/hidden"
Josiah : "founded of Jah"
The pedigree is silent as to whether Zephaniah was a formal prophet/priest serving in temple, and as to why the message of the LORD came to him. (It also came to Joel, Jeremiah, Nahum, & Habbakuk who lived in the same general timespan )... the LORD confirming His Word through many channels.... Judah must repent or go into captivity, and a day is coming that will try everyone!
It's not a cheerful message is it?
"I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.
I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;
And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; ---and them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham---; And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him. "
- Zep 1:2-6
How would YOU react to a preacher/prophet saying that your country/nation is going to be brought to its knees?
Naturally you would ask why.... and the answer is in the passage itself. The people have turned away from their God and have deposited their faith into idols.
They are worshipping the stars of heaven, Malcham, Baal, Chemarims (idolatrous ascetic priests), those that have turned their backs upon the LORD, and those that have not even bothered to seek the LORD or ask about His will for their lives.
This is a pattern repeated in the history of Israel and Judah, but also in the greater arc of mankind, and the prophet Zephaniahs words foreshadow a day of reckoning for ALL flesh, (even birds, fish and animals are not spared) …. to those that have read our series on the book of Revelation (available at our website, & linked from the pinned post at the top of this Page), this will be very familiar.
And as the names we have listed also foretell, this purpose of the LORD will not be thwarted unless the land/people beg for mercy and repent.
The prophet Isaiah refers to this in his oracle against Assyria...
"The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.
This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? " -- Isaiah 14:24-26
The most unique element in the Bible is prophecy. No other book dares foretell the future, for no other author knows it!
Yet, the LORD has seen the end from the beginning, and these are His efforts to reconcile mankind to Himself -- through reproof and rebuke, through chastisement and humbling, through captivity... till the people turn back to Him as their true refuge!
The book of Zephaniah, like the other prophets we have studied, contains prophecy that was literally fulfilled by the Babylonian empire who came to ransack Israel... but it goes out further, and we shall see that, God willing, in the weeks to come!
Hallelujah!