Learning from Zephaniah
1 The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. (Zephaniah 1:1)
The prophetic books focus more on the message than on the messenger this was never more true than.with Zephaniah. We know very little about him. The only biographical details are in verse 1 of -chapter 1, where we are told his name and his genealogy.
The name Zephaniah in Hebrew this is Sephenjah, which means 'hidden God-' . It is uncertain whether this means God had hidden himself or if Zepheniah had. been hidden by God.
His genealogy gives us a clue, •for he is .the- only prophet who traces his ancestry back four generations. Hezekiah, the last 'good' king of Judah, was his great grandfather. So Zephaniah was of royal blood. During Manasseh's reign, royal offspring were being sacrificed to the god Molech under- the king's direction, so it is one commentator's theory that Zephaniah was hidden by-,his mother so that he would avoid the slaughter. Hence his very name is a reflection of Gods preservation of him to be a prophet for the people. The genealogy gives us the era in which he lived and preached. Since the time of Hezekiah, the nation had drifted away from God. In addition to child sacrifice and the worship of Molech, Manasseh reinstated the phallic symbols and asherah poles on the high ground and encouraged the people to go back to the fertility cults, with their sexual overtones. The site for child sacrifice was Gehenna, a valley just south of Jerusalem, cursed by Jeremiah and used as a picture of hell by Jesus.
Throughout the early years of Manasseh’s reign Isaiah tried to stop the decline in national morality and warned Manasseh of the dire consequences of his evil ways. But the king refused to listen and forbade Isaiah to preach, so that he had to write down his prophecies and circulate them in written form. Eventually Manasseh ordered Isaiah’s execution.
That wasn’t all, for Manasseh was also involved with astrology and spiritualist mediums, in further defiance of the Law of God. This spiritual confusion led to moral chaos, for idolatry always leads to immorality. God’s verdict on Manasseh in 2 Chronicles was that he was more evil than the original Canaanites. This is a staggering statement, given that God had instructed his people to expel the Canaanites because of their corrupt lives. So we can imagine how God felt at this point. He had removed the evil Canaanites to make room for his holy people, and now they were worse than the people they had replaced.
Manasseh died after reigning for 55 years and was succeeded by Amon, a very weak character who did nothing to put the situation right, and Judah continued to slide. Amon was assassinated after only two years on the throne. The whole nation was in moral chaos.
Then an eight-year-old boy 11 named Josiah became king, though the real ruler in the early years was Hilkiah, the High Priest. With good and bad kings in his family tree, it was not clear who this boy king would follow: Hezekiah, his great grandfather, or Manasseh ,his grandfather.
So God sent Zephaniah the prophet to prevent the nation from being exiled for their sin, as their northern brothers had been.
The voice of prophecy had been silent for 70 years. Ever since the death of Hezekiah and the murder of Isaiah there had been no word from God. So Zephaniah spoke into a vacuum with a very strong message.
The prophecy has been called the compendium of all prophecy, because it includes so many elements also found in other prophets’ work. His whole message revolved around the ‘Day of the Lord’, which is mentioned 23 times in the prophecy.
For example:
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice
and consecrated his guests.
8 And on the day of the Lord's sacrifice—
“I will punish the officials and the king's sons
(Zephaniah 1:8-8)
This ‘Day’ is not a 24-hour period but means an era of time, as in ‘the day of the horse and cart’. It was the day of God’s judgement, of putting things right; the day of the vindication of righteousness, when wrongs were righted and wickedness was punished.
There is a parallel in the English calendar. Historically, there are four quarter days for settling accounts: Lady Day (25 March), Midsummer Day (24 June), Michaelmas Day (29 September) and Christmas Day (25 December).
All accounts were examined, audited and settled, and fraud was punished. They give us a picture of the Day of the Lord.
Zephaniah uses an interesting word to describe God’s emotions. He says that God is ‘irritated’, though with none of the selfish petulance that humans exhibit. The Day of the Lord is the day when God has had enough and his anger boils over.
There are two sorts of anger in the Bible. One is the inner anger that a person keeps inside and doesn’t let out. It simmers away and is not obvious to other people. The other is the anger that erupts suddenly so that everyone knows.
So it is this inner anger that is demonstrated in the Book of Zephaniah. The prophet is saying that God’s anger is simmering now, and the day of wrath will come, when God can’t hold it in any longer.
Although simmering anger is often missed, the signs that God is angry can be seen. The symptoms of the simmering are there for all to see in a society going downhill.
Paul talks about this anger in Romans 1. But one day God’s anger is going to boil over. We must put off this day by repenting and getting things put right. This is one of the themes of the prophecy.
We are left with one question about Zephaniah. Was Zephaniah’s prophecy effective? Did Josiah take any notice? Josiah came to the throne at the age of eight in 640 BC and reigned for 31 years.
At first he was heavily influenced by the High Priest, Hilkiah, who tended to keep the status quo, but then he began to be influenced by Zephaniah. At the age of 16 he destroyed the altars in Jerusalem. At the age of 20 he ordered all the pagan altars to be destroyed throughout the whole country. At the age of 28 he noticed that the Temple of God was in bad repair and so he ordered it to be put right.
While they did this, someone found a copy of the Law of Moses in an old, dusty cupboard. They realized that they hadn’t been studying it or reading it for years. When Josiah read it, he was horrified. He realized why God was warning them. So at the age of 28 he ordered the Law to be read again and carried out throughout the nation.
So the signs up to this point were good. But Josiah didn’t realize that you can’t make people good by an Act of Parliament. Many people today think that if only our government would pass good laws, then people would behave in a Christian way. But righteousness can’t be imposed from above – it must be expressed from within, as God works in the human heart. Josiah’s life ended following an ill-advised attack on the Egyptian army, who were passing through the Holy Land to attack Assyria. He was killed in the ensuing battle, despite being in disguise.
So while having some influence, Zephaniah failed to turn the nation around. The people didn’t listen. But his work was not wasted. There was a young man the same age as Josiah whom God told to pick up the prophetic burden. Jeremiah was charged with telling the people that the reform wasn’t working and they needed to return to God.
Making use of Zephaniah
The key application for the believer today concerns judgement
(a) The Day of Judgement for the whole world will come after death. Judah’s condemnation is a foretaste and foreshadowing of what will happen to the world. Jesus twice alludes to Zephaniah in connection with the Second Coming (see Matthew 13:34 and Zephaniah 1:3; Matthew 24:29 and Zephaniah 1:15). So most people will face God’s wrath after Jesus returns.
(b) The Day of Judgement for God’s people will come before it does for other people. 1 Peter 4:17 reads: ‘For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?’ Zephaniah is a powerful reminder for Christians that they should expect God’s discipline, but not lose heart. Discipline in this life is a sign of God’s care and assures us that we won’t be judged along with the world.
Zephaniah and Revelation In closing, we must also note the remarkable correlation between the prophet Zephaniah and the outline of the Book of Revelation. Both Zephaniah and Revelation start with judgement on God’s people – Israel and the Church respectively.
Since Zephaniah correlates so closely with Revelation I thought it would be good to finsh by looking at seven eschatological core values. This is important since our view of the end times can be a deciding factor in how we live our lives.
1. I will not embrace an end-time worldview that re-empowers a disempowered devil.
2. I will not accept an eschatology that takes away my children’s future, and creates mindsets that undermine the mentality of leaving a legacy.
3. I will not tolerate any theology that sabotages the clear command of Jesus to make disciples of all nations and the Lord’s Prayer that earth would be like heaven.
4. I will not allow any interpretation of the scriptures that destroys hope for the nations and undermines our command to restore ruined cities.
5. I will not embrace an eschatology that changes the nature of a good God.
6. I refuse to embrace any mindset that celebrates bad news as a sign of the times and a necessary requirement for the return of Jesus.
7. I am opposed to any doctrinal position that pushes the promises of God into a time zone that can’t be obtained in my generation and therefore takes away any responsibility I have to believe God for them in my lifetime.
Questions
Josiah had a mixed heritage. His Grandfather (Manesseh) was not a great King, but his Great Grandfather (Hezekiah) was a Godly leader. Thankfully he chose to follow Hezekiah’s way and make Godly choices. What is your heritage like? The good news is that you have a choice to choose a Godly way forward.
One of the first things Josiah did was get rid of alters in high places and challenge the people to get rid of the idols in their lives. What idols do you have in your life? If people could see your diary and how you spend your money what would it show? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you one area to work on (don’t be overwhelmed. God convicts us with one thing at a time. He does not overwhelm us with condemnation). He will show you if you ask him. Or ask a good friend if they have noticed any idols in your life.
At the end of the talk Rory highlighted how Revelation and Zepheniah are very similar in their structure. He briefly touched on Eschatology (the part of theology concerned with death, judgement, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind). He shared some statements about this complex topic. Reflect on them and pray for the future of KIC Lubowa, Uganda and the world as a whole.
