Zephaniah
Twelve Minor Prophets With Major Life Lessons (Series)
Historical setting:
Zephaniah served during the last decades of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. (2 Kings 22-23)
The same time that king Josiah tried to turn things around by restoring the temple and destroying idols, so that the people would only worship the one true God.
But Israel was so committed to worshiping idols and false gods, they just couldn’t let go of their idolatry.
King Josiah’s pride led to his death on the battlefield, and Jerusalem straight into Babylon’s stronghold. (2 Chronicles 35:20-25) Zephaniah had been warning the leaders of Jerusalem that all this would happen if they didn’t repent.
Zephaniah 1-2:3 God’s judgment on Jerusalem.
The complete reversal of the beginning of Genesis. God’s good and ordered world will fall back into darkness and chaos.
Zephaniah is using these images to show how Jerusalem’s world will end at God’s hand. A great army is coming to destroy Jerusalem.
In Zephaniah 2:1-3 God promises hope for the remnant that will repent and seek the Lord.
Zephaniah 2:4-3:8 The Day of the Lord’s judgment on the Nations and Jerusalem. The Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and the Assyrians, are all guilty of violence, corruption and evil. They will all fall before Babylon. Zephaniah 3:1-8 Includes the fall of the Israelites in Jerusalem.
The priests, prophets, and leaders are all so evil, corrupt, and violent, that God doesn’t recognize His own people.
God will judge them all.
This consuming fire of indignation that will destroy evil in the land is not destroy but to purify all the nations.
Zephaniah 3:9-20 Hope for the nations and for Jerusalem. God’s justice opens up God’s love.
God will transform the broken nations into a unified family. Zephaniah 3:9: Then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord & serve him shoulder to shoulder.
The book ends with the promise and a poem, that God will restore Jerusalem. He will be with the faithful remnant that will be transformed by God’s mercy.
Zephaniah has powerful images of God’s justice and love. Justice: He will rescue His world from evil and violence. Love: He’ll create a safe and peaceful word for His family. Have you made the choice to be a part of His family?
