Zephaniah

Richard Belcher examines the Book of Zephaniah, focusing on themes from chapters 1–3. He explores God’s judgment and the promise of restoration, emphasizing the need for repentance and renewal among God’s people. Belcher addresses how these messages apply to contemporary faith and the assurance of God’s mercy towards those who turn back to Him.

The following unedited transcript is provided by Beluga AI.

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This audio lecture is brought to you by RTs on iTunes U at the virtual campus of Reformed Theological Seminary. To listen to other lectures and to access additional resources, please visit us at itunes.rts.edu. For additional information on how to take distance education courses for credit towards a fully accredited Master of Arts in Religion degree, please visit our website at virtual.rts.edu. Find the book of Zephaniah, make a comment about the prophet; that’s where we start in our notes, I believe.

And then we need to fill in a little bit of the historical situation related to Zephaniah. If you have your Bibles open, you notice Zephaniah 1:1 has a fairly lengthy genealogy, or son of, son of, son of, lengthy compared to other prophets.

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, ESV)

So, this lengthy genealogy takes Zephaniah back to Hezekiah, probably the Hezekiah who was the king of the southern kingdom, fairly good king of the southern kingdom. So, there may be a lengthy genealogy, the purpose of it may be to connect Zephaniah with Hezekiah, a theological tie to the piety perhaps of that particular king. Now, to fill in some of the historical background, it’s good, especially when you get to about 800 BC, you can think in terms of centuries fairly easily.

Now, this first part may not be in your notes, but if you think of from 800 to 700. So we’re going to review a little history that we’ve already covered. you’ve got Jeroboam II and Uzziah, both who reign for 50 years or more. Northern kingdom, southern kingdom. So that’s half of that century. Of course, after Jeroboam II, you have a quick decline of the northern kingdom in 722, and that’s when the northern kingdom falls. In terms of the southern kingdom, you basically have Uzziah, Ahaz, we talked about him and then Hezekiah.

And with Ahaz, 734 was a key date. That was the coalition of the northern kingdom and Syria that came against Ahaz. In fact, if you check your outline document, where I’ve given you all the outlines for the prophets, at the very end of that document, there is a list of key dates, and these key dates will show up again on the final for sure. So there’s a list of key dates that you’re going to have to know for the final. What happened at that date and then the significance of that date.

Now, we’re still pretty far removed from the final, so I’ll try to remind you of that. But these two are two key dates. I think it starts with 931 being a key date, the division of the kingdom. And then these two are also key dates that you need to be aware of. Now, the major power at this time is AssYria. No major power at the beginning of this century, but AssYria rises as a major power. And we’ve talked about some of the assyrian kings. Sennacherib was the one who surrounded Babylon in 701.

That might be another one of those key dates, the siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib and the miraculous deliverance of God, 701. And so it is helpful, and it’s fairly easy once you get to 800 to think in terms of centuries. So 800 to 700, because you’ve got two major kings here. And then these are some of the major events that take place. It’s not that hard to sort of get them up into your thinking. Then when you come from 700 to 600, you can do the same thing.

And when you talk about the major players on the international scene, you have Assyria and Babylon. Assyria comes to the height of her power in 627 and then begins to decline. And Nineveh falls in 612. Now, I have in your notes some of the kings of Assyria, beginning with Sennacherib that we’ve already mentioned. Esarhaddon is also mentioned in your notes. And then Ashurbanipal is the king who brings Assyria to the height of her power. Now, what’s going on all through this time is you have Assyria and Babylon vying for power.

And Babylon is sort of like a gnat, more powerful than a gnat, but a pest, always causing trouble for Assyria. Ashurbanipal brings Babylon under control, but expends so much energy and resources to bring Babylon under control that he leaves Assyria in a very weak position. So when Ashurbanipal is gone, Assyria declines. And 612, as we will talk about later, is the fall of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. Babylon is the nation that becomes powerful at the end of this century. Nabopolassar is the first major Babylonian king, powerful Babylonian king who revolts against Assyria.

And then Nebuchadnezzar follows him. And you’ve heard of Nebuchadnezzar. So those are the major players in this 700 to 600. Of course, Babylon continues beyond 600, obviously, and has implications for Jerusalem and Judah. Judah falls in 587. So those are the major players on the international scene. And we’re just sort of going down to 600 here because the three prophets we’re going to talk about the rest of today are going to fit into this time period. Now, we need to come back and talk briefly about the kings of Judah during this time.

And I think what we’ll do is we’ll take a break here and then come back, talk about the kings of Judah, and then set the prophecy of Zephaniah within that context. And then we’ll get into the book of Zephaniah. So let’s go ahead and take about a ten minute break, then we’ll pick this up. All right, let’s get started. Again, we’re talking about the historical background of Zephaniah, trying to fill in some of the history, because with Isaiah, at least the prophet Isaiah, this period here is when his prophetic ministry came to an end.

And so we’re trying to fill in some of the history before we come to Zephaniah. In terms of the kings of Judah, you obviously have Hezekiah and then the major king. You really have three major kings in the period between 700, 600. Hezekiah, Manasseh and then Josiah. Those are the three major kings. Of course, Hezekiah is not. His reign ends fairly quickly because he’s coming to an end. But he was a good king.

Manasseh, on the other hand, is a very wicked king for most of his reign, and it’s his refusal to heed the warnings of the prophets that led to his own exile to Babylon. Manasseh was taken to Babylon for a period. He was brought back to Judah, and there was a mini reformation that took place when Manasseh was brought back. But the wickedness of Manasseh early on in his reign sort of set the stage in the prophecy for the fall of the southern kingdom.

And you have prophecies related to the fall of the southern kingdom because of the apostasy of Manasseh. However, he did have this period of repentance. But when Manasseh died, his son Ammonia went right back to the ways of apostasy. Ammon only lived or reigned a couple of years. Pardon? That’s right. And then that leads us to Josiah. And what Josiah is known for is his widespread religious Reformation. This reformation entailed the removal of false worship and the restoration of true worship. And this reformation came in stages.

Early reforms were begun in 628, the 12th year of his reign. So 628, it’s not a key date on our list, but it’s an important date. That’s when some of his reformations begin. We’ll not circle it, since it’s not a key date, but it is an important date. But then his religious reformation is spurred on by something that happens in 621, and 621 is a key date. You have the discovery of the book of the law in the temple.

Helkiah, the priest, is overseeing the repair of the temple, the cleaning out of the temple, and they discover a scroll. Now, you wonder, how did they lose it? Well, it’s not that far fetched. During the apostasy of Manasseh, you can imagine priests hiding scrolls, hiding the word of God. Otherwise they may have been destroyed. The tradition is that Isaiah lost his life during the early part of Manasseh’s reign. So it was a period of apostasy, a period where you could imagine scrolls being hidden.

And with this religious reformation, they’re now cleaning out the temple, trying to restore the temple to its original God-given purpose. And they come across this scroll and they bring it to Josiah, and they read it to him. And you can imagine if this is Deuteronomy. And most scholars believe that this is the book of Deuteronomy, or portions of Deuteronomy. Now, the critical scholars say that this book was manufactured in order to support the reforms of Josiah. So somebody manufactured this scroll to support the reforms of Josiah.

The conservative position is that this is the book of Deuteronomy that came from Moses, that was lost during the apostasy of Manasseh, now found, and it’s brought and read to Josiah. You can imagine reading the blessings section and the cursing section of Deuteronomy to King Josiah. And of course, he tears his robes, God’s judgment against the sins of his people. And he inquires, what is the meaning of this? And he inquires of Huldah the prophetess. And she responds, judgment is going to come.

But because you, Josiah, have turned to the Lord, judgment will not come until after your life. And there follows a ceremony of covenant renewal and the celebration of the Passover, a great time of religious renewal and celebration. And it’s the discovery of the Book of the Law that spurs on this reformation of Josiah. In fact, if you read, there’s a section of Kings that talks about Josiah’s reign. There’s a whole chapter given over, almost the whole chapter into what he took away, what he removed.

And it shows you how entrenched idolatry in false worship was in the southern kingdom of Judah. So this was quite a major reformation and a reformation of worship that took place during Josiah’s reign. So 621 is a key date, the discovery of the book of the law. And when you think of these key dates, you think of the significance of it. It spurred on, encouraged, helped the reformation movement of Josiah. Now that brings us to Zephaniah’s prophecy.

So we go from Isaiah, who was back here, and then the next prophet we’re going to talk about is Zephaniah, and key events that take place with Josiah. Now the question related to Zephaniah’s prophecy is whether his prophecy comes before 621 or whether his book, his prophecies come after 621. In other words, does it come before the discovery of the Book of the law, which spurs on the reformation, or does the Book of Zephaniah come after the discovery of the Book of the law?

Some argue that it comes before the discovery of the book of the law. The reasoning in this view is that the book mentions some of the evil practices that were going on within the nation. And the mentioning of these evil practices leads some people to conclude that the reformation had not yet taken hold. And so they argue that the Book of Zephaniah must have come before the discovery of the book of the law. Others argue that the Book of Zephaniah comes after the discovery of the book of the law.

Whenever you have some kind of religious movement and reformation like you have in Zephaniah’s day, it does not become widespread immediately. It comes in stages. And so, just because a reformation was in process doesn’t mean that the whole kingdom was affected. So, you might still have places where these evil practices are taking place. The strongest evidence that Zephaniah comes after the discovery of the book of the law is the connections you find in Zephaniah with the Mosaic covenant, the book of Deuteronomy. And I have some examples.

I don’t think these made your notes, but these come from Robertson’s commentary. Old Palmer Robertson, probably familiar with that name, his commentary in the Nicot series on, he’s got several books, Zephaniah Habakkuk, that may be the two books. He may have another book in there, but he shows in the introduction to his commentary the close connection between Zephaniah and Deuteronomy, for example. I’ll just give you a couple of examples here. Zephaniah 1:13: They shall build houses, they shall not dwell in them. Deuteronomy 28:30, a house you shall build, you shall not dwell in it.

So you have Zephaniah 1:13 and Deuteronomy 28:30 almost identical.

³⁰ You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit. (Deuteronomy 28:30, ESV)

¹³ Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.” (Zephaniah 1:13, ESV)

In Zephaniah 1:13, they shall plant vineyards, but they shall not drink their wine. That is a reflection of Deuteronomy 28:39, vineyards you shall plant and you shall serve, but their wine you shall not drink, nor shall you glean.

³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. (Deuteronomy 28:39, ESV)

So again, you have a statement in Deuteronomy that is virtually repeated in Zephaniah. Zephaniah 1:17, just to give another example, they shall walk as blind men. Deuteronomy 28:29, you shall be groping as a blind man gropes.

Zephaniah picks up on the covenant curses of Deuteronomy 28 and uses that to encourage God’s people in this reform movement that’s going on to do the right thing, to be on the right side, to join in this reform effort. And because there’s this, and I could give you more examples, it’s Robertson’s commentary, pages 254-255, if you want to check this out yourself. O. Palmer Robertson, NICOT series. It’s because of this close relationship that I think Zephaniah comes after the discovery of the book of the law.

And Zephaniah is taking those sections of Deuteronomy that have been read to Josiah, and he is using those sections to help encourage the support of the reform that is going on under Josiah. So because of those close connections, it makes sense that Zephaniah comes after this discovery. Yes. In that position, what do you do with Nineveh in chapter two? That was one of the points that I think Irene made about, well, if the book of Zephaniah comes from this period, and then it falls in 612, I don’t see necessarily that there is a problem.

Now, if Zephaniah is representing Nineveh as still being strong, which Nahum does, then the argument might be better that it’s before 627. And I think Nahum does come before 627 because of a statement in the Book of Nahum. But otherwise, I don’t think there’s a major problem here. There’s not a chronological problem, but that’s a good question. Those things you kind of sort of have to fit into the picture. 621. Some say 622. You might find both of those dates in terms of dates. Does that remind you of anything?

721, 722, the fall of the northern kingdom. Interesting that this reform movement takes place close to the 100th anniversary of the fall of the northern kingdom, raising the question as to whether Judah will survive. The northern kingdom fell; why not Judah? And this reformation certainly has a role to play in putting off the judgment of God against Judah. But as we’ll see when we get into Jeremiah, a lot of people in the southern kingdom did not believe that God would destroy his people.

The southern kingdom, the temple, and all that will come later. But this is an interesting date. All right. The message of Zephaniah, and if on your profiles, you have Zephaniah before the discovery of, it’s not going to matter anything. So I’m not going to take off for that.

Now, the message of Zephaniah, in light of the reforms that are taking place, holds out the prospect of both judgment and blessing. At the very center of the message of the book of Zephaniah is the day of the Lord.

It’s the central theme around which the book turns. The day of the Lord is the language of military conquest. And it was a phrase that was also used in non-Israelite texts, which would talk about a great king being able to overthrow all of his enemies in one day. Usually, to conquer a nation or to conquer a city took many days, especially if you had to put the city under siege; you had to wait until the supplies in the city ran out, so it could take a while.

To conquer your enemies in one day showed the power and the greatness of a king. Now, in terms of the ancient Near Eastern kings, this was hyperbole, because they really couldn’t conquer their enemy in one day. But in relationship to God, to Yahweh, it was a reality. A day would come, the day of the Lord. And do you remember this phrase, “day the Lord” was used in Amos 5 to refer to light. The people in the book of Amos believe that the day of the Lord would bring light, blessing from God.

Of course, Amos tries to teach them otherwise. The day of the Lord in Zephaniah is not just light for Israel; it’s darkness. It’s judgment for those who are not living in a way that is pleasing to God. So you have the first two chapters talking about the darkness, the judgment related to the day of the Lord. And the book opens with a universal statement of judgment, judgment on everything. Verse two,

² “I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord . ³ “I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, and the rubble with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord . (Zephaniah 1:2-3, ESV)

So a universal statement of God’s judgment. God’s going to cut off life. And it’s interesting. The order in verse three is sort of the reverse order of what you have in Genesis one. In Genesis one, you have the animals mentioned leading up to mankind. But in verse three, you start with mankind and work your way back down opposite of the way Genesis one does it.

All of creation is affected in this day of God’s judgment, which means Judah is going to be affected in the day of God’s judgment. Chapter 1:4-6 narrows in on Judah. Judah is not exempt from this judgment because of idolatry. Verse 4: I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal, in the name of the idolatrous priests, along with the priests who bow down on the roofs to the host of heaven. So the idolatry within the nation of Judah. That’s what Josiah is trying to clean up.

But it’s because of this idolatry that judgment might fall upon God’s people. The consequences of this judgment are laid out in verses eight through 14. And there’s a narrowing of the objects of judgment as you move through chapter one. You begin with all of the world, all the cosmos. You come to Judah and Jerusalem in chapter one, verses four through six. You then focus on specific groups of Judeans in verses eight and nine: the officials, the king’s sons, verse nine, everyone who leaps over the threshold. We’re not really sure what that refers to.

Someone who leaps over the threshold. That may be a reference to an idolatrous practice of some sort. Those who fill their master’s house with violence. Verse eleven. The traders. The merchants. So you have specific groups of Judeans. And then you also have specific districts that come into view in verses ten through eleven. The fish gate. The inhabitants of the mortar. So you have specific districts. The second quarter. You have specific districts of Judah that are also in view.

The point is, every aspect of society is going to be affected by this judgment. The results of this judgment: despair, devastation, frustration. You could think of the effects of when the stock market crashed because you do have sort of that mentioned, the traders mentioned here. And you can see the despair of when the stock market crashed and how that affected people. You could think of the aftermath of the recent hurricane, and you just see all that destruction. That’s sort of the picture that is presented in chapters 11 through 13. Especially then, you have at the end of this chapter, a saturation. The day concept, ten times in five verses.

Verse 14,

¹⁴ The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. ¹⁵ A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, ¹⁶ a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. (Zephaniah 1:14-16, ESV)

So, you have a concentration, a saturation of this day concept in these verses as the coming of God is described, the coming of God in wrath and judgment.

And in verse 18, nothing will be able to deliver you on this day, nothing that you put your hope and trust in, your silver, your gold, anything else that you might be putting in, putting your trust in will be of any help. And so your response, chapter two, an urgent call to repentance. That’s the proper response in light of this message. God’s people should urgently seek God. They should urgently repent. There are five admonitions in the first three verses of chapter two: Gather together, seek Yahweh, seek righteousness, seek humility.

That’s what God’s people are encouraged to do in light of the possibility of judgment. And it says in verse three,

³ Seek the Lord , all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the Lord . (Zephaniah 2:3, ESV)

Hope is held out for those who repent, that when this coming day of judgment hits, that they will be hidden, they will be protected. Certainly the Old Testament holds out the prospect of a remnant.

But when judgment like this happens, even the righteous get caught up in the horror of the events. So God promises a remnant. But when something like the destruction of Jerusalem happens, even the righteous suffer in that event. And so God’s people as a whole are encouraged to seek the Lord. And you can relate this to the reformation of Josiah, to worship the Lord in a way that’s pleasing to him, to seek him, to repent, and to do what is right in his sight. So the first part of Zephaniah is directed against Judah.

Although there’s a universal aspect to this judgment, it’s focusing on Judah. Then you have in the rest of chapter two, verses four through 15, the day of judgment on the nations. God’s judgment is universal and it will affect the nations. And you can, this is common in the prophets, to have God’s judgment on the nations. We’ll not comment specifically on this, except to say that this chapter ends, as has been mentioned already, with an oracle against Nineveh, verses 13 through 15. And then chapter three begins with an oracle directed against an unnamed city.

At least the city is unnamed at first, and it’s an indictment against this city, city. And you find, as you read this section, that this is Jerusalem that is in view in chapter three. You don’t know that at first, but as you read, that becomes apparent. The purpose of this is to show that the fate of both of these cities may end up being the same. The fate of Jerusalem may end up being the same as the fate of Nineveh if God’s people do not respond in the appropriate way.

In fact, verse three talks about the officials within Judah. Judges are evening wolves. Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men. Her priests profane what is holy. They do violence to the law. And so that’s part of the problem that Josiah is facing and that Zephaniah is prophesying against. Then the rest of chapter three talks about salvation. The day of the Lord will bring both judgment and salvation.

That’s a common Old Testament theme, that when God comes in judgment, he will come to save those who trust in him, and he will come to destroy those who do not trust in him. You have that in chapter three, destruction of the unrepentant, purification of the remnant. Chapter 3:9-13, which leads to salvation and rejoicing at the end of this chapter, verses 14 through 20. Zephaniah is a small book.

It opens with one of the most awesome descriptions of God’s wrath in judgment, and it closes with one of the most moving descriptions of God’s love for his people. And so you have in verses 14. And following verse 14,

¹⁴ Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! ¹⁵ The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord , is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. ¹⁶ On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. ¹⁷ The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:14-17, ESV)

It’s Yahweh who saves his people. There’s no mention of a human ruler, perhaps because so many of the kings of both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom have been less than what they should be. And here it’s the Lord himself who saves. And then the end of verse 17.

This is what Yahweh, this mighty divine warrior who comes powerfully to bring judgment, this is what this mighty God is going to do. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love. He will exalt over you with loud singing.

God sings over his people. God delights in his people. He sings over you if you are one who honors him, trusts him, has faith in him. This is just a beautiful, powerful picture of our relationship to this mighty one who is able to save, and he delights and rejoices in his people.

So this should lead to confidence. God’s people should have confidence in light of this great picture of restoration. So day of the Lord, day of judgment, but also a great day of salvation for those who honor and trust in God. And the prospects for Judah are open. With Josiah on the throne, a righteous king leading the people in righteousness, reforming the worship, the future is open. God’s people will follow and repent and turn wholeheartedly to God. They would experience this great salvation. But the other side is also a possibility.

And sadly, as we will see as this history unfolds, it’s the other side that becomes prominent because of the wickedness, and we’ll see how all that works out, the wickedness of both kings and the people of God. But Zephaniah holds out hope here during these days of Josiah. Any comments or questions on yes sir. At the end of chapter two, was there just a special time during Jonah where they had repentance and turned to the Lord, and then afterwards they fell back into idolatry and paganism? Yes, not unlike among God’s people.

And the fact that such revival came to paganism in the first place is quite astounding. But yes, that repentance, we don’t know how long it lasted. We don’t know the ultimate effects of it. It certainly was real and there and not for God, destroyed into the without anything in place to encourage further instruction, we just don’t know what the aftermath was. But obviously, Caesarea didn’t have fell back into their pagan weather.

This audio lecture is brought to you by RTS on iTunesU at the virtual campus of Reformed Theological Seminary.

To listen to other lectures and to access additional resources, please visit us at itunes rts.edu. For additional information on how to take distance education courses for credit towards a fully accredited master of arts in religion degree, please visit our website at virtual rts.edu.