Wenstrom Bible Ministries Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom Thursday September 15,

Transcription

1 Wenstrom Bible Ministries Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom Thursday September 15, Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:17b-The Lord Will Rejoice Over the Remnant of Israel Because He Will Regenerate Them Because of His Love Lesson # 90 Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. (NASB95) He will exult over you with joy is composed of the following: (1) third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb śûś,( ש ו ש) He will exult (2) preposition ʿal,(ע ל) over (3) second person feminine singular personal pronoun ʾat ת ),(א you (4) preposition b,(ב ) with (5) feminine singular noun śimḥâ מח ה),( ש joy. The verb śûś is in the qal stem and means to be pleased with someone, to be delighted with someone since it pertains to having a feeling or attitude of fondness and enjoyment toward someone implying a love or relationship to the person one is delighted with. Therefore, this verb expresses the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ during His millennial reign will express great joy and be very delighted or pleased with this future remnant of Israel. The second person feminine singular personal pronoun ʾat means you referring to the city of Jerusalem and in particular it is referring to the remnant of Israel which will reside in this city in the future. This word is the object of the preposition ʿal, which means because of since the word is functioning as a marker of cause meaning it is marking this personal pronoun as the reason why the Lord Jesus Christ will express great joy. He will do so because of this future remnant who will trust in Him as Savior William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 1

2 The noun śimḥâ means joy since the word pertains to a feeling or attitude of joyful happiness and cheerfulness. However, it would appear that this word is used here in Zephaniah 3:17 of a joyful celebration which is how the word is often used in the Old Testament. The noun śimḥâ is the object of the preposition b, which means with since the word is functioning as a marker of means. Therefore, this prepositional phrase is expressing the means by which the Lord Jesus Christ will express great joy because of this future remnant of Israel which will trust in Him as Savior and worship Him as their God. He will do so with a joyful celebration. He will be quiet in His love is composed of the following: (1) third person masculine singular hiphil active imperfect form of the verb ḥārēš ש),(ח ר He will be quiet (2) preposition b,(ב ) in (3) feminine singular construct form of the noun ʾahăbâ ה ב ה),(א love (4) third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hûʾ,(ה וא) His. At this point in the verse we have a textual problem in that some MSS and even the MT have the verb ḥārēš ש) (ח ר whereas the LXX and BHS contend that the original.(ח ד ש) is the verb ḥādaš I am adopting the view of BHS, LXX, Patterson and the Net Bible that the original text contains the verb ḥādaš ש) (ח ד rather than the verb ḥārēš ש) (ח ר for the reasons presented by Patterson and the Net Bible, namely, the latter makes no sense in light of the immediate preceding and following lines. The immediate preceding line predicts the Lord will express great joy with a joyful celebration because of this remnant which will worship Him. The latter asserts that He will rejoice over this remnant with shouts of joy. It makes no sense that between these two lines that the Lord would be silent over this remnant. BHS Biblia hebraica stuttgartensia BHS Biblia hebraica stuttgartensia 2016 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 2

3 Lastly, it is easy to see how the reading ḥārēš ש) (ח ר found its way into some copies of the Old Testament since the difference between the two words is a simple ד. to ר consonantal change of Therefore, verb ḥādaš means to become new since the basic idea of the word is that of restoring something to its former condition as opposed to making it for the first time. Here in Zephaniah 3:17, this verb means to renew in the sense of revitalizing a seemingly dead object. Therefore, this word speaks of regeneration since it is expressing the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ will renew these spiritually dead Jews in the sense that He will regenerate them through the Spirit when they trust in Him at His Second Advent to deliver them from Satan, Antichrist, the false prophet and the tribulational armies. The noun ʾahăbâ means love since the word pertains to the state or condition of strong affection for another based on relationship. This word is thus speaking of Jesus Christ s divine-love expressing itself in strong affection for this future remnant of Israel who will worship Him during His millennial reign. This love is based upon the relationship they possess with Him through regeneration which is the direct result of their exercising faith in Him at His Second Advent. He has strong affection for this remnant because they now through faith in Him possess His righteousness and His eternal life. The noun ʾahăbâ is the object preposition b, which means because of since the word is functioning as a marker of cause expressing the idea that the Lord will cause this future remnant of Israel which will worship Him during His millennial reign to be renewed because of His love. He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy is composed of the following: (1) third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb gîl,(ג יל) He will rejoice (2) preposition ʿal,(ע ל) over (3) second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat ת ),(א you (4) preposition b,(ב ) with (5) feminine singular noun rinnâ נ ה),(ר shouts of joy William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 3

4 The verb gîl means to rejoice since the word pertains to joy expressed in song and here it speaks of the joy the Lord Jesus Christ will express with songs because of this future remnant of Israel which will worship Him during His millennial reign. Once again, we have the second person feminine singular personal pronoun ʾat which means you referring to the city of Jerusalem and in particular it is referring to the remnant of Israel which will reside in this city in the future. This word is the object of the preposition ʿal, which means because of since the word is functioning as a marker of cause meaning it is marking this personal pronoun as the reason why the Lord Jesus Christ will express great joy in song. He will do so because of this future remnant who will trust in Him as Savior. In this verse, the noun rinnâ can mean either shouts of joy or joyful singing. Here the latter would appear to be in view since Zephaniah 3:18 makes reference to the seven great feasts of Israel and singing at the feasts was involved when worshipping the Lord. This noun is the object of the preposition b, which means with, by means of, by since the word is functioning as a marker of means indicating that joyful singing will be the means by which the Lord Jesus Christ will express great joy because of this future remnant who will worship Him during His millennial reign. Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord, the God ruling over and in a relationship with you is in your midst, a mighty warrior characterized as being able to deliver. With a joyful celebration, He will express great joy because of you. He will cause you to be renewed because of His love. He will rejoice because of you by means of joyful singing. (My translation) Zephaniah 3:17 contains four prophetic declarations and in each statement, Zephaniah employs the figure of asyndeton. The purpose of this figure is not only to emphasize with the reader these prophecies but also to cause the reader to make a personal application which is repentance William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 4

5 The second prophetic declaration in Zephaniah 3:17 asserts that the Lord will express great joy because of this future remnant who will trust in Him at His Second Advent to deliver them from their enemies and He will do so with a joyful celebration. This joy over this remnant is also prophesied about in Isaiah 62:5. The third prophetic declaration presents the implicit reason for the Lord expressing great joy with a joyful celebration, namely this remnant will have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit through faith in Him at His Second Advent. It is expressing the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ will renew these spiritually dead Jews in the sense that He will regenerate them through the Spirit when they trust in Him at His Second Advent to deliver them from Satan, Antichrist, the false prophet and the tribulational armies. On the Day of Atonement, at the Second Advent of Christ, Israel will as a nation trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and thus be regenerated by the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:22-31; 37; Zechariah 12:10; 14:9-21). Zephaniah then informs the reader that the reason why the Lord will regenerate this remnant through faith in Him is that He loves them or in other words, the Lord will cause this remnant to be regenerated because He loves them. Jesus Christ s divine-love will express itself in strong affection for this future remnant of Israel who will worship Him during His millennial reign. This love is based upon the relationship they possess with Him through regeneration which is the direct result of their exercising faith in Him at His Second Advent. He has strong affection for this remnant because they now through faith in Him possess His righteousness and His eternal life. The fourth and final prophetic declaration predicts that the Lord Jesus Christ will rejoice because of this remnant and will do so by means of joyful singing. It speaks of the joy the Lord Jesus Christ will express with songs because of this future remnant of Israel which will worship Him during His millennial reign William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 5