The Coming of Judgment Upon Judah. Zephaniah 1:1-18

1 Commentary by Charles Box Questions by John C. Sewell The Coming of Judgment Upon Judah Zephaniah 1:1-18

2 The Coming of Judgment Upon Judah Commentary by Charles Box Text: Zephaniah 1:1-18, 1. This is the prophetic message that the Lord gave to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah. Zephaniah delivered this message during the reign of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah: 2. I will destroy everything from the face of the earth, says the Lord. 3. I will destroy people and animals; I will destroy the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea. (The idolatrous images of these creatures will be destroyed along with evil people.) I will remove humanity from the face of the earth, says the Lord. 4. I will attack Judah and all who live in Jerusalem. I will remove from this place every trace of Baal worship, as well as the very memory of the pagan priests. 5. I will remove those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, those who swear allegiance to the Lord while taking oaths in the name of their king, 6. and those who turn their backs on the Lord and do not want the Lord s help or guidance.

3 7. Be silent before the Lord God, for the Lord s day of judgment is almost here. The Lord has prepared a sacrificial meal; he has ritually purified his guests. 8. On the day of the Lord s sacrificial meal, I will punish the princes and the king s sons, and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. 9. On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill the house of their master with wealth taken by violence and deceit. 10. On that day, says the Lord, a loud cry will go up from the Fish Gate, wailing from the city s newer district, and a loud crash from the hills. 11. Wail, you who live in the market district, for all the merchants will disappear and those who count money will be removed. 12. At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps. I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, those who think to themselves, The Lord neither rewards nor punishes. 13. Their wealth will be stolen and their houses ruined! They will not live in the houses they have built, nor will they drink the wine from the vineyards they have planted. 14. The Lord s great day of judgment is almost here; it is approaching very rapidly! There will be a bitter sound on the Lord s day of judgment; at that time warriors will cry out in battle. 15. That day will be a day of God s anger, a day of distress and hardship, a day of devastation and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and dark skies, 16. a day of trumpet blasts and battle cries. Judgment will fall on the fortified cities and the high corner towers. 17. I will bring distress on the people and they will stumble like blind men, for they have sinned against the

4 Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dirt; their flesh will be scattered like manure. 18. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord s angry judgment. The whole earth will be consumed by his fiery wrath. Indeed, he will bring terrifying destruction on all who live on the earth. (NET) Introduction: I. Zephaniah identified himself as being the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah. II. Zephaniah delivered a message of doom to his people. A. Through his eyes the future looked dim for his nation. B. Zephaniah is remembered for what he said about the great day of the Lord being near. 1. God said, I will utterly consume all things from off the land. (Zephaniah 1:2) 2. Zephaniah believed that the Jews would soon face certain judgment. a. They were guilty of turning from the true and living God to idol worship. 3. Zephaniah was not the first prophet to predict the coming of the Day of the Lord. a. He did give specific meaning to that concept.

5 b. He saw that day as a time of wrath and despair. c. At the coming of the Day of the Lord sins would be punished. III. Zephaniah lived in Jerusalem. A. He was contemporary with Nahum, Habakkuk and Jeremiah. B. He called on the faithful remnant to seek the Lord. IV. The focus in each of the three chapters of Zephaniah is the Day of the Lord. A. Zephaniah, along with a few other prophets, described the moral collapse of the people of God. 1. Judah claimed to be God s people, but they were living in spiritual adultery. 2. The Lord said through Zephaniah, 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 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

6 sought the Lord, nor enquired for him. (Zephaniah 1:4-6) V. The great lesson is again obvious in this short book; the steadfast, faithful and obedient will be blessed by God. A. We also observe that those who turn away from God must repent or they will face the wrath of God. Commentary: An Announcement of Coming Judgment Zephaniah 1:1-3, This is the prophetic message that the Lord gave to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah. Zephaniah delivered this message during the reign of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah: I will destroy everything from the face of the earth, says the Lord. I will destroy people and animals; I will destroy the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea. (The idolatrous images of these creatures will be destroyed along with evil people.) I will remove humanity from the face of the earth, says the Lord. (NET) I. This little book begins, The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah. A. Zephaniah affirms that the message that he wrote was an inspired message from God. B. The destruction pictured in the book of Zephaniah was a complete destruction.

7 1. This sounds like what took place during the captivity by Babylon. a. God promised to utterly consume all things from off the land. b. As Lord, Jehovah promised to destroy everything in their world. c. Remember, this was to happen as punishment for their sin and rebellion. d. Solomon wrote, Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard. (Proverbs 13:15) e. In a figurative way God said, 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. (Zephaniah 1:3) f. The stumblingblocks that were to be cut off were the idols that would be destroyed by captivity. g. Israel never committed idolatry after the return from captivity. God s Wrath Coming Upon Judah

8 Zephaniah 1:4-6, I will attack Judah and all who live in Jerusalem. I will remove from this place every trace of Baal worship, as well as the very memory of the pagan priests. I will remove those who worship the stars in the sky from their rooftops, those who swear allegiance to the Lord while taking oaths in the name of their king, and those who turn their backs on the Lord and do not want the Lord s help or guidance. (NET) I. God promised that He would reach out to punish Judah and Jerusalem. A. The punishment would be so great that nothing would remain. 1. Both Baal and the pagan priests would be overthrown. 2. God s hand would be stretched out against Judah and upon all the inhabitants of the capital city, Jerusalem. a. 1 Kings 23:4-5, The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the high-ranking priests, and the guards to bring out of the Lord s temple all the items that were used in the worship of Baal, Asherah, and all the stars of the sky. The king burned them outside of Jerusalem in the terraces of Kidron, and carried their ashes to Bethel. He eliminated the pagan priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to offer sacrifices on the high places in the cities of Judah and in the area

9 right around Jerusalem. (They offered sacrifices to Baal, the sun god, the moon god, the constellations, and all the stars in the sky.) (NET) b. Many went upon the housetops for the purpose of worshipping the sun, moon and stars. i. God would destroy them also. c. These people tried to mix idolatrous worship with the worship of the true and living God. i. They would bow down to the god Malcham, the chief god of the Ammonites, while claiming loyalty to Jehovah. ii. Nothing would remain of anyone who had turned back from the Lord or that had failed to seek Him. The Day of the Lord is at Hand Zephaniah 1:7-13, Be silent before the Lord God, for the Lord s day of judgment is almost here. The Lord has prepared a sacrificial meal; he has ritually purified his guests. On the day of the Lord s sacrificial meal, I will punish the princes and the king s sons, and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill the house of their master with wealth taken by violence and deceit. On that day, says the Lord, a loud cry will go up from the Fish Gate, wailing from the city s newer district, and a loud

10 crash from the hills. Wail, you who live in the market district, for all the merchants will disappear and those who count money will be removed. At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps. I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, those who think to themselves, The Lord neither rewards nor punishes. Their wealth will be stolen and their houses ruined! They will not live in the houses they have built, nor will they drink the wine from the vineyards they have planted. (NET) I. Zephaniah 1:7, says, Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests. A. This verse is the same in meaning as Habakkuk 2:20, But the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. 1. The Day of the Lord had come and Judah would be taken to Babylon. 2. The Lord had invited the entire world to observe the judgment that was to be sent upon His disobedient people. 3. God promised to punish the national leaders and their families because they were responsible for introducing and allowing the evil that filled the land. i. Those that joined the evil leaders in idol worship would likewise be punished severely.

11 B. God promised that cries would be heard when the invasion came. 1. The commercial center of that day, Maktesh, would be wiped out. 2. The merchants would howl because of the punishment. 3. How surprised some were going to be, punished as they were? a. They had said, The Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil. C. Calamity was coming upon their city because of sin and they were too blind to see. 1. God predicted that the invasion would come. 2. He said, Their possessions will be taken, their homes left in ruins. They will not get to live in the houses they build, or drink wine from the grapes in their own vineyards. 3. Sin brings sure and certain misery! Zephaniah 1:14-18, The Lord s great day of judgment is almost here; it is approaching very rapidly! There will be a bitter sound on the Lord s day of judgment; at that time warriors will cry out in battle. That day will be a day of God s anger, a day of distress and hardship, a day of devastation and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day

12 of clouds and dark skies, a day of trumpet blasts and battle cries. Judgment will fall on the fortified cities and the high corner towers. I will bring distress on the people and they will stumble like blind men, for they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood will be poured out like dirt; their flesh will be scattered like manure. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord s angry judgment. The whole earth will be consumed by his fiery wrath. Indeed, he will bring terrifying destruction on all who live on the earth. (NET) I. The prophet wrote, The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. A. God gave the people warning, but they continued in their rebellion. 1. Zephaniah described the terrible day of the Lord telling the people that it would be a day of wrath or anger and a day of trouble and torment. a. There would be disaster and destruction. b. It would be a time of darkness and despair. c. There would be storm clouds and shadows. d. It was a time of terrible destruction. 2. The fulfillment of this prediction is seen in 2 Kings 24 and 25.

13 a. 2 Kings 24:1-20, During Jehoiakim s reign, King Nebuchad-nezzar of Babylon attacked. Jehoiakim was his subject for three years, but then he rebelled against him. The Lord sent against him Babylonian, Syrian, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding bands; he sent them to destroy Judah, as he had warned he would do through his servants the prophets. Just as the Lord had announced, he rejected Judah because of all the sins which Manasseh had committed. Because he killed innocent people and stained Jerusalem with their blood, the Lord was unwilling to forgive them. The rest of the events of Jehoiakim s reign and all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah. He passed away and his son Jehoiachin replaced him as king. The king of Egypt did not march out from his land again, for the king of Babylon conquered all the territory that the king of Egypt had formerly controlled between the Stream of Egypt and the Euphrates River. Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord as his ancestors had done. At that time the generals of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched to Jerusalem and besieged the city. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city

14 while his generals were besieging it. King Jehoiachin of Judah, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his eunuchs surrendered to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, took Jehoiachin prisoner. Nebuchad-nezzar took from there all the riches in the treasuries of the Lord s temple and of the royal palace. He removed all the gold items which King Solomon of Israel had made for the Lord s temple, just as the Lord had warned. He deported all the residents of Jerusalem, including all the officials and all the soldiers (10,000 people in all). This included all the craftsmen and those who worked with metal. No one was left except for the poorest among the people of the land. He deported Jehoiachin from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with the king s mother and wives, his eunuchs, and the high-ranking officials of the land. The king of Babylon deported to Babylon all the soldiers (there were 7,000), as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metal workers. This included all the best warriors. The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin s uncle, king in Jehoiachin s place. He renamed him Zedekiah. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he ruled for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah. He did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Jehoiakim had done. What follows is a

15 record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord s anger; he finally threw them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. (NET) b. 2 Kings 25:1-30, So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came against Jerusalem with his whole army and set up camp outside it. They built siege ramps all around it. He arrived on the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year of Zedekiah s reign. The city remained under siege until King Zedekiah s eleventh year. By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city was so severe the residents had no food. The enemy broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king s garden. (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. But the Babylonian army chased after the king. They caught up with him in the plains of Jericho, and his entire army deserted him. They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where he passed sentence on him. Zedekiah s sons were executed while Zedekiah was forced to watch. The king of Babylon then had Zedekiah s eyes put out, bound him in bronze chains, and carried him off to Babylon. On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of King

16 Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard who served the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem. He burned down the Lord s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem, including every large house. The whole Babylonian army that came with the captain of the royal guard tore down the walls that surrounded Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, deported the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen. But he left behind some of the poor of the land and gave them fields and vineyards. The Babylonians broke the two bronze pillars in the Lord s temple, as well as the movable stands and the big bronze basin called The Sea. They took the bronze to Babylon. They also took the pots, shovels, trimming shears, pans, and all the bronze utensils used by the priests. The captain of the royal guard took the golden and silver censers and basins. The bronze of the items that King Solomon made for the Lord s temple including the two pillars, the big bronze basin called The Sea, the twelve bronze bulls under The Sea, and the movable stands was too heavy to be weighed. Each of the pillars was about twenty-seven feet high. The bronze top of one pillar was about four and a half feet high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate shaped ornaments all around

17 it. The second pillar with its latticework was like it. The captain of the royal guard took Seraiah the chief priest and Zephaniah, the priest who was second in rank, and the three doorkeepers. From the city he took a eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, five of the king s advisers who were discovered in the city, an official army secretary who drafted citizens for military service, and sixty citizens from the people of the land who were discovered in the city. Nebuzaradan, captain of the royal guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. The king of Babylon ordered them to be executed at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. So Judah was deported from its land. Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over the people whom he allowed to remain in the land of Judah. All of the officers of the Judahite army and their troops heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to govern. So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite. Gedaliah took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety. He said, You don t need to be afraid to submit to the Babylonian officials. Settle down in the land

18 and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you. But in the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten of his men and murdered Gedaliah, as well as the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, as well as the army officers, left for Egypt, because they were afraid of what the Babylonians might do. In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, King Evil- Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prestigious position than the other kings who were with him in Babylon. Jehoiachin took off his prison clothes and ate daily in the king s presence for the rest of his life. 30 He was given daily provisions by the king for the rest of his life until the day he died. (NET) B. The trumpet would sound forth the battle cry, but the fortified cities and the mighty fortresses would fall. 1. Sin brings punishment and humiliation. 2. This distress was being brought upon them because they have sinned against the Lord.

19 Conclusion: a. Without allowing God to be in control, men walk in the perplexing doubt of uncertainty. 3. These people would literally have their blood poured out by the swords of their enemies. a. At times an invading army might be stopped by the offer of money. b. But the Lord said, Not even your silver or gold can save you on that day when I, the Lord, am angry. c. God would use the Babylonians to make a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land. d. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31) I. Those that serve God are blessed and those that rebel are punished. A. Is it your desire to see the will of God done? B. If so, it is time to become a Christian now!

20 Questions Zephaniah 1:1-18 1. Who was Zephaniah? 2. When did he prophecy? 3. What primary message did Zephaniah deliver? 4. Where did Zephaniah reside?

21 5. To whom was Zephaniah s message directed? 6. What other prophets lived at the time Zephaniah prophesied?_ 7. Exactly when did/will the Day of the Lord occur? 8. What did Zephaniah say would happen to the Jews? 9. Who will receive God s blessings? Who will face God s wrath?

22 10. As presented in the New International Version, which writings of the minor prophets are in poetic form? 11. Why was poetry rather than prose used in those verses? 12. What cured Israel s propensity to worship idols? 13. List things Israel worshiped? What was God s opinion of people s worshiping other gods/things along with the worship of Jehovah? Has God s attitude toward this practice changed?

23 14. What practices today are parallel with this ancient syncretism? 15. The of the had come and would be taken to. The had invited the to observe the that was to be sent upon his. God promised to the and their because they were for and the that the. Those that joined the in would likewise be. 16. Who or what was Maktesh? What would happen to Maktesh? Why would Maktesh experience these things? 17. Re-read Zephaniah 1:1-18. List here all the words which describe the Great Day of the Lord.

24 18. God warned the people, but they did not heed the warnings. What divine warnings do you need to heed? 19. brings and. 20. Those who are and those that against are. It is a thing to into the of the.