Relentlessly the stern words of warning (and rebuke) continue! The Prophet Zephaniah (actually quoting Almighty God) will not stop short of obeying Isaiah 58:1. “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”

Wow!

Today’s Verse lists 4 general areas where Judah sinned repeatedly. “She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.” Zephaniah 3:2

The transgressions seem similar, at first.

But there are differences.

Yet truly, ALL SIN is, according to 1 John 3:4, “the transgression of the law.” The whole verse: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”

Let’s enumerate these “shortcomings” of Judah’s. Perhaps the four divisions in one of Zephaniah’s Sermons on a typical Sabbath Day!

“She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.”

First, she “obeyed not.” The Hebrew verb here is “shama,” translated “to hear” 785 times in the Old Testament! That is its predominant meaning, really. But it means “to hear” with the clear intention of “doing something” about what you have heard! Therefore, it is also translated “to obey” 89 more times in the Bible! The negative particle “lo” means “not” in Hebrew, “no” with a “final force!” Stubborn Judah!

Second, she did not properly respond to God’s Correction. She did not “laqach” (Hebrew for “latching onto” something) God’s chastisement. The word “correction” means “discipline,” just like a Father gives a wayward child. If we do not submissively bow before God’s “whippings” He administers to us … we will become even more hardened and bitter toward the One Who loved us and saved us!

Third, and maybe the “heart” of all these sins, Judah “trusted not” the Lord! “Batach” means “to lean on someone, to believe what He says,” so much that you … no longer “worry” one iota about that Person not keeping His Promises! “Careless” in that sense, positive in one’s reliance! But Judah had lost that high degree of faith.

Last, she “drew not near” the Lord. The verb here is “qarab,” meaning “to approach, to present (oneself), to enter into.” Frequently it also means “to offer” the One you’re approaching a “gift.” Judah no longer worships the Lord! Not in any way that pleases Him!

Now … to me anyway … these 4 categories no longer blend so easily. One type of sin likely led to another … until Judah was ripe for judgment. James 1:15 captures this truth. “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” See the sequential “steps” downward?

But let’s not “give up” on Judah yet!

God certainly did not, has not even yet!

Zephaniah will still end on a sweet note of love and grace!

God is forgiving!

Let’s praise Him today.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Jerusalem, Capitol City of Judah, is in view today, in our Lesson. And three descriptors are applied to these precious people, “accusations” from God Himself.

Let’s read the specifics, Zephaniah 3:1. “Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city.” (I really wanted to include verse 2 in this Monday’s Lesson, but it must wait another day.)

The introductory “Woe” found here is an interjection in Hebrew, a part of speech expressing great surprise, astonishment even. It’s also a warning of troublesome times to come. It often contains a touch of “sympathy, pity,” according to one lexicon.

By name a “city” is being addressed. Unidenified, specifically … but Jerusalem, obviously. (Notice there is no mention of a foreign, heathen nation in the sentence, in its whole paragraph really.) Matter of fact … God often “preaches” to His Own people, first! Peter said: “The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” 1 Peter 4:17

Here God’s Special City (He loves that place dearly) is labeled with 3 poignant adjectives; filthy, polluted and oppressive! Graphic, isn’t it, this description?

“Filthy” translates an extremely unusual word, “mara” in Hebrew. It literally means “to beat the air, to flap one’s wings!” It is only used twice in the Bible. The other place being Job 39:18 of the bird we call the ostrich, who “lifteth up” herself on high! I think this is “filthiness” as in “pride!” Sinful pride, self aggrandizement.

“Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God.”

Then the City is “polluted,” spelled “gaal” and meaning “stained, desecrated, defiled.”

The verbal “oppressing” means “to treat violently, to do wrong (egregiously),” and is spelled “yanah” in Hebrew.

God KNOWS the heart, always! “The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

By the way, God knows our hearts, too.

Psalm 15 mentions a man who “speaketh the truth IN HIS HEART!”

Oh, to be pure in the sight of God!

Jesus in Matthew 5:8 taught: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I wonder if God says anything about Washington, DC? Or New York City or London or Paris or Moscow? Of course He knows the rebellion inherent in the world today. And as with Jerusalem … so with all the world … some day judgment will come. In that context Amos thunders, “Prepare to meet thy God.” Amos 4:12

 

Now, Assyria is under discussion, in today’s Text, Zephaniah 2:13-15. Yes, God in Heaven will even bring this mighty Nation “down!”

As He has done so many other entities … primarily because of their hatred and mistreatment of the people of Israel, the Jews. In fact, Zephaniah 2 is a sample “list” of such nations. First mentioning the Philistines and then the Moabites and Ammonites followed by the Ethiopians … the chapter ending with the defeat of these Assyrians.

“And He (the Lord) will stretch out His Hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.” Again, Zephaniah 2:13-15

God’s Hand upon one “for good” is a blessing. (Nehemiah 2:8 offers a clear example. “And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.” Where the “me” is Nehemiah.)

God’s Hand upon one “in wrath” is quite another! (Our Text is my example of this. “And He (the Lord) will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.”

God is AGAINST Assyria!

Finally, what Jonah had earlier hoped … Nineveh’s dissolution … Zephaniah was allowed to prophesy … with certainty. (The event happened in 612 BC, when the Babylonians overran the capital City.) Once Zephaniah, under the Direction of the Holy Spirit, wrote these words … Nineveh only had a decade or two left!

Once a bustling City … now pastureland for livestock!

“Uncovered cedar work” equates to houses being deconstructed. Left open to ruin in the rain and wind and heat!

The happy-go-lucky City (“rejoicing city”) will no longer party and party and party!

“And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.” Zephaniah 2:13-15

To “dwell carelessly” means to be so strong, so militarily secure … that even the thought of an enemy is foreign! Safe to the extreme! (Like the Edomites once, before God humiliated them. “The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?” Obadiah, verse 3)

Listen to the inflated ego Assyria possessed: “Who said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me.” But who met her “Match” one day, as do all the ungodly.

She will become the “laughingstock” of humanity … “Every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.” In other words, “Everyone who passes by her will hiss (in scorn) and wave his hand in utter contempt.”

Yes, God “cursed” Assyria. As He either has already done or will some day do to all those who oppose and seek to annihilate the Jewish people.

Powerful verses.

A powerful chapter.

Many a nation today should take heed, including America.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

God’s judgment, having scanned the points of the compass in Zephaniah 2, now centers on the little country of Ethiopia.

After a clear warning to Israel (Judah) in verses 1-3, God began His parade of judgment, almost as if He held a map in His Hands! Philistia in the west! Moab and Ammon in the east! Today we see Ethiopia in the south! And tomorrow (Lord willing) Assyria in the north!

Wow, all the enemies situated around God’s people!

Yet our current Text, Zephaniah 2:12, is quite unique. I know of no other Judgment Oracle as succinct as this! In all the Bible! “Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.” With God speaking!

The Ethiopians also seem to have been called the “Cushites” in Scripture. Look how “Ethiopian” is spelled in Hebrew: “kushiy,” obviously a derivation/cognate of “Cush.”

These people are the descendants of Cush, the Son of Ham, the Son of Noah, too.

The Bible land of “Ethiopia” likely includes today’s nations of Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan!

And of course, then as now, this Country was an avowed enemy of Israel, of Judah.

That’s why God is judging her, primarily.

Simply put, killed by God’s Sword! (Exodus 15:3 thunders: “The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.” And Judges 17:8 is here pertinent, where this poignant phrase occurs: “The sword of the LORD.” Amazing!)

But Ethiopia was not so judged until she had been given many an opportunity to repent of her sins! Yet she still rebelled! “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” Jeremiah 13:23, that “set” in her sins!

How great (powerful) God is!

Just six words (in Hebrew), only ten (in English) … and a Nation is gone!

Truly here in Zephaniah 2 we have “living proof” of Isaiah 54:17, God’s promise to the Jews. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”

Praise the Lord!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Now tomorrow, the north … Assyria!

 

Isaiah did this.

So did Jeremiah.

And Amos as well.

Among other Old testament Prophets … pronouncing severe judgment on the Nations surrounding Israel, because of their hatred for God’s special people.

And our little Preacher, Zephaniah, does too!

Truthfully … Zephaniah 2 is a chapter loaded with such (righteously) bombastic material!

Today the intensity is directed toward both Moab and Ammon, to the east of Judah. Let’s see the Scripture now, the whole paragraph. “I (the Lord) have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border. Therefore as I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them. This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of hosts. The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.” Zephaniah 2:8-11

Talk about a far ranging set of sentences!

Moab and Ammon (nations descended from the sinful, incestuous relationship that Lot’s 2 Daughters had with their drunken Father) were Jew haters from day one. They “reproached” and “reviled” the Israelites, terribly. “To taunt and scorn” … translates the Hebrew verb for “reproach. And “talk against, blaspheme” … the Hebrew definitions for “revile.” Constantly harassing Israel, with border skirmishes and such. Aggravation no end!

And God saw it all!

And has decreed that these two little Nations will become (they already have now) like Sodom and Gomorrah! Waste lands! Furthermore, the remaining Jews (just a remnant) will possess any habitable land once belonging to these reprobates. Remember our text: “Therefore as I live, saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.”

Because of the sin of pride, which led to such hateful treatment of God’s people.

Then our verses today end with a sweeping, summary statement: The LORD will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship Him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.”

We’ve now segued into the far future. The Tribulation and past … the Millennium really! Where our Lord Jesus Christ will indeed be worshipped universally. Where Satan and all his minions will have met their doom.

Where, to use Isaiah’s words: “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:9

And then Habakkuk 2:14 picks up the refrain. “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

The little old Testament Prophets often do this, first showing a local, nearer time of judgment. Then zooming outward and showing the ultimate world-wide Victory that’s some day coming … through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Well written, Zephaniah!

Did you have help? Make that … Help … with a Capital “H” please.

Yes, the Holy Spirit Himself!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell