Any Prophet is going to denounce sin.

Just as God instructed Isaiah: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and SHOW MY PEOPLE THEIR TRANSGRESSION, and THE HOUSE OF JACOB THEIR SINS.” Isaiah 58:1

The godly Zephaniah is no exception. But in today’s Paragraph God is really the One speaking! Zephaniah just relays the Message! A litany (list) of wrongdoings!

The whole Text, 3 pungent verses: “I (the Lord) 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 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 sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.” Zephaniah 1:4-6

Wow!

God KNOWS their acts of rebellion and compromise!

Psalm 139:2, David acknowledging this very fact. “Thou (Lord) knowest my DOWNSITTING and mine uprising ….” And Psalm 69:5 too. “O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and MY SINS ARE NOT HID FROM THEE.”

The Jews of Zephaniah’s day (even under the reign of godly King Josiah) had become egregiously idolatrous!

Look at this list of errors, sins.

1. Baal worship! “I (the Lord) will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place ….” A heathen god, baal, whose very name means “lord, boss,” even “husband!”
2. Tolerating the “Chemarims!” Again: “I (the Lord) will cut off … the Chemarims.” These seem to be … false priests who promote idol worship. The name means “black,” perhaps a hint of the color robes they wore in their sinful rituals. Another (deeper) root meaning is “hot,” as in “fervent.” They are “on fire” for their false gods!
3. Worship of stars and planets! “I (the Lord) will cut off … them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops.” Star-gazing for astrological purposes, forbidden throughout God’s Law. (Part of Deuteronomy 4:19. “And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them ….” Wow!)
4. Then is a practice mentioned that’s today called “syncretism.” Essentially it’s a “mixing” of religions, some of this one and a little from that one, with some of a third one included too! And so on. Watch … they are worshipping both the LORD and Malcham now. God is still going to “cut them off!” Zephaniah 1:5, yet part of our Text today. “And them that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham ….” Malcham is the same god as “Molech,” a chief deity of the nearby wicked Ammonites.
5. Then is listed general “lukewarmness” concerning the real God of heaven, Jehovah Himself. “They are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.” Once “turned back” is translated “backslider” in the King James Bible. “Sought” occasionally has the idea of “begging!” God likes it when we NEED Him that much, literally craving Him!

What a list of iniquities!

And yet, as a Nation, we in America are now guilty of them all. Probably even more so than Israel (Judah) of old.

As David once lamented, “Oh, how the mighty are fallen!”

God, help us.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

I think I must “speed up” in our journey through the Book of Zephaniah! If not, we’re going to be here two months! Not that such would be “wrong.” It’s just that I usually try to cover a different Text each month or so.  Most often, in a verse by verse manner.

But this Old Testament Prophecy begins so “fiercely!” God is angry, and rightly so! Judgment is coming. Jeremiah 1:3, today’s verse, clearly illustrates that fact: “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.”

Sounds widespread, doesn’t it?

Even worldwide!

Two more times here “suf,” a Hebrew verb (first used in yesterday’s lesson, verse 2) meaning “to bring to an end, to cause to perish,” appears. In fact, it’s the first word in the Hebrew sentence, verse. That fact alone gives it priority of emphasis. Our King James Bible translates “sup” as “consume.”

The third verb is parallel to the verse’s two “consumes” (“suf”), that being “cut off.” This is “karath” in Hebrew, “to destroy, to hew, to cause to fail.” Blatantly dramatic!

One Preacher thinks this verse sounds like a “reversal” of Creation week! Just as Genesis 1 and 2 depict God making the fishes and birds and beasts (animals) and then man. Here God takes them all away, in the aforenamed categories too!

The only question that remains is what are “the stumblingblocks of the wicked?” One Biblical thinker believes the phrase means something like “anything that causes others to sin.” The “traps” the wicked lay for good people. Another teaches believes it refers to “idols,” which were so prominent in Judah in those dark days. In our Bibles “makshelah” means “ruin” once as well. Yes, the ungodly do eventually “ruin” a nation, “perpetrating” further sin upon its often unsuspecting people.

This is one of the most sweeping statements of total judgment in the Prophets. Especially when considered as being preached in the days of (good) King Josiah!

But tomorrow’s verse will add even more “light” to our discussion.

I’m enjoying learning about this small Bible Book. Each Prophet of Scripture certainly has his own personality. Zephaniah being no exception.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

In our last Lesson (yesterday) I mentioned but failed to emphasize the fact that our Prophet Zephaniah ministered “in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.” Zephaniah 1:1, an important fact. King Josiah, a good man, reigned 31 years. So, the totality of Zephaniah’s Work for the Lord occurred during that block of time, as far as his personally serving God. (In contrast the Prophet Isaiah preached under the reigns of 4 different Kings, a much longer span of time. “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AHAZ, AND HEZEKIAH, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken ….” Isaiah 1:1-2, with the Kings’ names being capitalized. This is chronologically earlier than Josiah.)

Also I need to add this interesting fact. Since Zephaniah labored during the time of King Josiah, he likely would have been a contemporary (at least part of that time) of Jeremiah the much better know Prophet as well. “The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of JOSIAH the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.” Jeremiah 1:1-2, with Jeremiah then preaching all the way to Judah’s last King, Zedekiah. I mean last simply because of the intervening Babylonian Captivity. (Remember, King Jesus will some day rule on that Throne, too!)

Did Zephaniah and Jeremiah know one another?

That’s a piece of information on which the Bible is silent.

Maybe they did.

Now let’s look at Zephaniah 1:2. “I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.” Quite blunt, isn’t it?

Yet this verse sets the “tone” for much of this little 53 Verse Prophecy!

It is a Book of Judgment!

Yet, as most Scripture, it has periods of “Grace” sprinkled into its content. And it ends with one of the Greatest Messages of Hope and Love in all the Bible!

The verb “utterly consume” involves two Hebrew words, “asaph suf.” The first term is similar (and related) to the Old Testament name “Joseph,” which means “adding.” And “suf” means “to cease, to come to an end!” This is an on-going action on God’s part, too. This is a judgment which is progressive. And which (it seems) incrementally grows as time passes!

The noun “land” is unusual. It is spelled “paniym,” the “face” of anything. Probably meaning the geographical area before the faces of the (then backslidden) Jews.

The judgment being mentioned (promised) specifically concerns the impending attack of Babylon on the Land of Judah. That happened in 606 BC and again in 597 BC and finally (total destruction) again in 586 BC. God kept His Word! Because Judah did not repent!

But this paragraph with which Zephaniah begins goes far beyond the Babylonian episode, I believe. It has “Tribulation” implications, for sure!

A lot of Bible Prophecy has a two-fold fulfillment. One more local and immediate … the other more far-ranging and ultimate, its realization more remote. Wow, a principle of hermeneutics right here in the opening section of Zephaniah!

And, as usual, more tomorrow …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Yes, we’re going to notice the book of Zephaniah, small as it is. Forgotten as it is. Uninteresting (apparently) to many as it is. But still in the Bible, Old Testament, a so-called Minor Prophet.

The Prophecy of Zephaniah (as a Body of Literature, divinely inspired Scripture) contains only 3 chapters, just 53 verses total. He is not as emotional as Hosea. Nor as thorough as Isaiah. Nor as personal as Jeremiah, not by any stretch! Nor as cryptic as Ezekiel or Daniel, either. Nor as apocalyptic as Zechariah, with whom he is often confused.

BUT HE IS WHAT GOD INTENDED HIM TO BE!

Unique, blending (as does all preaching) a human personality with an eternal God-given Message!

Today of course we merely begin our series of studies. Zephaniah chapter 1, verse 1. “The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.”

The “formula” (a fact as well) “The Word of the Lord came …” is an introductory remark of much Old Testament preaching. In a casual search I just located the string 92 times! From Genesis 15:1 where “The word of the LORD came unto Abram …” all the way to Zechariah 7:8 (near the end of the Old Testament) where “The word of the Lord came to Zechariah ….”

Then I can unequivocally state … God is the True Spokesman behind the Truth declared in Zephaniah, all the Truth!

Next in verse 1 something amazing happens. The Forefathers of Zephaniah are listed … back 4 generations! “Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah.” Wow, very unusual!

Why so?

Maybe so that we can be informed that this Prophet is a relative of a former King of Judah, a great King in fact. The “Hizkiah” of our Text is “Hezekiah” of Old Testament fame, most scholars agree. (The great Isaiah was a “friend” of several Kings … but not related to any of them!)

Zephaniah, here’s a Prophet with royal blood in his veins, of the Tribe of Judah!

The same Tribe from which Jesus was born.

Then, lastly today, we lean the “time” of Zephaniah’s ministry, “in the days of JOSIAH the son of Amon, king of Judah.” This dates to around 600 BC, to make things easier … for memory purposes. More exactly, beginning in 640 and reigning through 608 BC.

Now tomorrow, the Lord willing, we shall wade into the first paragraph of Zephaniah’s great prophecy.

The days ahead should be quite interesting, time in the Word of God!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

For the first time in years, I think I shall not today begin our new Bible Study Series.

Frankly, I have no clear leading on which direction to pursue, which Text to investigate!

Although I am preaching in Revival this week, in North Carolina, I shall declare today (as far as the Website is concerned) a day of rest.

I trust that you our faithful readers will understand.

And the ones who only visit us periodically … will never know anyway!

Until tomorrow …

— Dr. Mike Bagwell