Zephaniah 1 Study Notes

1:2 The prophetic declaration, God will completely sweep away everything on earth, is hyperbole. Though no one deserved to be spared, God would preserve a small remnant of Judah and of other peoples (2:7,9b; 3:9-10,12-13).

1:3 The judgment language—sweep away people and animals (lit “cattle, wild beasts”) even the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea—is more comprehensive than Noah’s flood (Gn 6:7, no fish mentioned). To underscore the gravity of their sins and the intensity of their deserved punishment, Zephaniah used prophetic hyperbole (Jr 4:23-29; 9:9-11) in which creation itself is reversed; here the creatures are listed in reverse order from Gn 1:20-28 (sea creatures, birds, beasts, and man). In the phrase the ruins along with the wicked, “ruins” (Hb maksheloth, lit “stumbling blocks”) were apparently idol paraphernalia, including animal worship practiced by depraved people such as in Egypt or Judah (see Ezk 8:10-12 for detestable animal images in the Jerusalem temple). The Lord would destroy those idols and their worshipers.

1:4 The Hebrew phrase meaning literally “stretch out the hand” occurs thirteen times in the Exodus narrative, all but one (Ex 7:5) with Moses or Aaron as the subject. As Johannes Vlaardingerbroek (Zephaniah) explains, “Clearly we are here in the sphere of the judgment and wrath of God; the reference is not just to events which could possibly be understood as a call to repentance or warning, but to an intervention of God that is comparable to the judgments upon Egypt long ago.”

1:5 To pledge loyalty to Milcom involved religious syncretism, combining pseudo-worship of the Lord with worship of a false god. Here and in Jr 49:1,3, “Milcom” is spelled “Milcam” (lit “their king”) in the Masoretic Text, which some interpret as a reference to Baal worship (see Zph 1:4; cp. Jr 32; 35). Yet Milcom/Milcam was more likely the Ammonite god (Jr 49:1-3), interchangeable with “Molech” (1Kg 11:7; Jr 32:35). No consensus exists about the exact nature and spelling of this Ammonite deity; if equivalent to the Canaanite god of the underworld Molech, worship of this god apparently included child sacrifice (as in worship of Molech/Milcom; Lv 18:21; 20:2-5; 2Kg 23:10; Jr 32:35). This worship continued Manasseh’s pagan practices which Josiah would disrupt (2Kg 23:10-13).

1:6 To follow the Lord is to keep the statutes of the covenant, so to turn back is to desert the Lord and violate the covenant. In Is 59:13 it is associated with rebellion, hypocrisy, treachery, and deceit (cp. Ps 44:18; 78:57; Pr 14:14; Is 50:5).

1:7-8 Verse 7 announces the coming of the day of the Lord. The proper response is reverential silence in his presence. Zch 2:13 declares, “Let all people be silent before the Lord, for from his holy dwelling he has roused himself” (cp. Is 41:1; Hab 2:20). The sacrifice the Lord has prepared refers to a slaughter, and the consecrated guests are the scavenger birds and wild animals, as in Ezk 39:17-18. The birds and animals represent the powers that will execute the judgment. The phrase king’s sons is not likely to be taken literally since Josiah became king at age eight. It is probably a title for the king’s council of advisers. Adele Berlin (Zephaniah) suggests that foreign clothing may have referred to “the vestments of Baal worship, as in 2Kg 10:22.”

1:9 Since their leaders imitated foreign customs (v. 8), to skip over the threshold probably reflected a foreign, fearful superstition (similar to a Philistine custom, 1Sm 5:4-5).

1:10-11 Verse 10 lists three sounds of destruction that will be heard in various parts of Jerusalem. The Hollow in v. 11 was apparently another district of the city, where the merchants did business. It was probably in what was later called the Tyropoeon Valley.

1:12-13 Verse 12 speaks of the Lord’s meticulous (none will escape) search (cp. Pr 20:27) to punish (cp. vv. 8-9) men who settle down comfortably. The relative clause is literally “who thicken or congeal [like wine] upon their dregs.” The image may suggest drunkenness. The end of v. 13 quotes Dt 28:30b (cp. Am 5:11), which is one of the curses for refusing to follow the Lord’s “commands and statutes” (Dt 28:15).

1:14 The day of the Lord was imminent (near, v. 7; cp. Is 13:6; Ezk 30:3; Jl 2:1; 3:14; Ob 15) and rapidly approaching. On this day God would judge Judah for its rampant idolatry (vv. 4-7). On an impending day of wrath (vv. 15,18), God’s rage would overflow to those who, by sinning against him (v. 17), had become his enemies. He would unleash a storm of destruction (v. 15), primarily by enemy invaders (Ezk 38:9; cp. Jl 2:1-11). The Lord’s destruction of Judah by the Babylonians in 586 BC (Lm 2:1-3,22; 4:11) partially fulfilled this day of his burning anger (Zph 1:18; 2:2-3) as he punished them for abominable idolatries (1:4-11; cp. Ezk 7:8-11,14-21; 8:5-18). Ultimately all earthly inhabitants would be judged (Jl 3:1-2,12-16; Zph 1:2-3) and consumed by his fiery anger (vv. 17-18; 3:8; cp. 2Pt 3:10-12).

1:15-16 Marvin Sweeney (Zephaniah) explains that the word for destruction, sho’ah, “is now employed in place of ‘Holocaust’ to designate the murder of some six million Jews and others by the Nazis and their sympathizers in World War II.” Johannes Vlaardingerbroek (Zephaniah) is correct that the message here goes beyond what is stated. Assumed is that these cities and battlements will be overrun. “It ends the security people thought to find in them and very often did in fact find there. . . On that day no one will find shelter anywhere. Those who seek protection in human fortifications are deceiving themselves.”

1:17 The judgment walk like the blind is based on Dt 28:28-29: “The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness, and mental confusion, so that at noon you will grope as a blind person gropes in the dark. You will not be successful in anything you do. You will only be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will help you.” Thus blindness represents ignorance of God, helplessness, and hopelessness.

1:18 When King Asa of Judah was threatened by Israel, he sent silver and gold to Aram to purchase deliverance (2Ch 16:1-3). When Ahaz king of Judah was threatened by the kings of Aram and Israel, he sent silver and gold to the king of Assyria to purchase deliverance (2Kg 16:7-9). King Jehoiakim of Judah gave silver and gold to Pharaoh Neco for deliverance (2Kg 23:35). But all the silver and gold in the earth will not be able to deliver anyone on the day of the Lord. The motif is also found in Is 13:17, which declares judgment against Babylon from the Medes who “cannot be bought off with silver and who have no desire for gold.” Ezekiel 7:19 quotes Zephaniah: “Their silver and gold will be unable to save them in the day of the Lord’s wrath.” The only hope of deliverance from the Lord’s wrath is through “the precious blood of Christ” (1Pt 1:18-19).