33. Zephaniah

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33. ZEPHANIAH

I. OUTLINE

1. Judgment of Jerusalem. 1:1-18.

A. Title. 1:1.

B. Threat of Destruction. 1:2-6.

C. Lord's Sacrifice. 1:7.

D. Punishment of Princes. 1:8,9.

E. The Day in Jerusalem. 1:10,11.

F. Fate of the Indifferent. 1:12-16.

G. Universal Judgment. 1:17,18.

2. Judgment of the Nations. 2:1-15.

A. Summons to Punishment. 2:1,2.

B. Seeking the Lord. 2:3.

C. Oracle against Philistia. 2:4-7.

D. Oracle against Others. 2:8-12.

E. Warning to Assyria. 2:13,14.

F. Editorial Addition. 2:15.

3. Threats and Promises. 3:1-20.

A. Charges against Jerusalem. 3:1-5.

B. Failure of Discipline. 3:6,7.

C. Universal Punishment. 3:8.

D. Conversion of Nations. 3:9,10.

E. Security of the Remnant. 3:11-13.

F. The Golden Age. 3:14-20.

II. AUTHORSHIP

1. Zephaniah was an aristocratic citizen of Jerusalem. He has little or nothing to say about the poor.

2. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah and borrowed from both Amos and Isaiah.

3. He was the fourth generation descendant of King Hezekiah and a second cousin once removed of Josiah, the king.

4. Most of the passages of comfort and promise are regarded as the work of later editors.

III. TEACHINGS OF THE BOOK

1. His loud cry: "The day of the Lord-a day of wrath, trouble, distress, and darkness."

2. His pronouncements were made with a vast and rapidly changing international background.

3. Perhaps Zephaniah was the first Old Testament prophet to change the "day of the Lord" from the "Messianic age" to the coming of Yahweh himself- "the end of the world."

4. This book is a good illustration of how the editors did not hesitate to append their notes with God speaking in the first person.

5. Some of the additions sound more like Deutero-Isaiah than like Zephaniah.

6. In Zephaniah God has a conscience. He cannot allow the sins of even his "chosen people" to go unpunished.

7. There is a hint in this book that during the "new age" all peoples will be converted to Yahweh.

8. One of the major conclusions of the book is: "The Lord resists the proud and rewards the humble."

The book is devoid of outstanding and significant passages.