生命之道

Category: 西番雅书

  • Zephaniah Chapter 3

    Zephaniah Chapter 3

    1. After the prophesies about the gentiles, the prophet returned back to the city of Jerusalem
    2. v5: “The LORD within her is righteous”. Even though sometimes it may seems that God does not punish the wicked and reward the righteous. If we think that way, we are saying that God is not righteous. This scripture tells us that God does NO wrong. He is righteous. Morning by morning He dispenses His justice. He does NOT fail. The problem is not with God, it is with the sinners, because the sinners know no shame.
  • Zephaniah Chapter 2

    Zephaniah Chapter 2

    1. v2: The goal of this book is not to bring people to despair, but to repentance and obedience.
    2. v3: God is calling the Jews to
      1. seek Him
      2. be humble
      3. do what He commands
      4. Seek righteousness
      5. Seek humility
    3. v3: Many died in the Babylonians invasions, others were spared and some were exiled to Babylon.
    4. v4-5: Judgement will come to the gentiles as well
    5. v4: “Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron” these are Philistine major cities
    6. v5: Kerethites are Cretans
    7. v7: “the remnant of the house of Judah” not all Jews were destroyed. The remaining Jews are called remnant, God will one day restore their fortunes.
    8. v8-11: Judgment against Moab and Ammon. Both were descendants of Lot’s (Gen 19:30-38). These people lived in the east of Jordan river.
    9. v9: “salt pits” being close to the Dead Sea, much of Moab and Ammon is salty, barren land.
    10. v10: The reason why they would be judged: pride and insulted the people of the LORD Almighty
    11. v11: “The nations on every shore will worship Him” this will be fulfilled starting from Christ’s second coming.
    12. v12: Cushites are people who resided in upper Nile region (southern Egypt, Sudan, and northern Ephiopia)
    13. v13-V15: A prophesy of the destruction of the Assyria and its capital Nineveh.
    14. v15: “Carefree city that lived in safety”
      1. Circumference of 60 miles
      2. Population of at least 120,000 (Jonah 3:3, 4:11)
      3. External Wall and Internal Wall (8 mile circumference, 50 feet thick and 100 feet high).
      4. Between the two walls was enough farmland to support the huge population.
  • Zephaniah Chapter 1

    Zephaniah Chapter 1

    1. v1: “The word of the LORD that came …” the same opening were also used by Hosea, Joel and Micah. This book, just like all the books in the bible, was written by the Holy Spirit through His chosen vessel, the prophets of God
    2. v1: Zephaniah was the only prophet whose lineage is traced by to four generations. Probably because he was great grandson of King Hezekiah
    3. v2: “I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth” Judgment on the whole earth
    4. v3: The judgment is in reverse order from Creation. Men, animals, birds and fish will be swept away.
    5. v3: “The wicked”, the judgment will only for the wicked. All men are sinners, but those who put their faith on the Lord Jesus Christ will be clothed with righteousness (Rom 3:23-24).
    6. v4: change from judgment to the world to judgment to Judah and Jerusalem
    7. v4: Baal was the Canaanite god of fertility whom many in Israel had worshiped in the time of the judges (Jud 2:13), King Ahab (1 Kings 16:32) and King Manasseh.
    8. v4: Two kind of priests are mentioned:
      1. 1) pagan priests are non-Levitical priests who worshipped idols, King Josiah did remove pagan priests in 2 Kings 23:5.
      2. 2) Idolatrous priests are Levitical priests who workshop idols.
    9. v5-6: Three kinds of people are mentioned
      1. those who worshipped starry host
      2. those who worshipped the LORD and also worshipped Molech
        1. Molech was the chief god of the Ammonites (1 Kings 11:33). The Jews were sacrificing children to Molech (Jer 32:35, 2 Kings 16:3, 21:6)
      3. those who neither seek the LORD nor inquire of him
    10. v7: “the day of the LORD” this is the first of 19 references to the day of the LORD in this book
    11. v7: “prepared a sacrifice” meaning the Jews
    12. v7: “consecrated those he has invited” meaning the Babylonians
    13. v8: The princes and clad like the latest fashions from Nineveh and Babylon. Their outward appearances also reveal their heart. They had absorbed foreign values and practices.
    14. v9: “stepping on the threshold” could mean one of the following:
      1. followed the Philistines’ superstition (1 Sam 5:5)
      2. suddenly leaped into others’ homes to steal and offered the plunder to their gods
    15. v12: God will search the city, no one does not believe in Him (the LORD will do nothing, either good or bad) will go unpunished.
    16. v13: They will not live long enough to enjoy their houses and vinepards
    17. v14: “The great day of the LORD” is a day of judgement
      1. 605 BC first exiles to Babylon
      2. 597 BC second exiles to Babylon
      3. 586 BC finial exiles to Babylon
    18. v16: Attacks will come to Jerusalem and the other Jew’s cities
    19. v17: The reason of this judgement: “They have sinned against the LORD”
    20. v18: money cannot save us from God’s judgment, only the blood of Jesus Christ could save us
    21. v18: “the whole world will be consumed” prophesy changed from near term to end times.
  • Zephaniah Introduction

    Zephaniah Introduction

    1. Meaning of the name Zephaniah
      1. Yahweh hides or Yahweh has hidden or Yahweh treasured
      2. Three other men are called Zephaniah in Old Testament
      3. May point to God’s protection of His people during the impending difficulties in Zephaniah’s day
      4. Or may point to God’s protection of Zephaniah in his childhood during Manasseh’s wicked reign (2 Kings 21:16)
    2. Author
      1. We know very little about Zephaniah beyond 1:1
      2. He is the only prophet whose ancestry is traced back four generations (1:1). It implies he was a man of prominence and even of royalty.
      3. He was the great-grand son of King Hezekiah, which made him the only known Old Testament prophet with such high social standing. Royal genealogy would have given him the ear of Judah’s king, Josiah
      4. He was probably familiar with Jerusalem because God prophesied through him about the “Fish Gate”, the “New Quarter”, the “hills”, and the market district in Jerusalem (1:10-11)
    3. Date
      1. Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of King Josiah (640-609 BC) of the southern kingdom (1:1)
      2. 1:8 mentioned that the king’s sons were old enough to make choices to choose foreign clothes. It hints that King Josiah was in his thirties.
      3. Wrote this book before the destruction of Nineveh (612BC), because  2:13 hints that Nineveh was still in existence when this book was written. Nineveh was destroyed by a coalition of Medes and Babylonians in 612BC
    4. Setting
      1. King Josiah’s father and great grandfather Amon and Manasseh were wicked kings.
      2. Manasseh:
        1. built altars to Baal
        2. worshiped the sun, moon and stars. He built altars to these stellar objects and placed them in the temple courts
        3. He made his own son pass through the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritist (2 Kings 21:6)
        4. Craved Asherah pole in the temple (2 Kings 21:7)
      3. Judah was having a brief spiritual revival under the reign of Josiah (2 King 22:1-23:30).
      4. The book of Law was discovered by Hilkiah in 622 BC(2 Kings 22:8)
      5. Josiah read the book of the Law (2 Kings 22:11, 23:2), and did the following
        1. Led the Jews to renewed covenant with God (2 Kings 23:3)
        2. Removed and killed the pagan priests (2 Kings 23:5, 20)
        3. Removed idols of Baal, Asherah from the teample (2 Kings 22:4)
        4. Re-established Passover (2 Kings 22:21)
      6. Judah was prosperous political because the power Assyrian was declining.
      7. However the revival was brief and superficial, it did not deeply affect the heart of the people. Worship of Yahweh was reestablished, but idolatry was not entirely removed. Both Zephaniah and Jeremiah prophesied to a politically prospering people of coming judgment.
    5. Theme
      1. “The day of the LORD” is used the most in this book than any other Old Testament books
      2. Thus the theme of the book is the impending judgment of God on Judah for its disobedience.
      3. Key verse is 1:7 “Be silent before the Sovereign LORD, for the day of the LORD is near.”
      4. Though judgment was sure, God’s promise to protect His people and fulfill His promises was steadfast and everlasting
    6. Outline
      1. 1:1-3:8 The Day of The LORD’s Judgment
      2. 3:9-20 The Day of The LORD’s Restoration