Mining the Minors: Zephaniah (7)

In the course of our studies in the Minor Prophets, it has come to our attention repeatedly that prophetic utterances often apply to multiple times and places, and that their fulfillments may be literal, spiritual or both. It is possible to read Zephaniah 1:1 through 3:7 as applying almost exclusively to the period from the reign of Josiah in Judah through to the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem and the decades that followed. All but a few verses in these passages have already been fulfilled.

From 3:8 on, however, it is evident the prophet is speaking about days that are still future even for today’s reader.

Two Sticks and David My Servant

The most obvious clue is that much of what is said from verse 8 on simply hasn’t happened, meaning that it has either been abrogated (as some claim) or remains to be fulfilled at a future time and place. Since history continues, I’ll go with the latter option. Another clue is that the word “Judah” never appears again in Zephaniah’s prophecy from 3:8 on. Instead, the Lord refers to “Israel” three times in the final verses.

Other prophets would later speak of the reunited kingdom in detail, especially Ezekiel, who was told to join together two sticks with his hand: one for Judah and the people of Israel associated with him, and a second for Ephraim and the house of Israel associated with him. The sticks symbolized the two divided nations, and joining them predicted the reuniting of Israel under “David my servant”.

So then, the use of the word “Israel” from here on is not a trivial matter.

Zephaniah 3:8 — Judging the Nations

“ ‘Therefore wait for me,’ declares the Lord, ‘for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed.’ ”

Pointing to Future Days

If you read history, Babylon’s army was something of an ethnic hodgepodge; still, you couldn’t reasonably say that Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Jerusalem involved “all the earth” or that the Lord had “gathered nations to pour out his indignation on them”. Here, I think, we have a reference to coming events that will set in motion the final spiritual awakening of God’s earthly people. Judah ultimately failed to learn the lesson of the Babylonian captivity, and the descendants of those who would return to the land after the conquest of Babylon by the Medes and Persians crucified their Messiah and found themselves dispersed throughout the world for a much, much longer period than they spent in Babylon. To this day, Jesus Christ remains unacknowledged by secular Jews and explicitly rejected by Talmudic Judaism.

The word “Therefore” calls us back to the previous two verses, where the Lord points to the destruction he would accomplish in the years from the late seventh century BC and on as a message to Judah to accept his correction. Instead, they doubled down on their evils: “All the more they were eager to make their deeds corrupt.”

Gathering the Nations

This was the case both prior to the Babylonian captivity and afterward, with only a few brief periods of revival in a restored Judah, leading eventually to the phony religiosity of the first century Pharisees and the eventual destruction of Jerusalem in AD70. Because of their obduracy as a nation to this day, God’s final disciplinary actions are necessary, so he will gather the nations against his people. The first advent of Messiah occurred in between these two diasporas, but remains invisible in Zephaniah, like a valley between two mountain peaks viewed from a great distance. Instead, the prophet skips ahead to the Second Coming.

With regard to the gathering of nations against Israel at the time of the end, you can find further predictions concerning this period in Daniel, Joel, Zechariah and especially Revelation. In gathering the nations, God will bring Israel to the point of recognizing their Messiah and weeping over him as one weeps over a firstborn, but at the same time, as Zephaniah says here, he is using the occasion to pour out his indignation in judgment on the nations.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you the Lord can’t multitask.

Zephaniah 3:9-10 — Saving the Nations

“For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord. From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering.”

Life from the Dead

Ultimately, the object of God’s discipline is to produce repentance in order that God may bless not just Israel, but the whole world (“For if [Israel’s] rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?”). The nations stand to benefit greatly from Israel’s restoration, but they too must first become spiritually transformed: “I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord.” What a day that will be!

The Daughter of My Dispersed Ones

The words “daughter of my dispersed ones” almost surely refer to the Ephraimite descendants of the Assyrian captivity, who remain at large in the world, mostly unidentified, despite the current return of many Jews to Israel. These will not be regathered with their brothers and sisters until after the Lord’s return. The phrase “from beyond the rivers of Cush” may indicate that some of these have migrated south into Africa over the centuries, but the phrase may also just be a figurative way of implying that whatever the distance they may have traveled, the children of Israel can count on be regathered and reunited.

Zephaniah 3:11-13 — Israel at Rest

“On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord, those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.”

Here we move into conditions in Israel during the millennial reign of Christ. Ezekiel would describe the millennium in much greater detail a few years later, but the broad strokes are laid out here by Zephaniah. In every generation, there have been leaders and “proudly exultant ones” like the officials, judges, prophets and priests of verses 3 and 4. In the period prior to the gathering of nations, Israel’s leadership will be just as bad. Other prophets indicate a great many Jews will die prior to the final battle. Daniel says that in the “glorious land”, tens of thousands shall fall. John writes that Jerusalem will be split into three parts in a great earthquake. Earlier in Revelation, a tenth of the city falls and 7,000 are killed in an earthquake. So the earthly people of God will be purified prior to the millennium, either by the deaths of the wicked in the final events of the great tribulation, or else by God’s own hand (“I will remove from your midst”).

The godly remnant in Israel will repopulate the land and be joined by the descendants of their brothers and sisters from the northern kingdom. These will all put their trust in the Lord and display a godliness uncharacteristic of the former nation: no injustice, no lies, no deceit, a people humble and lowly. Despite their meekness, they will experience no danger from the nations, for “none shall make them afraid”.

God’s grace cannot be overstated.