Hi James and Ellen,
Zephaniah is a powerful pronouncement against and a persuasive promise for God’s specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group guys and gals, who were living in the land of Judah. The land of Judah was a small area of land where three Israelite people group tribal clans were allotted land. There is a consensus thinking that the author of the Zephaniah ‘Book’ – whose name was Zephaniah, was an ascribed leader who had direct familial ties to a couple of kings who ruled over the guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah. Zephaniah’s name means ‘Yahweh has hidden as a shelter’ or ‘as a treasure’. Yahweh literally means ‘I am that I am’. It could possibly be conjectured that God – as Yahweh, hid Zephaniah among His specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the country of Israel’s land area that was called the land of Judah so that He might have a ‘shelter’ in the land of Judah for His specially guys and gals to escape to at any time and so that He might have a ‘treasure’ in the land of Judah for His specially chosen guys and gals to resource at any time. Your grandpaa believes that Zephaniah along with some contemporaries – whose names were Habakkuk, Nahum and possibly Jeremiah, significantly influenced in a positive way between 640 B.C. and 627 B.C. the spiritual climate in the land of Judah. Your grandpaa thinks that Josiah and Jeremiah were close to being the same age and that they did things – such as playing, with each other.
Your grandpaa believes that Zephaniah was living in the land of Judah in 640 B.C. when Amon – who was an ungodly, corrupt king who was ruling over the guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah, was assassinated. Amon was 24 years old when he was snuffed out. Amon was the kid of another king – whose name is Manasseh, who ruled over the guy and gals who were living in the land of Judah. Over Manasseh’s 55 years of reigning over the guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah, Manasseh ratcheted up the worship of pagan idol gods that were handmade from wood, stone, clay and metal. Before Manasseh died, Manasseh was led to internalize that venerating inanimate gods that guys made by hand from wood, stone, clay and metal was making God very angry. Manasseh enjoined the guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah to return to worshipping God through the live norms and sacrifice standards that God gave them through Moses – after God met with Moses on Mount Sinai somewhere around 800 years earlier. After Amon was killed, Josiah – who was Amon’s 8 year old kid, took on the daunting task and unenviable responsibility of ruling over the guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah. Because of Josiah’s age, your grandpaa believes that Josiah quite probably had handlers who helped him with any and every decision that he made. Your grandpaa thinks that Zephaniah – because of the kinship connection that he appears to have had with Josiah’s granddad – who was Manasseh, possibly was one of Josiah’s handlers. Because of Zephaniah’s deep-seated convictions that he articulated clearly in his three chapter missive – that became known as the Zephaniah Book and which is included with the minor prophet books in the Old Testament, your grandpaa thinks that Zephaniah – along with possibly Nahum, Habakkuk and a young Jeremiah took on being mentors and coaches for Josiah. Ten years after Josiah began ruling as king over the guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah, Josiah – who was now 18 years old, mandated that the temple of God that was located in the city of Jerusalem be refurbished to be used again. During the renovation of the temple of God that was located in the city of Jerusalem, a text was discovered of the belief norms and sacrifice standards that God gave to His specially chosen guys and gals through Moses – after God met with Moses on Mount Sinai. This discovery prompted God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah to repent of their evil ways and to return to worshipping God as being the one true God.
Not long before a copy of the Levitical Law that God gave to Moses when He met with Moses on Mount Sinai to pass on to His specially chosen guys and gals – who were the guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah, was uncovered in the temple of God that was located in the city of Jerusalem, your grandpaa can envision Zephaniah kibitzing with Nahum, Habakkuk and a young Jeremiah about the devastation that was going to happen to the guys, gals and kids who were living in the land of Judah if they did not repent and turn back to God. Your grandpaa can picture Zephaniah being encouraged by his compatriots to scribe on a parchment his concerns so that no one could say later that he or she had not be warned about any calamitous God-driven event that might occur in the days or years ahead. Zephaniah did not mince words in his editorial that he scribed to the guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah. Zephaniah begins by immediately telling the guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah that as idolaters before God that God was not going to let them escape the wrath that He was going to pour out on them on a judgment day that could not be far off because of their abject rejection of His mandated will. Zephaniah did not stop with just telling the guys and gals who were living in the land of Judah that they needed to repent or else; Zephaniah also told the countries of Philistia, Cush, Assyria, Moab and Ammon that they, too, needed to repent or else. The Zephaniah Book concludes with Zephaniah promising his readers a purified land of Judah, a redeemed remnant of God’s specially chosen guys and gals who would be allowed to go back to the land of Judah, a purged city of Jerusalem and a reason for rejoicing because of God having renewed His exclusive relationship with them.
Zephaniah