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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadGreater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 469. Zephaniah
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Literature
Davidson, A. B., Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (Cambridge Bible) (1896), 95.
Douglas, G. C. M., The Six Intermediate Minor Prophets, 135.
Driver, S. R., Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (1913), 340.
Duhm, B., The Twelve Prophets (1912), 35, 141.
Elmslie, W. G., in Book by Book (1892), 315.
Farrar, F. W., The Minor Prophets (Men of the Bible), 153.
Geikie, C., Hours with the Bible, vi. (1883) 125.
Hitchcock, F. R. M., Hebrew Types (1913), 201.
Horton, R. F., Lyndhurst Road Pulpit (1893), 211.
Jones, J. D., The Unfettered Word (1912), 176.
Jordan, W. G., Prophetic Ideas and Ideals (1902), 111.
Kirkpatrick, A. F., The Doctrine of the Prophets (1892), 253.
Maclaren, A., Expositions: Ezekiel to Malachi (1908), 245.
McWilliam, T., Speakers for God (1902), 99.
Maurice, F. D., The Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament (1892), 370.
Orelli, C. von, The Twelve Minor Prophets (1893), 260.
Sanders, F. K., and Kent, C. F., The Messages of the Earlier Prophets (1899), 187.
Selby, T. G., The Unheeding God (1899), 2.
Smith, G. A., The Book of the Twelve Prophets (Expositor's Bible), ii. (1898) 33.
Smith, J. M. P., Zephaniah (International Critical Commentary) (1912), 159.
Todd, J. C., Politics and Religion in Ancient Israel (1904), 199.
Wiles, J. P., Half-Hours with the Minor Prophets (1908), 113.
Woods, F. H., and Powell, F. E., The Hebrew Prophets, ii. (1910) 1.
Christian World Pulpit, liii. (1898) 115 (E. A. French), 227 (C. Gore) 245 (C. Gore); lxix. (1906) 136 (H. H. Henson).
The day of the Lord is at hand.- Zep_1:7.
1. The date of Zephaniah's prophetic activity, according to the superscription, was in the reign of King Josiah (639-608 b.c.). Scholars, with one exception, have accepted this as correct. There is no good reason to suspect the statement; it accords well with the contents of the book, yet it could not easily have been conjectured upon the basis of the book. It is natural to suppose that it rests upon an independent tradition that goes back to fairly early times. The question that may profitably be discussed concerns itself with the particular portion of Josiah's reign to which the prophecy should be assigned. Did Zephaniah do his work before or after the culmination of the great Deuteronomic reform in 621 b.c.? The answer to this question must be sought in the prophet's own statements as to the conditions prevailing in Judah in his day and in his outlook for the future. His denunciations of syncretism in worship, apostasy from Jehovah, the worship of the heavenly bodies, the aping of foreign customs in religion and in dress, and the practical scepticism rebuked in Zep_1:12 seem to accord perfectly with the state of affairs as it was during the reigns of Manasseh and Amon, and as it may be supposed to have continued during the early portion of Josiah's reign, before he had arrived at an age when he could exercise any powerful influence upon the currents of life and thought in his kingdom. Efforts have been made to account for the conditions reflected by Zephaniah's utterances as indicative of the period of Josiah's reign after 621 b.c. But it seems improbable that such irregularities of cultus could have been openly practised and tolerated in the period immediately after a reform the main outcome of which was the purification of the cultus. Josiah was a zealous worshipper of Jehovah, and no record has reached us of any cooling of his zeal after the reform. Passages from Jeremiah are sometimes cited to show that conditions were as bad in Judah after the reform as they are declared to have been by Zephaniah in his day. But this argument is inconclusive; and other considerations urged in favour of the post-reformation date also fail to make it probable The Book of Zephaniah is almost bound to have been written before the year of the great reformation.
2. The occasion of Zephaniah's appearance as a prophet seems to have lain in some imminent danger to his nation. He evidently regarded the Day of Jehovah as close at hand. In accordance with the character of earlier prophecy in general and of the Day of Jehovah prophecies in particular, it is probable that Zephaniah interpreted the approach of some foreign army as heralding the dawn of Jehovah's Day. The event that best meets the requirements of the situation is the Scythian invasion, about the year 630 b.c. The widespread activity of the Scythians corresponds with Zephaniah's vision of the coming judgment as extending from Assyria on the north-east to Ethiopia on the south-west. The speed with which the Scythian hordes swept everything before them seems reflected in certain of Zephaniah's utterances. That neither Assyria nor Egypt was thought of by Zephaniah as the agent or forerunner of the coming judgment is clear from the fact that they are both represented as falling victims to it. These being out of the question, the Scythians remain as the most likely candidate for the doubtful honour of world-destroyer. It is not necessary to suppose that Zephaniah conceived of them as exhausting the Divine anger in their chastisement of the nations. They seem rather to have been thought of as furnishing the prelude to the great drama of destruction. Human and Divine forces were to co-operate in this as in other judgment scenes depicted by the prophets. In the approach of the Scythians Zephaniah saw signs of the breaking up of the existing world-powers and hastened to proclaim it as the great judgment day of Jehovah, the God of Israel and the God of justice.
3. The style of Zephaniah is forcible, but his prophetic message is far less definite than that of Isaiah. Isaiah wrote under the pressure of immense political events, and deals directly with the Assyrian invasion. The menaces of Zephaniah are vague and general. Probably, however, Zephaniah neither intended nor desired to be definite. He, too, is the prophet of inevitable laws; an announcer of that light which shines so quietly, but ultimately reveals all things “in the slow history of their ripening.” All the Hebrew prophets have certain great fundamental ideas in common. Even Isaiah, original as he is, sometimes echoes the phrases of Amos and Hosea; and Jeremiah frequently borrows or adapts the expressions of his predecessors. Zephaniah, whose prophecy is more secondary and reproductive, borrows not only principles but details. He assumes that history will repeat itself in fresh catastrophes, followed by new reformations and restorations, since the calamity of the Ninevite invasion had not produced a genuine reform, and the deliverance then promised was still incomplete. His eschatology is spiritual and ethical; and he predicts, not only the vindication of righteousness, but the triumph of Jehovah's love. But his book is on the model of those left by his predecessors. Threatening, exhortation, and promise are interwoven with triple strands into his pages as into theirs.
Zephaniah can hardly be considered great as a poet. He does not rank with Isaiah or even with Hosea in this particular. He has no great imaginative powers; no deep insight into the human heart is reflected in his utterances or any keen sensitiveness to the beauties of nature. His harp is not attuned to the finer harmonies of life like that of Jeremiah. He had an imperative message to deliver, and he proceeded in the most direct and forceful way to discharge his responsibility. What he lacked in grace and charm he in some measure atoned for by the vigour and clarity of his speech. He realized the approaching terror so keenly that he was able to present it vividly and convincingly to his hearers. No prophet has made the picture of the Day of Jehovah more real.
4. Zephaniah himself, perhaps, belonged to the royal house, for he traces his descent from Hezekiah, whom we may without extravagance identify with the famous king of that name. A whole generation had passed since the preaching of Isaiah had effected a reformation in the society of Jerusalem, and-as ever happens in the wake of great spiritual movements-there had followed a period of reaction. The upper classes of Judah, from whom the leading politicians were drawn, were exhibiting the too familiar traits of a decadent society. There was much latent scepticism, a tendency to dishonest compromise, a contempt for conviction, a dislike of religion as a factor in practical politics. Together with this decay of the spiritual elements in life, there went inevitably a rapid declension of manners, a lowering of the moral standard, a decline of genuine public spirit. Zephaniah had been brought up within the charmed circle of privilege and wealth, and when he was moved to denounce the prevailing tendencies of his class and time, he could speak out of the personal knowledge which he possessed. Hence, perhaps, the lifelike description which he draws, and hence, also, the almost personal resentment which seems to colour his language.
5. Critical study of the contents of the book during the last half-century has resulted in the setting apart of certain portions of the text as belonging neither to Zephaniah nor to his times, but as due to accretion in later days. With the exception of the Song of the Redeemed (Zep_3:14-20), however, it may be accepted generally as the work of the prophet. The main outline of the book is very simple. In the first chapter the prophet announces a great day of the wrath of the Lord. He then calls upon the various peoples, and especially upon Jerusalem, to repent, mingling his appeals with stern denunciations of judgment. Finally, he promises a time of peace and Divine favour for the remnant of Israel, “an afflicted and poor people.”