Many of the prophetic books of the Old Testament follow a
similar introductory formula: The prophet is introduced along with a reference
to his father, and perhaps his grandfather, the town where he lived and the
king or kings who were in power during his ministry. There is some variation
among the prophets, but they largely follow this pattern.
But the prophet Zephaniah deviates from this formula slightly
in that his pedigree lists not one or two but five generations. This variation
is intriguing on two points The first being that Zephaniah ben Cushi traces his
ancestry back to Hezekiah.
Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son
of Hezekiah.
You probably recognize the name Hezekiah. There was a king
of Judah
named Hezekiah. He ruled from 715 - 687 BC. But was Zephaniah's
great-great-grandfather King Hezekaih? Were they one and the same? Well it’s
possible. It cannot be discounted based on the time frame and it would
certainly explain the irregular extended family tree in the prophet’s introduction.
That also makes him a second cousin to the king in
power during his time as prophet – King Josiah, and a third cousin to kings
Jehoaz, Jehoiakim, and Zedikaih who would follow. The prophet Zepheniah came
from a powerful and royal family.
But there’s another interesting tidbit that I find even more
compelling than his descent from royalty. Zephaniah is called the son of Cushi
– the son of
Cush.
There’s a definite possibility that this is means the area of Africa just south
of
Egypt.
(Modern day
Sudan and
Ethiopia)
"This form of the word [Cushi], whether taken as a proper name or as an
ethnic designation, regularly points in biblical usage to Israel's darker hued
neighbors to the south, peoples from Egypt, and the extended regions of the
Nile valley”
[i] Zephaniah, very likely, may have been part
African.
Zephaniah’s short book zigzags back and forth between Jerusalem and the nations
that surround. He declares Yahweh’s judgment on Jerusalem
then on the nations, and then on Jerusalem
again, and then on the nations. Then Zephaniah delivers a promise of Yahweh’s
salvation to the nations and then to Jerusalem,
or Zion. It’s
this promise of salvation we want to look at today.
Like many of the other prophets, Zephaniah dealt with the
coming destruction of Jerusalem and Judah and the
surrounding nations because of their various sins against the Lord. Of their
many sins Zephaniah lists the worship of false gods, abandoning YHWH, mocking
God’s people, not listening to the prophets, and not accepting the correction
that they offered among others as the reasons why God would send his wrath on
the immanent Day of the Lord.
The great Day of the Lord is near,
near and coming with great speed
how bitter the sound of the Day of YHWH
the Day when the warrior shouts his cry of war.
That Day is a day of retribution.
a day of distress and tribulation.
a day of ruin and devastation.
a day of darkness and gloom.
a day of cloud and dark fog.
a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against fortified towns and high corner tower.
I shall bring such distress on humanity
that they will grope their way like the blind
for having sinned against YHWH
their blood will be poured out like mud,
yes, their corpses like dung;
nor will their silver and gold be able to save them
on the Day of Yahweh’s anger
by the fire of his jealousy
the whole earth will be consumed.
For he will destroy, yes annihilate
everyone living on earth. (1: 14 – 18)
I suppose complete literalists would demand that this means
that God at some point after this prophecy, or even yet in the future, has
literally annihilated or will soon annihilate everyone living on the earth –
every single living person on the earth!. But the context of Zephaniah is clear
that this Day of the Lord would be the destruction of Jerusalem and the surrounding nations under
the army of the Babylonians.
Zephaniah begins with Gods’ voice ‘unmaking’ everything in a
sort of ‘anti-creation’ Just as in the Genesis account God speaks everything
into existence, here God speaks creation out of existence.
“I shall sweep away everything
off the face of the earth
declares YHWH.
I shall sweep away humans and animals,
the birds of the air and the fish of the sea,
I shall topple the wicked
and wipe all people off the face of the earth
-declares YHWH” (1: 2 – 3)
Humans, beasts, birds, fish – reverses the order of creation
in Gen. 1: 20 – 26. From chaos to creation and back to chaos again. This
judgment on the sins of Jerusalem
and her neighbors was described as an unmaking of the whole created world.
But Zephaniah’s prophecy doesn’t end with doom, gloom,
destruction, and damnation. After the devastation of the Day of Wrath God says:
Yes, then I shall purge
the lips of the peoples,
so that all may invoke the name of YHWH
and serve him shoulder to shoulder from beyond the rivers of
Ethiopia
my supplicants will bring me tribute. (3:9 –10)
From the burning fire of God’s wrath come the burning coals
that purify the lips of his people everywhere.
“Woe is me! I am lost. For I am a man of unclean lips and I
live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King YHWH
Sabaoth. Then one of the seraphs flew to me holding in its hand a live coal
which had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. With this it touched my
mouth and said, ‘look, this has touched your lips, your guilt has been removed,
and your sin forgiven.’” Isaiah 6: 5-7
The burning wrath was not to destroy the world but to burn
away the impurities, and to leave behind only purity. God’s burning wrath on
the nations would leave them with “pure lips” able to call on his name.
“in the end I will turn things around for the people. I’ll
give them a language undistorted, unpolluted, words to address GOD in worship…”
(the Message Bible)
And with their new language for worship the peoples (all the
peoples) of the nations will serve him with one accord – shoulder to shoulder –
and that particular English idiom almost exactly reflects the Hebrew idiom used
– they will serve with “one shoulder”.
After the fire of God’s vengeance falls on the nations they
will be left with a pure language – the ability to call on God’s name, to
worship him, and to serve him in unity.
God’s burning wrath would result in the conversion of the
nations. The burning and destruction wasn’t to be the end of the world (despite
the universal destruction language – not to be understood literally) It was the
end of an age… and the threshold to a new age. The future, Zephaniah, said wasn't going to be a remake of
the old segregated order with enmity between the peoples. God’s chosen people
would include all peoples and all nations. It would no longer be Jews on the
inside and Gentile dogs on the outside - all would be welcomed.
With it’s foundations on the holy mountains
YHWH loves his holy city
he prefers the gates of Zionto any dwelling place in Jacob.
He speaks glory for you, city of God.
‘I number Rahab and Babylonamong those who acknowledge me;
look at Tyre, Phillistia, Ethiopia,
so and so was born there.’
YHWH in his register of peoples
will note against each, ‘Born there’,
princes no less than native-born;
all make their home in you.
(Psalm 87)
In God’s kingdom there are no national boundaries, there are
no boarder disputes. All are included as natural born – and are thought of as
princes and princesses no less than the natives. I can easily imagine Zephaniah ben Cushi pointing to himself
as an example of this coming conversion of nations. "Look at me. I am not
African born. I am Zion
born. We are all Zion-born."
Zephaniah continues:
Shout for joy, daughter Zion
Israel,
shout aloud!
Rejoice, exult with all your heart,
daughter Jerusalem!
YHWH has repealed your sentence;
he has turned your enemies away.
YHWH is King among you, Israel,
you have nothing more to fear,
do not let your hands fall limp.
YHWH your God is there with you,
the warrior-Savior.
He will rejoice over you with happy song,
he will silence you with his love,
he will dance with shouts of joy for you
as on a day of festival
(3: 14 –18)
“Do not be afraid. Look I bring you news of great joy, a joy
to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is
Christ the Lord….. Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace for
those he favors…” Luke 2: 10, 14
Our King is among us. Our God is among us. Our God is With
Us. Emmanuel. There is no reason for us to be afraid. We are princes and
princesses of Zion,
born into God’s eternal kingdom, born into the presence of our God and King who
sings and dance over us in great joy and great love. What a great image. Our God, our King, our Warrior-Savior
sings songs over us and dances in delight for us. He loves us. He is overjoyed
in us. He is King over all the nations, tribes, and peoples - and
all languages and tongues are united in a language of praise to the
One-In-Three who lives, and reigns as God among Us. Amen.
[i] . Robert
A. Bennet - The New Interpreter's Bible pg. 670 Abingdon Press,
Nashville, 1996.
