A Prophecy of Universal Judgment and Universal Salvation

Zephan-Yah, "the Lord guardeth" or "the watchman of the Lord"

His genealogy is given as far back as the fourth generation, the mention of Ezechias in it makes it possible that Zephaniah belonged to the royal family, but the name may have been common. He prophesied in the days of Josias, 639-610 B.C.

The Prophet summons _ all to judgment for their idolatry, Zephaniah 1:4-6, and for their love of riches, 1:18, 3:8. His cry is ever: "the Day of the Lord is at hand," and from 1:15, Thomas of Celano derived the opening words of the Dies Irae.

Divisions of Zephaniah

Chapter 1 -to- 3:8. Universal judgment.

Chapter 1 -to- 2:3. On Israel.

Chapter 2:4-15. On the Nation

Chapter 3:1-8. On Israel and the nations.

Chapter 3:9-20. Universal salvation.

This "universal" tone in Zephaniah should be noted; the history of the Nations is that of God's operations in them; and the goal of these operations is their universal salvation. In other words, God punishes only to save.

Date of the Prophecy of Zephaniah

Both Jeremiah and Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of Josias, and it is not easy to determine which of them is prior to the other. Josias instituted a drastic reform, yet Zephaniah bears witness to the presence of idolatry. Hence it is argued that he prophesied before Jeremias. It may be a confirmation of this that when Josias in his twelfth year wished to consult a prophet he went to Huldab and not to Jeremias or Zephaniah; the latter, then, may have already been dead, while Jeremiah was not called till the following year. There are, further, certain parallels between the two Prophets; but here again it is not easy to decide with whom the priority lies. It is generally maintained that it lies with Zephaniah with whose prophecies Jeremiah is thus presumed to have been familiar. But a comparison of Jeremiah 7:28 with Zephaniah 3:2, and of Jeremiah 7:4 with Zephaniah 3:11, would seem to indicate a literary priority for Jeremiah.

The divisions given above will have shown how Zephaniah, unlike the rest of the Minor Prophets, starts like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezechiel, from predictions against the Chosen People, then proceeds to predictions against the Nations, and finally to words of comfort for both. It would be a mistake to suppose that Zephaniah, or any of the Prophets, spoke of woes in the abstract, or that they had in mind only the actual judgments of God. Rather they see these latter as exercised through the intervention of natural causes, divinely stirred up indeed to act as God's instruments, yet none the less natural. Zephaniah is peculiar in that he never mentions the name of the invader who, in chapter 2, is to bring destruction on Philistia, 2:4-7, on Moab and Ammon, on the Ethiopians, 2:8-12, and even on the Assyrians, 2:13-15; it is probable that he has in view the Scythians who sent out a wave of emigrants about that period and to whom we have a reference in Ezechiel 38-39; a trace of their presence in Palestine is to be found in the name Scythopolis given to Bethshan below the Sea of Galilee.

Theology of Zephaniah

• God is "the Lord of Hosts," 2:9-10;
  
• He is "the King of Israel," 3:15;
  
• He is "jealous" for His people, 1:18, 3:8;
  
• Jerusalem is His "Holy Mountain," 3:11;
  
• He dwells 'in the midst thereof,' 3:5, 3:15, 3:17.

Priests and prophets alike are described as "without faith," and as acting "unjustly against the Law." 3:4; the people are His but they are "not worthy to be loved," 2:1; they must "seek Him," and He "will save a remnant," 2:9, 3:12-13.

Points of Interest in Zephaniah

The prophecy is certainly to be referred to the days of Josias and is consequently anterior to the Captivity. It is therefore interesting to note the references to a captivity in 2:7, 3:20, and to a dispersion in 3:10, for it shows how hard it is to judge of the date of a prophecy from purely intrinsic evidence. In 2:10-11, we have some interesting details regarding the topography of Jerusalem. In 2:6, the LXX has, in place of "and the sea-coast," "the nations of the Cretans"; the Hebrew, however, "the nation of the Cherethi," a reading which throws an interesting light upon the puzzling "Cherethi and Phelethi," of 2 Samuel 8:18. In 1:13, Zephaniah appears to quote Amos 5:11.


by
Very Rev. Hugh Pope, O.P., S.T.M.
Doctor in Sacred Scripture,
Member of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, and
late Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Collegio Angelico, Rome.