Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 189
IMMERSED IN ZEPHANIAH
Z E P H A N I A H ’ S O R A C L E S for
the people of Judah were uttered nearly
three-quarters of a century after the days of Micah and Isaiah. In the
intervening years, Hezekiah’s successors—Manasseh and Amon—had
tried to appease their Assyrian overlords by serving Assyrian gods and
suppressing the Lord ’s true priests and prophets. But the power of
Assyria eventually declined, and its hold on subject nations weakened.
This allowed nations like Judah to regain some of their independence,
which enabled the true prophets once again to speak freely for the
Lord .
One of those prophets, Zephaniah, warned the complacent people
of Judah—who thought, “the Lord will do nothing to [us], either good
or bad”—that they needed to return to God with urgency. They had
little time left, as the fearsome “day of the Lord ”—the time when the
Lord would come and punish the unfaithful—was fast approaching.
Amos, Isaiah, and later prophets also speak of the “day of the Lord ”
as a time of judgment. Because God is a God of justice and peace,
at some point he must intervene to judge and set things right. The
flourishing of creation requires the destruction of evil. In the New Testament, more light is shed on the “day of the Lord ,” as we learn that it
also involves God’s breaking into the present creation to inaugurate his
new creation. But here in Zephaniah’s short book, we already see the
“day of the Lord ” described as both a warning of imminent disaster
and a vision of future restoration.
By now King Josiah, who had begun to reign as a child, was old
enough to assert himself. He carried out extensive religious reforms,
which included wiping out the worship of pagan gods, restoring the
Temple in Jerusalem, and leading the people to renew their covenant
with the Lord . We know from the accounts of his life recorded in
Samuel–Kings and Chronicles that he was prompted to do this largely
by the rediscovery of the Book of the Law in the Temple.
But Josiah was no doubt also influenced by Zephaniah’s warnings,
particularly since the prophet was a direct descendant of Hezekiah and
probably also a member of the royal court. “Act now, before the fierce
fury of the Lord falls,” Zephaniah urged. “Seek to do what is right and
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