Zephaniah

Hidden in the Day of the LORD

Zephaniah opens with one of the most frightening sentences in the prophets: “I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD” (1:2). He ends with one of the tenderest verses in the whole Bible: the LORD rejoicing over His people with singing (3:17). Everything between is the road from one to the other. The book is about the day of the LORD, a day of wrath for the proud and the complacent. It is also about a remnant God hides and treasures in that day, and a Father who sings over them when it is over.

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Authorship & Setting

“The word of the LORD which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah” (1:1). No other prophet traces his family back four generations. The most likely reason is that the last name on the list is Hezekiah, the godly king. If so, Zephaniah was of royal blood, a distant cousin of King Josiah, and he preached to the court from inside it.

Josiah reigned from about 640 to 609 BC. He came to the throne as a boy after the long, idolatrous reign of his grandfather Manasseh. In 621 BC the book of the law was found in the temple and Josiah led a sweeping reformation (2 Kings 22–23). Zephaniah condemns Baal worship, star worship on the rooftops, and priests of foreign gods still active in Jerusalem (1:4–5), so he most likely preached before the reform or while it was just beginning. His preaching may well have been part of what stirred it. Nineveh is still standing in the book (2:13), so it was written before 612 BC. Jeremiah began his ministry in the same years.

The reform was real, but it did not reach the heart of the nation. Within a generation of Josiah’s death, Babylon destroyed Jerusalem. Zephaniah’s warnings came true, and so will his promises.

Key Figures

• Zephaniah — a prophet of royal descent, who spoke the hardest words about the day of the LORD and some of the sweetest about God’s love.
• The men settled on their lees — comfortable people in Jerusalem who say in their hearts, “The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil” (1:12). They did not deny God. They just stopped expecting Him to act.
• The nations — Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Ethiopia, and Assyria, all called to account (2:4–15).
• Jerusalem’s leaders — princes like roaring lions, judges like evening wolves, prophets who are “light and treacherous persons”, and priests who pollute the sanctuary (3:3–4).
• The meek remnant — an afflicted and poor people who “shall trust in the name of the LORD”(3:12).

Hebrew Word Study

צְפַנְיָה — Tsephanyah

“The LORD has hidden” or “the LORD treasures,” from tsaphan, to hide away something precious. It is the same word the psalmist uses: “in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion” (Psalm 27:5). Zephaniah was most likely born during the wicked reign of Manasseh, who filled Jerusalem with innocent blood (2 Kings 21:16). His name may be his parents’ testimony that God hid him. And his message invites the meek to be hidden the same way in the day of wrath (2:3).

יוֹם יְהוָה — yom YHWH

“The day of the LORD.” Zephaniah comes back to “that day” again and again in three short chapters. It is the day God steps into history to set things right, and it cuts both ways: “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess” (1:15). The medieval hymn Dies Irae, “Day of Wrath,” takes its opening words from this verse. The same day ends with singing for those who belong to Him.

קֶרֶב — qereb

“Midst,” the inward part, the middle of a place. Watch how it moves through chapter 3. The wicked princes are “within her” (3:3). But “the just LORD is in the midst thereof” (3:5). God removes the proud from her midst and leaves a humble people there (3:11–12). And the book’s final promise rests on it: “the king of Israel, even the LORD, is in the midst of thee” (3:15), “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty” (3:17).

רִנָּה — rinnah

A ringing cry, a shout of joy, song. God commands His people, “Sing, O daughter of Zion” (3:14). Then He does it Himself: “he will joy over thee with singing” (3:17). Scripture is full of God’s people singing to Him. Here, the LORD sings over His people. The God whose day begins with wrath ends it with a song.

Eight-Movement Narrative Outline

MOVEMENT ONE

Sweeping the Land (1:1–6)

God announces a judgment as wide as the flood: man and beast, birds and fish (1:3). Then He narrows it to Judah and Jerusalem. He will cut off “the remnant of Baal”, those who worship the stars on the housetops, and those who “swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham”(1:5), people who wanted God and an idol too. Last on the list are those who “have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him” (1:6). Indifference is on the same list as idolatry.

MOVEMENT TWO

Settled on Their Lees (1:7–13)

“Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests”(1:7). Judah thinks it is invited to the feast. It is the sacrifice. God will “search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees” (1:12). Lees are the sediment in wine left undisturbed too long. It thickens and goes stale. That is what comfort does to a soul that never gets stirred. They build houses they will not live in and plant vineyards they will not drink from (1:13).

MOVEMENT THREE

The Great Day of the LORD (1:14–18)

“The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly” (1:14). Even the mighty man will cry bitterly there. It is a day of the trumpet and alarm against fenced cities and high towers. And there is no buying out of it: “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath”(1:18).

MOVEMENT FOUR

Seek the LORD, Ye Meek (2:1–3)

Before the storm breaks, a door opens. “Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; before the decree bring forth” (2:1–2). Then the invitation: “Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’s anger”(2:3). The prophet whose name means “the LORD hides” offers a hiding place.

MOVEMENT FIVE

Judgment to the Nations (2:4–15)

The circle widens: west to Philistia, where Gaza is forsaken and the seacoast becomes pasture for shepherds; east to Moab and Ammon, who reproached God’s people and will become like Sodom and Gomorrah; south to Ethiopia; north to Assyria. Nineveh gets the last word, “the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me” (2:15). Only God can say that. Any city that says it about itself is claiming a name that belongs to the LORD.

MOVEMENT SIX

Woe to the Oppressing City (3:1–7)

Then Zephaniah turns on Jerusalem itself. “She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the LORD; she drew not near to her God” (3:2). Four failures, every one a failure to listen. Her princes roar, her judges leave nothing till morning, her prophets are light and treacherous, and her priests do violence to the law. And all the while “The just LORD is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame” (3:5).

MOVEMENT SEVEN

A Pure Language (3:8–13)

“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD” (3:8). After judgment comes a new beginning. “For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent” (3:9). At Babel God confused men’s speech because they united against Him. Here He purifies speech so the nations can unite in calling on Him. The proud are removed, and a meek remnant is left who speak no lies, and “none shall make them afraid”(3:13).

MOVEMENT EIGHT

He Will Rejoice Over Thee with Singing (3:14–20)

“Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart” (3:14). The judgments are taken away, the enemy is cast out, and the King is present. Then comes the crown of the book: “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing” (3:17). God gathers the lame, brings home the outcast, and turns their shame into praise “before your eyes, saith the LORD” (3:20).

Christ Typology

The King of Israel in the midst of thee.Zephaniah promises that the LORD, the King of Israel, will be in the midst of His people (3:15). John tells us how that happened: “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Nathanael looked at Jesus and said, “thou art the King of Israel”(John 1:49), and the crowds on Palm Sunday cried out the same thing (John 12:13). The King stood in the midst of Jerusalem in person.

The One who sings in the midst. Hebrews 2:12 puts the words of Psalm 22 in Jesus’ mouth: “in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.” The God who rejoices over His people with singing does it through His Son, who stands among His brethren and leads the song.

Hidden in the day of wrath. Zephaniah told the meek that they might be hidden in the day of the LORD’s anger (2:3). Paul says where believers are hidden: “your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). The wrath of the day of the LORD fell on Christ at the cross, so that those hidden in Him are “delivered… from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

The pure language. At Pentecost God poured out His Spirit and people from many nations heard the wonderful works of God in their own languages (Acts 2:5–11). Peter preached the promise that “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved”(Acts 2:21). Babel’s curse began to turn into Zephaniah’s promise: nations calling on the name of the LORD with one voice, through Jesus.

The meek who seek Him. Jesus described Himself as “meek and lowly in heart”(Matthew 11:29) and promised that “the meek… shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). Zephaniah’s afflicted remnant finds its King in Him.

Personal Application

Look hard at 1:12. The men settled on their lees were not atheists. They went to the temple. They just said in their hearts that God would not do anything, good or bad. That is practical unbelief, and it is the most comfortable sin a church can have. Check whether you still expect God to act, in your prayers, your work, and your household, or whether you have settled into the sediment. Faith that is never stirred goes stale.

Take the invitation of 2:3 seriously. The call is to seek the LORD, seek righteousness, and seek meekness. Meekness is not weakness. It is strength that has been placed under God’s hand. The proud city says, “I am, and there is none beside me.” The meek say, “He is, and I trust in His name.” Only one of those gets hidden in the day of wrath.

And let 3:17 do what it was written to do. If you are in Christ, the mighty God is not merely tolerating you. He rejoices over you with joy, rests in His love for you, and sings over you. Many believers have lived for years expecting God’s disappointment. Zephaniah says the day of the LORD ends with His song. Quiet down long enough to hear it.

TO GOD BE ALL THE GLORY · MARANATHA

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