OCTOBER 12th, 2025 PASTOR DON PIEPER
Turning A Minor Prophet Zephaniah 1:1,4-7;2:1-3 / 3:14-20
“A ZINGER AND A SINGER”
We're in a series going chronologically through the Minor Prophets. We've heard from Amos, Hosea and Micah, and now Zephaniah... If you look at the Bible's Table of Contents you'll notice that we've skipped a few. Joel and Jonah we're saving for the end, Ed will explore Habakkuk next week, and poor Obadiah and Nahum we've skipped altogether (in order to be done by Advent).
It reminds me of a scene from The Holy Grail. King Arthur's knights have been attacked by a killer rabbit, (with long pointy teeth), so a monk consults the holy Book of Armaments...
“And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, 'O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it we mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.' And the people did feast upon the lambs, and sloths, and carp, and anchovies, and orangutans, and breakfast cereal, and fruit bats....” At that point, Brother Maynard interupts: “Skip a bit brother.” And so he does. (turn a page)
Thank goodness!
And now, so have we. In fact from last week's prophet, Micah, to this week's reading from Zepaniah, we've skipped over 100 years of history. Micah's message had an impact, prompting King Hezekiah's reforms. Now not only does Zephaniah impact Josiah but Zephaniah himself is a descendant of Hezekiah, five generations removed. That means not only have over a hundred years lapsed since Micah's day, but that in Zephaniah, we have the only prophet to have descended from royal blood!
So let me catch you up. The Minor & Major prophets were active in three distinct time periods in the life of God's people Israel. The first of these were active prior to the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel at the hands of Assyria, which took place in two conquests in 732 and 722 BC.
The second phase began one hundred years later with prophets like Zephaniah, Jeremiah and Habakkuk, who prophesied the destruction of Judah, which took place at the hands of Babylon in 586, just 50 years after Zephaniah's ministry. The last phase is represented by the work of the last three prophets, Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi, during or following the Babylonian exile.
Zephaniah began his ministry in 627 BC, meaning he was born and raised during the reign of one of Judah's most evil kings, Manesseh, and his corrupt son Amon. Zephaniah's name holds symbolic meaning. It means, “Yahweh hides” or “Hidden in the Lord”. As a descendant of Hezekiah he would have been considered a threat to the throne, and would've had to be hidden from Manesseh.
Like most of the prophets, Zephaniah's message is articulated as bad news and good news. The latter he saves for the last 4th of the book. The Zinger is directed at Judah and the nations around her.
Six nations are included in God's coming judgment: Philistia, (Goliath's old home turf), Moab, Ammon, Cush, Assyria, the country that sacked the northern kingdom, and Judah. After the opening chapter, in which Zephaniah prophesies that “(God) will stretch out his hand against Judah and all who live in Jerusalem”, in Zephaniah's second chapter judgment is declared against Judah's neighbor-ing nations, making it clear that the same judgment coming to Judah's enemies will also include them: “Gather together you shameful nation before this all happens!” (Zephaniah 1:4;2:1-2)
And what is the source of their shame? Zephaniah presents a three point zinger: 1) their arrogance and boasting, 2) their complacency and backtalking and 3) their backsliding.
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Zephaniah declares: “Woe to (Jerusalem)! She obeys no one, she accepts no correction. In arrogance, she does not trust in the Lord, she does not draw near to her God.” (Zephaniah 3:2)
Zepaniah's lament here brought to mind a church cartoon I saw recently. It features a pastor standing alone behind his church's reader board that says, “What God Said.” Next door stands a huge crowd entering a church with the more popular reader board: “What You Would Rather Hear.”
It's a mindset that continues to infect God's people today, to seek to hear what we want to hear and resist any correction or controversy. As in Zephaniah's day we risk thinking we're better than others, be that as Americans, or Lutherans, or Republicans or Democrats, or whatever. In Zephaniah's day, God's people, as “God's chosen”, assumed that God would never respond to their own wayward-ness, sinfulness or stubbornness as he would their enemies - but Zephaniah tells them otherwise.
I saw a post on FB recently that sounded like a paraphrase of Zephaniah. Mike the Minion: “I have to stop saying, 'How stubborn can you be?' Some people are starting to take it as a challenge.”
Zephaniah calls for God's people to cease their boasting/stubborn arrogance: “Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the day of the Lord is near. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek humility and to be right with God!” (Zephaniah 1:7; 2:3)
Zephaniah's second concern is that of the people's inclination for complacency and back talking. He says that God declares: “At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent..., who think, 'The Lord will do nothing, either good or bad.'” (Zephaniah 1:12)
Addressing the royal court of Josiah in Jerusalem, those of privilege and power, Zephaniah urged them to be silent, and quoted them as saying that God will do nothing, reveals that either they were dangerously deceived or that they were defiantly deaf. It's reminiscent of the woman who says to her husband, “I think you need a hearing test!” He retorts, “Why the heck do I need a hairy chest?”
We have a tendency to turn a deaf ear towards our need for renewal or change, or to be overly quick with a rebuttal, but the prophetic call for repentance wasn't to condemn but to reclaim us, but that can only happen if we see ourselves clearly. Gangster Two-Gun Crowley, who cruelly murdered a slug of people, wrote a note during a shoot-out with police, fearing he might die, that read: “Under my coat is a weary heart, but a kind one – one that would do nobody any harm.” Likewise Al Capone once said, “I spent my life giving people pleasure and helping them, and all I get is abuse.”
(Two-Gun Crowley / Al Capone)
Our ability to proclaim our innocense and talk back to God's voice, audible in scripture, when we're deep in sin, is remarkable. No wonder we're told to “Be silent in the presence of God.”
(Zephaniah 1:7)
Third in Zephaniah's call to repent he takes on the sin of backsliding, which in his day was manifest in humanity's oldest and root sin of idolatry. “I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in (Jerusalem)...and those who worship idols or worship the starry hosts above or the idols of Molek or who backslide from following the Lord and either seek the Lord nor inquire of him.”
(Zepahaniah 1:4-6)
God's people had backslid. Pagan shrines and idol images had been erected by Manneseh, even in the Jerusalem temple. During the early years of King Josiah, two generations later, these pagan idols were still being worshipped throughout Judah. Zepahaniah made it clear that such practices would lead ultimately to God's judgment and Judah's destruction.
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The reference to the idols of Molek is noteworthy. Molek worship was a religion of syncretism, meaning that people were encouraged to worship their ancestral god alongside other gods. It was reminiscent of today's credo that all religions are basicly the same, and thus equal in relevance.
It brings to mind a story that Michael Jordan has told that is referenced in Kyle Idleman's book about modern day idolatry called, gods at war. Jordan tells how he was visiting his friend, Fred Whit-field, and asked to borrow a jacket. Fred pointed him to a closet from which Jordan returned carrying an armful of jackets, shoes and shirts made by Puma, a rival of Nike, for whom Jordan was a sponsor. Jordan carried the sportswear to the dumpster and threw it all in. When he returned, Fred looked a bit shocked... Jordan then said, “Call my Nike rep tomorrow and tell him to replace all of that stuff, but dude, don't ever let me see you again in anything but Nike. You can't ride the fence.”
(from Kyle Idleman's gods at war)
Seems a bit rash, and it was. I can't imagine doing that, nor do I recommend that you do any-thing like that when you visit one of your friends - not if you want to remain friends, anyway! But Kyle's right. It's a powerful picture of idol smashing. It demonstrates a total commitment and that's what God's looking for. He doesn't want you to just make room in your closet. He wants you to be all in. That's what Jesus' invitation to “Follow me!” was all about! You can't ride the fence . And if you listen closely, you'll notice that he gets specific about the nature of your idols. That's what I find particuarly amazing about Zephaniah mentioning Molek in his opening chapter. God's getting specific!
(Matthew 4:19; 8:22)
But Zephaniah's not through yet. Like Micah before him, he concludes with some good news – some really good news! “Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel. Be glad and rejoice with all your heart! The Lord has taken away your punishment, and he has turned back your enemy. The Lord, your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves you!” (Zephaniah 3:14-15, 17)
His words speak not only of the hope that he speaks into ancient Judah's situation, that their turning away from idols and repenting of their stubborn wayward ways would stall God's judging hand, as indeed happened when Josiah eventually led his country in reform as had Hezekiah before him, but it speaks of the promise extended to us through our faith in Jesus, who comes to take away the punish-ment for our sin, and who has turned back the Enemy and defeated him on the cross. He has saved us!
That's particularly poignant as Zephaniah shifts abruptly from the present tense, 'Sing, shout, rejoice”, to the past tense, 'God has taken...& turned back your enemy!' It is finished! Jesus' victory over death and the devil is a done deal! And then back to the present ; 'God IS with you!' Jesus lives!
Zephaniah then shifts to the future tense! “God will take great delight in you; out of his love for you...he will rejoice over you with singing! At that time, I will bring you home!” (Zephaniah 3:17, 20)
What a powerful vision of our future! What a powerful glimpse of the heart of God! The prophet's bad news, of God's judgment, is couched in language that reveals that this hard word is being shared because God so loves his people he doesn't want to lose them to the enemy. He wants to draw them back in, and if a wake up call is needed to achieve that desired end, then so be it!
But also we see God's heart! How he delights in us! How he delights in you – so much so that Zephaniah says God breaks out in song as we find our way home, with His help!
It brings to mind one of my favorite moments in C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia.
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“In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing. It was, beyond comparison, the most beautiful thing they'd ever heard. It was so beautiful one could hardly bear it. Then suddenly the voice was joined by other voices, more voices than you could possibly count. They were in harmony with it. The sky changed from white to pink and from pink to gold. The Voice rose and rose, till all the air was shaking with it, and just as it swelled to the mightiest and most glorious sound it had yet produced, the sun arose. It all made you so excited; until you saw the Singer himself, and then you forgot everything else. He stood facing the risen sun. His mouth was wide open in song – and everything was totally alive and jubilant because of his song!”
(from C.S. Lewis' The Magician's Nephew)
That's the good news! God is calling us out of the darkness, out of our arrogant, complacent, back-sliding idolatrious ways, that our ears may hearken and our hearts awaken to the rising Son of the Father, and to his beautiful song, calling you home! Even here.... we can catch a glimpse home!
“God takes great delight in you; out of his love for you...he'll rejoice over you with singing... (when He) brings you home!” (Zephaniah 3:17, 20)