1Gather together, gather together,
O shameful nation,
2before the appointed time arrives
and that day sweeps on like chaff,
before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you,
before the day of the LORD’s wrath comes upon you.
3Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
you who do what he commands.
Seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you will be sheltered
on the day of the LORD’s anger.
4Gaza will be abandoned
and Ashkelon left in ruins.
At midday Ashdod will be emptied
and Ekron uprooted.
5Woe to you who live by the sea,
O Kerethite people;
the word of the LORD is against you,
O Canaan, land of the Philistines.
“I will destroy you,
and none will be left.”
6The land by the sea, where the Kerethites dwell,
will be a place for shepherds and sheep pens.
7It will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah;
there they will find pasture.
In the evening they will lie down
in the houses of Ashkelon.
The LORD their God will care for them;
he will restore their fortunes.
8“I have heard the insults of Moab
and the taunts of the Ammonites,
who insulted my people
and made threats against their land.
9Therefore, as surely as I live,”
declares the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel,
“surely Moab will become like Sodom,
the Ammonites like Gomorrah—
a place of weeds and salt pits,
a wasteland forever.
The remnant of my people will plunder them;
the survivors of my nation will inherit their land.”
10This is what they will get in return for their pride,
for insulting and mocking the people of the LORD Almighty.
11The LORD will be awesome to them
when he destroys all the gods of the land.
The nations on every shore will worship him,
every one in its own land.
12“You too, O Cushites,
will be slain by my sword.”
13He will stretch out his hand against the north
and destroy Assyria,
leaving Nineveh utterly desolate
and dry as the desert.
14Flocks and herds will lie down there,
creatures of every kind.
The desert owl and the screech owl
will roost on her columns.
Their calls will echo through the windows,
rubble will be in the doorways,
the beams of cedar will be exposed.
15This is the carefree city
that lived in safety.
She said to herself,
“I am, and there is none besides me.”
What a ruin she has become,
a lair for wild beasts!
All who pass by her scoff
and shake their fists.
Original Meaning
THE THEME OF chapter 2 is the cleansing of other nations from the land so that it may be possessed in the future by the humble remnant of Judah. The chapter begins with the possibility that a remnant that seeks Yahweh will survive (2:1–3) and goes on to declare that survivors will live again in the land (2:6–7, 9b, 11; see also 3:9–10, 12–13). The prophet calls on the humble and obedient to seek Yahweh, in hope of protection in the Day of the Lord’s wrath.
This clearing and cleansing of the land is described in the remainder of the chapter (2:4–15). The violent “day of the LORD” (a judgment against Judah in ch. 1) is against the others living in that land in chapter 2. Gaza and the Philistine cities (2:4–7) will be completely destroyed. Moab and Ammon (across the Jordan) will be plundered and possessed for their pride and taunts (2:8–11). Ethiopia (Cush) and Assyria will be turned into wild lands (2:12–15).
This clearing of the nations from the land prepares it for a new beginning. In the midst of the emptied land we see a future with the survivors in the pastures and meadows (2:6–7). In the north will be domestic herds, wild animals, and birds (2:14). The land, its animals, and a humble remnant will be renewed by God. The hope of this chapter is whispered in the possibility of surviving the Day, but also in the vision of a new beginning. For most people, however, the Day will mean an end to life in the land, a reality the Babylonians later accomplished.
Call for a Remnant to Seek Yahweh (2:1–3)
ZEPHANIAH 2 BEGINS with a call for the humble people in the nation of Judah to seek righteousness and humility in the hope that they will be sheltered on “the day of the LORD’s anger.” The prophet pleads for them to “gather together, gather together, O shameful nation.” English does not communicate the deeply metaphoric reference of the word translated “gather together” (qašaš). This word means specifically to “gather stubble.” The implication is that they are stubble, good only for a fire (or a broom), but are, nonetheless, called to gather and bind themselves together. Perhaps then the Day will not “sweep” or blow them away collectively (2:2). The violent day also plays this metaphor, for although they (the gathered stubble) may form a “broom,” Yahweh will do the sweeping.
Zephaniah uses the term “nation” (goy) for Judah, an expression that is usually used for the Gentile nations. This may reflect how far they have fallen from faithful worship of Yahweh. It is not, however, simply a chastisement. It is the beginning of Zephaniah’s call to the “humble of the land” (2:3) to seek Yahweh. The prophet’s preaching is part of the call to begin, or to participate in, the reform of King Josiah (see the introduction).
Judah’s shame is that they no longer “long for” Yahweh. The word “shameful” (or “shamelessness”) comes from the Hebrew root kasap, meaning “not to long for.” Biblical “shamefulness” means “not to long for [the LORD]” and “to long for what is not [the LORD].” That kind of shamefulness is described in 1:4–13, which can be summarized by saying that the people have stopped longing for the Lord in worship. They have not stopped worshiping (1:4–9), but they have stopped worshiping their Creator and Deliverer. They have also stopped longing for Yahweh’s counsel in their business decisions (1:10–13). They have not stopped longing for things (1:13, 18), but they have stopped longing for the Creator of things.
Verse 2 expresses the urgency of the gathering by beginning each of three phrases with the same word, “before” (beṭerem):1
before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on [ʿabar] like chaff
before the fierce anger [ʾap] of the LORD comes upon you
before the day of the LORD’s wrath [ʾap] comes upon you
Three separate Hebrew words are sometimes translated “wrath” in Zephaniah (ʿabar, ʾap, and zaʿam). Two of these words are used in 2:2.2 The word root ʾap is “wrath” in the sense of anger as someone’s flaring response to sin, insult, or injustice. It has a metaphorical reference to the nose and nostrils that flare in anger. The word root ʿabar (NIV “sweeps on”) is “wrath” in the sense of “overflowing” fury, or in the case of chaff, “bursting out” in a gust of wind.
The wrath of Yahweh must be understood in biblical narrative context.3 God’s love for his creation and covenant people does not allow a perversion of that creation or covenant. He warned them for two hundred years through the prophets. He warned them through the example of the destruction of the northern ten tribes (722 B.C.). Yahweh even brought the Assyrian army to besiege Jerusalem, delivering them at the last moment (701 B.C.). Despite these dramatic warnings, the people preferred their own versions and perversions of the creation and covenant.
Finally, God’s loving anger will lead him to destroy his own temple and send his corrupt but beloved people to Babylon for years of captivity (587–538 B.C.). This is also an expression of his love. This is not to say that the Babylonian attack will not be horrific. People will die terrible deaths on the “day of the LORD’s wrath.” For some in Judah’s day, the warning that this day is coming is enough not to believe in Yahweh. Others understand the reality of his love behind the wrath, for they understand the arrogance and injustice of their society. They are humble and obedient to the Sinai law and its insistence on compassion and justice (2:3a).
These few people are the ones whom Yahweh calls to gather together to “seek the LORD” (2:3a). In this single phrase the possibility of hope is offered. Until this word is spoken, only doom is heard. After it, the unconditional doom continues in the chapter, with only a few hints of hope (2:7, 9), until 3:9. This imperative to “seek” is a call to the remnant that will be described later (3:12–13). Here they are simply called “all you humble of the land [ʾereṣ], you who do what he commands.” No promise of shelter is offered from “the day,” only a “perhaps” (2:3b). Nonetheless, they are called to “seek righteousness, seek humility.” These biblical virtues stand in contrast to the previously described sins: a corrupt relation to God and particularly a skewed relationship to wealth (1:4–13).
Zephaniah calls on the people three times to “seek” Yahweh and his way in 2:3. This minor key remnant stands over against the people of Jerusalem described in chapter 1: “those who bow down and swear by the LORD and who also swear by Molech” (1:5), “those who turn back from following the LORD and neither seek the LORD nor inquire of him” (1:6), and “those who are complacent … who think, ‘The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad’” (1:12). Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them (1:18).
The humble and those who keep the commands of Yahweh are called to seek him (2:3). The duplicitous (1:5), the quietly arrogant (1:6), the half-believing complacent (1:12), and those trusting in their own success are not called to seek Yahweh. Even for the humble it is rather late to find shelter from the coming storm. The “humble” (ʿani) does not denote simply people with a “good attitude.” In its most basic original meanings, both the English and Hebrew words meant “poor, weak, afflicted.” Those who see a need for Yahweh’s shelter are by definition “humble.”
Against the Philistines to the Southwest (2:4–7)
ABRUPTLY, ZEPHANIAH’S FOCUS shifts from Jerusalem to the Philistines (also called Kerethites). The cities, regions, and people of Philistia are declared forfeit. Zephaniah begins the oracle of “woe” against the nations with a single quote from Yahweh, “I will destroy you, and none will be left” (2:5). A surprise is announced in verses 6–7. “Shepherds and sheep pens” will exist there after the destruction. It is the first mention of Judah’s remnant in the book (see a more complete description at 3:12–13). They will live with their flocks in Philistia and receive care and provision from their God.
The transition sentence “Gaza will be abandoned” (2:4) announces a shift in focus from the potentially humble remnant (2:1–3) to the longer oracle of “woe” against Judah’s many neighbors (2:5–15).4 In these verses the day of Yahweh spreads out beyond Jerusalem and Judah to consume the “whole world” (1:18).
The cities and regions named in this judgment of woe are Judah’s nearest neighbors and enemies to the immediate west and southwest, on the coast of the Mediterranean. The name “Palestine” has been derived from the word “Philistine.”5 The Philistines were part of the sea peoples who immigrated to Canaan from the Aegean area in the thirteenth century B.C. They lost their autonomy to the Davidic monarchy but retained their cultural identity along the southern coast of Palestine. Five Philistine cities formed a confederacy that was frequently in competition with and antagonistic toward Jerusalem. “Canaan” means “merchant” (see 1:11), which is a reminder that the land is on a major trade route between the east and the Mediterranean.
Gaza was a major town of the Philistines on the southern coast (Josh. 13:3; Judg. 16:1; 1 Sam. 6:17). Ashkelon is another Philistine town along the coast, fifteen miles north of Gaza (Judg. 14:19; 1 Sam. 6:17). Fifteen miles further was Ashdod (1 Sam. 5:1; 2 Chron. 26:6). Ekron was a Philistine town thirty miles north of Ashdod in the coastal plain.6 “Kerethite” means Cretan. The Kerethites originally entered Canaan from the sea (see 2:6a) and were thought to be from Crete.7
The names of two of the cities and the verbs used with them form similar sounds, forming wordplays that drew attention (in Heb.) to the subject matter. “Gaza” (ʿazzah) and “abandoned” (ʿazubah) sound alike, as do “Ekron” (ʿeqron) and “uprooted” ([te]ʿaqer). “Kerethite” may be a play on the Hebrew word root karat, meaning “cut off” (Zeph. 1:3, 4, 11; 3:6, 7).
“Woe to you” begins the description of the woes that Judah’s neighbors will experience (2:5–15) when the “whole world” is consumed (1:18). This woe also functions, however, as an oracle of (limited) salvation for Judah.8 The survival of shepherds and sheep pens in the southern coastal plain is the first word of certain hope in Zephaniah. The previous possibility of “shelter” in 2:1–3 was conditioned by a “perhaps” (2:3b). Now, in the midst of this woe to the Philistines, surviving shepherds and sheep are mentioned. Yahweh begins again with the poor of the countryside. Sheep and sheep pens were not the height of sophistication. The remnant (described more fully in 3:12–13) will be cared for by “the LORD their God.” The word “God” is used here for the first time in the book. It means they will acknowledge Yahweh as their God.9
The remnant of humble survivors “will find pasture” (Zeph. 2:7). This metaphor refers to people as the sheep of God (Ps. 79:13; 95:7; 100:3; Ezek. 34:31; John 10:11–16). It is an image of humility before the Creator. The sheep of God do not arrogantly seek their own way but “follow … seek … and inquire of him” (Zeph. 1:6). The remnant will find pasture and lie down in houses built in Ashkelon. The arrogant of Judah built houses but did not live in them (1:13). Now Yahweh will provide houses built by another arrogant people. It means the humble remnant will daily understand that their homes are gifts provided to be enjoyed with reference to God and not enhancements of their own power. The remnant will relax and “lie down” to eat. God “will care for them; he will restore their fortunes” (2:7b).
Against Moab and Ammon to the East (2:8–11)
IN VERSES 8–9 Zephaniah turns his attention to Judah’s traditionally antagonistic “cousins” on the east side of the Jordan River. Yahweh speaks directly, this time against the Moabites and Ammonites, who have insulted and threatened Judah with violence; he will make them like Sodom and Gomorrah. He mentions “the remnant” for a second time as “survivors … [who] will inherit their land (2:9; the remnant is described at 3:12–13). Zephaniah declares a surprising secondary result with a broader hope: “Nations on every shore will worship him” (2:10–11).
Moabites and Ammonites were cousins to the Israelites through Abraham’s nephew Lot and his daughters (Gen. 19:37–38). Yahweh had given them the territory east of the Jordan and protected them against Israel’s expansion because of special familial relationships: Edom was protected because of Esau, and Moab and Ammon because of Lot (Deut. 2:8–9, 19). But the hundreds of years of history between these nations were filled with hostility (Num. 22:1–6; Judg. 3:12–14; 2 Sam. 10:1–4; 1 Kings 11:7–8). Judah was not permitted to attack them, but here God will use another nation to chastise them for their arrogant attacks on his beloved people.
The jealousy of “the LORD Almighty [ṣebaʾot]”10 surfaces again in reference to “my people” (Zeph. 2:8) and “my nation” (2:9). Zephaniah echoes his jealous commitment in a corresponding phrase, “the people of the LORD Almighty” (2:10). The crimes of Moab and Ammon are the cause. The God of Israel swears his ultimate oath in 2:9: “Therefore, as surely as I live.” This name of God and this oath express Yahweh’s passion for his unique people. Yahweh is the Creator and Master of all creation, not simply some local god. He is also the specific Creator of the sociality and uniqueness of Israel, whom he created to be a blessing (Gen. 12:1–3; 22:17–18), through his unique intervention in the Exodus, in giving the laws of Sinai, and by forming the people around that law in the desert. God further formed Israel by fighting for them in the conquest of the land of Canaan and in continuing to discipline them as a nation through their enemies and through prophets calling them to remain faithful in lifestyle and worship.
Judah belongs to “the LORD Almighty,” and Yahweh declares that he will punish the neighboring people because of “insults … taunts … and … threats” against God’s people (Zeph. 2:8), summed up as “their pride” (2:10), even though his own people are so sinful that God himself has decided to destroy them. An insult or threat against God’s chosen amounts to an insult and threat against God’s integrity (the significance of “as surely as I live” in 2:9). These previously protected cousins will suffer the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, notorious for their arrogance toward Yahweh and violence against visitors (Gen. 18–19). Through God’s judgment of fire they became a place of “weeds and salt pits” as a warning against such sins. Like Moab and Ammon, they were on the east side of the Jordan.
The “remnant” is mentioned again in Zeph. 2:9 (see 2:7; 3:12–13). They will scavenge the depopulated east bank, but the ancient reader would not have missed the caution against arrogance in the word “survivor”: “The survivors of my nation will inherit their land” (2:9b). Judah will be destroyed and plundered as well. Only the humble remnant will survive. The reversal of fortune here is not simply that the people will inherit their enemies’ lands. Rather, the proud of every nation, including Israel, will be plundered and dispossessed. The humble will inherit the land of the proud.
Verses 10–11 may be the most revealing expression of both Yahweh’s complaint and desire for the nations. After reading verse 10 in this prophecy of doom, the listener would expect to hear another description of physical devastation and death (as in 1:9). Instead, Zephaniah speaks this amazing revelation: In place of pride, Yahweh will be “awesome to them,” and “the nations on every shore” will bow down in worship before the Creator “LORD Almighty.” Yahweh’s desire is not simply to eradicate arrogance but to replace it with true worship in every land. This theme is not developed in Zephaniah’s short prophecy but is implied again in the final verse of the book (3:20, “honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth”). This larger goal waits in the background as Yahweh seeks first to establish a single people who will demonstrate faithfulness to him in every circumstance through many generations.
The destruction of “all the gods of the land” means the lands immediately to the east and west of the Jordan River, including Israel, the Philistine coast, Moab, and Ammon. The gods were the local symbols of security and power. The word for “destroy” (razah) means “famish” or “make lean.” Through the Babylonians, Yahweh will make them thin, wasting away for lack of food. Babylonian practice was to take the gods of the people and put them in a kind of museum in Babylon, a symbol that these gods needed the care of their protectors, the Babylonians. The god of a defeated people was considered a weak god or no god at all.11
When Zephaniah speaks the surprisingly hopeful words, “nations on every shore will worship him, every one in its own land,” he is not speaking of their “serving the LORD” (ʿabad). He used the Hebrew verb that means “bow down.” That is, the nations will be so amazed by what God has done that they will prostrate themselves in recognition that Israel’s God is superior to their defeated gods. Although this is not “conversion” in the fullest sense, it is a beginning of recognition in history that the Lord of Israel is not a “god of the land” (2:11), but the “Almighty” Creator of all that is, one day to be recognized by “nations on every shore.”
Against Enemies to the North and South (2:12–15)
YAHWEH SPEAKS A single verse against Cush (Ethiopia) in 2:12. The “day of the LORD” will spread to the extreme southwest and to the political power of the extreme northeast (Nineveh)—the two extremes of the Fertile Crescent. The slaying of the Cushites is accomplished directly and personally by Yahweh (“my sword”). Cush is the edge of ancient Israel’s “whole world” (1:18). Northeast Africa was a refuge for the peoples of Canaan during famine and a source of military power (it is mentioned again in 3:10). Worshipers will come from there (cf. 2:11).
Zephaniah then describes in greater detail Yahweh’s hand stretching to the north to destroy Assyria (2:13–15). Assyrian power and cruelty were legendary. No one could imagine the defeat that came swiftly in 612 B.C. at the hands of the Babylonians and Medes (see the introduction to Nahum). Nineveh will become “utterly desolate and dry as the desert” (2:13b). This desolation is masterfully described in both negative and positive ways in 2:14. Positively, when destroyed, Nineveh will becomes a home for all kinds of Yahweh’s creatures. Negatively, it is dismantled as a human habitation. The “utterly desolate” refers especially to a deserted human habitation. No one will live there.
Zephaniah begins his figurative description at the top with the columns, where birds will roost. He moves down to the windows, where birds will call, and to the doorways, where rubble rests. Finally, the plaster falls off the cedar beams (plundered from the “cedars of Lebanon”), leaving their created glory visible. Only what is of Yahweh will remain.
The city will become a “ruin” of human habitation but a home for the animals. “Dry as the desert” does not mean uninhabitable for any life. The word for “desert” (midbar, sometimes translated “wilderness”) means the semi-arid lands surrounding towns that were used seasonally for livestock (see 2:14). “Flocks and herds will lie down there, creatures of every kind. The desert owl and the screech owl will roost on her columns.… What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts” (2:14, 15b). This proud place will become a home for a more humble creation. The place will not be inhospitable to all life, but only to people who were consumed with their own glory and arrogance.
Carefree safety can be good news or bad news (2:15a). “This is the carefree city that lived in safety. She said to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’” Being “carefree” (ʿallizah) is good, meaning “jubilant.” “Safety” (beṭaḥ) is also a simple good, meaning that she lived “trustingly.” The second half of verse 15a, however, presents the bad news. Nineveh’s jubilation and trust are in herself (lit., “in her own heart”). Trust in self was Zephaniah’s indictment against Jerusalem as well (3:2). Nineveh’s carefree safety was based in arrogance. Zephaniah declares these self-congratulations will be forfeited.
Bridging Contexts
GOD GIVES TWO responses in Zephaniah 2 that correspond to two general human attitudes. The first, the more predominant one, is Yahweh’s total opposition to human arrogance. The second response is heard as a whisper in 2:3, 11b, where God calls for the possibility of humility and obedient living from Judah and the surrounding cultures. The attitudes of human humility and arrogance and God’s responses to them are as old as Genesis 2–3 and will endure until the end of time.
God’s response to arrogance: total opposition. Yahweh is fiercely opposed to false pride (Zeph. 2:1b, 10, 15). From Eve and Adam’s reaching to take what belonged only to God to the final arrogance of the nations in Revelation, the biblical witness declares that God is totally opposed to arrogance.
He speaks against the pride of “shameful” or “shameless” Judah (Zeph. 2:1–2) by comparing it to straw that is easily burned (Ex. 15:7; Isa. 5:24; 47:14; Joel 2:5) and chaff that is easily blown away (see comments on Zeph. 2:1). These are common metaphors for what is worthless after the harvest. As grain grows, the stalk is an integral and necessary part of the plant. At the end of the life of the stalk of grain, however, it is separated from the grain proper and becomes worthless.
God’s words against the cultures to Judah’s north, south, east, and southwest are a result of their arrogance and taunts (2:8, 15). Assyria said to herself, for example, “I am, and there is none besides me” (Zeph. 2:15; cf. Isa. 45:5, 14, 18, 21). This is understood as blasphemy, since “I am” is the name of Yahweh spoken to Moses at Sinai (and claimed by Yahweh in Isa. 45:5–6).12
God’s angry response to self-aggrandizing and self-promoting arrogance is summed up in the phrase, “the word of the LORD is against you” (Zeph. 2:5b). Self-pride is common to all humanity. It is known as the “original” sin of Eve and Adam—reaching up to take and eat the fruit in order to become wise like God (Gen. 3:5–6). A classic text of the Reformation reminds us of the ongoing struggle of God to reach human hearts so that we may learn to love the One who made us and can redeem us:
The human heart either despises the judgment of God in its smugness, or in the midst of punishment it flees and hates his judgment. So it does not obey the first [of the Ten Commandments]. It is inherent in man to despise God and to doubt his Word with its threats and promises.13
Arrogance toward God stems from our natural tendency toward pride. It is the kind of pride that has become so much a part of a person’s or society’s life that it is assumed to be normal and healthy. This pride is “false” because it exists without a true reference to God, from whom come all power and strength. Conversely, a “true” pride does not lead to arrogance because it is, in every time and every place, related to the true Source of life. All people, regardless of weakness as the world measures it, may have true pride by their praise of the Creator, who gives whatever strength we have (cf. 2 Cor. 12:8–10).
God’s use of nature and history. God uses natural means to oppose pride and arrogance in the world. The earliest example of his anger, experienced in a firestorm from the sky (falling comets or asteroids?), was the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.14 Their destruction became a primary model for understanding how God works against arrogance in the world (Isa. 1:9; Jer. 50:40; Amos 4:10–11).15
God used storms and earthquakes, rivers and wind, the sun and wild animals, fire-fall and plagues to accomplish his purposes in opposing the arrogant. In the destruction of the northern ten tribes (by Assyria) and the fall of Jerusalem (to Babylon), he also declared by his prophets that these warring nations were a part of the creation. As God used nonhuman creation, so he also employed these violent warring nations to oppose his arrogant people. They were part of the natural created order used to curtail the falsely proud, both among his people and among the nations.
In Zephaniah the historical and the natural merge as simultaneous agents of God. The historical arrogance of nations is like a natural force in the world.16 God acts against the land of the Philistines with a human army (Zeph. 2:4–5). The Cushites are killed with real swords (2:12). Assyria is destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians in 612 B.C., who are God’s “servants” (Jer. 25:10–11). Yet he subsequently destroys the Babylonian army in 539 B.C. by the Persian army, which is also his servant (Jer. 25:12; Dan. 5:31). One commentator rightly notes that “the Day of the LORD is not an arbitrary infliction but coincides with the horrific climax of human mismanagement of world affairs.”17 The end of the world as we know it may begin in the same way. The forces of arrogant nations and the force of the atom irresponsibly employed will certainly lead to a gruesome end of humans, animals, birds, and fish.18
Whispers of hope of a new relationship. God’s response to humility is a surprisingly positive note in the midst of this oracle of doom. After announcing the total destruction of the land, Yahweh suggests the possibility that he will leave a blessing and the hope of a renewed land, animals, and the remnant of his people. As in Joel 2:3, complete annihilation is followed by the slight possibility of renewed blessing (Joel 2:12–14).19
The core of hope for God’s people is not in individual survival techniques but in gathering together in humility and worship. “Gather together … before the appointed time arrives and that day sweeps on like chaff” (Zeph. 2:1a, 2a). The images of the gathering and the sweeping away of the chaff imply that grain will fall into the keeper on the threshing floor. Grain is beaten and exposed to the wind for the purpose of gathering the grain. It settles and stays while the chaff blows away. This familiar image in the ancient agrarian world is difficult to apply to our time. In trial and tribulation the faith of the faithful is proven. The implied question is whether the faithful will be prepared to endure the beating, suffering, and dying that they will surely face when the society is punished by the attacking (Babylonian) army.20 Will they be faithful even in their dying and be proven as true grain, or will they be blown away by the wind as inconsequential?
Additional whispers of hope are offered to the few who will survive and whose children will return (in 538 B.C.) to the land (Zeph. 2:7, 9, 14; see Contemporary Significance section). For those who will experience the devastating attack, however, the difference between the “grain” and the “chaff” is found in the test of their humility before God.
Like pride, humility may be true or it may be a “false” humility. True humility is present when a society or a person recognizes that the goodness of his or her life is a gift of grace from God. True humility also recognizes that unavoidable hardship may be borne by means of God’s sustaining strength. False humility retreats from God’s justice. It is present in enabling violent persons to prosper by capitulating to them when God’s justice opposes them. It is also present in those refusing to use the gifts and strength, however limited, that God gives (like burying a talent in the sand, Matt. 25:18). God calls for humility before him, not humility before evil. True humility recognizes God’s gifts and uses them to work for his kingdom.
Yahweh also mentions a positive future hope for the surrounding cultures (“nations”) of the world. In the midst of describing the nations’ destruction, a half verse of hope is offered before the oracle of doom continues: “The nations on every shore will worship him, every one in its own land” (Zeph. 2:11b).
Several important cues help the reader understand God’s positive response to the nations in this chapter (even if they are only briefly positive).21 These hints of God’s grace may be better understood from the broader perspective of Scripture. God created these cultures, and they are loved as his creation (Gen. 9:18–10:32; Isa. 19:25). God’s intention is to bring blessing to these cultures (Gen. 12:1–3; 22:17–18). The literary form of Zephaniah 2:5–15 is a lament over their destruction (the “woe” in 2:5 signals a lamenting or grieving of death). The short mention of the Cushites may also show us the prophet’s personal grief, since his father (“Cushi” in 1:1) was likely part-Ethiopian (perhaps named so by an Ethiopian mother). Note that Cush had been his great, great grandfather Hezekiah’s ally during his reign (Isa. 18:1).22
This half-verse concerning worship by the nations (Zeph. 2:11b) is a beacon of hope for the world. It is an enduring vision of hope for all the peoples of the world that is expanded in chapter 3 (see comments on 3:9, 20b). Yahweh will not only eradicate arrogance but will replace it with the true worship of people from every land (cf. Ps. 47:2; Isa. 19:21–25; 45:23). This theme endures in the New Testament in light of the resurrected Christ (Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:10; Rev. 7:9–12). Yahweh’s purpose is to establish a diverse human creation that is unified in true humility and worship of the Creator and Redeemer of the world.
Crossing over from the false to the true. How do God’s people move from false pride and arrogance to true pride in the works of Yahweh? How do they move from a false humility that avoids participating in the purposes of God in the world to a true humility that engages God’s gifts and accepts the accompanying hardships? The word describing this movement in Zephaniah 2 is that the Day “sweeps on” (2:2). The original word (ʿabar) also means “crosses over.” In the “sweeping” Yahweh causes the “crossing over” from the false to the true. The concept indicates a dramatic conversion.
When water flows over shallow and wide places in a river, it creates a ford (a crossing place). There the river can be “passed” (or crossed) safely (the root is used in this sense at Zeph. 3:10). This means too that everything in the water can be seen easily. This image serves as a metaphor for the times in Israel’s history when judgment was brought by Yahweh on unjust society. Everything passed close to the surface and was exposed at the place of the “passing over” (the same word is also translated “wrath”). A ford is also the place were trouble may come while crossing. It is the place in Scripture (and in Western movies) where boundaries are most heavily defended, since people are most vulnerable when crossing water (Josh. 2:23). The biblical image of crossing over is central to “crossing the Jordan River” into a new and promised land (Josh. 1:11; 3:14, 17). God’s favor is needed especially there.
In the midst of sweeping away what is false, God prepares a new landing beyond the crossing for his faithful. Even in the midst of societal or personal disruptions, God has a word of hope for those who turn to him. At the end of life as well, Scripture insists that God has prepared a place to which his own may cross over. He is preparing a new earth with new heavens, where righteousness will rule.
Contemporary Significance
GOD’S OPPOSITION TO arrogance is clear. Any arrogant nation or culture of the world can and should take to heart Yahweh’s words, “The word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. ‘I will destroy you, and none will be left.’” (2:5). The whole known world, from Nineveh to Ethiopia, was included in Zephaniah 2. As contemporary readers, we are invited by the text to think in comprehensive and global terms.
Yahweh’s opposition to the arrogant has the purpose of (eventually) bringing hope. The thin signs of hope in the midst of God’s strong language against arrogance hinge on four themes: a simple description of the mysterious remnant, a call to “seek the LORD,” a test of faith in God’s “perhaps,” and promises for the future. God is still soundly against arrogance, but he calls us to seek him and to live by faith in the face of our own uncertain future. The surviving remnant is promised the provision of pasture, land inheritance, and the peace that comes with wild lands for animals. These thin hopes are “the central announcement of the book.”23 The one hope of salvation is to remove our self-reliance and pride and cast ourselves on the mercy of God. Perhaps we may also be part of a future faithful remnant.
Humble and obedient. The mysterious “remnant” are the “humble” (Zeph. 2:3; 3:12) who “do what he commands” (2:3). It is these meek ones who will inherit the earth (Zeph. 2:9b; Matt. 5:5). God’s faithfulness to the humble assures their survival beyond the violence of the arrogant.
Humility is an attribute of the Bible’s greatest figures. Moses, who talked with God in the “Tent of Meeting,” was known as the most humble man who lived (Num. 12:3). His humility was in relation to those he led toward God. When God shaped his people through difficult times in the desert, he was seeking to create in their midst the excellence of humility in relationships (Deut. 8:2, 16). The healing of societies and communities comes through humbling ourselves before God (2 Chron. 7:14).
Biblical humility is not, however, simply a life of personal religious devotion. The purpose of humility is societal justice and service toward those in need. Humility is relational and brings saving help, such as Moses’ helping his community to resolve their disputes by administering justice (Ex. 18:13–18). The great hymn of Christ’s humility calls us to have a similar attitude, looking to serve the needs of others (Phil. 2:3–8). Christ did not cling to his equality with God but became a servant in human form. He humbled himself, obediently submitting to death on a cross for our sake. His humility was not abstract but led to the salvation of those in need. He even allowed himself to be deprived of justice in order to help us (Act 8:33). He calls us to walk with him in the miraculous “rest” of this kind of humility (Matt. 11:29).
The humble also show themselves to be “needy” in relation to God, acknowledging him in worship and obedience to his laws. They “do what he commands” (Zeph. 2:3). For Christians this means keeping Christ’s law of love (John 13:34) and the basic Ten Commandments, endorsed as a baseline of behavior by Jesus (Matt. 19:17–19; Mark 10:17–19; Luke 18:18–20).24 They do what God commands.
Seeking Yahweh when the word is against you. The word of the prophet is against the sin that has taken root in the lives of God’s community of faith. Yahweh calls them to “seek” him, even though his word of judgment is against them and will surely result in destruction. Such is the case for all of God’s faithful—and for all humanity. Those who seek Yahweh even when his prophecies are against them demonstrate that they are “grain” and not “chaff.” This kind of seeking is called “the ethics of anticipation.”25 Our lives are present witnesses to what God will eventually bring to the world in the new creation.
This is sometimes called “proleptic eschatology,” which means that the reality of the future is experienced and practiced before the future arrives (proleptic means “beforehand” or “anticipated”; eschatology is the study of the last things). We live now by the power of the risen Christ and his Spirit, as though the new creation were already here. We know that we will die, but we live knowing that we will be changed and be raised to new life. We know that our temptations to sin continue, but we live in the freedom of Christ’s power over sin and forgiveness. We know that the enemy seeks to destroy our faith, but we live in the knowledge that he is defeated in Jesus’ innocent suffering and death on the cross and his victory in the resurrection.
The judgment against Judah at the beginning of Zephaniah was that they did not seek Yahweh in their prosperity (1:6). How much more difficult it is to seek Yahweh when the word is against you! The remnant of the faithful is always small in times of persecution. In the days of oppression in the Soviet Union, faithful Christians were few and far between. Professing faith meant an end to opportunities for jobs and minimized educational opportunities for one’s children. That kind of sacrifice is too much for most people to endure. If we could imagine the grace and faith we would need in oppressive economic circumstances, we might be less cavalier about seeking Yahweh and serving others for his sake in prosperous times.
Amos dramatically sets prosperity and destruction side by side in his warning to prosperous people who think they are worshiping Yahweh. They act as though they do not know that their prospering business practices and worship of God are not related (Amos 8:3–7). Seeking Yahweh is more than Sunday worship. It means seeking him in every aspect of behavior, business, and relationships. Micah shines the spotlight on the same bifurcated piety in Judah (Mic. 6:6–13). In this context God does not call the prosperous to seek him through extravagant religious acts, but to seek him humbly through economic justice and mercy toward those who have little: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic. 6:8).
In 1 Corinthians 1:26–31, Paul likewise develops the theme of seeking Yahweh when his word is against you.26 The gospel of Christ is first a word against us: against our presumed righteousness, holiness, and autonomy. Our culture’s pride in independence and self-sufficiency is challenged by the claim that all we have is from God, fully revealed in Christ. He nullifies all autonomous claims to power. “He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him” (1:28–29). Christ Jesus has become our wisdom, our righteousness, our holiness and redemption. So Paul admonishes us, “Let him who boasts, boast in the LORD” (1:31). In this way, we may seek him in great hope and expectation, even when world events turn against our cultural pride.
Living with “perhaps.” Almost everyone wants to be a “survivor” or thinks that they will survive the challenges they may face. Almost everyone wants to be included in the humble obedient remnant who will survive, even in the Day of the Lord. The present “test” as to whether we will be able to survive is given in what we do with the words “perhaps you will be sheltered” (Zeph. 2:3b). The message of the whole book of Zephaniah hangs on the “perhaps.” The prophet asks us to trust that the “perhaps” of God is surer than any security the world has to offer. With the total destruction of their society in view and no other hope beyond “perhaps,” Zephaniah urges the people to gather together to seek Yahweh (2:1–2). “Perhaps” is what the Ninevites thought about their salvation when God’s message to them was only destruction (Jonah 3:9, “Who knows?”; cf. Amos 5:15 and a statement contemporary to Zephaniah in Jer. 26:1–3).
Where else may we turn than to Yahweh? If we are among those who believe that this world will end in destruction and that Yahweh is just in his wrath and judgment against an arrogant world, to what hope will we cling? Those who sought Yahweh in Zephaniah’s day were able to cling in faith to the “perhaps” of God. In the disciples’ witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have more than a “perhaps.” We have the face of God dying in love for us and rising to new life, the firstborn of the new creation. Yet the struggle of faith to believe the witnesses around us, the conflicting voices of our culture, and suffering in the world sometimes reduce even a Christian’s confidence to “perhaps.” When the judgment of war on a world scale begins, no individual is guaranteed shelter from physical suffering and death. Resilient faith is faith that clings to God even when the surety of hope is elusive.
Zephaniah preaches this possibility. He calls us to recognize that when we “gather together,” we open ourselves to the possibility that that Lord will shelter us. Even if our faith is only as strong as believing in “perhaps,” we may cling to him. Jesus’ disciples were confused and challenged one day when the crowds turned and walked away. Jesus had asked them to believe something they could not possibly understand about eating his flesh. When Jesus asked the disciples if they too would leave him, they said, “To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:51–68).
Faith is resilient faith when it believes, not just in difficult times but especially in impossible times. Faith is resilient when it believes not simply what is hard to believe, but what seems unbelievable. Resilient faith believes not only in living, but in suffering and dying. That is Zephaniah’s legacy, made explicit in the cross. Christ completes the divine order by turning the judgment of the cross to the blessing of new life and resurrection. The “perhaps” of the prophets has become the promise of Christ’s presence.
Three promises of provision. Yahweh says he will provide for the humble and obedient remnant who seek him. Each provision involves a renewed and peaceful earth. It includes a place to live, abundant pasture for domestic flocks, and the peace that comes with wild lands for animals.
(1) God gives a place to live (Zeph. 2:7b, 9b). The “humble” are those who see their need for Yahweh’s shelter. The power to own a house or land is a gift from God. God will take homes away from the arrogant who build them (1:13) and give them to the humble when the arrogant are destroyed. The wisdom gained by God’s people after the Exile is that prosperity clouds a person’s (and a society’s) perceptions about the source of prosperity. To make matters worse, the prosperous, while confused about the source of wealth, think they see things more clearly. The humble inherit the land of the arrogant. The meek shall inherit the earth.
(2) Abundant pasture for domestic flocks (Zeph. 2:6–7a) is a picture of the blessing of domestic order and release from bondage. “He will restore their fortunes” (2:7) means that God will return his troubled remnant to their former security.27 The emphasis in Zephaniah is not on “fortune” (as in great wealth) but on a restoration of the general order of life and strength after suffering loss in captivity. The key image is his picture of people as sheep being guided by God to lie down in good pastures after being scattered, as in the well-known psalm, “He makes me lie down in green pastures.… He restores my soul” (Ps. 23:2–3). The humble who seek him will find release from their bondage and be renewed according to the order God intends for his good creation. The image of abundant pasture for domestic flocks implies this double blessing.
(3) Yahweh also provides the peace that is available to us when we live near wild lands set aside for animals (Zeph. 2:13b–14). The natural environment endures as a witness to God’s glory beyond human arrogance. The land and all nonhuman life in it are a witness to the Creator just by their existence as a pure creation. Only human creation rebels against God. Without humanity the creation is clean and a witness to the glory of God (Ps. 19:1–4a; cf. Job 38–41). The created environment does not indefinitely support sinful societies’ rebellion against the creation (Isa. 5:5; 24:16–23). There are always environmental consequences to sin (Gen. 3:17–19; Lev. 26:21–22). “Creation always sides with its Creator against the rebel.”28 In Zephaniah the consequences are dramatic (Zeph. 1:2–3; 2:13b–14).
The provision of wild lands around Nineveh may not seem at first to be a gift to the remnant (Zeph. 2:13b–14). It could be understood only as the absence of the violent enemy, Assyria. The remaining emptiness of the land, however, is a gift. It means that armies will no longer threaten the remnant from that direction.
The presence of the open land also gathers the positive biblical attitude toward “desert.” The biblical word “desert” does not mean sand dunes. It is more accurately translated “wilderness” (midbar). It is a place for herds to live contentedly (Zeph. 2:14) and for wild animals to live undisturbed by humanity. The so-called “desert” is a place where God can be encountered and heard more clearly. Israel was formed by God in the wilderness. It is a place where the temptations to uncritiqued wealth and comfort may be confronted. Elijah and John the Baptist lived there, and Jesus retreated there to pray. Hosea prophesied that God’s people would be renewed there (Hos. 2:14–15). God provides open lands for animals without people as part of his blessing of the remnant, for he knows they are essential to the life of the society.
These promises of provision are given as a future hope to a people under judgment. Hoping in this future is based on the word “perhaps,” the test of faith. This is the word against us that is also for us. It calls us to live by faith in the mercies of God that we now enjoy, and it challenges us to consider our own sins of arrogance. It calls us to live with confidence in his good purpose for us, expressed most fully in the innocent and righteous death of Jesus. Though our sin has marred God’s good creation, God calls us to live in hope of the new creation, even as we honor him in our use of this one. Living daily within the righteousness of Christ, we should have no room for arrogance or boasting, only humility and confession of his mercy.