TEXT [Commentary]

  C.   A Description of the Coming Judgment (1:14-18)

14 “That terrible day of the LORD is near.

Swiftly it comes—

a day of bitter tears,

a day when even strong men will cry out.

15 It will be a day when the LORD’s anger is poured out—

a day of terrible distress and anguish,

a day of ruin and desolation,

a day of darkness and gloom,

a day of clouds and blackness,

16 a day of trumpet calls and battle cries.

Down go the walled cities

and the strongest battlements!

17 “Because you have sinned against the LORD,

I will make you grope around like the blind.

Your blood will be poured into the dust,

and your bodies will lie rotting on the ground.”

18 Your silver and gold will not save you

on that day of the LORD’s anger.

For the whole land will be devoured

by the fire of his jealousy.

He will make a terrifying end

of all the people on earth.[*]

NOTES

1:14 near. This is the first of more than a dozen terms found in vv. 14-18 that regularly occur in oracles dealing with the terrors of coming judgment (note especially Joel 2:1-11; see Patterson 1991:320-325).

Swiftly it comes. The adverbial flavor of the infinitive absolute here (from the root mhr) is little improved by attempts to relate the phrase to an Egypto-Semitic term for soldier. (For good discussions, see Sabottka 1972:50-52; R. L. Smith 1984:129. Sabottka calls attention to the Phoenician/Punic personal names mhrb‘l and b‘lmhr, which he understands as “[soldier] hero of Baal” and “Baal is the hero,” respectively.) The repetition of the idea of nearness is not redundant; rather, the intentional emphasis underscores both the fact and the impending arrival of the Day of the Lord.

a day when even strong men will cry out. The word “cry” (tsoreakh [TH6873, ZH7658]) has been viewed as a verb (cf. Akkadian sarahu, “cry out, lament”) as in Isa 42:13. A noun (tserakh [TH6873.1, ZH7659] “shriek, [battle] cry”; see NIDOTTE 3.844) has been conjectured for Jer 4:31; Ezek 21:27 but is uncertain at best. For translation problems relative to the last line of 1:14, see Roberts (1991:182).

1:15 anger. The term for “anger” here is suggestive of the overwhelming nature of the divine anger against sin.

distress and anguish. This picture of the terror that will come upon people who have defied God may have been drawn from Job 15:23-25, where terms and themes relative to the day of darkness and the sinner’s defiance of God appear together. Instructive are the words “distress” and “anguish,” which are common to both passages.

1:16 strongest battlements! The term probably refers to the corner towers, the key points in the defensive walls (so also in 3:6). Berlin (1994:90) notes, “Many royal fortresses in the eighth and seventh centuries [BC] were rectangular with a tower at each corner.”

1:17 poured. Although Sabottka (1972:55) insists that the lack of examples of the verb shapak in the Piel stem necessitates viewing the form here as a Qal passive, the presence of a Hithpael elsewhere (Job 30:16; Lam 2:12; 4:1), attesting the use of the Piel stem in classical Hebrew, makes his pronouncement tenuous. See also the following note.

into the dust. The Hebrew text reads “like dust.” As Berlin (1994:91) notes, “The imagery is unusual. The verb shapak [TH8210, ZH9161] is used of blood, and also of dust (Lev 14:41), but blood is usually poured out like water (Ps 79:3), not like dust. The combination of this particular tenor and vehicle, along with the accompanying ‘fleshy parts like dung,’ creates the vivid image of carnage strewn over a broad area.”

your bodies. Lit., “their flesh.” While “flesh” is the traditional reading of most ancient and modern translations, the NLT rendering has precedents in the Vulgate and the NJB (“their corpses”). The NLT’s switch to second person (“your”) provides added vividness, the force of the pronouncement becoming more personal.

1:18 a terrifying end. The syntax of this verse is like that of Isa 10:23, in each case the object noun being modified by affixing a Niphal participle. The common emphasis of the participle nibhalah [TH926, ZH987] is “to be disturbed by fear, to be terrified, to be frightened out of one’s wits” (Gen 45:3; 2 Sam 4:1; Isa 13:8; 21:3; Ezek 26:18). As here, the word “end” (kalah [TH3617, ZH3986]) is customarily employed for divinely initiated destruction (cf. Neh 9:31; Jer 4:27).

COMMENTARY [Text]

Again Zephaniah declared that the Day of the Lord is near. He had previously used this event to encourage God’s people to repentance. Here he supplies added details to amplify this reason for the citizens of Judah and Jerusalem to repent and submit to God. The day was near and coming quickly.

Zephaniah described conditions that will exist primarily in the final stages of the Day of the Lord. But the prophecy must be viewed as one vast event. Some matters that he mentions would soon take place at Jerusalem’s fall in 586 BC; others would be repeated in various historical epochs (e.g., AD 70) until the whole prophecy found its ultimate fulfillment eschatologically. Such prophecies (cf. Joel 2:28-32 with Acts 2:17-26) are progressively fulfilled, and their individual segments can be termed “fulfillment without consummation.”[114] Keeping this distinction in mind enables one to keep a clear perspective as to both the meaning of the text and the effect the prophecy must have had upon Zephaniah’s hearers. However much the events detailed here may have full reference only to the final phase of the Day of the Lord, they were an integral part of the prophecy and could occur anywhere along the series. For the people of Zephaniah’s time, the Day of the Lord was near—very near—and the catastrophic conditions had the potential to occur at any moment, with tragic consequences.

What a day the Day of the Lord will be! So horrifying will be the conditions (1:14-15) that the bravest hero will shriek bitterly. This is understandable, because it will be the time of God’s great wrath. Because of his anger against sin, the earth will experience great distress and anguish. Other prophets report that the day will be so severe that it will be called the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer 30:7; cf. Dan 12:1).

Zephaniah goes on to describe conditions in the land and in nature (1:15). Destruction will dot the landscape; everything will be a desolate waste. Adding to the scene of misery are conditions in the natural world. All nature will be covered with clouds that form an impenetrable darkness. Although such darkness has not gripped the world of God’s covenant people since early days, it will again fall heavily upon the objects of divine wrath in the great Day of the Lord (cf. Joel 2:2). It is a bleak picture.

From the physical world, Zephaniah turns again to the sociopolitical realm (1:16). That day will be a time of great warfare; out of the distance will come the sound of the trumpet and the battle cry (cf. Josh 6:5; Jer 4:5). This will be followed by the charge of the enemy army pushing into the towns of Judah (cf. Deut 28:49-52). Not even the most stoutly fortified city will be able to withstand the advance of these agents of the Lord’s judgment. The synecdoche of citing towns and towers in reference to the devastation of all cities and lands is an effective one. If the strongest defenses will collapse, everything else will of course be laid waste. Zephaniah concludes by observing the tragic cost in human life and the experience that all of this will effect (1:17-18). In accordance with his judicial purposes, God will bring distress not only to Judah but also to all humanity. There is a play on words and ideas in 1:15. Because it is a day of distress and anguish, God will cause people distress. So intense will be the conditions that people will grope like the blind. How appropriate the punishment! Because they are blind ethically and spiritually (cf. Exod 23:8; Matt 15:14; Rom 2:19; 11:25; Eph 4:18; 1 John 2:11) and have sinned against God and his commandments, God’s people will incur the just penalties of the covenant (Deut 28:28-29).[115]

The effect of these tragic conditions is further heightened in similes that liken the carnage of that day to blood poured out like worthless dust (cf. 1 Kgs 20:10; 2 Kgs 13:7; 23:12) and flesh treated like dung (cf. 1 Kgs 14:10; 2 Kgs 9:37; Jer 8:1-3; Lam 4:5). Human life (flesh and blood) is thus reduced to a thing of no value, with corpses being treated as despicable refuse (cf. Jer 9:20-22; 16:1-4; 25:32-33). The warfare connected with the Day of the Lord will thus be both extensive and bloody.

The chapter closes with a reiteration of two prominent themes: (1) the self- indulgent greed of the godless wealthy and (2) the certain judgment of all people and nations. As for the former, the wealthy have heaped up their riches at the expense of their fellow citizens in pursuit of material gain. However, it will all soon come to an end, and no amount of silver or gold will be able to pay off their despoilers. Their attempt to achieve deliverance will fail (cf. 2 Kgs 15:16-20; 16:17-19; 18:13-16). With regard to the latter theme, the judgment that always hangs over humanity will one day descend with sudden swiftness, and the world and all who dwell in it will experience the wrath of God.

Many years have passed since Zephaniah announced the coming of the awful Day of the Lord. While that day has come and gone repeatedly for Jerusalem, the consummation of Zephaniah’s prophecy awaits its ultimate fulfillment. If God’s people have not escaped judgment in the past, how should we who live in the present generation think we can escape the judgment of a holy God? If we ourselves fall into false-worship practices, or sit idly by as a sinful and lost world continues its plunge into the abyss of degradation, should we not expect the Lord’s righteous anger? And if it is true that believers can and will experience chastisement, how much more will come upon those who reject God’s rightful claim over their lives (Rom 2:1-4; Heb 2:3; 12:25; 1 Pet 4:17-18)?