I hope this finds you all well. This morning, I’d like to look at Zepheniah 3:14-20
This is a wonderful text that we have this morning, that has been put into song in many different ways (for two totally different examples, here are some YouTube clips Messiah, Mighty to Save). It is full of the presence of God, and invites all its readers to experience joy. “The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst” is a testimony about God’s abiding presence, even when God sometimes feels distant.
There is a three-fold promise here. First, there is the promise that God’s judgments will be removed (sins forgiven), second the promise that the enemies of Judah will not succeed (important, as Israel had only recently been destroyed by Assyria) and third, that justice will be done (the lame and outcast saved, and the social system of shame/honor overturned).
This is good news indeed of Emmanuel, God with us, so it is little wonder that it was adopted by early Christians as a messianic promise foreshadowing Jesus. We too can celebrate, rejoicing as children of Jerusalem that God offers forgiveness for sins, and that God will indeed rejoice over us with singing.
The image here, by the way is quite over the top-think about David, dancing in the streets rejoicing in bringing the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem, or the father of the prodigal son running to meet his child-this is an image of divine love overwhelming all bounds of propriety, the sense of self control, and breaking out into songs of joy. Unmitigated joy is something of an uncomfortable thing in our society-we aren’t really supposed to express it, because self control (at least self control of positive emotions) is highly valued. This is not dissimilar to the situation in ancient Israel, so the image of God breaking out in songs of joy (who, then as now, was often seen as a serious, important, dour kind of figure) would have been striking.
I wonder what the words of the song of praise that God would sing about you might be?
The other interesting thing about this passage is how starkly it contrasts to the rest of the book. Zepheniah was a prophet during the early reign of King Josiah, around 604-614 B.C. A little historical context:
After the kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrian Empire, the kingdom of Judah became an off and on vassal of Assyria, which led to some pretty significant political shifts. There was pressure to adopt Assyrian Gods, and prophets often connected worshiping YHWH with throwing off the Assyrian yoke. Thus, Josiah’s great grandfather, Hezekiah, moved away from Assyria, and also instituted religious reforms. His son, King Manassah, one of the longest serving kings of Judah, moved away from monotheism because, in part, of his closer relationship with Assyria, and the worship of other gods because more prevalent. Zepheniah writes of priests who were idol worshipers, and condemns all of the rulers of the people. Josiah, after he grew up (he took the throne at age 8, after the people killed his father) became the most famous of the reformer kings, and was contemporaneously praised for finding the book of the law, and following God. However, he found himself caught between Egypt and Assyria, and soon after his reign Israel went into exile in Babylon.
Zepheniah, then, in this short book (3 chapters long) rails against the people, the rulers, the priests, prophesying doom to all on the violent coming of the lord. Then, he rails against the nations that have wronged Judah, from Ethiopia to Assyria. Finally, he promises that a small remnant of people may survive the unmaking of creation, and that these people will form a faithful core of a new religion. This is the context, then, of the hope he offers, here in the third chapter.
That puts a little darker spin on what is otherwise a beautiful picture of God’s recreation. But it also, I think might serve as a reminder that the prophetic promise has always been about both challenge and rebirth, and that the resurrection that we hope for comes through the valley, and through the brokenness of war and chaos, and the people of Judah held out hope even through the darkest times of exile, because part of their story was that hope can be reborn even from a remnant, that there is something precious wherever beauty and joy is found.
Any thoughts about the text you’d like to share?
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