The Condition of Judah and Jerusalem (Zephaniah 3:1-7).
‘Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted,
To the oppressing city.
She did not obey the voice.
She did not receive correction.
She did not trust in YHWH.
She did not draw near to her God.'
Zephaniah returns to God's verdict on Jerusalem, and pronounces a woe against her. She is a city of oppression, oppressing her people. She is rebellious against God and the covenant she has made with Him, and polluted through her disobedience. She is no more a holy city. Four reasons are given,
· ‘She did not obey the voice.' Central to all YHWH's requirements is obedience. He had spoken, but she had refused to obey His voice, and had gone her own way.
· ‘She did not receive correction.' The prophets had been sent by God to rebuke her and turn her back into the right way, but she had refused even to listen. She was determined to go her own way and ignore all warnings.
· ‘She did not trust in YHWH.' She turned to other gods and other ways. Her eyes were taken off Him, and He was no longer central. She trusted rather to these strange gods, and to strange allies. Indeed it would be one of these who came against her.
· ‘She did not draw near to her God.' YHWH had become to her an irrelevance, a God of the past Who was no longer important. Her worship of Him was perfunctory, and for all practical purposes He was ignored
‘Her princes in her midst are roaring lions,
Her judges are evening wolves,
They leave nothing until the next day.'
The description is vivid. Her leaders are like animal seeking the prey, and the people are the prey. Her princes are like roaring lions, frightening with their roars, pouncing on their victims. Her judges are like wolves in the evening, hungry, unsatisfied, descending on the people to tear them apart, and so ravenous that they leave nothing for the next day (literally ‘did not gnaw bones in the morning').
‘Her prophets are light and treacherous people.
Her priests have profaned the sanctuary,
They have done violence to the law.'
The people had no word from YHWH, for the prophets were unreliable. They received no true vision. They treated all their great responsibilities lightly. They treated the truth lightly. They said what men wanted to hear, especially those in authority. They were men-pleasers. That was why Zephaniah had been raised up, so that at least someone would speak the truth and not what people wanted to hear. The priests profaned the sanctuary. They were careless, or worse, in their approach to YHWH, ignoring the rules of ‘cleanness', and the requirements of sacrifice, and many served other gods as well. They failed to follow and teach the requirements of the Mosaic law passed down by tradition and word of mouth. (The actual book of the Law would be discovered later in the temple, which suggests that it was not being read).
‘YHWH in the midst of her is righteous.
He will not do what is wrong.
Every morning he brings his judgment to light,
But the unrighteous know no shame.'
God is revealed as the opposite of all this. He is among them in His dwellingplace but is totally righteous. He will not behave in a wrong or unseemly way. He is completely open. Each day what He has done can be scanned in the light of day without anyone finding anything amiss. He does not need to hide anything. The picture would appear to be that of the steward or administrator who each morning produces details of what he has done and how he has looked after what he controls. He is not afraid to do so because he is totally honest and has acted only for good. So God is completely righteous in all His doings.
In contrast the unrighteous do not bring what they have done into the light of day. That is how they avoid knowing shame. They are secretive and dishonest. Sadly most men would not like their fellows to know the truth about some of the things that they have done. They are done in darkness, and that is where they want them to remain. Others are so wicked that they know no shame. They are even worse.
We are reminded of Jesus' words ‘he who does truth comes to the light that his deeds may be revealed, that they are wrought in God' (John 3:21). We too are to ‘walk in the light' (1 John 1:7).
“I have cut off nations,
Their battlements are desolate,
I have made their streets waste,
So that no one travels on them,
Their cities are destroyed so that they are deserted (‘there is no man'),
There is no one living in them.'
God gives the examples from the past of nations who were once powerful, but whose cities are now desolate wastes, totally unused by man. They should be acting as a warning to the people of Judah.
“I said, ‘Surely you will fear me,
You will receive correction,'
And her dwelling will not be cut off,
All that I have appointed to do with her.
But they arose early,
And corrupted all their doings.'
God's hope was that the example of these nations who had been cut off would stir His own people to give regard to Him, to take heed to Him and hear His warnings, to seek His guidance and walk in it. Then she would be secure in her land. All would be well. Her own dwelling would not be cut off, her cities would prosper, she would receive all the good that God wanted to do for her.
But they did not take notice. They enthusiastically (arose early) went about their sinful ways. They just ignored Him, giving Him perfunctory acknowledgement. In all they did they were deceitful and treacherous in their behaviour.
It is a warning to us that we should learn the lessons of the past. If only we would do that how much anguish it would save us.