Zephaniah or Tzfanya (Hebrew: צְפַנְיָה, Modern Ẓəfanya Tiberian Ṣəp̄anyāh ; "Concealed of/is Lord") is the name of several people in the Bible Old Testament and Jewish Tanakh. He is also called Sophonias as in the New Catholic Encyclopaedia and in Easton's [Bible] Dictionary. The name means "God has concealed", or "he whom the Lord has hidden".
The prophet Zephaniah
An 18th century Russian
icon of the prophet Zephaniah
The most well-known Biblical figure bearing the name Zephaniah is the son of Cushi, and great-grandson of Hezekiah, ninth in the literary order of the minor prophets. He prophesied in the days of Josiah, king of Judah (B.C. 641-610), and was contemporary with Jeremiah, with whom he had much in common. The only primary source from which we obtain our scanty knowledge of the personality and the rhetorical and literary qualities of this individual is the short book of the Old Testament (containing only three chapters), which bears his name. The scene of his activity was the city of Jerusalem. (Zeph 1:4-10; 3:1, 14)
Date of activity
Zephaniah is the only one of the few prophets whose chronology is fixed by a precise date in the introductory verse of the book. Under the two preceding kings, Amon and Manasseh, idolatry had been introduced in the most shameful forms (especially the cult of Baal and Astarte) into the Holy City,[1][2] and with this foreign cult came a foreign culture and a great corruption of morals. Josiah, a dedicated reformer,[3] wished to put an end to the horrible devastation in the holy places. One of the most zealous champions and advisers of this reform was Zephaniah, and his writing remains one of the most important documents for the understanding of the era of Josiah.
The prophet spoke boldly against the religious and moral corruption, when, in view of the idolatry which had penetrated even into the sanctuary, he threatened to "destroy out of this place the remnant of Baal, and the names of the ... priests" (Zeph 1:4), and pleaded for a return to the simplicity of their fathers instead of the luxurious foreign clothing which was worn especially in aristocratic circles (1:8).
The age of Zephaniah was also a key historical period, because the lands of Anterior Asia were overrun by foreigners due to the migration of the Scythians in the last decades of the seventh century, and because Jerusalem was only a few decades before its downfall in 586.[4] In light of these events, a message of impending judgment is the primary burden of this figure's preaching (1:7).
He is commemorated with the other Minor prophets in the Calendar of saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 31. On the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, his feast day is December 3.
The Book of Zephaniah
The Book of Zephaniah contains in its three chapters the fundamental ideas of the preaching of Zephaniah. The scheme of the book in its present form is as follows:
a) 1:2-2:3. Warnings about the "day of the Lord", a Dies irae, dies illa[5] of the Old Testament. The judgment of the Lord will descend on Judah and Jerusalem as a punishment for the awful degeneracy in religious life (1:4-7a); it will extend to all classes of the people (1:7b-13), and will be attended with all the horrors of a frightful catastrophe (1:14-18); therefore, repent and seek the Lord (2:1-3).
b) 2:4-15. Not only Jerusalem, but the entire world is subject to judgment, including the Philistines, (4-7) Moabites, Ammonites, (8-11) Ethiopians, (12) Assyrians and Ninivites (13-15).
c) 3:1-8. The Prophet focuses once again on Jerusalem: "Woe to the provoking, and redeemed city ... She hath not hearkened to the voice, neither hath she received discipline." The severest reckoning will be required of the leading classes of the civil community, and of the Prophets and priests as the directors of public worship.
d) 3:9-20. With a prophetic glance at the Kingdom of God of the future, in which all the world unites and turns to God, the prosperity of the Messianic Kingdom will be enjoyed.
e) 3:9-20. The last message of Zephaniah also has a Messianic coloring, although not to an extent comparable with that which may be found in the Book of Isaiah.
Other Zephaniahs in the Bible
Other individuals named Zephaniah include:
1) The son of Maaseiah, the "second priest" in the reign of Zedekiah, often mentioned in Jeremiah as having been sent from the king to inquire (Jer. 21:1) regarding the coming woes which he had denounced, and to entreat the prophet's intercession that the judgment threatened might be averted (Jer 29:25, 26, 29; 37:3; 52:24). He, along with some other captive Jews, was put to death by the king of Babylon "at Riblah in the land of Hamath" (2 Kings 25:21).
2) A Kohathite ancestor of the prophet Samuel (1 Chr 6:36).
3) The father of Josiah, the priest who dwelt in Jerusalem when Darius issued the decree that the temple should be rebuilt ... (Zech 6:10).
See also
References
- ^ ANE History: The End of Judah Copyright © Quartz Hill School of Theology
- ^ The Wicked Reigns of Manasseh and Amon
- ^ "The Religious Reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah" at the Biblical Archaeology Society Online Archive
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Sophonias
- ^ "That day of wrath, that dreadful day," as described in Nelson's Compact Illustrated Bible Dictionary, pp. 283, 283, Thomas Nelson Publishers (1964), ISBN 0-8407-5636-5
External links
