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The twelve minor prophets are divided into two categories based on the time period of their ministry. Either they came before the Babylonian exile (pre-exilic) or after it (post-exilic).
“Zephaniah is the last of the pre-exilic prophets, and can be said to “sum up” the messages of the previous 8. This is why Zephaniah seems unoriginal to some scholars, because he quotes the words and ideas of many previous prophets.”
David Guzik
Zephaniah doesn’t beat around the bush. He gets right to the heart of the matter. The Lord speaks through Zephaniah as the scope of His judgment goes from broad to specific. It is interesting to study and dig into these pagan practices that had caused such spiritual apostasy.
In verses 2 and 3, the Lord gives a general but severe prophecy of judgment to all people and Creation. This does not mean He was violating His promise to Noah because the context seems to be a reversal of the Creation account. This leads me to believe these verses are speaking to the End Times when God will indeed wipe away both man and beast from the Earth. The KJV translates the judgment as targeting those who were “stumbling blocks.”
“Quite remarkable is the appearance of this striking combination of stumbling blocks with the wicked in the NT (Mat 13:41). Jesus interprets to his disciples a parable of universal judgment, which suits precisely the context of Zephaniah’s prophecy. At the end of time God shall send his angels, who will “gather together” everything that makes stumble and the doers of lawlessness.”
New International Commentary – Old Testament
This is how upset the Lord was with the idolatry that had overtaken all people. He then drills down to the specific issues with Jerusalem and Judah.
I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all the residents of Jerusalem. I will cut off every vestige of Baal from this place, the names of the pagan priests along with the priests; 5 those who bow in worship on the rooftops to the heavenly host; those who bow and pledge loyalty to the LORD but also pledge loyalty to Milcom; 6 and those who turn back from following the LORD, who do not seek the LORD or inquire of Him.
Zephaniah 1:4-6 HCSB
Over the history of Judah and Israel, the false god Baal had repeatedly infiltrated religious practices. The priests of the Lord were established to protect the people from idol worship and lead them to worship the One True God. They had compromised by mixing astrology into their practices and setting up altars on their rooftops for a better view of the sky. This type of compromise is still happening today with Christians seeking advice and counsel from New Age practices and then slapping the “Christian” label on them.
God’s people also practiced swearing their loyalty to both the Lord and to Milcom (Molech) whose requirements included child sacrifice, astrology, and temple prostitution.
“What could be more satanic than a religion that took to itself the name of the true God while at the same time professing devotion to his chief rival? By this method, a person could practice the proud imaginations of his own heart undisturbed. –
New International Commentary – Old Testament
This simple application still applies today. People who rebel against “organized church” and “organized worship” often want to follow the proud imaginations of their own heart without any accountability. It is “their view” of worship which is superior to any other. It is “their view” of God which is superior to any other. It is “their interpretation” of Scripture that is the pinnacle of wisdom. When someone tells me they don’t go to church because “no one is doing it the right way,” it immediately raises a red flag for me.
In my experience, many with this view have been wounded by a church with poor leadership and as a defense mechanism, they have turned inwardly to their own view of what church should be. The irony is that those leaders who wounded them were probably operating without any spiritual accountability and the victims of their leadership end up becoming just like them. It was not meant to be this way. Where was the breakdown?
It all comes back to leadership. Those who were the centerpiece of Israel’s worship to God had compromised. The priests who were supposed to be ushering the people closer to God were taking their children and sacrificing them before foreign gods. This chapter comes full circle back to the stumbling blocks of verse 3. This is precisely what these priests were, and when Jesus came to Earth the first time, the Pharisees filled that same role.
When Jesus returns a second time for the final judgment, He will remove every stumbling block with absolute authority!
The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather from His kingdom everything that causes sin and those guilty of lawlessness. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Anyone who has ears should listen!
Matthew 13:41-43 HCSB