The Word of God to Zephaniah
Aug 28, 2011
Priscilla Van Sutphin
Zeph 1 The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
Zephaniah – Yah has secreted, to hoard, to reserve, to protect, hide away privately
Cushi – similar to cush…people of Ethiopia
Gedaliah – Yah has become Great
Amariah – Yah has said, promised
Hezekiah – Strengthened by God
Josiah – Yah is the foundation or has founded
Amon – To build up, as in architecture
The Great Day of the Lord
2 "I will utterly consume everything from the face of the land,"
Says the Lord; 3 'I will consume man and beast; ( dumb animals)
I will consume the birds of the heavens, The fish of the sea,
And the stumbling blocks* along with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land," Says the Lord.
( Stumbling blocks are the IDOLS )
4 "I will stretch out My hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place, The names of the idolatrous priests* with the pagan priests —
Idolatrous priests, in KJV says chemarims comes from Hebrew Kamar
H3649 idolatrous priests.
5 Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops; Those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord, But who also swear by Milcom;*
hosts here is tsaba – referring to worship of demons, literally the army of demons and those in mixture, who claim to know the Lord, but also by Milcom it says here Malcham in KJV – in Hebrew Malak which is word for royalty, king. It was used in the Passion you may remember when the Pharisees were intimidating Jesus, saying are you a King ? Malak was the word they used. You cannot serve GOD and mammon Jesus said you can’t serve God and bow to the idolatry of men.
Zech 1:6 Those who have turned back from following the Lord, and have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him."
(Those who have grown complacent and far from the Lord.)
7 Be silent in the presence of the Lord God; For the day of the Lord is at hand, For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited* His guests. 8 "And it shall be, in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, That I will punish the princes and the king's children, And all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.
He is referring to the WICKED leaders, princes, kings children, ie Bashir Assad is a leader whose father ruled Syria and who was called “the butcher” and his son seems to be following in father’s steps. Thus King’s children would include him.
9 In the same day I will punish all those who leap over the threshold,*
Who fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.
The Lamsa version says the above this way: In that day I will punish all those who do violence and those who plunder, who fill their storerooms with things acquired by means of extortion and deceit.
10 "And there shall be on that day," says the Lord, "The sound of a mournful cry from the Fish Gate, A wailing from the Second Quarter,
And a loud crashing from the hills. 11 Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh!*
For all the merchant people are cut down; All those who handle money are cut off.
Maktesh was the place traders gathered, so place of business, industry, trade, all buying and selling. Refer to Zechariah also where it says there will be no more Canaanite in the house of the Lord, the Canaanites were merchants, good at selling things. All those who handle MONEY it says [ bankers ]. So GOD will deal with it all.
12 "And it shall come to pass at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled in complacency,* Who say in their heart, 'The Lord will not do good, Nor will He do evil.'
God will not be mocked in this hour !
13 Therefore their goods shall become booty, And their houses a desolation; They shall build houses, but not inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine."
14 The great day of the Lord is near; It is near and hastens quickly.
The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out. [ word here can mean THUNDERING VOICE ]
15 That day is a day of wrath,
A day of trouble and distress,
A day of devastation and desolation,
A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 A day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high towers.
High towers are always associated with pride of man, and what MAN can build as at the tower of Babel. The Day of the Lord is DARK…note the description and then think about how in Isaiah 60 it says darkness will fill the earth, and deep darkness the people BUT the LORD will ARISE OVER YOU !
17 "I will bring distress upon men, and they shall walk like blind men,
Because they have sinned against the Lord; Their blood shall be poured out like dust, And their flesh like refuse."
So it IS JUDGMENT whether the church or world wants to acknowledge it or not ! “ It will be very bloody” I heard Bonnie Chavda once say. Can’t get much plainer than that can you.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them
In the day of the Lord's wrath; But the whole land shall be devoured
By the fire of His jealousy, For He will make speedy riddance of all those who dwell in the land.
His name in Hebrew is Qanna which means JEALOUS ! He is jealous for relationship with us, He is jealous over our idolatries, adulteries with the world. He wants us to come back to faith and relationship with HIM. Just as a husband would be jealous of his wife with another man.
A Call to Repentance
Zeph 2:14 Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, Their voice shall sing in the windows; Desolation shall be at the threshold;
For He will lay bare the cedar work. 15 This is the rejoicing city that dwelt securely, That said in her heart, "I am it, and there is none besides me." How has she become a desolation, A place for beasts to lie down! Everyone who passes by her Shall hiss and shake his fist.
The pride of man will be brought low as it says in Isaiah. Nothing, not even Jerusalem will escape His judgment. Only those FAITHFUL to HIM in their hearts will survive.
The Wickedness of Jerusalem
3:1 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city!
2 She has not obeyed His voice, She has not received correction; She has not trusted in the Lord, She has not drawn near to her God. 3 Her princes in her midst are roaring lions; Her judges are evening wolves that leave not a bone till morning.
The leaders of Israel have all been FREEMASONS. Netanyahu is no exception. God calls them roaring lions, wolves that devour !
4 Her prophets are insolent, treacherous people; Her priests have polluted the sanctuary, They have done violence to the law.
If you are not aware of how the exteme orthodox do violence to the law, just look at the Passion movie and how the Pharisees treated Jesus. That is how religious spirits torment anyone who lives by the Spirit, instead of the LAW. The Lord said, they make demands but don’t live it themselves. They are utterly self centered. The Law is a harsh taskmaster, and brings a curse Paul said, in trying to be saved by it. You come back under the curse of death when you try to be perfect by the LAW instead of the Spirit of God.
5 The Lord is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness.
Every morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails, But the unjust knows no shame.
The unjust knows no shame, he is not embarrassed by his sin. He is not even quickened in any way by the evil he does.
6 "I have cut off nations, their fortresses are devastated; I have made their streets desolate, with none passing by. Their cities are destroyed; There is no one, no inhabitant. 7 I said, 'Surely you will fear Me, You will receive instruction' — So that her dwelling would not be cut off,
Despite everything for which I punished her. But they rose early and corrupted all their deeds.
So the Lord is saying no matter how much I have tried to correct, people don’t listen.
A Faithful Remnant
(cf. Gen 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-11)
8 "Therefore wait for Me," says the Lord, "Until the day I rise up for plunder;* My determination is to gather the nations to My assembly of kingdoms, to pour on them My indignation, All My fierce anger; All the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy.
Here is GOD telling us not to take things in our own hands, but WAIT ON HIM, FOR HE WILL BRING JUSTICE ! For those who hate Israel and the church destroyed, [ the undesired nation ] God has His day of judgment for. HE will bring His glittering sword and destroy those nations !
9 "For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they all may call on the name of the Lord, To serve Him with one accord.
Language here I think speech says it better as in the Aramaic translation, Lamsa version… and from the roots of the below it seems he is saying our speech that corrupts. Ie cursing others, blaspheming God etc. So he restores PURE SPEECH.
OT:8193 saphah (saw-faw'); or (in dual and plural) sepheth (sef-eth'); probably from OT:5595 or OT:8192 through the idea of termination (compare OT:5490); the lip (as a natural boundary); by implication, language; by analogy, a margin (of a vessel, water, cloth, etc.):
KJV - band, bank, binding, border, brim, brink, edge, language, lip, prating, ([sea-]) shore, side, speech, talk, [vain] words.
10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, the daughter of My dispersed ones, shall bring My offering. 11 In that day you shall not be shamed for any of your deeds in which you transgress against Me; For then I will take away from your midst those who rejoice in your pride, and you shall no longer be haughty in My holy mountain.
12 I will leave in your midst a meek and humble people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.
Dispersed ones here means
OT:6327 JWP puwts (poots); a primitive root; to dash in pieces, literally or figuratively (especially to disperse): KJV - break (dash, shake) in (to) pieces, cast (abroad), disperse (selves), drive, retire, scatter (abroad), spread abroad.
So the idea is a people who have been broken like a horse, so that they will follow the LORD alone. Israel has been broken more than any, persecuted more than any, surely the despised nation, along with all who support her spiritually. God will have a HUMBLE remnant who will not consider themselves better than others, who will not presume.
13 The remnant of Israel shall do no unrighteousness and speak no lies,
Nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; For they shall feed their flocks and lie down, And no one shall make them afraid."
Where else do we see this promise ? Ezekiel 34, they will lie down in safety.
Ezek 34:15-24 NKJV
15 I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down," says the Lord God. 16 "I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment."
17 'And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. 18 Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture — and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? 19 And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet."
20 'Therefore thus says the Lord God to them:"Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. 21 Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, 22 therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them — My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.
Joy in God's Faithfulness
Zeph 3:14 Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; You shall see* disaster no more. 16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak. 17 The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
18 "I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly, who are among you, To whom its reproach is a burden. 19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you; I will save the lame, And gather those who were driven out; I will appoint them for praise and fame in every land where they were put to shame.
The Lord promises RESTORATION TO ISRAEL in every way. He tenderly speaks that her judgments will be removed [by the blood of Yeshua] – that He will rejoice over her with singing, like a lover does.
This is one of the most beautiful scriptural promises of restoration.
20 At that time I will bring you back, even at the time I gather you;
For I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth, When I return your captives before your eyes," Says the Lord.
H6908 in the strongs - The word for “gather” here is qabats from a primitive root: to grasp, ie collect: - assemble (selves), gather (bring) (together, selves together,up), heap, resort, X surely TAKE UP.
Hebrew goes right to left, so quph, bet, tsadi – quph letter meanings included sun, revolution, circle, horizon. It can also mean time as the revolution of the sun is used to calculate time, Then Bet means house or tent as well as family, as well as in , with, inside or within as the family resides in a house or tent. Then Tsad is the SIDE of something as in a man lying on his side, it also means hunting, chasing or laying down in ambush. This word is the word Perry Stone talked about that has to do with rapture, or the GATHERING together…at the end of the age.
