Zephaniah 1:7-18 Commentary

After spending a sustained amount of time in the books of Genesis and Exodus over the summer and early Fall, in the month-long lead up to Advent, the Lectionary plops us down into 4 different prophetic books.  So part of the commentary each week will be to orient us to the argument of the book as a whole before focusing on the specifics of the few verses reflected in the Lectionary reading.

Zephaniah

In addition to being written either just prior to or during the reign of King Josiah in Judah, the prophecy of Zephaniah is best understood as a companion to the reforms instituted during Josiah’s tenure (See II Kings 22-23 and II Chronicles 34-35). King Josiah and Prophet Zephaniah function as side-kicks or, perhaps, “good cop” and “bad cop.”  Zephaniah is calling the people back to faithfulness by warning of the wrath of God in punishing societal sin and evil-doing. His ministry begins before Josiah’s ascendancy.  As King, Josiah instituted religious reforms in Judah, returning the people to right worship, at least for a time.

The CEB Study Bible suggests 5 literary features of Zephaniah’s prophecy in general but most of them also show up in this week’s Lectionary reading:

1. Repetition of “on that day” to mark out various prophecies and link them together.
2. Cataloging promised action. God laying out the plan: “I will…”
3. Putting retorts/words in the mouths of those God is judging
4. Vivid imagery
5. Personifications of the city Jerusalem

Whereas other prophetic books balance the judgment and wrath of God with promises of restoration and hope, Zephaniah is full force with the former and barely offers a few verses at the end for the latter. Even the promise of restoration comes in the form of purification, the end of unrighteousness and the return of honesty and humility among the people.  This last piece resonates with the reign of King Josiah, especially.  However we know that restoration was not a long-term solution but a respite. 

Similar to what we saw last week in Amos, the “day of the Lord” motif that was often accompanied by triumphalism (our God is coming back to give YOU what for) is turned on its head by Zephaniah to prophecy the punishment of God against God’s own people. The overwhelming motif of judgment is tempered with a promise, as in 2:3 “Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land who practice his justice; seek righteousness, seek humility; maybe you will be hidden on the day of the Lord’s anger.”

Worship and Money

This passage begins with a command to silence.  There are, of course, many different kinds of silence. A mother shushing an infant, the companionable silence of two old friends sitting on a bench together, watching a sunset they have seen many times before. There is silence in a room right before the lights come on and everyone shouts “surprise!” And there are sad silences too – loneliness and grief can be felt in the absence of familiar or longed for voices.  But this is a kind of vicious silence, like when people freeze or hold their breath in fear. Something unpleasant is about to happen.  All of that is captured in verse 7’s imperative to hush.  

There is, also, a play on words we are likely to miss in verse 7. Robert Alter draws it out.  The “sacrifice” as it is deemed in our translations can also mean feast or slaughter.  Alter suggests we consider that the people are being invited to a “slaughter-feast,” with all the uncomfortable ambiguity that holds.   

Whereas in Amos, the concern seems to be unjust political systems and policies that disadvantage the vulnerable, that corrupt pure worship, Zephaniah calls out misdirected worship in the form of idolatry. Calling out foreign clothes seems to indicate that wearing clothes from other countries also coincides with worshipping the gods of other nations. Similarly the call-out of those who refuse to step on thresholds is a reference to the people’s superstitions, a bit similar to those who shorten or lengthen their stride on the sidewalks for fear of harming their mother’s back (“Don’t step on a crack or you’ll break your mother’s back”).

It is also interesting to note the prevalence of economic imagery: the market district, merchants, trade, money. The punishment takes the form of house demolition, removing property, all the way to the conclusion in verse 18. “Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath.”

In general, especially with his rich imagery, Zephaniah seems to want to unsettle the people, to call out the way they’ve grown to expect too much from their comfortable lives and not enough from God. Zephaniah is a disrupter.

The people imagine:

    God isn’t going to do anything.

Zephaniah announces:

    God is coming.

They imagine:

    Our wealth will protect us.

Zephaniah says:

    Neither silver nor gold will save you.

They imagine:

    Our fortified cities make us secure.

Zephaniah says:

    Even the fortified cities will be breached.

They imagine:

    Life can continue more or less as it always has.

Zephaniah says:

    The day is near.

Illustration

This is, arguably, one of the most wrathful depictions of God in Hebrew Scripture, which is why it also calls to mind the one place we see Jesus’ anger on display.  Note the similarities here: both are concerned with righteous worship and both identify the corruption getting in the way of that pure worship in the form of economic injustice.  When Jesus sees the money changers and the people selling sacrifices at the temple, he overturns their tables. When God sees the people depending on their own wealth, he sends Zephaniah to prophesy judgment.