If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.
23 June. Zephaniah.
Another short prophecy, like many of the others before the fall of Jerusalem. The difference here is that the prophet is identified as “Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah”, in other words the great-great-grandson of one of the greatest kings of Judah – a member of the royal family. That was no guarantee that his prophetic words would be heeded, for as Jesus said, “no prophet is welcome in his home town”.
Obviously the statement at the beginning that God would “utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth” is not to be taken literally, but it does remind us of the promise to Noah after the flood that God would never do anything so drastic again. In fact this is negated in 3:11-13 where it is made clear that although the “haughty” would be destroyed, while the humble and lowly would be honoured and spared. What it means is that the destruction of Jerusalem would be so traumatic for the Jewish people that it would seem like the end of the world. The description of this event as “a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish” (1:15) became the dies irae, dies illa in the Latin requiem mass, a prayer for God to rescue us from the “day of wrath and doom impending” – we always need to remember that God’s love expects us to obey him, and those who do not risk his anger.
Like many of the other prophets of this period Zephaniah alternates between prophecies of destruction – both for Judah and for her enemies including Nineveh (Assyria) – and those of salvation for a remnant of the chosen people. And it ends with a song of praise.
Haggai 1-2
For the last few weeks we have been looking at the prophets who came before the fall of Jerusalem and predicted its downfall. Now we jump to the end of the exile, seventy years later, and Zerubbabel (who was a kind of pretender to the throne) who led the first group of settlers to return.
The commentary explains that Zerubbabel set about rebuilding the temple, but the work was delayed for several years for political reasons. Haggai comes on the scene at the end of this period, and criticises the leaders of the community for living in “panelled houses” while the Lord’s house had been neglected. He therefore inspires them to resume rebuilding the Temple, and explains that God’s blessing on their crops would result from their obedience, whereas during the years of stagnation they had also experienced crop failure.