Zephaniah. It means, “Yahweh hides” or “Yahweh protects”.

Zephaniah. His ancestry is traced back four generations. This is unusual for a prophet. Why? Zephaniah may well be King Zephaniah. He may well be a prophet of royal blood. He is a distant relative of Josiah. He lived in the southern kingdom (probably Jerusalem. See 1:4 and 1:10,11).

It takes place in the reign of Josiah (640 – 609 BC). Nineveh is predicted to fall and it falls in 612 BC, so the time is limited now to 640 – 612 BC. Most of all the sins which are prophesied against by the prophet are sins which are characteristic of the period before the reform (640 -621 BC). Zephaniah was probably a key person in the reforms which took place.

Two of the Kings that came before Josiah were Amon and his father Manasseh. (Amon reigned 2 years) both were very wicked kings. Josiah came to the throne at the age of eight years old. In 621 BC there is the break in Josiah’s reign, he makes reforms. The temple was cleaned out and was purified for worship. A book of a law was found . Josiah was astonished and was motivated to reform in a tremendous way. The false priests were killed and idols and false gods were torn down. Josiah died trying to stop Egypt from coming to the Assyrians. They were going to help them fight the Babylonians. In 605 B.C. Babylon defeated Egypt.

The day of the Lord.

• The judgement of the day of the Lord (1 & 2).

1. The judgement upon Judah and Jerusalem (1:1 – 2:3).
2. The judgement upon the nations 2:4 – 15.

• The salvation of the day of the Lord (3).

1. The sinfulness of Jerusalem and the Lords righteousness contrasted (3:1-7).
2. The purpose of judgement – salvation and restoration (3:8 – 20).

• Chapter 1:5 – “Those who bow down on house tops”. This is to do with the worship system of the sun, moon and stars, etc. There was simply a better view from the house tops. See Deuteronomy 4:19 & Jeremiah 19:13.
• Chapter 1:9 – “They leap on the temple threshold”. The word temple is not in original text. This was put in because they are interpreting this verse from 1 Samuel 5 v 5. We can not assume this although it may be true Compare with the second part of verse 9. It seems best if it is thought to be a picture of stealing in a violent manner.
• Chapter 1:5 – The word “Molech”. This is the god they would worship by passing their sons through the fire (i.e. Sacrifice of children). This is the national “deity” of the Ammonites. In I Kings 11 v 5 Solomon married an Ammonite princess and went after Molech. Manasseh was also into this it seems. (He passed his own sons through the fire 2 Kings 21:6). Josiah tore the place that had been built down. See 2 Kings 23:13.
• Applications for today If the day of the Lord was near then how much more today? Notice the things that are done in Zephaniah’s time (E.g. Child sacrifice – used in devil worship) The righteous remnant are to remain faithful to the Lord II Peter. We should warn others who are going to face: unless they repent: the judgement of God. See 2 Peter 3 and Zephaniah 1:12. Notice God permits sin for a while but ultimately he will punish sin.