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Zephaniah, Prophet of Divine Protection, Part 5, The solution

After describing the day of the Lord, Zephaniah 1:17, 18 says,

¹⁷ I will bring distress on men so that they will walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung. ¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord’s wrath. And all the earth [eretz, “land or earth”] will be devoured in the fire of His jealousy. For He will make a complete end, indeed, a terrifying one, of all the inhabitants of the earth [eretz].

This is the climax of the prophet’s opening oracle about the day of the Lord. It is a time of complete destruction “of all the inhabitants of the land.” The Hebrew word eretz refers to land as distinct from the sea. The KJV renders the word “land” twice as often as “earth.” Zephaniah was not saying that everyone on the planet will be dead. He was speaking specifically of the land of Judah, which was about to be conquered by the Babylonian army, and its inhabitants exiled to Babylon itself.

Even the wealthy among them will not be able to buy their way out of this disaster. In such times, the conquerors will take all of their silver and gold for themselves, and the wealthy ones will have no bargaining power, no leverage. Their silver and gold will simply be confiscated. Neither will they be able to bribe the Judge, for God follows His own law in Exodus 23:8,

⁸ You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just.

The exiles themselves “will walk like the blind,” but this shows that they will not all be killed but will be removed from the land. God will blind them, not literally, but spiritually to fulfill the law of tribulation in Leviticus 26:16, saying that God will “waste away the eyes.” Again, Deuteronomy 28:28, 29 describes divine judgment for violating the covenant,

²⁸ The Lord will smite you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart; ²⁹ and you will grope at noon, as the blind man gropes in darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways; but you shall only be oppressed and robbed continually, with none to save you.

In Romans 11:1-7 Paul tells us that only the remnant of grace can see the promise of God. In Elijah’s day this amounted to just 7,000 men out of more than a million people. Romans 11:7 concludes,

⁷ What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened [“blinded,” KJV].

The remnant of grace, then, are the “chosen” ones. Paul was referring specifically to those who believe that Jesus is the Messiah. The majority of the Judeans rejected Jesus outright or simply complied with the decision of their religious leaders who crucified Him. Either way, they were not God’s chosen people but were among the blind.

The end-time fulfillment is described in Isaiah 29:1-6, where the prophet speaks of the fiery end of Jerusalem. Isaiah 29:7, 8 describe the inability of the foreigner army to take over the land and inhabit it themselves. The prophet says that it will be like a dream, where they are eating and drinking, but when they awaken, they will still be hungry and thirsty. This is the prophet’s way of telling us that their “dream” of taking the land will be illusory, because in the end, no one will be able to live there, due to nuclear fallout.

How To Avoid Divine Judgment

The second chapter of Zephaniah begins with the solution to the problem. The solution is simple, though history shows that only a small minority actually follow that path. Zephaniah 2:1-3 says,

¹ Gather yourselves together, yes, gather, O nation without shame. ² Before the decree takes effect—the day passes like the chaff—before the burning anger of the Lord comes upon you, ³ seek the Lord, all of you humble of the earth [eretz, “land”] who have carried out His ordinances; seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.

The prophet admonishes the people of the land to repent ‘before the decree takes effect.” Their pride must be replaced by humility. Their rebellion against His laws must be replaced by acceptance and compliance with the will of God. Their lawlessness must be replaced by righteousness and justice (loving your neighbor as yourself). In doing so, they may be “hidden” or sheltered from the conflagration that will surely come “in the day of the Lord’s anger.”

The Philistines Judged

The Philistine cities will also be judged along with the land of Judah. Zephaniah 2:4, 5 says,

⁴ For Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon a desolation; Ashdod will be driven out at noon and Ekron will be uprooted. ⁵ Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you so that there will be no inhabitant.

There were five main cities of the Philistines. Four of them are mentioned here. Only Gath was omitted, probably because it had already been destroyed. The Cherethites were a specific group of Philistines whose name means “executioners,” or bodyguards. Recall that 600 Cherethites were David’s bodyguards, who remained loyal to him when Absalom usurped the throne (2 Samuel 15:18). Apparently, there were other Cherethites who remained ungodly and who fell later under divine judgment.

The Philistines were originally from Crete and had settled along the seacoast with the permission of Egypt. They were not ethnic Canaanites, but because they lived in the land of Canaan, they were often identified as Canaanites, i.e., inhabitants of Canaan.

The Babylonians did indeed conquer Philistia as well as Judah, both of whom worshiped false gods. Judah, of course, was more culpable, having vowed obedience in Exodus 19:8, yet having disregarded their vow (covenant). Nonetheless, the Philistines worshipped false gods and sacrificed babies, hoping to be blessed.

When we study the modern fulfillment of the day of the Lord, we cannot help but relate the war in Gaza to Zephaniah’s prophecy. Some of the original Philistine cities are now part of the Zionist state, but Gaza in particular is under siege and is in danger of being ethnically cleansed. Some see this in light of the prophet’s statement, “Gaza will be abandoned,” and thereby seek to justify the Israeli genocide.

Yet Zephaniah merely includes Gaza in his overall pronouncement of judgment upon the entire land—including the land of Judah and Jerusalem. It is important to note that the prophet was simply stating a fact that Gaza would be destroyed, as a spillover from God’s judgment upon Judah. He did not justify the Zionists for their actions, nor did he in any way show approval for their policy of ethnic cleansing.

We know that God often judges men and nations by their own standard of measure. For example, the prophet Nathan gave King David the opportunity to show mercy after he murdered Uriah in order to take his wife (Bathsheba). The story is told in 2 Samuel 12:1-7. God then judged David according to his own standard of measure. This is also why Jesus said in Matthew 7:2,

² for in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

In my view, the Zionists will be judged according to their own ruthless standard of measure in how they have judged the Palestinians without either justice or mercy.

Who Will Fulfill the Prophecy—and Where?

We do not yet know (as of this writing) if the Zionists will succeed in fully driving out the people of Gaza. Yet Zephaniah 2:6, 7 seems to indicate that this will happen:

⁶ So the seacoast will be pastures, with caves for shepherds and folds for flocks. ^{7 7} And the coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they will pasture on it. In the houses of Ashkelon they will lie down at evening; for the Lord their God will care for them and restore their fortune.

This prophecy was fulfilled when the remnant of Judah returned from their Babylonian exile. During the Hasmonean period (2^nd century B.C.) the Jewish leader John Hyrcanus captured Philistine cities, including Ashkelon and Gaza’s territory. In the time of Christ, Judea included most of the seacoast.

In those days the remnant of Judah referred to the few Jews who had left Babylon and immigrated to the old land to rebuild the new nation. Later, after the time of Christ, the remnant took on new and deeper significance. This is Paul’s idea of the remnant of grace. If the Zionists had truly repented of their rejection of Jesus Christ, they might be understood as part of this remnant. However, they returned without repentance and so were disqualified.

Seeing as how Isaiah 29 prophesies a complete destruction of the land in the day of the Lord, it is not possible for Zionists to fulfill Zephaniah’s prophecy. The remnant of Judah today must be defined as God sees it, not as men see it. Romans 2:28, 29 give us that clear definition of Judah:

²⁸ For he is NOT a Jew [Judean] who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. ²⁹ But he IS a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise [status as a Judean] is not from men, but from God.

Judah means “praise.” Paul asserts that if one does not live up to that name, he is not a Judean in by God’s definition. Fleshly circumcision cannot turn anyone into a Judean. It is only those whose hearts have been circumcised whom God calls a Judean.

So Zephaniah 2:6, 7 applies to people other than unbelieving Zionists, even though most men call them Jews. The fulfillment of Zephaniah’s prophecy is for believers whose hearts have been circumcised as a sign of the New Covenant. These will inhabit the land, and that land is the “better country” that Abraham sought (Hebrews 11:16).