Zephaniah Chapter Two, Moab & Ammon

Zephaniah 2:8 “I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the insults of the people of Ammon, with which they have reproached My people, and made arrogant threats against their borders. [9] Therefore, as I live,” says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Surely Moab shall be like Sodom, and the people of Ammon like Gomorrah–overrun with weeds and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation. The residue of My people shall plunder them, and the remnant of My people shall possess them.”

Moab is one of the incestual sons of Lot after he and his daughters fled Sodom, Genesis 19:37. Lot, being the son of Haran, was Abraham’s nephew, Genesis 11:31. Moab became father to the Moabites, cousins as it were to Israel. Yes there was no love between these peoples. Moab, in the book of Jeremiah, is called, “the people of Chemosh,” Jeremiah 48:46.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, Intervention

Zephaniah 2:6 The seacoast shall be pastures, with shelters for shepherds and folds for flocks. [7] The coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; They shall feed their flocks there; In the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening. For the Lord their God will intervene for them, and return their captives.

In this passage we get a glimpse of what is theologically referred to as the Millennium, or the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ on earth from the throne of David, in the city of Jerusalem after the conclusion of the seven year Tribulation period.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, The Fate of Philistia

Zephaniah 2:4 For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon desolate; they shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron shall 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: “I will destroy you; so there shall be no inhabitant.”

The resultant Day of the Lord’s lens turns to the coastland and the inveterate enemies of Israel, the Philistines. The Philistines are said to have hailed originally from the land of Caphtor, and were previously referred to as Caphtorim, see Genesis 10:14, Deuteronomy 2:23. Caphtor is most commonly believed to have been the island of Crete. This I find to be an interesting revelation, and does something to reveal to the reader a little about the Philistines’ culture from an outside perspective.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, Hidden By God

Zephaniah 2:3 Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.

Our Lord once said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,” Matthew 5:5. In this same utterance, Jesus added, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled,” Matthew 5:6. Our Lord attests that the meek will be the inheritors of the earth, and that those whose desire is for righteousness (as God defines the term), it shall be sated.

Zephaniah Chapter Two, Commanded To Seek

 Zephaniah 2:3a Seek the Lord,

In verse 1 Yahweh instructed His people to gather before the day of the Lord arrived. Now gathered, He tells them to seek Him. This seeking is more than just an intellectual ponderance of the reality of God. It begins here, as it must. But the realization of God’s existence heightens a growing and condensing search that craves defined (and definable) answers as to the nature and person of the being we attribute the title of God to.