Zephaniah Chapter Three, The King Of Israel

Zephaniah 3:14 Sing, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! [15] The Lord has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall see disaster no more.

The chapter has shifted to an entirely celebratory scene. Zephaniah makes things abundantly clear. This forthcoming prophecy regards Zion, Israel, or Jerusalem: all synonymous with the Jews. We are referring to Jewry in this passage. It is not metaphor. The entire book of Zephaniah fixates on the prophet bemoaning their infidelity, impending judgment, and eventual reconciliation to the Lord.

Unless language has lost all meaning, then Israel in this instance means just that: Israel, the land of the Jews, or more specifically the particular ethnicity that dwells in said land. Context always clarifies, and certain language may suggest that what is being said is not to be taken literally, but metaphorically. Yet we don’t find such assertions in this passage. We simply find Israel, the twelve tribes descended from one man, that would eventually beget the Lord and Savior of the world, Israel’s Messiah Jesus Christ.

God promised Abraham and his descendants the land of Canaan in perpetuity, Genesis 15:17-21. When God made this promise, walking between the pieces of the sacrifice, Abraham was not a part of it. There was no conditional accompaniment, meaning God avoided the, “if you, then I” statements that would later be found in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. God walked alone while Abraham looked on. This was an unconditional promise, predating the Law and the nation of Israel itself, since in this promise God revealed to Abraham the future fortunes of his progeny, Genesis 15:13, 14.

Jeremiah, a contemporary of Zephaniah, used similarly unambiguous language when detailing the welfare of God’s earthly people. God informs the prophet, “Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah,” Jeremiah 33:14. That good thing is Messiah, the Branch of righteousness (Jeremiah 33:15) whose presence will result in the salvation of Judah and the deliverance of Jerusalem, Jeremiah 33:16. God informs the prophet that David would never lack a man to sit on his throne, of course referring to the Man Jesus Christ, who would, according to the flesh, descend from Israel, from the tribe of Judah, and the house of David. God further states that, like His covenant with the natural order of the cosmos, which functions in its prescribed manner and the sum of which cannot be counted, God will likewise fulfill His promise to earthly Israel, Jeremiah 33:20-26. The Holy Spirit invokes not only David’s name, but Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ensuring to the readership that He is determined to restore their captivity and perform His promised mercies upon them.

This is why Zephaniah encourages Israel to rejoice, shout, and sing. They laud Yahweh and celebrate His fidelity toward them. When we are faithless, God remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself, 2 Timothy 2:13. Why? God will not permit a blemish upon His name; and His name would rightly be slandered if He promised in such clear language concerning Israel and then failed to deliver upon that promise. This is why the individual believer may rest on the promises of God. When we read in Scripture that Christ is our Savior, and that by believing in Him we have (as a present and eternal possession) eternal life, we accept that; we believe it. Believing it, we are saved by the power of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Once saved, even if we stray and behave faithlessly, God remains faithful, because our salvation (like Israel’s fortunes) is not contingent upon our conduct; it is contingent on God’s character and word. Will He do what He promised to do apart from all human effort? Or will He renege on His word and prove unfaithful? I believe we know the answer to this rhetorical question.

The Psalmist contributes, writing, “If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, if they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone from My lips. I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: his seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me,” Psalm 89:30-36.

It is said that Yahweh has taken away their judgments, and with this cast out their enemy. Those who hate Israel will be driven out, while in the midst of the holy city God dwells. He refers to Himself here as the King of Israel, a title used numerous times in the Old Testament. It is most famously used in John 1:49 by Nathanael when addressing Jesus. Another title, the God of Israel, is used in excess of 180 times in Scripture. This God, faithful to the faithless, assures His people that they will not experience disaster again. Their final great disaster, the time of Jacob’s trouble as described in Jeremiah, begins with their flight from Jerusalem, Matthew 24:20, 21. It culminates with the battle of Armageddon. The final (failed) attempt to disrupt God’s order and visit disaster upon Israel comes at the end of the thousand years. Satan is released, gathers an army, and attacks Jerusalem. But there is no battle and no involvement from human agency. God intervenes directly and with amazing power, destroying this final vestige of spiritual rebellion, Revelation 20:9. Thus God’s word in Zephaniah is vindicated. The Jews–and all of the saints–do not experience any disaster due to God’s swift and complete interposition. The final enemies to be cast out do not include antisemitic men or even Satan. Death and Hades (or Hell, Gehenna) are cast out (Revelation 20:14), leaving Israel to dwell in absolute and eternal safety, the promise of their God vindicated, regardless of all human interjection and speculation.