Zephaniah Chapter Three, Zeal For Corruption

Zephaniah 3:6 “I have cut off nations, their fortresses are devastated; I have made their streets desolate, with none passing by, their cities are destroyed; there is no one, no inhabitant. [7] I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me, you will receive instruction’–so that her dwelling would not be cut off, despite everything for which I punished her. But they rose early and corrupted all their deeds.

God reminds Israel of the former nations (including Samaria) that had fallen in times past. Even Israel’s introduction as an established nation began with the displacement of seven kingdoms that comprised Canaan after they were led out of Egypt.

God overthrew the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Hivites, Jebusites, Perizzites, and Girgashites. This is to say nothing of nations such as the Amalekites that harassed Israel on their travels and were thus cursed by God, Exodus 17:14. Samaria had fallen approximately 82 years prior to Josiah’s reign in Judah, exiled to Assyria. If Josiah began his reign in about 640 BC and reigned 31 years, and Nineveh was destroyed by Babylon in 612 BC, Judah even saw the downfall of this mighty kingdom before their king’s demise. The kingdom that besieged and took captive northern Samaria under God’s command was now herself taken captive by the superior Babylonian forces. Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, testified of this when he said, “And He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,” Acts 17:26.

Israel’s purpose as a nation chosen by God was to be the head of the nations, Deuteronomy 28:13. Why? As the representative nation, they were to lead the Gentiles to God. They were an evangelistic engine that was to reveal the nature and purpose of God to the nations. But they chronically rejected this prospect, determining to keep God to themselves, while simultaneously refusing to obey His revealed will. National pride became the order of the day as they boasted in the Law and the temple, whose commands and structure were performatively denied by the very people who placed their faith in them. It is not the temple, nor the Law, but the God who dwells in the temple, and the God who wrote that Law, that was to be the sole object of Israel’s faith.

While Solomon led them to economic heights never replicated during the era of the kings, it was Josiah that was heralded as the godliest king to reign over Israel, 2 Kings 23:25. Yet God vowed that Israel’s constant rebellion and disobedience would be punished and that Josiah’s career as king merely delayed the coming judgment; it did not prevent it. To emphasize God’s right and ability to overthrow the nations He settled, the prophet reminds Israel how many nations had fallen prior to Judah, swallowed up by history and largely forgotten.

God desired that this tactic would incentivise the people to submit and obey, to receive instruction in righteousness and live. Mind you, this would mean temporal life with blessing from God as the head of nations; not eternal life. Eternal life is not a reward garnered from living in obedience to God’s will. No, Yahweh long ago informed Israel that their nation would prosper in a way none other would if they submitted to Him in obedience, Leviticus 26:3-13. They were reminded of this truth as a national, earthly kingdom established by God as far as Malachi’s time, Malachi 3:10-12.

The purpose of receiving instruction after being reminded of God’s sovereignty was so that Israel’s place as a nation would remain intact. His punishments were corrective, steering her toward national repentance and obedience since the time He first chose them out of Egypt and they grievously erred while waiting for Moses at the base of Horeb. Since then, He disciplined them or punished them for their sins, that they may take it to heart and seek the Lord; and by seeking Him, cease from the sins of the nations that was bringing them ever closer to national calamity. He laments that His efforts went unnoticed by the majority; in fact it seemed to stimulate the opposite in them. The people, the prophet wrote, rose early to corrupt their deeds, clearly implying a vivid eagerness to do evil despite being God’s people. Their deeds were corrupt because, while they claimed citizenship in Israel, they were not truly following God individually. The repentant man that offers the lamb on the altar, realizing that his death for sin is realized in this offering would not easily return to wanton sin. But the people, again into the time of Malachi, only had scorn for the offering and belittled it, Malachi 1:8, etc.

God laid out the destruction of former nations as a cautionary tale, and reminded Judah of their own impending doom foretold not just by Zephaniah and Jeremiah, but clearly forewarned from Scripture since the days of Moses, Leviticus 26:14-39. The escalation of punishment only gained momentum as Israel ignored God’s pleas through the prophets and their subsequent loss of people and land from Rehoboam onward. Knowing this rich tapestry of history, the people still corrupted their ways, even under the reign and religious zeal of Judah’s godliest king. The end was coming, not only for Judah, but for all nations under Heaven as Go