Zephaniah 3:5 The Lord is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails. But the unjust knows no shame.
Zephaniah reveals some prevalent truths about the nature and person of Yahweh to Israel. The first is a compounded reality: that God is righteous; in fact the prophet states unequivocally that He cannot do unrighteousness.
Zephaniah 3:3 Her princes in her midst are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that leave not a bone till morning. [4] Her prophets are insolent, treacherous people; her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.
Zephaniah looks to the leadership in Jerusalem, both secular and religious. His indictment begins with the princes of Judah, born from the lineage of David. Though Josiah was a godly king, his successors would not be. There were four kings that reigned after Josiah’s demise, beginning with Jehoahaz.
Zephaniah 3:2 She has not obeyed His voice, she has not received correction; she has not trusted in the Lord, she has not drawn near to her God.
In order to obey a command, one must first hear what that command is. The apostle Paul used this argument when he wrote, “On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet,” Romans 7:7. Jesus, in like manner, when He was confronted by the Pharisees about spiritual blindness and sight, said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains,” John 9:41.
Zephaniah 3:1 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, to the oppressing city! [2] She has not obeyed His voice, she has not received correction; she has not trusted in the Lord, she has not drawn near to her God.
From Nineveh to Jerusalem, God refers to the people of His name as the oppressing city. The people within are given two descriptors: rebellious and polluted. The spectacle of the city was a whitewash: a shining, glimmering shell of nobility that included the king’s palace and the temple of Solomon. But within its shining exterior and luster lay wickedness.
