Zephaniah Chapter One, The Lord's Sacrifice

Zephaniah 1:8 “And it shall be, in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel.

The day of the Lord’s sacrifice is still in reference to the Day of the Lord, the day of God’s holy wrath on a sinful world. In the same time period when the Lord gathers His guests and offers a sacrifice, He will punish Israel for her transgressions. Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 address Gog, who represents a mighty coalition of nations that fall upon Israel and are suddenly and brutally defeated by the Lord’s intercession. The prophet writes, “Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord God. “This is the day of which I have spoken,” Ezekiel 39:8.

Zephaniah Chapter One, The Day Of The Lord

Zephaniah 1:7 Be silent in the presence of the Lord God; for the day of the Lord is at hand, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests.

God’s condemnation of this insidious conduct and thinking reaches crescendo. There is an abundance of discordant noise in God’s presence, but none of it genuinely or spiritually pleasing or meaningful to Him. Religious overtures do not compensate for a lack of personal accountability grounded in a relationship with Yahweh.

Zephaniah Chapter One, Spiritual Abandonment

Zephaniah 1:6 Those who have turned back from following the Lord, and have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.”

Zephaniah already addressed the idolatrous priests, or those once seemingly faithful in His flock who went after idols in verse 4. There are the double minded who swear oaths to both Yahweh and Milcom in verse 5. And now God addresses unfaithful Judah who has turned back from following Him as their spiritual head.

Zephaniah Chapter One, Worshiping Stars & Abominations

Zephaniah 1:5 Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops; those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord, but who also swear by Milcom;

Verse 4 spoke of Baal, a Canaanite deity. Now the Lord warns people who ascend to the housetop to worship the host of heaven, or the constellations. Utilizing one’s Zodiac is–and has been—extremely in vogue in popular culture. It is said that R.H. Naylor of Britain was credited to have put the first horoscope in the newspaper in 1930. This means that we are fast approaching 100 years of the printed horoscope in the newspaper, and people taking the vagaries of its contents as something mystical and religious in nature.

Zephaniah Chapter One, Baal Worship

Zephaniah 1:4 “I will stretch out My hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place. The names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests–

God focuses upon Judah and the city of Jerusalem, or rather the people who dwell in it. Judah was the remaining, dominant tribe after northern Israel or Samaria was taken in captivity by Assyria (around 720 BC). And as Samaria was the capital city of northern Israel, becoming synonymous with it, so was Jerusalem to Judah. Jerusalem held the temple built by Solomon, and the king’s palace. It was a holy place to the Jews, who had dwelt there after expelling the Jebusites from it during the time of King David.