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 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 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.
Zephaniah 1:1 The word of the Lord which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah.
Zephaniah was called to be a prophet during the reign of Judah’s last godly king, Josiah. His family lineage is traced back to his great grandfather, Hezekiah. This may indicate that Zephaniah descended from the royal bloodline in Judah. Since it is not expressly stated, we do not know. Furthermore, since this Hezekiah is not referred to as King Hezekiah, it seems less likely that this is in fact the case.
An apologetic is a reasoned or reasonable answer to a question posed to those outside of Christendom to offer a valid explanation. It is derived from 1 Peter 3:15, which states, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.”
