Next, Zephaniah continues the hard words of his prophesy by narrowing down this universal judgment specifically directing it against His unfaithful Covenant people: Judah.
Zephaniah 1:4 “So I will stretch out My hand against Judah And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will exterminate the remnant of Baal from this place, and the names of the idolatrous priests along with the priests. 5 “And those who bow down on the housetops to the host of heaven, And those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Baal, 6 And those who have turned back from following the Lord, And those who have not sought the Lord or inquired of Him.”
Those hearing Zephaniah must been have been incredulous, thinking, “this guy has no idea what he is talking about, after all we are God’s chosen, Covenant people. He won’t destroy us. We are the chosen of God. We have the promises of God. We claim and stand on the promises of God.
Hadn’t God promised: The scepter will never depart from Judah, Genesis 49:10? God had sworn to David that the ruler’s staff would never leave his line. The lamp would continually shine in Jerusalem. 1 Kings 11:13, 36, 15:4 Surely God would not stretch out His hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Would He?”
In an ironic twist, God who had rescued His people from slavery in Egypt with an out stretched hand, Deuteronomy 4:34, is now announcing that he will stretch out His hand against Judah.
Inconceivable. They were the favored, Covenant people of God.
Were they not exempt from His judgment?
No!
Zephaniah lists six groups in Judah on whom God’s judgment would fall.
1) I will exterminate the remnant of Baal. In other words, all who are worshipping Baal, all who were participating in the Baal fertility rituals, all who are sacrificing their defenseless children on the altars of Baal, will be destroyed.
Of course we no longer believe that children must be sacrificed to a bloodthirsty god so that we may gain his favor and blessing, so that we may be prosperous. But how many are willing to place their children in government run schools where they are taught that girls can become boys or boys can become girls, and a host of other biologically impossible LGBTQA+ lies? Or, how many today are willing to sacrifice their defenseless unborn children for the sake of education, career, addictions, lovers, personal peace, and affluence? How many are willing to use, without even a second thought, the tissue and organs of children for medical or cosmetic reasons? We may not practice ritual prostitution but “massage parlors” can be found in every major city and pornography is ubiquitous in our world. Are we so very different from the people of Judah in the pursuit of our gods?
An idol is anything you love more than God, fear more than God, and serve more than God. Never be idle about idols in your life. – Steve Lawson
2) I will exterminate… the names of the idolatrous priests along with the priests. The priests of Israel were to be lights to the world, showing the people the way to God, leading them to repentance, interceding for the people, instructing the people in God’s truth, teaching the people the Psalms, the hymns of God, and leading worship. Instead they were leading people in the destructive and murderous worship of Baal and Molech. Because the priests were unfaithful, God announced that they would have no legacy, they would be exterminated and their names forgotten.
But notice, God not only announces judgment on the idolatrous priests. He also says that the other priests, (along with the priests), would also have no legacy and would be forgotten. It was not enough for the faithful priests of God to stand idly by when evil is being practiced. God held them responsible for their inaction. As Christ would later say, He who is not with me is against me, he who does not gather with me scatters. Matthew 12:30
If they had been faithful to their calling as priests and faithful to the people that God gave them to serve they would have intervened in the false practices and expelled the false teachers. Because they did not gather the people together under the truth the people scattered. I saw all Israel scattered on the hills like sheep without a shepherd. 2 Chronicles 18:16
This is exactly what Paul warned Titus about: For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception… They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach—and that for the sake of dishonest gain. Titus 1:10-11 False teachers must not be allowed to lead the people of God into sin. They must be silenced. They and their false teaching must be exposed and they must be excommunicated from the church.
However, very often the problem is, we love our false teachers because they affirm us as we pursue our favorite idol; ourselves. They tell us what we want to hear: ‘You are loved and accepted just as you are.” These teachers provide us with an excuse for the idols we continue to pursue. 2 Timothy 4:3
Luxury gives the mind a childish cast, While she polishes and perverts the taste; Habits of close attention, thinking heads, Become more rare as dissipation spreads, Till authors hear at length, one general cry, Tickle and entertain us, or we die. William Cowper
3) Next, moving from the priesthood, Zephaniah addresses the people who practice idolatry: I will exterminate… those who bow down on the rooftops to the host of heaven. God had specifically warned his people against worshipping things that He had created:
And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly host—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. Deuteronomy 4:19
Despite this warning the people built altars on their roofs and worshipped the creation as gods. Jeremiah 19:13 What makes this particularly odious is that through His Covenant God had commissioned His people to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Exodus 19:6 They should have learned of the law and the wonders, ways, works, and salvation of God from the priests that God had appointed over them. Having learned of God the people were to represent God and offer salvation to everyone they encountered. Instead of representing the One true God to the pagans, they learned of, accepted, and practiced the worship of the pagan gods, including Baal. Instead of being lights in their world shining forth the truth they embraced the darkness of Baal’s lies.
Before we today are too hard in judging these idol worshippers, remember Christian, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9 God has made Christians into a royal priesthood. He has called us out of darkness and given us the assignment of proclaiming Christ… Him who called you out of darkness. Don’t make the mistake of being so enamored by the world that you are willing to abandon or even compromise your faith in Christ.
Also don’t make the mistake of standing idly by. Calling those in rebellion against the truth to repentance while proclaiming the free gift of salvation is not just the assignment that Christ gave pastors and teachers. This is the assignment that Christ has given everyone that He called out of darkness: everyone He calls a priest.
A recent Barna Survey asked Christians: “Have you ever heard of the Great Commission?
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” Matthew 28:18-20
The results of the poll broke down as follows:
No. 51%
Not sure. 6%
I can’t explain its meaning. 26% Yes, I know what it means. 17%
It is the responsibility of every Christian to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, yet only 17% know what the Great Commission, commanded by Christ, even means. Just like Old Covenant Israel many Christians are failing to be lights in the world.
4) Next Zephaniah warns that God will also exterminate… those who bow down and swear to the Lord and yet swear by Molech. T hese folks were trying to have their cake and eat it too. They were trying to live in two worlds. They would bring their Sabbath sacrifices to the Lord. They would worship in the temple with the priests of the Lord. They would swear allegiance to the Lord. But, just to be on the safe side, they also swore allegiance to, and perhaps sacrificed their children, to Molech. Similarly, today many who swear allegiance to the Lord, are for the sake of cultural relevance and acceptance willing to excuse and welcome, even within the church, many beliefs that God calls out as abominations, Revelation 22:15.
Christ spoke of this very same attitude. No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24 God rejects and judges syncretism. There are not many paths to the top of the mountain. There are not many paths to God. Where does your allegiance lie? Will you wholeheartedly serve the God who stood in your place taking the punishment that you deserved? Will you serve, alone, the God who gave you life and freed you from death? Or will you give lip service to God all the while serving yourself, placing your goals and priorities ahead of Christ?
5) Next, God says that he will exterminate… those who have turned back from following the Lord. These are people who followed the Lord but they were distracted by other things in life and turned away from the Lord. Christ warned of this very thing in the parable of the sower:
Like seed sown among thorns, they hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Mark 4:18-19
When tempted to abandon God we should stop and examine the consequences; consequences both here in this life and also the eternal consequences in the life to come. Are we really willing to trade the joy of the truth for the deceitfulness of the lies of the world?
Is getting along with and imitating those who have rejected the truth really worth it?
The moment a man realizes that he is only a pilgrim in this world, that finally he has to die and face God, and that there is all eternity before him, his whole outlook on life changes. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
6) Finally, God will exterminate… those who have not sought the Lord or inquired of Him. As Christians we are not to just drift along. Our faith and our lives are to be lived intentionally with both conscious and directed effort. As James reminded his congregation:
Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. James 4:17
Such inactions are called sins of omission: not seeking after God and pursuing obedience. Not praying. Not loving our neighbor as ourselves. Not being grateful to God for His blessings. Not rejoicing.
As we will see, the Promised one, the Son of Eve, Jesus Christ did not leave the splendor of heaven, become a man, suffer unspeakable torture and death, and suffer separation from the Father, rescuing you from a life of futility and death so that you could be a nominal Christian: so that you could ignore your Savior while occupying your time in the pursuits of the world.
Silence in the face of evil is evil itself. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Joshua challenged Israel to rid themselves of their worthless idols:
Throw away the gods your ancestors worshipped beyond the Euphrates River, and in Egypt, or the gods of the Amorites… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24: 14-15
Go to next Chapter.
Return to Zephaniah, Table of Contents.