Translated by Claude.
Introduction to the Book of Zephaniah
Father Joseph Knabenbauer
Concerning the Time of the Prophet and His Book
King Manasseh, instructed by the miseries of captivity and imprisonment, had cast aside idolatry and returned to God, and had even attempted to lead the people back to the worship of God (2 Chronicles 33:15-16). However, Amon his son, who succeeded him in the kingdom, not only emulated not his father's piety but his former impiety, and even far surpassed it: "he did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Manasseh his father had done, and he sacrificed to all the idols which Manasseh had made and served them, and he did not reverence the face of the Lord as Manasseh his father had reverenced, and he sinned far more greatly" (cf. 2 Chronicles 33:22-23; 2 Kings 21:20-22).
Amon indeed reigned for only two years, but this time was certainly more than sufficient to greatly increase the perversion of a people addicted to idolatry by long-standing custom. Josiah his son, a boy of eight years, took up the kingdom. In such a tender and weak age of the king, the flood of idolatry and vices raged with impunity, and all orders, both princes and priests, lived with the worst morals.
But soon Josiah, the pious son of an impious father, began to function as a truly theocratic king. First he sincerely devoted himself to the worship of God, and when he was already strong in age, experience in affairs, and authority, he declared war on idolatry and crimes with an unconquered spirit. He cleansed Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and groves and images and carved idols (2 Chronicles 34:3). Everywhere the altars of Baal and other instruments and incentives of idolatry and filth were destroyed, not only within the borders of Judah but also in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon as far as Naphtali (2 Chron 34:6).
For in the eighth year of his reign, the young king began to seek the God of his father David, and in the twelfth year he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem and other regions. In the thirteenth year he obtained most powerful assistance in this restoration of worship and morals from the prophet Jeremiah, who was called to the prophetic office at that time. In the eighteenth year, when the book of the law was found, the covenant with the Lord was solemnly renewed and everything was properly arranged according to the norm of the law (cf. 2 Chronicles 34:8-35:19; 2 Kings 22:3-23:24; Jeremiah 11).
The Limited Success of Josiah's Reforms
These were indeed the pious efforts of an excellent king. But who could overcome the inveterate impiety of the Jews? That little improvement followed is testified both by the continuous complaints and accusations of Jeremiah and by the historical books, which clearly narrate that the fury of the Lord was not turned away and that God's plan remained firm: "I will also remove Judah from my face and will cast away this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house concerning which I said, 'My name shall be there'" (2 Kings 23:27).
The Prophet Zephaniah
In the days of King Josiah arose the prophet Zephaniah (צְפַנְיָה, "whom Yahweh has hidden," i.e., protected). Pseudo-Epiphanius and others write that he was descended from the tribe of Simeon (cf.Patrologiae Graece Tomus 43:412). Since Hezekiah (חִזְקִיָּה) is counted among his ancestors in Zeph 1:1, some have thought that he descended from royal blood from Hezekiah (cf. Hitzig, Keil, Zschokke, Vigouroux).
However, this is asserted without foundation. For it is customary in the historical and also prophetic books that those who were kings are designated also with the name appended—which should have been done all the more, and is rightly supposed would have been done, when the name itself was common to many. Now several private men are found designated by the same name Hezekiah (cf. 1 Chronicles 3:23; Nehemiah 7:21).
Moreover, not even Pseudo-Epiphanius himself related Zephaniah to the royal family, though he was by no means sparing in presenting fables. Therefore from his silence on this matter it is entirely permissible to conclude that the ancients did not fall into that opinion, although the name Hezekiah easily invited curious people to it. Hence it is all the more safely despised as rabbinic fiction, as Ribera, Castro, Lapide, Calmet, Reinke, Schegg, and Trochon rightly despised it.
Dating Zephaniah's Ministry
The question is often asked at what time of Josiah's reign Zephaniah devoted himself to the prophetic office, or to what epoch his book should chiefly be referred. Since this matter can only be explored and judged from the so-called internal indications of the book, and these produce nothing certain and indubitable, learned men have gone off into various opinions.
Schegg assigns him to the first years of Josiah's reign, i.e., between years 1 and 15 of Josiah, because the grave denunciations of the prophet do not fit into the later time when the restoration of morals and worship was being completed. Ewald and Reinke defend the same opinion, and Calmet also judges that his ministry at least began before year 18 of Josiah, which should be gathered from the fact that he reproaches crimes and license in the magistrates of Judah along with idolatry reigning everywhere in rather sharp words. Kaulen also judges this, as did Ribera before them all.
However, Lapide rightly observed against him that this reasoning does not certainly conclude, for Jeremiah began to prophesy in year 13 of Josiah and continued to thunder against idols under him, because although they had been publicly abolished by Josiah, nevertheless they were still retained and worshiped privately by many.
Others finally judge that Zephaniah prophesied after year 18 of Josiah, because he says not that idols but remnants of idols should be destroyed—that is, he suggests that idolatry generally having been removed, only certain particles of superstitious worship remain (cf. Zeph 1:4)—and because he asserts that the worship of the true God is already being exercised (cf. Zeph 1:5; Zeph 3:4), whence they judge the book was composed after the purification of the temple by Josiah was already completed. So Keil.
However, these things do not prove the matter either. For if God threatens that he will utterly overturn all traces of idolatry, it by no means follows that only traces exist, but he predicts that idolatry is to be uprooted and extirpated. For suppose it is said of a city, "I will also scatter your very remnants and ruins"—would you conclude from these threats that nothing exists of that city except remnants? Certainly not.
Nor is the other argument of greater weight. For idolatry never so prevailed and so occupied all people and all things that the worship of the true God was not also somehow exercised at the same time. Moreover, a prophetic book does not present some one sermon, but reports to us in brief summary what the prophet often proposed to the people on various occasions.
Therefore nothing prevents us from saying that Zephaniah both preached before the restoration of morals and after it, or that he assisted the king both in preparing and in executing that reform, and finally comprehended the sum of his sermons, threats, and promises in this little book of his.
The Uncertainty of Precise Dating
With this consideration applied, it appears that those indications which some assert can be gathered from the book as entirely certain are nevertheless rightly called into doubt. Add that different scholars say different things are most certainly discerned.
With the greatest certainty Trochon writes: "In our view, he prophesied in the period of reform inaugurated by the king of Judah. He gives us convincing proofs. The public worship of YHWH existed then (Zeph 3:4-5). But the worship of Baal had not yet completely disappeared; it was the same with the worship of the stars and some other idolatrous practices (Zeph 1:4-5). According to Zeph 1:4 compared with Zeph 3:4, there were still priests of idols alongside the priests of Jehovah. The reform was therefore begun but was not yet complete. If we find these details drawn from the prophet's work sufficiently precise, it is between the twelfth and eighteenth year of Josiah's reign that we will place the epoch of his ministry."
But others discern in the same passages indications of a reform of worship and morals not yet begun by Josiah. Thus, for example, Reuss contends: "The disorders which he tried to put an end to by very energetic measures are depicted here as still existing in their full extent, and the members of the royal family themselves are accused (Zeph 1:8) of taking part in them, and it would have been an injustice on his part if in formulating his accusations he had passed over in silence the noble efforts made by the king to bring about a state of affairs in conformity with his own desires. We rather believe that this silence combined with the reproaches he addresses to the princes permits us to think preferably of an epoch when the king was still a minor and when the government had to be in the hands of his relatives."
Vigouroux also subscribes to the same opinion (Manuel biblique II, p. 651). Others finally find so many allusions in Zephaniah's book made to Deuteronomy and a manner of speaking that supposes the people understand them, whence they conclude these speeches were made after the book of the law was found in the temple, of which 1 Kings 22:10ff., in the eighteenth year of King Josiah (cf. Trochon p. 348ff.). I deliberately omit other things that have been brought forward.
Structure of the Book
The little book is aptly divided into three parts. In the first, the prophet threatens judgment to the world and the city. In the second, he exhorts to penance and fear of God by presenting examples of the judgments which God is about to exercise on foreign nations and his own people. In the third finally, he promises the messianic restoration which is prepared by those judgments described in the second part.
The prophet begins his discourse almost abruptly: judgment threatens all and especially the city of Jerusalem. He reviews three orders who are to be slaughtered as victims of the Lord's wrath: namely the princes or chief men who imitate the customs of the Gentiles and oppress others; merchants grasping for usuries; finally all who are carried away by vain confidence and indulge their appetite. He says that the very day of judgment is near and very terrible, so that no one can escape nor be saved by earthly riches (Zeph 1:2-18).
To the description of judgment is aptly joined an exhortation which is directed especially to the pious, that they may the more give themselves to virtue so that they may be found worthy of divine protection (Zeph 2:1-2). This exhortation is supported by a longer enumeration of divine judgments which will be made on the Philistines, Moabites and Ammonites, Ethiopians, Assyrians, and also on the city of Jerusalem itself, in which princes, judges, and prophets will pay just penalties. By these judgments, however, this will be effected by God: that the adoration of God and the propagation of true worship may be prepared. Hence, with the end of calamities proposed in the second part (Zeph 2:3-8), the way is paved to the third (Zeph 3:9-20), in which the messianic restoration is described: namely that there will be universal worship of God, the people will return from dispersion, iniquity will be deleted, the people will be holy, no longer desirous of earthly glory but humble, hoping in God, secure in peace, there will be joy and exultation, God's good pleasure in the people, oppressors will be destroyed, God's people will be distinguished with glory and honor.
Style and Language
Concerning the style of speaking of Zephaniah, Zschokke judges thus: "Although Zephaniah's diction does not equal the excellence of Isaiah and Habakkuk, nevertheless it is not lacking in elegance and vigor, as the frequent use of paronomasia testifies. The language is still pure Hebrew, free from Chaldaisms. He indeed treats again earlier prophets, nevertheless he is his own master."
Similarly Vigouroux judges (Manuel biblique II, p. 651): "The style of Zephaniah is pure, easy, lively, but it lacks a bit of originality; it is full of reminiscences and borrowings from the ancient prophets."
CONTINUE
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