Zephaniah

Zephaniah's oracles originate after the fall of Israel, early in the reign of King Josiah of Judah.  During his reign from 640-603 BCE Josiah would come to be known as the great reformer.  He would usher in a new era of single-minded Yahwism through the "discovery" of Deuteronomy and the destruction of many popular religious sites throughout the Israelite countryside.  The assassination of his "idolatrous" father Amon saw Josiah installed as king at the tender age of 8 years old, but he did not begin his reforms until he was old enough to actually do anything.  Zephaniah's prophecies seem to know nothing of Josiah's religious reforms, so scholars date the oracles found in his book to Josiah's childhood, likely in the 630s BCE.  Knowing nothing of the young king's future rule, Zephaniah foresees disaster for Judah in the wake of Josiah's faithless predecessors.

The End of All Life

The Great Day of His Wrath by John Martin, 1853 CE

I really like Zephaniah's style.  His writing style is very poetic, utilizing repetition and parallelism to great affect to drive home his message.  What is his message?  Well, the utter end of all living things, of course!

I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth, says Yahweh.
I will sweep away humans and animals;
I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea.
I will make the wicked stumble.
I will cut off humanity from the face of the earth, says Yahweh.
- Zephaniah 1:2-3

Ah, The Day of Yahweh.  Here we are again.  Just like Amos and Isaiah before him, Zephaniah foresees The Day of Yahweh to be a day of unspeakable horror.  For Zephaniah the people will be punished because of their infidelity (1:4-6), the influence of foreigners (1:7-9), cheating merchants (1:10-11), the lazy, and the doubters (1:12-13).  So, the usual.

Those of you who are familiar with the rainbow tradition from the story of Noah's Ark might be asking yourself, "Hey, didn't this Zephaniah guy know that Yahweh promised never to destroy all humans again?"  Well... no.  He probably didn't.  According to Richard E. Friedman, the passage from Genesis 9 which recounts Yahweh placing his bow in the sky as a promise to mankind never to kill everyone again likely comes from the "Priestly Source" of the Pentateuch, which might not have been fully realized and incorporated into the Torah until the 5th century BCE.  So it's quite possible Zephaniah had absolutely no knowledge of this tradition.  Also, if you read closely, Yahweh only promises never to kill everyone again with a flood.  Clever Yahweh.

Moving on.  In continuing to describe The Day of Yahweh, Zephaniah again makes great use of parallel structure:

That day will be a day of wrath,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements.
- Zephaniah 1:15-16

It's not super complex, but it is powerful.  Zephaniah concludes Chapter 1 with some good old fashioned biblical punishment - the kind where everyone dies (1:17-18).

Oracles Against the Nations, Including Judah

Chapters 2 and 3 contain oracles against the nations, including Judah and Jerusalem.  Again, Zephaniah uses parallel poetry to call the nation back to its god, before inevitable wrath descends upon them:

Gather together, gather, O shameless nation,
before you are driven away like the drifting chaff,
before there comes upon you the fierce anger of Yahweh,
before there comes upon you the day of Yahweh's wrath.
Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land, who do his commands;
seek righteousness, seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden on the day of Yahweh's wrath.
- Zephaniah 2:1-3

Chapter 2 then treats the audience to oracles against Judah's neighbors (2:4-12), including even that great evil to the north, Assyria and its capital Nineveh (2:13-15).  In chapter 3 however, the subject of Zephaniah's ire is once again his home country and its capital Jerusalem.  Jerusalem is faithless and corrupt.  It trusts not in Yahweh (3:2).  Those who govern lack foresight, accomplishing nothing but talk (3:3).  The prophets? faithless, and the priests do not even follow the law (3:4).  Yahweh has made an example of the other nations as a warning, but his people still do not fear him (3:6-7).  That's simply not acceptable, so therefore the entire world will be consumed in Yahweh's anger (3:8).

The Usual Exilic or Post-Exilic Additions

Despite being a very short book, Zephaniah was not immune to the glosses of reinterpretation.  2:11 contains language indicating a future conversion of all nations to Yahwism, as do verses 3:9-10.  The rest of Chapter 3 has many other classic signs of an exilic or post-exilic worldview, which should be familiar by now:  A righteous remnant of Israel (3:12-13) will be restored (3:20) to its god Yahweh, who will lead them in battle to triumph over their enemies (3:17-19).  The more I read, the more these seams in the text jump off the page.

Psalm 8

Ah, a psalm of praise and wonder, rather than one beseeching Yahweh for deliverance.  I can see why the opening line made it into a praise song I remember from church growing up.  In this short psalm, the psalmist wonders at how the same divinity which set the moon and stars in their places cares so much for humans as to value them above all other works of nature.  To the psalmist, human beings share in Yahweh's divinity, just below him in glory, but exalted above the rest of nature.  The psalmist relishes in the authority and dominion of man, granted to him by his god.

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Zephaniah was short, but look, I still wrote a whole bunch!  I had fun reading Zephaniah.  I hope you also had fun reading my thoughts.  If you have your own thoughts, share them in the comments below!