Zephaniah

The prophet Zephaniah was the great grandson of the reformer King Hezekiah, whose successors had swung to the opposite extreme of promoting idolatry. He wrote in the time of the next reformer, King Josiah, and we can speculate that he helped spur that king’s attack on idolatry. Zephaniah’s work may predate Habakkuk by a few years. Despite Josiah’s vigorous effort, Zephaniah never mentions his attack on Baal worship or his revival of feasts and temple worship. Perhaps the prophet saw that Josiah’s reforms were outward, but never turned the people back to Jehovah. Therefore, the prophet speaks of judgment at the hands of the Chaldeans. It would not just be hard times or defeat, but a destruction so total it is compared to a flood. We know, in fact, that from a population of over 2,000,000 in the days of Joshua, just 50,000 returned from the Babylonian captivity. The people are condemned as idolaters, and syncretists. Jerusalem is described as filthy, polluted, its rulers as abusive, and