Thursday 2nd May
Read Zephaniah 3:9-10
““Then I will purify the lips of the peoples,
that all of them may call on the name of the Lord
and serve him shoulder to shoulder.
10 From beyond the rivers of Cush
my worshipers, my scattered people,
will bring me offerings.” (NIVUK)
This looks like an innocent enough, if slightly confusing, passage. It looks forward to a time when ‘the peoples’ will have purified lips to call upon Yahweh and worship Him. The confusing aspect is that we might instinctively think that it is God’s people, the scattered people of Israel and Judah, that are being called together. But ‘the peoples’ would normally apply to Gentiles, particularly those from beyond the rivers of Cush (south of the Nile…).
The solution lies, like much of Zephaniah, in the early chapters of Genesis. “That is why it was called Babel – because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:9) (NIVUK). Whilst Zephaniah seems to imply that the whole world will be swept away in judgement in the Day of the Lord, it seems that it is not an unmaking of creation, but a remaking of creation. A reversal of the curse.
From the perspective of creation itself, the lips of the peoples will be purified and they will call together on the name of the Lord. They will have one voice once more and rather than glorify themselves with a tower and a name, they will glorify Yahweh’s name. So, ‘my scattered people’, are all the peoples of the earth, humanity in all its various guises. What a wonderful picture of God’s care for humanity…
