Tuesday 16th April
Read Zephaniah 1:2-3a
“I will sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,’
declares the Lord.
3 ‘I will sweep away both man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds in the sky
and the fish in the sea –
and the idols that cause the wicked to stumble.’” (NIVUK)
Some authors ease into their work and slowly build to a climax. Not Zephaniah! What an amazing start. We are left in no doubt that what we are about to encounter has cosmic significance. That is the key message we are to grasp. In the spirit of poetry it is stated in both a dramatic and climactic manner, but, given the context we will work through in the chapter this week, it refers to judgement upon Judah and Jerusalem rather then a final all-encompassing destruction of everything on earth!
What is described is akin to an undoing of creation, a dissolution of the order established at the very beginning. ‘Man and beast’ (Day 6), ‘birds and fish’ (Day 5) and, with poetic license, that which causes ‘the wicked to stumble’ (Day 4 – if we consider the worship of the stars in the heavens in that category). It is a slow unravelling, a gathering back, a dissolution – that is what the Hebrew translated ‘sweep’ conveys. It is a harvest verb.
Zephaniah begins his message determined to stamp out complacency. Why would God need to judge His people in such a way that it could be described as the very unravelling and gathering in of creation? Sit with the implications today.
