Lecture Three: Minor Prophets and the Babylonian Threat

The Book of Zephaniah

Background

Estimated written dates around 640-609 B.C.

Son of Cushi (Ethiopian)

Traces ancestry to Hezekiah

Davidic royal family

Jerusalem Aristocracy

Delivered his message during the reign of King Josiah

Overlapped his ministry with Jeremiah

At this time, King Josiah was trying to reverse the evil way started by the previous kings.

Zephaniah’s prophecy may have been a motivating factor in Josiah’s desire to change the nation’s ways.

“On the day of the Lord’s sacrifice

    I will punish the officials
    and the king’s sons
and all those clad
    in foreign clothes.
On that day I will punish
    all who avoid stepping on the threshold,
who fill the temple of their gods
    with violence and deceit."

-- Zephaniah 1:8-9

Message

Doom, Destruction, and Woe

“The great day of the Lord is near—

    near and coming quickly.
The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter;
    the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry.
That day will be a day of wrath—
    a day of distress and anguish,
        a day of trouble and ruin,
    a day of darkness and gloom,
        a day of clouds and blackness—
     a day of trumpet and battle cry
against the fortified cities
    and against the corner towers.”

--  Zephaniah 1:14-16

Judah will see the destruction of all of her foreign gods and all those who worship them.

Other nations will also be destroyed for the sins they have committed.

The Nature of God and Humanity

Zephaniah seems to indicate that if you are constantly sinning against God and you do not repent then you will be destroyed.

“I will bring such distress on all people

    that they will grope about like those who are blind,
    because they have sinned against the Lord.
Their blood will be poured out like dust
    and their entrails like dung.”

-- Zephaniah 1:17

God does not wipe away the righteous with the wicked.

"On that day you, Jerusalem, will not be put to shame

    for all the wrongs you have done to me,
because I will remove from you
    your arrogant boasters.
Never again will you be haughty
    on my holy hill.
But I will leave within you
    the meek and humble.
The remnant of Israel
    will trust in the name of the Lord.
They will do no wrong;
    they will tell no lies.
A deceitful tongue
    will not be found in their mouths.
They will eat and lie down
    and no one will make them afraid.”

-- Zephaniah 3:11-13

Sin will eventually destroy you if you do not turn away from it.

God is not without love and compassion. Those who truly repent will be saved.

Issues with which Zephaniah dealt

Judah was deeply rooted in sin.

The people worshiped Baal and other gods.

The people had (for the most part) turned away from God.

Zephaniah had to confront the misguided theology of the people who believed there would be no consequences for their sins.

Biblical truths

Three major themes in Zephaniah

Day of Judgment

Indifference to God

Day of Cheer

Notable quotes from Zephaniah

"'I will sweep away everything

    from the face of the earth,'
declares the Lord.'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.'"

-- Zephaniah 1:2-3

“Be silent before the Sovereign Lord,

    for the day of the Lord is near.
The Lord has prepared a sacrifice;
    he has consecrated those he has invited.”

-- Zephaniah 1:7

"'Neither their silver nor their gold

    will be able to save them
    on the day of the Lord’s wrath.'

In the fire of his jealousy
    the whole earth will be consumed,
for he will make a sudden end
    of all who live on the earth."

-- Zephaniah 1:18

"'I have heard the insults of Moab

    and the taunts of the Ammonites,
who insulted my people
    and made threats against their land.
Therefore, as surely as I live,'
    declares the Lord Almighty,
    the God of Israel,
'surely Moab will become like Sodom,
    the Ammonites like Gomorrah—
a place of weeds and salt pits,
    a wasteland forever.
The remnant of my people will plunder them;
    the survivors of my nation will inherit their land.'"

-- Zephaniah 2:8-9

"He will stretch out his hand against the north

    and destroy Assyria,
leaving Nineveh utterly desolate
    and dry as the desert…

This is the city of revelry
    that lived in safety.
She said to herself,
    I am the one! And there is none besides me.'
What a ruin she has become,
    a lair for wild beasts!
All who pass by her scoff
    and shake their fists."

-- Zephaniah 2:13,15

"Sing, Daughter Zion;

    shout aloud, Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
    Daughter Jerusalem!
The Lord has taken away your punishment,
    he has turned back your enemy.
The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;
    never again will you fear any harm."

-- Zephaniah 3:14-15

The Book of Habakkuk

Intro

Dates

No way to be sure

Probably composed during the late 7^th century B. C.

Likely no later than 597 B.C.

Reference to the Babylonians in 1:6

Habakkuk the Prophet

Book provides no information about him

No references to him in other book of the Bible

Could have been a priest-prophet

Referenced in the apocryphal work of Bel and the Dragon

Historical/Religious Setting

Kingdom of Israel has already been exiled

Judah is the only representative of the people of God

Probably a continuation of the warning to Judah that they will be invaded by Babylon

Chaldean (Neo-Babylonian) Empire is the dominant world power at the time

Map of the Neo-Babylonian Empire

Meaning

The main message we can take from this prophet is that we can trust God in the midst of the trials we may face.

No matter what life throws at us, we need to have faith and trust in Him because He will get us through it.

God is a powerful God.

We can easily get sucked into the violence of the world, but we should bring all things before God and wait for His answer.

Lessons

In Habakkuk 1, the prophet questions God on all the wickedness in the world and he waits for God’s answer.

"I will stand at my watch

    and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
    and what answer I am to give to this complaint."

-- Habakkuk 2:1

We can also learn that we need to have patience.

We are not going to get the answers to all of our questions as soon as we ask them.

We can also learn to have hope in the certainty of God’s word.

Issues

Habakkuk was dealing with the fact that evil people were getting their way while the righteous were being put down. The age old question of “If God is good, why doesn’t He do something about evil?”

Habakkuk was one of the few people that was still following the ways of God and it was getting him nowhere.

The people believed that God was no longer involved in their lives and had returned once again to worshiping idols.

Habakkuk starts to doubt God Himself because God was not answering him.

Habakkuk 1:2 says: “How long, O LORD, will I call for help, and you will not hear?”

God tells Habakkuk that the evil of the people will be punished, yet He will still use evil people – in this case the Babylonians – to destroy Judah.

Habakkuk chooses to accept and trust God’s answer even though he does not like it or completely understand it.

Truths

Personal Level

Habakkuk is complaining to God

“How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” (1:2)

Personally, Habakkuk tells us that God really does listen, but we simply do not understand what God has to say

“He [God] offers grace rather than vengeance. The good do not delight in the punishment of the evil; rather, they show compassion for them” (Oden).

Corporate Level

Be warned not to fall for man’s vices:

“Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion.” (Habakkuk 2:6)

“Woe to him who builds up his realm by unjust gain” (Habakkuk 2:9)

Live in a community of faith:

“The angel who watches over the church has gone out with you. So they lie down in empty places day by day, bringing upon themselves judgment as seen in the dispersion of the people” (Oden)

“You came to deliver your people, to save your anointed one” (Habakkuk 3:13)

The Book of Obadiah

Background

It is generally accepted that the book was written around the time that Jerusalem fell, around 587 B.C.

Not much is known about the prophet Obadiah.

“Obadiah” means “servant of Yahweh”

He is speculated to have been buried in Samaria.

Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament, confined to a single chapter best known as “The Vision of Obadiah.”

The book is set right after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians around 587 B.C.

When Jerusalem fell, the Edomites watched and did nothing to help.

Instead, they joined in the destruction.

They believed that God would act on their behalf and protect them, even though they were a violent and angry people.

Message

The prophecy: God will destroy Edom!

Israel and Edom had partaken in a long-time family feud, going all the way back to Jacob’s theft of his brother Esau’s birthright – and even before then Genesis portrays these two twin brothers as fighting “in utero.”

The prophecy came true and God smote the Edomites.

This reminds us that God will hold us accountable for our unforgiveness towards others.

We must be loving and compassionate to be accepted into the Kingdom of God.

Theme seen in Revelation:

"He said to me: 'It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.'"

-- Revelation 21:6-8

In the New Testament, Jesus says that we must forgive and even love our enemies.

Edom chose revenge over forgiveness, and the judgment of God fell upon them.

The descendants of Jacob eventually returned home, but the descendants of Esau were permanently wiped off of the face of the earth.

"Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,

    you will be covered with shame;
    you will be destroyed forever."

-- Obadiah 1:10

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