Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern.
This week we begin the book of Zephaniah, the prophet most extreme in his language but simplest in subject matter. Zephaniah envisions the Day of Yahweh as both near at hand and terrifying in action. Most prophets incorporate a Day of Yahweh motif, but Zephaniah is the only book wholly devoted to the day. By day, the prophets do not mean a 24-hour cycle, but an event, or series of events.
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Zephaniah’s introduction includes an extended genealogy: “the word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah” (1:1). No other prophet traces his genealogy back four generations. In some cases, they follow the custom of adding the name of their father to their own name, but Zephaniah goes much further back. Why is Zephaniah breaking the normal convention? One theory is that he is highlighting the credentials of his royal lineage. He stopped on Hezekiah. Is his great-great-grandfather King Hezekiah (716-686 BCE), known for being “good and right and faithful before the Lord his God” (2 Chron. 31:20).
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