{"id":78925,"date":"2020-08-17T17:56:39","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T14:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78925"},"modified":"2020-08-17T17:56:39","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T14:56:39","slug":"an-example-and-a-warning-and-a-lesson-not-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/an-example-and-a-warning-and-a-lesson-not-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"An Example And A Warning And A Lesson Not Learned"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"78925","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":73524,"related_cahpter":"548","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"","content":"

Zephaniah opens chapter 3 with the prediction of Jerusalem’s downfall due to the intertwined crimes of social inequity and religious corruption. One verse (3) describes how the civil leadership oppresses the people; the next verse explains how Jerusalem became defiled due to the corruption of the priests and prophets. Judah\u2019s princes and judges squeeze the people of all they have, behaving like lions and wolves who attack and leave nothing behind, not even \u201ca bone for the morrow.\u201d Malbim notes that the metaphoric usage of the two predators, lions and wolves, reflect the two manners in which Jerusalem\u2019s corrupt leadership oppressed its populace. The politicians (the princes) openly flaunted their power, like lions that hunt in the open. The judges took their bribes quietly and privately, like wolves that go out in the dusk, when they are difficult to see.<\/span><\/p>\n

Similar spiritual corruption permeates Jerusalem\u2019s religious leadership, those most responsible for the spiritual and moral fiber of the populace. The false prophets do not deliver the divine message; the priests distort Torah for their own purposes, causing it to be forgotten.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zephaniah concludes by reminding his listeners that God has already destroyed other nations. The neighboring countries were punished for their behavior and accordingly, they were destroyed. Zephaniah holds up the fate of the other nations as an example and a warning for the Jewish people, hopeful that they would recognize that destruction is the only eventuality for those who do not repent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, Jerusalem \u201cShe has been disobedient, Has learned no lesson\u201d (v. 2). After hearing of the destruction of the other nations, Zephaniah, speaking the words of God, had hoped with regard to the people: \u201cAnd I thought that she would fear Me, Would learn a lesson.\u201d But sadly, the people had become so thoroughly \u201ccorrupt in their deeds\u201d that they awoke early to commit evil (see v. 7).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Zephaniah concludes with a direction to his righteous listeners. He describes God\u2019s decision \u201cWhen I decide to gather nations, To bring kingdoms together, \u201d (3:8). The words assemble and gather appear together in three other prophecies: in Micah 2:12, 4:6, and Is. 11:12. In all of those, the object of God\u2019s gathering and assembling is the remnant of the Jewish people, who will now live peacefully in their land. In Zephaniah, however, it is not the righteous few being gathered for salvation, but the nations being gathered for destruction. For the righteous few, Zephaniah can only ask them to wait for better times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the Tanakh, waiting for the Lord always brings blessings (see Is. 8:17, 30:18, 64:3; and Ps. 33:20). Here, however, it is the stark contrast with the ending of his first speech that stands out. In 2:3, Zephaniah called upon his listeners to actively improve themselves and others through the pursuit of justice and humility. Now that he has despaired of that happening, all the prophet dares to ask from his listeners is to passively wait out the storm.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"An Example And A Warning And A Lesson Not Learned","main_caption":"Gone is the opportunity to learn justice and humility. Now they can only wait out the storm, hoping for better times","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78926,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78925\/revisions\/78926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}