Zephaniah 2:1-15--Judgment on Judah's Enemies

Zephaniah 2
English Standard Version

Judgment on Judah's Enemies
2 Gather together, yes, gather,
    O shameless nation,
2 before the decree takes effect
    —before the day passes away like chaff--
before there comes upon you
    the burning anger of the LORD,
before there comes upon you
    the day of the anger of the LORD.
3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land,
    who do his just commands;
seek righteousness; seek humility;
    perhaps you may be hidden
    on the day of the anger of the LORD.
4 For Gaza shall be deserted,
    and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;
Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon,
    and Ekron shall be uprooted.

5 Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast,
    you nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the LORD is against you,
    O Canaan, land of the Philistines;
    and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left.
6 And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures,
    with meadows for shepherds
    and folds for flocks.
7 The seacoast shall become the possession
    of the remnant of the house of Judah,
    on which they shall graze,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
    they shall lie down at evening.
For the LORD their God will be mindful of them
    and restore their fortunes.

8 “I have heard the taunts of Moab
    and the revilings of the Ammonites,
how they have taunted my people
    and made boasts against their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live,” declares the LORD of hosts,
    the God of Israel,
“Moab shall become like Sodom,
    and the Ammonites like Gomorrah,
a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,
    and a waste forever.
The remnant of my people shall plunder them,
    and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.”
10 This shall be their lot in return for their pride,
    because they taunted and boasted
    against the people of the LORD of hosts.
11 The LORD will be awesome against them;
    for he will famish all the gods of the earth,
and to him shall bow down,
    each in its place,
    all the lands of the nations.

12 You also, O Cushites,
    shall be slain by my sword.

13 And he will stretch out his hand against the north
    and destroy Assyria,
and he will make Nineveh a desolation,
    a dry waste like the desert.
14 Herds shall lie down in her midst,
    all kinds of beasts;
even the owl and the hedgehog
    shall lodge in her capitals;
a voice shall hoot in the window;
    devastation will be on the threshold;
    for her cedar work will be laid bare.
15 This is the exultant city
    that lived securely,
that said in her heart,
    “I am, and there is no one else.”
What a desolation she has become,
    a lair for wild beasts!
Everyone who passes by her
    hisses and shakes his fist.

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There is still a chance for the people to gather together and repent before destruction comes upon them.  Until the judgment comes, there is always hope.  That is something we can take away from the prophets that still applies to us today.  Though there may be people that seem set on the path to destruction, there is still a chance that the Holy Spirit may do His work of convicting them of sin and regenerating them and bringing them to the point of repentance.  Zephaniah says that if they do this as a nation, perhaps they will be armies come to destroy the Philistines.

The LORD then gives Zephaniah prophecy against the Philistines (the people of the coastlands of Canaan who were never defeated or driven out).  They will be destroyed and the coastlands will become pastureland for the animals that will roam freely.    Similarly, the LORD has heard the taunts of the Moabites and Ammonites (descendants of Lot that were not destroyed in the original Conquest due to their close relationship to the people of Israel), and the LORD will now destroy them.  He promises to make them like Sodom and Gomorrah--wastelands forevermore.  The remnant of the people of Israel will plunder them and they will be destroyed for their pride and idolatry.

The people of Cush to the south will also be destroyed.  So to will the Assyrians of Nineveh be destroyed as we already talked about in previous books (though not all of Assyria will be destroyed, but it was a large city with many people.  The loss of it was devastating).  All these places will become places for the unclean animals like the hedgehog and desert owl to make their home.  The destruction of Nineveh will speak to the rest of the proud peoples of the earth that if they try to contend with the LORD, they will lose.  Nations will have the choice to submit to the LORD or be destroyed by the next rising empire that the LORD uses to accomplish His purposes (Babylon, Medo-Persian, Greek, and eventually Roman).