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ZEPHANIAH

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 973 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ZEPHANIAH , the ninth of the See also:

minor prophets in the See also:Bible. The name (Yah[weh] " hides " or " treasures "; there is a similar Phoenician See also:compound of See also:Baal) is See also:borne by various individuals, in Jer. See also:xxix. 25 (cf. 24); Zech. vi. 10, 14; I Chron. vi. 36, and among the See also:Jews of Elephantine in See also:Egypt (5th See also:century B.c.). The See also:prophet's ancestry is traced through Cushi (cf. Jer. See also:xxxvi. 14) to his See also:great-grandfather See also:Hezekiah, who may, in spite of 2 See also:Kings xx. 18, xxi. 1, be the well-known See also:king of See also:Judah (c. 720–690).

This would agree fairly with the See also:

title (i. 1) which makes the prophet a contemporary of King See also:Josiah (c. 637), and this in turn appears to agree (a) with the See also:internal conditions (i. 4–6, cf. 2 Kings See also:xxiii. 4, 5, 12) which, it is held, are evidently earlier than Josiah's reforms (62o); (b) with the denunciation of the royal See also:household, but not of the (See also:young) king himself (i. 8, iii. 3); (c) with the apparent allusion in ch. i. to the invasion of the Scythians (perhaps c. 626), and (d) with the anticipated downfall of See also:Assyria and See also:Nineveh (ii. 13, 607 B.C.). Zephaniah's prophecies are characterized by the denunciation of Judah and See also:Jerusalem and the promise of a peaceful future, and these are interwoven with the See also:idea of a See also:world-wide See also:judgment resulting in the See also:sovereignty of a universally recognized Yahweh. The theme in its See also:main outlines is a popular one in biblical prophecy, but when these 53 verses are carefully examined and compared with prophetical thought elsewhere, several difficult problems arise, an adequate See also:solution of which cannot as yet be offered.

After the title (i. I) and the announcement of the entire destruction of every living thing (2–3), the See also:

fate of Judah and Jerusalem is heralded (4-6). The name of Baal (so LXX.; remnant implies a date after Josiah's reforms) and of the idolatrous priests will be cut off, together with them that See also:worship the " See also:host of See also:heaven " (condemned later than 62o in Jer. xix. 13, of. xliv. 15–19) and swear by the Ammonite See also:god Milcom (or perhaps by their See also:Moloch; for the persistence of his grim cult, see MoLocH). Silence is enjoined at the presence of Yahweh (v. 7, of. Zech. ii. 13) and there follows a See also:fine description of " the See also:Day of Yahweh " (vv. 7-18).1 The inveterate popular belief in the manifestation of the warring deity on behalf of his See also:people (e.g. Isa. xxxiv. 8, lxiii.

4; Jer. xlvi. to; Obad. 15 ; Ezek. See also:

xxx. 3) is treated (a) ethically, as a day of judgment upon See also:sin and See also:pride (See also:Amos v. 18 ; Isa. ii. 12–21) and (b) apocalyptically, is See also:bound up with ideas of a universal See also:doom. See also:Punishment will fall upon an oppressive See also:court, upon those who See also:wear See also:foreign See also:apparel, and who " leap over the See also:threshold " (v. 9, cf. I Sam. v. 5, a See also:Philistine See also:custom)—a protest against See also:heathen intercourse, for which cf. Isa. ii. 6, and See also:COSTUME, See also:Oriental. The See also:blow falls upon the See also:north See also:side of Jerusalem (v. to seq., the See also:merchant See also:quarter (?), cf.

Zech. xiv. 21) ; the See also:

city will be ransacked and the indifferent or apathetic, who thought that Yahweh could do neither See also:good nor evil (so, of the idols, Isa. xli. 23; Jer. x. 5) will be ruined. With V. 13 contrast the promises Isa. lxv. 21. " That day is a day of wrath " (v. 15) 2 with See also:celestial signs (cf. Amos v. 18, 20, viii. Isa. xiii. lo; See also:Joel ii.

2, iii. 15), See also:

war and See also:distress, when See also:wealth shall not avail (v. 18, of. Isa. xiii. 17, of the Medes against See also:Babylon, and more generally Ezek. vii. 19). Thus Yahweh s See also:jealousy fired by the dishonour shown towards him in Judah will make an end of all them that dwell in the See also:earth (v. 18, cf. v. 2 seq., and see Isa. x. 23, where a remnant is promised). i For " day " (i.e. of See also:battle) of. the Arab usage, W. R.

See also:

Smith, See also:Pro ph. of See also:Israel, p. 398. The victorious and divine kings of Egypt in the XIXth and XXth Dynasties are likened to Baal in his " See also:hour " (J. H. Breasted, Hist. Doc. Eg., iii. §§ 312, 326, iv. § Io6). 2 The See also:Vulgate See also:Dies irae dies illa, whence the striking hymn by See also:Thomas of See also:Celano (c. 1250). See also:Chabazite See also:Group.

See also:

Heulandite {Heulandite Brewsterite Group. Epistilbite Wellsite Stilbite See also:Phillipsite Group. See also:Harmotome . Stilbite . . Gismondite . Laumontite Chabazite Gmelinite Levynite See also:Analcite . See also:Natrolite. Natrolite JMesolite . Group. See also:Scolecite . Edingtonite Thomsonite H 4CaAl2(SiOa)6+3H20.

End of Article: ZEPHANIAH

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