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Zephaniah 1 — The Great Day of the Lord Is Near
In the days of Josiah, Zephaniah declares the coming day of the Lord. God will sweep away everything from the face of the earth — man and beast and bird and fish. He will cut off Baal worship and those that worship the host of heaven. The great day of the Lord is near. A day of wrath, of trouble and distress, of darkness, of trumpet and alarm.
“The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly.”
— Zephaniah 1:14
- v.1-6 Judgment on Judah for idolatry
- v.7-13 The day of the Lord prepared; judgment on the complacent
- v.14-18 The day described — wrath, trouble, darkness
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God. A solemn summons to silence. Habakkuk 2:20 — the Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
The Lord hath prepared a sacrifice. A chilling reversal — in the coming day, the sacrifice is not the offering brought to God but the wicked themselves. Revelation 19:17-18 picks up the same imagery for the final battle.
Settled on their lees. A wine-making image. Lees are the dregs that settle in unstirred wine, which becomes thick and bitter. The same Hebrew root produces to thicken.
Complacency is the spiritual condition Zephaniah names. The men who said the Lord will not do good, neither will he do evil — practical atheists, going through religious motions while denying God's active engagement. Modern Western Christianity is full of this kind of person.
Near, and hasteth greatly. The doubled emphasis. The day of the Lord is closer than the casual reader thinks.
The mighty man shall cry there bitterly. No one is exempt by strength or station. The same day that crushes the weak also breaks the strong. Revelation 6:15-17 — the great men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men... hid themselves... and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us.
A piled-up litany. The Latin Dies Irae — Day of Wrath — drew its name and theme from this very verse. The medieval funeral hymn was Zephaniah 1:15 rendered into music.
Five paired descriptions of one terrible day. The repetition is not literary excess; it is faithful warning. The day deserves to be described with this much weight.
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them. Wealth is no insurance against God's judgment. The rich man who trusted in his barns went into eternity penniless (Luke 12:16-21).
For the believer the warning is sharp. Do not trust in riches. Do not order your life around accumulating what cannot save you. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:20). The day of wrath sorts out where treasure was actually kept.
Examine yourself for settled on the lees complacency. Is your faith vibrant or thickening into bitter dregs? Are you living as if God will neither do good nor evil — practically atheist while nominally Christian? The men Zephaniah named looked like worshippers until God turned over the wine. Stir up the gift of God that is in you (2 Timothy 1:6) before complacency thickens you to bitterness.
The great day of the Lord that Zephaniah foresaw breaks open in the Gospels at Calvary in seed form — now is the judgment of this world (John 12:31) — and consummates at Christ's return. Christ Himself is the One who comes in that day. For the believer it is the blessed hope; for the unbeliever it is the day of wrath. The same coming. Different sides of the same throne.
A subtle but devastating description. Some worshipped pagan deities openly; others mixed worship — swearing by the Lord and by Malcham (a pagan god). The syncretist is named alongside the open idolater.
The believer is to fear the Lord, and depart from evil (Proverbs 3:7). Mixing worship — Christ on Sunday and Mammon Monday through Saturday — is what Zephaniah names. The hybrid heart is the heart God most contests.