The MAJOR & MINOR Prophets - The 16 Writing Prophets Of The Hebrew Canon

if there might be a prophetic word from God: WKH NLQJ IHOW WKDW *RG·V ZUDWK ZDV RQ WKH QDWLRQ , because they had neglected the word of the LORD. Without flinching, she gave this awesome statement of the LORD to the apprehensive messengers: ´%HKROG , ZLOO EULQJ FDODPLW\ RQ WKLV SODFH DQG RQ LWV LQKDELWDQWV DOO WKH FXUVHV WKDW DUH ZULWWHQ LQ WKH ERRN which they have read before the king of Judah, because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place, and not be quenched µ ( 2 Ch 34:24-25). Huldah went on to say that the judgment would not come while Josiah was alive, because God had observed the kin J·V KXPEOH UHSHQWDQW DWWLWXGH « but judgment would come. Josiah immediately called the nation back to God, had the people listen to the word of the LORD, insisted the people make a covenant, removed any remaining abominations and celebrated the Passover. It was a remarkable series of events and has gone down in history as one of the greatest reform periods in Jewish history. Yet, God did not cancel the judgment: was it too little and too late? At this point, we turn to the prophet Zephaniah for the answer. The Ministry of Zephaniah. A reader cannot help but wonder at the scorching severity of =HSKDQLDK·V PHVVDJH WKH ILUVW WZR FKDSWHUV HVSHFLDOO\ VLQFH LW ZDV GHOLYHUHG DW WKH WLPH RI Josi DK·V UHIRUPDWLRQ Also, we must ask ZK\ GLG =HSKDQLDK WDNH QR QRWLFH RI -RVLDK·V UHIRUPV" Zephaniah ·V PDLQ IRFXV VHHPV WR EH on Jerusa OHP·V IDOO . J. Baron Payne, in his massive Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy (which records and discusses all the Scriptural predictions in the %LEOH DQG WKHLU IXOILOOPHQW KDV WKLV WR VD\ DERXW =HSKDQLDK·V ZRUN The most thoroughly predictive book in the Bible is Zephaniah. It has three short chapters; but out of its total of 53 verses, 47 prophesy about matters that were yet future at the time of their writing, and they make up 80% of the whole. They are distributed among 20 separate predictions, though DOPRVW KDOI RI WKHVH YHUVHV FRQFHUQ WKH HYHQW RI -HUXVDOHP·V IDOO WR %DE\ORQ LQ % & 6 =HSKDQLDK·V RSHQLQJ remarks seem obsessed with the Great Day of God (1:7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 16, 18; 2:2, 3; 3:8), a time of terror and divine retribution that will break on Judah and surrounding nations, covering the four points of the compass! This seems to be a clear reference to the coming Babylonian i QYDVLRQ DQG -XGDK·V FDSWLYLW\ which did happen twenty years later. This includes a day of wrath for the Philistines (west), Ethiopia (south), Moab and Ammon (east) and Assyria (north). Note: Since Zephaniah predicted the destruction of Nineveh and Assyria, he must have prophesied prior to 612 B. C., the time when Nineveh fell. :K\ 'LGQ·W =HSKDQLDK 7DNH 1RWLFH RI WKH 5HIRUP" J. Sidlow Baxter has made this interesting observation:

We can appreciate that king Josiah, in his noble religious reforms, would have the ardent backing of his prophet-cousin; and, without reading too much between the lines, it may be that much of the

6 J. Barton Payne, Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy , p. 439.

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