Syncretism: The Crisis the Modern Church Has Buried | Zephaniah Unpacked

The last time we met, we had our introduction to Zephaniah. To set the the background in the in the context for his prophetic oracle. And in that introduction, we learned that he wrote during the late 3rd of the 7th century BC while Josiah was king over Judah and is also that he was the first or second prophet to write in quite some time since the prophetic words seems to have gone mostly silent since the 8th century BC prophets like Micah, Amos, and and Isaiah. Now, without doubt, what brought God to utilize a prophet again was the terrible reigns of Manasseh and his son Amon over Judah. When Zephaniah writes, the northern kingdom of Ephraim Israel had been gone for between 90 and 100 years. So, Judah was all that remained of the former larger and unified kingdom of Israel during the reigns of David and then Solomon. King Manasseh thoroughly corrupted the Hebrew faith by adopting pagan gods, pagan worship rights, forgetting God's commandments, and his appointed times. And although late in his life, he repented, and he began to reform his own idolatrous policies, his son Amon returned Judah to the earliest ways of his father. When Amon was after only a couple of years in office, Josiah followed. And he was installed as king when he was only 8 years old. Some years later, when he was old enough to actually formulate policy, Josiah began to reform Judah's worship practices. But it was not until a hidden Torah scroll was found in the temple. And then it was read to him that sweeping reforms to return Judah to the ways of the Torah and to to the end of the pagan practices began. Now, very probably, it was around the time that the Torah scroll discovery was made that Zephaniah received God's calling and then began writing his prophecy. Now, it's important to remember that Zephaniah, as with all prophets, did not receive the entire divine oracle all at once. So, he didn't write about it all at once. It came in sections. It was written down over time. Prophets might add new messages to their prophecies in as little as a few months. Other times, it was over several years. So, it seems that the first writings of Zephaniah probably began around 630 BC, the final parts a few years later, but all of it under the reign of King Josiah. Now, what God did through Zephaniah was to tell Judah about not only themselves, but also the fate of the Gentile nations that he was going to punish by his angry wrath. And so much of what was said certainly applied to coming events of the ancient world, but equally it applies to the end times. And what Zephaniah spoke had clear connections to the book of Genesis, some of the Psalms, to other unnamed wisdom literature, of course, including thoughts, if not direct quotes, from earlier prophets, as was typical of prophets. And although there is some element of of Hebrew poetry that is present in in in Zephaniah, it's not the ultra-complex kind like Nahum used. Fact, it's done in a unique style. Nevertheless, we must always keep in mind that to one level or another, words spoken and written in poetic style are chosen for effect, for expressing emotion, for rhythmic, rhyming, or word count reasons, not so much for precision. That said, Zephaniah is not particularly difficult reading, except in spots. Now, in the end, Zephaniah is about God's judgment on the world and on Judah, but also about differentiating Judah from the world. This happens by means of a promise for a later restoration for Judah. But also a promise of a more complete and permanent destruction for the world. We open chapter 1, didn't get very far. Completing our previous lesson at verse 3. So, open your Bibles to Zephaniah chapter 1 and we'll read it all. Zephaniah chapter 1. This is the word of Adonai that came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah during the reign of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah. I will completely sweep away everything off the face of the land, says Adonai. I will sweep away humans and animals, the birds in the air, the fish in the sea, also the wicked and what makes them stumble. I will wipe humanity off the land, says Adonai. I will stretch out my hand over Judah, all those living in Jerusalem. I will wipe out every remnant of Baal from this place, the idol-serving priests, even their names, those worshipping heaven's army on the roofs, those who worship and swear by Adonai, but swear by Milcom as well. Those who turned away from following Adonai, those who haven't sought Adonai or consulted him at all. Keep silent before Adonai Elohim, for the day of Adonai is near. Adonai has prepared a sacrifice. He has set apart those he invited. And when the time comes for Adonai's sacrifice, I will punish the leaders and the sons of the king. Also, those who dress in foreign clothes. On the same day I will also punish all who jump over the threshold to fill the house of their master with violence and deceit. Also, on that day says Adonai, a cry will be heard from the fish gate. Wailing from the city's second quarter and a loud crash from the hills. Wail, you who live down in the hollow because all the merchants are destroyed. All who trade with silver are ruined. And when that time comes I will search Jerusalem with lamps, punish those who are smug and thick like wine left too long on the dregs. Who will say to themselves, Adonai will do nothing, neither good nor bad. For this, their wealth will be plundered. Their houses will be destroyed. Yes, they will build houses but not live in them. They will plant vineyards but not drink the wine. The great day of Adonai is near. It's near and coming very quickly. Hear the sound of the day of Adonai. When it's here, even a warrior will cry bitterly. This day is a day of fury, a day of trouble and distress, a day of waste and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom. A day of clouds and thick fog, a day of the shofar and a battle cry against the fortified cities, against the high towers. I will bring such distress on people they will have to grope their way like the blind because they've sinned against Adonai. Their blood will be poured out like dust, their bowels like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them. On the day of Adonai's fury, the whole land will be destroyed in the fire of his jealousy. For he will make an end, a horrible end, of all those living in the land. The first three verses of chapter 1 tell us that those who belong to the kingdom of God will not be spared from the results of God's worldwide wrathful destruction. God's worshippers will have a measure of collateral damage as they and now we we caught up in it. So in the end times, believers are not immune to the consequences of the coming universal tribulation. Now happily it is that way only up to the point that God takes control of human events at the beginning of his wrath. Now I made the point that tribulation wrath are two different things even though the church makes no distinction. Evangelical branches especially make the lack of differentiation as a kind of a core doctrine. To briefly review when the New Testament speaks of tribulation, it is a common noun. That is it is speaking of severe hardship in general. The church however has added the definite article t h e the before the word tribulation to turn it into a proper noun. That is it creates a formal name for a particular named event. Now in the Greek manuscripts all New Testaments are drawn from interpreters have added in the word tone in Greek which is equivalent to the English the. I'll say it again. That word tone is not there in the ancient Greek manuscripts. Doctoral-minded Christian interpreters added it much later, thus corrupting the truth. It was the church that invented the concept of an event in the last days called the tribulation to be followed by another event called the great tribulation. Biblically, this does not exist. Further, the church describes both of these tribulation events as part of God's wrath. Again, untrue. Tribulation is a result of humankind's nature. It's the consequence of actions of evil people upon other people. So, for instance, what Hitler did in World War II was tribulation. It wasn't God's wrath. God's wrath, on the other hand, is God-directed. Sometimes wrath can be God causing a nation to use their evil instincts to oppress another nation. Or, at a higher level, it could be by means of a God-commanded supernatural or cosmic happenings that are other-worldly, as in what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. Thus, in the end times, there will be a progression of troubles from ever-increasing tribulations of man's inhumanity and evil, and then God urging nations and their leaders to do destructive things to other nations for his purposes, and then finally devastations upon nations of a cosmic nature. This progression is what we're reading about so far in Zephaniah. Now, before we continue, I want to make a couple of comments about my sources. All right, cuz I'm regularly asked such things. I rely on the Masoretic texts as my Hebrew sources for the Old Testament. Now, the reason is that the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls validates that what we read in the Masoretic texts is aligned with what the bulk of the Hebrews as far back as the 2nd century BC relied on. It's not to say that earlier than that it was something else. It's only that this is as far back as we can prove what the Hebrews were using as their Hebrew Bible. I wanted to make this clear because there is a competing Old Testament interpretive text that was written in Old Greek. This is called the Septuagint or in shortened form the LXX. It was a translation of the Tanakh created in Alexandria, Egypt sometime during the 3rd century BC. Now, while the LXX and the MT align with each other reasonably well, all there are definite differences. Different English Bible versions choose between the MT and the LXX as their source for translating the Old Testament. I use the MT, the Hebrew texts because they were they used the original source language, Hebrew, without the need for translation. By its very nature, all translations are edited redactions. Now, the other matter I want to share with you is this. Dating with much precision about when a prophet wrote or when most in the other Bible book author wrote is problematic. And there is no reasonable way to present incontrovertible proof. So, there can be a wide range of academic opinions. I have no idea how anyone's opinion will ever be proved to a high level of certainty. And as regards our current study, it's no different. The good news is that the variations of opinions about Zephaniah are within a narrow range. So, the greater question we should be asking is not when it was written, but rather what did it mean to the audience of Judeans that Zephaniah was speaking to? So, a good thing to do is to figure out the meaning, then hold it up against the time period we think it was written to see if it fits. In Zephaniah's prophecy, assuming he wasn't writing a fantasy, he tells us that he at least wrote the superscription to to his prophecy, that's verse one, during King Josiah's reign. I mean, it seems clear that other later parts of his prophecy occurred later, but in the same king's reign. This to me might not be absolute proof. But no other theory of authorship or date works when compared to the text and to its meaning. Now, when we ended the last time, I said that we needed to read chapter 1 verses 4, 5, and 6 together to get the intended meaning and the impact of its message. So, here's how that sounds. I will stretch out my hand over Judah Judah and all those living in Jerusalem. I will wipe out every remnant of Bale from this place, the idol serving priests and even their names, those worshipping heaven's army on the roofs, also those who worship and swear by Yahweh, but swear by Moloch as well, those who turned away from following Yahweh, and those who haven't sought Yahweh or consulted him at all. So, in this passage and throughout Zephaniah and most prophets as well, we're going to see what almost seems like overboard usage of God's formal name, Yahweh. It has bothered me so very much that English Bibles will eliminate almost entirely the use of God's name. There's no reason for doing this except agenda. Now, in doing this, I see a violation of the third commandment to not take God's name in vain. You should think about this. Okay? See, like all of God's laws, there is an omission as well as a commission side to it. It's one thing to misuse his name. It is another to sub- substitute some other word or name for it. Both cases involve trespassing against that third commandment. Now, there are probably a number of reasons why we find God's name used so frequently, roughly 6,000 times, in the Old Testament. Perhaps the outstanding reason is due to the cultures of the ancient times that surrounded Israel. All of which had pagan god systems. Each of these gods had names. And pronouncing their names explained what areas of life each god was given credit for addressing or controlling. And I said long ago, one can only know who God is in two ways. His formal name and his attributes. Thus, by knowing the God of the Bible's name, Yahweh, then no other god, by means of their name, can be given credit for our God's attributes, nature, and commands. And by knowing what Yahweh commands, what he describes as his own nature, we can differentiate him from all other god claimants. For instance, in our modern era, many church people have been trained to think that the Muslim god called Allah is really just another name in Arabic for Yahweh or even Yeshua. This is easily detectable as a false association because Allah is his formal name. And when in the Quran, Allah describes his nature, it lays out his commands, they're very nearly the opposite of Yahweh's. In more ancient biblical times, identifying one's God or gods and declaring allegiance to them, that was everything. The Israelites spent more time than not in worship of pagan gods to their worship of Yahweh. This is called syncretism. So, when in English Bibles, Yahweh's name is virtually exiled, and instead replaced with the word Lord, which is a generic word, it makes fuzzy just which Lord is being talked about. Listen. The Canaanite word Baal also means Lord in English. The further back in time we go, the more critical it is to identify gods by their names. The prophets, all the Bible writers, used God's formal name for the purpose of identification. This present purpose hasn't ended because we're in the 21st century. See, this passage we just read highlights why God's name cannot be a casually eliminated or replaced with something else. It is essential for our proper understanding. In our current passage, there There an issue of Yahweh versus Moloch, sometimes also called Milcom. And at other times, it might be in reference to Molech. Names matter. And when God says in verse 4, that he will stretch out his hand or could be translated as arm, it means to take action over whatever he has stretched out his authority over. More typically, it's a matter of God working for liberation and protection of his people, but not always. First, it is being made clear that the threatened actions, which have been decided and so will happen, are to be credited to Yahweh, not to some other god. Second, this time his target is Judah and her capital city, Jerusalem. When we look closer, we see that it is the ungodly that are his target. Yet because this is to be a national judgment, then even those who are righteous shall be afflicted by association. The intent is to wipe out every vestige of Bale worship from Judah. Now, to get a little more nuanced understanding of what's being said, we need to slightly amend the more popular readings of verse 4 to the literal Hebrew meaning, where we read, "I will wipe out every remnant of Bale." What it really says, "I will really what will wipe out every remnant of the Bale. This widens the scope. In that this is now referring to objects or practices associated with Bale worship. Further in reference to this remnant God speaks of the Hebrew word sham precedes it. And essentially it goes untranslated in our Bible as though it's not there. Sham usually means name. But it also has a wider range of meanings. It can refer to the memory of something or any reference to something or a manifestation of something or the essence of something. So what it's really being said is I will wipe out every memory object reference even the basic essence of Bale worship from Judah. It will be as though it never existed. That's the idea of it. Then God will also wipe out those who perpetrated Bale worship on the people of Judah. Their priests. Yes, these are the Levite priests who have integrated aspects of Bale worship and pagan gods into their practices and rituals and consequently they teach the people of Judah to believe, to think and to do as they do. God's word is replaced with whatever these priests conjure up. And then they tell the people that what they teach is righteous and it comes from Yahweh. The common people are none the wiser. And the truth is there weren't alternative sources for the common people to go to in order to challenge the priests. There weren't Torah scrolls available to the people. There weren't alternative teachers. The people only knew what the priests taught to them. People in our day, we have no such excuse. Everyone has access to the truth. So, the common folks of today bear far more responsibility for what they think, believe, and do than for the ancients. Verse 4 continues the thought that these idolatrous idolatrous priests' names will be eliminated. Their names are generally referring to their family bloodlines. Their offspring, meaning their individual families in general. These idolatrous priests will come to the end of their family line. And in that era, that threat may be the most terrifying of all threats because it was believed that one's ongoing afterlife was manifested in one's offspring. So, this is essentially the equivalent of eternal death. Therefore, from a spiritual aspect, those idolatrous priests versus the more faithful Levite priests will be separated and differentiated for spiritual elimination versus spiritual restoration. But, that doesn't mean that their earthly physical fates will also be completely separated and dealt with. These priests will be dealt with as a single group due to their ongoing association to the priest cult on the one hand, but on a higher level they will be dealt with individually depending on whether they are idolaters in their individual hearts or not. All the priests are going to suffer very negative consequences of one kind or another. >> [snorts] >> Now verse five begins with addressing those who bow down to the host of heavens on the rooftops. This host of heavens does not mean God's angels. Okay, this is referring to the worship of the sun, moon, and the stars, all astrological bodies. See, this ancient practice of worshipping the bodies in the sky goes back centuries, millennia, really, with its birthplace in Mesopotamia. It wasn't just the ancient priests representing the various gods that did this, but rather ordinary people. See, the typical Middle Eastern house had for so many centuries flat roofs with access from the outside. They were used as a household space for any number of reasons. On hot summer afternoons, it was a place of rest in the shade shelter that was built atop it. On those hot summer nights, well, it was cooler to be elevated and outside those mud brick or stone houses that held so much heat in their walls. Sometimes it was used as guest quarters. Here, this is speaking of people using those rooftops as places to see the skies so they could worship what they saw in them. Moses warned against this. Deuteronomy 4:19 For the same reason, do not look up at the sky at the sun, moon, and the stars, and everything in the sky and be drawn away to worship and serve them. Yehowah, your God, has allotted these to all the peoples under the entire sky. The prophet Jeremiah spoke of the same thing Zephaniah did. He put it this way. In Jeremiah 8, starting at verse 1, "At that time, says Yehowah, these enemies will remove the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of his princes, the bones of the Kohanim, the priests, the bones of the prophets, the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. They will spread them out exposed to the sun, the moon, and the entire army of heaven whom they loved and served, and walked at, and sought after, and worshipped. The bones will not be collected or reburied, but be left lying on the ground like dung. So, it will be Israel's enemies that will desecrate the graves of kings and priests and commoners of Judah and expose their skeletons to the elements. These are the dead that had idolatrously worshipped the objects of the skies. So, ironically, their grave desecration will wind up having their bones lay exposed to what they worshipped before they died. As if they were doing this on the rooftops. Now, this worship was in the Middle East called Sabeism. It was nearly ubiquitous throughout the Near and Far Eastern Asian simply Israel simply could not resist it. Well, the final half of verse 5 is and those who worship and swear by Yahweh but swear by Malcom as well. Now, to swear by a god is to swear loyalty to that god. So, it is a divided loyalty to swear to both Yahweh and Malcom. However, the complete Jewish Bible mistranslates when it says worshipping and swearing. It's not worshipping, it's bowing. The Hebrew is shaha and it does not mean worshipping. More correctly, it is bowing and swearing with both being standard actions of demonstrating loyalty. So, there are two classes of worshipers this passage has addressed. First, the star worshipers. Second, those who insisted on creating a hybrid worship of Yahweh as well as bowing down titles and other gods. Now, in verse 6, a third class of worshipers is added. Says, "And those who turned away from following Yahweh and those who haven't sought Yahweh or consulted with him at all." Now, this verse is not difficult, not tricky to make sense of. Says, "God will destroy those of any and every social status who used to worship Yahweh but they stopped as well as those who never had sought after God or consulted him in in prayer at all." See, here's what we need to understand and bring into the 21st century. Christianity says that upon Yeshua's advent, all that's changed. First, they say there's no such thing as a Christian who at one time worshipped and followed Christ and but later renounced him. Second, even if a person might do that, it didn't matter. If only a move for a moment, just a moment, that person declared loyalty to God and to his son, it simply didn't matter what happened from that point forward in that person's life. Loss of beliefs, belief, behavior that is contrary to all that God teaches has become irrelevant. This mindset, this doctrine goes by a few different doctrinal names. I think it's best known as once saved, always saved. Clearly, throughout the Old Testament, it was common for people to accept God and then later to turn away from him or so pollute their worship of him that their belief counted for nothing. Turning away from God means a couple of things. It can mean renouncing him completely and devoting oneself instead to another and different God. It can also mean, and more often did mean, disobeying God, not obeying the terms of his covenants with Israel. There's perhaps no more eternally dangerous church doctrine than the once saved, always saved that is the exact opposite of what this passage explains. Nowhere in the Bible, Old or New Testaments, is such a thing claimed that belief turning to non-belief has nothing to do with our relationship with God or our eternal future. In fact, where examples are given of accepting Christ and then renouncing him or refusing to follow his ways or adding other gods to the mix are found in the New Testament, the church response is that this is either an impossible hypothetical or the person who did this was a pretender and never did trust on any level. So, once again, the church is Yeshua usurping his father's authority and changing a principle that underlies the entire word of God. The next statement about those who haven't sought after God or consulted at all is speaking of two different circumstances. To seek after God means to learn his ways and do them. So, if someone doesn't do that, it doesn't mean that they're an atheist. It means a person who claims allegiance to God outwardly, but inwardly never bothers to seek him by prayer, by study of his word. To follow his ways is but another way of saying to walk in his ways. It has to do with knowing his commandments and doing them. Goes beyond claiming allegiance. The next circumstance is speaking of those who don't accept Yahweh at all and never have. Pagans. And although there was no such thing as an atheist in Bible times, it naturally includes them today cuz atheism is rampant in the Western world. Now, those first six verses of Zephaniah chapter 1 lead us to the sobering, if not terrifying, statement that is verse 7. So, so listen and let it sink in. Keep silent before Yahweh Elohim, for the day of Yahweh is near. Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice. He's set apart those he invited. What we read here is sort of an outburst of praise from Zephaniah. These are his words. It's his thoughts after hearing what God has told him thus far. Before describing what the day of Yahweh is about, usually incorrectly stated in Bibles as the day of the Lord, he calls for silence from those who worship him. Few different prophets have told their hearers to be silent before God as a sign of respect and awe, along with humble submission. This is generally spoken of in the context of a theophany, an appearance of God on Earth. And of the several places in the Bible where theophany does occur, the people do not have to be told to be silent. They just fall silent because they don't know how to react. They can't take in the incredible awe and glory that is God. Their mouths go quiet. They fall to the ground cuz their their knees just buckle them beneath them. Zephaniah knows the scriptures and basically is saying, "You know all that history about what happened to us when God appeared. Well, get ready. He's going to appear again soon, and you are going to react the same way your fathers did. See, words can't form in your mouths. In my opinion, that's going to exactly what's going to happen when our Messiah returns. Other than gasps, what is there to say? In both cases, I would also add that just as the angels knew without being told, so we will all know without being told to be silent. For there'll be no answer to our prayers and pleadings for God's wrath to be withheld a little longer. The die's cast. It's now on autopilot. Nothing that any human, believer or not, can say to God that will affect anything. And how could one ever express with mere words what we are experiencing when God shows up? To speak at all is not even appropriate. Silence, only silence is the right response. Now, even though it is the 7th century BC, a prophet speaking the day of YHVH is imminent isn't new. 9th century BC prophets, 8th century BC prophets spoke of the same thing. And they were all speaking of the end times. It's only that they couldn't see it. Now, to be clear, the day of YHVH is identical to the day of judgment or just judgment day. There have been earlier judgment days in the Bible, but they were but shadows of what the final judgment will be and will entail. Those earlier days of Yahweh were narrow in scope. Both geographically and to the extent of the devastation. The final one in the end times will have no boundaries of scope or extent of catastrophe. It will be universal. None will escape. Yeshua himself prophesied about this day. In Matthew 24 starting at verse 15. So, when you see the abomination that causes devastation spoken about through the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let the reader understand the illusion. That will be the time for those in Judah to escape to the hills. And if someone is on the roof, he must not go down to gather his belongings from his house. If someone's in the field, he must not turn back to get his coat. What a terrible time it will be for pregnant women and nursing mothers. Pray that you will not have to escape in winter or on Shabbat. For there will be trouble then worse than there has ever been from the beginning of the world until now. There will be nothing like it again. Indeed, if the length of time had not been limited, no one would survive. But for the sake of those who have been chosen, its length will be limited. Well, now we get an unexpected statement in the last half of verse seven. It makes a word play on the word sacrifice. Now, the sacrifice Yahweh has prepared is Judah. His own people. They are the sacrifice and the nations are invited to come and partake. This is how God will gather the nations for war against Israel. Now, the word used in this verse for for sacrifice is is zebach. It means it in the same way Isaiah used it in his chapter 34. And 34:6 says there is a sword that belongs to Yahweh. It's filled with blood, gorged with fat, filled with blood of lambs and goats, gorged with the fat of kidneys for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great sacrifice a great slaughter in the land of Edom. See, it's also in the same light as when God sent the plagues upon Egypt. They were a sacrifice for the sake of Israel. So, we have to understand the word sacrifice in Zephaniah as meaning it this way as opposed to a ritual burnt offering. Israel will be sacrificed in order that the nations will come and be slaughtered. But, most of Israel will also be slaughtered. And ironically, from the surviving remnant of Israel will come a purified people of God. And from those survivors, there will be a restoration for Israel. Now, verse 8 begins a four-verse unit that explains that every rank of citizen and status of officials in Judah will have to deal with the judgment that's going to fall on Judah. And with equal severity. None will fare better than another. None will escape it. Zephaniah 1:8, "When the time comes for Yahweh's sacrifice, I will punish the leaders and the the of kings, also those who dress in foreign clothes. So, at least here in Zephaniah, a new term for the day of Yahweh is introduced as the time of Yahweh's sacrifice. Okay? That sacrifice is Judah. So, the leaders and sons of the king that are being punished are sons of Judean kings and the leaders of Israel, meaning both those with authority and the elite and wealthy aristocrat aristocrats, and often they were one in the same. Scholars have doubts about this first because they think this must be talking about the current king of Judah. And since that's Josiah, he was a bit too young to have sons or that his sons were too young to bear any accountability. I find that to be a red herring because no one is suggesting that this judgment was going to be quite that immediate. There's also the possibility that Josiah wasn't mentioned because he's a good king. And he walked in the ways of Yahweh. Now, we know that historically Josiah's sons were more like Manasseh. They were all bad kings. And each one of his sons seemed to be worse than the one before. So, this is likely who's being spoken about. As those who will feel God's judgment. The point of the verse in the end is to speak of an entire rank of people that will face judgment. Kings, princes, and leaders. But, what is meant about being dressed in foreign clothes? That's It's entirely clear. Those who dress in foreign clothes are likely to mean the elites and the wealthy who love to wear the very best garments of the very best material, unique designs that show off their wealth. The fact that it is foreign clothes, which is a correct translation, to my mind means they are imported the garments from pagan enemies. Because these leaders admired how those foreign elite dressed. No doubt this was in lockstep with the idolatrous behavior of these same leaders who preferred foreign ways to God's ways. And so dressing like those foreigners went along with worshipping their foreign gods. Zephaniah 1:9, "On the same day I will also punish all who jump over the threshold, fill the house of their master with violence and deceit." Okay. "On the same day" isn't literal. In fact, this is probably better translated as "in that day." That is this is not speaking of a single day. The day of Yahweh is not just one 24-hour period. How long it is exactly I can't say. But it'll be weeks. However few or many, I don't know. That amounts to a process of a of judgment. It's not an all-at-once deluge of catastrophe. But what is this about jumping over the threshold? Few different solutions have been offered, but I think Keil and Delitzsch are the likely winners. They see it as meaning those who rob and steal and break into the homes of their fellow Judeans. Some were hired thieves to plunder and bring back certain items to to their masters. After all, some expensive items in the hands of a common person would have been brought on on suspicion. But in their hands of a wealthier person, it might have gone undetectable. So, this verse is addressing another and different rank of Judean society than the previous verse that was about kings, princes, and leaders. It is addressing the criminally lawless. Zephaniah 1:10, "Also on that day," says Yahweh, "a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate, wailing from the city's second quarter, and a loud crash from the hills." Okay. The Fish Gate is a well-known entry gate into the walled city of Jerusalem and was where the fishermen met with the fish merchants and or their customers. This verse is meant to depict the idea that all parts of Jerusalem will be affected. The Fish Gate is placed in the northern part of Jerusalem. It's now in our time as what's called the Damascus Gate, which interestingly is the entry into the Muslim quarter of the city. What is called the second quarter is the area where the Hulda Gate is is located today. The hills are the areas of Ophel, possibly of Zion's Gate, may even include the oldest parts of the city, the city of David. It descends down the bottom part of Moriah to the Pool of Siloam. So, this is speaking of the regular, everyday residents of Jerusalem as yet another rank of Judah that will feel God's wrath. And then verse 1:11, "Wail, you who live in the hollow, because all the merchants are destroyed, all who trade with silver are ruined. Okay. Finally, the last rank highlighted are those that live in the Maktesh. Likely what in New Testament times a bit earlier was called the Tyropoean Valley. This was an area just below the temple, but before one reached the lower part of the city. Maktesh uh it just means hollow or or depression. This is where the merchants lived. They like to conduct their business, so that's what this is speaking about. They're speaking about the merchant class of Judeans and where much buying and selling occurred. A great deal of cheating was the norm. Money exchanging was the focus. So, these two were involved in idolatry, and they will be ruined and killed according to God's judgment. Okay, we'll pause here. Begin with verse 12 next time. For more teachings of real Bible study and to rediscover God's word with Tom Bradford, visit Torah Class today on the web, streaming TV, or download the Torah Class mobile app.