Zephaniah 3.5a-The First of Two Assertions about the Lord's Character
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday June 23, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:5a-The First of Two Assertions About the Lord’s Character
Lesson # 66
Zephaniah 3:5 The LORD is righteous within her; He will do no injustice. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He does not fail. But the unjust knows no shame. (NASB95)
“The LORD is righteous within her” is composed of the following: (1) masculine singular proper noun yhwh (יהוה), “the Lord” (2) masculine singular adjective ṣaddîq (צַדִּיק), “is righteous” (3) preposition b (בְּ), “within” (4) masculine singular construct form of the noun qereb (קֶרֶב), “within” (5) third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hîʾ (הִיא), “her.”
Zephaniah is using again the figure of asyndeton and this time it is to emphasize the assertion that the Lord is righteous within the city of Jerusalem so that the reader will meditate or reflect upon this assertion and make personal application which would be repentance for those living in this city.
This assertion would be applicable to not only those Jews living in her during the seventh century B.C. but also those living in her during the seventieth week of Daniel which will complete God’s discipline of this city and the nation of Israel as a whole.
The proper noun yhwh, “the Lord” is the covenant-keeping personal name of God emphasizing the personal covenant relationship that the Jewish people living in the city of Jerusalem possess with God.
Thus, since they are accountable to God because of their covenant relationship with Him, this word implies the “immanency” of God meaning that He involves Himself in and concerns Himself with and intervenes in the affairs of men.
Zephaniah is thus using this name to identify to the reader that God will intervene in the affairs of the people of Jerusalem by being vigilant over her in order to fulfill His promise to judge her for her unrepentant disobedience to His laws.
The adjective ṣaddîq refers to an attribute of God which describes His relationship to both Israel and the Gentiles.
The word refers to God’s perfect integrity in that His character is perfectly sound, perfectly adhering to His own perfect holy standards and what He promises to men.
It describes God as always fulfilling His covenantal obligations with regards to Israel which stands in stark contrast with Israel’s failure to meet her covenantal obligations with regards to God. T
This noun refers to the Lord’s perfect integrity in that His character is upright, honest, perfectly whole, undiminished, sound, unimpaired and in perfect condition.
It signifies the Lord’s perfect virtue in that His character is perfect moral excellence, goodness, and His conduct is conformed perfectly to His own perfect holy standards and what they have promised to men or group of people like Israel and the church.
Therefore, the noun ṣaddîq refers to an inherent attribute of God which causes Him to always do what His perfect holy standards require.
It speaks of the fact that the justice mentioned here in Zephaniah 3:5 which the Lord promises to manifest with regards to His relationship with the people of Jerusalem was according to His perfect holy standards.
It indicates that the Lord executing justice with regards to the people of Jerusalem was in fulfillment of His covenant obligations with regards to this city and the Jewish people as a whole.
The noun qereb means “midst” since it pertains to the location of something or someone in the middle, the center or “the midst” of something or someone or a group of people.
Here it refers to “the midst” of the city of Jerusalem.
This is indicated by the construct state of this noun.
This means that qereb is governing the word which follows it and is expressing a genitive relation with this word which is the third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hîʾ, which means “her” referring once again to the city of Jerusalem.
The genitive relation is possession indicating that this midst belongs to the city of Jerusalem.
The noun qereb is also the object of the preposition b, which means “within” since it functions as a marker of position or location within a geographical area, defined by the objects around it.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase indicates that the Lord is located within the midst of the city of Jerusalem.
“He will do no injustice” is composed of the following: (1) negative particle lōʾ (לֹא), “no” (2) third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb ʿāśâ (עָשָׂה), “will do” (3) feminine singular noun ʿawlâ (עַוְלָה), “injustice.”
The prophet Zephaniah once again employs the figure of asyndeton and this time it is to emphasize the assertion to follow about the Lord, namely that He will never commit injustice with regards to the city of Jerusalem so that the reader will meditate or reflect upon this assertion so as to make personal application.
The verb ʿāśâ is in the qal stem and means “to act in a particular way or manner.”
The third person masculine singular form of this word is referring to the masculine singular proper noun yhwh, “the Lord.”
This verb’s meaning is emphatically negated by the negative particle lōʾ which is employed here as a marker of emphatic negation since it is used in relation to God’s immutable character.
This verb’s object is the noun ʿawlâ which means “unjust manner, unjustly” since it pertains to being in a state or condition of not being right or just with emphasis that these wrongs are harmful or damaging to the well-being of others.
This noun denotes an action that is not morally right or ethically right.
Therefore, these three words express the idea that the Lord “never acts in an unjust manner” with regards to the human race and in this context the Jewish people living in Jerusalem.
Zephaniah 3:5 The Lord is righteous within her midst. He never acts in an unjust manner. Morning after morning, He causes His justice to be manifested. For His own glory, He never fails. However, in contrast to Him, the unrighteous person never experiences shame. (My translation)
Zephaniah 3:5 contains five assertions, four of which are describing the Lord, the God of Israel and one is describing unrighteous people.
The first assertion states that the Lord is righteous within Jerusalem’s midst which describes the Lord’s relationship to the kingdom of Judah in the seventh century B.C. and specifically, His relation to the Jewish people living in the city of Jerusalem as well as those living in this city during the seventieth week of Daniel.
This indicated by the fact that the seventieth week of Daniel is the last seven years of the Lord disciplining the nation of Israel for her disobedience.
If you recall, Daniel was given a prophecy which is recorded in Daniel 9:24-27. This prophecy is called by theologians and expositors of the Bible “the Seventy Weeks of Daniel,” which are actually four hundred ninety prophetic years.
These verses dealt with the period of the Times of the Gentiles in which God would be disciplining the nation of Israel for her disobedience and Gentile nations will be the dominant powers and Israel is subject to these nations.
So this first assertion that the Lord is righteous within the city of Jerusalem speaks of the Lord’s perfect integrity in that His character is perfectly sound, perfectly adhering to His own perfect holy standards and what He promises to men.
It describes the Lord as always fulfilling His covenantal obligations with regards to Israel which stands in stark contrast with Israel’s failure to meet her covenantal obligations with regards to God.
So this first assertion refers to the Lord’s perfect integrity in that His character is upright, honest, perfectly whole, undiminished, sound, unimpaired and in perfect condition.
It signifies the Lord’s perfect virtue in that His character is perfect moral excellence, goodness, and His conduct is conformed perfectly to His own perfect holy standards and what they have promised to men or group of people like Israel and the church.
Therefore, this first assertion refers to an inherent attribute of God which causes Him to always do what His perfect holy standards require.
It speaks of the fact that the justice mentioned here in Zephaniah 3:5 which the Lord promises to manifest with regards to His relationship with the people of Jerusalem was according to His perfect holy standards.
It indicates that the Lord executing justice with regards to the people of Jerusalem was in fulfillment of His covenant obligations with regards to this city and the Jewish people as a whole.
This assertion about the Lord’s righteous character stands in contrast to the unrighteous character of Jerusalem civil and spiritual leaders who are described by Zephaniah in Zephaniah 3:3-4.
This first assertion also speaks of the immanency of God meaning that He involves Himself in and concerns Himself with and intervenes in the lives of members of the human race, both saved and unsaved.
Specifically, it denotes that the Lord is present within Jerusalem in that He involves Himself in and concerns Himself with and intervenes in the lives of her citizens.
The second assertion in Zephaniah 3:5 states that the Lord never acts in an unjust manner and is related to the concept of God’s righteous character mentioned in the first assertion.
It is tied to the first assertion that the Lord is righteous within Jerusalem in that the Lord never acts in an unjust manner because of His righteous character.
It expresses the idea that the Lord never commits an act which is immoral or unethical and specifically it means that He never acts contrary to His perfect immutable righteous character or standards when dealing with human beings.