Zephaniah 3.6-The Lord Has Caused the Destruction of Nations and Their Cities
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday June 30, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:6-The Lord Has Caused the Destruction of Nations and Their Cities
Lesson # 69
Zephaniah 3:6 “I have cut off nations; Their corner towers are in ruins. I have made their streets desolate, with no one passing by; Their cities are laid waste, without a man, without an inhabitant.” (NASB95)
“I have cut off nations” is composed of the following: (1) first person masculine singular hifʿîl active perfect form of the verb kārat (כָּרַת), “I have cut off” (2) masculine plural form of the noun gôy (גּוֹי), “nations.”
The verb kārat is in the hifʿîl stem and means “to cause the violent destruction” of something or someone and the noun gôy means “nations” and is used with reference to the various Gentiles nations in history up to the time Zephaniah penned his book.
The hifʿîl stem of this verb is causative which indicates that the Lord, the God of Israel as the subject of this verb caused various Gentiles in the past from the perspective of Zephaniah in the seventh century B.C. to be violently destroyed.
“Their corner towers are in ruins” is composed of the following: (1) third person plural niphal passive perfect form of the verb šā·mēm (שָׁמֵם), “are in ruins” (2) feminine plural construct form of the noun pinnâ (פִּנָּה), “corner towers” (3) third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ (־הֵמָה), “their.”
The noun pinnâ is in the plural and means “corner towers” since it pertains to a point where two converging lines, edges or sides meet and here it refers to the corner towers of a city considered impregnable.
The verb šā·mēm means “to be desolate, to be devastated, laid waste, ravaged, ruined” since it pertains to being in a destroyed or ruined state implying the object or area destroyed is now abandoned from all help and deserted.
“I have made their streets desolate, with no one passing by” is composed of the following: (1) first person singular hiphil active perfect form of the verb ḥā·rēḇ (חָרֵב), “I have made desolate” (2) feminine plural construct form of the noun ḥûṣ (חוּץ), “streets” (3) third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ (־הֵמָה), “their” (4) preposition min (מִן), “with” (5) adverb of negation belî (בְּלִי), “no one” (6) masculine singular qal active participle form of the verb ʿābar (עָבַר), “who passes.”
The verb ḥā·rēḇ is in the hiphil stem and means “to cause something to be devastated, to cause to be laid waste.”
The noun ḥûṣ means “streets” since the word pertains to the part of a thoroughfare on which people and vehicles travel and is noted for being outside and public.
The verb ʿābar is in the qal stem and means “to pass, to come to pass” since it is a temporal marker of the passing of a duration of time and the verb’s meaning is emphatically negated by the adverb of negation belî.
Therefore, these two words indicate that the streets of the cities of these nations the Lord destroyed were without one person traveling on them.
This verb ʿābar is the object of the preposition min which means “without” since it is used in a privative sense meaning it pertains to something or someone is lacking.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase is indicating that the streets of the cities of these nations the Lord destroyed in the past from the perspective of Zephaniah in the seventh century B.C. were without people traveling on these streets.
“Their cities are laid waste” is composed of the following: (1) third person plural niphal passive perfect form of the verb ṣādâ (צָדָה), “are laid waste” (2) feminine plural construct form of the noun ʿîr (עִיר), “cities” (3) third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ (־הֵמָה), “their.”
The noun ʿîr is in the plural and means “cities” referring to a population center enclosed by a wall and the verb ṣādâ is in the niphal stem and means “to be destroyed, to be demolished” since the word pertains to being in a demolished and devastated state.
“Without a man, without an inhabitant” is composed of the following: (1) preposition min (מִן), “without” (2) adverb of negation belî (בְּלִי), “without” (3) masculine singular noun ʾîš (אִישׁ), “a man” (4) preposition min (מִן), “without” (4) masculine singular construct form of the noun ʾǎ·yin (אַיִן), “without” (5) masculine singular qal active participle form of the verb yāšab (יָשַׁב), “an inhabitant.”
The noun ʾîš means “human being, person” since the word pertains to human beings in a generic sense without reference to the gender or race.
Here it speaks of the people who once lived in the cities of the Gentile nations the Lord destroyed in the past from the perspective of Zephaniah in the seventh century B.C.
This noun is emphatically negated by the adverb of negation belî which means “absolutely no one.”
The noun ʾîš is the object of the preposition min which again means “without” since it is used in a privative sense meaning it pertains to something or someone is lacking.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase is indicating that the cities of these nations the Lord demolished in the past from the perspective of Zephaniah in the seventh century B.C. were without people.
The verb yāšab functions as a substantive participle and means “inhabitants” since the word pertains to staying or residing in a particular geographical location for any period of time usually implying a longer amount of time.
Here it refers to those Gentiles who once lived or inhabited in the cities the Lord destroyed in the past from the perspective of Zephaniah in the seventh century B.C.
This verb’s meaning is emphatically negated by the substantive ʾǎ·yin which is employed here as a marker of emphatic negation.
Therefore, these two words are indicating that there are absolutely no inhabitants in the cities the Lord destroyed in the past from the perspective of Zephaniah in the seventh century B.C.
The substantive participle yāšab is the object of the preposition min which again means “without” since it is used in a privative sense meaning it pertains to something or someone is lacking.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase is indicating that the cities of these nations the Lord demolished in the past from the perspective of Zephaniah in the seventh century B.C. were without one inhabitant.
Zephaniah 3:6 “I have caused the destruction of nations. Their corner towers have been made a desolation. I caused their streets to be laid waste without one person traveling on these streets. Their cities have been demolished without one human being, without one inhabitant.” (My translation)
Zephaniah 3:6 once again quotes the Lord, the God of Israel directly.
This verse records four assertions.
They all speak of the actions taken by the Lord against Gentile nations in the past but from the perspective of Zephaniah in the seventh century B.C.
Specifically, it more than likely speaks of those nations such as the northern kingdom of Israel which fell to the Assyrians.
It also likely referring to the Canaanite nations which were destroyed by the Lord through the nation of Israel.
The first states that the Lord caused the destruction of these Gentile nations.
The second declares that the corner towers of these nations have been made a desolation.
The third assertion is that the Lord caused the streets of the cities of these Gentile nations to be laid waste without one person traveling on these streets anymore.
The fourth and final assertion states that these cities have been demolished without even one human being living in them, without even one inhabitant.
The purpose of all these solemn declarations in Zephaniah’s day in the seventh century B.C. was to first cause the unregenerate in the kingdom of Judah to repent by forsaking their idols and trusting in and worshipping the God of their forefathers.
Another purpose for these declarations was to cause apostate believers in the nation to repent by confessing their sins to God to be restored to fellowship and obey the Mosaic Law to maintain that fellowship.
These declarations have a third purpose, namely to cause the faithful believers in the kingdom of Judah to remain faithful so as to escape the Lord’s judgment.
Lastly, these declarations were designed to motivate the unregenerate in the nations mentioned in Zephaniah 2:4-15 in Zephaniah’s day in the seventh century B.C. to repent by forsaking their idols and trusting in and worshipping the God of Israel instead.
All four of these solemn declarations will have an application for both Jew and Gentile living during the seventieth week of Daniel.
First, they are designed to cause the unregenerate in Israel during this seven-year period to repent by forsaking their idols and trusting in and worshipping the God of Israel, Jesus Christ.
The second purpose will be to cause faithful believers in Israel to remain faithful so as to escape the Lord’s judgment.
Lastly, they are designed to cause the unregenerate Gentile nations during this period to repent by forsaking their idols and trusting in and worshipping the God of Israel, Jesus Christ.