Zephaniah 3.7a-The Lord Express His Desire Apostate Jews in Jerusalem Would Repent
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday July 5, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:7a-The Lord Expresses His Desire Apostate Jews in Jerusalem Would Repent
Lesson # 70
Zephaniah 3:7 “I said, ‘Surely you will revere Me, accept instruction.’ So her dwelling will not be cut off according to all that I have appointed concerning her. But they were eager to corrupt all their deeds.” (NASB95)
“I said, ‘Surely you will revere Me, accept instruction’” is composed of the following: (1) first person singular qal active perfect form of the verb ʾāmar (אָמַר), “I said” (2) adverb ʾak (אַךְ), “surely” (3) second person feminine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb yārēʾ (יָרֵא), “you will revere” (4) object marker ʾēt (אֵת), which is not translated (5) first person singular independent personal pronoun ʾǎnî (אֲנִי), “me” (6) third person feminine singular qal active perfect form of the verb lāqaḥ (לָקַח), “accept” (7) masculine singular noun mûsār (מוּסָר), “instruction.”
The writer is using the figure of asyndeton in order to emphasize the statement here in Zephaniah 3:7.
Specifically, the figure is designed to emphasize the God of Israel’s disgust and disappointment that the people of Jerusalem would not respect Him and accept His instruction through the prophets He sent her.
The verb ʾāmar is in the qal stem and means “to say” with emphasis on the content which follows it.
Here the statement to follow is ʾak-tîrĕʾî ʾôtiy tiqḥî mûsār (אַךְ־תִּירְאִ֤י אוֹתִי֙ תִּקְחִ֣י מוּסָ֔ר), “Surely you will revere Me, accept instruction.”
The first person singular form of this verb is of course referring to the God of Israel.
Therefore, this verb expresses the idea of the God of Israel saying or speaking this to Himself.
From the perspective of the New Testament revelation, we could the see this verb expressing the idea of members of the Trinity speaking to themselves about Jerusalem.
Of course, Zephaniah did not have this revelation of the Trinity the church has.
The adverb ʾak means “surely, indeed” since it is functioning as a marker of emphasis and is thus emphasizing the statement: ʾak-tîrĕʾî ʾôtiy tiqḥî mûsār (אַךְ־תִּירְאִ֤י אוֹתִי֙ תִּקְחִ֣י מוּסָ֔ר), “Surely you will revere Me, accept instruction.”
The verb yārēʾ means “to have reverence and respect for, to worship” since the word is used in the qal stem and pertains to showing high status and honor to one in authority even bordering on fear.
The second person feminine singular form of this verb is referring to the city of Jerusalem.
This indicated by the fact that this word agrees in gender (feminine) and number (singular) with the noun ʿîr, “the city” in Zephaniah 3:1 which is modified by the articular feminine singular qal active participle form of the verb yānâ, “tyrannical.”
Together, they refer to Jerusalem.
This verb in Zephaniah 3:7 also agrees in gender and number with the verbs in Zephaniah 3:2.
The third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hîʾ, “her” which appears three times in Zephaniah 3:3, twice in Zephaniah 3:4 and once in Zephaniah 3:5 also agree in gender and number with the gender and number of this verb.
This word yārēʾ must be interpreted in relation to the statement in Zephaniah 3:6 which records the Lord declaring that He has in the past caused the destruction of nations.
He also asserts that the corner towers of these nations have been made a desolation.
He states that He also caused their streets to be laid waste without even one person traveling on them.
Lastly, He declares that these cities have been demolished without even one human being, without even one inhabitant.
Therefore, this verb yārēʾ in Zephaniah 3:7 is expressing the idea of the people of Jerusalem in Zephaniah’s day in the seventh century B.C. having reverence and respect for God’s authority, bordering on fear as the result of His destruction of other nations for their unrepentant sinful lives.
The first person singular independent personal pronoun ʾǎnî means “me” referring of course to the God of Israel and functions as the direct object of the verb yārēʾ which is indicated by the object marker ʾēt (אֵת), which marks this word out as the direct of this verb indicating the God of Israel as the object of respect.
The verb lāqaḥ means “to accept” since it pertains to believing something and so acting upon it.
The second person feminine singular form of this verb also refers to the citizens of Jerusalem.
Here the object of this word is the noun mûsār which means “discipline, correction” since the word in this context pertains to disciplining and rebuking and reproving someone through teaching in order to correct their behavior.
Here the discipline or correction came from the prophets of Israel like Zephaniah who followed Moses and like Moses were all sent by God.
Therefore, this verb expresses the idea of the citizens of Jerusalem in the seventh century B.C. accepting correction from the prophets sent to her by God.
Zephaniah 3:7 “I said, ‘Surely, she will respect Me! She will accept correction!’ Consequently, her dwelling place would never be violently destroyed in accordance with every type of suffering for which I am threatening to inflict as punishment against her. But in fact, all their activities they were eager to engage in are corrupted.” (My translation)
Zephaniah 3:7 begins with Zephaniah quoting the God of Israel directly as saying that He said she, the citizens of Jerusalem would surely respect Him and that they would accept His correction which they received from the prophets like Zephaniah himself.
This statement must be interpreted in relation to the statement in Zephaniah 3:6 which records the Lord declaring that He has in the past caused the destruction of nations.
He also asserts that the corner towers of these nations have been made a desolation.
He states that He also caused their streets to be laid waste without even one person traveling on them.
Lastly, He declares that these cities have been demolished without even one human being, without even one inhabitant.
Therefore, this first statement in Zephaniah 3:7 is expressing the idea of the people of Jerusalem in Zephaniah’s day having reverence and respect for God’s authority, bordering on fear as the result of His destruction of other nations such as the northern kingdom of Israel for their unrepentant sinful lives.
So this direct quote from God expresses His disappointment at the behavior of His people living in the city of Jerusalem in the seventh century B.C. who were living in apostasy.
Of course, God is omniscient and knew that these apostate Jews would reject His correction and disrespect Him.
Thus, He is using language of accommodation meaning that He is speaking in a manner so that these Jews could understand His desire to bless them rather than discipline them.
It is thus indicating that God’s intention is not to judge His people but rather to bless them as indicated by His call to the apostate Jews in Judah to repent recorded in Zephaniah 2:1 and the commands to the faithful to continue to obey Him so as to avoid discipline from Him.
God’s desire was ultimately that they worship Him.
There are four English words, “reverence,” “respect,” “awe,” and “wonder,” which express the concept of worshipping God.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “reverence”: “A feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.”
Therefore, paraphrasing this definition and applying it to the worship of God by those Jews living in Jerusalem in the seventh century B.C., we would say that God wanted these people to worship Him by possessing an attitude of deep respect and awe for Him.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “respect”: “esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or trait, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or trait.”
Therefore, paraphrasing this definition and applying it to the worship of God by those Jews living in Jerusalem in the seventh century B.C., God wanted these Jews to esteem the excellence of His person as manifested through His personal qualities or attributes such as love, faithfulness, mercy, compassion, justice, righteousness, truth, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, immutability, and sovereignty.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “awe”: “an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc. produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful or the like.”
Therefore, paraphrasing this definition and applying it to the worship of God by those Jews living in Jerusalem in the seventh century B.C., we could say that God wanted these people to possess an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration for Him.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “wonder”: “to be filled with admiration, amazement or awe; marvel.”
Therefore, paraphrasing this definition and applying it to the worship of God by those Jews living in Jerusalem in the seventh century B.C., we can say that God wanted these apostate Jews to be filled with admiration, amazement and awe in response to His presence.