Zephaniah 3.9-The Conversion of the Gentiles Because of the Exercise of God's Righteous Indignation Against Them
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday July 19, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:9-The Conversion of the Gentiles Because of the Exercise of God’s Righteous Indignation
Lesson # 76
Zephaniah 3:8 “Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “For the day when I rise up as a witness. Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out on them My indignation, all My burning anger; For all the earth will be devoured by the fire of My zeal. 9 For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD, to serve Him shoulder to shoulder.” (NASB95)
“For then I will give to the peoples purified lips” presents the reason for the previous two prophetic declarations recorded in Zephaniah 3:8.
“Then I will give to the peoples purified lips” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kî (כִּי), “For” (2) adverb ʾāz (אָז), “then” (3) first person singular qal active imperfect form of the verb hāpak (הָפַךְ), “I will give” (4) preposition ʾel (אֶל), “to” (5) masculine plural form of the noun ʿam (עַם), “the peoples” (6) feminine singular noun śāpâ (שָׂפָה), “lips” (7) feminine singular adjective bārûr (בָּרוּר), “purified.”
The adverb ʾāz is functioning as a temporal marker indicating that when God exercises His righteous indignation against the Gentile nations of the earth, He will simultaneously give to them purified lips in order to call upon the name of the Lord and to worship Him together as a corporate unit.
The noun ʿam is in the plural and means “the peoples” and refers of course the Gentile peoples residing on planet earth.
The verb hāpak is transitive and means “to cause a transformation” and the word’s direct object is the noun śāpâ, which means “speech” since the word pertains to the power of expressing or communicating thoughts by speaking.
The noun śāpâ is modified by the adjective bārûr which means “pure” since it pertains to being ceremonially clean for the purpose of proper worship and relationship from the Jewish perspective in the seventh century B.C.
Therefore, this verb hāpak is expressing the idea of the God of Israel “transforming the speech” of the Gentile peoples to a pure speech implying that their speech was impure in the judgment of the God of Israel.
“That all of them may call on the name of the LORD” is composed of the following: (1) preposition l (לְ), “that” (2) qal active infinitive construct form of the verb qārāʾ (קָרָא), “may call” (3) collective singular construct form of the noun kōl (כֹּל), “all” (4) third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ (־הֵמָה), “them” (5) preposition b (בְּ), “on” (6) masculine singular construct form of the noun šēm (שֵׁם), “the name of” (7) masculine singular proper noun yhwh (יהוה), “the Lord.”
The third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ means “them” referring to the Gentile peoples of the earth and the noun kōl means “all” since it denotes totality.
The verb qārāʾ means “to call upon” and is a reference to prayer and is used here of the Gentile peoples of the earth expressing their worship of God in prayer as a result of having their speech purified by Him through the exercise of His righteous indignation against them.
The verb qārāʾ is the object of the preposition l means “so that, with the result that” since it is functioning as a marker of result indicating the Gentile peoples of the earth will call upon the person of the Lord in worshipful prayer “as a result of” the Lord purifying their speech.
The noun šēm means “name” as the designation of God referring to the authority, majesty, power and excellent character and nature of the person of the Lord.
The proper noun yhwh, “the Lord” is the covenant-keeping personal name of God.
The noun šēm is the object of the preposition b which is marking this noun as the direct object of the verb qārāʾ indicating that the person of the Lord is receiving the action of being called upon in prayer in the sense of being worshipped in prayer.
The infinitive construct conjugation of this verb is an infinitive construct of result indicating that all of the Gentile peoples will call upon the person of the Lord in prayer to worship Him “as a result of” their speech being purified by the Lord.
“To serve Him shoulder to shoulder” is composed of the following: (1) preposition l (לְ), “to” (2) qal active infinitive construct form of the verb ʿābad (עָבַד), “serve” (3) third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû (הוּא), “Him” (4) masculine singular noun šĕkem (שְׁכֶם), “shoulder to shoulder” (5) masculine singular cardinal number ʾeḥād (אֶחָד), “shoulder to shoulder.”
The third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû means “Him” referring of course to the God of Israel.
The verb ʿābad means “to serve” as an expression of worship indicating that God will give pure lips to the Gentile peoples so that they call upon His name in prayer in order to serve Him as an expression of worship.
This verb is the object of the preposition l which is functioning as a marker of result and the infinitive construct conjugation of this verb is an infinitive construct of result indicating that all of the Gentile peoples will serve the Lord “as a result of” their speech being purified by the Lord.
The expression šeḵěm ʾě·ḥāḏ (שְׁכֶם אֶחָד) is expressing the idea of the Gentile peoples serving the God of Israel “in unison” or “with one accord” or “in a unified manner.”
Zephaniah 3:8 “Therefore, each and every one of you wait patiently for Me,” declares the Lord, “for the day I attack and take war-booty. Indeed, I have decided to gather nations, I will assemble kingdoms in order to pour out against them My righteous indignation, every bit of My intense burning anger. In fact, the entire earth will be consumed by means of My jealous anger. 9 Because, at that time, I will give to the peoples a pure speech so that all of them as a corporate unit calls upon the Lord’s name, so that they serve Him in a unified manner.” (My translation)
Zephaniah 3:9 belongs to the final section of the book of Zephaniah which begins at Zephaniah 3:8 and ends with last verse of the book.
Zephaniah 3:8-20 contains prophecies regarding the regeneration and restoration of not only the nation of Israel but also the regeneration of the Gentiles.
Zephaniah 3:9 begins with a causal clause and is followed by two result clauses.
The causal clause presents the reason for the previous two prophetic declarations recorded in Zephaniah 3:8.
In the first, the God of Israel declares that He has decided to gather nations and assemble kingdoms in order to pour out His righteous indignation against them.
The second advances upon this statement and intensifies it in that God asserts that the entire earth will be consumed by means of His jealous anger.
These nations and kingdoms are Gentile nations and kingdoms.
Now, here in Zephaniah 3:9, this causal clause asserts that the God of Israel will give these Gentile peoples or nations of the earth purified lips.
Therefore, this causal indicates that God will exercise His righteous indignation against the Gentile people of the earth because it will bring about their repentance resulting in their receiving purified lips as a result of exercising faith in Him.
In other words, the Gentiles will repent and be regenerated and consequently receive from God purified lips in order to call upon the name of the Lord to worship Him in prayer as a corporate unit because He exercised His righteous indignation against them.
Experiencing God’s righteous indignation will reveal to the Gentile nations of the earth that they have offended God’s holiness and consequently, it will also reveal their need for mercy and forgiveness from God.
Thus, this causal clause at the beginning of Zephaniah 3:9 is speaking of the conversion and regeneration of the Gentile peoples because they experienced God’s righteous indignation and their speech was purified because they will be purified through faith in the Lord.
Now, this prophetic declaration at the beginning of Zephaniah 3:9 has never been fulfilled in history since the Scriptures nor history records this ever taking place.
However, the Scriptures do prophecy that this will take place during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ which follows the tribulation portion of Daniel’s seventieth week which is terminated by the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, the prediction that God will give the Gentile peoples pure speech because they experienced His righteous indignation will take place when Gentiles will trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior during the tribulation portion of Daniel’s seventieth week.
They get saved because they experienced God’s righteous indignation during this period in the future.
One of God’s purposes in exercising His righteous indignation during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week is to prepare the nation Israel for her Messiah (Deut. 4:30; Jer. 30:7; Ezek. 20:37; Dan. 12:1; Zech. 13:8-9).
Many in Israel will accept Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah during this time and along with Old Testament saints, they will enter into the millennial reign of Christ.
God’s purpose for Israel and the Gentiles during the Tribulation is “crisis evangelism” or in other words, to lead them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
These Jews who turn to Jesus Christ as Savior will enter into the blessings of the Christ’s millennial kingdom and experience the fulfillment of all Israel’s covenants.
The good news that the King is about to return will be preached (Matt. 24:14) so that Israel may be turned to their Deliverer.
The book of Revelation teaches that not only will many Jews believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior (Rev. 7:1-8; Matt. 25:1-13) but also, many Gentiles will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and will be martyred according to Revelation 7:9-17.
So therefore, the divine judgments of the tribulation period that will fall on the inhabitants of the earth, both Jew and Gentile are designed to lead men to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ since God desires all men to be saved (cf. 2 Pet. 3:9).