Zephaniah 3.12b-God Will Reward the Faith of the Humble and Meek Jewish Remnant
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday July 28, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:12b-God Will Reward the Faith of the Humble and Meek Jewish Remnant
Lesson # 81
Zephaniah 3:11 “In that day you will feel no shame because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst your proud, exulting ones, and you will never again be haughty on My holy mountain. 12 But I will leave among you a humble and lowly people, and they will take refuge in the name of the LORD.” (NASB95)
“And they will take refuge in the name of the LORD” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction w (וְ), “and” (2) third person plural qal active perfect form of the verb ḥāsâ (חָסָה), “they will take refuge” (3) preposition b (בְּ), “in” (4) masculine singular construct form of the noun šēm (שֵׁם), “the name of” (5) masculine singular proper noun yhwh (יהוה), “the Lord.”
This time the conjunction w is functioning as a marker of cause meaning it is introducing a prophetic declaration which presents the reason for the previous prophetic declaration that God will surely cause this humble and meek people to remain in the midst of the city of Jerusalem.
The verb ḥāsâ is in the qal stem and means “to take refuge in” since the word pertains to going to a place or person to find safety, rest or comfort implying the place or person of refuge is a place to be trusted to keep one safe.
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 construct state of state of this noun šēm means that it is governing the word which follows it and is expressing a genitive relation with this word which is the masculine singular proper noun yhwh, “the Lord.”
This word is the covenant-keeping personal name of God used in connection with the salvation of the human race, whether Jew or Gentile.
Therefore, in Zephaniah 3:12, we have the term yhwh, “Lord” employed under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by Zephaniah in order to emphasize that this remnant possesses a covenant relationship with Him.
The perfect conjugation of this verb is interpreted by most expositors and translations as referring to a future event and specifically a prophetic perfect expressing the certainty of this humble and meek remnant of Jews taking refuge in the name of the Lord.
However, it is better to interpret the perfect conjugation of this verb ḥāsâ as a complete-action perfect which describes a past action or event as a complete whole.
In other words, it is a constative perfect which is describing in summary fashion the action of this humble and meek remnant taking refuge in the name of the Lord.
This interpretation is supported by the fact that this word is contained in a causal clause which is presenting the reason why God will leave this humble and meek remnant in the city of Jerusalem.
He will do so because they took refuge in His name.
Furthermore, this prophecy will be fulfilled during the millennial reign of Christ.
Old Testament Jewish believers who will enjoy the millennial reign of Christ took refuge in the name of the Lord during their lifetimes on earth.
Also, Jewish believers who will suffer martyrdom during the tribulation portion of the seventieth week and those who will survive this period will all take refuge in the name of the Lord.
Therefore, for these reasons, the perfect conjugation of this verb should be interpreted as a constative perfect rather than a prophetic perfect emphasizing a past action of this humble and meek Jewish remnant who are rewarded for their faith by being welcomed into Jesus Christ’s millennial reign.
Zephaniah 3:11 “During that distinct and unique period in the future, you will no longer experience shame because of each and every one of your actions by means of which of you rebelled against Me because I will cause the removal of your proud boasters from your midst. Consequently, you will absolutely never again cause yourself to enter the state of being arrogant anymore on My holy mountain. 12 However, I will surely cause a humble and meek group of people to remain within your midst because they took refuge in the Lord’s name.” (My translation)
This causal clause presents the reason for the adversative clause that God will surely cause this humble and meek people to remain in the midst of the city of Jerusalem.
This causal clause asserts that this humble and meek people took refuge in the name of the Lord.
Therefore, this indicates that God will cause this humble and meek remnant of Jews to remain in Jerusalem because they took refuge in the name of the Lord.
In other words, He is rewarding this humble and meek Jewish remnant because they took refuge in His name.
“Name” is the noun šēm which contains several concepts.
First, it refers to the “person” of the Lord.
Secondly, the word refers to the “character” of the Lord, the aggregate features and traits of the Lord’s divine and human nature.
Thirdly, it refers to the Lord’s work in creation and bringing about the salvation of sinners.
Lastly, this word pertains to the Lord’s “reputation” before mankind as the Creator and Savior of the world and sovereign ruler of history.
Therefore, this humble and meek Jewish remnant took refuge in the Lord’s name in the sense that they trusted in His person for their spiritual and physical safety.
They trusted in His character for their spiritual and physical safety.
They trusted in His work on the cross to bring about their spiritual safety and trusted in Him as their Savior from sin and Satan and eternal condemnation.
They trusted in His name for their safety because they recognized He was sovereign over their lives.
Therefore, this causal clause in Zephaniah 3:12 teaches that God will leave this humble and meek remnant in the city of Jerusalem because they took refuge in His name.
This prophecy has never been fulfilled in history among the Jewish people but will be during the millennial reign of Christ.
Old Testament Jewish believers who will enjoy the millennial reign of Christ took refuge in the name of the Lord during their lifetimes on earth.
Thus, they will be rewarded with living during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
Also, Jewish believers who will suffer martyrdom during the tribulation portion of the seventieth week and those who will survive this period will all take refuge in the name of the Lord.
They too will be rewarded for their faith by being welcomed into the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Therefore, this humble and meek Jewish remnant will be rewarded for their faith by being welcomed into Jesus Christ’s millennial reign.
So Zephaniah 3:12 is teaching that this humble and meek remnant of Jewish believers will enjoy the millennial reign of Jesus Christ because they were humble and meek and they demonstrated they were humble and meek by taking refuge or trusting in the name of the Lord.
It is teaching that God rewards humility and faith in His person and work.
The Lord will test the believer’s faith after conversion in order to produce endurance in them (cf. James 1:2-3).
The Lord rewards the believer after his faith has been tested (James 1:12).