Zephaniah 3.18-God Will Gather the Remnant Which Suffered Anguish, Distress and Shame Because of Not Being Able to Observe the Feasts
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday September 20, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:18-God Will Gather the Remnant Which Suffered Anguish, Distress and Shame Because of Not Being Able to Observe the Feasts
Lesson # 91
Zephaniah 3:18 “I will gather those who grieve about the appointed feasts— They came from you, O Zion; The reproach of exile is a burden on them.” (NASB95)
“I will gather those who grieve about the appointed feasts” is composed of the following: (1) masculine plural construct niphal passive participle form of the verb yāgâ (יָגָה), “those who grieve” (2) preposition min (מִן), “about” (3) masculine singular noun môʿēd (מוֹעֵד), “the appointed feasts” (4) first person singular qal active perfect form of the verb ʾāsap (אָסַף), “I will gather.”
The verb yāgâ (yee-gah) is in the niphal stem and means “to be grieved” since the word pertains to a feeling or attitude of emotional sorrow and pain and speaks of mental anguish resulting from affliction or adversity of some sort.
The noun môʿēd (moe-ed) means “appointed feast” since the word pertains to a festival that occurs at an appointed time and speaks of a festival of celebration and/or worship with emphasis that this is a time appointed by an authority which may include festive meals and offerings to God.
The word refers to the seven great feasts of Israel which God commanded the nation of Israel in the Mosaic Law to observe in order to worship Him with each feast to be observed during a specific day or days in the Jewish calendar.
The noun môʿēd is the object of the preposition min (meen) which means “because of” since the word is functioning as a marker of cause expressing the reason for the faithful believers in Israel suffering mental anguish.
Therefore, God is stating that the faithful believers in Israel suffered mental anguish because of the loss of their appointed feasts or because they could no longer worship the Lord during the seven great feasts of Israel.
The verb ʾāsap (ah-sahf) is in the qal stem and means “to gather” since the word in this context pertains to a collection or mass moving to one place and is modified by the preposition min (מִן), and the second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat (אַתְּ).
This prepositional phrase is not modifying the third person plural qal active perfect form of the verb hāyâ (הָיָה) (hie-yah), “they came” as interpreted by the NASB95.
This is indicated by the fact that this prepositional phrase syntactically is modifying verb ʾāsap (ah-sahf) as indicated by the fact that it stands apposite to this verb rather than hāyâ (hie-yah) which stands before it.
The second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat (אַתְּ) means “you” referring to the faithful remnant of Israel and is the object of the preposition min which means “namely” since it is functioning in an explicative sense.
This preposition is indicating that the second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat is identifying specifically who are those suffering mental anguish because of not being able to worship God during the seven great feasts of Israel.
Therefore, the verb ʾāsap and this prepositional phrase express the idea that those who have suffered mental anguish because of not being able to worship God during the seven great feasts of Israel, namely the remnant of Israel, will be gathered by God.
“They came from you, O Zion; The reproach of exile is a burden on them” I composed of the following: (1) preposition min (מִן), “about” (2) second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat (אַתְּ), “you” (3) third person plural qal active perfect form of the verb hāyâ (הָיָה), “they came” (4) feminine singular noun maśʾēt (מַשְׂאֵת), “burden” (5) preposition ʿǎl (עַל), “on” (6) third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hîʾ (הִיא), “them” (7) feminine singular noun ḥerpâ (חֶרְפָּה), “reproach.”
The verb hāyâ (hie-yah) means “to become” since the word pertains to entering into a change of state or condition and the object of this verb is the noun maśʾēt (mass-ate) which means “a cause of distress.”
Therefore, this verb and the noun maśʾēt are expressing the idea that these appointed feasts have become a cause of distress for the remnant of Israel.
The noun ḥerpâ (hairrr-pah) means “reproach” since the word pertains to the state of experiencing dishonor or disgrace or shame.
The third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hîʾ (הִיא) (hee) means “them” referring to the appointed feasts or in other words, the seven great feasts of Israel.
This word is the object of the preposition ʿǎl which means “because of” since the word is functioning as a marker of cause expressing the reason for the remnant of Israel experiencing reproach or shame.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase expresses the fact that the remnant of Israel experienced shame because of not being able to worship God during these appointed feasts.
Zephaniah 3:18 “I will gather you who have suffered mental anguish because of the appointed feasts. They are a cause of distress, because of them, a cause of shame.” (My translation)
Here in Zephaniah 3:18, the prophet Zephaniah is once again quoting the God of Israel directly rather than speaking on His behalf as His representative to the Jewish people.
In this verse, God states that He will gather the remnant of Israel which is speaking of restoring this remnant to the land God promised to the progenitors of the nation in the Abrahamic and Palestinian covenants.
The purpose of which is to worship Him in the land and in the temple in Jerusalem.
God describes this remnant as suffering mental anguish because of the appointed feasts, which is a reference to the seven great feasts God commanded Israel in the Mosaic Law to observe in order to worship Him.
The remnant was grieving because they could not observe these feasts and they could not observe these feasts because God removed them from the land promised to the progenitors of the nation.
He removed them because the majority in the nation were unrepentant rebellious sinners.
The inability to observe these feasts was a cause of distress for this faithful remnant and a cause of shame.
This faithful remnant refers to the faithful Jews from the southern kingdom of Judah who lived during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. and were exiled to Babylon.
It also refers to the faithful Jews in Israel who will be dispersed throughout the nations during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week of Daniel because of the persecution of Antichrist.
Therefore, this prophecy in Zephaniah 3:18 was fulfilled in a near sense when God brought back a remnant from Babylon and they rebuilt the temple and restored the worship of the God of Israel.
It will be fulfilled in a far sense when Jesus Christ brings back to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their descendants, a regenerate remnant who will worship Jesus Christ in this land and in a temple during Jesus Christ’s millennial reign.
Now, we must remember that these feasts were prescribed in the Mosaic Law.
However, the Mosaic Law has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ and He is the substantive reality of these feasts according to Colossians 2:17.
Therefore, since this prophecy in Zephaniah 3:18 will be fulfilled in a far sense with the remnant of Israel living during the seventieth week, it would indicate that these seven great feasts will be observed during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
This is further supported by Zechariah 14:61-21 which predicts that a faithful remnant in Israel will worship the Lord Jesus Christ during His millennial reign by observing the feasts of Tabernacles.
It would appear that the observance of these feasts will simply be the means by which this remnant will worship Jesus Christ since this remnant will be regenerated and will thus already know about salvation and how to get saved.
Therefore, the observance of these feasts would simply be one of the means by which this remnant experiences sanctification.
The twenty-third chapter of the book of Leviticus gives us an account of the seven great feasts of the Lord.
The seven feasts may be divided into two sections of four and three.
The first section includes the following feasts: (1) Passover (2) Unleavened Bread (3) First-Fruits (4) Pentecost.
Then there was an interval of four months followed by the second section which includes the following feasts: (1) Trumpets (2) Atonement (3) Tabernacles.
The three great festivals were the following: (1) Passover (2) Pentecost (3) Tabernacles.
They extended from the fourteenth day of the first month (Nisan) to the twenty-second day of the seventh month Tishri or Ethanim (ETH uh nim).
These seven feasts were given only to Israel to be observed and not the Church.
The following Feasts were literally fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ during the dispensation of the hypostatic union: (1) Passover: His voluntary death on the cross (2) Unleavened Bread: His impeccability as a Person. (3) Pentecost was literally fulfilled when the Baptism of the Spirit took place in June of 33 A.D., which marked the beginning of the church age.
The following Feasts are eschatological in nature and thus have yet to be literally fulfilled: (1) Trumpets: Rapture or resurrection of the Church terminating the Church Age. (2) Atonement: Second Advent of Christ ending the seventieth week of Daniel dispensation. (3) Tabernacles: Millennial Reign of Christ on planet earth.
Passover: Leviticus 23:4-5; 1 Corinthians 5:7; Unleavened Bread: Leviticus 23:6-8; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; First Fruits: Leviticus 23:9-14; 1 Corinthians 15:23; Pentecost: Leviticus 23:15-22; Acts 2:1-4; Trumpets: Leviticus 23:23-25; 1 Corinthians 15:52; Day of Atonement: Leviticus 23:26-32; 1 John 2:2; Tabernacles: Leviticus 23:33-44; John 7:2.