When was Zephaniah written?

Zephaniah (whom the Lord protects). The pedigree of this prophet is carefully given for four generations, as also the period of his prophecy — the reign of the godly Josiah, the last pious king of Judah (Zeph. 1:1). Both Zephaniah and Habakkuk were contemporary with Jeremiah. The time and place of these predictions are thus easily ascertainable. It was in the land of Judea, and about 630 B.C., or a few years later when Zephaniah uttered his "Thus saith the Lord" — the usual formula of the prophets.

The references to preceding prophecies by Isaiah, Amos, and Joel, are numerous in so short a prophecy. The harmony and entire agreement in the prophetic books of the Old Testament are well worth consideration, as evidencing that one Divine mind and purpose characterise all Scripture. The great themes of all the prophets are iniquity, judgment, and glory, and Zephaniah finely descants on these subjects. In the main the burden of his prophecy is the "great day of the Lord," the day of Jehovah's anger — an expression common to all the prophets, and signifying the future period of judgment. It is, therefore, pre-eminently a book of judgment, but glory triumphs in the end. The judgments predicted by this prophet are not only general and universal in their range and extent, but are also minute and particular — none escape. Thy land and people, O Immanuel, will yet be the objects of Thy joy, and the rest of Thy love!

Father of Josiah and of Hen. Zech. 6:10, 14.

The only personal detail given of this prophet is his ancestry for four generations: he was the son of Cushi, a descendant of Hizkiah. The date to the prophecy is 'the days of Josiah' king of Judah, who reigned B.C. 641-610. The prophecy gives the judgement of God with respect to the testimony that was being borne when there was an outward reformation under a pious king who trembled at God's law. The Spirit of God could read the hearts of the people, and could see what moral corruption was associated with the outward worship of God: cf. Jer. 3:6-10. The prophet proclaims the judgements that must fall upon the land, and upon Judah and Jerusalem, though with grace to the faithful remnant at the end. Within four years of the close of Josiah's reign Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, the holy vessels carried away, and the captivity of Judah commenced.

Zeph. 1. The prophecy opens with "I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith Jehovah." God could see the followers of Baal still there, and the Chemarim (idolatrous priests, mentioned in 2 Kings 23:5 and Hosea 10:5, margin), and those who worshipped the host of heaven; and those that sware by Jehovah and by Malcham, or 'their king,' that is, Baal: cf. Jer. 49:1, margin. Judgement would surely overtake them, and their gold and silver should not deliver them in the great day of God's wrath upon the whole land of Judah and Jerusalem. Maktesh in Zeph. 1:11 is literally 'of a mortar' or 'hollow place' as in a rock (cf. Judges 15:19; Prov. 27:22, where the same Hebrew word occurs), probably signifying Jerusalem, where, as in a mortar, they would be pounded by their enemies.

This arrangement is not chronological. Joel precedes Hosea, while Hosea, Amos and Jonah were nearly contemporary; Obadiah is difficult to place. The introduction to the book enters into the question of date. Micah, the Morasthite, ministered between the years 757 and 699 B.C. Nahum, the complement and counterpart of the book of Jonah, also prophesied during the period of Isaiah. Habakkuk is later than the preceding prophets. He speaks of the invasion of the land by Chaldeans as imminent; his prophetic office was probably exercised during the second half of Manasseh's reign. Zephaniah prophesied under the reign of Josiah, between 642 and 611 B.C. Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are post-exilic.

Prophet Time PeriodJoelduring 9th century BCObadiahduring 9th century BC - or after 586 BC?Jonah800 - 790 BCHosea 772/752 - 722 BCIsaiah 767 - 697 BCAmos767 - 753 BCMicah750 - 700 BCNahum663 - 612 BCJeremiah627 - 586 BCZephaniah622 - 606 BCHabakkuk612 - 605 BCDaniel605 - 536/535 BCEzekiel593 - 571 BCHaggai around 520 BCZechariah520 - 480 BCMalachi450 - 425 BC

Zephaniah lived in the capital of Jerusalem (compare with chap. 1:4.10.11.12) and had admission to the court. The prophets Nahum, Habakkuk and Jeremiah were his contemporaries.

From chap. 2:13 one can conclude that Zephaniah must have prophesied before the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC. Many scientists believe Zephaniah to have prophesied even before king Josiah’s reformation. The reformation started in Josiah’s 18 th year which was around 622 BC. This assumption is supported by references such as Zeph. 1:4-6.8-9.12; 3:1-3.7. It is possible that Zephaniah through his ministry was the author of king Josiah’s and the people’s return to God (compare 2 Kings 22 – 23; 2 Chron. 34 – 35). There had already been a return to Jehovah under king Hezekiah but all good things had been lost again by the godless reigns of Manasseh and Amon.

Zephaniah is the last of the prophets before the captivity, according to the arrangement of the Hebrew Bible. Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are post-exilic. His name means " Jehovah hides." His genealogy is traced back for four generations. Zephaniah was the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah. We have therefore more information concerning him than of most of the other minor prophets. There must be a reason why these four generations are given. We believe the reason is to show that he was of royal descent, the great-grandson of the pious king of Judah, Hezekiah. Hizkiah is the same as Hezekiah in the Hebrew. Jewish tradition as well as the reliable rabbinical sources confirm this. The objection that the royal title is not given in connection with Hizkiah is insignificant; at any rate "king of Judah" is mentioned in connection with Josiah in the first verse of this book of Zephaniah, so that it may have been left out in connection with Hizkiah on purpose. As to his personal history we have no further information. It seems as if the Lord has hidden for a good reason these details of His chosen instruments.

The Date of Zephaniah

The date is given in the first verse. He prophesied in the days of Josiah the king of Judah. We are therefore not left in doubt about the time in which he exercised his office as prophet; he was the contemporary of Jeremiah and Micah. As to the exact time during the reign of Josiah in which Zephaniah prophesied, we can be quite sure that it was during the time of the reformation instituted by the king, that is between the twelfth and eighteenth year; yet the reformation was still in process and not yet fully completed. The temple must have been purified from the idol abominations, for Zephaniah presupposes the maintenance of the temple worship.

The name of Zephaniah means “treasured (protected, hidden) of Jehovah”. Zephaniah is the only prophet to mention four generations of his ancestors. Many scientists think that his forefather Hizkiah is identical with king Hezekiah of Judah of the same name (716 – 687 BC). According to his own indication in chap. 1:1 Zephaniah ministered in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah (640 – 609 BC). The time in between seems rather short for four generations but on the other hand his special royal descent could be a reason for this genealogy. This is also confirmed by Jewish tradition.

It is evident, save to those who regard the prophets as impostors, that this utterance of Zephaniah must have preceded the destruction of Nineveh. He lived, there can be little doubt, in Josiah's reign. "And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations. Both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds: for he shall uncover the cedar work. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passes by her shall hiss, and wag his hand." Thus we find it is a judgment which selects two classes, nations near and others afar off, to show the character of an universal judgment upon the world. It is the day of Jehovah on the earth.

The Lord, in that day, will be terrible unto all these nations. The idol gods will all be abolished. In their place He alone will be worshipped (Zech. 14). All the isles of the nations will turn in worship to Him. The Ethiopians, the African nations, will fall under the judgment. He will stretch out His hand against Assyria, the power of the north, including both the Assyrian which then was and the Assyrian of the end-time, still to come. It is evident from verse 13 that when Zephaniah penned these words Nineveh had not yet fallen. Her utter desolation is predicted by Zephaniah as it was predicted by Nahum. The fate of Nineveh announced was literally accomplished. And some day all the proud cities of the nations, steeped in iniquity, will also fall as Nineveh was dethroned from her place of mistress of the world.

Zephaniah like Habakkuk will be found to have some points of resemblance with the prophet Jeremiah; and this not merely in the fact that the Chaldean is the enemy of which both treat, but also in their both setting forth the blessedness reserved for Israel and Jerusalem when the judgments of Jehovah shall have been executed on the nations. Nevertheless there is this wide difference between the two lesser prophets; that Zephaniah in treating of the glory of God is much more external, while Habakkuk dwells far more on the needed exercises of heart with God's answer to the Jew both now and hereafter. Thus the two minor prophets take up each a separate item of the prophet of Anathoth. Jeremiah's prophecy abounds in internal exercises of heart, and here Habakkuk resembled him: we see his grief and hear his complaints and laments to Jehovah when evil was allowed to prevail. On the other hand he shows us the execution of divine judgment which will set aside the proud Gentiles, and reduce the people of God to their true place, in order that, being abased in heart, they may be exalted outwardly. Zephaniah presents rather the latter, as Habakkuk the former. Jerusalem is in the foreground, but in connection with the general judgment of the nations from whose evils the Jews had in no way kept themselves apart. Thus there is no precise mention of the apostate powers of the latter day. As Antichrist therefore is not named or specially described, so neither is the Messiah, save generally as the Jehovah God of Israel.

"The word of Jehovah which came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah." Thus we have a full and clear account of Zephaniah, as also of the time in which he wrote. It was of no small importance that there should be prophets raised up during the time of Josiah and subsequently. Jeremiah was rather the latest of the three already named. The importance morally of their prophecies then was, that no one either at the time of Josiah or afterwards should be deceived as to the facts of the partial reformation accomplished during the reign of that pious prince. There is nothing that is more apt to deceive and to disappoint than a wave of blessing which passes over a nation so far gone from righteousness as the Jews of that day. Josiah's eminent piety, his remarkable zeal in dealing sternly with what profaned the name of Jehovah, above all the subjection of heart to the word of God which peculiarly characterized himself, in no way set the nation right. Undoubtedly there must have been then, as always, sanguine hopes indulged by the excellent of the earth. It was of great moment therefore that God's mind about the matter should be made known in order that none, if deceived for the moment, should be too bitterly disappointed at last. We ought to appreciate heartily whatever of blessing God gives, and seek to be kept from a passive or insensible spirit.

On the other hand to look for more than a partial and passing accomplishment of good to individuals through the grace of God is not wise. The blessing that is given, while a matter of immense thankfulness towards souls and of praise to His own mercy, really leaves the moral state of those who reject it worse than before. It does not fail in the end to accelerate the downward course of the mass, and thus brings in a time of deeper ruin. So we see that there was but a short space indeed that separated Josiah's bright burst of pious effort for God's glory from the awful evils which succeeded and brought an insupportable judgment from God on the guilty people. Zephaniah was one of those who spoke in Jehovah's name during these promising times; and thus he begins his message: "I will utterly consume all things from off the land, says Jehovah."