Intro to Zephaniah
3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; Zephaniah 2:3a King Josiah is considered to be the last “good” king to reign over Judah. Although only eight years old when he began his 31-year reign, God used him to reform and remove the idols from the land. It is probably at the beginning of Josiah’s reigns when Zephaniah begins his prophetic ministry as recorded in the book of Zephaniah. Some of his contemporaries were Jeremiah, Nahum, and Habakkuk (check out those articles to learn more). The book of Zephaniah can be neatly divided into three sections that are nearly across each of the three chapters in the book; 1) Judgments pronounced on Judah (1:1-2:3), Judgments pronounced on the nations (2:4-15), and finally future hope (3). Which, perhaps, comes as no surprise to you seeing as that is the typical formula that you find in the rest of the prophetic writings. Similar to the other prophetic books, the th...