Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Zephaniah 1:2-6

The first commandment is “I am the Lord your God and you shall have no other gods before Me. “ Man made gods of pride, greed and arrogance, the little foxes' God will not tolerate. There will be a day of reckoning when the goats will be divided from the sheep and His church full of true believers will emerge victorious. Seek the Lord while He may still be found. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened. Ask and you shall be given the truth and the truth will set you free!


The messages of the OT prophets did not arise from the prophets’ own will, but from God Himself. The message of Zephaniah begins with a pronouncement of universal judgment. These words not only introduce the particular judgment that would be pronounced upon Judah, but they also speak of the final judgment that will usher in the kingdom of God on earth. Stumbling blocks here refers to idolatry, or substitutes for God in the life and affections of a person. Because there is nothing in the universe that really may be compared to the Creator, God abhors all forms of idolatry. Baal worship and its evils had led to the destruction of Israel and its capital Samaria in 722 b.c. Likewise, Baal worship and its associations would lead to the destruction of Judah and its capital Jerusalem in 586 b.c. . Milcom is a reference to an Ammonite deity whose worship included acts of infant sacrifice. The people had experienced God and then turned away from Him.

Zephaniah 1:1-6

2 “I will utterly consume everything

From the face of the land,”

Says the Lord;

3 “I will consume man and beast;

I will consume the birds of the heavens,

The fish of the sea,

And the stumbling blocks along with the wicked.

I will cut off man from the face of the land,”


Says the Lord.


4 “I will stretch out My hand against Judah,

And against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

I will cut off every trace of Baal from this place,


The names of the idolatrous priests with the pagan priests—

5 Those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops;

Those who worship and swear oaths by the Lord,


But who also swear by Milcom;


6 Those who have turned back from following the Lord,


And have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.

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