Zephaniah 1.3b-The Lord Will Cause the Destruction of Idolators (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday May 31, 2026

Zephaniah Series: Zephaniah 1:3b-The Lord Will Cause the Destruction of Idolaters

Lesson # 8

Zephaniah 1:1 The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah. 2 “I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord. 3 “I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. The wicked will have only heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.” (NIV84)

Zephaniah 1:3 “I am about to cause the human race as well as the animal kingdom to be destroyed. I am about to cause the birds belonging to the earth’s atmosphere as well as aquatic life belonging to the various bodies of water to be destroyed likewise the wicked who produce their idolatrous obstacles. Yes, I will bring about the violent execution of the human race residing on the face of the earth,” declares the Lord. (Pastor’s translation)

Through the prophet Zephaniah, the God of Israel declares that He will also cause the destruction of the wicked who produce their idolatrous obstacles.

This refers of course to those practicing idolatry in Judah.

This is indicated by the fact that Zephaniah 1:4 predicts the destruction of the idolatrous priests who worshipped their idols in the temple in Jerusalem.

Zephaniah describes these idolatrous priests in Zephaniah 1:5 as worshipping the stars on their rooftops of their homes and worshipping the Ammonite deity Milcom.

These idols are described with this word as being a stumbling block since the practice of idolatry serves as an obstacle for the Jew in worshipping Yahweh.

“The wicked” refers to regenerate Jews in apostasy who were practicing idolatry in Judah as well as unregenerate Jews who were doing so as well.

It refers to idolatrous regenerate and unregenerate Jews living in Judah and the city of Jerusalem and describes these Jews as wicked or evil in the sense that they are disobedient to God’s law which reflects His holy standards.

Specifically it describes these Jews as wicked or evil in the sense that they are disobedient to the first and second commandments of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-4).

Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. (NIV4)

This commandment also addresses the Israelites’ relationship with Yahweh.

It is a prohibition against the practice of idolatry.

In the Hebrew, it means “You must never make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water beneath the earth.”

This prohibition denotes that nothing in creation must ever be copied and used as an object of worship by the Israelites.

It prohibited the Israelites from making images or likenesses of Yahweh.

In Romans 1:18-23, Paul describes the entire human race as involved in idolatry.

Deuteronomy 32:17 and 1 Corinthians 10:20 teach that the worship of idols is connected to the worship of demons since the sacrificing to idols is in reality sacrificing to demons who promote the worship of idols.

Idolatry is the worship of something created as opposed to the worship of the Creator Himself.

Scores of references to idolatry appear in the Old Testament.

Joshua 24:2 states that Abraham’s father served idols.

The most noteworthy instance of idolatry in the history of Israel was Aaron’s making of the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai (Ex 32:1-4).

Idolatry originally meant the worship of idols, or the worship of false gods by means of idols, but came to mean among the Old Testament Hebrews any worship of false gods, whether by images or otherwise or the worship of the Lord through visible symbols (Hos 8:5-6; 10:5).

Idolatry is not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion, which belongs to God alone, but also is putting anything ahead of your relationship with God and which would prevent you from doing His will (1 Cor 10:14; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).

Ultimately in the New Testament idolatry came to mean, not only the giving to any creature or human creation the honor or devotion which belonged to God alone, but the giving to any human desire a precedence over God's will (1 Cor 10:14; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5; 1 Peter 4:3).

Exodus 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (NIV84)

These verses serve to explain the second commandment.

The Israelites were prohibited from worshipping other gods because Yahweh was a jealous God who tolerates no rivals, which is justified of course since He is the Creator and Redeemer and not a political ruler or angel.

God’s jealousy is not the same as the jealousy of men, which is a sin.

But rather it refers to God having the Israelites best interests in mind always.

It denotes His intense desire to protect the Israelites as well as His honor.

The statement “punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” does not mean that God punishes an innocent generation for the sins of the previous generation since Deuteronomy 24:16 rejects this.

Deuteronomy 24:16 “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin.” (NASB95)

Rather this statement teaches God’s determination to punish successive generations for committing the same sins they learned from their parents.

God will punish generation after generation if successive generations keep practicing the sins of previous generations.

In other words, children will be punished by God if they grow up to practice the same sins of their parents who are punished for their sinful acts.

Verse 6 stands in direct contrast to the promise in verse 5 to punish successive generations for practicing the sins of a predecessor generation.

The former presents God’s desire to bless the Israelites.

His desire is that the Israelites remain loyal to Him by obeying Him in order that He might bless them.

To love God is to obey Him (John 14:15), thus to hate God is to disobey Him.

Verse 5 speaks of the latter and verse 6 speaks of the former.

Love and hate in these two verses are not a reference to human emotions but rather to being loyal to God (love) and disloyal to Him (hate).