Zephaniah 1.4-The Lord Will Violently Execute As Criminals Those Worshipping Baal in the City of Jerusalem (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday June 7, 2026

Zephaniah Series: Zephaniah 1:4-The Lord Will Violently Execute As Criminals Those Worshipping Baal in the City of Jerusalem

Lesson # 10

Zephaniah 1:4 “Furthermore, I will surely stretch out My hand against Judah as well as each and every one of Jerusalem’s inhabitants. Specifically, I will bring about the violent execution out from this place the number belonging to Baal, the well-known pagan priests.” (Pastor’s translation)

Zephaniah 1:4 contains another prophetic statement which is amplified.

This prophetic statement and its amplification stand as an addition to the previous prophetic statements recorded in Zephaniah 1:2-3.

The Lord declares through the prophet Zephaniah that He will stretch out His hand against the kingdom of Judah as well as each and every one of the inhabitants of Jerusalem which is figurative language for the exercise of the Lord’s omnipotence for hostile action against His enemies.

This prophetic statement is then amplified in that the Lord through the prophet Zephaniah defines specifically who He will take hostile action against.

He asserts that He will bring about the violent execution out from this place, i.e. Jerusalem, the number belonging to Baal, the well-known pagan priests.

So the prophecy in Zephaniah 1:4 asserts that those who worship Baal in the city of Jerusalem will be violently executed as criminals by the Lord.

Baal was a Canaanite storm god.

There were those in Judah and Jerusalem who worshipped Baal that were in apostasy who trusted in Yahweh but did not continue to do so which is indicated by the statement in Zephaniah 1:6 which refers to those in Israel who turned back from following the Lord.

It is also indicated by the statement in Zephaniah 1:5 that there were those in Jerusalem who worshipped both the Lord and Milcom.

There were those in Judah who never trusted in Yahweh at any time and worshipped Him at any time which is indicated by the statement here in Zephaniah 1:4 which refers to the pagan priests who worshipped Baal in the city of Jerusalem.

As was the case in Zephaniah 1:2-3, these two prophetic statements in Zephaniah 1:4 are poetic hyperbole expressing the finality and decisiveness of God’s judgment of those practicing idolatry in Judah.

Thus, it does not speak of the annihilation of each and every one of those individuals in the kingdom of Judah or each and every one of the inhabitants in the city of Jerusalem.

This figure emphasizes that the Lord will not kill each and every person in Judah or in the city of Jerusalem but those who practice idolatry and do not worship Him.

The Lord’s two prophetic declarations contained in Zephaniah 1:4 are not related to the tribulation portion of Daniel’s seventieth week which will end with the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.

There are two reasons to support this.

First the worship of Baal took place during the days of Zephaniah and secondly Antichrist will be worshipped during the tribulation portion of Daniel’s seventieth week.

In fact, Antichrist will kill those who do not worship him (Revelation 13) and Daniel 11:36-40 and Second Thessalonians 2:3-10 teach that the Antichrist will exalt himself above every god that people worship.

So these prophetic declarations recorded in Zephaniah 1:4 were fulfilled in a near sense through Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon sacking Judah and the city of Jerusalem.

This is indicated by the fact that Nebuchadnezzar’s armies did kill the majority of those practicing idolatry in Judah since Nebuchadnezzar’s armies destroyed the city of Jerusalem during his third invasion of this city in 587 B.C.

Nebuchadnezzar’s attack of Jerusalem in 605 B.C. during the third year of Jehoiakim, Judah’s king resulted in the first of three deportations of the Jewish people (Daniel 1:1; 2 Kings 24:1-2, 13; 2 Chronicles 36:5, 6, 7).

Nebuchadnezzar captured the city of Jerusalem in 597 B.C. and in 586 B.C. destroyed the city and the temple.

The worship of Baal was introduced into the northern kingdom by Jezebel whose father was the high priest of the worship among the Sidonians.

In the southern kingdom, the worship of Baal was popularized and the altars of Baal were rebuilt during the reign of Manasseh.

King Josiah of Judah attempted to remove this worship of Baal in Judah and in the city of Jerusalem.

So in Zephaniah 1:4 these pagan priests who served in the worship of Baal in the city of Jerusalem will be violently executed as criminals by the Lord because they were disobedient to the first and second commandments of the Ten Commandments which are recorded in written form for Israel in Exodus 20:3-4.

They are also written on the hearts of every human being whether regenerate or unregenerate according to Paul’s teaching in Romans 2:14-15.