Zephaniah-Introduction-Literary Genre, Structure, and Canonicity
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday January 13, 2016
Zephaniah: Introduction-Literary Genre, Structure, and Canonicity
Lesson # 3
With the exception of Zephaniah 1:1 and 2:10-11 the book of Zephaniah is poetry.
J.M.P. Smith writes “Zephaniah can hardly be considered great as a poet. He does not rank with Isaiah, nor even with Hosea in this particular.... He had an imperative message to deliver and proceeded in the most direct and forceful way to discharge his responsibility. What he lacked in grace and charm, he in some measure atoned for by the vigour and clarity of his speech. He realised the approaching terror so keenly that he was able to present it vividly and convincingly to his hearers. No prophet has made the picture of the day of Yahweh more real.” Patterson states “Great poet or not, Zephaniah is nonetheless to be commended for his powerful pronouncements, carefully contrived puns (e.g., 2:4-7) and striking imagery. Concerning the last point, Crenshaw calls attention to Zephaniah’s ‘especially vivid description of the Deity wandering through the streets of Jerusalem, lamp in hand, searching for those who are overcome by a false sense of security’ (1:12).’ ”
There are various literary genres employed by Zephaniah.
There are judgment oracles (1:2-3, 4-6, 8-9) as well as calls for repentance (1:7; 2:1-3; 3:8).
There are also calls to praise and a psalm of praise (3:14-17) as well as salvation oracles (3:9-13, 18-20).
Zephaniah contains several prophetic genres or forms.
First the most prominent in the book is the prophecy of punishment or divine retribution (1:2-6).
This would include first the announcement of the punishment (1:2-4) followed by the accusation of offense (1:5-6).
Other examples of this genre are found in the prophecies regarding Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Cush and Assyria (2:4-15).
The prophet Zephaniah also employs prophetic exhortation which is a form with a command followed by a clause which presents motivation for obeying the command (1:7, 10; 3:8, 14).
These two are similar in form to the prophecy of punishment and in function to the prophetic exhortation.
There is a call to repentance followed by the presentation of the motivation for repenting (2:1-3) which in turn expands the development of the accusation.
So the prophetic charge against Jerusalem of failing to repent which is found in Zephaniah 3:1-7 explains the reasons why the Lord also punishes Jerusalem along with the other nations mentioned in the book.
This charge thus becomes the basis for a renewed call for Judah to repent.
Interestingly, Patterson identifies Zephaniah 1:14-18 as “emergent apocalyptic” meaning that this prophecy anticipates the apocalyptic genre but does not actually contain this genre.
So to summarize, the book of Zephaniah is primarily poetry and contains several literary genres, namely, oracles, repentance, praise and salvation oracles.
It also contains the prophetic genres of divine retribution and prophetic exhortation as well as prophetic eschatology.
This book of Zephaniah contains a variety of literary techniques which would include judgement speeches, calls for repentance, a hymn as well as salvation speeches.
Its structure is similar to the book of Isaiah as well as Ezekiel since all three begin with a set of oracles directed at Judah and then moves to a collection of oracles directed at foreign nations.
All conclude with a series of oracles regarding the future restoration of the nation of Israel despite her great apostasy.
The figure of inclusio marks the oracles of judgment.
This figure is a literary device that repeats words or themes at the beginning and end of a section.
The repetition brackets the section.
The Bible makes frequent use of inclusios in order to structure both long and short sections of text.
The title of Zephaniah (1:1) contains three parts: (1) the prophetic word formula (2) identification of the prophet and his ancestry (3) identification of the historical context of the prophet’s ministry.
The prophetic word formula (“the word of the Lord came to”) is the typical introductory phrase used among the prophetic books (cf. Jeremiah 1:2; Ezekiel 1:3; Hosea 1:1; Joel 1:1; Jonah 1:1; Micah 1:1; Haggai 1:1; Malachi 1:1).
This formula asserts the prophecy originates with God and not the prophet.
The book of Zephaniah consists of three major sections: (1) Zephaniah 1:1, 1:2-2:3 (2) 2:4-3:7 (3) 3:8-20.
Zephaniah 1:1 contains the title of the book and as we noted the identification of the book’s human author.
Zephaniah 1:2-2:3 contains the announcement of judgment upon Judah and the city of Jerusalem (1:2-6).
This is followed by an exhortation to prepare for the day of the Lord (2:1-3).
Then, the second major section of the book contained in Zephaniah 2:4-3:7 presents a series of prophecies of punishment against various nations in the prophet’s day (2:4-15).
Also it contains a prophetic charge of failure against Jerusalem for failing to repent of their sinful behavior toward the Lord (3:1-7).
All these prophecies and the prophetic charge against the inhabitants of Jerusalem provide the basis for obeying the commands contained in Zephaniah 2:1-3.
The third and final major section of the book which appears in Zephaniah 3:8-20 contains two prophetic exhortations.
The first is an exhortation to wait for the Lord to take action (3:8-13).
The second is an exhortation to rejoice with regards to the Lord’s promise (3:14-20).
Zephaniah contains several different figures of speech such as metaphor and simile (1:7, 11, 12; 2:1, 2, 4-7, 9; 3:3, 8, 13, 16) as well as literary and historical references (1:3; 2:4, 9; 3:9-10, 18).
It also has the figure of personification (1:14; 3:14-16), anthropopathisms (1:4, 12-13; 3:7-8, 15), irony (1:11; 2:12), merismus (1:12) and synecdoche (1:16; 2:11, 13-14; 3:6).
The prophet also employs the figures of enallage (3:7), hendiadys (3:7, 19), chiasmus (3:19), alliteration and paronomasia (1:2, 15, 17; 2:1, 4, 7, 12; 3:10), repetition and refrain (1:2-3, 14-16, 18; 2:2-3; 3:14-15).
The divine origin of Zephaniah and thus its canonical authority were recognized in Israel from the time of its composition.
Specifically, it was recognized as canonical among the faithful remnant in Israel.
Many of the prophecies contained in the book with regards to Judah, Jerusalem, Philistia, Ammon, Moab, Ethiopia and Assyria were fulfilled within a hundred years after they were first published.
Patterson has the following comment regarding Zephaniah’s canonicity, he writes “Although critical concern has been expressed as to the authenticity of Zephaniah, its canonicity has never been called into question. It was known to the author of the Apocalypse of Zephaniah (Frag. B7), accepted by Philo and Josephus, and included in the early church canonical lists. Our Lord appears to have drawn upon Zeph. 1:3 in His parable concerning the end of the age (Matt. 13:41), as did John (cf. Rev. 6:17 with Zeph. 1:14-18; Rev. 14:5 with Zeph. 3:13; Rev. 16:1 with Zeph. 3:8). In addition, the Talmud (T. B. Sanhedrin 98a) and early Christian Fathers (e.g., Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian, Augustine) cited Zephaniah as authoritative in their condemnation of man’s pride and idolatry.”