Zephaniah 1.4-The Lord Will Violently Execute As Criminals Those Worshipping Baal in the City of Jerusalem
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday February 4, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 1:4-The Lord Will Violently Execute As Criminals Those Worshipping Baal in the City of Jerusalem
Lesson # 13
Zephaniah 1:4 “So I will stretch out My hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, and the names of the idolatrous priests along with the priests.” (NASB95)
“I will stretch out My hand” is composed of the following: (1) first person masculine singular qal active perfect form of the verb nāṭâ (נָטָה), “I will stretch out” (2) feminine singular construct form of the noun yād (יָד), “hand” (3) first person singular independent personal pronoun ʾǎnî (אֲנִי), “my.”
The noun yāḏ literally means “hand” but is used here in a figurative sense meaning “power” in the sense of having the ability sufficient to accomplish a particular task and here it is a figurative reference for the omnipotence of the God of Israel.
The word is modified by the first person singular independent personal pronoun ʾǎnî, “my” which refers of course to the Lord, the God of Israel.
The verb nāṭâ means “to stretch out” and is used in a figurative sense of the Lord exercising His omnipotence against the kingdom of Judah and the inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem.
The perfect conjugation of this verb is functioning as a perfect of certitude or prophetic perfect which expresses the certainty that the Lord will in the future exercise His divine omnipotence against the kingdom of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
“Against Judah” is composed of the following: (1) preposition ʿal (עַל), “against” (2) masculine singular form of the proper name yĕhûdâ (יְהוּדָה), “Judah.”
The proper name proper name yĕhûdâ, “Judah” refers to the southern kingdom and is the object of the preposition ʿal which means “against” since it is functioning as a marker of opposition indicating that the Lord will exercise His omnipotence “against” to Judah and Jerusalem in the sense that He will oppose both.
“And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place” is exegetical or explicative meaning it clarifies the preceding prophetic statement.
“I will cut off” is the third person masculine singular hifʿîl active perfect form of the verb kārat (כָּרַת), which means “to violently cut off, to violently remove, to violently execute as a criminal.”
Therefore, it is expressing the idea that the Lord will violently execute as criminals those inhabitants of Jerusalem who practice idolatry because they have broken the first two of the Ten Commandments.
The hifʿîl or hiphil stem of this verb is causative which indicates that the Lord as the subject of this verb will cause the idolaters in the city of Jerusalem to be executed as criminals.
The perfect tense of this verb is a perfect of certitude or prophetic perfect which expresses the certainty that the Lord will bring about the violent execution of those practicing idolatry in the city of Jerusalem.
“The remnant of Baal” refers to a remnant who worshipped Baal in the city of Jerusalem.
“From this place” refers to the city of Jerusalem.
“The names of the idolatrous priests” is composed of the following: (1) object marker ʾēt (אֵת), which is not translated (2) masculine singular construct form of the noun šēm (שֵׁם), “the names” (3) articular masculine plural form of the noun kōmer (כֹּמֶר), “the idolatrous priests.”
The noun šēm means “well-known” since it pertains to a person known in the community with a generally favorable view and so has a high status in the community.
This word does not mean “memory” since the verb kārat means “to violently execute someone as a criminal.”
The construct state of the word šēm indicates that it is modifying the articular form of the noun kōmer which means “pagan priests” since it pertains to those who serve pagan gods and does not serve Yahweh.
The word refers to idolatrous priests in its two other appearances in the Old Testament (2 Kgs 23:5, Hos 10:5).
“Along with the priests” is composed of the following: (1) preposition ʿim (עִם), “along with” (2) articular masculine plural form of the noun kōhēn (כֹּהֵן), “the priests.”
This prepositional phrase is likely a later scribal addition to the Hebrew text, defining the extremely rare word that precedes which is supported by the fact that the LXX omits this word.
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.” (My 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 Israel 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.
The prophecy that the Lord will take hostile action each and every one of the inhabitants of Jerusalem is hyperbole since He asserts in the next statement that He will bring about the violent execution of those who worship Baal in the city of Jerusalem and specifically the pagan priests.
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 587 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.
All Ten Commandments had been part of the Law of God previously written on hearts instead of stone, for all ten appear, in one way or another, in Genesis and they are as follows: (1) Genesis 35:2 (2) Genesis 31:39 (3) Genesis 24:3 (4) Genesis 2:3 (5) Genesis 27:41 (6) Genesis 4:9” (7) Genesis 39:9 (8) Genesis 44:4-7 (9) Genesis 39:17 (10) Genesis 12:18; 20:3.