Zephaniah 1.9b-The Lord Asserts He Will Punish Those in Judah Who Cause Solomon's Temple to be Filled with Violence and Deceit
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday March 1, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 1:9b-The Lord Asserts He Will Punish Those in Judah Who Cause Solomon’s Temple to be Filled with Violence and Deceit
Lesson # 23
Zephaniah 1:9 “And I will punish on that day all who leap on the temple threshold, who fill the house of their lord with violence and deceit.” (NASB95)
“Who fill” is the articular masculine plural piel active participle form of the verb mālēʾ (מָלֵא), which is employed in a figurative sense in the piel stem and means “to fill.”
The word pertains to the high or extreme level in which violence and deceit are practiced in Solomon’s temple by those unfaithful, unrepentant Jews who leaped over the threshold of homes.
The piel stem of the verb mālēʾ could be interpreted as being a factitive piel meaning that the subject of the verb in the piel causes its direct object to enter the state that can be described by the same verb in the qal stem.
Here the subject is of course those unfaithful Jews who leaped over thresholds and the direct object is the noun bayit, “the house.”
Therefore, this stem would indicate that these unfaithful Jews who leaped over thresholds as the subject caused the house of their Sovereign, the God of Israel to enter the state of being filled with violence and deceit.
The piel stem of this verb could also be interpreted as an iterative piel indicating that these individuals were characterized as filling the house of the God of Israel with violence and deceit.
Both interpretations appear to be in view.
“The house of their lord” is composed of the following: (1) masculine singular construct form of the noun bayit (בַּיִת), “the house” (2) masculine singular form of the noun ʾădōnāy (אֲדֹנָי), “Lord” (3) third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ (־הֵמָה), “their.”
The noun bayit means “house, temple” and refers to Solomon’s temple which was of course located in Jerusalem and was still standing when Zephaniah published this prophecy.
This interpretation is indicated by the fact that this word is modified by the noun ʾădōnāy which refers to the God of Israel.
This noun means “the Sovereign” since it pertains to the sovereign authority of God over Judah, the entire human race and speaks of His majesty as the ruler of Judah and the entire human race.
Here it is referring to the God of Israel expressing His sovereign authority over Judah, the city of Jerusalem and over every nation and all of creation.
It also expresses the fact that the inhabitants of Judah, the city of Jerusalem and of every nation are inferior to the God of Israel and are subordinate to Him.
The construct state of the noun bayit is indicating that this temple belongs to the Sovereign of Israel.
The noun ʾădōnāy is modified by the third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ, which means “their” since it is functioning as a possessive pronoun referring to those who were believers in the God of Israel but were now in apostasy and unfaithful to their covenant relationship with Him.
It speaks of those who were declared justified by God through their faith in Him but now were unfaithful to Him because of their obedience.
The construct state of this noun ʾădōnāy means it is governing this pronominal suffix and is expressing a genitive relation between these two words.
The genitive relation is possession indicating that this Sovereign “belongs to” these individuals who leaped over thresholds of homes.
This indicates that at one time these Jews had accepted God as their Sovereign which took place at the moment of justification.
“With violence and deceit” is composed of the following: (1) masculine singular noun ḥāmās (חָמָס), “with violence” (2) conjunction w (וְ), “and” (3) feminine singular noun mirmâ (מִרְמָה), “deceit.”
The noun ḥāmās means “violence” since it pertains to a strong, fierce, destructive force resulting in acts that maim, destroy or kill often implying lawlessness, terror and lack of moral restraint.
Here the word is used with reference to sinful violence committed by these unrepentant apostate Jews living in Zephaniah’s day and age.
The noun mirmâ means “deceit, deception, dishonesty, treachery,” referring to the state or condition of deliberately misleading, and so have someone have a false view, in either words or actions.
Zephaniah 1:9 “During this particular period, I will also certainly inflict punishment against each and every one of those who leap over the threshold who are characterized as causing the temple of their Sovereign to be filled with violence as well as deceit.” (My translation)
The Lord through the prophet Zephaniah goes on to describe further these unrepentant apostate Jews in the kingdom of Judah who were living in the city of Jerusalem by asserting that these individuals were characterized as causing His temple to be filled with violence and deceit.
“The temple of their Sovereign” is a reference to Solomon’s temple which was of course located in Jerusalem and was still standing when Zephaniah published this prophecy.
“Violence” pertains to a strong, fierce, destructive force resulting in acts that maim, destroy or kill often implying lawlessness, terror and lack of moral restraint.
It is a reference to the sinful violence committed by these unrepentant apostate Jews living in Zephaniah’s day and age.
“Deceit” refers to the state or condition of deliberately misleading, and so have someone have a false view, in either words or actions.
The people whom Zephaniah describes in Zephaniah 1:9 are involved in hypocrisy.
They go to the temple to worship the God of Israel and yet they don’t obey His commands and prohibitions but instead are characterized by deceit and violence.
Going to the temple didn’t make them holy.
Only obedience to God’s commands and prohibitions can accomplish that.
The same holds true today for God’s people.
Going to church doesn’t make you holy but rather obeying God’s Word can only accomplish that.
These people that Zephaniah speaks of made a pretense of having godly character by simply visiting the temple.
However, their true character was manifested by their violence and deceit.
Going to temple was merely a ritual for these people.
Like many Christians in the church today, these Jews who belonged to the covenant people of God were more concerned with outward ceremonies and rituals rather than obedience to God’s Word.
Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines hypocrisy, “a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not possess; a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.
If we paraphrase this definition, we could say that apostate Christianity living in the last days makes a pretense of having godly character which they do not possess.
The Lord Jesus Christ described the teaching of the Pharisees as “hypocrisy” in Matthew 23:27-28 and Luke 12:1.
Romans 12:9 and 1 Peter 2:1 prohibit the believer from getting involved with hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy is an outward pretense masking an inner reality.
Scripture condemns hypocrisy, especially in matters of faith.
Believers should express their commitment to God in their words and their deeds, as well as in their inner motivation.
The origin of hypocrisy is the heart (Jeremiah 17:9; cf. Hosea 10:2 Israel; Mark 7:21-22; Matthew 15:19).
It expresses itself through insincere motives (Matthew 6:2; cf. Matthew 6:5,16; 15:7-9; 22:18; 23:5-7) and when actions do not match one’s words (Isaiah 29:13; cf. Matthew 15:7-8; Mark 7:6; Proverbs 26:24-26; Jeremiah 9:8; 12:2; Ezekiel 33:31; Matthew 23:28; Romans 2:17-24; James 2:14-26).
Those involved in hypocrisy tend to judge the motives of others (Matthew 7:5; cf. Luke 6:41; cf. Romans 2:1).
The Scriptures revealed many examples of hypocrisy such as Israel’s leaders (Jeremiah 6:13; cf. 8:8), the Pharisees (Mark 12:38-40; cf. Matthew 23:1-32; Luke 12:1-2, 56) as well as Peter and Barnabas (Galatians 2:12-13) and in addition apostate teachers (Romans 16:17-18; cf. Philippians 1:17; 1 Timothy 4:2; 2 Tim. 3:5; Jude 16).
K.L. Barker has another excellent comment, he writes “The prophets of Israel and Judah demanded ethical behavior from members of the covenant community. Worshiping the Lord meant a great deal more than performing ritual. The prophets could not conceive of worship that did not affect relationships with other people and the practices of everyday life. Jeremiah, a contemporary of Zephaniah, was incredulous at the practices of some people who piously rejoiced in the temple yet performed all kinds of abominable practices during the week. ‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’—safe to do all these detestable things?’ (Jer 7:9–11). Would God be any more pleased with the practices of Monday mornings or Saturday evenings in a land dotted with Christian churches?”