Zephaniah 1.16-The Day of the Lord is Characterized by Warfare
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday March 16, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 1:16-The Day of the Lord is Characterized by Warfare
Lesson # 30
Zephaniah 1:16 A day of trumpet and battle cry against the fortified cities and the high corner towers. (NASB95)
“A day of trumpet and battle cry” is composed of the following: (1) masculine singular construct form of the noun yôm (יוֹם), “a day of” (2) masculine singular noun šôpār (שׁוֹפָר), “trumpet” (3) conjunction w (וְ), “and” (4) feminine singular noun tĕrûʿâ (תְּרוּעָה), “battle cry.”
As was the case in Zephaniah 1:15, the noun yôm here in Zephaniah 1:16 means “time period” since it does not pertain to a twenty-four-hour period but rather an indefinite period of time which could range from a relatively short to very long period of time.
The context will indicate the extent of the time period.
Here it refers to the period of time in which the Lord will judge the inhabitants of the earth.
The Hebrews used two major kinds of trumpets.
The šô∙p̄ār made originally from a curved ram’s horn, was blown at Sinai to signal Israel to approach the Lord (Exodus 19:16).
It also announced the arrival of the new moon and the new year (Psalm 81:3 [LXX Psalm 80:3]) and the enthronement of a new king (1 Kings 1:34 [LXX 2 Kings 1:34]; 2 Kings 9:13 [LXX 4 Kings 9:13]).
This trumpet was also sounded in the temple to accompany the expression of worship of the Lord (Psalm 98:6 [LXX Psalm 97:6]).
It was used in a military sense in signaling Israel to war (Judges 3:27; 2 Samuel 20:1 [LXX 2 Kings 20:1]) and was instrumental in Joshua’s victory at Jericho (Joshua 6) and in Gideon’s victory over the Midianites (Judges 7).
Then, the Hebrews used the ḥăṣōṣĕrâ (חֲצֹצְרָה), which was a tube of straight narrow bore, often made of metal (2 Kings 11:14 [LXX 2 Kings 11:4]; 2 Chronicles 23:13; 2 Samuel 6:15 [LXX 2 Kings 6:15]; 1 Chronicles 13:8).
It produced two or three pitches and was used primarily for religious purposes.
Then, there was the yôbēl (יוֹבֵל) which means, “ram” and gave its name to both an instrument and to a year whose beginning it signaled, Jubilee.
Here in Zephaniah 1:16, the noun šôpār means “trumpet” referring to an animal horn used as a bugling and trumpeting device which was used to signal an invading army to advance against a particular country or city.
It is used of the trumpet used by an army to gather for war and to advance against the enemy.
This word contains the figure of metonymy meaning that the trumpet is put for the sound it makes.
This time the conjunction w is epexegetical meaning it is introducing the noun tĕrûʿâ, “battle cry,” which defines the use of the previous word šôpār means “a sound of a trumpet.”
The noun tĕrûʿâ does not mean “battle cry” but rather “alarm for war.”
In Hebrew, this word has two distinct semantic environments.
The first usage centers upon ritual usage where the trumpet was used at festivals or feasts (Lev. 23:24).
The second broad category is found in warfare to indicate a signal used such as trumpets (cf. Num. 31:6; 2 Chron. 13:12; Job 39:25).
Therefore, the tĕrûʿâ means “an alarm for war” since the word is used to define the use of the trumpet.
“Against the fortified cities and the high corner towers” is composed of the following: (1) preposition ʿal (עַל), “against” (2) articular feminine plural noun ʿîr (עִיר), “the cities” (3) articular feminine plural adjective bāṣûr (בָּצוּר), “fortified” (4) conjunction w (וְ), “and” (5) preposition ʿal (עַל), “against” (6) articular feminine plural noun pinnâ (פִּנָּה), “corner towers” (7) articular feminine plural adjective gābōah (גָּבֹהַּ), “high.”
The noun ʿîr means “city” referring to a population center enclosed by a wall.
It is modified by the adjective bāṣûr which is in the plural and means “impregnable” since it pertains an inaccessible area due to location and barriers that surround it.
It describes something that is incapable of being taken by a military assault on it.
This adjective is utilized as a term of designation indicating the largest and most important habitation sites.
These cities were very important strategically since they were almost impregnable until the perfection of siege techniques by the Assyrians.
It was very tempting for the Jews to trust in their fortified cities rather than trusting in the Lord for their security from an enemy.
The noun ʿîr is the object of the preposition ʿal which is functioning as a marker of opposition indicating that the trumpet which served as an alarm for war for an invading was to be used “against” these impregnable cities.
This time the conjunction w is introducing the noun pinnâ, which is modified by the adjective gābōah, which together are advancing upon the previous prepositional phrase ʿal heʿārîm habbĕṣurôt wĕʿal (עַ֚ל הֶעָרִ֣ים הַבְּצֻר֔וֹת וְעַ֖ל).
The advancement and the intensification is that Zephaniah goes from predicting that the impregnable cities will be attacked to asserting that the most important part of these impregnable cities will be attacked which are the high corner towers of a city.
The noun pinnâ means “corner tower” since it pertains to a point where two converging lines, edges or sides meet.
Here it refers to the corner towers of a city considered impregnable.
This noun is modified by the adjective gābōah which means “high” since it pertains to a lofty spatial dimension.
Here it signifies the height of the corners towers of a city considered impregnable.
Zephaniah 1:16 A period characterized by a sound of the trumpet, which is an alarm for war against the so-called impregnable cities, yes, against the high corner towers. (My translation)
Zephaniah 1:14-18 contains a prophecy of the day of the Lord and provides a remarkable description of this prophetic period.
In these verses, the prophet Zephaniah gives us a description of the various characteristics of the day of the Lord.
In verse 14, he presents three of these characteristics.
Then, in Zephaniah 1:15, he presents nine-fold description of this period of judgment.
Now, here in Zephaniah 1:16, the prophet Zephaniah continues his description of the day of the Lord by asserting that the day of the Lord will be characterized by a sound of a trumpet, which is an alarm for war against the so-called impregnable cities, and that it will be against the high corner towers of these cities.
So in Zephaniah 1:16, the prophet asserts that the day of the Lord will be characterized by a sound of a trumpet, which was used for an alarm for war to signal an invading army to advance against the enemy.
He also predicts that these invading armies will go against the so-called impregnable cities including the high corner towers of these cities.
Thus Zephaniah 1:16 like Zephaniah 1:15 teaches that the day of the Lord will be characterized by terrible warfare.
The prophecy contained in Zephaniah 1:16 was also fulfilled in history with the Babylonian invasions in the sixth century B.C.
However, unlike Zephaniah 1:14-15, Zephaniah 1:16 will not be fulfilled in a far sense during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week of Daniel since modern nations do not employ trumpets to signal the advance of their armies as they did in the sixth century B.C
Furthermore, walls and high corner towers are of no use to modern cities which can be destroyed by airplanes dropping bombs and by nuclear weapons.
Hannah writes “As the Babylonian hordes rushed to conquer, kill, and ravish, they sounded the trumpet and shouted in battle in their moves against not only Jerusalem but also other fortified cities in Judah. Soldiers at the corner towers, normally strongholds of defense against attacking enemies, were defenseless.”