Zephaniah 1.18b-The Lord's Jealous Anger
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday March 23, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 1:18b-The Lord’s Jealous Anger
Lesson # 33
Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the day of the LORD’S wrath; And all the earth will be devoured in the fire of His jealousy, for He will make a complete end, indeed a terrifying one, of all the inhabitants of the earth. (NASB95)
“And all the earth will be devoured in the fire of His jealousy” presents the reason for the previous prophetic declaration that the wealth of unrepentant sinners will never be able to deliver them from God’s righteous indignation.
Therefore, this declaration indicates that the wealth of unrepentant sinners will never be able to deliver them from God’s righteous indignation “because” the entire earth will be devoured in the fire of His jealousy.
“In the fire of His jealousy” is composed of the following: (1) preposition b (בְּ), “in” (2) feminine singular construct form of the noun ʾēš (אֵשׁ), “the fire of” (3) feminine singular construct form of the noun qinʾâ (קִנְאָה), “jealousy” (4) third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hûʾ (הוּא), “His.”
The noun ʾēš means “fire” but is used in a figurative sense for legitimate anger and is related to the noun ʿebrâ.
The former is illustrative of the latter in that it is associating God’s righteous indignation with the way fire consumes an object.
The noun qinʾâ means “jealousy” since it pertains to the state of ill will expressing itself in legitimate anger based on a desire for exclusivity in a relationship.
The construct state of noun ʾēš means that it is governing the noun qinʾâ and is expressing a genitive relation with this word which is attributive.
This means that the noun qinʾâ is functioning as an attributive adjective ascribing an attribute to the noun ʾēš.
Therefore, this construction is ascribing the attribute of jealousy which refers to God’s legitimate anger or righteous indignation.
Thus, these two words should be rendered “jealous anger.”
The construct state of the noun qinʾâ means that it is governing the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hûʾ which follows it and is expressing a genitive relation between these two words which is possession indicating that this legitimate jealousy belongs to the Lord.
The noun ʾēš is the object of the preposition b which is functioning as a marker of means indicating that the Lord’s legitimate jealous anger is the means by which the entire earth will be consumed.
Zephaniah 1:18 “Neither their silver, nor their gold has any ability whatsoever to rescue them during the period characterized by the Lord’s righteous indignation. For the entire earth will be consumed by means of His jealous anger because He will cause all the earth’s inhabitants to experience destruction, indeed, a terrifying one.” (My translation)
The reference to God’s jealous anger is an anthropopathism which is a figure of speech which ascribes human emotions or feelings to God by way of accommodation.
Jealousy is a sin and God is without sin for it is contrary to His divine character and nature.
Jealousy is a sin that His creatures possess including both angelic and human beings.
The Scriptures use it as language of accommodation in order to communicate God’s displeasure in a particular area of His relationship with His people or an attack upon His reputation.
The Lord is depicted as Israel’s husband and is jealous when His people turn to idolatry (Ex. 20:5).
Idolatry is spiritual adultery and merits death.
The Lord will not tolerate idolatry because He is a jealous God (Josh. 24:19).
Through idolatry Israel incited God’s wrath in the days of Ahab and God disciplined them.
Ultimately, repeated warnings went unheeded by Israel and the Lord placed them under the fifth cycle of discipline for their spiritual adultery (Ezek. 5:13; 8:3, 5; 16:38).
Their spiritual idolatry which provoked God’s jealousy was the reason for this discipline (Psa. 79:5).
According to His promise, God exercised His jealous wrath against Israel (Ezek. 16:42; cf. Deut. 30).
God is said to be jealous in vindicating His person or reputation (Ezek. 36:5-6), and His people that all the earth felt His wrath (Zeph. 3:8).
God’s jealousy is often associated with words denoting wrath (Num. 25:11; Ezek. 16:38, 42; 36:6; 38:9) and anger (Deut. 29:19), and as a consuming force with fire (Zeph. 1:18; 3:8).
Elwell writes “The jealousy of God is that attribute which defines Yahweh as the source of all, the only one worthy of man’s loyalty, worship, and obedience. He is jealous of his rights as the King of the universe. The jealousy of God is therefore not an expression of suspicion, but rather of precaution, so as not to permit his creatures to disregard his honor or to assume glory for themselves with little regard for him. The divine reaction of anger is an expression of his jealousy. His divine majesty has been wounded and demands retribution.”