Zephaniah 2.9a-God Makes Three Assertions About Himself
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday April 27, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 2:9a-God Makes Three Assertions About Himself
Lesson # 48
Zephaniah 2:8 “I have heard the taunting of Moab and the revilings of the sons of Ammon, with which they have taunted My people and become arrogant against their territory. 9 Therefore, as I live,” declares the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah— A place possessed by nettles and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of My people will plunder them and the remainder of My nation will inherit them.” (NASB95)
“Therefore” is the adverb kēn (כֵּן), which means “consequently, therefore, as a result” since it is functioning as a marker of result meaning it is introducing a prophetic declaration which presents the result or logical result of the previous statements in Zephaniah 2:8 regarding the people of Moab and Ammon.
“As I live” is composed of the following: (1) masculine singular form of the adjective ḥay (חַי), “as live” (2) first person singular independent personal pronoun ʾǎnî (אֲנִי), “I.”
The adjective ḥǎy means “the living one, the eternal one” since it pertains to the state of animate life in contrast to death and specifically the word speaks of the eternality of God meaning that God as to His nature has no beginning or end and thus speaks of the reality of His existence.
This adjective is functioning as a predicate adjective meaning it is making an assertion about the God of Israel, the Lord, namely that His character exists in the state or condition of being eternal or eternal life.
The first person singular independent personal pronoun ʾǎnî which means “I” referring of course to the God of Israel.
This word functions as the subject of the verb hāyâ (הָיָה), which is deliberately omitted due to the writer’s use of the figure of ellipsis meaning it is omitted but implied in order emphasize the assertion being made about the subject.
“The LORD of hosts” is composed of the following: (1) masculine singular proper noun yhwh (יהוה), “the Lord” (2) feminine plural form of the noun ṣābāʾ (צָבָא), “hosts.”
The proper noun yhwh (Yahweh), “the Lord” is used of God’s sovereignty over human and angelic armies or in other words, it emphasizes that He is the sovereign commander of these armies.
The construct state of the noun yhwh means that it is governing the word which follows it and is expressing a genitive relation with this word which is the noun ṣābāʾ which is in the plural and means “armies” since it pertains in this context to a military congregation as a large fighting or combat unit.
The word denotes a large organized body of armed personnel trained for war especially on land.
These armies refer to both human and angelic armies because we are speaking in the context of God.
The genitive relation between this word and yhwh is a genitive of subordination which indicates that the God of Israel was the Lord “over” the armies.
Thus, this genitive expresses the fact that the Lord was the sovereign ruler over all human and angelic armies.
“The God of Israel” is composed of the following: (1) masculine plural construct form of the noun ʾĕlōhîm (אֱלֹהִים), “God” (2) masculine singular noun proper noun yiśrāʾēl (יִשְׂרָאֵל), “Israel.”
The noun ʾĕlōhîm means “God,” which emphasizes the transcendent character of the God of Israel, who the New Testament identifies as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
This word refers to the Lord’s complete sovereign power over all creation and every creature and over every nation and ruler as evidenced by fulfilled prophecy.
It emphasizes that He will intervene in the lives of the people of Moab and Ammon by destroying them like He did Sodom and Gomorrah.
The construct state of the noun ʾĕlōhîm means it is governing the word which follows it and is expressing a genitive relation with this word which is the masculine singular noun proper noun yiśrāʾēl, which means “Israel.”
The latter refers of course to the nation of Israel as a corporate who are the biological descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob whose name, God changed to “Israel.”
The proper name yiśrāʾēl is formed from the noun `el, “God,” and a verbal predicate.
The name first appears in Genesis 32 in the context of the story of Jacob (Iakob) wrestling with God prior to his reunion with Esau.
It means, “one who fights and overcomes with the power of God” since according to Genesis 32:28 the Lord gave Jacob this name because he fought with both God and men and prevailed.
This name was bestowed upon Jacob and constituted the essence of the blessing that he requested from the Lord recorded in Genesis 32:26.
The genitive relation between the nouns ʾĕlōhîm and yiśrāʾēl is a genitive of subordination as well meaning that yiśrāʾēl specifies that which is subordinated to or under the dominion of the construct noun ʾĕlōhîm.
This indicates that the God was “over” the nation of Israel and thus, this genitive expresses God’s sovereign authority over the nation of Israel.
The genitive relation could also be interpreted as possession or relationship meaning that yiśrāʾēl possesses a relationship with ʾĕlōhîm expressing the fact that the nation of Israel possesses a relationship with God and thus, the idea with these two words would be “Israel’s God.”
“Declares” is the masculine singular construct form of the noun nĕʾum (נְאֻם), which pertains to a marker of prophetic discourse as a marker of the origin and authority of the message in the discourse found in the beginning, middle and mostly on the end of a discourse.
So here the word is a marker of prophetic discourse so as to identify this prophetic declaration in Zephaniah 2:9 as originating from the Lord and thus expressing the divine authority of this message.
The construct state of the noun nĕʾum indicates this word is grammatically bound to the noun yhwh which follows it, expressing a genitive relation between each other.
Here the genitive relation is a subjective genitive or genitive of authorship meaning that the noun yhwh specifies the agent who performs the concept implied by the construct term nĕʾum.
Therefore, this construction emphasizes that the Lord is the author of this declaration which predicts that the people of Moab will become like the people of Sodom and the people of Ammon like the people of Gomorrah.
Zephaniah 2:9 is a result clause since God’s declaration in this verse regarding Moab and Ammon presents the result of the previous statements in Zephaniah 2:8 regarding the people of Moab and Ammon.
In verse 8, the Lord asserts that He heard the public insults of His people Judah from the people of Moab and Ammon.
They showed public contempt for the people of Judah.
In fact, these two groups triumphed over Judah’s territory in that they conquered these lands with the help of the Babylonians.
The Lord in verse 9 promises or guarantees that the people of Moab will become like the people of Sodom and the people of Ammon like the people of Gomorrah.
Therefore, verse 9 indicates that the people of Moab will become like the people of Sodom and the people of Ammon like the people of Gomorrah as the direct result of their contemptuous and bad treatment of the people of Judah.
The prophet Zephaniah quotes God speaking here in verse 9.
God makes three assertions or declarations about Himself before issuing the prophecy against the people of Moab and Ammon.
The first description is that He exists eternally.
In other words, the Lord is describing Himself as eternal meaning that as to His nature, He has no beginning or end.
It not only speaks of the reality of His existence but also that He is immanent meaning that He involves Himself in and concerns Himself with and intervenes in the lives of members of the human race, both saved and unsaved.
Since, each member of the Trinity is co-equal, co-infinite and co-eternal, each also is eternal life: (1) God the Father is eternal life (Jo. 5:26; 6:57; 1 Th. 1:9). (2) The Word of God is eternal life (Jn. 5:26, 6:35 Phlp. 2:16; 1 Jo. 1:1) (3) The Holy Spirit is eternal life (Jn. 6:63; Rm. 8:2).
In Zephaniah 2:9, after asserting that He exists eternally, God makes a second assertion about Himself, namely that He is the Lord over the armies.
The term “sovereignty” connotes a situation in which a person, from his innate dignity, exercises supreme power, with no areas of his province outside his jurisdiction.
As applied to God, the term “sovereignty” indicates His complete power over all of creation, so that He exercises His will absolutely, without any necessary conditioning by a finite will or wills (cf. Isaiah 40:15, 17; Daniel 2:19-23).
The third assertion that God makes about Himself in Zephaniah 2:9 is that He is the God over and in relationship with the nation of Israel.
This assertion teaches that God is sovereign over Israel and that Israel possesses a relationship with Him based upon His choice of them to be His people.
It clearly implies that Moab and Ammon’s poor treatment of Israel has offended Him because He possesses a covenant relationship with Israel.
The implication is that God would deal with Moab and Ammon for their contemptuous treatment of Israel.