Zephaniah 2.10-The Reason for the Judgment Against the People of Moab and Ammon is Arrogant Pride
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday May 18, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 2:10-The Reason for the Judgment Against the People of Moab and Ammon is Arrogant Pride
Lesson # 51
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. 10 This they will have in return for their pride, because they have taunted and become arrogant against the people of the LORD of hosts.” (NASB95)
“This they will have in return for their pride” is composed of the following: (1) demonstrative pronoun zōʾt (זֹאת), “this” (2) preposition l (לְ), “will have” (3) third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ (־הֵמָה), “they” (4) preposition taḥat (תַּחַת), “in return for” (5) masculine singular construct form of the noun gāʾôn (גָּאוֹן), “pride” (6) third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ (־הֵמָה), “their.”
The writer is employing the figure of asyndeton for emphasis upon this statement in verse 10 which presents the reason why the God of Israel decreed He would destroy Moab like He did Sodom and Ammon like He did Gomorrah and the remnant of Judah would inherit their land.
The demonstrative pronoun zōʾt means “this” which is referring to the Lord’s prophetic declarations recorded in Zephaniah 2:9.
The third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ means “them” and is referring to the people of Moab and Ammon in Zephaniah’s day in the seventh century B.C.
This word is the object of the preposition l which is a marker of opposition indicating that the judgment proclaimed in verse 9 was “against” the Ammonite and Moabite nations.
The noun gāʾôn is used in a negative sense for human pride and describes a person who has an exaggerated view of one’s own worth and importance often by an overbearing manner.
It is the attitude that one is better than others or superior to them because of one’s social status, wealth, possessions or natural gifts and this attitude manifests itself in sinful treatment of other people.
The noun gāʾôn is the object of the preposition taḥat which means “because” since it is functioning as a marker of cause meaning the word’s object is presenting the reason for God judging the people of Moab and Ammon.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase indicates that the pride of the people of Moab and Ammon is the reason for the proclamation of judgment in verse 9 against the people of Moab and Ammon.
“Because they have taunted and become arrogant against the people of the LORD of hosts” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction kî (כִּי), “because” (2) third person plural piel active perfect form of the verb ḥārap (חָרַף), “they have taunted” (3) conjunction w (וְ), “and” (4) third person masculine plural hiphil active imperfect form of the verb gādal (גָּדַל), “become arrogant” (5) preposition ʿal (עַל), “against” (6) masculine singular construct form of the noun ʿam (עַם), “people” (7) masculine singular proper noun yhwh (יהוה), “the Lord” (8) feminine plural form of the noun ṣābāʾ (צָבָא), “hosts.”
The conjunction kî means “because” since it is functioning as a marker of cause meaning it is introducing a statement which presents the reason for the previous statement that the prophetic declaration was communicated by God against the people of Moab and Ammon because of their pride.
The verb ḥārap is in the piel stem and means “to treat with contempt” since it pertains to treating someone publically with contempt by reproaching them in a jeering, sarcastic, abusive manner and denotes speaking words which harm another and speak evil of another person or persons.
So this word also speaks of verbally abusing someone with emphasis upon speaking evil of someone and slandering them and thus showing a lack of respect for them.
The conjunction w is introducing a verb which advances upon and intensifies the previous verb that the people of Ammon and Moab showed public contempt for the people of Judah.
The verb gādal is in the hiphil stem and means “to boast” since it refers to speaking boastfully of oneself in contrast to another and speaks of the people of Ammon and Moab boasting against the people of Judah.
The noun ʿǎm is in the singular and means “people” in the sense of a large group based on various cultural, physical and geographical ties and refers of course the people who composed the kingdom of Judah in the seventh century B.C.
The construct state of this noun means it is governing the word which follows it and is expressing a genitive relation with this word which is the proper noun yhwh, “Lord” which refers of course to the God of Israel.
The genitive relation is possession expressing the covenant relationship between God and the people of Judah.
Therefore, the noun ʿǎm is speaking of those members of the kingdom of Judah who possessed a covenant relationship with God.
The noun ṣābāʾ is in the plural and means “armies” since it pertains in this context to a military congregation as a large fighting or combat unit.
These armies refer to both human and angelic armies because we are speaking in the context of God.
Zephaniah 2:8 “I heard public insults from Moab’s people as well as sarcastic insults from Ammon’s citizens. They showed public contempt for My people. Indeed, they triumphed over their territory. 9 Consequently, I existing eternally, the Lord ruling over the armies, the God ruling over and in a relationship with Israel declares: Moab’s people will be like Sodom’s people likewise Ammon’s citizens like Gomorrah’s people. A place overrun by weeds as well as salt pits, indeed, a desolation forever and ever! The remnant from My people will plunder them. Specifically, the survivors from the nation will inherit their territory. 10 This is against them because of their pride, because they displayed contempt publically, yes boasting against the people in a relationship with the Lord ruling over armies.” (My translation)
Zephaniah 2:10 echoes Zephaniah 2:8 and the difference between the two is that the latter implicitly gives the reason for God judging the people of Moab and Ammon whereas the former makes this reason explicit.
Both verse 8 and 10 pronounce the indictment against the people of Moab and Ammon with the former publically insulting His people Judah and the latter sarcastically insulted God’s people.
Both groups showed public contempt for His people, the kingdom of Judah who possessed a covenant relationship with Him through faith in Him.
Both groups triumphed over the land of the people of Judah.
Zephaniah 2:10 presents the reason for the Lord’s public declarations directed against the people of Moab and Ammon which are recorded in Zephaniah 2:9 in which the Lord asserts that He would destroy the people of Moab like He did the people of Sodom and the people of Ammon like He did the people of Gomorrah.
He also declares that the remnant of His people, namely Judah would plunder these two nations and specifically that they would inherit or take possession of their lands.
Now, here in verse 10, the Lord states that the reason why He has declared that He will judge or punish the people of Moab and Ammon is for their pride.
He then specifies as to what He means by their pride by asserting that He will punish these people because they displayed public contempt for the people of Judah and in fact boasted over them in the sense that they expressed excessive pride in themselves for achieving military victory over the people of Judah.
Therefore, the Lord is stating that He will judge the people of Moab and Ammon because they were proud and arrogant and demonstrated this pride and arrogance in their treatment of the people of Judah when they achieved military victory over Judah with the help of course of the Babylonians.
So the Lord is prophesying here that when He punishes Judah for their unrepentant sinful lives and permits the Babylonians, Ammonites and Moabites to be victorious over them militarily, He will also judge the Ammonites and Moabites for “rubbing it in.”
Second Kings 24:2 records that the people of Moab and Ammon joined forces with the Babylonians in 605 B.C. to conquer and destroy the land of the Judah during the days of Jehoiakim but eventually Babylon conquered both groups.
The fall of Jerusalem caused the people of Moab and Ammon to exult over her and the people of Judah and to humiliate the people of Judah.
God was not pleased with their gloating over the demise of Jerusalem and the people of Judah.
In fact, He was not pleased because both Moab and Ammon were related to the people of Judah through Abraham’s nephew Lot (Gen. 19:36-38).
They were often in conflict with Israel during the united kingdom and after the split into northern and southern kingdoms.
They resisted the Israelites attempt to move into Canaan (Num. 22-25).
Consequently, God judged these two nations.
In fact, the Lord kept alive a remnant of Judah but not so with the people of Ammon and Moab.
He wiped out Ammon and Moab like Sodom and Gomorrah in that He did not leave a remnant of these nations.
