Zephaniah 2.11b-The Third Reason Why the Lord Will Be Worshipped
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday May 24, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 2:11b-The Third Reason Why the Lord Will Be Worshipped
Lesson # 53
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.” 11 The LORD will be terrifying to them, for He will starve all the gods of the earth; and all the coastlands of the nations will bow down to Him, everyone from his own place. (NASB95)
“And all the coastlands of the nations will bow down to Him, everyone from his own place” presents the third reason for the first prophetic declaration in Zephaniah 2:11 that the Lord was about to be held in awe.
“All the coastlands of the nations” is composed of the following: (1) collective singular construct form of the noun kōl (כֹּל), “all” (2) masculine plural construct form of the noun ʾî (אִי), “the coastlands of” (3) articular masculine plural form of the noun gôy (גּוֹי), “nations.”
The noun gôy is in the plural and means “nations” since it refers to a large group of people based on various cultural, physical, and geographical ties, extending to clan relationships and refers to a group of people that form a political entity.
The word speaks of a politically organized body of people under a single ruler or government.
Here it is used with reference to the various Gentiles nations which will exist on the coastland regions of planet earth during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
The noun ʾî means “coastlands” since it pertains to a land in a coastal area and contains the figure of metonymy meaning that the coastlands are put for the people that live in these coastlands.
The singular construct form of the collective noun kōl means “all” since it functions the same way as the English adjective because of the way Hebrew uses nouns in construct relationship to one another.
It denotes totality indicating that “all” the coastlands of the nations will bow down to worship the Lord.
The word can also be viewed in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions indicating that “each and every one of” the coastlands of the nations will bow down in worship the Lord during His millennial reign.
“Will bow down to Him” is composed of the following: (1) third person masculine plural ʾeštafʿēl or Hishtaphel participle form of the verb ḥāwâ (חָוָה), “will bow down” (2) preposition l (לְ), “to” (3) third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû (הוּא) (who), “Him.”
The verb ḥāwâ means “to bow down to worship, to bow down in worship, to prostrate oneself on the ground in order to worship a particular deity” since it pertains to the act of prostrating oneself to worship a particular deity.
It speaks of taking a low stance as a sign of honor, worship and homage of a particular deity with an associative meaning of allegiance to that deity.
Prostration was quite common in the ancient world as an act of submission before a superior.
So here in Zephaniah 2:11, the ʾeštafʿēl or Hishtaphel or hiṯpaʿʿēl stem of this verb ḥāwâ expresses the causative reflexive action “to prostrate oneself.”
This would therefore indicate a person who repeatedly prostrates themselves on the ground in order to worship a particular or thing or person.
Here it speaks of the people living in the various coastlands of the nations during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ who will “bow down in worship” of Him during this time.
The imperfect conjugation of this verb refers to a completed action as part of a temporal sequence.
It is expressing this event of all the people residing on the coastlands of the various nations worshipping the Lord as taking place in the future during His millennial reign from the perspective of Zephaniah in the sixth and seventh centuries B.C. when he received this revelation from the God of Israel.
The third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû means “Him” referring to the God of Israel and specifically it speaks of the second member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, the Son of God since He will receive the worship of the entire earth during His millennial reign.
“Everyone from his own place” is composed of the following: (1) masculine singular noun ʾîš (אִישׁ), “everyone” (2) preposition min (מִן), “before” (3) masculine singular form of the noun māqôm (מָקוֹם), “place.”
The noun ʾîš means “each person” since the word is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions referring to human beings in a generic sense without reference to the gender or race.
Here it speaks of each and every person living in the coastlands of the various nations during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
The noun māqôm pertains to a particular geographical location whose identity is indicated by the context and here it refers to the coastlands of the various nations residing on earth during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
This word is the object of the preposition min which means “from” since it functions as a marker of source since it pertains to a spatial or geographical position or location with primary focus being point of origination.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase indicates that this worship of the Lord Jesus Christ during His millennial reign will “originate from” the geographical location of each person living in the coastlands of the various nations of the earth.
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.” 11 The Lord is about to be held in awe because of them, because He will surely destroy all the gods worshipped by the people of earth, because each and every person living in the coastland regions of the nations will bow down in order to worship Him, each person from their own geographical location. (My translation)
Zephaniah 2:11 contains three prophetic declarations which assert that the God of Israel will be worshipped by the people of the earth and contains three reasons why this will be the case.
The third prophetic declaration recorded in Zephaniah 2:11 contains the third and final reason for the first prophetic declaration in this verse which asserts that the Lord was about to be held in awe by the people of the earth.
This third prophetic declaration predicts that each and every person living in the coastlands of the nations will bow down in order to worship the Lord, each person from their own geographical location.
Therefore, this prediction constitutes the third reason why the Lord was about to be held in awe by the people of the earth.
This third and final prophetic revelation has not been fulfilled in history since Satan during this time is the temporary god of this world and deceives the world (2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 5:19; Rev. 12:10).
However, it will be fulfilled during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ (Is. 19:19-23; Mal. 1:11).
The millennial reign will be marked by the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ (Is. 12:1-6; 25:1-26:19; 56:7; 61:10-11; 66:23; Jer. 33:11, 18, 21-22; Ezek. 20:40-41; 40:1-46:24; Zech. 6:12-15; 8:20-23; 14:16-21).
Worship of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ will manifest itself in the millennial temple through animal sacrifices (Ezekiel 40-48).
Jerusalem will become the center of the worship of the millennial age (Jeremiah 30:16-21; 31:6, 23; Joel 3:17; Zechariah 8:8, 20-23).
There will be a temple in Jerusalem, which will be the center of this worship of Jesus Christ during His millennial reign (Ezekiel 40-48).
There are four English words, “reverence,” “respect,” “awe,” and “wonder,” which express the concept of worshipping God.
The people on the earth during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ will worship Him by possessing an attitude of deep respect and awe for Him.
They will esteem the excellence of His person as manifested through His personal qualities or attributes such as love, faithfulness, mercy, compassion, justice, righteousness, truth, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, immutability, and sovereignty.
They will possess an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration for Him.
They will be filled with admiration, amazement and awe in response to His presence.
The presence of the Lord Jesus Christ during His millennial reign will reach right into the heart of those living on the earth at that time and will shake them up and enrich their lives.
It will overwhelm them with an emotion that is a mixture of gratitude, adoration, reverence, fear and love for Him.
They will not be looking for explanations but rather they will be lost in the wonder of who Jesus Christ is as the resurrected God-man Savior.
They will approach Him by manifesting an attitude of deep reverence, respect and awe for who He is and what He has done for them.