Zephaniah 2.13a-Zephaniah Predicts the Destruction of the Assyrian Empire
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday May 26, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 2:13a-Zephaniah Predicts the Destruction of the Assyrian Empire
Lesson # 55
Zephaniah 2:13 And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria, and He will make Nineveh a desolation, parched like the wilderness. (NASB95)
“And He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction w (וְ), “and” (2) third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb nāṭâ (נָטָה), “He will stretch out” (3) feminine singular construct form of the noun yād (יָד), “hand” (4) third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû (הוּא) (who), “His” (5) preposition ʿal (עַל), “against” (6) which is modified by the articular masculine singular noun ṣāpôn (צָפוֹן), “the north” (7) conjunction w (וְ), “and” (8) third person masculine singular pimiel active perfect form of the verb ʾābad (אָבַד), “destroy” (9) object marker ʾēt (אֵת), which is not translated (10) feminine singular noun ʾaššûr (אַשּׁוּר), “Assyria.”
The conjunction w is adjunctive meaning it is introducing a prophetic declaration which is an addition to the previous one in Zephaniah 2:12 which asserts that all of the Cushites are killed by the Lord’s sword.
The verb nāṭâ means “to stretch out” and is used in a figurative sense of the Lord exercising His omnipotence against the Assyrian Empire and specifically against her citizens.
The noun yāḏ literally means “hand” but is used here in a figurative sense meaning “power” in the sense of having the ability sufficient to accomplish a particular task.
Here it is a figurative reference for the omnipotence of the God of Israel which is indicated by the fact that it is modified by the third person masculine singular pronominal suffix hû, which refers of course to the Lord, the God of Israel.
The noun ṣāpôn means “north” referring to the compass point directly opposite the south and is used here of a nation which was north of the kingdom of Judah in Zephaniah’s day and the epexegetical clause wîʾabbēd ʾet-ʾaššûr (וִֽיאַבֵּ֖ד אֶת־אַשּׁ֑וּר), “and destroy Assyria” indicates that this nation is Assyria.
The noun ṣāpôn is the object of the preposition ʿal, which means “against” since it is functioning as a marker of opposition indicating that the God of Israel was “opposed” or “against” Assyria.
Specifically, it indicates that the Lord would exercise His divine omnipotence “against” the Assyrian Empire.
This time the conjunction w is epexegetical meaning it is introducing a clause which defines specifically what the prophet Zephaniah specifically means by the previous prophetic declaration that the Lord will stretch out His hand against the north.
The verb ʾābad is in the piel stem and means “to destroy, annihilate, exterminate, wipe out” and its direct object is the feminine singular proper noun ʾaššûr, “Assyria,” which contains the figure of metonymy meaning that the nation of Assyria is put for its people.
Therefore, this verb indicates that the God of Israel will “destroy, annihilate, exterminate” the people of Assyria.
Zephaniah 2:13 Likewise, He will stretch out His hand against the north, specifically, He will cause the Assyrian people to be destroyed. (My translation)
Zephaniah 2:13-15 contains a serious of prophecies which are directed at the Assyrian Empire and her famous capital city, Nineveh.
The first prophetic statement in verse 13 asserts that the God of Israel will stretch out His hand against the north and the prophet then specifically identifies for the reader what he means by this prophetic declaration by asserting that God will cause the Assyrian people to be destroyed.
The stretching out of God’s hand is figurative language for the exercise of God’s omnipotence and thus, Zephaniah is stating that God will exercise His omnipotence against the Assyrian people.
Elwell writes “Relations between Assyria and Judah went back more than one hundred years prior to the time of Zephaniah. Isaiah had predicted the victory of Assyria over the eastern Mediterranean region. By Zephaniah’s time, the Aramean and Israelite kingdoms had been subjugated and their populations exiled. Sennacherib had invaded Judah (701 B.C.) and Hezekiah had been forced to pay tribute. Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, spent time in Babylon as a part of a reform program to assure his loyalties to Assyria (2 Chron. 33:11). Josiah had to decide where his loyalties lay. He could avoid political problems by pleasing Assyria, which had been the dominant power for over a century. Due to the length of Assyria’s rule, the extent of its military power, and its proximity to Jerusalem, Assyrian influence on Israel’s politics, culture, and religion was pervasive. It was difficult for Zephaniah’s contemporaries to realize how close Assyria was to its demise.”
The nation of Assyria was located on the Upper Tigris River in modern Iraq and therefore, it was located northeast of Judah.
Assyria attacked the northern kingdom of Israel from the north and thus Zephaniah speaks of this nation as being from the north of the kingdom of Judah.
This nation was one of the most dominant ancient Near Eastern empires until its destruction in the seventh century B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian empire.
It was the nation that God used to execute His judgment against the northern kingdom of Israel.
The prophecies of Amos and Hosea published against the northern kingdom of Israel were fulfilled in 722 B.C. when Sargon II carried the northern kingdom into captivity (2 K. 17).
The book of Zephaniah was written during a time in history when the Assyrian Empire was decaying and the Babylonian Empire was emerging on the world stage.
The Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser (727 B.C.), Sargon (705 B.C.) and Sennacherib (681 B.C.) dominated the Near East for more than a century.
At the height of this Assyrian dominance under Esarhaddon, they defeated Tirhakah, the king of Egypt (671 B.C.).
After Ashurbanipal (627 B.C.) who was known for his cultural interests such as the establishment of a huge royal library, the empire was troubled by internal struggles.
The Babylonians asserted their independence from Assyria in 626 B.C. and joined the Medes in attacking Assyria.
Judah was dominated by the Assyrian Empire which threatened Jerusalem in 722 B.C. but God delivered the city (2 Kings 18-19).
Zephaniah prophesied against the Assyrian Empire and her great city Nineveh (Zeph. 2:13) and in 612 B.C., Nineveh fell to the Babylonians.
Seven years later the Babylonians headed north and west and defeated the Egyptian armies at Carchemish on the upper Euphrates.
Though Zephaniah does not mention Babylon explicitly in his prophecies, history reveals that he prophesied about them.
The Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar would attack Judah and Jerusalem on three different occasions in 605, 597 and 587 B.C.
So when Zephaniah published these prophecies in the book that bears his name, Assyria was in decline as a world empire because it had many problems revolving around an internal power struggle regarding who would be crowned Ashurbanipal’s successor.
This translated into external problems with governing the empire, and Assyria quickly lost hold of its conquered lands.
In 626, a native dynasty arose in Babylon under a former Assyrian official—the Chaldean Nabopolassar—and they were able to regain their independence.
This became what is now called the Neo-Babylonian Empire (626–539).
The Medes emerged as a threat during this time, attacking Assyria from the west.
They joined with Babylon and a coalition of Palestinian kings against Assyria, resulting in the complete destruction of important Assyrian cities such as Nineveh, Calah, Ashur, and many others between 615-612.
A remnant from Assyria survived this attack and briefly fled west to Haran.
However, Nebuchadnezzar quickly crushed this remnant and established Babylon as the new super power of the Near East.
Thus, the first prophetic declaration recorded in Zephaniah 2:13 was fulfilled in history.