Zephaniah 2.13b-Zephaniah Predicts the Destruction of Nineveh
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday May 31, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 2:13b-Zephaniah Predicts the Destruction of Nineveh
Lesson # 56
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 make Nineveh a desolation, parched like the wilderness” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction w (וְ), “and” (2) third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb śîm (שִׂים), “He will make” (3) object marker ʾēt (אֵת), which is not translated (4) feminine singular proper noun nînĕwē (נִינְוֵה), “Nineveh” (5) preposition l (לְ), which is not translated (6) feminine singular noun šĕmāmâ (שְׁמָמָה), “a desolation” (7) feminine singular noun ṣiyyâ (צִיָּה), “parched” (8) marker of comparison k (ךְּ־), “like” (9) articular masculine singular form of the noun midbār (מִדְבָּר), “wilderness.”
The conjunction w is introducing a prophetic declaration which advances upon and intensifies the previous one that in addition to the Ethiopian people, the God of Israel will stretch out His hand against the north, specifically, He will cause the Assyrian people to be destroyed.
The advancement and intensification is that not only will the God of Israel destroy the Assyria Empire but He will make its capital city, Nineveh, which was considered in Zephaniah’s day to be impregnable, a desolation.
The verb śîm is in the qal stem and means “to cause, to make” since it is functioning as a marker of causative relation.
Here it is employed with the noun šĕmāmâ which means “desolation” since the word pertains to a state of utter ruin often relating to uninhabitable land as a sparsely populated area.
The noun šĕmāmâ is the object of the preposition l which is marking this word as the state or condition that is the result of the action of the verb śîm.
The proper noun nînĕwē is functioning as the direct object of this verb śîm which is indicated by the object marker ʾēt which serves to mark a word as a direct object of a verb.
Therefore, this verb śîm indicates that the God of Israel “will make” Nineveh a desolation in the sense that He will cause this city to be in a state of desolation.
The imperfect conjugation refers to a completed action as part of a temporal sequence.
The imperfect conjugation of the verb describes the God of Israel making Nineveh a desolation as taking place in the future from the perspective of Zephaniah when he received this revelation in the seventh century B.C.
The proper noun nînĕwē appears 17 times in the Hebrew Bible, 9 of which occur in the book of Jonah (1:2; 3:2, 3 twice, 4, 5, 6, 7; 4:11).
Nineveh was one of the capitals of the Assyrian Empire and was located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River in northeastern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, in the area of the city of Mosul), opposite the modern city of Mosul, north of the city of Zab.
This noun appears in Genesis 10:11-12, which is the earliest mention of this city and describes the origin and the builder of the city, Nimrod.
After Jonah’s day it was made the capital of Assyria by Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.), the successor of Sargon II (722-705 B.C.) who destroyed the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
The city of Nineveh was destroyed in 612 B.C. by the Medes and the Persians in fulfillment of Zephaniah’s prophecy in Zephaniah 2:13.
Its great size is mentioned in Jonah 3:3 which states, “Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days walk.”
Ancient Greek and Roman writers state that it was in the shape of a trapezium and was the largest city in the world in that day.
The accounts of these ancient Greek and Roman writers have been confirmed by modern archaeological excavations.
The NET Bible commenting on Nineveh writes, “Nineveh was the last capital city of ancient Assyria. Occupying about 1800 acres, it was located on the east bank of the Tigris River across from the modern city of Mosul, Iraq. The site includes two tels, Nebi Yunus and Kouyunjik, which have been excavated on several occasions. See A. H. Layard, Nineveh and Its Remains; R. C. Thompson and R. W. Hutchinson, A Century of Exploration at Nineveh; G. Waterfield, Layard of Nineveh. Preliminary reports of limited excavations in 1987 and 1989 appear in Mar Šipri 1:2 (1988): 1-2; 2:2 (1989): 1-2; 4:1 (1991): 1-3. Also see D. J. Wiseman, “Jonah’s Nineveh,” TynBul 30 (1979): 29-51.”
The noun ṣiyyâ means “barren, dry, dry land, parched land” since it pertains to a parched, dry region, with emphasis on it not having a reliable source from rain or ground water and so very dry and parched.
The noun midbār means “desert” since this word pertains to a relatively large tract of sparsely inhabited land or virtually empty of habitation, and a place providing little or no sustenance.
The articular construction of this word distinguishes these places on earth from those which are inhabited and provide plenty of sustenance.
This noun is also the object of the preposition k, which means “like, as” since the word functions as a marker of comparison indicating it is marking a comparison between the state of Nineveh after the God of Israel judges the inhabitants of this city and the barren state of the desert.
Zephaniah 2:13 Likewise, He will stretch out His hand against the north, specifically, He will cause the Assyrian people to be destroyed. Indeed, He will make Nineveh a desolation, a dry land like the desert. (Author’s translation)
The second prophetic declaration recorded in Zephaniah 2:13 is directed at the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, namely Nineveh.
In this prophecy, the prophet Zephaniah predicts that the God of Israel will make Nineveh a desolation in the sense that He will make it a dry land like the desert.
This prophetic declaration clearly implies that the Nineveh would be utterly destroyed.
This prophecy has been fulfilled in history as well since in 612 B.C., the city of Nineveh fell to the Babylonians.
Nineveh was so completely destroyed that its very location was lost until rediscovered by modern archaeologists during the nineteenth century.
The book of Nahum describes Nineveh’s destruction at the hands of the Babylonians in graphic detail and describes this city as a city of bloodshed.
He along with Jonah describe the city as evil and deserved to be destroyed by the Lord.
Hannah writes “An alliance of Babylonians and Medes destroyed Nineveh in 612 B.C., with the Assyrian king Sin-shar-ishkun dying while trying to defend his city. A remnant of the Assyrians escaped the fall of the city under their new king, Ashur-uballiṭ II. Though aided by an alliance with Pharaoh Neco II of Egypt, the Assyrian Empire was crushed in 609 B.C. Zephaniah’s prediction was fulfilled. (Another prophetic description of the fall of Nineveh is given in Nahum 3.) Zephaniah’s words that Nineveh would become ‘dry as the desert’ were fitting because the city had many irrigation canals! Nahum’s words were equally appropriate (Nahum 1:8; 2:6, 8).”
As we noted, Nineveh was located on the Tigris River with many canals adjacent to the city which supplied her with water (Nah. 2:8; 3:8) and yet the Lord declares through Zephaniah that this city would be a dry land like the desert.
Barker writes “How ironic for the Lord to declare that Nineveh, the city with an endless water supply, would become like a wasteland as ‘dry as a desert.’ Sin always affects the environment God has created. Ultimately, salvation will also bring renewal to the environment. Meanwhile, ‘the creation always sides with its Creator against the rebel. The holy life of God that makes ‘nature’ fertile (Ps 104:30) only grudgingly lends itself to the needs of sinful humans and ultimately will cease to do so. God’s world will not forever support God’s enemy.’ Nineveh was a great city (Jon 1:2, lit. “great unto God”) yet the Lord would bring it to destruction. Though it had existed for centuries (Gen 10:11), the Lord would make it ‘dry as a desert.’ In 401 B.C., Xenophon visited the area from Greece and could find no trace of the city. ”
Wiersbe writes “Until the rise of Babylon, Assyria had been the dominant power, a ruthless people who were notorious for their pride and their cruelty to their enemies. A century and a half before, God had sent the Prophet Jonah to Assyria’s capital city of Nineveh to warn them of God’s judgment, and the people had repented, but successive generations went back to the old pagan ways, and Nineveh was destroyed in 612. Within the next few years, the once great Assyrian Empire simply vanished from the face of the earth, and Zephaniah saw it coming. Because Nineveh thought it was an impregnable city, her citizens were careless and carefree when Zephaniah made his prediction, but God brought both the people and their city down into the dust of defeat. (See the Book of Nahum and Isa. 45; 47:10) Since the predictions about the destruction of these nations have all come true, isn’t it reasonable to assume that Zephaniah’s other predictions will also be fulfilled? Each of these local invasions and conquests was a precursor of the end times Day of the Lord, which will come upon the whole world. But when the Day of the Lord has run its course, Israel will be delivered, and the Lord will establish His glorious kingdom on the earth. In the last chapter of his prophecy, Zephaniah explains how the Day of the Lord will relate to this promised kingdom.”