Zephaniah 3.7b-The Lord Will Destroy Jerusalem and Inflict Suffering on Apostate Jews in This City For Their Lack of Repentance
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday July 6, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:7b-The Lord Will Destroy Jerusalem and Inflict Suffering on Apostate Jews in This City For Their Lack of Repentance
Lesson # 71
Zephaniah 3:7 “I said, ‘Surely you will revere Me, accept instruction.’ So her dwelling will not be cut off according to all that I have appointed concerning her. But they were eager to corrupt all their deeds.” (NASB95)
“So her dwelling will not be cut off according to all that I have appointed concerning her” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction w (וְ), “so” (2) negative particle lōʾ (לֹא), “not” (3) third person masculine singular niphal passive imperfect form of the verb kārat (כָּרַת), “will be cut off” (4) masculine singular construct form of the noun māʿôn (מָעוֹן), “dwelling” (5) third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hîʾ (הִיא), “her” (6) collective singular construct form of the noun kōl (כֹּל), “all” (7) relative pronoun ʾăšer (אֲשֶׁר), “that” (8) first person singular qal perfect form of the verb pāqad (פָּקַד), “I have appointed” (9) preposition ʿal (עַל), “concerning” (10) third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hîʾ (הִיא), “her.”
The conjunction w is a marker of result meaning it is introducing a statement which presents the result of the previous statement that God said to Himself that Jerusalem would surely respect Him and would accept correction from Him through His prophets He sent them.
The verb kārat is in the niphal stem and means “to be violently destroyed” and its meaning is emphatically negated by the negative particle lōʾ, which means “never.”
Therefore, taken together, these two words express the idea of a thing never being violently destroyed.
The verb’s subject is the masculine singular construct form of the noun māʿôn, which means “dwelling” since it pertains to a place where one lives.
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 third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hîʾ, which means “her” referring to the inhabitants of Jerusalem personified as the daughters of this city.
The genitive relation is possession or relationship expressing the idea that the city of Jerusalem is the dwelling place of the Jewish people.
Therefore, this result clause is expressing the idea of the city of Jerusalem never being violently destroyed by God.
Also, this result clause is indirect address whereas the first statement in Zephaniah 3:7 was direct address in that Zephaniah is quoting God directly.
This result clause expresses the idea of Zephaniah under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit commenting on the result of Jerusalem’s citizens rejecting God’s correction through His prophets which manifested their lack of respect for Him.
The collective singular construct form of the noun kōl means “all” since it pertains to the totality of various types of suffering and is used in a distributive sense for various types of suffering.
Here it pertains to every kind or various types of suffering in their totality which the Lord threatens to inflict upon the citizens of Jerusalem in Zephaniah’s day for their unrepentant sinful lives.
The verb pāqad means “to threaten to inflict as punishment” since it pertains to the intention of acting in a manner that inflicts hardship, pain or even physical death to someone implying guilt on the part of this individual.
Therefore, this verb expresses the idea of God threatening to inflict various forms of suffering against the citizens of Jerusalem as punishment for their unrepentant sinful lives.
The construct state of the noun kōl means it is governing the word which follows it and is expressing a genitive relation with this word which is the relative pronoun ʾăšer.
The genitive relation is purpose meaning that this relative pronoun specifies the purpose of this construct noun.
This would indicate these various types of suffering in their totality are the purpose for which God is threatening to inflict punishment against the citizens of Jerusalem for their unrepentant sinful lives.
The third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hîʾ means “her” referring to the inhabitants of Jerusalem personified as a corporate unit as the daughters of this city.
The genitive relation is possession or relationship.
This word is the object of the preposition ʿal, which means “against” since it is a marker of opposition indicating that God is threatening to inflict punishment “against” the citizens of Jerusalem in the form of various types of suffering.
Zephaniah 3:7 “I said, ‘Surely, she will respect Me! She will accept correction!’ Consequently, her dwelling place would never be violently destroyed in accordance with every type of suffering for which I am threatening to inflict as punishment against her. But in fact, all their activities they were eager to engage in are corrupted.” (My translation)
Zephaniah goes from quoting God directly to going back to speaking for God under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The prophet follows this direct quote from God with a result clause which presents the result of this direct quote from God.
It presents the result of the people of Jerusalem respecting Him and accepting correction from Him through His prophets He sent them.
It states that Jerusalem would never be violently destroyed in accordance with every type of suffering for which He was threatening to inflict as punishment against her citizens as a result of their unrepentant sinful lives.
Therefore, God would not destroy Jerusalem and inflict all types of suffering as punishment against her people if her people would have repented by showing respect for Him by accepting His correction of them through His prophets like Zephaniah.
Barker writes “Jerusalem’s problem had been its lack of respect for God and its inability to accept correction (3:2). God demonstrated his power among the nations to bring Israel to fear him. Fear of God could border on sheer terror (Exod 3:6; 20:18), but this was not what God wanted (Exod 20:20). ‘While the normal meaning of fear as dread or terror is retained in the theological use of the terms, a special nuance of reverential awe or worshipful respect becomes the dominant notion.’ Both the exodus (Exod 14:31) and the crossing of the Jordan (Josh 4:24) evoked fear from God’s people. Fearing God was the first of God’s list of requirements for his people (Deut 10:12–13). Hearing God’s law in awesome rituals sought to bring the fear of Yahweh into the hearts of the people (Deut 31:12). Especially the king was to study God’s Torah so he could learn to fear God (Deut 17:19). Wisdom taught that fearing God was the starting point for wisdom (Prov 1:7; 31:30). To fear God was parallel to and synonymous with obeying his precepts (Ps 119:63; cp. Deut 5:29; 6:2; 13:4). Those who fear God praise and glorify him (Ps 22:23). To fear God means to hold him in awe, to give to the Lord the honor due him. Bowling noted five usages of ‘fear’ with the sense of awe and reverence being the predominant usage in the Old Testament. The person who fears God makes his fear work in terms of personal piety and righteousness. In many passages, fearing God and proper living are so closely connected that they seem to be synonyms. In the present verse this seems to be the case. Fearing God and accepting correction seem to follow one upon the other. Though Jerusalem had the example of the gentile nations, they continued to turn away from God and his leading for the city.”