Zephaniah 3.10-The Prophecy of Converted Gentiles Presenting Regenerate Jews as an Offering to God
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday July 20, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:10-The Prophecy of Converted Gentiles Presenting Regenerate Jews as an Offering to God
Lesson # 77
Zephaniah 3:10 “From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones, will bring My offerings.” (NASB95)
The writer is employing the figure of asyndeton in order to emphasize this prophetic declaration recorded in Zephaniah 3:10.
The purpose of which is for the reader to reflect or meditate upon this prophetic statement for personal application.
For the Jew in Zephaniah’s day, it is designed to remind them that the God of Israel is not only the God of the Jewish people but also the Gentiles.
With this figure, Zephaniah is emphasizing with the Jewish people in his day in the seventh century B.C. that the God of Israel desires not only for the Jewish people to worship Him but also the Gentiles.
“From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia” is composed of the following: (1) preposition min (מִן), “from” (2) masculine singular noun ʿēber (עֵבֶר), “beyond” (3) preposition l (לְ), “beyond” (4) masculine plural form of the noun nāhār (נָהָר), “the rivers of” (5) feminine singular proper noun kûš (כּוּשׁ), “Ethiopia.”
The noun ʿēber means “region across or beyond” since it pertains to a space that is on other side of an area or mass and here it refers to regions located on one side or the other of a specific river.
Specifically, it is used in relation to the rivers beyond the nation of Ethiopia.
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 those who pray to the
God of Israel will bring Him tribute will “originate from” the geographical location “beyond” the rivers of Ethiopia.
The noun nāhār is in the plural and means “rivers” since the word pertains to a large natural stream of water which is larger than a creek.
Specifically, Patterson states that this word is speaking of “the distant headwaters of the Nile River and its tributaries.”
Patterson quotes J.M.P. Smith who writes “that “the rivers referred to are the branches of the Nile that traverse the most southern portion of the region; viz. the Atbara, the Astasobas, the Astapus or Blue Nile, and the Bahr-el-Abjadh or White Nile; cf. Is. 181-7.”
This word nāhār is the object of the preposition l which is a marker of possession expressing the idea that from the region beyond “that which belongs to” the Ethiopian rivers, those who worship the God of Israel will bring tribute to Him.
The construct state of the noun nāhār means that it is governing the word which follows it and is expressing a genitive relation with this word which is the feminine singular proper noun kûš.
This word refers to the region immediately south and east of Egypt, including modern Nubia, the Sudan and the Ethiopia of classical writers but not modern Abyssinia and would begin approximately at the first cataract where the Aswan dam now stands.
Here in Zephaniah 3:10, the RSV, NRSV, NASB95, NLT and NET Bibles all translate the word kûš as “Ethiopia” while on the other hand, the ESV, LEB, NIV, and TNIV translate the word “Cush.”
More than likely both Ethiopia and Sudan are being referred to by this designation.
Since the Ethiopians descended from Cush we will translate the word here in Zephaniah 3:10 as “Cush.”
Cush generally refers to the region of the Upper Nile and is equated with the region the Egyptians called Nubia, its name derived from the Egyptian word for “gold.”
The name “Cush” first appears in the Bible in Genesis 10:6 which refers to the son of Noah’s son Ham and the father of Sheba, Raamah, Sabteca and Nimrod.
“My worshippers” is composed of the following: (1) masculine plural construct form of the noun ʿātār (עָתָר), “worshipers” (2) first person singular pronominal suffix ʾǎnî (אֲנִי), “My.”
Several modern English translations such as the ESV, TNIV, and LEB translate the plural form of the noun ʿātār as “worshipers” since they interpret the word as pertaining to a person who does homage, honor and adoration and regard for a deity.
However, the NET translates this word “those who pray” while the HCSB and NRSV renders it “supplicants” since they interpret this word as related to prayer to the God of Israel.
The evidence would appear to be in favor of the NET, HCSB and NRSV because this word’s cognate, namely the verb ʿātār (עָתָר) is a part of the vocabulary of prayer in the Old Testament.
Therefore, because the cognate verb of the noun ʿātār speaks of the act of praying to God, we will translate this noun here in Zephaniah 3:10 as “supplicants” since this English word means “to ask humbly and earnestly of” someone which corresponds to petitioning God in prayer.
“My dispersed ones” is composed of the following: (1) feminine singular construct form of the noun bat (בַּת), which is not translated (2) masculine plural qal passive participle construct form of the verb pûṣ (פּוּץ), “dispersed ones” (3) first person singular pronominal suffix ʾǎnî (אֲנִי), “My.”
The noun bat usually means “daughter” referring to the female offspring of a parent but it can have a nationalistic sense such as “daughter” of Jerusalem or Zion.
In such instances, it can refer to the inhabitants of Israel in general using the hill of Zion which is the site of the temple, and relationship of a daughter as a personification of God’s people in relation to God.
However, here in Zephaniah 3:10, this word is used of those Gentiles who trust in the God of Israel.
That this word is referring to converted Gentiles rather than converted Jews is indicated by two factors.
First, Zephaniah 3:9 predicts that the God of Israel will give Gentile nations or peoples of the earth pure speech so that all of them may call upon Him so that they serve Him in a unified manner.
Secondly, Zephaniah 3:10 speaks of people worshipping the God of Israel and bringing Him tribute from beyond the rivers of Cush or Ethiopia and this region was populated by Gentiles and not Jews.
Thirdly, Isaiah 66:20 predicts that converted Gentiles will bring converted Jews from all the nations in which they have been dispersed to Jerusalem as an offering to the God of Israel.
The verb pûṣ refers to those Jews “dispersed” or “scattered” throughout the earth.
The genitive relation between this verb pûṣ and the noun bat is a genitive of production meaning that the verb pûṣ is producing the noun bat expressing the idea that these converted Gentiles are the “production” or “offspring” of these dispersed regenerate Jews.
Zephaniah 3:10 “From the region beyond that which belongs to the Cushite rivers, My supplicants, the daughter, the offspring of My dispersed ones, will bring My offering.” (My translation)
Zephaniah 3:10 contains another prophetic declaration with regards to the Gentiles and asserts that from the region beyond that which belongs to the Cushite rivers, the supplicants of the God of Israel, namely those who pray to Him, the daughter, the offspring of His dispersed ones, will bring His offering.
These supplicants or those who pray to the God of Israel are converted Gentiles.
They are identified as “the daughter, the offspring of His dispersed ones” since these Gentiles were evangelized by these regenerate Jews who were dispersed throughout the world.
Therefore, in these foreign lands these regenerate Jews evangelized these Gentiles who then trusted in the God of Israel and were thus regenerated.
Isaiah 66:20 predicts that converted Gentiles will bring converted Jews from all the nations in which they have been dispersed to Jerusalem as an offering to the God of Israel.
This prophecy in Zephaniah 3:10 and Isaiah 66:19-20 have never been fulfilled in history since neither the Scriptures or history records this ever taking place but it will be fulfilled after the Lord Jesus Christ returns at His Second Advent to establish His millennial kingdom.
These regenerated Jews will have been scattered throughout the nations as a result of the Antichrist’s persecution of the nation of Israel.
In these nations, they will evangelize unregenerate Gentiles who will in turn trust in Jesus Christ as Savior.
When Christ returns at His Second Advent, these regenerate Gentiles will bring these regenerate Jews who evangelized them to Jerusalem and present these Jews as a thanksgiving offering for their salvation.
This treatment of these Jews by these Gentiles will manifest the fact that they have been regenerated.
Matthew 25:31-46 records Jesus Christ judging those Gentiles who survived the events the tribulation period of the seventieth week.
Those who mistreated or neglected the Jews manifest the fact that they were not saved and are taken off the earth by elect angels and imprisoned in the Torments section of Hades and then at the end of history they are thrown into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15).
However, those Gentiles who befriended these Jews and treated them well manifest the fact that they are saved and will be welcomed into the millennial kingdom by Jesus Christ Himself.