Zephaniah 3.12a-God Will Cause a Humble and Meek Remnant of Jews to Remain in Jerusalem
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday July 27, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:12a-God Will Cause a Humble and Meek Remnant of Jews to Remain in Jerusalem
Lesson # 80
Zephaniah 3:11 “In that day you will feel no shame because of all your deeds by which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst your proud, exulting ones, and you will never again be haughty on My holy mountain. 12 But I will leave among you a humble and lowly people, and they will take refuge in the name of the LORD.” (NASB95)
“But I will leave among you a humble and lowly people” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction w (וְ), “but” (2) first person singular hiphil active perfect form of the verb šāʾar (שָׁאַר), “I will leave” (3) preposition b (בְּ), “on” (4) masculine singular construct form of the noun qereb (קֶרֶב), “among” (5) second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat (אַתְּ), “you” (6) masculine singular construct form of the noun ʿam (עַם), “people” (7) masculine singular adjective ʿānî (עָנִי), “humble” (8) conjunction w (וְ), “and” (9) masculine singular adjective dal (דַּל), “lowly.”
The conjunction w is functioning as a marker of contrast meaning it is introducing a prophetic declaration which stands in contrast to the previous prophetic declarations recorded in Zephaniah 3:11.
The verb šāʾar is in the hiphil stem and means “to cause to be left over, to cause to remain, to spare” since it pertains to the state of being a left over part of a whole or group and thus “to leave behind, to preserve, to make remain, to leave over.”
The noun ʿǎm is in the singular and means “people” in the sense of a large group based on various cultural, physical and geographical ties.
It refers to a large group that is larger than a tribe or clan but smaller than a race.
Here it refers to regenerate Jews in resurrection bodies and those without resurrection bodies living during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
The construct state of this noun means it is governing the words which follows it and is expressing a genitive relation with these words which are the adjective ʿānî, “humble” and the adjective dal, “lowly.”
The former means “humble” since it pertains to being unpretentious and straightforward, suggesting a lack of arrogance or pride.
The word does not mean “afflicted” pertaining to being a lowly, needy state or suffering some kind of distress because during the millennial reign of Christ both Jew and Gentile will prosper financially during this time and there will no longer be any suffering or war or poverty according to the prophecies related to this time.
This interpretation is further indicated by the fact that Zephaniah 3:13 is describing the spiritual character of this remnant rather than their physical or economic status.
The adjective dal does not speak of economic deprivation or in other words, it does not refer to one who is poor since both Jew and Gentile will prosper economically during the millennial reign of Christ according to the prophecies related to this time.
Rather, the word is used in a spiritual sense meaning “lowly, meek” since it pertains to a humble and meek manner or humble in spirit.
This interpretation is also indicated by the fact that Zephaniah 3:13 is describing the spiritual character of this remnant rather than their physical or economic status.
The noun qereb means “midst” since it pertains to the location of something or someone in the middle, the center or “the midst” of something or someone or a group of people.
Here it refers to “the midst” of the city of Jerusalem which is indicated by the construct state of this noun which means that it is governing the word which follows it and is expressing a genitive relation with this word which is the second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat.
This pronominal suffix refers to the city of Jerusalem.
The noun qereb is also the object of the preposition b, which means “within” since it functions as a marker of position or location within a geographical area, defined by the objects around it.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase indicates that this remnant God will leave behind will be located within the midst of the city of Jerusalem.
The perfect conjugation of this verb is a prophetic perfect expressing the certainty that this will take place in the future.
Zephaniah 3:11 “During that distinct and unique period in the future, you will no longer experience shame because of each and every one of your actions by means of which of you rebelled against Me because I will cause the removal of your proud boasters from your midst. Consequently, you will absolutely never again cause yourself to enter the state of being arrogant anymore on My holy mountain. 12 However, I will surely cause a humble and meek group of people to remain within your midst because they took refuge in the Lord’s name.” (My translation)
The prophetic declaration recorded here in Zephaniah 3:12 stands in contrast to the previous prophetic declarations recorded in Zephaniah 3:11.
Therefore, the contrast is between Jerusalem being inhabited by arrogant boasters with that of her being inhabited by humble and lowly people who take refuge in the name of the Lord.
This adversative clause in Zephaniah 3:12 which begins the verse is speaking of a remnant of Jews expressing the idea that the God of Israel will cause them to remain in the city of Jerusalem in the sense that they will be spared His judgment because of their humble and lowly character.
This remnant of Jews whom God will leave in the city of Jerusalem because of their humble and meek character refers to regenerate Jews living in Jerusalem during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
Specifically, it speaks of regenerate Jews living in their resurrection bodies and are thus Old Testament saints and martyrs from the tribulation or they are regenerate Jews who survived the judgments of the tribulation.
The word is not referring to the remnant of the southern kingdom of Judah who returned from exile in Babylon in the sixth century B.C. for two reasons.
The prophetic declarations in Zephaniah 3:11 and those in Zephaniah 3:13.
The former asserts that the Jews will no longer experience shame because of their sinful deeds which manifested their rebellion against God because He will remove the arrogant boasters from Jerusalem.
Consequently, never again will there be an arrogant person on the temple mount, i.e. God’s holy mountain.
This has never taken place in history and certainly did not take place in the sixth century B.C. when a remnant from the southern kingdom of Judah returned from the Babylonian exile.
This is indicated by the fact that many of these exiles were unfaithful to God as manifested by the fact that they married pagan foreign wives (Ezra 9).
However, this will take place during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ according to the prophecies related to this future glorious period.
Zephaniah 3:13 describes the humble lowly remnant mentioned in Zephaniah 3:12 as those who do no wrong and tell no lies and are not filled with deceit.
This was not true among the Babylonian exiles but it will be true of those Old Testament saints and Jewish tribulational martyrs in resurrection bodies who are perfected.
It will be true of regenerate Jews who survived the tribulation and remained faithful despite being persecuted severely by Antichrist and Satan.
Humility is viewing ourselves from God’s perspective meaning we are sinners saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ and expresses itself in obedience to the Father’s will, which manifests itself in loving and serving others.
It expresses itself in putting others ahead of yourself.
This faithful, humble and meek Jewish remnant that will live during the millennial reign of Christ viewed themselves from God’s perspective which is that they were creatures of God and subordinate to Him.
Humility is the antithesis to arrogance and is a mental attitude and is characterized by obedience to the will of God.
The humble believer will imitate the Lord Jesus Christ’s servant mentality and as a result perform acts of service for both God and man.
Christian service demands humility, which is the antithesis to arrogance.
God commands humility (Micah 6:8; James 4:10; 1 Peter 3:8; cf. Exodus 10:3; Proverbs 16:19; Isaiah 57:15; 58:5; Zephaniah 2:3; Luke 14:9-11; Romans 12:3; 1 Corinthians 1:28; Ephesian 4:2; Colossians 3:12; Titus 3:2; James 3:13; 1 Peter 5:5) and He promotes the humble (Luke 1:52; cf. 2 Samuel 7:8; 1 Kings 14:7).
Humility is also linked with God’s favor (Psalm 18:27; 25:9; 138:6; 147:6; 149:4; Proverbs 3:34; 18:12; James 4:6; Isaiah 29:19; 38:15; 57:15; Proverbs 15:33; 22:4; Psalm 35:13; Jeremiah 44:10).
There are many outstanding examples of humble people in the Bible (Genesis 32:10 Jacob; Genesis 41:16 Joseph; Numbers 12:3 Moses; 1 Samuel 9:21 Saul; 1 Samuel 18:18; 2 Samuel 7:18 David; 1 Kings 3:7 Solomon; Daniel 2:30 Daniel; Matthew 3:14 John the Baptist; Luke 1:43 Elizabeth; Luke 1:48 Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ; Paul: 1 Timothy 1:15; Acts 20:19).
There is also of course the example of Jesus Christ (Philippians 2:5-8; cf. Isaiah 53:3-5,7-8; Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:5; John 12:15; Matthew 11:29; 20:28; Luke 22:26-27; John 13:4; 2 Corinthians 8:9).
Humility is subordinating ones’ self-interest to the best interests of others.
The incarnate Son of God Jesus Christ became a human being and died a substitutionary spiritual and physical death on the cross in the interests of sinful humanity (John 13:1-17).
Humility is expressed by the believer who regards their fellow believer more highly than themselves and subordinates their interests to the best interests of their fellow believer (Philippians 2:3-4).