Zephaniah 3.19a-God Will Take Action Against the Enemies of the Future Remnant of Israel
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday September 21, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:19a-God Will Take Action Against the Enemies of the Future Remnant of Israel
Lesson # 92
Zephaniah 3:19 “Behold, I am going to deal at that time with all your oppressors, I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.” (NASB95)
The figure of asyndeton is being used here in Zephaniah 3:19 in order to emphasize the solemn nature of the first prophetic declaration in this verse so as to cause the reader to reflect upon it so as to make personal application which would be repentance.
“Behold” is the interjection hinnē (הִנֵּה) (hee-nay), which is used as a discourse marker to introduce a description of a prophetic declaration, implying emphasis.
It draws the attention of the reader in order to mark this prophetic declaration as important to the reader and specifically important to the Jew living in Zephaniah’s day in the seventh century B.C. and those living during the seventieth week of Daniel.
“At that time” is composed of the following: (1) preposition b (בְּ), “at” (2) articular common singular noun ʿēt (עֵת), “time” (3) definite article ha- which is not translated (4) third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hîʾ (הִיא), “that.”
The noun ʿēt (eyeet) means “time” in the sense of a period of time.
Specifically, it is referring to the Second Advent of Jesus Christ which is indicated through a comparison of the assertions in Zephaniah 3:18 with the prophecies in Scripture related to the Second Advent.
The articular construction of this noun ʿēt is emphasizing that this period of time in the future will be unique in human history.
The noun ʿēṯ is the object of the preposition b, which means “during” since it indicates that something occurs during the time indicated by its object.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase means that “during” this particular period of time in the future, the Lord will deal with all of the enemies of the remnant of Israel.
The third person feminine singular pronominal suffix hîʾ (he) means “this” since it is functioning as a demonstrative pronoun pointing out the noun ʿēt for emphasis.
The articular construction of this pronominal suffix is anaphoric indicating that the pronominal suffix is pointing back to the noun ʿēṯ (eyeet) and that they are both referring to the same thing.
Therefore, this prepositional phrase bāʿēt hahîʾ (בָּעֵ֣ת הַהִ֔יא) should be translated “during a particular period of time in the future,” which is a reference to the Second Advent of Christ.
This is indicated through a comparison of the assertions in Zephaniah 3:18 with the prophecies in Scripture related to the Second Advent.
“I am going to deal with all your oppressors” is composed of the following: (1) first person singular independent personal pronoun ʾǎnî (אֲנִי), “I” (2) masculine singular qal active participle form of the verb ʿāśâ (עָשָׂה), “am going to deal” (3) object marker ʾēt (אֵת), which is not translated (4) collective singular construct form of the noun kōl (כֹּל), “all” (5) masculine plural piel active participle construct form of the verb ʿānâ (עָנָה), “oppressors” (6) second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat (אַתְּ), “your.”
The first person singular independent personal pronoun ʾǎnî (ah-nee) means “I” referring of course to the God of Israel.
The use of the independent personal pronoun is often unnecessary in Hebrew since the form of a finite verb in this language indicates the person, number and gender of the subject.
This is what makes Hebrew an “inflectional” language.
When the independent personal pronoun is used therefore, it may serve to clarify the subject or contrast the subject with someone else or for emphasis.
Here it is used for emphasis stressing with the reader that the Lord Himself will deal with the enemies of the remnant of Israel and no one else.
The independent personal pronoun ʾǎnî is functioning as the subject of the masculine singular qal active participle form of the verb ʿāśâ (עָשָׂה) (aw-sah), which means “to deal with someone, to take action against someone” since the word pertains to carrying out or performing an action or a course of action against someone.
Therefore, this word is expressing the idea that the God of Israel “will deal with” or “take action against” all of the oppressors of the remnant of Israel during a particular period of time in the future.
The participle form of this verb is used here for imminent action indicating that the Lord was “about to” take action against all the enemies of the remnant of Israel during a particular period of time in the future.
The primary meaning of the verb ʿānâ (aw-nah) is “to force, to try to force submission, to punish or inflict pain upon” someone.
Here in Zephaniah 3:19, the word is in the piel stem and means “to mistreat, to afflict, to oppress” someone.
The construct state of this word 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 (אַתְּ) (aht), which means “you” referring to the remnant of Israel living at that time of the Second Advent.
The genitive relation between these two words is an objective genitive meaning that this pronominal suffix ʾat is receiving the action implied by the construct term ʿānâ (aw-nah).
Therefore, this verb is referring to the enemies of this remnant living at that particular time in the future.
The piel stem of this verb ʿānâ is iterative or habitual expressing the idea that these enemies of the remnant of Israel “habitually” mistreated them.
The collective singular construct form of the noun kōl (כֹּל) means “all” since the word denotes totality.
Zephaniah 3:19 “Behold, I myself am about to take action against each and every one of those who habitually mistreat you during a specific period of time in the future. Also, I will surely deliver the lame and in addition I will cause those who are exiled to be gathered. Indeed, I will surely transform them, specifically, I will surely transform their shame into praise as well as honor throughout the entire earth.” (My translation)
The prophet Zephaniah continues to quote the God of Israel rather than speaking on His behalf as His representative to the Jewish people.
Zephaniah 3:19 contains three prophetic declarations with the third advancing upon and intensifying the second.
Each of these prophecies are addressed to the Jewish people in Zephaniah’s day in the seventh century B.C. as well as those Jews living in Israel during the seventieth week of Daniel.
The first two prophecies will be fulfilled at Jesus Christ’s Second Advent.
The third will be fulfilled during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.
In the first prophetic declaration, the God of Israel asserts that He was about to take action against each and every one of those who habitually mistreated this future remnant of Israel during a specific period of time in the future.
This specific period of time in the future is referring to the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
This is indicated through a comparison of the assertions in Zephaniah 3:18 with the prophecies in Scripture related to the Second Advent.
The first prophetic declaration in Zephaniah 3:19 asserts that the Lord will deal with the remnant of Israel’s oppressors.
The second asserts that He will save the lame and gather the outcast.
The third asserts that He will turn this remnant’s shame into praise and renown.
None of these predictions have been fulfilled in history.
However, according to both Old and New Testament prophecies, all of these prophecies will be fulfilled at Christ’s Second Advent since the Scriptures teach that at that particular time, Jesus Christ will defeat all of Israel’s enemies.
These would include Satan and the fallen angels, Antichrist and the false prophet and the tribulational armies.
Consequently, He will deliver the remnant of Israel.
The prophecies of the millennium which follows chronologically the Second Advent assert that the Jews will be praised and celebrated throughout the entire earth because Jesus Christ, the King of all the earth at that time, is a Jew Himself.
In this first prophetic declaration, the Lord is emphasizing with the reader that He alone will deal with the enemies of the remnant of Israel and no one else.
When the Lord says He will take action against the enemies of this future remnant of Israel He is speaking of judging these enemies in the sense of punishing them for their unjustified mistreatment of this future remnant.
These enemies would include Satan and the fallen angels as well as the Antichrist and the false prophet and in addition the tribulational armies.
All of these will be judged by the Lord Jesus Christ at His Second Advent.
At that time, Satan and his angels will be imprisoned for a thousand years.
Antichrist and the false prophet will be thrown alive into the lake of fire where they will stay for all of eternity.
The armies of the tribulation will be destroyed or killed in combat by the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is all made clear in Revelation chapters 19 and 20.