Zephaniah 3.19c-God Will Transform the Shame of the Future Remnant of Israel to Praise and Honor
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday September 27, 2016
Zephaniah: Zephaniah 3:19c-God Will Transform the Shame of the Future Remnant of Israel to Praise and Honor
Lesson # 94
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)
“And I will turn their shame into praise and renown in all the earth” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction w (וְ), “and” (2) first person singular qal active perfect form of the verb śîm (שִׂים), “I will turn” (3) third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ (־הֵמָה), which is not translated (4) preposition l (לְ), “into” (5) feminine singular noun tĕhillâ (תְּהִלָּה), “praise” (6) conjunction w (וְ), “and” (7) preposition l (לְ), “into” (8) masculine singular form of the noun šēm (שֵׁם), “renown” (9) preposition b (בְּ), “in” (10) collective singular construct form of the noun kōl (כֹּל), “all” (11) articular feminine singular form of the noun ʾereṣ (אֶרֶץ), “the earth” (12) feminine singular noun bōšet (בֹּשֶׁת), “shame” (13) third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ (־הֵמָה), “their.”
This time the conjunction w is introducing a prophetic declaration which advances upon and intensifies the previous prophetic declaration.
Here the word introduces another prophetic declaration which asserts that the Lord will turn the shame of the lame and exiled of the remnant of Israel into praise and honor.
Therefore, the advancement and the intensification is that not only will the lame of the remnant of Israel be delivered by the Lord at His Second Advent and those who are exiled will also be gather to Himself, but the Lord will also turn their shame into honor and praise among people of the earth during His millennial reign.
The verb śîm means “to transform” since the word is not simply a marker of causative of relation but pertains to changing the condition or character of someone or something implying a major change in form, nature or function.
The first person singular form of this verb is referring of course to the Lord.
The third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ, which is not translated by the NASB95 means “them” referring of course to the remnant of Israel and specifically the lame and the exiled among this remnant.
The word is the direct object of the verb śîm indicating that the Lord is asserting He will transform this remnant which He then explains in detail what He means by this.
The perfect conjugation of this verb is a prophetic perfect expressing the certainty that this event will take place in the future.
The noun bōšet means “shame” since it pertains to a painful emotion caused by consciousness of guilt, shortcoming or impropriety.
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 third person masculine plural form of the pronominal suffix hēmâ, which means “their” referring to the remnant of Israel.
The noun tĕhillâ means “praise” since the word pertains to speaking positive words about the excellence of another.
This word is the object of the preposition l which is functioning as a marker of a change of condition or state indicating the Lord will transform the shame of this remnant of Israel into praise among people of the earth during His millennial reign.
The noun šēm means “honor” since the word pertains having a good reputation among people resulting in recognition from people and fame.
This word is also the object of the preposition l which again is functioning as a marker of a change of condition or state indicating that the Lord will transform this remnant’s shame into honor.
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 third and final prophetic declaration recorded in Zephaniah 3:19 advances upon and intensifies the second prophetic declaration.
In it, the Lord asserts that He will surely transform the lame and exiled from this future remnant of Israel.
Specifically, He says He will do this by transforming their shame into praise as well as honor throughout the entire earth.
This shame was the result of being held in contempt by the unregenerate people of the earth who were deceived by Satan and Antichrist.
This transformation will manifest itself during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ and will be the result of the actions of Jesus Christ at His Second Advent.
At that time, He will destroy the tribulational armies, have Antichrist and the False Prophet thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 19:11-19), will imprison Satan for a thousand years (Rev. 20:1-3) and will establish His millennial reign on planet earth (Rev. 20:4-6).
All the unregenerate will be taken off the earth by the elect angels (Matt. 25) and thrown into Torments which is a compartment of Hades (Luke 16:19-31).
Eventually, they are transferred to the Great White Throne Judgment and then thrown into the lake of fire for their rejection of Jesus Christ as their Savior (Rev. 20:11-15).
Furthermore, there will be two judgments conducted by the Lord Jesus Christ immediately after His Second Advent and just prior to His millennial reign.
These judgments will result in only believers living at the start of the millennial reign of our Lord.
Those Israelites and Gentiles who reject Jesus Christ as Savior are removed from the earth whereas those who trust in Him as Savior will enter the millennium.
The judgment of those Israelites who survive the Tribulation is referred to in Ezekiel 20:33-37 and Malachi 3:2-6 whereas Matthew 25:31-46 speaks of the judgment of those Gentiles who survive the Tribulation.
The chronology of prophesied events by our Lord in Matthew 24 and 25 indicates that the Lord Jesus Christ will judge Israel immediately upon returning at His Second Advent and then after this He will judge the Gentiles.
The chronology of events listed in Matthew 24 and 25: (1) First three and a half years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Matthew 24:4-6) (2) Last three and a half years of Daniel’s Seventieth Week (Matthew 24:7-28) (3) The Second Advent of Jesus Christ (Matthew 24:29-30) (4) The elect angels will regather Israel (Matthew 24:31). (5) The Lord Jesus Christ will judge Israel (Matthew 25:1-30) (6) The Lord Jesus Christ will judge the Gentiles (Matthew 25:31-46). (7) Millennium.
A comparison of Daniel 9:27, 12:11 and 13 teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ will conduct these judgments for 45 days.
This is indicated in that Daniel 9:27 teaches that Daniel’s Seventieth Week is divided into two periods of 1,260 days (Daniel 9:27).
Daniel 12:11 speaks of 1,290 days from the time of Antichrist abolishing the sacrifice and setting himself up as God, which indicates that there will be a 30-day interval to cleanse the temple.
Then, Daniel 12:12 says that blessed is the person who attains to the 1,335 days, which gives us an additional 45 days beyond the 30-day interval, giving us a total of 75 days, which refers to the period in which the Lord will judge both Israel and the Gentiles to determine who will enter His millennial reign.
These actions on the part of the Lord at His Second Advent and immediately after prior to His millennial reign will result in the transformation of this future remnant of Israel.
They will be honored and praised as a result of the Lord removing their enemies from the earth, both angelic and human.
They will be honored and praised because only regenerate human beings will populate the earth at the beginning of the millennial reign of Christ.
They will be honored and praised because their Lord and Savior will be King over all the earth.
They will also be honored and praised by the Lord Himself for their faithfulness to Him during the time of their persecution during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week, i.e. the great tribulation.
Therefore, this third prophetic declaration predicts the future vindication of the remnant of Israel.
It is also predicting the future restoration of the nation of Israel in the sense that the Lord will bring them back to the land promised to them and the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who would trust in the Lord.
Isaiah 60, Jeremiah 31 and Micah 4 echo this third prophetic declaration recorded in Zephaniah 3:19 and provides more details with regards to the treatment of this future remnant of Israel during Christ’s millennial reign.