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Call to worship: Psalm 145:1-13

Text: Zephaniah 1:1-18

Summary

The glorious creator of everything sends his word through Zephaniah. "I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth!" Turning on its head Israel's expectation that the Day of the Lord is a time for rejoicing, Zephaniah lays out the coming devastation the earth and its inhabitants will experience because of the sin of man, and more specifically, the sin of God's covenant people.

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Discussion Questions

Read Zephaniah 1:1-18. Having studied Nahum recently, what similarities between Nahum 1 (for example) and Zephaniah 1 do you see? What is different about Zephaniah's message of judgment? Is the day of the Lord something to look forward to?

Why does Zephaniah have an elongated genealogy (1:1) What does the relation of Josiah's kingship have to do with the message of Zephaniah? What is the impact of references to Hezekiah and Amon?

How is judgment on Judah/Jerusalem related to creation (1:2-6)? How is the universality and specificity of Zephaniah's message related to sacrifice of Jesus? What is the primary sin Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are accused of? How does this apply to us a believers today?

What should we learn from Zephaniah's insistence on the nearness of the day of the Lord (7, 14)? Can Judah escape judgment? If not, what is the purpose of this message? What does this mean for the Davidic line and the kingdom? How is judgment related to the curses for covenant disobedience in Deuteronomy?

What different groups does Zephaniah single out for judgment? How is God's judgment related to the sin committed? How's is God's justice exemplified in this chapter?