Exegesis and Exposition of zephaniah 3: 17-18
Download 360 Kb.
|
| Zephaniah 3:17 “The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” (NASB95)
“He will exult over you with joy” is composed of the following: (1) third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb śûś (שׂוּשׂ), “He will exult” (2) preposition ʿal (עַל), “over” (3) second person feminine singular personal pronoun ʾat (אַתְּ), “you” (4) preposition b (בְּ), “with” (5) feminine singular noun śimḥâ (שִׂמְחָה), “joy.” The verb śûś is in the qal stem and means “to be pleased with someone, to be delighted with someone” since it pertains to having a feeling or attitude of fondness and enjoyment toward someone implying a love or relationship to the person one is delighted with. The speaks of expressing great joy with regards to someone one is delighted with. Here the subject of the verb is the Lord God of Israel and its object is the future remnant which will reside in Jerusalem during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. Therefore, this verb expresses the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ during His millennial reign will express great joy and be very delighted or pleased with this future remnant of Israel. The qal stem is stative expressing the state or condition of the Lord expressing great joy with regards to this future remnant of Israel. The imperfect conjugation of this verb refers to a completed action as part of a temporal sequence. It is expressing this action of Jesus Christ expressing great joy over the future remnant of Israel as taking place in the future from the perspective of Zephaniah in the seventh century B.C. The second person feminine singular personal pronoun ʾat means “you” referring to the city of Jerusalem and in particular it is referring to the remnant of Israel which will reside in this city in the future. This word is the object of the preposition ʿal, which means “because of” since the word is functioning as a marker of cause meaning it is marking this personal pronoun as the reason why the Lord Jesus Christ will express great joy. He will do so “because of” this future remnant who will trust in Him as Savior. The noun śimḥâ means “joy” since the word pertains to a feeling or attitude of joyful happiness and cheerfulness. However, it would appear that this word is used here in Zephaniah 3:17 of a “joyful celebration” which is how the word is often used in the Old Testament. K.D. Litwak writes “This word is used for the joy of celebrations, as when the women of Israel meet King Saul and David as they returned from killing the Philistines (1 Sam 18:6). Laban complains to Jacob for leaving secretly because Laban would have sent him away with joy (śimḥâ) and singing (Gen 31:27). The Israelites have great joy (śimḥâ) on the day of Solomon’s coronation (1 Chr 29:22). The Philistines offer sacrifices and have joy (śimḥâ) over the capture of Samson, their enemy (Judg 16:23).1 The noun śimḥâ is the object of the preposition b, which means “with” since the word is functioning as a marker of means expressing the means by which the Lord Jesus Christ will express great joy because of this future remnant of Israel which will trust in Him as Savior and worship Him as their God. He will do so “with a joyful celebration.” The Lord Will Be Quiet in His Love for Jerusalem Download 360 Kb. Share with your friends:
|