Exegesis and Exposition of zephaniah 3: 17-18
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| 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 rejoice over you with shouts of joy” is composed of the following: (1) third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb gîl (גִּיל), “He will rejoice” (2) preposition ʿal (עַל), “over” (3) second person feminine singular pronominal suffix ʾat (אַתְּ), “you” (4) preposition b (בְּ), “with” (5) feminine singular noun rinnâ (רִנָּה), “shouts of joy.” The verb gîl means “to rejoice” since the word pertains to joy expressed in song. Here it speaks of the joy the Lord Jesus Christ will express with songs because of this future remnant of Israel which will worship Him during His millennial reign. The qal stem is fientive expressing the action of the Lord Jesus Christ rejoicing in a song because of this future remnant which will worship Him during His millennial reign. 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 rejoicing in song because of this future remnant of Israel as taking place in the future from the perspective of Zephaniah in the seventh century B.C. Once again, we have 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 in song. He will do so “because of” this future remnant who will trust in Him as Savior. In this verse, the noun rinnâ can mean either “shouts of joy” or “joyful singing.” Here the latter would appear to be in view since Zephaniah 3:18 makes reference to the seven great feasts of Israel and singing at the feasts was involved when worshipping the Lord. This noun is the object of the preposition b, which means “with, by means of, by” since the word is functioning as a marker of means indicating that joyful singing will be the means by which the Lord Jesus Christ will express great joy because of this future remnant who will worship Him during His millennial reign. Translation of Zephaniah 3:17 Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord, the God ruling over and in a relationship with you is in your midst, a mighty warrior characterized as being able to deliver. With a joyful celebration, He will express great joy because of you. He will cause you to be renewed because of His love. He will rejoice because of you by means of joyful singing. (Author’s translation) Exposition of Zephaniah 3:17 Zephaniah 3:17 contains four prophetic declarations and in each statement, Zephaniah employs the figure of asyndeton. The purpose of this figure is not only to emphasize with the reader these prophecies but also to cause the reader to make a personal application which is repentance. In Zephaniah’s day, the application for the unregenerate Jew would be repentance expressed by the rejection of their idols so as to trust in the God of Israel. The application for the unregenerate Jew living during the seventieth week would be repentance as well but expressed by the rejection of their idols so as trust in the God of Israel, Jesus Christ. For the unfaithful regenerate Jew living during the seventh century B.C. repentance would involve the confession of sin to be restored to fellowship with God and obedience to the Mosaic Law to maintain that fellowship. For the unfaithful regenerate Jew living during the seventieth week, repentance would be the confession of sin to be restored to fellowship with God but obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ to maintain that fellowship. The application for the faithful Jew in Zephaniah’s day would be to continue remaining faithful in their obedience to the Mosaic Law while for the faithful Jew living during the seventieth week the application would be to continue remaining faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The first prophetic declaration recorded in Zephaniah 3:17 predicts that the Lord, the God ruling over and in a relationship with the remnant of Israel living in Jerusalem will be in the midst of Jerusalem and thus in the midst of this future remnant of Israel. It echoes the third prophetic declaration recorded in Zephaniah 3:15 which asserts that the King ruling over and in a relationship with Israel, the Lord is the midst of this remnant. Both of these prophetic declarations predict that the king of Israel, who is the Lord Jesus Christ, will rule bodily in the midst of this city of Jerusalem and the future remnant of Israel during His millennial reign. This prophecy echoes other Old Testament passages of Scripture (cf. Ps. 46:5; Is. 9:7; 44:6; Ezek. 37:26-28; 48:35; Joel 3:17, 21; Zech. 2:10; 14:9). In Zephaniah 3:17, after predicting that the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of Israel will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem and in particular the remnant of Israel dwelling in this city during His millennial reign, Zephaniah goes on to describe the Lord Jesus Christ. He describes the Lord as a mighty warrior who is characterized as being able to bring about deliverance from one’s enemies and mortal danger. This description asserts that the Lord Jesus Christ is a mighty military hero who distinguishes Himself in war or combat and is very capable of defending those who trust in Him and attacking and defeating the enemies of those who trust in Him (Psa. 24:8). This description also asserts that He is characterized as being able to bring about deliverance. This can refer to saving or delivering or rescuing someone in a spiritual sense or in a physical sense such as from an enemy or some great danger. In a spiritual sense, the word would refer to the fact that through faith in Himself, the Lord delivers sinners from eternal condemnation, condemnation from the Law, personal sins, the sin nature, spiritual and physical death, Satan and his cosmic system. In a physical sense, it would speak of Him delivering those who trust in Him from an army or enemies seeking to destroy those who trust in Him. However, the fact this deliverance is used in relation to the Lord distinguishing Himself in combat or war would strongly suggest that this deliverance is used of deliverance from one’s enemies or great physical danger. Thus, it is referring to the fact that Jesus Christ will physically deliver Jerusalem and the remnant of Israel from great physical danger because of their enemies seeking to destroy them rather than referring to the spiritual deliverance He provides sinners through faith in Himself. Therefore, this description of the Lord Jesus Christ as someone who is a mighty military hero who is characterized as being able to deliver in Zephaniah 3:17 is prophesying that the Lord Jesus Christ will be known as a warrior who can deliver from mortal danger and one’s enemies. This will be the direct result of His great military heroics which He will accomplish at His Second Advent. At that time, He will kill the Antichrist and the false prophet and defeat the tribulational armies and imprison Satan and the fallen angels for a thousand years, all of which are attempting to destroy Israel during the tribulation portion of the seventieth week of Daniel. Therefore, Zephaniah 3:17 describes the Lord Jesus Christ as one who is characterized as having the ability to deliver from one’s enemies and life and death situations. Isaiah 63:1-6 is a prophesy describing the Lord Jesus Christ as a military hero delivering Israel from her enemies at His Second Advent. Isaiah 63:1 Who is this who comes from Edom, with garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, this One who is majestic in His apparel, marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” 2 Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? 3 “I have trodden the wine trough alone, and from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger and trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, and I stained all My raiment. 4 “For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and My year of redemption has come. 5 “I looked, and there was no one to help, and I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, and My wrath upheld Me. 6 “I trod down the peoples in My anger and made them drunk in My wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.” (NASB95) This physical deliverance of this future remnant of Israel at Jesus Christ’s Second Advent is a visible manifestation of spiritual reality, namely that this remnant will trust in Jesus Christ to deliver them from Satan, Antichrist and the tribulational armies surrounding her during the tribulation period (Ezek. 37:20-28). Their faith in Jesus Christ will appropriate His power or omnipotence which He will exercise on their behalf to defeat all their enemies both visible and invisible, human and angelic. At His “Second Advent,” the Lord Jesus Christ 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). At that time, the Lord and His armies will orbit the earth before landing on the Mount of Olives, which was the site of His Ascension (Acts. 1:9-11). There will be a great earthquake when our Lord’s foot touches the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:1-8) and will be a unique day having neither day nor night (Zech. 14:7). The Lord Jesus Christ describes the Tribulation period in detail and His Second Advent in Matthew 24:29-31 and Luke 21:25-28. The “Second Advent” of Jesus Christ is taught in both the Old and New Testaments (Deuteronomy 30:3; Psalm 2:1-9; 24:7-10; 96:10-13; 110; Isaiah 9:6-7; 63:1-6; Jeremiah 23:1-8; Daniel 2:44-45; 7:18-27; Zechariah 12; 14:1-9; Matthew 19:28; 24:27-31; Mark 13:24-30; Luke 12:35-40; 17:24-37; 18:8; 21:25-28; Acts 1:10-11; 15:16-18; Romans 11:25-27; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; 2:8; 2 Peter 3:3-4; Jude 14-15; Revelation 1:7-8; 2:25-28; 16:15; 19:11-21). The second prophetic declaration in Zephaniah 3:17 asserts that the Lord will express great joy because of this future remnant who will trust in Him at His Second Advent to deliver them from their enemies and He will do so with a joyful celebration. This joy over this remnant is also prophesied about in Isaiah 62:5. The third prophetic declaration presents the implicit reason for the Lord expressing great joy with a joyful celebration, namely this remnant will have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit through faith in Him at His Second Advent. It is expressing the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ will renew these spiritually dead Jews in the sense that He will regenerate them through the Spirit when they trust in Him at His Second Advent to deliver them from Satan, Antichrist, the false prophet and the tribulational armies. On the Day of Atonement, at the Second Advent of Christ, Israel will as a nation trust in Jesus Christ as Savior and thus be regenerated by the Spirit (Ezekiel 36:22-31; 37; Zechariah 12:10; 14:9-21). Download 360 Kb. Share with your friends:
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