Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• The oracle against Moab chs. 15-16
  "The Babylon oracle revealed that world history, even in its most threatening and climactic forms, is so organized that the people of God are cared for. The Philistia oracle confirmed this by insisting that the Davidic promis...
• Jacob's distress and deliverance 30:4-11
  30:4 This oracle concerns all the Israelites, those of both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms.30:5-6 A time of great terror, dread, and unrest was coming. Men would behave as though they were in labor; they would hold themse...
• III. Prophecies about the nations chs. 46--51
  In Jeremiah, prophecies concerning foreign nations come at the end of the book. In the other major prophets, Isaiah and Ezekiel, they come after oracles against Israel and or Judah and before oracles dealing with Israel's res...
• C. The oracle against Moab ch. 48
  This oracle is similar to the one in Isaiah 15 and 16.555Other oracles against Moab appear in Ezekiel 25:8-11, Amos 2:1-3, and Zephaniah 2:9, but this is the longest one. It is very difficult to say when Jeremiah gave this or...
• III. Oracles against foreign nations chs. 25--32
  It is appropriate that this section appears at this point in Ezekiel, between the messages announcing judgment on Judah and Jerusalem for sin (chs. 4-24) and the messages announcing future blessings for Israel (chs. 33-48). I...
• 1. Judgment on Ammon 25:1-7
  Ezekiel previously recorded an oracle against Ammon (21:28-32). Its placement there was evidently due to the presence of "sword of the Lord"terminology in that oracle, which the other prophecies in that chapter also contain.2...
• 2. Judgment on Moab 25:8-11
  25:8 The residents of Moab and Seir (Edom) had regarded Judah as just one of the other nations even though the Judahites were blood relatives of theirs (cf. Jer. 48:27; Zeph. 2:8-9). This attitude reflected disrespect for Yah...
• Refusal to repent 4:6-11
  4:6 The Lord had brought famine throughout the land to warn His people about their disobedience and His displeasure, but this judgment did not move them to repent (cf. 1 Kings 8:37). Famine was one of the curses that God said...
• Message12
  The key to the Book of Zephaniah is the phrase "the day of the Lord."This phrase appears in most of the prophetic literature of the Old Testament. As we saw in Joel, "the day of the Lord"can be a past day, a day in the relati...
• Outline
  I. Heading 1:1II. The day of Yahweh's judgment 1:2-3:8A. Judgment on the world 1:2-3B. Judgment on Judah 1:4-2:31. The cause for Judah's judgment 1:4-62. The course of Judah's judgment 1:7-133. The imminence and horrors of Ju...
• II. The day of Yahweh's judgment 1:2--3:8
  Zephaniah's prophecies are all about "the day of the LORD."He revealed two things about this "day,"first, that it would involve judgment (1:2-3:8) and, second, that it would eventuate in blessing (3:9-20). The judgment portio...
• B. The judgment on Judah 1:4-2:3
  The Lord gave more details about this worldwide judgment. It would include Judah. Zephaniah gave more particulars concerning the fate of Judah (1:4-2:3) and Jerusalem (3:1-7) than about the fate of the rest of humanity (1:2-3...
• 2. Judgment coming on Moab and Ammon 2:8-11
  2:8 Probably Zephaniah linked Moab and Ammon because both nations descended from Lot (Gen. 19:30-38) as well as because both lay to Judah's east. Both nations had taunted and reviled the Israelites from their earliest history...
• D. Judgment on Jerusalem 3:1-7
  Having announced that divine judgment would come on the nations around Judah (2:4-15), the prophet returned to the subject of Yahweh's judgment on the Chosen People (cf. 1:4-2:3), but this time he focused more particularly on...
• E. Judgment on all nations 3:8
  The people of Jerusalem needed to wait a little longer. The Lord would soon rise up as a devouring animal to consume His prey. He had determined to gather nations and kingdoms that were wicked, including Judah, and pour His b...
• III. The day of Yahweh's blessing 3:9-20
  Having finished the revelation dealing with God's judgment of the world in a coming day (1:2-3:8), Zephaniah now announced that He would bring great blessing to all humankind after that judgment (3:9-20). As in the section of...
• A. The purification of the nations 3:9
  "Then"signals a major change in time as well as in the focus of Zephaniah's prophecy. It is a hinge word that serves as a transition from judgment in the Tribulation to blessing in the Millennium. Then, after these judgments ...
• 3. Israel's regathering 3:18-20
  3:18 In the past Jews who lived far from Jerusalem were very sad because they could not travel to Jerusalem to observe Israel's annual feasts. They suffered a certain criticism from their fellow Jews for living far away from ...
• Bibliography
  Chisholm, Robert B., Jr. "A Theology of the Minor Prophets."In A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, pp. 397-433. Edited by Roy B. Zuck. Chicago: Moody Press, 1991.Christensen, Duane L. "Zephaniah 2:4-15: A Theological Ba...
• 2. Philip's ministry to the Ethiopian eunuch 8:26-40
  Luke recorded this incident to show the method and direction of the church's expansion to God-fearing Gentiles who were attracted to Judaism at this time. This man had visited Jerusalem to worship, was studying the Old Testam...