02/15/2009
Sunday school: Proverbs 29.21 Kindness
without pampering
Scripture Reading: #656
Tonight @ 5 p.m. – Valentine dinner (celebrate February birthdays
and anniversaries) and the reading of the Annual
Reports.
Wednesday @ 7 – Paul, on Baptism (p.132)
(2nd
period) Zephaniah: The meek will
inherit the Holy City
Circa 639-608 b.c.
"But I will leave
within you the meek and humble, who trust in the name
of the LORD." Zephaniah 3.12 This prophecy was about the three Babylonian
attacks that were coming (605 & 598/597 & 588/586 B.C.) which would
leave the city desolate and a pile of rubble.
Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Jeremiah were
contemporaries. Zephaniah was possibly the oldest of these four prophets who
were contemporaries in the King Josiah era. It is also possible that he was a
descendant of King Hezekiah.
His short book runs the gamut from apocalyptic and
dramatic language of calamity all the way to a millennial Messianic utopia. The
time frame of his prophetic projections would span from the destruction of
Nineveh all the way to ‘end times.’
His message was to ‘comfort the discomforted and
discomfort the comfortable.’ He was saying that the ‘meek’ would inherit what
would be left of Jerusalem after the ‘comfortable’ had been killed or hauled
off into exile. “Blessed are the meek...”
Matthew 5: 5. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit
the earth.
Zephaniah said:
"But I will leave within you the meek
and humble, who trust in the name of the LORD."
Zephaniah 3.12
That sounds lofty and noble. That sounds spiritual, doesn’t it? Perhaps
it’s because we aren’t hearing the inflections in voice of the prophet. Perhaps
it’s because we can’t see the expression on his face. Perhaps it’s because we
have some preset opinions as to what ‘piety’ looks like.
I’ve known more than a few ‘pious’ folks who have developed an affect of
‘meekness’ and ‘humility.’ There are more than a few of these folks around who
‘stand’ on the proverbial street corner with their ‘meekness and piety’ and are
proud of it.
What if our religious cultural conditioning has ignored the harsh
realities of the prophecy? Here’s what we see in a literal rendering of
Zephaniah 3.12 |5800| And I will leave
|8432| in your midst |5971| a people |6041| poor |7504| and weak,
|2620| and they will trust |7034| in the name of |3068| Yahweh.
Strong's
Ref. # 6041 Romanized
`aniy: Pronounced aw-nee' - from HSN6031; depressed, in mind or circumstances [practically the same as
HSN6035, although the margin constantly disputes this, making HSN6035
subjective and HSN6041 objective]: KJV--afflicted,
humble, lowly, needy, poor.
Strong's
Ref. # 7504 Romanized
rapheh: Pronounced raw-feh' - from HSN7503; slack (in body or mind): KJV--weak.
raphah, Raphah. See HSN7497, HSN7498. riphah. See HSN7383.
It isn’t just “poor and weak,” but actually it infers someone
who is “depressed, in mind or
circumstances” “afflicted, humble, lowly, needy, poor.” No piety found
there…instead, there is every reason for pity and compassion. They have no resources; they have to trust in the Lord.
Matt
5.5. |3107| Blessed
|9999| {are} |3588| the |4239| meek, |3754| because
|0846| they |2816| will inherit |3588| the |1093| earth.
Strong's
Ref. # 4239 Romanized
praus: Pronounced prah-ooce' - a primary word; mild, i.e. (by implication) humble:
KJV--meek. See also GSN4235.
What was Jesus saying? Was this a reference
to the same prophetic event as Zephaniah’s?
“Blessed are the mild, the humble,
because they will inherit the earth.” Matthew
5.5
"But I
will leave within you the poor and weak, and they will trust in the name of the
LORD." Zephaniah 3.12
Zephaniah was saying that any hopes for God’s children are based upon
their trust in God.
It requires a trust that comes from having absolutely nothing else in which to
place our hope. Jesus was saying that ultimately these “meek” (humbled) people
are the ones who will inherit the earth.
Zephaniah
said that it would be these “poor and weak” (depressed, in mind or
circumstances; afflicted, humble, lowly, needy, poor) who would be the ones
left standing in the Holy City after all the dust of conquerors and conquered
settled.
11. “…the race is not to the swift, nor
the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men
of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth
to them all. 12. For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are
taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the
sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.” Ecclesiastes 9.11-12
Not to the strong is the battle, not to
the quick is the race…we must humble ourselves therefore in the sight of God.