As Zephaniah
continued his prophesy concerning Judah and Jerusalem, he told of
their destruction as well as the demise of the countries who
surrounded them. Even though the people of Judah would face these
dire circumstances, the LORD promised through Zephaniah that a
“remnant” of “afflicted and poor people” would
remain in Judah who “shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies”.
In addition, they shall not have “a deceitful tongue”
because they “shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them
afraid”. In chapter three and verse fourteen of his prophesy,
Zephaniah encourages the “Daughter of Zion” to “sing”
and “rejoice” where we read:
Sing, O
daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the
heart,
O
daughter of Jerusalem.
The
verse begins, “Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel;”
Zephaniah began with word “sing” which means
“overcome, cry out, shout for joy and give a ringing cry” “O
daughter” which refers to “young women or women” “of
Zion” which means “parched place” and is “another name
for Jerusalem especially in the prophetic books” “shout”
or “raise a sound, cry out and give a blast” “O Israel”
which means “God prevails” and refers to “the name of the
nation after the return from exile”. Not only did Zephaniah desire
for the people of “Zion” to “cry out and shout for joy
with a ringing cry” but he also wanted them to “raise a sound and
give a blast” for the restoration of the nation.
The
verse goes on to say, “be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O
daughter of Jerusalem.” Zephaniah added, “be glad”
or “rejoice, exult and cause to be gladden” “and rejoice”
which means “triumph” “with all the heart” or “with
the inner man, will and understanding” “O daughter”
which refers to “young women or women” “of Jerusalem”
which means “teaching of peace” and is “the chief city of
Palestine and capital of the united kingdom and the nation of Judah
after the split”. Because the LORD promised to save the nation of
Judah, Zephaniah desired for the people to “rejoice and triumph”
with everything that was within them. The LORD was to be victorious,
and they were to celebrate His success.
While
we consider these words of Zephaniah, do we have occasion to
celebrate with singing and rejoicing in our lives? Can we think of an
area where Jesus Christ has been victorious, and now we are “glad
and shout for joy” over it? We see a shift in Zephaniah's prophesy
as the mournful and woeful proclamation of Judah and Jerusalem's
destruction turns into a celebration of restoration, and when we
discover how Jesus Christ does this within our lives and others, we
too will “Sing” and “Rejoice” as the “Daughters
of Zion” who knew what great things the LORD had done for them.
Next
time Zephaniah shares how the LORD has “taken away”
Judah's “judgment”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until
tomorrow…there is more…
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com
; http://www.barnesandnobles.com
; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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