Zephaniah 3:18-20: Seek Restoration
Monday, October 28, 2024
The prophet Zephaniah wrote sometime between the years of 635 to 630 B.C.E. His is a brief prophecy and its message is succinct: there is a day if universal judgment which will arrive surely, and this judgment will be followed by restoration. Earlier in this chapter he refers to the town of Cush saying that beyond the rivers of this town the scattered peoples will bring offerings. Cush was located south of the upper cataracts of the Nile in the area referred to as Nubia. It was a land of great wealth with commerce routes which brought to the Mediterranean materials such as gold and silver, cosmetics, balsam, incense, myrrh, ostrich eggs, and other wild animal products. Jeremiah also refers to this place as a source of topaz. Further, these people were from to time a powerful political force: the Nubian pharaoh Shebitku defeats the Assyrian Sennacherib in Israel in 701 B.C.E. – an astounding account recorded in 2 Kings. (Zondervan 1519.) Their power, however, seems to have collapsed after 671 B.C.E.
What does all of this signify? The restoration this prophet foretells is universal. It will be bestowed on even those who have been scattered as far off as Cush – even those who have been held captive by her alluring power and cosmopolitan life.
Sing, O Daughter Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! . . . I will give you honor and praise among all the people of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your eyes.
Images from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shebitku%E2%80%99s_statue_%28Nubian_Museum%29.jpg and https://ancientpatriarchs.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/who-was-cush/
ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY BIBLE (NIV). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005. 1519. Print. For more about Cush, click on the map image, or visit: https://ancientpatriarchs.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/who-was-cush/
A Favorite from November 23, 2007.
The Noontimes 