The glorious Name of YaHUaH
in the prophecy of Tsephan-Yahu

André H. Roosma
4 November 2012

Today I was confronted with the prophecy given through the prophet Tsephan-Yahu, also known as Zephaniah. (I write Tsephan-Yahu because that is a more appropriate trans­literation of his Hebrew name: צְּפַניָהוּ or צְּפַניָה ; his name means: YaHUaH has hidden, or YaHUaH has protected.)

What struck me, was the indignation and zeal of YaHUaH that speaks from this pro­phecy, in combination with the significant occurrence of the glorious Name YaHUaH in this prophecy.1 In only 3 small chapters, this glorious Name of God appears no less than 34 times, not counting all the occurrences in other names (34 times in 53 verses in total is more than double the density in the average Old Testament text). He surely is most vividly present here!

It starts already in the very first verse:

The word of YaHUaH which came unto Tsephan-Yahu the son of Kushi, the son of Gedal-Yahu, the son of Amar-Yahu, the son of Chizqi-Yahu, in the days of Yoshi-Yahu2 the son of Amon, king of Yehudah.

What is clear here, is that Tsephan-Yahu came from an ancestry where YaHUaH was honored! But he does not speak his own words. No, “The word of YaHUaH ... came unto” him, and he passed that on. The Hebrew says that “The word of YaHUaH was there unto” him. From Genesis 1 we know that the word of YaHUaH has power!

Indeed, in this prophecy, the glorious Name of YaHUaH often speaks of His ultimate power – power to destroy (1: 2, 10, 14-15; 2: 9, 11; 3: 8) as well as power to let live and to protect (esp. 3: 5-20).

As I said, what struck me in this prophecy is the indignation and zeal of YaHUaH that speaks from it. How about the following extract:

1:2-6 I will utterly terminate all things from off the land, says YaHUaH. I will terminate man and beast; I will terminate the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, says YaHUaH. I will also stretch out My hand on Yehudah and on all the people of Yerushalaim. And I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place, the name of the idol-worshipers, with the priests, and those bowing to the host of heaven on the housetops, and those bowing, swearing to YaHUaH, also swearing by Malkham; and those drawing back from YaHUaH, and who have not sought YaHUaH, nor asked for Him.

When I read such words as “I will utterly terminate” from a grace-full God, I hear deep-seated pain, indignation and anger. The rest of these verses show the cause of His indignation: Even among Yehudah, the people called after His glorious Name, meant to glorify that unsurpassed Name, and among the inhabitants of Yerushalaim, the city where He dwelled most vividly with them, there is a “remnant of Baal”, there are “idol-worshipers”, even with priests, and there are “those bowing to the host of heaven on the housetops”. There are hypocrites, “bowing, swearing to YaHUaH, [but] also swearing by Malkham”, the idol of Ammonites and Phoenicians to whom some Israelites even sacrificed their infants in the valley of Hinnom... And lastly, there are “those drawing back from YaHUaH, and who have not sought YaHUaH, nor [even] asked for Him.” What immense tragedy...

Surely, YaHUaH has reason to be appalled and angry! When you know any slightest bit of His Character,3 you will understand that it is unbelievable that anyone, let alone an entire nation, would be so utterly unfaithful and idolatrous to her great Bridegroom...

And yet...

And yet, He remains faithful. He remains directed at her wellbeing. His goal remains to come to that point of mutual and full enjoyment. We read about that in the last chapter:

3: 9 For then will I turn to the peoples a pure language, that they may all call upon the Name of YaHUaH, to serve Him with one consent. 10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my worshippers, even the daughter of My dispersed, shall bring My offering. 11 In that day you shall not be put to shame for all your doings, wherein you have transgressed against Me; for then I will take away out of the midst of you your proudly exulting ones, and you shall no more be haughty on My holy mountain. 12 But I will leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they shall take refuge in the Name of YaHUaH. 13 The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. 14 Sing, O daughter of Tsion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Yerushalaim. 15 YaHUaH has taken away your coverings, He has cast out your enemy; the King of Israel, even YaHUaH, is in your midst; you shall not fear evil any more. 16 In that day it shall be said to Yerushalaim, Fear you not; O Tsion, let not your hands be slack. 17 YaHUaH your God is in your midst, a mighty One Who will save; He will rejoice over you with joy; He will make you renew [or: He will make you rest] in His love; He will joy over you with loud singing. 18 I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who were of you; [to whom] the burden upon her was a reproach. 19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all them that afflict you; and I will save that which is lame, and gather that which was driven away; and I will make them a praise and a name, whose shame hath been in all the earth. 20 At that time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you; for I will make you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I bring back your captivity before your eyes, says YaHUaH.

A number of remarkable things I like to highlight here:

  • It starts with a pure language (some other translations have: a pure lip or a pure mouth), one of which it is characteristic that “all call upon the Name of YaHUaH. That is quite a contrast with the current ‘language’ of both Jews and Christians alike, who evade to even use His wonderful Name...
  • From all over the world an offering (Hebrew: מִנחָה - minchah: meat offering, sacrifice, tribute, gift) will be brought for YaHUaH. Where many Christians say that the sacrifices belonged solely to the ‘old covenant’, and Jews teach that they cannot bring offerings because of a lacking temple, in the end an offering (e.g. a sacrifice of praise and thankfulness – cf. Leviticus 3 for details) is still being brought to YaHUaH...
  • “... you shall no more be haughty on [or: regarding] My holy mountain” The main dispute between Jews and Israelites of the Northern kingdom (a.k.a. Samaritans) for two-and-a-half thousand years has been on the matter of which mountain is more holy unto YaHUaH. What a relief, when this haughtiness of each towards the other will be taken away...
  • It will be a remnant of “an afflicted and poor people” that will be left. As Paul wrote many years later to the Church in Corinth (1 Cor.1:26-27): “For you see your calling, brothers, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty...”. A main characteristic of this remnant? “they shall take refuge in the Name of YaHUaH...
  • Thus well connected to the God Who is in their midst (at heart level), they will “not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth; for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” Surely a picture of great peace – true shalom, with YaHUaH, the King of true shalom in their midst (vs. 15, 17)!
  • In verse 15, I translated mishpatayikh by: “your coverings” (cf. 2 Cor.3: 13-15), because I believe the original meaning of mishpat is a covering over a well (in general applied to a protective measure). Compare also the translation “sheepfold” in Judges 5:16.
  • Verse 17 is really special. I translated the Hebrew verb yacharish (the hiph‘il- or causative form of charash) here by “He will make you renew”, because all very early translations (Greek - Septuagint, Arabian, Syrian) have something that corresponds to yachadish - He will make you renew (in Hebrew the d and r (ר ,ד) look very much alike, indicating a small error in the Hebrew text is highly likely here). I consider this intention more plausible though it is not 100% clear.
    What is very clear is that YaHUaH truly is unique! Where else do you find a God Who rejoices over His loved ones with loud singing? From an expert in develop­ment psychology I learned that a singing father or mother is a great gift for a child, since singing communicates peace to the child in a unique way (in case you didn’t know: ever seen someone overcome by stress or fear singing joyfully? Besides, singing communicates uniquely to both hemispheres – undoubtedly a reason why God instructed His people to sing a lot.). What a wonderful God is YaHUaH!
  • In the end, Israel will be restored to their full destiny. No longer will they be despised – the subject of hate and mockery. At last they will be the honored and ‘contagious’ people, whose relationship with YaHUaH will drive other peoples to that same adoration of YaHUaH, as in the days of David and Solomon it did the Queen of Sheba and many others.

I continue to be heavily impressed by this great God of the Bible: YaHUaH!
Praise be His glorious Name, or, in other -Hebrew- words:

Hallelu YaHUaH !


Footnotes

1 The glorious Name of God I present here - as well as I could - from the oldest Hebrew original, instead of replacing this grand personal Name of The Most High by a common word, such as ‘Lord’. For more background information on this see:
André H. Roosma, ‘The magnificent and most lovely Name of the God Who was there, Who is there, and Who will be there.pdf document, extensive Accede! / Hallelu-YaH! study, July 2009.
2 This king Yoshi-Yahu (a.k.a. Josiah) listened and reacted to God’s words. He restored the worship of YaHUaH in both the Southern part of the Kingdom - Yehudah, and the Northern part of the Kingdom - Samariah, and removed a lot of idol worship from the entire land (2 Chronicles 34: 33). There was no other king like him in devotion to YaHUaH (2 Chronicles 35: 18). Read more about this most remarkable king in 2 Kings 21: 24 - 23: 34; 2 Chronicles 34 - 35; Yirmi-Yahu (Jeremiah) 1:2, and 36:2.
3 In case you don’t know what I am talking about, read e.g. ‘What God YaHUaH says about Himself – the Message of Exodus 34: 6-7’, Hallelu-YaH brief web-article, 20 January 2012.

Reactions

3 Sept. 2013

Dani"El Rossouw

I adore the Name of YAHUAH. Previously I though YAHWEH was the right Name.
6 Sept. 2013

André

Thanks, Dani"El!
For your encouraging reaction!
Yes, YaHUaH is most adorable, and so is His Name and all His fullness.
God bless you!

Reactions-form temporarily removed, please react via the general contact page.


The previous articles were:
The Torah - Part (8) The essence of the Torah according to Proverbs 3’, 7 October 2012; and:
ah: figure with raised hands and bent knees - Aah!, or: Wow! – The essential art to wonder and rejoice’, 10 Sept. 2012.

The next article is: Psalm 113 – The first Hallél Psalm’, 7 Nov. 2012.

 
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