Bible Fiber
- Tired of scripture study guides that leave you wanting more substance? Discover a resource that offers comprehensive teaching and deep insights into the prophetic message.
- Have you been avoiding the more challenging books of the Bible because they are hard to understand or apply to your life? Let Bible Fiber build your foundational knowledge about ancient Israel’s history and culture.
Welcome to Bible Fiber, where we are encountering the textures and shades of the biblical tapestry through twelve Minor Prophets, two reformers (Ezra and Nehemiah), and one priest in exile (Ezekiel). Along the way, we take pauses for minicourses on peoples of the Bible and ponder why the prophetic office ended. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern.
You won't find another podcast so committed to teaching the parts of the Bible that get the least attention and also is constantly calling for prayers for the modern state of Israel during this moment of crisis.
Bible Fiber
Zephaniah 2
Welcome to Bible Fiber where we are encountering the textures and shades of the prophetic tapestry in a year-long study of the twelve minor prophets, one prophet each month. I am Shelley Neese, president of The Jerusalem Connection, a Christian organization devoted to sharing the story of the people of Israel, both ancient and modern.
This week we are reading the second chapter of Zephaniah, a prophet who, like Jeremiah, ministered during the reign of the righteous King Josiah. Slightly before this time, Nahum prophesied Assyria’s ruin and Habakkuk envisioned the rise of the Babylonians. It was also during Josiah’s reign that the Book of the Law was rediscovered during renovations at the Temple. Hulda, a prophetess in Jerusalem, authenticated the scriptures. She warned King Josiah that God was soon going to discipline all those who have forsaken the covenant (2 Kings 22:3-13; 2 Chron. 34:14-21). This makes for at least five biblical prophets in the seventh century BCE all sounding the same siren. They are prophets living on the precipice of disaster and there is an urgency to their unified call.
As I mentioned in the last podcast, the context clues in Zephaniah link his oracles to the early part of Josiah’s reign, before the king tried to purge the nation of paganism. Jeremiah came a bit after. His book says he first received the word of the Lord in the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign (Jer. 1:2), slightly in the middle of Josiah’s campaign of reforms.
Still, Zephaniah’s descriptions of Judah’s failures in chapter 1 correspond exactly with Jeremiah’s complaints. The people of Judah were committing the same sins of idolatry, injustice, and immorality that led to Israel’s judgement a hundred years earlier. With all the prophets delivering the same warning message, it is shocking that most of Judah still believed Jerusalem, God’s chosen city, was impenetrable to attack. Not until the Babylonians had the city surrounded did they understand the seriousness of the situation.