Major insight in Minor Prophets

I grew up with an Old Testament Dad. I don't mean that he was legalistic, but as a Bible teacher at a Christian liberal arts college, he was fascinated with the Old Testament. When he talks about the Bible he sounds like a Lord of the Rings fan talking about Middle-earth. He is animated and inspired by the stories, and his profound belief that the mysteries of the Bible are inexhaustible.

It was his excitement about the many layers of meaning in the Old Testament that helped me get past some of the more obvious hang-ups that come with reading the prophets, and their words of wrath and judgment. I am not a theologian, but the basic things he taught me about the Hebrew writers and their methods of communicating have helped me understand more of the beauty of these stories.

The Minor Prophets are not all saying the same thing, but they use many of the same communication tools. Zephaniah's short story, like many Old Testament stories, reads like a funnel, with the broad universal ideas right at the top. The book starts out with the statement, "I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth…" (alright, then… that's where I used to check out). But he is asserting that God is God, and his judgment will be complete. He uses words like "sweep away" and "cut off" to emphasize the sovereignty of God and the fullness of his plan.

From there he gets more specific. His judgment is for the leadership, "the princes and the king's sons" and for "those who are complacent." Again, God knows every heart, and is demonstrating that his knowing, like his judgment, is complete.

But already in chapter two there is a turn. "Gather together, gather together." The really important ideas are repeated two or three times: before the appointed time, before the fierce anger, before the day of the Lord, "Seek the Lord… seek righteousness, seek humility…" This repetition is the writer's red flag to pay attention and hear.

From it's universal beginnings, the story turns increasingly personal, until at the end, God is speaking to the individual, "…at that time I will bring you home." As general as the language was at the beginning of the text, it is intimate and personal at the end. "He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." The once fierce warrior now sings like a mother or a lover.

As with the entire Bible, Zephaniah reminds me that the whole point of this great Story is redemption, and that it can be simultaneously about God and the World, and a girl and her Savior.