Zephaniah: Jehovah has concealed, or Jehovah of darkness. 1. The son of Cushi, and great-grandson of Hezekiah, and the ninth
in the order of the minor prophets. He prophesied in the days of
Josiah, king of Judah (B.C. 641) and was contemporary with
Jeremiah, with whom he had much in common. The book of his
prophecies consists of:
a. An introduction (Zephaniah 1:1-6) announcing the judgment of
the world, and the judgment upon Israel, because of their
transgressions. b. The description of the judgment (Zephaniah 1:7-18) c. An exhortation to seek God while there is still time
(Zephaniah 2:1-3) d. The announcement of judgment on the heathen (Zephaniah 2:4-15) e. The hopeless misery of Jerusalem (Zephaniah 3:1-7) f. The promise of salvation (Zephaniah 3:8-20)
2. The son of Maaseiah, the "second priest" in the reign of
Zedekiah, often mentioned in Jeremiah as having been sent from
the king to inquire (Jeremiah 21:1) regarding the coming woes which he
had denounced, and to entreat the prophet's intercession that
the judgment threatened might be averted (Jeremiah 29:25,26,29; 37:3)
(Jeremiah 52:24) He, along with some other captive Jews, was put to
death by the king of Babylon "at Riblah in the land of Hamath"
(2 Kings 25:21) 3. A Kohathite ancestor of the prophet Samuel (1 Chronicles 6:36) 4. The father of Josiah, the priest who dwelt in Jerusalem when
Darius issued the decree that the temple should be rebuilt
(Zechariah 6:10)
