The land of Judah was surrounded on all sides by hostile nations. Judah was so small it could fit into today’s San Francisco Bay Area. What if all the regions surrounding the Bay Area were its enemies and when a huge army from the north came to destroy San Francisco those neighboring counties cheered it on?

That’s what Judah faced when its neighbors turned against it. Moab and Amon in the east, Philistia in the west, Edom to the south and Assyria in the north, all hoped for the destruction of Judah. They couldn’t wait to see it happen.

God was displeased with those nations. Not only did they hate Judah, they refused to worship the Lord and clung to idolatry. For many centuries God reached out to those people through Israel but they turned their backs on him.

In today’s reading, Zephaniah delivered bad news to some of those nations.

Zephaniah Prophesies Against Moab and Amnon

These two people groups descended from the family of Abraham through his nephew Lot. When God brought the Israelites up from Egypt the Moabites and Ammonites tried to seduce them away from God with pagan worship. They struggled against Joshua as he took the Promised Land and they were rarely at ease with Israel in the centuries that followed.

Moab worshiped the god Chemosh and Solomon built a shrine to Chemosh in Jerusalem to appease his Moabite wives. It seems that the only positive thing to come out of Moab was Ruth, the Moabite daughter-in-law who became the great-grandmother of King David.

Eventually much of Ammon belonged to the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh. Modern day Jordan’s capitol city, Amman, is a reminder of those ancient people.

God spoke through Zephaniah:

“‘I have heard the insults of Moab and the taunts of the Ammonites, who insulted my people and made threats against their land. Therefore, as surely as I live,’ declares the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, ‘surely Moab will become like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah – a place of weeds and salt pits, a wasteland forever.’” Zephaniah 2:8-9

The Site of Ammon and Moab Today

Did that prophecy come true? Here is a current description of Jordan, site of the former Moab and Ammon:

“By far the greatest part of the East Bank is desert, displaying the land forms and other features associated with great aridity. Most of this land is part of the great Syrian (or North Arabian) Desert. There are broad expanses of sand and dunes, particularly in the south and southeast, together with salt flats. Occasional jumbles of sandstone hills or low mountains support only meager and stunted vegetation that thrives for a short period after the scanty winter rains. These areas support little life and are the least populated regions of Jordan. http://countrystudies.us/jordan/26.htm

What Zephaniah prophesied to the regions of Moab and Ammon over 2500 years ago is still true today.

Assyria

Assyria’s capitol city Nineveh was the largest city in the world when Zephaniah prophesied against it.

“He will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria, leaving Nineveh utterly desolate and dry as the desert . . . This is the city of revelry that lived in safety. She said to herself ‘I am the one! And there is none besides me.’ What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts! All who pass by her scoff and shake their fists.” Zephaniah 2:13

Nineveh never regained its former stature and today it lies in ruins just across the river from Mosul in Iraq.

Jerusalem

Zephaniah prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem, but unlike Moab, Ammon, and Assyria, Jerusalem was going to be restored one day. It was going to be rebuilt and returned to its status as the center of the worship of God.  In fact, Jesus worshiped there seven hundred years later, and even now, Jerusalem has a brilliant future ahead of it when it becomes the center of God’s new heavens and new earth.

But in Zephaniah’s time Jerusalem was in trouble because its people were idolatrous and rebellious. God said, to them:

“Of Jerusalem I thought, ‘Surely you will fear me and accept correction!’ Then her place of refuge would not be destroyed, nor all my punishments come upon her. But they were still eager to act corruptly in all they did.” Zephaniah 3:7

Jerusalem needed a complete reset. God was going to let Jerusalem be destroyed and he was going to send the people away for a while, but he intended to return his people to Jerusalem someday. He was going to spare some of them from having to leave at all.

“But I will leave within you the meek and humble. The remnant of Israel will trust in the name of the Lord. They will do no wrong; they will tell no lies. A deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths.” Zephaniah 3:12-13

Once the Israelites’ punishment through exile to Babylon was complete, God was going to bring them back home because he loved them.

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17

The Death of King Josiah

Josiah’s reign came to a startling end. The Egyptian pharaoh Necho was on his way north to join Assyria in a battle it was fighting when Josiah rode out to confront him. The Bible doesn’t say why Josiah did this, and Necho tried to send him back to Jerusalem. Josiah was determined to fight the Egyptians, however, so he disguised himself and engaged Necho’s army on the plain of Megiddo.

Egyptian archers shot King Josiah and mortally wounded him. His officers took him back to Jerusalem where he died and was buried with his ancestors. It was a strange and seemingly unnecessary end to the life of one of Judah’s greatest kings.

Jeremiah Prophesies Against Philistia and Moab

Pharaoh Necho apparently marched south along the Mediterranean coast and attacked the Philistines in Gaza on his way back from fighting beside Assyria. This territory was the Philistines’ ancient home and Jeremiah prophesied that their capitol Ashkelon was going to be wiped out. Eventually King Nebuchadnezzar would carry the Philistine people into exile.

All of Jeremiah 48 is full of prophecies against Moab. God wanted this nation to understand how angry he was with them. However, he left them some hope through Jeremiah’s prophecy.

“‘Woe to you Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed; your sons are taken into exile and your daughters into captivity. Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come,’ declares the Lord. Here ends the judgment of Moab.” Jeremiah 48:46-47

Prophecy Comes True

Is it a coincidence that all of these prophecies against ancient nations came to pass and are still true today? It must have seemed audacious for a prophet to tell Nineveh, the greatest city on earth, that it was going to be destroyed and never rebuilt. Who would have believed that?

These ancient nations tended not to believe the prophets’ messages when they heard them, but the prophecies came true anyway.

It takes faith to hear prophecies from God and believe they will come true, but those who believe are spared when disaster falls. God tucks them safely under his wing and he says to them,

“At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes.” Zephaniah 3:20

God takes care of the people who believe his word and who put their trust in him.