Zephaniah
From Bible Exegesis
zef-a-nī´a (צפניה, cephanyāh, צפניהוּ, cephanyāhū, “Yah hath treasured,” or "YHWH has concealed," or "YHWH of darkness."):
(1) The prophet. 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 (641-610 BC), 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).
See Book Of Zephaniah.
(2) A Kohathite ancestor of the prophet Samuel (1 Chronicles 6:36). He was a Levite or priest (1 Chronicles 6:36 (Hebrew 6:21)), called in some genealogies “Uriel” (1 Chronicles 6:24; 1 Chronicles 15:5, 1 Chronicles 15:11).
(3) Judean father or fathers of various contemporaries of Zechariah, the prophet (Zechariah 6:10, Zechariah 6:14). He was the father of Josiah, the priest who dwelt in Jerusalem when Darius issued the decree that the temple should be rebuilt (Zechariah 6:10).
(4) A priest, the second in rank in the days of Jeremiah. He was a leader of the “patriotic” party which opposed Jeremiah. Nevertheless, he was sent to the prophet as a messenger of King Zedekiah when Nebuchadnezzar was about to attack the city (Jeremiah 21:1) and at other crises (Jeremiah 37:3; compare Jeremiah 29:25, Jeremiah 29:29; 2 Kings 25:18). That he continued to adhere to the policy of resistance against Babylonian authority is indicated by the fact that he was among the leaders of Israel taken by Nebuzaradan before the king of Babylon, and killed at Riblah (2 Kings 25:18 parallel Jeremiah 52:24).
He was 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, Jeremiah 29:26, Jeremiah 29:29; Jeremiah 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).
