Zep 3:12-20 | KingComments | STEP | A “humble and lowly people” is the remnant with which God continues ( ). Therein is nothing of man and everything of God that He Himself has worked in His sovereignty. God desires to see His attributes represented by His people. They cannot do this in their own power. Yet the people will show them because “they will take refuge in the name of the LORD”. These attributes are described in . The remnant is free from doing injustice and speaking deception. When God has worked everything to His pleasure, there is only food in abundance for the people, they will “feed”, they will “lie down” in rest and safety for there is “no one to make them tremble” (cf. ).

‏ Zephaniah 3:12-20

The Remnant of Israel

A “humble and lowly people” is the remnant with which God continues (Zep 3:12). Therein is nothing of man and everything of God that He Himself has worked in His sovereignty. God desires to see His attributes represented by His people. They cannot do this in their own power. Yet the people will show them because “they will take refuge in the name of the LORD”.

These attributes are described in Zep 3:13. The remnant is free from doing injustice and speaking deception. When God has worked everything to His pleasure, there is only food in abundance for the people, they will “feed”, they will “lie down” in rest and safety for there is “no one to make them tremble” (cf. Mic 4:4).

Joy for Israel

In view of the future happy day, Zion is called to be cheerful, to sing, and to rejoice (Zep 3:14). “The time has arrived for singing” (Song 2:12). All the heart is focused on the LORD and His deeds in favor of them and can therefore be full of joy.

In Zep 3:15 the reason for the joy of Zep 3:14 is given. The judgments are over; every opponent has been conquered and removed and cleared away. It is not possible for the enemy to rise again and attack again. The guarantee for this is that “the King of Israel, the LORD”, that is the Lord Jesus, is in their midst. Where He is and rules, evil has no chance of ever asserting itself again (cf. Nah 1:9).

The LORD Your God Is in Your Midst

In these verses the encouragement and comfort for a frightened and plagued remnant continues. The LORD does everything He can to reassure them that it is truly and definitively over with all persecution and oppression. They do not have to be afraid anymore and not to lose courage (Zep 3:16). Because He is in their midst, there is no reason for that either (Zep 3:17). Fear takes away the power to serve. When fear is gone, there is strength to serve again. The LORD their God is in their midst as a victorious Warrior, literally: a Warrior Who saves (cf. Jer 14:9). He is the “strong God” (Isa 10:21).

In the application for us, we may say that the Lord Jesus – He is that strong God – is in the midst of the assembled church, even though there are only two or three gathered together (Mt 18:20). Though they are a weak and small people, the assembled believers will rejoice that He is in their midst (Jn 20:19-20).

The climax of joy is that the marriage contract, broken by the unfaithfulness of the people, is restored (Isa 62:5 ; Isa 65:19; Hos 2:19-20). God Himself will remain quiet in His love for His people Israel in unlimited joy and delight. What a certainty that is for Israel. He will be quiet in His love about all her past sins because they are gone forever. Quietness is not only the absence of talking, but it is also the enjoyment of the simple presence of the beloved. It is being quiet about the other. There is complete rest about each other. God looks so much in joy at His people that their presence gives Him complete satisfaction.

The silence is broken by His cheering, through which He expresses His joy over her. It is the delight of the Groom about His bride (cf. Isa 62:5b), as we hear in the song of the King of Israel when He says: “How beautiful and how delightful you are, [My] love, with [all] your charms!” (Song 7:6).

God’s People Gathered

There was sadness because the feasts could not be celebrated in the foreign country where they were (Psa 137:1-4). That sadness will be over because they will be able to celebrate the feasts again. The LORD will gather them together and bring them together to those who are already in the land. The ten tribes in the scattering and the two tribes in the land belong together. They are one people.

Now the reproach of imprisonment in the foreign country still presses as a burden on them. That reproach will be taken away by the LORD by bringing them back to their own land.

God’s People Turned Into Praise and Renown

The LORD will repay the oppressors for the evil they have done to His people (Zep 3:19; Isa 60:14). The LORD shall take action against them. God’s people were an easy prey for the oppressors, for they were lame and outcast (cf. Mic 4:6-7). God’s people had no strength in themselves because they were lame. They were also powerless because of the loss of cohesion, because they were outcast. The LORD will see to it that His people will be honored wherever they formerly were objects of mockery and exploitation.

In Zep 3:20 the LORD repeats the promise of Zep 3:19 in slightly different words. This gives the promise extra emphasis. Then the people will fulfill the purpose God has set for them (Deu 26:19).