Zephaniah was 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 B.C.), and was contemporary with Jeremiah.

We see here plainly that God is a God who does not want to destroy and bring judgment. He sends more than one prophet with the same message. He didn't just sent only Jeremiah, but He sent more than one to warn and try to get Judah and Israel to repent and turn back to God. If they refused to repent then of course judgment has to come because God cannot allow sin to continue forever and to make an example for others to observe.

The world that existed in the days of Noah must have gotten to the point of no return for God to have allowed them to be destroyed. I'm sure God sent them prophets to warn and try to bring them to repentance. We see from our own times that very few heed the call to repentance. People do not want to change. They do not want to repent and do not want what is good. For some strange reason, human nature wants to sin and wants to justify their sin. They may try to be a good person and do a few good deeds to justify themselves but basically they desire to sin.

After God delivered Israel from Egypt, He fed them in the wilderness and gave them water to drink. Their shoes did not wear out the whole time. Because of unbelief they had to stay in the wilderness for forty years until those in rebellion had died off and a younger generation arose. God led them to the promised land that was rich in provisions and all they would need. After a few years of good, they began to sin against God and worship the idols of other nations that surrounded them. They desired to sin and justify their sin by changing gods. They wanted a god that would allow them to sin and still be religious. How many religions today offer that same set of principles? Some perform rituals and religious ceremonies that people attend thinking they can worship God in that way and still live how they want any other time. Some trust in infant baptism or some other ritual to save them instead of repenting of sin and being changed by the power of God (born again). Some go to churches where they are told they can be rich if they give to certain ministries and that God wants only good for them, never have a sick day, or be hard up for money.  These are not reality and they soon get discouraged when trouble comes.  This is why it is so important for us to read and study the word of God and not just take a few scriptures while ignoring the rest of them.

Other nations may claim ignorance to idolatry but Israel and Judah had no such claim. They had the miracles, the signs, the presence of Lord, victory in battle and the works. Yet, they worshipped the host of heaven. The worship of the sun, moon, constellations or any other heavenly body is forbidden in the scriptures. Malcham is a name for an idol. Other idols they worshipped are Molech and Baal. This is grievous in the sight of God. Only those in rebellion against either God or His commandments would worship another god.

When those who once knew God do not seek after Him any longer, it usually mean that they wish to return to sin and seeking God would only remind them of their sin. The two do not mix.

Perhaps strange clothing not common among Israel. My guess is clothing that the heathen nations wore. I wonder what God thinks of our clothing today. Talk about strange.

Sounds like they were stealing and plundering by using violence to take away by force. God actually sees and brings vengeance upon those that plunder the poor or innocent.

The law of reaping and sowing. If we steal, we will suffer theft ourselves. If we live by the sword, we shall die by the sword.

Lees are the dregs or sediment from strong drink. We see this attitude today. Many do as they please thinking in their heart that the Lord doesn't bring good as a reward or evil as a judgment.  They are mistaken in this matter. 

Their work in planting and building will be in vain for others will reap what they sowed.

The same message is still needed in today's world. The message to repent and turn back to God. The only difference is that now we must go to God through His son, Jesus Christ but it still requires repentance or turning from sin.

This message is so hard to get people to see. In the days of Noah, only 8 people listened to God and were delivered from the flood that covered the entire world. In the days of the prophets only a remnant survived God's judgment. Judgment will come again to all nations. Are we ready? Are we laughing at the prophets and preachers? Are we simply ignoring their message and choosing to listen to the ones with fair words and speeches. 

Someone made a comment the other day that they are sick of Christians trying to force their message on everybody.

Do Christians use force? We have a commandment from the Lord to go into all the world and preach the gospel. We should do that but never with force. A forced conversion could never be a true conversation. Beware accusing Christians of using force and rejecting their message. God may just allow a religious group to take over that really uses force. Is that what we want? Do we want to cast aside the message of the gospel and accept a message that uses force and kills those that refuse their forced conversions?

Many work to cast out prayer from schools, remove the ten commandments from the court house and reject any part of the Christian message of salvation. Beware of this because if God would lift His hand of protection and allow a wicked nation to rule that executes those that disagree with their religion or politics then you will see that the old Christians you despised were not so bad after all.

Take the example of Israel in the Old Testament. They rejected God and His goodness and in return they got slavery, oppression, starvation and ruin. Is that what we want? If we in the United States and other parts of the free world continue to reject that which is good, holy and just, we will get that which is bad. We seek to get by with sin and reject holiness, then that sin will destroy us. God just may allow us to have what we want and we will see that what we wanted is deadly. Satan is out to kill and destroy. He will succeed only if we let him by our rejection of God and His word.

Zephaniah Chapter 2