Zephaniah - Zeph. 2:13 DailyBibleStudy.Org

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Zeph. 2:13

Lesson # Zeph. 2:13
Study Material - Zeph. 2:13

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Zeph. 2:13

13 And he will stretch out [natah] his hand [yad] against the north [tsaphown] , and destroy [abad] Assyria [Ashshuwr] ; and will make [suwm] Nineveh [Niynaveh] a desolation [shamamah] , and dry [tsiyah] like a wilderness [midbar] . KJV-Interlinear

13 And He will stretch out His hand against the north And destroy Assyria, And He will make Nineveh a desolation, Parched like the wilderness. NASB

Now the text looks to the north. Specifically to the northeast where Nineveh the capital of Assyria was located. Founded by Nimrod the son of Cush, who was a descendant of Ham, this city was thought to be impregnable and stood for many centuries (well over a thousand years) until its ultimate fall to the Babylonian empire.

Assyria was the nation that conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. Assyria was a much feared nation because of its merciless atrocities on its captives - skinning people (prisoners) alive in skinning contests and such. The Babylonians destroyed Nineveh in 612 BC. The Assyrian king Sin-shar-ishkun died while trying to defend his city. A remnant of the Assyrians escaped the fall of the city under their new king, Ashuruballit II. Though aided by an alliance with Pharaoh Neco II of Egypt, the Assyrian Empire was crushed in 609 BC.

Is was so thoroughly destroyed by Babylon, that archeologists did not discover its whereabouts until the 19th century. Which was to the east of the Tigris river in present day Iraq.

Zephaniah was not speaking to the destruction of the Assyrian Empire in his day (or shortly after his life time), but in the days at the end of the Tribulation. The key is the reference to the entire region to the north, thus the Northern power referred to by Daniel. And the sequence of the destruction which will come after the Southern power is destroyed, by this same Northern power.

The name of the city here is the significant point in this passage. Nineveh was thought to be indestructible. It still stood even in Zephaniah's day and was not destroyed until after Zephaniah's life time.

Plus Zephaniah describes the fall of the Northern power.

The word for north means a dark and gloomy, or unknown place. This means that the Northern power will be a hodgepodge of alliances, not readily identifiable. It will probably come into existence in quick order following the Rapture of the Church. The Rapture leaving the western powers somewhat stunned, but not defenseless. The Northern power will assemble as a result of the attempts of the anti-christ's efforts to bring them into subjugation to himself.

The Northern power will be ruthless as we saw in their double cross and destruction of the Southern power. But what is more important here, is that Zephaniah describes their own destruction as one of shock and astonishment. That is the meaning of the word, 'shamamah.'

Thinking themselves as indestructible (their delusion), and we assume this because we know the situation in the world during the Tribulation. We haven't studied the bowl judgments yet, but suffice to say, the last three and a half years of the tribulation will leave the entire world in a very big mess as a third of the world will die from many types of problems that exist. One would assume that the Northern Power would think that no one would have the power or even the ability to put their attack against the Middle East, in check.

But, that is not the case as we study here in this passage. The destruction of the Northern power will come on them swiftly. They will not expect a counter attack, not knowing the ability of the western and eastern powers. Obviously they will not have very good intelligence gathering abilities. Arrogance will drive them to attack rather than strategic or tactical information.

When they have destroyed the Southern power, then the west will counter attack from the west (obviously) and the east will attack from the east. Thinking that they now control the center of the world (the Middle East), the Northern power will be totally astonished, shocked when their own demise comes on them in short order. They will be so thoroughly destroyed, that evidence of their existence will be totally lost to history just as Nineveh was lost for so many centuries. But that study is in the next verse, which we will begin tomorrow.

Now is the time to post a prayer.

End Of Lesson

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