하나님나라를 꿈꾸며(Kingdom of God)

2 Gather together, yes, gather,

O sshameless nation,

2  tbefore the decree takes effect1

—before the day passes away ulike chaff—

vbefore there comes upon you

the burning anger of the Lord,

before there comes upon you

the day of the anger of the Lord.

3  wSeek the Lord, xall you humble of the land,

who do his just commands;2

yseek righteousness; seek humility;

yperhaps zyou may be hidden

on the day of the anger of the Lord.

s Jer. 6:15

t [ch. 3:8]

1 Hebrew gives birth

u Ps. 1:4

v [2 Kgs. 23:26]

w See Amos 5:6

x Ps. 76:9; Isa. 11:4

2 Or who carry out his judgment

y [Amos 5:14, 15]

y [Amos 5:14, 15]

z [Isa. 2:10; 26:20, 21]

 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 습 2:1–3.

2 수치를 모르는 백성아 모일지어다 모일지어다

2 명령이 시행되어 날이 겨 같이 지나가기 전, 여호와의 진노가 너희에게 내리기 전, 여호와의 분노의 날이 너희에게 이르기 전에 그리할지어다

3 여호와의 규례를 지키는 세상의 모든 겸손한 자들아 너희는 여호와를 찾으며 공의와 겸손을 구하라 너희가 혹시 여호와의 분노의 날에 숨김을 얻으리라

 The Holy Bible: New Korean Revised Version, electronic ed. (South Korea, n.d.), 습 2:1–3.

앞서 1장에서 스바냐는 어떤 은총이나 회복의 가능성도 이야기하지 않았다. 유다의 죄 때문에 세상 모든 백성과 온 세계가 여호와의 날을 맞을 것이라고 경고했다. 그러나 이제 2장을 통해서 스바냐는 처음으로 회개하는 자와 여호와를 경외하면서 사는 자들에게 회복의 가능성을 이야기한다. 이는 여호와의 분노의 날이 임하기 전에 돌아올 것, 회개할 것을 요청하는 최후통첩에 가까운 것이다. 

1-2절) 수치를 모르는 백성아, 명령이 시행되기 전, 그 날이 겨와 같이 지나가기 전, 여호와의 불타는 진노가 너희에게 내리기 전, 여호와의 분노의 날이 너희에게 이르기 전에 모일지어다. 

겨란 식물의 바깥껍질로 식용이나 가축의 사료로서도 가치가 없는 것으로서 바람에 날리도록 방치된 것이다. 이는 신속히 다가오는 그 날 무가치한 자들의 죽음, 심판을 의미한다. 

1절에서 선지자는 모일지어다, 모일지어다라고 두번이나 권면한다. 이 단어는 지푸라기나 겨 등을 한 자리에 모으는 것을 의미하는데 이 동사의 히필형태는 성경에서 이곳에서만 사용된다. 이렇게 두번이나 반복하는 것을 강조를 위함이다. 지금 하나님께서 모으시는 백성들은 바람이 불면 날아가고, 불이 붙으면 순식간에 타버리는 것들이다. 본문의 ‘수치를 모르는 백성’이란 ‘하나님을 원하지 않는 백성, 제멋대로 하는 백성’을 의미한다. 

결국 수치를 모르는 백성은 바람에 날리는 겨와 같이 여호와의 진노가 임하면 날라가버릴 것인데 이를 피하기 위해서는 여호와께 돌아와야 한다. 이는 회개에 대한 촉구이다. 

2절은 속히 여호와께 돌아와야 하는 이유를 밝힌다. 이는 전에(before)라는 표현으로 언급되는데 

1) 명령이 시행되어 겨같이 날아가기 전에

2) 여호와의 진노가 내리기 전에

3) 여호와의 분노의 날이 이르기 전에

이는 다른 말로 심판의 명령이 내려졌기 때문에, 여호와의 진노가 내려오고 있기 때문에, 여호와의 분노의 날이 내려오고 있기 때문이다. 

-  2:1 Zephaniah “2:1–2 attempts to shock and insult Judahites into joining the remnant.”206 The first line consists of two words in Hebrew that are different forms of the same verb qšš, a rare word derived from the more common word qaš, “straw, stubble.”207 Berlin translates, “Gather together, gather like straw.”208 The people of Judah have been appointed as chaff to be cast out. They should gather themselves together in repentance in order to avert the judgment of God. The GNB puts the message in English idiom, “come to your senses.”

A nation without shame (NRSV, “shameless)209 should come to its senses. Patterson describes them: “They displayed a willful disregard for God and his standards and sought their own path.”210 Robertson adds: “Only a nation blinded to its own sin could feel no shame in the midst of such guiltiness. Tottering on the brink of utter destruction by the righteous judgments of God, the nation goes blithely on its way, oblivious to the calamities staring it in the face.”211 Zephaniah’s questions must have been: “Can’t you see what you’re doing to yourself? Don’t you see that the end of this is nothing but ruin?”

The magnitude of Judah’s problem may be summed up by the use of one small Hebrew word. Zephaniah used the word gôy to describe Judah, a word normally used to describe the pagan nations rather than the people of God.212 “Here Jerusalem is deliberately classed with the foreign nations, as it will be again in 3:1–7. It had become so foreign in its ways that it seemed to belong more to them than to God.”213 In every age believers must ask where their loyalties lie and how their lives are spent. Is it time for us to come to our senses?

206 Ibid.

207 HALOT, 1155.

208 Berlin, Zephaniah, 95. As Patterson explains (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 330–31), these words “anticipate the reference to chaff blown away in line two of v. 2 (as well as the figure of threshing) and provide an image that can be adapted to the sociopolitical and religious needs of the community. The metaphor is of judgment likened to winnowing. As one gathers the straw left from the threshing sledge and separates the grain from the chaff in the winnowing process, so the people of God will be divided into believers (straw) and unbelievers (chaff) in the coming winds of divine judgment. It was a time of spiritual harvest, and Zephaniah’s countrymen needed to assemble and ‘gather straw.’ ” Robertson (Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, 290) reads “gather yourselves together like stubble” and interprets it as a “derogatory address. Judah is worth no more than stubble. Its populace ought to bunch together in a manner that acknowledges this utter worthlessness.”

GNB Good News Bible

NRSV New Revised Standard Version

209 “Shameful” translates לֹא נִכְסָף. The verb כסף occurs only four other times and there seems to mean “long for” (Ps 17:12; Job 14:15 in the qal; Gen 31:30; Ps 84:3 in the niphal as here). The meaning “be ashamed” here is based on an Aramaic cognate meaning “become pale from embarrassment.” Although Berlin translates “unwanted [by God]” with the verb’s uses elsewhere (Zephaniah, 96; similarly Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, 187), Patterson (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 331) translates “wayward,” basing it on an Akk. cognate that leads to the image of “threshed”: “As grain must be broken off (threshed) into small pieces in preparation for winnowing, so a man must be broken spiritually (Pss 34:18; 51:18; 147:3) in submission to God if he is to be delivered. Motyer (“Zephaniah,” 3:924) sees the term as “difficult to understand.… Normally meaning ‘to long for’ (Job 14:15), in certain contexts it requires the sense, ‘to grow pale.… [This] may have emotional overtones depicting color draining away.… The verb has an absolute sense: insensitive, devoid of feeling: ‘unresponsive to the Lord.’ ” Watts translates “who care for nothing” and relates it back to the description of God in 1:12 (Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum Habakkuk and Zephaniah, 164).

210 Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 331.

211 Robertson, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, 291.

212 Some commentators link Zeph 2:1–3 with the following verses about Philistia rather than the preceding verses about Judah. Use of גּוֹי would therefore fit the reference to a foreign nation. G. J. Botterweck (“גּוֹי gôy,” TDOT 2:426–30) observed that עַם (people) and גּוֹי often are used as synonyms, but that גּוֹי normally designates a people according to political and territorial affiliation.

213 Watts, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum Habakkuk and Zephaniah, 164.

 Kenneth L. Barker, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, vol. 20, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 445–446.

3절) 여호와의 규례를 지키는 세상의 모든 겸손한 자들아. 너희는 여호와를 찾으며 공의를 구하고 겸손을 구하라. 그러면 너희가 혹시 여호와의 분노의 날에 숨김을 얻을것이다. 

죄를 지은 자들에게는 심판이 임할 것이다. 하지만 모두가 죽임을 당하는 것이 아니다. 남은 자들이 존재한다. ‘세상의 모든 겸손한 자들’은 ‘가난한 자, 연약한 자, 고통 당하는 자’를 의미하지만 동시에 ‘여호와의 명령을 따르면서 살아가는 자’를 의미한다. 이는 ‘심령이 가난한 자(마 5:3)’, ‘땅의 온유한 자들(마 5:5)’을 의미한다. 지금까지 하나님을 믿고 의지하며 말씀에 따라 의롭게 살려고 노력했던 사람들을 의미한다. 겸손한 자는 자신이 이 세상을 살아가기 위해서는 하나님이 꼭 필요하다는 사실을 깨닫고 그분을 바라며 살아가는 사람이다. 

하나님께서는 겸손한 자들에게 세가지를 이행할 것을 요청하신다. 

1) 여호와를 찾으라(영적 추구)

2) 공의를 구하라(도덕적 추구)

3) 겸손을 구하라(개인적 추구)

본문에 찾다라, 구하다라는 단어는 ‘바카쉬’라는 표현으로 하나님을 경배하고 그분의 말씀에 순종한다는 것을 의미하는 표현이다. 하나님께서 기뻐하시는 참 예배를 드리라는 것이다. 이처럼 진정한 예배는 삶에서 의로운 행동으로 이어진다. 구약에서 공의, 의, ‘체다크’는 맺어진 관계가 요구하는 사항들을 충족시키는 것을 의미한다. 우리가 하나님께 구원받는 백성으로서 하나님과의 관계가 회복되었다면, 예배를 통해 그분께 나아가야하고, 삶을 통해서 의를 행해야 한다. 또한 의를 구한다는 것은 의롭게 살려고 최선을 다하며 의를 이룰 때까지 포기하지 않는 것을 뜻한다. 

-  2:3 Rather than abandoning God, as it had been doing, Judah is called to seek diligently for him, the mark of true piety (cf. 1:6; Ps. 27:8; 105:3; Isa. 51:1). Addressing the humble of the land indicates that not everyone is apostate. A few rely on God rather than themselves, being “humble and lowly” (Zeph. 3:12; cf. “poor in spirit,” Matt. 5:3). The humble realize that they need to turn beyond themselves for help. Another translation for “humble of the land” is “meek of the earth” (cf. Matt. 5:5, using Ps. 37:11). Righteousness describes the goal of correct living in relation to God and humanity (Isa. 1:21), following his will as revealed in his commands. Perhaps is a theologically   p 1735  important word, which highlights God’s grace and sovereignty (Ex. 32:30; Amos 5:15). God is just, and can and should punish wrongdoing; he is also loving and gracious, willing that none should perish (John 3:17; cf. 2 Pet. 3:9). A sinner can only throw himself on the mercy of God, who has forgiven in the past and might do so again. The fact that God forgives the penitent (1 John 1:9) does not mean that forgiveness should be expected lightly and cheaply, for it should always evoke wonder at God’s grace. You may be hidden indicates that humble, righteous people may be protected when God’s judgment falls on the rest of the nation (cf. Ex. 9:6, 26; 10:23; 12:23; Josh. 6:22–23; Isa. 1:27–28; 2 Pet. 2:5–9).

 Crossway Bibles, The ESV Study Bible (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2008), 1734–1735.

-  2:3 Zephaniah’s climactic message involved the necessity of repentance and the importance of looking to God in righteousness. Zephaniah used the verb “seek” three times in this verse, each time as an imperative. Judah must realize that “the only adequate refuge from the consuming wrath of Yahweh may be found in Yahweh himself.”215

Seeking the Lord is almost a technical term that means to worship and obey the Lord.216 The prophet further defined the term by calling on the people to seek righteousness and to seek humility. No person can seek the Lord without striving after right actions and displaying humility as corollaries. “Genuine seeking involves persistence until success is realized. It inevitably includes an unshaken trust in that which is being sought.”217

Genuine worship of the Lord issues in right actions. In the Old Testament “righteousness” denotes actions that meet the demands of a relationship.218 If the relationship is with God, then righteousness means meeting the demands of the relationship with God. Thus a genuine relationship with God implies the doing of right acts. The right acts are defined by God himself rather than by human beings. “Generally, the righteous man in Israel was the man who preserved the peace and wholeness of the community, because it was he who fulfilled the demands of communal living.”219 Stigers sees three aspects of personal relationships involved: (1) the ethical conduct of one person with another in fulfilling God’s norms for such relationships (Job 29:12–15; Deut 24:13; Prov 14:34; Amos 5:15, 24; Jer 22:1–4); (2) forensic conduct applying the law equally to every person regardless of social or economic class (Exod 23:7–8; 1 Chr 18:14; Prov 16:12; Isa 5:23); and (3) theocratic conduct of God and his people under the covenant whereby people obey God, and God delivers or disciplines his people (Deut 6:25; Ps 1:1–6; 31:1; Jer 11:20; Isa 45:21; 46:13).220

Being righteous toward other human beings means meeting the demands of the relationship with God and others. How we treat other people should never be divorced from the relationship with God. Rather, how we relate to others is defined by our relationship with God. For example, the two parts of the Ten Commandments are often illustrated as the first part defining the relationship with God and the second part defining the relationship with others—thus, the God-Man relationship and the Man-Man relationship. But the two parts must be understood to be closely connected. Only in the relationship with God do we live out correctly our relationship with others.221

Zephaniah wanted to see people seeking the Lord and as a result of their worship of God seeking right actions and profound dependence on God. Micah defined the proper relationship with God as acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God (Mic 6:8).

“Humility” refers to the “moral and spiritual condition of the godly” who have “absolute dependence on God.”222 The “humble” seek God, keep his commands, wait on God, and are guided by him. They are dependent on him in everything.223 “They are conscious of divine approval and are confident that in the eschaton God will save them.”224 They are those “who can be pushed around and exploited by the influential, by vested interests (Ps 9:11–13). Spiritually they are ready to see themselves at the bottom of the heap in God’s eyes, those who have no power to help themselves nor any influence to bring pressure on God (Pss 25:9; 149:4).”225

By the “humble of the land” Zephaniah referred to the minority of people in Judah who remained faithful to the Lord. These were people who did his “commands.” In other words, these were much like the remnant in Elijah’s day who had not sworn allegiance to Baal (1 Kgs 19:18). The humble had remained faithful to God, rejecting syncretistic worship (Zeph 1:4–6). As Patterson concludes: “Inward affliction of soul and outward circumstances of affliction play a vital part in developing true humility.”226

The New Testament writers referred to the humble in much the same way. Jesus spoke in the Beatitudes of the “poor in spirit,” the “meek” (gentle), and “those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matt 5:3, 5–6).

While Zephaniah did not hold out a promise for deliverance (“perhaps”), he indicated the hope for deliverance for those who repented. “There is no promise. But it is a chance worth taking since no other option offers a possibility of survival.”227 Zephaniah presented the only hope for people in any age. On “the day of the Lord’s anger” neither wealth nor station in life could deliver those who rebelled against God (Zeph 1:18). Those who responded to the prophetic message as God called them to do would be “sheltered.”228 Fortified cities would crumble before the Lord’s attack, but his humble people would find shelter or literally be “hidden” in him. The verb str means “to hide oneself or others for the sake of protection from life-threatening situations.”229 This is not an escape from the day of the Lord. The day is not turned back. It cannot be. But shelter is available in that day.230 “The way of salvation must provide satisfaction (Exod 12:12–13) and shelter (Exod 12:22–23).”231

Verse 3 “foreshadows the positive ending of the prophecy. At this point the reader cannot see the victory of 3:14–20, but there is some break in the gloomy picture.… Such as it is, this biting invitation is the book’s first offer of redemption. Some resolution to the conflict is in sight.”232

Living in greater affluence and stronger defenses leads us to a greater feeling of security. We trust in the wealth we have accumulated or in the power of security devices, but the answer to the needs of our day is the same as that of Zephaniah’s age—we must turn to God in humble submission. No other device or plan can save. The message is the same in every age. We must “seek the Lord and live” (Amos 5:6).

215 Robertson, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, 293.

216 See the discussion on 1:6. The imperative of בקשׁ is also used with יהוה as its object in Ps 105:4 // 1 Chr 16:11. דרשׁ is used similarly in Isa 55:6; Amos 5:4, 6; Ps 105:4 // 1 Chr 16:11. Robertson notes that the plural form of the imperative here “may be regarded as a summons to worship. For only as the assembled community solemnly pledges the submission of its will to the will of Yahweh may a meaningful ‘seeking’ of the Lord be achieved. As his binding word of the covenant is rehearsed, as the sacrifices of praise and adoration are offered, the Lord may be found” (Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, 293)

217 Robertson, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, 293.

218 Scholars vigorously debate the complex meaning of צדק. K. Koch (“צדק, ṣdq to be communally faithful, beneficial,” TLOT 2:1046–62) describes a sphere of existence with actions that have built-in consequences (p. 1052). The universal king Yahweh permits his people to share in a power that surrounds him (Pss 9:5; 89:15–17; 99:4; 103:17–19). “Because cult members gifted with צדק conduct themselves in daily life in faithfulness to society and moral goodness, they produce welfare and victory for themselves and their environs by virtue of the sphere of influence in which the built-in consequences of action take place” (p. 1054). B. Johnson (“צָדַק, etc.,” TWAT 6:903–23) sets forth a current distinction between juristic righteousness as conformity of conduct to a norm or standard and a relationship understanding in which righteousness becomes almost synonymous with deliverance and salvation. Righteousness involves God’s active intervention to bring salvation (Ps 85:13; Isa 51:5) and yet is also something established, trustworthy, and reliable (Isa 1:21; Pss 89:15; 97:2). Righteousness is what God has commanded (Ps 119:138) and what man learns (Isa 26:9, 10; Prov 1:3). It is also a legitimate claim a person can make (Deut 16:20; Ps 132:9; Job 19:14; Isa 64:4; Ps 15:2). Without righteousness one cannot claim membership in the community (Neh 2:20; Isa 5:23). The Decalogue in Exod 20 or the entrance liturgies in Pss 15; 24 show what it means to be righteous without establishing a standard, fixed list. Johnson argues that righteousness can stand in close relationship with the covenant, describing the form and results of positively ordered community relationships. God is righteous as he preserves the covenant community, while man is righteous as he lives according to the order of the God-given covenant community. D. J. Reimer (“צדק,” NIDOTTE 3:744–69) gives an even more complex examination of passages concerning righteousness in the OT. His summary is that “the term appears to be used to refer to right comportment: status or behavior in accord with some implied norm” (p. 746). The interesting finding is that the norm remains implied and is seldom if ever explicit in the OT. Thus neither divine law nor divine covenant is in the center of attention in the language of righteousness. Righteousness is not necessarily tied to an action but can be part of a person’s character, who the person is. It involves acting rightly on behalf of people in distress. God is the judge who determines who is right and eligible to remain in the community and who is wrong and thus forfeits right to community membership. Thus in the prophets (p. 764) “צדק revolves around the maintenance of relationship between God and people.” Amos emphasizes the relationship in the human community; Hosea, in the community with God. “Ezek 18:5–9 gives the most comprehensive account of what this behavior looks like, joining matters of purity and equity and summarizing it with reference to divine statutes and ordinances” (p. 765).

219 Achtemeier, “Righteousness in the OT,” IDB, 81.

220 H. S. Stigers, “צֶדֶק, etc.,” TWOT 2:753–54.

221 B. D. Napier, The Book of Exodus, LBC (Richmond: John Knox, 1963), 84–85.

222 L. J. Coppes, “עָנָה (ʾānâ), etc.,” TWOT 2:682–84.

223 See Watts, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum Habakkuk and Zephaniah, 165.

224 Coppes, “עָנָה (ʾānâ), etc.,” 2:683.

225 Motyer, “Zephaniah,” 3:927.

226 Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 332.

227 Watts, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum Habakkuk and Zephaniah, 166.

228 Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, 332–33, takes תִּסָּתְרוּ as an “infixed t” form of the verb סוּר, “turn aside,” a grammatical decision that is highly debatable. He translates “you will be delivered.” NIV follows the traditional Hebrew grammarians and lexicons in reading this as a niphal form of סתר, “be hidden.” See HALOT 2:771.

229 A. E. Hill, “סתר,” NIDOTTE 3:301.

230 See Robertson, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, 288.

231 Motyer, “Zephaniah,” 3:928.

232 House, Zephaniah, 64.

 Kenneth L. Barker, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, vol. 20, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 447–450.

여호와의 진노의 날이 임하기 전 하나님을 떠나 제멋대로인 백성들이 구원을 받기 위해서는 여호와께로 돌아오는 것이다. 이 세상의 부와 힘, 지식과 계획을 의지할 때 그 날을 피할 수 없다. 오직 여호와를 구하고 그분이 우리에게 원하시는 공의와 겸손을 구할 때 그 분노의 날로부터 구원을 받을 수 있게 된다.