A Hint of Renewal
The key to renewal is in the hands of the common people (‘the humble of the land’) — those prepared to admit that something is wrong and needs to be put right (vv 1-2). The rest are all tied up together in the bundle of life. Nobody can claim exemption. Alongside many unwelcome and unhelpful influences from other quarters the shades of ‘globalisation’ and ‘a global economy’ are creeping in on a tiny nation and there is an absence of evaluation and discernment. No specific charges are made but the targets are clear: mainly the Philistines and their cities (vv 4- 5) with other foreigners to follow (vv 8ff).
Thinking of ‘foreign nations’ may not be the most helpful. They were hardly nations as we understand the term. Think rather of groups within our own environment which keep their distance, are anxious to defend their territories and to claim certain rights for themselves but who are all the time impinging on their neighbours, often unconsciously, with their habits and customs. Not so much invasion as subtle infiltration and the more encouragement they get the more others feel that life is changing beyond all recognition to the point where before long they won’t even feel at home in their own country.
Because in Zephaniah’s day they failed to distinguish faith from culture and ethics, as we tend to, the consequences were especially far-reaching. Long standing and much cherished standards of general behaviour were falling into disrepute. Sharply clear views of right and wrong were being clouded by uncertainty and in danger of creating a climate where ‘anything goes’. At first it was easy to blame ‘the others’ (the foreigners) but as time went by it just seemed like everybody doing what worked or grabbing what they could.
There is, however, a ray of hope — possibly a new day, with redistribution of land rights, meadows for shepherds and pasture for flocks (vv 6-7), a voice for the voiceless and a hint of renewal even in the chaos, if only for a Remnant.