BBB Bible Series: Zephaniah Trivia Quiz

Answer: False

The king was indeed Josiah, but he ruled in JUDAH, not Israel. He is generally thought to have ruled from 640 to 609 BC. He was one of the "good kings", as he reformed the law of the people of Israel and strongly promoted the worship of Yahweh and the reading of the Holy Scriptures. Both Zephaniah and Josiah were descendants of the earlier king, Hezekiah.

Answer: Fish Gate

The Fish Gate was probably named from being close to the fish market. It was on the north side of Jerusalem, in the Second Quarter, built in the reign of Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33) and rebuilt in the time of the return from exile (Nehemiah 3).

Answer: silver and gold

The theme of Zephaniah is very much like that of the earlier prophet Amos, who warned that riches and wealth will be of no use when the anger of the Lord is turned against the world.

Answer: Persia

In this chapter the prophet describes how the wrath of the Lord will be directed against peoples in all four directions: west (Gaza, the Philistines, Ashkelon), the east (Moab, Ammon), the south (Ethiopians, by which he means the Ethiopian dynasty ruling in Egypt), and the north (Assyria, Nineveh). Persia would not become a major power until the next century.

Answer: Sodom

Genesis 19 tells the story of the destruction by fire of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The similarity between Moab and Sodom is that both have incurred the wrath of the Lord and will be destroyed by his anger.

Answer: Nineveh

Nineveh was a city in what is now the northern portion of Iraq. It was one of the most important ancient cities and was the capital of the Assyrian Empire in the 7th century BC. It was also the city to which the prophet Jonah was sent and which repented of its wicked ways. It was in fact destroyed in 612 BC, soon after the prophecy of Zephaniah was delivered.

Answer: greedy wolves

The passage reads in the RSV: "her judges are evening wolves that leave nothing till the morning". The point seems to be that these wolves are so ravenous that they eat all their catch in the evening, leaving nothing for the next day.

Answer: Ethiopia

"Ethiopia" in the ancient context does not mean the modern nation in northeast Africa, but rather the Sudan. The Romans called the same people "Nubians", and these were located up the Nile beyond the borders of Egypt. The waters of Ethiopia would be the Nile and its two main branches.

Answer: a warrior

The phrase "a warrior who gives victory" is very much like the image used in Zechariah 3:5 where the just king comes, "bringing salvation". The Lord is both the conquering hero and the one who brings salvation to his people.

Answer: The Day of the Lord

For Zephaniah the Lord cares very much about morality and proper ethical behaviour. Those who act wrongly, especially those with riches and power and authority, will be punished when "the day of the Lord arrives", a very frequent phrase in Zephaniah.