Today’s Scripture Reading (February
2, 2014): Zephaniah 1
Geoffrey
Plantagenet was born in 1152, the oldest son of King Henry II. Unfortunately,
Geoffrey was illegitimate and therefore he was disqualified from the throne of
England. It is unclear exactly what Geoffrey’s ambitions were, but it appears
that his father feared his oldest son’s desires for the future, and as a result
he made his namesake son co-regent with him. But Henry, known to the people as “The
Young King,” died before his father. As a result he was never king in his own
right. Henry II died in 1189, and Geoffrey’s half-brother, Richard the
Lionhearted, became king in his place. And Richard immediately nominated
Geoffrey to the position of the Archbishop of York. Historians believe that Richard
made the move not because of the aptitude that Geoffrey showed in clerical
matters (he had held some minor clerical positions but there is no evidence
that he actually fulfilled his responsibilities to his offices) but rather that
Richard needed to remove him as a rival for the throne of England. It was not
until 1189 that Geoffrey was ordained and in 1191 he was finally confirmed as
the Archbishop of York. But Geoffrey seemed to spend much of his time wrapped up
in disputes with his two half-brothers – first with King Richard and then after
Richard’s Death, with King John, an even younger half-brother.
Zephaniah
starts off his prophecy with a comment about his heritage. And he draws his
heritage back to another king – Hezekiah. Zephaniah is the prophet that called
for a reformation of the religious structure of Israel, and Josiah is the king
that actually committed the resources of the Judean throne to that reformation –
and both men were the great-grandsons of King Hezekiah.
The problem
for biblical scholars is that in the case of Zephaniah, he declares that he is
the grandson of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, but historically we do not know
who Amariah is. As a son of Hezekiah, this is the only mention of Amariah.
Historically, the only son of Hezekiah that we know of is Manasseh – and we do
not really know who Amariah was. It is possible that Amariah was an
illegitimate son of the king, but it is also possible that Manasseh in the evil
portion of his rule managed to remove any other contenders to the throne of
Judah. And the clue to the latter situation is that Zephaniah’s name means “Yahweh
hides” or “Yahweh has hidden.” The name might indicate that Zephaniah was from
an arm of Hezekiah’s family that God had hidden - maybe in order to keep them
safe.
But regardless
of the reason for the missing descendants of Hezekiah, Zephaniah as a prophet
with a royal lineage made him a rare prophet in the history of Israel and
Judah. Like Isaiah, he would have had access to the royal court, and his
prophecies would have been delivered directly to the king. And in the case of
Zephaniah, he was able to set the stage for the reforms that would eventually
come from Josiah – two great-grandsons of Hezekiah would combine to provide
real religious reformation in Judah.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Zephaniah 2
No comments:
Post a Comment