The word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah … Zephaniah 1:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 16. 2017): 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. So Henry made his younger 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 given the opportunity to become 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 who 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 of a son of Hezekiah named Amariah -  this is the only mention of an Amariah. Historically, the only son of Hezekiah of whom we know of is Manasseh who followed Hezekiah as King. 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 maybe a 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 - possibly 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