Tzefanya 1–2 | Background to Yoshiyahu’s Religious Reform

Sefer Tzefanya opens with a very clear historical heading – the prophecies are spoken during the time of Yoshiyahu. Recall that Yoshiyahu was the son of Amon and grandson of Menashe – two kings who filled Jerusalem with idolatry and ruled the city for decades. Yoshiyahu, in contrast, undertakes a very thorough purification of Jerusalem from its idolatry and renews a covenant with God. Rav Yoel Bin-Nun, in his shiur, asks: where did Yoshiyahu find the courage to carry out a revolution and return to worship God? Seemingly, after decades of rule hostile to those who worship God, and after idolatry had been systematically imposed everywhere – where were there any worshipers of God left to guide Yoshiyahu? Even if some remained, it’s reasonable to assume they had gone underground to avoid the hostile regime. What’s more, Yoshiyahu began to reign at a young age (eight years old), and in his youth he began to seek out God (Divrei HaYamim II 34:3) – where did he even come up with the idea at such a young age?

The opening of Sefer Tzefanya is unusually long and traces the prophet's lineage back five generations – a rare feature in the opening of a prophetic book: “This is the word of the Lord that came to Tzefanya son of Kushi son of Gedalya son of Amarya son of Chizkiya in the days of Yoshiyahu son of Amon, king of Yehuda” (1:1). According to Rav Yoel, this long and detailed genealogy is meant to say – yes, there were those who survived, who kept the flame alive. Tzefanya’s lineage goes back to the days of Chizkiyahu, who was a righteous king and worshiper of God – and the long chain described in the verse tells us that despite the harsh reigns of Menashe and Amon, there was a hidden prophetic lineage that remained loyal to God.

Tzefanya’s prophecy in Chapter 1 warns of the coming day of the Lord, which will destroy idolatry from Jerusalem: “My hand will strike Yehuda and all who dwell in Jerusalem. I will sever every trace of Baal from this place, every mention of pagan priests among priests” (1:4). If we look at the description of the purification carried out by Yoshiyahu, we find similar language: “The king then commanded... to remove from the Lord's Sanctuary all the vessels that had been made for Baal, Ashera ... He shut down he idolatrous priests” (Melakhim II 23:4–5). Rav Yoel suggests that Yoshiyahu heard Tzefanya’s prophecy and told himself that he would rather be the one to fulfill the day of the Lord against idolatry, rather than wait for divine punishment to arrive – which would be far more painful. If this is true, then the prophecies of Tzefanya were the precursor to Yoshiyahu’s remarkable religious revolution.

Rav Yoel also shows that within Tzefanya’s prophecies we find key expressions from the prophecies of Yeshayahu, which supports the claim that Tzefanya preserved a prophetic tradition from the days of Chizkiyahu – Tzefanya was a scion of Yeshayahu’s prophetic teachings. For example, descriptions of the day of the Lord in Tzefanya, such as: “a day of blasting horns and trumpets of battle against the fortified cities and fortressed towers” (1:16), strongly resemble the descriptions in Yeshayahu Chapter 2. And in Chapter 2 of Tzefanya, we find a prophecy about all the nations following God: “causing nations widespread to kneel down to Him, each person from where he stands” – similar to Yeshayahu’s prophecies about a future time when all nations will follow God. Even the bringing of tribute from beyond the rivers of Kush is mentioned: “From beyond the rivers of Kush, even the peoples of Atarai and the daughter of Putzai will pay Me tribute” (3:10), similar to Yeshayahu (18:1). One can also add that just like Yeshayahu – who begins his book by describing the day of the Lord coming upon Yehuda and Jerusalem, and later describes the it upon the nations in the “burdens against the nations” – so too in Tzefanya: Chapter 1 describes the day of the Lord that will come upon Jerusalem, and Chapter 2 describes what will happen to Canaan, Moav, Kush, and Assyria.