Babylon is explicitly identified as the invading enemy for the first time in the book and the invasion is vividly predicted and described by the Lord, speaking through his prophet. These events took place when Jerusalem under Jehoiachin was captured by the Babylonians in 597 BC and Zephaniah is then referred to as the chief official of the temple, Pashhur’s replacement (Jeremiah 29:25–26).1
Invasion, destruction and exile was coming from the Lord as he used the Babylonians as his instrument of judgment. This is the total opposite to what Pashhur and the rest of the religious and political establishment on Judah were saying to the nation about the future. Judah’s leaders, prophets, priests, wise men, and king as well as the people themselves were involved in a profound conspiracy of falsehood.
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1 Thus says the LORD, “Go, buy a potter’s earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests,