Zephaniah 1:1

Zephaniah announced his theme at once, following his identification of himself as God's spokesman (Zephaniah 1:1), that being the universal final judgment of the whole world (Zephaniah 1:2,3). Would the Jews escape the terrors of that day? Certainly not! Passing from the general to the specific, a device which Dummelow described as being in harmony with the "genius of the Semitic mind,"[1] Zephaniah detailed the effect of the judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem (Zephaniah 1:4-7) and pointed out that it would fall heavily upon sinners of every rank (Zephaniah 1:8-13). The terrible day of the Lord will burst suddenly upon the whole earth and all of its inhabitants (Zephaniah 1:14-18).

Zephaniah 1:1

"The word of Jehovah which came unto Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah."

See the introduction for full discussion of this superscription which is received by this writer as genuine and Zephaniah's own claim of divine authority for what is included in his prophecy. All subjective, imaginative, unscientific objections to this view have been proved to be worthless.

It appears to be quite obvious that Zephaniah's reason for including so many of his ancestors in this verse was for the purpose of indicating his royal descent from the good king Hezekiah of Judah. It is barely possible that there could have been another reason. His father was Cushi, which means "an Ethiopian or a Cushite."[2] The offspring resulting from a Hebrew girl's marrying a foreigner "would not have been accepted in the Jewish community unless he could show a pure Jewish pedigree for at lease three generations (Deuteronomy 23:8)."[3] That also could have entered into this unusual inclusion of four of his forbears in Zephaniah's superscription.

There are many internal evidences that require us to believe that the portion of Josiah's long reign of 39 years during which the prophet delivered his message was the first part, before the reforms.