Zephaniah

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The Book of Zephaniah

Author

Internal Evidence:

Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah (Zephaniah 1:1)

External Evidence:

Conclusion

Biographical Information

Based on Zephaniah's genealogy (Zeph 1:1) he may have been a descendant of King Hezekiah of Judah. There are some issues with this theory because of certain chronological considerations. According to 2 Kings 21:1 Manasseh, who was most likely the oldest surviving son of Hezekiah, was only twelve years old when he began to reign. The number of years between Manasseh's accession and the reign of Josiah makes it difficult to consider reconcile this theory. However, one must ask the question: Why did the author include Zephaniah's genealogy up to four generations back ending with a man named Hezekiah if the reader was not to assume it was King Hezekiah? It is possible that Hezekiah did have a son in the beginning of his reign named Amariah who died before Hezekiah did and Amariah had a son named Gedaliah before he died. This would reconcile the chronological issues, but again is only speculation.

It is probable that Zephaniah was a resident of Jerusalem because of his knowledge of the features within the city (Zeph 1:10-11). If Zephaniah was a descendant of King Hezekiah then it is possible that he was a member of the royal court based on his heritage.

Date

Internal Evidence:

"in the days of King Josiah" (Zeph 1:1)
The author speaks of future destruction coming upon Jerusalem (Zeph 1:4). The cities of Judah and the streets will be desolate (Zeph 3:6).