ZEPHANIAH

zef-a-ni'-a (tsephanyah, tsephanyahu, "Yah hath treasured"):

(1) The prophet.

(2) A Levite or priest (1 Chronicles 6:36 (Hebrews 6:20)), called in some genealogies "Uriel" (1 Chronicles 6:24; 15:5,11).

(3) Judean father or fathers of various contemporaries of Zechariah, the prophet (Zechariah 6:10,14).

(4) A priest, the second in rank in the days of Jeremiah. He was a leader of the "patriotic" party which opposed Jeremiah. Nevertheless, he was sent to the prophet as a messenger of King Zedekiah when Nebuchadnezzar was about to attack the city (Jeremiah 21:1) and at other crises (Jeremiah 37:3; compare Jeremiah 29:25,29; 2 Kings 25:18). That he continued to adhere to the policy of resistance against Babylonian authority is indicated by the fact that he was among the leaders of Israel taken by Nebuzaradan before the king of Babylon, and killed at Riblah (2 Kings 25:18 parallel Jeremiah 52:24).

Nathan Isaacs

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.