Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests
to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk
** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of
The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy
word.
“Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins. At
midday Ashdod will be emptied and Ekron uprooted. Woe to you who live by the
sea, you Kerethite people; the word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, land of
the Philistines. He says, “I will destroy you, and none will be left.” The land
by the sea will become pastures having wells for shepherds and pens for flocks.
That land will belong to the remnant of the people of Judah; there they will
find pasture. In the evening they will lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. The Lord
their God will care for them; He will restore their fortunes.”
Zephaniah 2:4-7
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks
be to God.
As we have seen in the first chapter of Zephaniah, God’s
judgment was coming to the southern kingdom of Judah and its beloved, holy city
of Jerusalem. Soon the Babylonian forces would come upon the land, leaving
destruction and desolation in their wake, the penalty for the sins of the
Israelites which included adopting pagan worship practices and committing an
array of social injustices. In the wake of the devastation and plundering that
was to come, the people of God would be ushered away into captivity for seventy
years.
It was quite a set of consequences but God was going to
send a message that He would not tolerate spiritual infidelity or willing,
willful disobedience from His people.
As we continue to look at this three chapter book from
one of the Old Testament’s minor prophets, we find that Judah wasn’t the only
nation who would feel the wrath of God’s punishment. We’ll look at the judgment
coming on other nations around Israel in the next few days, starting with
Philistia today. Look again at these words here:
“Gaza will be
abandoned and Ashkelon left in ruins. At midday Ashdod will be emptied and
Ekron uprooted. Woe to you who live by the sea, you Kerethite people; the word
of the Lord is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines. He says, “I will
destroy you, and none will be left.” The land by the sea will become pastures having
wells for shepherds and pens for flocks. That land will belong to the remnant
of the people of Judah; there they will find pasture. In the evening they will
lie down in the houses of Ashkelon. The Lord their God will care for them; He
will restore their fortunes.” Zephaniah 2:4-7
Geographically, Philistia sat to the west of Judah and
bordered the Mediterranean Sea. The nation had five key cities - Gaza, Ashdod,
Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath – and as we see, the news wasn’t good for at least
four of the five mentioned in today’s passage.
Gaza was going to be abandoned and uninhabited.
Ashkelon would be ransacked and left in ruin.
Ashdod would be emptied and left deserted.
Ekron would find itself uprooted.
Indeed, days of woe were coming to those who lived by the
sea because the word of the Lord was against them and that word promised
destruction to the degree that no one would remain. It would be prime land for
anyone to take over and as we see prophesied, the Lord would give the land to
His own people, to the “remnant of the people of Judah” who would return home
after the Babylonian exile to rebuild their nation, their homes, their lives,
and their relationship with God. Philistia would become a pasture for the
Israelites who would lie down and inhabit the houses of Ashkelon and elsewhere
while basking in the glow of the Lord’s care, their fortunes once again
restored.
The bottom line is that Philistia’s loss would become
Israel’s gain as God restored and once again returned the Israelites to His
favor.
Tomorrow, we look at the fate of Moab, Ammon, and Cush.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment