Tsephanyah

 At about 2am this morning I woke up and prayed for my mom, children & sister, read Psalm 91 for them and for myself - and as I was paging to read Tikkun HaKlali, my eyes fell upon

Tsephanyah 2 v 4:

כִּ֤י עַזָּה֙ עֲזוּבָ֣ה תִֽהְיֶ֔ה וְאַשְׁקְל֖וֹן לִשְׁמָמָ֑ה אַשְׁדּ֗וֹד בַּֽצׇּהֳרַ֙יִם֙ יְגָ֣רְשׁ֔וּהָ וְעֶקְר֖וֹן תֵּעָקֵֽר׃ {ס}        

Indeed, Gaza shall be deserted

And Ashkelon desolate;
Ashdod’s people shall be expelled in broad daylight,
And Ekron shall be uprooted.

    

    That first line got my attention. In light of the goings-on there in our day, it's stunning to read that a Prophet of Israel, directed by God Almighty, declared today's events more than 2500 years ago.

    Then I read the whole chapter, followed by the entire book. It's worth reading for yourself.

The first verse of the book tells us that Tsephanyah was the great-great-grandson of King Hizkiyahu, making him the only Prophet of royal descent.

    We all know that when the Torah and Tanakh speak of "that day" or "in that day," it usually refers to the final redemption. The prophecy of Tsephanyah is choc-full of those phrases. We can therefore deduce that the book is speaking of the end-times, the final generation, in which we live.

    The events the book mentions are quite severe. But for the first time in history, we can imagine them actually happening.

    'Aza is pretty much flattened. As for the other cities that the prophecy says will fall and/or be destroyed, it seems almost anything is possible in the Middle East today, what with Iran, ancient Persia, taking her gloves off and killing her own people. Who knows what she will do to the nations around her, and even - God forbid - to the rest of the world if they set their nuclear bombs off.

    There is an ancient prophecy in the Zohar that says Persia will rule the world in the acharit hayamim and she will destroy a large part of it before the Redeemer comes. (I learned this from Rabbi Soloveitchik of blessed memory - I don't presume to read the Zohar myself!)

     No one can know exactly how things will unfold, but we can all see that the world is in agony and distress. The best advice I know for these days, which are getting darker and more evil by the hour, is found in 2 Peter 3:11:

"Since everything is going to be destroyed like this, what kind of people should you be? You should lead holy and Godly lives..."

    It's that simple. The Prophet Michah reiterates:

"Mankind, He has told each of you what is good and what it is the LORD requires of you: To act justly, to love faithfulness/righteousness and to walk humbly with your God."

                                                                Michah 6:8.

    God is our Safe Refuge, our Hiding Place. In Him we need fear nothing at all.

            May we all find rest in Him.