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Zeph. 2:4-5

Lesson # Zeph. 2:4-5
Study Material - Zeph. 2:4-5

You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.



Zeph. 2:4-5

4 For Gaza [Azzah] shall be forsaken [azab] , and Ashkelon [Ashqalown] a desolation [shamamah] : they shall drive out [garash] Ashdod [Ashdowd] at the noon day [tsohar] , and Ekron [Eqrown] shall be rooted up [aqar] .
5 Woe [howy] unto the inhabitants [yashab] of the sea [yam] coast [chebel] , the nation [gowy] of the Cherethites [Karethiy] ! the word [dabar] of the LORD [Yahovah] is against you; O Canaan [Kana`an] , the land [erets] of the Philistines [Palishtiy] , I will even destroy [abad] thee, that there shall be no inhabitant [yashab] . KJV-Interlinear


4 For Gaza will be abandoned, And Ashkelon a desolation; Ashdod will be driven out at noon, And Ekron will be uprooted. 5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, The nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; And I will destroy you, So that there will be no inhabitant. NASB


While we watch the ceremonies surrounding the funeral of President Reagan, with all the observances and honors properly due, we now turn in our study to those who will live without honor, and consequently God will deal with them accordingly. They will die and lose everything.

In these two verses, six regions are mentioned representatively covering the entire earth. So as they lived, then so in the same fashion they will die.

Gaza is mentioned in the feminine form and as it lived as refuse (garbage) then it will be discarded as refuse. These people live an emotional life, one without honor and one whose standards changed with the changing of the seasons. Whatever was right and convenient for the moment was good enough for these types of people. They treated the world as garbage, but then they were themselves no better than garbage. God will discard them with the same attitude.

Ashkelon, a place of weighing. It could never get its values or priorities straightened out and so the least important things in life became the more important things of life. The spiritual life is relegated to the things which are unimportant to these types of people. Their life, their daily activities, their personal goals, personal comforts, personal agenda's, all come before the Word of God. Their destiny is destruction and emptiness. They pursued things in life that were in reality, nothing, and so their life will end up with nothing.

Ashdod the ravager. These people take advantage of others, and without pity, without empathy, without any conscience whatsoever. These people take what they want from life and give back nothing. They leave the helpless to themselves and to their helplessness. So as they ravaged, so then God will ravage them in their judgment and at high noon - the peek of their lives as they see themselves.

Ekron means eradication. They took and left nothing left. They planted roots such that nothing else could take hold among them. Selfish in their manner, and heartless in their pattern of life, so God will treat them as they treated the world. God will tear them out of the ground, roots and all, and they will never grow back as their entire existence will be eliminated from the face of the earth.

Inhabitants of the seacoast, the Cherethites, are a wandering people. They move off to foreign lands and leave the promised lands of God, behind them. They drift away from truth and eventually engage in all manner of their own invented truths. As they wandered away and refused to even look back to truth, so God will allow them to continue to drift further and further away from truth. They will be isolated in darkness forever and will never know their way back. For when light is left behind, then total darkness will consume them forever.

And finally those who live in the land of Canaan, the Philistines. These are the evil inhabitants of the promised land. They pretend to live inside Gods will. They invent their own rules which imitate but deviate from Gods doctrine. They keep one eye on God, but the other eye, both hands, and both feet in their own version of spirituality. These are the false believers, the compromising believers, those who say all of the right things, maybe do all of the right things (for public appearances), but in their hearts they look away from God and look to their own desires and self righteousnesses.

Their expected inheritance will not come to them. When the will is read, they won't receive anything, but the rebuke for their failure to obey the commands of life, which God gives us all in the scriptures.

Here then is the world which turns itself against God in one form or another. Any and all who do not comply with Gods commands, will lose all they have, will lose all they desire, will lose out as total failures in life. Their eternal existence will be less than they expect.

God is a loving and patient God, but He is a fair and rigid God. He asks not much of any of us. We went over a brief and very simple check list some time ago and there is a special study with that topic on the web site. None of those items place a burden on anyone. God in fact provides the resources for everyone to be able to comply with all of them easily.

Our primary responsibility is to want to know God, and then to pursue our education in the knowledge of Him. And then live our life by His standards. God does all of the rest. In fact there is very little that we do on our own except to make the right decisions in life.

Just as we are seeing on television the rightful honors being given to President Reagan, so too, then each person who attains spiritual maturity, and thus qualifies through their spiritual perseverance in life as a mature believer in Christ, will receive far, far greater honors from God in heaven. That is an honorable goal worthy of pursuing.

Never give up. Never look backward in life. Always forward in doctrine toward Christ. And He will take care of you.



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End Of Lesson

Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth.




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