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The superscription of the Book of Zephaniah attributes its authorship to "Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah, in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah" (1:1, NRSV). All that is known of Zephaniah comes from the text. The superscription of the book is lengthier than most and contains two features. The name Cushi, Zephaniah’s father, means ‘Ethiopian’.〔''Cush, Cushan, Cushi''; Ethiopians, blackness. "Hitchcock’s Bible Names". Based upon "Hitchcock’s New and Complete Analysis of the Holy Bible," Updated to modern name spellings and hypertexted by Phil Robertson. Copyright © 1999 OakTree Software, Inc. Version 1.4〕 In a society where genealogy was considered extremely important because of God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants, the author may have felt compelled to establish his Hebrew lineage. The author of Zephaniah does not shrink from condemning the Cushites or Ethiopians. Chapter 2:12 contains a succinct but unequivocal message: "You also, O Ethiopians, / Shall be killed by my sword." As with many of the other prophets, there is no external evidence to directly associate composition of the book with a prophet by the name of Zephaniah. Some scholars believe that much of the material does not date from the days of King Josiah (ca. 640–609 BC), but is actually post-monarchic. Three general possibilities are # that a person, possibly named Zephaniah, prophesied the words of the book of Zephaniah; # the general message of a Josianic prophet is conveyed through the book of Zephaniah; or # the name could have been employed, either during the monarchic or post-monarchic period, as a ‘speaking voice’, possibly for rhetorical purposes. Although it is possible that a post-monarchic author assumed the persona of a monarchic prophet to add credibility to his message, there is no evidence to support such a claim. The prophetic book of the Bible attributed to Zephaniah occurs ninth among the twelve minor prophets, preceded by Habakkuk and followed by Haggai. Zephaniah (or Tzfanya, Sophonias, צפניה, Ẓəfanya, Ṣəp̄anyāh) means 'YHWH conceals', or 'YHWH protects'. == Date == If the superscription of the book of Zephaniah is a reliable indicator of the time that the bulk of the book was composed, then Zephaniah was a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah (or Jeremias). King Josiah ruled over Judah from approximately 640–609 BC. Some scholars believe that the picture of Jerusalem which Zephaniah gives indicates that he was active prior to the religious reforms of King Josiah which are described in 2 Kings 23. These reforms took place in 622 BC. Scholars also cite the reference to "the officials and the king’s sons . . ." in 1:8 as evidence that the kingdom was still ruled by a regent for Josiah. The portrait of foreign nations in chapter 2 also indicates the late seventh century. Probably the first prophet following the prophecies of Isaiah and the violent reign of Manasseh. Both Zephaniah and Jeremiah urged King Josiah to enact religious reforms, which he eventually did. Other scholars have presented evidence pointing to a post-monarchic date (as late as 200 BC) based on language and theme, although the book might still have been based on an earlier composition. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Book of Zephaniah」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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