NOTES for Zep 1:1-18
From the very first lines the prophecy can shock us; indeed, it hardly fits into consciousness. We are told that because of the sins of a handful of people, everything that exists will be subjected to total destruction. And if during the Flood at least the fish could survive, now even they will have to pay for human deeds. What does this mean, and why should anyone at all have to suffer for another's guilt, especially speechless creatures who have no part at all in what people have done?
This means that the norms of spiritual life are not toys. We are not surprised by strict rules for handling poisonous and radioactive substances, or by the fact that one must not touch a bare wire with bare hands. The sad consequences of violating safety rules do not seem unexpected to us; yet for some reason ignorant and irresponsible behavior in the face of the spiritual world is considered quite acceptable.
And yet the Lord Himself has warned us about this more than once, and the words about the threat of deserved destruction are not an act of arbitrary will, but another reminder, though expressed with deliberate sharpness because ordinary warnings so often go in one ear and out the other: "Come to your senses; you are destroying not only yourselves, but the whole world!"
The prophecy calls the day of the destruction of a world sunk in wickedness the day of wrath. Elsewhere in Scripture the Lord says that there is no wrath in Him, and we know many testimonies to His mercy toward us; but we do not understand well the scale of His mercy if we cannot imagine from what catastrophes, provoked by us, He has been protecting us until now...