Who is Zephaniah, the minor prophet?

Question

I am doing a project and I cannot find anything about the biblical author, Zephaniah.

Answer 1

There is very little about him because the only record of his life is in the Old Testament.

However, Wikipedia has a decent article on him:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephaniah

And here's Wikipedia on the book of Zephaniah:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Zephaniah

Doing a Google search will get you more links, but they all base their opinions off of his book in the OT

Answer 2

If you have had to break from family traditions to do Jehovah’s will, you can sympathize with Zephaniah. It may be that he was a great-great-grandson of King Hezekiah and a relative of King Josiah, thus a member of Judah’s royal house. Yet, Zephaniah obediently carried a message of denunciation against the corrupt leadership in Judah. His name means “Jehovah Has Concealed.” He stressed that only by God’s mercy might one “be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.” (Zephaniah 2:3) Happily, Zephaniah’s courageous proclamation bore fruit. Young King Josiah led a spiritual reform, removing the idols, repairing the temple, and restoring pure worship. Zephaniah and his fellow prophets (Nahum and Jeremiah) must have been instrumental in assisting or advising the king. Sadly, most of the Jews repented only superficially. After Josiah died in battle, they returned to idolatry. Before many years had passed, they were taken into Babylonian captivity.

In contrast with other prophets, however, Zephaniah provided his genealogy to the fourth generation, back to “Hezekiah.” This is so unusual that most commentators identify his great-great-grandfather as faithful King Hezekiah. If he was, then Zephaniah was of royal descent, and this would have added weight to his harsh condemnation of the princes of Judah and have shown that he was a courageous witness and prophet of Jehovah. His intimate knowledge of the topography of Jerusalem and of what was going on in the royal court suggests that he may have proclaimed Jehovah’s judgments in the capital itself.

Zephaniah prophesied in Judah during the early years of Josiah, who reigned from 659 to 629 B.C.E.

He was a leading priest during the last decade of the kingdom of Judah; son of Maaseiah. Zephaniah was twice sent by Zedekiah to Jeremiah, first to inquire of Jehovah about Judah’s future and later to request him to pray on their behalf. (Jer 21:1-3; 37:3) From a false prophet in Babylon, Zephaniah received a letter urging him to rebuke Jeremiah, but instead of complying, Zephaniah read the letter to Jeremiah, who then wrote Jehovah’s reply. (Jer 29:24-32) Following the fall of Jerusalem, Zephaniah, then second priest under Seraiah, was taken to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah and killed.

Answer 3

1 The word of the LORD which came unto Zephani'ah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedali'ah, the son of Amari'ah, the son of Hizki'ah, in the days of Josi'ah the son of Amon, king of Judah.