Hebrew Word Study – Curdle  – Qapha’קפא     Qop Pei Aleph   

Zephaniah 1:12:  “And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled on their lees, they will say in their heart that the Lord will not do good neither will He do evil.”

Does God really need to search out sinners?  I mean surely God knows everything, He does not have to call the angels together and choose a special prosecutor to investigate and try to dig up clues as to whether a person sins or not.  The word search in the Hebrew is chafas which is in a Piel (intensive) form so it is more than just a search, it is an investigation putting it under a magnifying glass or microscope. He is searching with lamps.   The idea, of course, is that light uncovers darkness.  God shines his light on the darkness.   He will then punish the men who are settled on their lees.  Are you settled on your lees?  Hope I’m not.  Settled is from the root word in Hebrew qapha’ which means to condense or to curdle.  It is often applied to letting wine sour.  Some translations render this phrase settled on their lees as complacent or stagnant in their sins. It is interesting the word for search is not the common Hebrew word for search masa, but it is the word chafas.  I believe God chose this word to imply a play on the words chafas (search) and qafa’ settled or sour wine. Both sound the same when spoken and it would suggest the idea of searching for sins that are just not apparent to someone until it begins to stink.

You see the history behind this verse is that the people of Jerusalem worshipped the god Dionysius along with Jehovah.  Dionysius was the god of wine and pleasure.  The Greeks called this god Bacchus.  The faith of the people of Jerusalem involved what anthropologists call syncretism, i.e., the combining of various religions into one. For instance, in Haiti, there are Catholic priests who are also Voodoo priests.  In the United States, we tend to worship the god Dionysius like when the morning worship service time is cut back so as not to miss the kick-off on Super Bowl Sunday.  Christian faith. We do not call it Dionysius we call it the church hosting a Super Bowl party.  The idea is that people are going to attend drunken Super Bowl parties anyways, let’s at least put it into a Christian context in a church and put Christian-sounding words in the music. Then rather than serving beer and junk food and betting money you serve sugary soft drinks and junk food and make more appropriately Christian-type bets like those who chose the losing team get to clean up afterward.

I have found that it is not unusual for a morning worship service to end early so they can host a Super Bowl party or to put it in a Christian context a fellowship, whenever this sacred Hedonistic holiday comes around. This is not to say the Super Bowl is sinful, although I am sure there are many Christians who will feel that my attacking Super Bowl Sunday is sinful.  I recently saw a movie where a comment was made that the NFL now owns the day of the week that was once owned by the church. But Christians justify it by reminding us that Sunday is a day of rest and people are to relax and rest and what can be more restful than drinking cans of sugary beverages and junk food, screaming, shouting, and getting your blood pressure to rise over watching two teams duke it on this national religious holiday called Sunday Bowl Sunday  I am not saying this is sinful it is just when churches start to adjust their programs and schedules to accommodate the people who want to watch the Super Bowl and host Super Bowl parties in the church basement calling it Christian Fellowship, well, to me that sort of smacks of something similar going on in Judah during Zephaniah’s time, something we call today syncretism or having our cake and eating it too. We would call this act of combining worldly pleasures, something the ancients called the worship of Dionysius with our worship of God, syncretism.  

This is why God needs a lamp to search out the sins as they are not so obvious.  In fact, the people of Jerusalem were so blind to their incorporating the Hedonistic practices of Dionysius into their worship, that they felt they were really worshipping God. They were living in darkness until God shined his lamp upon their Hedonistic practices and they could see it for what it was.

The prophet Zephaniah wrote this passage around 630 B.C   Around 325 BC, about three hundred years later there was a philosopher named Diogenes of Sinope who turned Cynicism into a philosophy.  Diogenes sounds suspiciously like Dionysius but I will let historians decide if he chose to take this name because of its similarity to Dionysius.  

Diogenes lived in a barrel, in abject poverty, and let people give him food and alms.  He did this to show that even the most giving people are really giving for selfish reasons but will not admit it.   Even Alexander the Great paid a visit to Diogenes and gave him a very prosperous offering. Diogenes told Alexander to his face that he only made the offering for selfish reasons.  As a philosopher, it would not have been unusual for Diogenes to have studied Hebrew philosophy or Scripture.  Many Greeks were fascinated by Hebrew philosophy.  It is very possible that this is the reason that Diogenes took a lit lamp in the daytime and walked around Athens. When anyone asked him why he was carrying a lamp in the daytime he would reply that he was searching for an honest man.  In other words, Diogenes believed that everyone had a selfish motive for any good that he would do. Diogenes was searching for a man who would at least admit his motives were selfish based.  No one would.

Over two thousand years later a motivational speaker named Dale Carnegie would base much of his teachings on the fact that everyone likes to feel they are good and caring people.   Even Al Capone felt he was doing a great service to society and Hitler felt he was serving humanity.   I have heard Christians condemn other Christians for taking on titles such as Dr. or Rev. Yet when they sign their name they will put Apostle or teacher after their own name and never give a thought that they are guilty of the same thing they condemn in others. 

The fact is, God did not need a lamp or light to find the sins of His people, he needed it to shine on the people so they could see their own sin which they could not recognize because it was so intertwined with their faith.  Is it wrong to shorten a worship service by an hour so Christians can fellowship around a Super Bowl game?   How should I know?  I do not know the hearts of these people. Like Diogenes, I am just walking around with a lamp looking for an honest Christian. Only God can shine the light on one’s heart to help them see if their motives are Dionysius or Godly.

So next time that offering plate passes by asking God to shine his light on you so you can see if you are dropping that envelop in the plate because you are truly expressing your love to God or you just don’t want that usher and the person sitting next to you think you are some sort of Christian cheapskate. 

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