Some see the mention of the destruction of the remnant of Baal as an indication that King Josiah’s reforms must have been already in progress, such that a significant portion of Baal worship had been purged. But whether or not we may infer that such a purging had already begun, the emphasis in these statements in the second half of Zephaniah 1:4 falls on the elimination of every last association with Baal and its worship in Israel…. The destruction of the remnant of Baal emphasizes the thoroughness of God’s consuming judgment. For how could it be otherwise? Either Yahweh is God or Baal is God. Either one or the other must function as Lord over the people and their land.
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4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,