They went to great trouble to adhere to the most minute detail of superstition and yet they trampled upon God’s law and ignore the most fundamental aspects of it. Their lives were controlled and patterned by “laws” that weren’t prescribed by God. It was evidence that they were receiving instruction from their surrounding culture instead of Yahweh.

“On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold…” –Zephaniah 1:9

There are some verses in the Old Testament which leave us scratching our heads. I’ve always kind of laughed at the condemnation of sacred raisin cakes in Hosea 3. I know its because I’m missing the full significance of what raisin cakes symbolize, but it seems to me that there are much bigger fish to fry than raisin cakes. And so, because I’m not aware of the idiom, I think it’s a little funny.

Zephaniah 1:9 is another one of those places that seems a bit like an overreaction. A threshold is that strip of wood, metal, or stone which is at the doorway when you enter a room. It’s also that thing you carry your new bride over when you walk into the door. It’s a type of entry point. And so for us it has come to symbolize a new beginning. This is what think of today when we carry our new bride over the threshold—we are carrying her into a new phase of life.

So why is God so upset with those who leap over thresholds?

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