You will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied, and will praise the name of Yahweh, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and my people will never again be disappointed.
You will know that I am among Israel, and that I am Yahweh, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never again be disappointed.
“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.
And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.
I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke.
The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.
It will happen that whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv26–32 He now concludes what he has hitherto said of…
He now concludes what he has hitherto said of God’s blessing. As the Jews were starving while God was offended, so he promises that when reconciled to him they should have abundance of produce from the land: Ye shall eat plentifully, he says, and satisfy yourselves. But he mentions also their gratitude; for it was an evidence of true repentance when they praised the name of God, whom they understood to be the giver of their abundance; for he had before proved that the land was under his power, when he consumed its whole substance, so that none of it came to supply the wants of man. Hence the Prophet exhorts them to give thanks, that they might thus declare that they from the heart repented. Ye shall then praise the name of Jehovah your God”. Why? “Because he will deal with you wonderfully. He takes away here every plea for ignorance. We know how difficult it is to lead men to do this act of religion, for which we yet confess that we were born; for what is more natural than to acknowledge God’s bounty towards us, when we enjoy many blessings? But yet, though God in various ways stimulates us, he cannot draw from us genuine gratitude. This is the reason why the Prophet now says, “God will deal with you wonderfully: though ye are stupid, God will yet by his power awaken you; for he will not deal with you in a common way.” He then mentions something miraculous, that he might leave to the Jews no excuse, in case they considered not God’s bounty and perceived not in this change, first, what they had deserved and then how merciful God had been to them: for this change could not have been ascribed to chance; nor was it a common thing, that when the Jews had been for four successive years nearly consumed with wants and when the enemy was at hand, they should see the land now fruitful, that they should see it freed from destructive insects, that they should be also at peace, and not disturbed by the dread of any foreign enemy. Since the Lord, then, would beyond hope give them a serene instead of a turbulent sky, should not such a wonderful change deeply affect them? This is what the Prophet now means, — “As the Lord will deal with you wonderfully, there will be no excuse for your torpidity, if ye will not be diligent in praising his name.”
Not ashamed, he says, shall my people be for ever. The Jews are here reminded by implication of their former disgrace; for they had been greatly confounded; though enemies touched them not, no, not even with their finger, they yet died through famine; an enemy was also prepared, as we have seen, to destroy them. They were therefore frightened with dread, and also perplexed with their own evils, by which God had almost worn them out. The Prophet says now, My people shall not be ashamed for ever, intimating that God would at length relieve his people from their evils, that they might not, as hitherto, be ashamed. He at last subjoins —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv28, 30, 31, 32 As they had visions and dreams in old time,…
As they had visions and dreams in old time, so shall they now have clearer revelations.
That is, in greater abundance, and more generally than in times past: and this was fulfilled under Christ, when as God’s graces, and his Spirit under the Gospel was abundantly given to the Church, Isa. 44:3; Acts 2:17; John 7:38, 39.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv26–32 Joe 2:26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and…
Joe 2:26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
Ver. 26. And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied] Which, what a great blessing it is, see Hag 1:6 Ecc 6:1-2. {See Trapp on "Hag 1:6"} {See Trapp on "Ecc 6:1"} {See Trapp on "Ecc 6:2"}
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And praise the name of the Lord your God] Not haunch up God’s creatures, as swine do swill, but tasting the sweetness of the Creator in them, lift up many a humble, joyful, and thankful heart to him. This was better than the former blessing, for naturally fulness breeds forgetfulness of God, Deu 32:15.
That hath dealt wondrously with you] Heb. ad mirificandum, sc. in so sudden and strange a change of his hand, whereby he hath made himself marvellous, as he delights to do by working wonders, such as man’s power cannot perform, nor reason reach unto.
And my people shall never be ashamed] As they have been among the heathen, Joe 2:19, and as those are that pray to no purpose. Deo confisi nunquam confusi. Their faith is unfeigned, and therefore their hopes unfailable, Rom 5:5.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv26–32 Ye shall eat; enjoy and live upon. In plenty;…
Ye shall eat; enjoy and live upon. In plenty; not with scarcity, as when water is measured to them, and bread is given by weight, Eze 4:16.
Be satisfied; the broad they eat shall refresh them, maintain their strength, not be as that Hag 1:6.
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Praise the name; ascribe the glory to the mercy and faithfulness, to the power and wisdom, of your God; ye shall speak of it to his praise, stop the months of insulting heathens.
The Lord your God: see Joe 2:13. Dealt wondrously; in one year giving as much as the locusts wasted in the years foregoing, whether three, or four, or more.
My people; you that are my people, demeaning yourselves as becometh my people.
Shall never be ashamed; neither disappointed of your hopes, nor refused when you pray, nor necessitated to seek relief among the heathen, who will reproach you and me.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v28 The promises of corn, and wine, and oil, in…
The promises of corn, and wine, and oil, in the foregoing verses, would be very acceptable to a wasted country; but here we are taught that we must not rest in those things. God has reserved some better things for us, and these verses have reference to those better things, both the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory, with the happiness of true believers in both. We are here told,
I. How the kingdom of grace shall be introduced by a plentiful effusion of the Spirit, (Joe 2:28, Joe 2:29). We are not at a loss about the meaning of this promise, nor in doubt what it refers to and wherein it had its accomplishment, for the apostle Peter has given us an infallible explication and application of it, assuring us that when the Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, on the day of Pentecost (Act 2:1, etc.), that was the very thing which was spoken of here by the prophet Joel, Joe 2:16, Joe 2:17. That was the gift of the Spirit, which, according to this prediction, was to come, and we are not to look for any other, any more than for another accomplishment of the promise of the Messiah. Now, 1. The blessing itself here promised is the pouring out of the Spirit of God, his gifts, graces, and comforts, which the blessed Spirit is the author of. We often read in the Old Testament of the Spirit of the Lord coming by drops, as it were, upon the judges and prophets whom God raised up for extraordinary services; but now the Spirit shall be poured out plentifully in a full stream, as was promised with an eye to gospel-times, Isa 44:3. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed. 2. The time fixed for this is afterwards; after the fulfilling of the foregoing promises this shall be fulfilled. St. Peter expounds this of the last days, the days of the Messiah, by whom the world was to have its last revelation of the divine will and grace in the last days of the Jewish church, a little before its dissolution. 3. The extent of this blessing, in respect of the persons on whom it shall be bestowed. The Spirit shall be poured out upon all flesh, not as hitherto upon Jews only, but upon Gentiles also; for in Christ there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, Rom 10:11, Rom 10:12. Hitherto divine revelation was confined to the seed of Abraham, none but those of the land of Israel had the Spirit of prophecy; but, in the last days, all flesh shall see the glory of God (Isa 40:5) and shall come to worship before him, Isa 66:23. The Jews understand it of all flesh in the land of Israel, and Peter himself did not fully understand it as speaking of the Gentiles till he saw it accomplished in the descent of the Holy Ghost upon Cornelius and his friends, who were Gentiles (Act 10:44, Act 10:45), which was but a continuation of the same gift which was bestowed on the day of Pentecost. The Spirit shall be poured out upon all flesh, that is, upon all those whose hearts are made hearts of flesh, soft and tender, and so prepared to receive the impressions and influences of the Holy Ghost. Upon all flesh, that is, upon some of all sorts of men; the gifts of the Spirit shall not be so sparing, or so much confined, as they have been, but shall be more general and diffusive of themselves. (1.) The Spirit shall be poured out upon some of each sex. Not your sons only, but your daughters, shall prophesy; we read of four sisters in one family that were prophetesses, Act 21:9. Not the parents only, but the children, shall be filled with the Spirit, which intimates the continuance of this gift for some ages successively in the church. (2.) Upon some of each age: "Your old men, who are past their vigour and whose spirits begin to decay, your young men, who have yet but little acquaintance with and experience of divine things, shall yet dream dreams and see visions;" God will reveal himself by dreams and visions both to the young and old. (3.) Upon those of the meanest rank and condition, even upon the servants and the handmaids. The Jewish doctors say, Prophecy does not reside on any but such as are wise, valiant, and rich, not upon the soul of a poor man, or a man in sorrow. But in Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free, Gal 3:28. There were many that were called being servants (Co1 7:21), but that was no obstruction to their receiving the Holy Ghost. (4.) The effect of this blessing: They shall prophesy; they shall receive new discoveries of divine things, and that not for their own use only, but for the benefit of the church. They shall interpret scripture, and speak of things secret, distant, and future, which by the utmost sagacities of reason, and their natural powers, they could not have any insight into nor foresight of. By these extraordinary gifts the Christian church was first founded and set up, and the scriptures were written, and the ministry settled, by which, with the ordinary operations and influences of the Spirit, it was to be afterwards maintained and kept up.
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II. How the kingdom of glory shall be introduced by the universal change of nature, Joe 2:30, Joe 2:31. The pouring out of the Spirit will be very comfortable to the righteous; but let the unrighteous hear this, and tremble. There is a great and terrible day of the Lord coming, which shall be ushered in with wonders in heaven and earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke, the turning of the sun into darkness and the moon into blood. This is to have its full accomplishment (as the learned Dr. Pocock thinks) in the day of judgment, at the end of time, before which these signs will be performed in the letter of them, yet so that it was accomplished in part in the death of Christ (which is called the judgment of this world, when the earth quaked and the sun was darkened, and a great and terrible day it was), and more fully in the destruction of Jerusalem, which was a type and figure of the general judgment, and before which there were many amazing prodigies, besides the convulsions of states and kingdoms prophesied of under the figurative expressions of turning the sun into darkness and the moon into blood, and the wars and rumours of wars, and distress of nations, which our Saviour spoke of as the beginning of these sorrows, Mat 24:6, Mat 24:7. But before the last judgment there will be wonders indeed in heaven and earth, the dissolution of both, without a metaphor. The judgments of God upon a sinful world, and the frequent destruction of wicked kingdoms by fire and sword, are prefaces to and presages of the judgment of the world in the last day. Those on whom the Spirit is poured out shall foresee and foretel that great and terrible day of the Lord, and expound the wonders in heaven and earth that go before it; for, as to his first coming, so to his second, all the prophets did and do bear witness, Rev 10:7.
III. The safety and happiness of all true believers both in the first and second coming of Jesus Christ, Joe 2:32. This speaks of particular persons, for to them the New Testament has more respect, and less to kingdoms and nations, than the Old. Now observe here, 1. That there is a salvation wrought out. Though the day of the Lord will be great and terrible, yet in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance from the terror of it. It is the day of the Lord, the day of his judgment, who knows how to separate between the precious and the vile. In the everlasting gospel, which went from Zion, in the church of the first-born typified by Mount Zion, and which is the Jerusalem that is from above, there is deliverance; a way of escaping the wrath to come is found out and laid open. Christ is himself not only the Saviour, but the salvation; he is so to the ends of the earth. This deliverance, laid up for us in the covenant of grace, is in performance of the promises made to the fathers. There shall be deliverance, as the Lord has said. See Luk 1:72. Note, This is ground of comfort and hope to sinners, that, whatever danger there is in their case, there is also deliverance, deliverance for them, if it be not their own fault. And, if we would share in this deliverance, we must ourselves apply to the gospel - Zion, to God's Jerusalem. 2. That there is a remnant interested in this salvation, and for whom the deliverance is wrought. It is in that remnant (that is, among them) that the deliverance is, or in their souls and spirits; there are the earnests and evidences of it. Christ in you, the hope of glory. They are called a remnant, because they are but a few in comparison with the multitudes that are left to perish; a little remnant but a chosen one, a remnant according to the election of grace. And here we are told who they are that shall be delivered in the great day. (1.) Those that sincerely call upon God: Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, whether Jew or Gentile (for the apostle so expounds it, Rom 10:13, where he lays this down as the great rule of the gospel by which we must all be judged), shall be delivered. This calling on God supposes knowledge of him, faith in him, desire towards him, dependence on him, and, as an evidence of the sincerity of all this, a conscientious obedience to him; for, without that, crying Lord, Lord, will not stand us in any stead. Note, It is the praying remnant that shall be the saved remnant. And it will aggravate the ruin of those who perish that they might have been saved on such easy terms. (2.) Those that are effectually called to God. The deliverance is sure to the remnant whom the Lord shall call, not only with the common call of the gospel, with which many are called that are not chosen, but with a special call into the fellowship of Jesus Christ, whom the Lord predestinates, or prepares, so the Chaldee. St. Peter borrows this phrase, Act 2:39. Note, Those only shall be delivered in the great day that are now effectually called from sin to God, from self to Christ, from things below to things above.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv26–32 And ye shall eat in plenty,.... Or, "in eating…
And ye shall eat in plenty,.... Or, "in eating eat" (n); most surely eat, and in great abundance; which Hebraism not only denotes the certainty of a thing, but the increase and abundance of it; see Gen 22:17; there is plenty of spiritual provisions held forth under the Gospel dispensation: much in God, in his goodness, grace, and love, truth and faithfulness; in his covenant, the blessings and promises of it: much in Christ, who is compared to many things eatable; is called the Lamb of God, the fatted calf, the hidden manna, the tree of life, and the bread of God; everything in him, and that belongs to him, is food for faith; his flesh is meat indeed, his blood is drink indeed; the fulness of grace in him; the righteousness wrought out by him; the salvation he is the author of; upon all which the believer lives by faith: much in the Gospel, and the doctrines of it, compared to honey for sweetness of taste; to milk for its nourishing nature, easiness of digestion, and the suitableness of it for babes; and to strong meat fit for men: and there is groat plenty also in the ordinances of the Gospel, particularly in the Lord's supper, the feast of fat things, where saints are invited to eat and drink abundantly; which eating is not a bare attendance on outward ordinances, or a superficial taste of the things in them, but a feeding upon them by faith, receiving and digesting them;
and be satisfied; eat to satiety; eat and be full, so as to be entirely contented, and desire no other sort of food; thus saints, as Naphtali, are satisfied with the favour and love of God, having a delightful sensation of it, and a full persuasion of interest in it; with Christ as the bread of life, so as not to hunger after other; with his righteousness, as not to seek any other; and with his salvation, being so suitable to them; and with the goodness and fatness of the Lord's house, his word and ordinances;
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and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you; acknowledge him to be the giver of all this spiritual food, and that they are unworthy of it; ascribe it entirely to the grace of God, who has done wonders for them; in wonderfully setting them apart for himself in eternal election; in making such a well ordered covenant with them in Christ; in sending him to be their Saviour and Redeemer; in calling them out of darkness into marvellous light; in bestowing such love upon them, as to call them and make them his children, and also heirs of him and eternal glory; see Psa 22:26;
and my people shall never be ashamed; because they shall always have food to eat; shall never be disappointed, when they rightly apply for it in proper places and times; and not be like the troops of Tema, and companies of Sheba, Job 6:19; they shall not be ashamed of their faith and hope, and expectation of good things promised them; nor of the word and ordinances, and the profession they have made of Christ in this world; nor shall they be ashamed at his coming; but shall be placed at his right hand, and received into his kingdom, and shall be led by him to fountains of living water, and be satisfied with pleasures for evermore.
(n) "comedetis comedendo", Pagninus, Montanus; "ceras", Vatablus, Piscator, Tarnovius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 Wondrously - In one year giving as much as…
Wondrously - In one year giving as much as the locusts wasted in the years foregoing. Ashamed - Neither disappointed of your hopes, nor necessitated to seek relief among the heathen.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 Verse 26. Praise the name of the Lord your…
Verse 26. Praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you] In so destroying this formidable enemy; and so miraculously restoring the land to fertility, after so great a devastation.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv28, 30, 31, 32 Joe 2:28-29. And it shall come to pass afterward…
Joe 2:28-29. And it shall come to pass afterward — Some versions begin the third chapter with this verse; and indeed the subject which is begun here is of so different a nature from what goes before, that it seems evident a new chapter ought to be begun here. The Jewish Rabbi Kimchi says here, that the expression afterward signifies the same as in the latter days, Isa 2:2, and that whenever the words occur, they denote the times of the Messiah; and therefore he refers this prophecy to his days, and makes it descriptive of the event which is foretold Isa 11:9, The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. This is unquestionably the true meaning of it, and thus it is explained by St. Peter, Act 2:17. “And though the things here prophesied of were not to happen till several ages afterward, yet was the prophecy highly proper to encourage the minds of the pious Jews; as it was an assurance to them that, let them be brought ever so low by this or any other calamity, yet God would preserve them a people, till all the promises made to their forefathers should be actually accomplished; and especially till the Messiah should come, under whom the knowledge of God should spread itself among all the nations of the earth, and the gifts of the Spirit of God should be poured out in a much more abundant manner than ever they were before:” see Chandler. I will pour out my Spirit — In extraordinary gifts on the first preachers of the gospel, and in various graces on all believers; upon all flesh — Upon believing Gentiles, as well as believing Jews. In former times those gifts were confined to one particular nation, but now they shall be extended to those of all nations that will apply unto God for them through faith in the Messiah. The plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit is often represented by the prophets as the peculiar character of the gospel state, and is elsewhere compared to the pouring out of waters upon the thirsty ground, and thereby rendering it fruitful: see the passages referred to in the margin, and compare them with Joh 7:39. That this prophecy was in a great measure fulfilled in the days of the apostles and first messengers of the Lord Jesus, we have abundant proof from the Acts of the Apostles and the epistles of the New Testament. We need not, however, confine this prophecy to those early times, but, since many prophecies have gradual completions, we may understand this as implying that there shall be another remarkable effusion of the Holy Spirit upon the Jews, in order to their conversion in the latter times of the world. This exposition, which is favoured by some expressions in this prophecy, renders its connection with the contents of the following chapter more manifest. And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy — The gift of prophecy was bestowed upon some women under the Old Testament, as upon Miriam, Exo 15:20; upon Deborah, Jdg 4:14; and Huldah, 2Ki 22:14.
But this gift was more frequently conferred upon that sex in the times of the New Testament. Thus we read of four daughters of Philip the Evangelist who prophesied, Act 21:9; and church history affords us several other instances; such as Perpetua and Felicitas, who were martyrs for the Christian faith; Potamiena, mentioned by Eusebius, lib. 4. cap. 5, and others. Your old men shall dream dreams — Divine dreams, either imparting unto them the knowledge of future events, or discovering to them the will of God in other respects. By this method God often made known his will to the patriarchs and prophets, impressing their minds, while they were asleep, with the things he intended to communicate; sometimes directly, without any parabolical representation, which was a pure dream; as to Solomon and others: sometimes under representations and images, which might be a vision and dream mixed, as in the case of Pharaoh, Joseph, Daniel, and others. Your young men shall see visions — In visions, distinguished from dreams, the inspired person was awake, but his external senses being bound up, and, as it were, laid in a trance, (see Num 24:4,) he had a distinct knowledge of the things revealed to him, and that sometimes accompanied with external representations: such was that vision of St. Peter’s, mentioned Act 10:11. And in this way St. John seems to have received all his revelations. From visions being applied to young men, and dreams to old men, some have observed that the imagination is stronger in those that are young than in the old; so that their senses need not be bound up with sleep, in order to make them capable of receiving heavenly visions. Also upon the servants and upon the handmaids — Even persons of the lowest condition shall be made partakers of the saving graces of the Holy Spirit, and in many instances also of his extraordinary gifts. The poor have the gospel preached to them, and all the blessings of the gospel, whether ordinary or extraordinary, are as free for the poor as the rich, and are more commonly desired and received by them than by the rich.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv26–32 And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied…
And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied - It is of the punishment of God, when people eat and are not satisfied (see Hos 4:10); it is man’s sin, that they are satisfied, and do not to praise God, but the more forget Him Hos 13:6. And so God’s blessings become a curse to him. God promises to restore His gifts, and to give grace withal, that they should own and thank Him.
Who hath dealt wondrously with you - “First, wonderfully He afflicted and chastened them, and then gave them wonderful abundance of all things, and very great and miraculous consolation after vehement tribulution, so that they might truly say, This is the change of the Right Hand of the Most High.”
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And My people shall never be ashamed - o: “So that they persevere in His service. Although he incur temporal confusion, yet this shall not last for ever, but the people of the predestinate, penitent, and patient in adversity, will be saved forever.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv28, 29, 30, 32 After. From this verse to the end the prophet…
After. From this verse to the end the prophet speaks of the times succeeding the captivity, and more especially of the propagation of the gospel. The enemies of God’s people shall be destroyed, (chap. iii. 1.) which seems to refer to Cambyses, Ezechiel xxxviii. (Calmet) --- My spirit. This plainly foretells the coming of the Holy Ghost, Acts ii. (Worthington) --- The Jews never had such a multitude of prophets after the captivity as the Church had, 1 Corinthians xiv. 24. What relates to them was only a shadow of what would befall true believers.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v28 Hereafter, on “the Lay of the Lord” the Enemies…
SECTION II
Hereafter, on “the Lay of the Lord” the Enemies of Israel shall be destroyed, while the Lord reigns in Zion guarding and blessing it.
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Joe_2:28-32.
[In the Hebrew text and in Schmoller, these verses form Chap. III., while Chap. III. of E. V. is numbered Chap. IV We prefer to keep the order of the E. V.—F.]
The promise, which up to this point has reference to the present and the near future, now takes a higher and wider range. It brings into view the day of the Lord, the result of the coming of which shall be, on the one hand, the overthrow of the world-power, and on the other, the full blessedness of God’s people, through his dwelling in the midst of them. Joe_2:28-32 may be regarded as the introduction to the closing chapter, which describes the fulfillment of the promise. The grand events, which are the harbingers of the coming of the day of the Lord, are described. Zion is pointed out as the only place of safety; but even amid the terrors of that day, God’s people will have no reason to fear. The third chapter describes the judgments to be inflicted upon the enemies of God’s people, while the latter shall receive the richest blessings from the Lord, who sits enthroned on Zion.
28 And it shall come to pass afterward,34
That I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
And your sons and daughters shall prophesy;
Your old men shall dream dreams,
Your young men shall see visions;
29 Even35 upon the men servants and the maid servants,
In those days, will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will give signs36 in heaven and on earth,
Blood, and fire, and columns of smoke;
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
32 And it shall come to pass that whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance,
As Jehovah hath said;
Even among the remnant37 whom Jehovah shall call.
EXEGETICAL
Joe_2:28. And it shall come to pass, etc. What is here said of a general outpouring of the Spirit, while connected with the foregoing promise, holds out to Israel the prospect of a grander dispensation of divine grace and of richer blessings than those promised in the preceding chapter. God will manifest Himself in such a manner as He has never done before. But this outpouring of the Spirit is viewed by the prophet as connected with the great day of the Lord, and as a sign of its coming. But he thus views it only because he sees in that day, a day of judgment on Israel’s enemies, and a day of salvation to Israel, through God’s dwelling in Zion. If Joe_2:28-29 be considered as containing a new promise, Joe_2:30 would begin a new subject, which would be contrary to the tenor of the prophet’s discourse, as it is evident that these verses are closely connected.
Joe_2:28. Afterward,i. e., after what had been before announced in Joe_2:23; it is more indefinite than the last days, although, in general, the meaning is the same. Joel apparently imagines that the events which he here describes, will happen in no very distant future. שָפַך, to pour, primarily refers to rain, or a heavy shower of rain; it here denotes the communicating of something from above, and in great abundance. This last idea is illustrated in the extent of the gift,—to “all flesh,” and the nature of the gift,—the spirit of prophecy in various forms. הבָּשָׁר־רוּחַ. In contrast with God, to whom the רוּח belongs, κατ. ἐξ., man appears as בָשָר “flesh” This term designates man not simply as a being in want of this “Spirit,” but also as one naturally fitted to receive it, just as the dry ground is fitted to receive the rain.—All flesh. How is this general expression to be understood? It is clear from what follows that there is no limitation of sex, age, or condition, and that not merely particular individuals, but that all are to share in this divine gift,—a fulfillment of the wish of Moses (Num_11:29). The connection and the train of thought require us to extend the “all” to mankind generally.—Shall prophesy. This is explained by “prophesying,” “dreaming dreams,” “seeing visions.” In this enumeration the most important thing comes first, i. e., the proper prophetic function or power. נָבָא means, not simply to predict future events, but generally to announce the revelations of God. The whole people will be the vehicle through which these highest spiritual utterances will be made, and as all barriers will be then broken down, woman is named by the side of man. To this prophesying are conjoined, in a sort of secondary way, other modes of divine manifestation, “dreams,” “visions.” As there is to be no difference of sex, so there is to be none of age, in regard to the sharing of this spirit. Even those who would seem to be unfitted for it shall receive it—“old men and children.” Why, it may be asked, shall “old men dream dreams?” Because they are better fitted for “dreams,” just as young men, or children are for “visions,” though the reverse of this would seem to be more natural. But the condition of things predicted by the prophet would be every way extraordinary.—And the servants. This is added as something very singular, וּגַם “and even.” Nay, something unheard of shall then happen, namely, that slaves as well as freemen shall partake of this Spirit. In other words, this social distinction shall then be abolished. The Jewish interpreters could scarcely comprehend how this could be, and hence the Sept. make the servants and hand-maidens, “God’s,” ἐπί τοὺ̀ς δούλους καὶ τὰς δούλας μου; so too Act_2:16.
Joe_2:30. I will show wonders. What shall be the form of these phenomena of nature? It is idle to try to answer the question. They are evidently such as had never before been seen, though they may somewhat resemble the plagues of Egypt. There will be “blood” and “fire,” and “pillars of smoke.” The color of blood appears in the moon; both sun and moon are obscured; and there are signs of a hiding of the face of God who rules in heaven, and consequently of his anger. These signs will be of a nature to awaken terror, and all the more, as the day approaches, for it would seem from Joe_2:28-30, that there will be hardly an interval between the sign and the day. Its menacing aspect becomes so much the more prominent inasmuch as God will then manifest Himself, not merely in a general way, but as bringing on a special crisis. The obscuration of the stars is often mentioned in connection with the day of judgment (Eze_32:7; Amo_8:9; Mat_24:29; Mar_13:24; Luk_21:25). Before the day of the Lord come. Hence these appearances are signs of the coming of this day. Its actual coming and its importance are set forth in Joel 3; here it is described only in a general way. Joe_2:32 goes on to state that for Zion it will bring neither judgment nor destruction. Here its tempest will cease. But there is, at the same time, an implied exhortation to comply with the condition of safety.
Joe_2:32. And it shall come to pass,—whom the Lord shall call. To call on the name of Jehovah is to confess Him, to worship Him who has revealed, and is revealing Himself to Israel. Whosoever,כֹּל with a special emphasis, to teach that the day of the Lord will not bring destruction to all, though it may have that look. There will be complete deliverance to those who call on the name of the Lord, and to none else. The reason is given, because in Mt. Zion is “deliverance.” As Jehovah had said. This seems to point to some positive prophetic promise. This divine promise of safety to all who call on the name of the Lord, based on the promise concerning Zion and Jerusalem, shows how closely related were these two places. They are set forth as the place where the Lord dwelt in his sanctuary with his people, and where his name is known. The calling on the Lord is wholly confined to Zion and Jerusalem, though it would be of no avail to any one to be in Zion unless he called on the Lord. Deliverance. Many take this term in a concrete and collective sense, i. e., “the delivered,” but the other is the more natural interpretation. The remnant, or “the escaped;” there shall be among them those whom the Lord calls. שָׂרִיד is one who has escaped from the field of battle, or one who has been saved from the fate of most others, and so implying that the number is small. This “remnant” is evidently to be added as a new class to those before mentioned as delivered by calling on the name of the Lord, the idea being that they had been overtaken by the calamity, and though delivered, their escape had been a very narrow one, and hence noticed as the result of the Lord’s special and merciful call. Who are they? Not those already in Zion and Jerusalem; but those who were called to come there, i. e., not to these localities merely, but to communion with the God who, calls and who is enthroned in Zion. This manifestly means that some of those who would be properly liable to the judgment, would escape it and share in the salvation promised to Zion. Who are they? Not the inhabitants of Judah living outside the walls of Jerusalem;—a sense of the words entirely too limited and local. Besides, Zion and Jerusalem must be taken as including all the inhabitants of Judah wherever resident. It may, perhaps, be inferred from Joel 3 that they are the Israelites scattered among the nations, whom the Lord promises (Joe_3:16) to bring again. Yet they can scarcely be described as the “remnant,” or the “escaped,” since their deliverance is the very object of the judgment which falls upon the heathen world. Why not understand by the “remnant,” the heathen? They are both far off, and liable to the judgment. It would still be true that while the heathen world in general will be the object of the judgment in the day of the Lord, some of them will escape through the mercy of Jehovah. This is certainly only a faint indication of the calling of the Gentiles. This last fact is not distinctly announced, the heathen as such not having been as yet named. There is a close resemblance between Joe_2:32 and Oba_1:17, so that if the latter was the earlier prophet, we might suppose that his words had been modified by Joel. Obadiah says. “there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau,” in the day of the Lord. Joel also says, that this day shall be one of judgment to all outside of Zion, for all the heathen. But he does not mean that none of them shall escape, for he admits it to be possible that Jehovah might call some of them. Joel thus takes a step in advance of Obadiah, and indicates, though it may be obscurely, the work that should be done by later prophets.
[Pusey: Joe_2:28. All flesh is the name for all mankind. The words all flesh are in the Pentateuch, and in one place in Daniel, used in a yet wider sense, of everything which has life; but, in no one case, in any narrower sense. It does not include every individual in the race, but it includes the whole race, and individuals throughout it, in every nation, sex, or condition, Jew or Gentile, Greek or Barbarian, i. e., educated or uneducated, rich or poor, bond or free, male or female. On all was to be poured the Holy Spirit.
Joe_2:29. St. Peter, in declaring that these words began to be fulfilled in the day of Pentecost, quotes them with two lesser differences: “I will pour out of my Spirit and upon My servants and My handmaidens.” The words declare something in addition, but do not alter the meaning, and so St. Peter quotes them as they lay in the Greek, which, probably, was the language known by most of the mixed multitude to whom he spake. The words “My Spirit,” express the largeness and fullness of the gift. The words “of my Spirit,” express, in part, that He who is infinite cannot be contained by us who are finite. The words “the servants,” mark the outward condition. The words “my servants,” declare that there should be no difference between bond and free.
Joe_2:32. Call upon the name of the Lord. To call on the name of the Lord is to worship Him as He is, depending upon Him. The name of the Lord expresses his true Being, that which He is. For the name rendered, The Lord, expresses that He is and that He alone is, the self-same the unchangeable; the name rendered God is not the special name of God.—F.]
[Wünsche: Joe_2:28. My Spirit. The Spirit of God is the divine analogue of the spirit of man. It is the true life principle of men; the source of physical life in the world of nature, of spiritual life in the sphere of religion, of all goodness, truth, rectitude, and beauty. Whatever the human mind thinks, feels, wills, fashions, in regard to any one of these objects is, in one sense, an outflow of the Divine Spirit. The prayer that ascends to heaven from a devout heart, the self consecration, the holy enthusiasm which distinguished the prophets, and fitted them to proclaim to the people God’s judgment and his mercy,—all these are expressions and gifts of the Divine Spirit, All flesh. The word is used in Heb. to denote the totality of living being on earth, beasts and men (Gen_6:13; Gen_7:15, etc.); and then in a more limited sense, for the human race. The connection shows that, here, it is taken in the latter sense. Credner, however, gives it the wider meaning so as to include the irrational animals, and refers in confirmation of his view to the prediction of Isa_9:6-9, concerning the “wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid,” etc. But this friendly union of wild and tame animals is not represented by the prophet as the result of men’s enlarged knowledge of God. Man alone is the image of God; he alone is a fit organ of the Divine Spirit; he alone has the capacity to receive the gift here described, which, therefore, cannot be extended to the lower forms of animal life.
Joe_2:32. As Jehovah hath said. There is no reference here to a lost prophecy (Meier); nor to an older writing of Joel (Ewald); nor to Obadiah (Keil). The meaning simply is that Joel, the person speaking, had a divine revelation of the fact, that where God’s throne is, there his true worshippers shall also be. Shall call. The word has a pregnant sense, conveying the idea that the “deliverance” depends not on the worshippers of God alone, but also upon God himself. Only those whom the Lord calls or chooses, and who call upon or choose Him shall be saved. Most of the older and later expositors take “call” in a predestinative sense. The Chald. has quos dominus destinat.—F.]
THEOLOGICAL
1. From the very first the prophets point to a great decisive Hereafter. In their being able to do this lay their strength. Living in the present, their eyes were ever turned to the future, or rather the end, the consummation of all things. Hence the power of their exhortations and promises to their contemporaries. Their influence would have been very frail and feeble, if they had not had a firm faith in a future, when the salvation of God should be fully realized.
2. Outpouring of the Spirit of God upon all flesh. It is evident from the context that the prophet himself did not suppose that this “outpouring” would extend beyond the people of Israel. This was its field (Joe_2:27). Here God will reveal Himself; here in the day of the Lord the judgment will take place, here all nations shall be gathered. The whole of Joel 3 shows that the prophet considered the heathen world as the enemy of God’s people. He does not put the heathen on the same footing with Israel, but on the contrary he directs attention exclusively to the high position of Israel as God’s people. It presupposes the conversion of the heathen, and their reception among God’s people. As he nowhere predicts such a conversion, his promise of an outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh cannot here include the heathen; even if we refer the phrase “whom the Lord shall call,” to a selection of the heathen, it is all the more evident that the “all flesh” cannot include them. For the calling of individual heathen could not have the same prominence that would belong to the out-pouring of the Spirit on the whole heathen world. Joel might have assumed that some called out of the heathen world would partake of the blessing given to Israel. To Israel the promise was of something not only great but new, namely, the impartation of the Spirit to persons of all ages and conditions. Pouring out as a symbol of this impartation was never before used to denote the gift of the Spirit. Thus far only individuals in particular localities had received it. The gift was, indeed, a necessary result of the covenant relation in which Jehovah stood to Israel, but hitherto his Spirit had come only on individuals, fitting them to become divine messengers. Such a limitation, however, did not accord with the true idea of God’s people, which implies that they should all be partakers of his Spirit. This should he fully realized in the future. Every barrier shall be broken down, and the reception of this Spirit shall be limited neither by age, sex, nor condition. It would come in the form of prophetic dreams and visions, giving those who received it a deeper insight into divine things, and make them organs of divine revelation.
This promise, as given by the prophet, is twofold. On the one hand, it will thus be seen that Jehovah is in the midst of Israel. On the other hand, this general outpouring of the Spirit will be a preparatory warning of the coming of the day of the Lord. That day will be one of immediate and decisive manifestation of God, and its approach will be heralded by new and startling events fitted to excite in the minds of men eager expectation, and to rouse them to seek salvation before it was too late. These warnings may consist of extraordinary phenomena in the world of nature, or of similar phenomena in the sphere of mind. From the spirituality of the religion of Jehovah we might expect that occurrences of the latter class would predominate. Perhaps we may go farther and say that the object of these remarkable events, of this prophesying, of these dreams and visions, is the day of the Lord itself. It is clear that by this general outpouring of the Spirit the way would be prepared for such a result of the day of the Lord as must redound to the glory of Israel. Since Jehovah thus recognizes Israel as his people, by making them all individually organs of his revelation, He must, while blessing them, resist and punish their enemies. This double aspect of the day of the Lord, as one of judgment, and of redemption, is here very distinctly declared. The deliverance of individuals will not come to them as a matter of course. If they escape the terrors of that day, and share in the salvation of God’s people, it can only be by their complying with the conditions on which it is secured.
When shall this promise of a general outpouring of the Spirit be fulfilled? From the phrase “after this,” the prophet seems to have regarded it as connected with the promise given in the earlier part of the chapter. But it does not follow that he looked upon it as near at hand. The prophets often connect promises relating to the present, very closely with those pertaining to the far distant future. In this respect Joel and the later prophets agree. The latter represent the gift of the Spirit in its fullness to the covenant people, as a prominent feature of the Messianic age, or of the New Covenant. Jer_32:15; Jer 56:13; Eze_36:26; Zec_12:10. Hence we should, perhaps, designate this prophecy as in a general way Messianic, though Joel does not speak directly of the Messiah, and we should look for its fulfillment after the advent of Messiah. Thus St. Peter (Act_2:17) saw its accomplishment in the miracle of Pentecost. He expressly refers the אַחְַרֵי־כֵן—ἐν ταις ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις, to the Messianic age. He distinctly recognizes the Messiah as the mediator through whom this rich and general bestowment of the Spirit should come. Like the prophet, he understood the “all flesh,” to mean, in the first instance, the covenant people, though he declares that the promise extended also to those who were “afar off.” Joel only intimates that the latter will escape, but does not say, in so many words, that the Spirit will be given to them. Peter evidently regarded—as Joel did—this outpouring of the Spirit as a sign of the Day of the Lord, i. e., in the New Testament sense of the term, as a day of Parousia, and so quotes Joe_2:28-32. As he saw one part of the prediction accomplished, he naturally looked for the fulfillment of the other. There can be no doubt that the Apostles, at least for a time, thought that the Παρουσία, or the Coming of the Lord, was nigh at hand, and such prophecies as the one before us, would tend to confirm them in that expectation. On the day of Pentecost, Peter saw the Spirit poured out, not indeed on “all flesh,” even in the limited sense of all Israel, but he was sure that the promise of it embraced the whole covenant people, and so he opens to all the prospect of the gift, on condition of repentance.
But though the wonders of Pentecost were the first and literal fulfillment of this prophecy, they by no means exhausted its moaning. The only effect of the outpouring of the Spirit recognized by Joel, is the prophetic, and on this memorable day, it certainly appeared in an ecstatic form. But we need only to look into the Epistles of St. Paul to discover that the influence of the πνεῦμα ἁγιον which Christ gives is not exhausted by such results; on the contrary, the grandest effect of it is the regeneration of the whole man. This deeper, ethico-religious conception of the gift of the Spirit, founded on the declarations of the later prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, is certainly the New Testament one. Joel’s idea of the close connection between the outpouring of the Spirit and “the day,” is in one sense a mistaken one, since the “outpouring” came, but not the “day,” yet in another view it is perfectly correct. The two are most nearly related. With Messiah have come the ἒσχαται ἡμέραι; and the gift of the Spirit is, and will continue to be, a sign of the Day of the Lord, a proof that God is in the midst of his people, and will give them the victory over all their enemies.—Finally, we must not overlook the limits of the field of the Spirit’s operations as described by Hosea. He, indeed, considered Israel alone as God’s people, and that on Israel alone would the Spirit be poured out. But as we know from the New Testament that Christ’s disciples are not limited to Israel, neither are God’s people, so we are sure that this outpouring of the Spirit is confined to them, i. e., to the spiritual Israel, to all who, by faith, are made one with Christ. All such partake of the Holy Ghost.
[In this somewhat prolix and verbose dissertation, the author confounds two quite distinct questions, namely, What is the real meaning of the prophecy—whom does it embrace,—and when and how will it be completely fulfilled? and How far did Joel comprehend the real purport of the prophetic promises, which he was inspired to utter? This last question it is impossible to answer, because Joel has left no explanation of his prediction. We have nothing but the prophecy itself. Therefore we have no means of determining whether he took the “all flesh,” as meaning simply Israel, or in its wider sense. After all, the question is one of no practical importance. The grand inquiry is. What is the meaning of the prophecy?—F.
Wünsche: Credner is clearly wrong when he says that Peter made a false application of this prophecy. No man can deny that on the day of Pentecost, the prediction of Joel began to be accomplished. We say designedly, “began to be accomplished,” for although the Christian Church has been growing in divine knowledge, and has been working for the common good of all sexes, ages, and classes, more than eighteen hundred years since that day, the prophecy is not yet fulfilled. There are predictions, which have found their fulfillment in particular historical events; and there are others which embrace the entire field of humanity, and Joel’s belongs to this latter class. Its complete accomplishment will be the history of the kingdom of God on earth, down to the end of time.—F.]
3. Let us now consider what the prophet teaches in regard to the condition of deliverance, in this “terrible day of the Lord.” It is not sharing in those extraordinary influences of the Spirit, whose results are involuntary, but “calling on the name of the Lord,” a free act, which every one who pleases can perform. There is something to be done by each individual for himself, and all are exhorted to do it. Spiritual gifts do not necessarily involve spiritual regeneration. So we find to have been the case in New Testament history, with the miraculous χαρίσματα, which at first predominated, but gradually disappeared, giving place to a more natural and tranquil, a purer and deeper spiritual life. The condition of deliverance is stated in Joe_2:32, and all are exhorted to fulfill it. External membership with the people of Israel will not, of itself, secure salvation; but the condition is one so simple and easy, so really within the power of every one, that the verse has more the aspect of a promise than an exhortation. There is no real need that any one should be afraid of the coming of the “terrible day.” Its terrors may be escaped by simply calling on the Lord in Zion and Jerusalem, the place of worship. Therefore no one need ask, Where shall I find the Lord on whom I must call? for the Lord Himself has named the place of his abode.
This alone is necessary, “to call on the Lord.” To do this, it is not absolutely requisite that one should belong to Israel. This is plainly taught by the words just quoted. Hence Paul bases upon them the equal rights of Jews and Gentiles? But does this exposition suit the context, in which the prophet so expressly connects the deliverance with Zion and Jerusalem? If we look carefully into the matter, we shall find that it does. Zion is the place where God has revealed Himself. Without such a revelation as that made in Zion, neither calling on the Lord, nor salvation, would have been possible. Zion then (not in the local sense) is the seat and centre of salvation; because here God has manifested Himself. Paul knew that a Greek, simply as such, could not call upon the Lord, since he did not even know the Lord who had revealed Himself in Israel. Those who would call upon Him, as Paul teaches, must believe in Him, and this implies that He had been preached to them, and this was done by those who made known to the heathen the God who has manifested Himself in Zion. Paul denies that conformity to the Jewish law is a condition of salvation. All this shows the Apostle’s deep insight into the real meaning of Scripture. His heart beat for those afar off; he feels, and discovers instinctively, that the barriers which had separated Jew and Gentile were broken down by the very prophetic word which made salvation dependent on one thing alone, a thing within the reach equally of the Gentile and the Jew. He evidently took the words “whosoever shall call,” etc., in a sense large enough to embrace the whole Gentile world. On exegetical grounds, as we have seen, we are authorized though not compelled to give them this breadth of meaning. In the last clause of Joe_2:32 the phrase occurs, “whom the Lord shall call,” and it conveys the idea that salvation is not a matter of right, but of grace alone. With regard to all who are afar off this divine call is the cause of deliverance. If they had not been thus called they must certainly have perished, so that they owe their escape solely to the gracious call of God. But it is at the same time clearly implied that this call becomes effective and saving only when the man himself turns to the Lord.
HOMILETICAL
Joe_2:28. Afterward. A prophetic word of profound meaning. When? The prophets themselves did not know. Yet these promises were, for the present, a light shining in a dark place. But what kings and prophets of old desired to see and saw not, we see, who live in the times of fulfillment. To us the Afterward has become Now. To many, it is only a Once, a Formerly. They forget that the fulfillment of these prophetic words never grows old, but has a perpetual Now, which it becomes us to comprehend and improve until the Lord comes. For as that Afterward has become a Now, in Him in whom all the promises are yea and amen, so He still points us to a more distant Afterward, when there will be nothing new in distinction from the old, except as sight is distinguished from faith, and the end from the beginning.
I will pour out my Spirit. True fellowship with God implies the participation of the Spirit of God. So long as this privilege is confined to individual communion with God, on the part of men, it must be simply an object of desire and hope, notwithstanding the means used to extend it. Blessed privilege of the New Covenant, that in Christ every one may receive the Spirit of God. All special privileges are done away; all separating walls are broken down. The lowest as well as the loftiest can now aspire to be taught by the Spirit of God, and so to become a co-worker with God. How wonderful the condescension and the grace of God! (See Gal_3:28.) How plain is it that the religion of the Old Testament, though itself far from attaining this end, foreshadowed it, and revealed the way to it.
[Henry: God hath reserved some better things for us, the kingdom of grace, and the kingdom of glory, and the happiness of true believers in both. We often read in the Old Testament of the Spirit of the Lord coming like drops, as it were, upon the judges and prophets whom God raised up for extraordinary services, but now, the Spirit shall be poured out plentifully, in a full stream.
Pusey: God alone can be poured out into the soul, so as to possess it, enlighten it, teach, kindle, bend, move it as He wills, sanctify, satiate, fill it. The prophetic word circles round to that wherewith it began, the all-containing promise of the large outpouring of the Spirit of God; and that, upon those whom the carnal Jews at all times would least expect to receive it. It began with including the heathen; it instances individual gifts, and then it ends by resting on the slaves. The order of the words is significant. He begins I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and then in order to leave the mind resting on these same great words, He inverts the order and ends, and upon the servants, etc. It leaves the thoughts resting on the great words “I will pour out my Spirit.”
Robinson: A Christian even now, animated and influenced by the Holy Ghost is a wonderful being, as superior to the rest of mankind, as man is superior to the beasts of the field. But what will he be then? There have been mighty men amongst us, a Milton, a Boyle, a Newton in a former age, and some in the present, who, with the highest gifts of genius, have been endowed with eminent gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit; but who shall say in that future dispensation, to what heights of wisdom and knowledge and power man may be advanced? Every discovery in science, every progressive improvement, such as the present age has developed, are prophecies and earnests of that glorious time here promised.—F.]
Joe_2:30. Show wonders. The New Covenant has brought salvation, but it also brings sifting judgments corresponding to the greatness of this salvation. The question now is, how men will deal with it; and most certain is it that God will remove everything opposed to Him and his kingdom. Hence, with the salvation in Christ, there was need of this last separating judgment. Great displays of God’s grace and great judgments often go together, the latter preparing the way for the former. So was it in Jerusalem. Those who despised the kindly tongues of flame on the day of Pentecost, had blood, fire, and vapor of smoke as the symbols of destruction. So is it now. Those who quench the Spirit, despise prophesyings, and give themselves up to the flesh and the world will find “that day” all the more terrible, and that their damnation slumbereth not. The best thing is to be always ready for that day of God. If we delay until it actually comes, it may be too late.
[Henry: The judgments of God upon a sinful world, and the frequent destruction of wicked kingdoms by fire and sword, are prefaces to and presages of the judgment of the world in the last day.
Pusey: Each revelation of God prepares the way for another, until that last revelation of his love and of his wrath in the great day.—F.]
Joe_2:32. Whosoever calleth. Happy they who are found watching and praying when the Lord comes. We may escape the judgment, therefore we should not despair. All that is necessary is believing prayer to God. For every one who confesses God, He will confess. But such escape we must earnestly seek for ourselves. The coming of Christ has two aspects; to the godless, it will be a day of condemnation and wrath: to believers, a day of redemption and refreshing. In Zion and Jerusalem., i. e., in the God who is there revealed, is redemption. He who believes in Christ is in Zion, for he confesses Him as the God of Zion. To Him belongs the glory of our salvation. Examine thyself to see thy real condition. The ability to stand in the judgment will come, not from any outward excellence, nor even from gracious privileges or preëminence. The remnant. God desires not to destroy, but to save. Hence his constant and gracious call to all who are afar off, to come and be saved. Even the heathen, who belong not to his chosen people, can obtain salvation. Not indeed unless He calls them; but if He does call and they yield to it through his grace, they share in the gifts of his people. Art thou among the called ones of God? Hast thou heard his call? Thou mayest be called and yet perish at last. Many are called, few chosen. God calls all, but He, in turn, will be called upon in faith.
[Henry: This is ground of comfort and hope to sinners, that whatever danger there is in their case, there is also deliverance for them, if it be not their own fault. And if we would share in this deliverance we must apply ourselves to the Gospel Zion, to God’s Jerusalem. It is the praying remnant that shall be the saved remnant. And it will aggravate the ruin of those who perish, that they might have been saved on such easy terms. Those only shall be delivered in the great day that are now effectually called from sin to God, from self to Christ, from things below to things above.
Scott: The Gospel calls men in general to partake of its blessings, and of that salvation which is revealed and placed in the Church; and “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord” Jesus, as the Son of God and the Saviour of sinners, shall be delivered from the wrath to come. This is the happy case of that remnant of every age and people whom the Lord calls by his regenerating Spirit; all things shall work together for their good; they may look forward with comfort for the day, when nature shall expire in convulsions, assured that then their eternal redemption shall be perfected.—F.]
Footnotes:
[34]Joe_2:28.—“Afterward.” אַחֲרֵיִ־כֵן is clearly identical with the formula used by the later prophets. בְּאַחֲרִית ,הִיָּמִים “the last days.”
[35]Joe_2:29.—“Even.” The “also” of E. V. hardly expresses the emphasis of גַם.
[36]Joe_2:30—“Signs.” מוֹפְתֵים denotes not “signs,” but rather prodigies, miraculous signs of coming events.
[37]Joe_2:32. “Remnant.” פְלֵיטָה properly means “deliverance, escape.” Here the abst. is used for the cone. Schmoller and Wünsche render “the escaped.”
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32 never be ashamed--shall no longer endure the "reproach of…
never be ashamed--shall no longer endure the "reproach of the heathen (Joe 2:17), [MAURER]; or rather, "shall not bear the shame of disappointed hopes," as the husbandmen had heretofore (Joe 1:11). So spiritually, waiting on God, His people shall not have the shame of disappointment in their expectations from Him (Rom 9:33).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv26, 28, 29, 30, 32 26. As a result of the bountiful restoration, the…
26. As a result of the bountiful restoration, the Jews will recognize Jehovah as their God and praise him for his divine interposition.
Name of Jehovah — Equivalent to person of Jehovah (see on Amo_2:7; Mic_5:4, Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible, article “Name,” 5).
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Shall never be ashamed — Having been brought to a true recognition of God, they may now enjoy his favor; he need not turn away from them again, or send calamities that would disgrace them in the eyes of their neighbors (Joe_2:17; compare Isa_49:23; Psa_22:5). 27. The calamity was an evidence of the displeasure of Jehovah (Hos_2:6-7; Hos_2:9; Hos_5:15; Eze_10:18-19; Eze_11:23), in the same manner prosperity will be a proof of his favor and presence.
In the midst of Israel — As the source of blessing, as protector and refuge in all need (Isa_12:6; Hos_11:9; Deu_7:21).
Israel — Evidently the theocratic community made up of the reunited Israel and Judah (Isa_11:12-13). This verse is a reply to the taunt in Joe_2:17, “Where is their God?”
I am Jehovah your God — Every religious leader from the time of Moses insisted that Jehovah was the God of Israel (Exo_20:2; Deu_5:6), but the people too frequently forgot it and went “whoring after other gods” (Hos_2:5; Hos_2:8). To bring them to their senses Jehovah must pour out judgment again and again; but the present blow will cure them, and they will recognize in him, and in him only, their God. The phrase is a very common one in the Old Testament, used always, in connections similar to this one, “to denote the conviction produced by some great act of judgment or deliverance upon those who witness it.”
None else — “By their fruits ye shall know them.” The gods who in the past lured away the people are seen to be worthless; they have no power to protect or help (Hos_2:7; Isa_1:29-31; Isa_45:5-6; Isa_45:18; Deu_4:35). The closing words are a repetition, from the preceding verse, rounding off in a rhetorical manner the promises of the immediate temporal blessings and of permanent protection.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv26–32 26. and praise, &c.] In acknowledgment of His bounty:…
26. and praise, &c.] In acknowledgment of His bounty: cf. (of the Canaanites) Jdg_9:27 (R.V. marg.).
shall never be ashamed] or disappointed (on Joe_1:11),—being worthy of, and accordingly receiving, the protection of their God (cf. Isa. 29:29, Isa_49:23, Isa_50:7, Psa_22:5; Psa_25:3).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv27, 28, 29, 30, 32 (27) I am in the midst of Israel.—This Divine…
(27) I am in the midst of Israel.—This Divine assurance, similar to that with which the book ends, prepares the way for the spiritual blessings about to be announced.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv27, 28, 30, 31, 32 The God of Israel.
The God of Israel.
No doubt the less enlightened among the Jews may have cherished superstitious views regarding Jehovah, and have regarded him as their tutelary Deity, just as neighbouring nations thought of Baal or Ashtoreth. But the devout and intelligent believed both in the universal Lordship of Jehovah, and in his special interest in and care for his chosen nation Israel. Thus we, as Christians, holding the Supreme to be God over all the earth, yet consider him to be in a very special sense the God of his own Church, purchased with the precious blood of his Son.
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I THE EVIDENCE WHICH CONVINCES US THAT THE LORD IS OUR GOD.
1. As in the case of Israel, so in our case, God is known by his delivering mercy. He who saved the Jews from locusts and from armies, delivers us from the bondage of sin and death.
2. And, as Jehovah crowned the national life of Israel with plenty and prosperity, so has he made all provision for our spiritual well-being and happiness, in the gift of his Son and in the dispensation of his Spirit.
II THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR CONVICTION THAT THE LORD IS OUR GOD. "My people," says the Lord, "shall never be ashamed;" i.e. because:
1. They shall never be disregarded; their prayers shall always be heard with favour.
2. They shall never be disappointed; the expectations which the Lord awakens he will fulfil.
3. They shall never be forsaken; for he says, "I will never leave thee. T.
This denotes either Vers. 28-32. These verses form a chapter (the third) by themselves in the Hebrew text, but in the LXX and the Authorized Version they conclude ch. 2. In them the prophet passes on to spiritual blessings.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv26, 27, 28, 30, 32 And ye shall eat in plenty.
Joe_2:26
And ye shall eat in plenty.
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The promise of plenty a motive to gratitude
I. The branches of this promise.
1. Ye shall eat in plenty. To eat and to eat in plenty, are pleasures which threatenings have disjoined and separated.
2. Satisfaction. Be satisfied.
3. The body is refreshed and nourished.
4. Contentment with our portion.
5. The power to eat.
6. Interest in the promise of eating is manifested and apprehended.
7. The blessing is in satisfaction.
8. God is enjoyed as our God in Christ. And praise the name of the Lord.
These words point to a comprehensive duty.
1. Acknowledging the goodness of the Lord our God in creating plenty and bestowing satisfaction.
2. Rejoicing m the goodness of the Lord our God, who giveth us fruitful seasons, and filleth our heart with food and gladness. Joy in His name is a chief part of praise. Though the good be a material or sensible good, the joy in which we praise Him is a spiritual joy.
3. Serving the Lord our God, in holiness and righteousness, all the days of our life.
4. Exercises concerning the person, and office, and beauty, excellence, riches, treasures, fulness, and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ, are essential in the praise which glorifies the name of the Lord God.
II. The motive to humble ourselves and praise the name of the Lord God. There is something in Gods dealing that is wondrous. See in Joels sphere.
1. Calling off and destroying the devouring army is wondrous.
2. After the devastation, the springing of the earth is wondrous.
3. The season able rain which cooled the air and moistened the earth is wondrous.
4. The uncommon fertility of the years which succeeded the ravages of the army and the drought is wondrous. Make application to those who are in easy and affluent circumstances. Also to poor householders, etc. (A. Shanks.)
Using aright Gods restored blessings
What use should be made of these returns of Gods mercy to them?
1. God shall have all the glory thereof. What is the matter of their rejoicing shall be matter of their thanksgiving. The plenty of our creature comforts is a mercy indeed to us, when by them our hearts are enlarged in love and thankfulness to God, who gives us all things richly to enjoy, though we serve Him but poorly.
2. They shall have the credit, and comfort, and spiritual benefit thereof. When God gives them plenty again, and gives them to be satisfied with it--
(1) Their reputation shall be retrieved.
(2) Their joy shall be revived.
(3) Their faith in God shall be confirmed and increased.
We should labour to grow in our acquaintance with God by all providences, both merciful and afflictive.
3. Even the inferior creatures shall share therein, and be made easy thereby. They had suffered for the sin of man, and for Gods quarrel with him, and now they shall fare the better for mans repentance and Gods reconciliation to him. This may lead us to think of the restitution of all things, when the creature, that is now made subject to vanity and groans under it, shall be brought, though not into the glorious joy, yet into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom_8:21). (Matthew Henry.)
Harvest thanksgiving
Joel comforts Israel with a declaration of Gods mercies, tie speaks of a change for the better which God would bring upon the Jews land,--a change from drought and barrenness, from blight and devouring insect, to fertility and large increase. Joy in harvest is a practice as old as any that is in the world. We find it in heathen as well as in Christian times. Especially do we find it among Gods own people, the Israelites. Their Feast of Tabernacles is also called the Feast of the Ingathering, or the Feast of the Harvest. For seven days they rejoiced together before the Lord. They brought an offering, some fruit of their land, each according to his ability, and as God had blessed him. In this they are our example. To a certain extent this joy at harvest has always been found amongst us. The shouting for the last load, the harvest supper in the masters barn, witness to this feeling. Of late years there have come into use what are called Harvest Festivals. These do not interfere with the old customs of harvest joy. They only lift that joy into a higher sphere by adding the religious element. Praising God is our bounden duty at this time. And an unusual spirit of thankfulness seems to be now upon our people. Such a general remembering of the name of the Lord God is most refreshing to witness, and fraught with good omen for our country. We take our side with those who depart not from the living God, Giver to all of life and breath, and all things. The praise of our lips must be seconded by the praise of our life. (R. D. B. Rawnsley, M. A.)
Praise for plenty
I. The promise of an ample sufficiency of food for the use of man. Ye shall eat in plenty. Such, from the productiveness of the earth, the excellence of the weather to ripen, and for the gathering in of the late harvest, ought to be the case with even the most toiling and humble classes of our fellow-countrymen during the winter. The poor are greatly dependent on the bounties of Providence.
II. The duty of praise. Ye shall praise the name of the Lord your God. It was a charge brought by Jeremiah against the Jews, that they overlooked the hand of God in filling them with the finest of the wheat. Many considerations are adapted to excite and strengthen our gratitude for the blessings of the harvest. All was suspended on the will of God; and where should we have been if God had rewarded us according to our iniquities? Now turn to consider the higher signification of which the text is capable. Not one thing mentioned, as the subject of promise or the ground of duty, but has an evangelical complexion, and may be applied to the Gospel in its nature and claims.
(1) Look at the provision of the Gospel. There is no emblem under which the blessings of salvation are more commonly or more aptly exhibited than that of food. The Gospel is the bread of life. It is placed before us with unstinted and ungrudging liberality.
(2) Look at the satisfaction. There is this material difference between earthly and heavenly things. The meat for which men labour is perishable. To live in peace as to the safety of the soul, is not that satisfying?
(3) Look at the praise. If praise is duo for temporal blessings, how much more is it due for our eternal redemption, for gospel provisions. (Anon.)
My people shall never be ashamed.--
The courage and confidence of Gods people
Of God the prophet says, He shall deal wonderfully with you.
I. The nature and ground of that confidence under which believers shall never be ashamed. They that fear the Lord rest upon the strong arm of Omnipotence; therefore they are not afraid. In the hour of their temptation the precepts of God are the source of their spiritual vigour. They build on a foundation which shall never shake under them, therefore they tremble not in the day of adversity. The sure and certain promises of God, given through Christ by the Gospel, afford to the faithful in Christ a never-failing source of courage and confidence in the day of trial. The righteous is bold as a lion in the face of danger; for his anchor of hope is thrown out, and holds fast to the eternal rock of his salvation. Time cannot shake the courage of the faithful; for this courage has its graft in a Divine stock, which is eternal.
II. The effect of this Godly boldness and confidence. Shame and confusion of face bring distress and disquietude. There cannot be true peace within, where there is habitual feeling of shame, and sense of dread, doubt, and misgiving. The courage of the people of God is a state of peace within, solidly based, strongly secured beneath the adamantine bars of Divine grace, redeeming love, the Gospels gladdening voice and elevating spirit. A state of well-tried and well-founded courage is a state of well-assured and well supported peace. And the tranquillity depends not upon outward things for its permanency, but rests upon the watchful guardianship and unchangeable love of the Shepherd and Bishop of souls. See the great excellency of the benefit of this gift of godly courage. Is it not desirable to be enabled to walk through life, securely armed amid its storms, in a track undeviating, fixed, and stedfast, preserving the even tenor of a godly course, without weariness and with out wavering? This is the sound consistency of character which we should all aim after. What shall give you confidence in the day of adversity, but the sure provision of Divine grace laid up in the soul? What shall give you bold ness in the day of Christs appearing, but the love you have had for Christ, the concern you have shown for the tone thing needful, and the diligence you have used in working out your salvation with fear and trembling ? (W. Stone, M. A.)
No condemnation to the righteous
There are few men in whom the moral sense is so extinguished that they never think at all of a judgment to come. But there are many deceits by which the worldly minded may impose on themselves. Putting off consideration to a more convenient season. Attempting to serve two masters. But religion is not a thing for half measures. Who are those who shall never be ashamed? They are described as the people of God. Not persons wholly free from sin. Those who hate sin, and are earnestly striving to be wholly freed from it. Their sins are sins of ignorance or infirmity; and these, though they call for sorrow, can hardly demand shame. The people of God are those in whom there is honesty and integrity of moral purpose, rather than actual conformity to the whole law of God.
I. The man of God has no cause to be ashamed when he searches into himself. Arraign him before the tribunal of conscience. There could be nothing of shame where there was nothing of sin. Shame entered the world with sin. Our first parents had no sooner transgressed than conscience poured out its reproaches, and they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord. When his own heart is laid open to a man, he shrinks from the scene of foulness and deformity. He cannot look into a single recess of his heart without finding fresh cause for confusion of face. Can a man ever be so transformed that he may search into himself and find no reason to be ashamed? It is not true that he can ever examine himself and find no impurity. But his paramount desire, and unwearying endeavour, may be to obey in everything the law of his God. When he falls into sin, it is not because he loves it; and his every offence is quickly followed by penitence and confession. If a man have respect unto all Gods commandments, conscience may produce the catalogue of his sins, and yet not put him to shame. If a man have not sinned deliberately, and if he have repented sincerely, there is nothing of which he needs to be ashamed.
II. The man of God has no cause to be ashamed when he stands before the world. Arraign him before the tribunal of the world. Nothing but a clear conscience will enable us to look the world clearly and calmly in the face. We know how, in extreme cases, the inquietude of conscience will make a man afraid to meet his fellow-man. Probably much of the reluctance that is observable among Christians to reprove unrighteousness and assert cause of truth may be traced to a consciousness of their own inconsistency, which makes them ashamed to condemn what they too often practise, and recommend what they are apt to neglect. It is quite essential, in order that we be not ashamed before men, that we be not ashamed at the tribunal of conscience. The world is very disposed to impute wrong motives to the professors of religion--to put a false construction on actions which should excite the praise of all honest and well-meaning men. What is to secure Christians in the midst of unceasing endeavours to laugh them to scorn? They must uphold the characteristics of Gods people, and have respect unto all Gods commandments. There is no other receipt against shame. The people of God must carry religion with them into every business of life, and see that all scenes are pervaded by its influence. Christians should bear themselves with that lofty dignity which no calumny could disturb.
III. The man of God has no cause to be ashamed when he stands before God. Here it will not serve our argument to say that there is no love of sin, for every offence must be known. Indeed, if the blush is to be removed from our hearts, only by a consciousness that though God may search us and try us, He will find no evil in us, we must be left without confidence. But the people of God have respect unto all Gods commandments; and amongst these from the first have been reckoned the commandments which relate to faith. Here we have the ground-work of confidence before God, notwithstanding our own insufficiency. There is a breadth and fulness in the work of atonement which makes it commensurate with every necessity, leaving nothing unperformed which either human wants or Divine honour could demand. Then how are Gods people to be ashamed before God? (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Never ashamed
The explorer may be ashamed because the route he has patiently followed may lose itself in the waste, or the theory he has adopted may fail to explain all the facts. The discoverer may be ashamed because the unknown substance will not yield up its secrets to his tests. But Gods people shall never be ashamed--never in this world, never in the next. In the hour of death and in the day of judgment, never ashamed.
I. Never ashamed in offering prayers which God has Himself indited. There are many prayers, doubtless, in which we shall be ashamed. We endeavour to impose our will on the Eternal, with strong cryings and team, as though to carry His unwillingness by the rush of our assault. Nay, it is not thus that we shall prevail. Of these prayers we shall often have good reason to be ashamed. But the true prayer is far other than this.
II. Never ashamed in our appeal for help against temptation. Temptations do not cease with increasing years. There may be now and then a brief lull and respite, but the storm will break with all the greater intensity. The temptations which you overcame in earlier life will come back again, urged on you by cleverer, subtler, more crafty spirits than before. Our only hope is to remain in union with the Risen, Living Saviour, whose Name is above every name, so that at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow of things under the earth.
III. Never ashamed in the result of words which He has given us to speak, or in the missions on which He has sent us. We may be very often ashamed as we consider the result of the elaborated sentences and perfected style; very much ashamed of the net result of enterprises which we have planned and executed with consummate care. Where are your sheaves? I have none. And why is this? Because our work has been in the power of the flesh.
IV. Never ashamed of our hope. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v28 Upon these promises of physical blessing there follows another…
2. THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT
Joe_2:28-32
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Upon these promises of physical blessing there follows another of the pouring forth of the Spirit: the prophecy by which Joel became the Prophet of Pentecost, and through which his book is best known among Christians.
When fertility has been restored to the land, the seasons again run their normal courses, and the people eat their food and be full-"It shall come to pass after these things, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh". The order of events makes us pause to question: does Joel mean to imply that physical prosperity must precede spiritual fullness? It would be unfair to assert that he does, without remembering what he understands by the physical blessings. To Joel these are the token that God has returned to His people. The drought and the famine produced by the locusts were signs of His anger and of His divorce of the land. The proofs that He has relented, and taken Israel back into a spiritual relation to Himself, can, therefore, from Joels point of view, only be given by the healing of the peoples wounds. In plenteous rains and full harvests God sets His seal to mans penitence. Rain and harvest are not merely physical benefits, but religious sacraments: signs that God has returned to His people, and that His zeal is again stirred on their behalf. {Joe_1:18} This has to be made clear before there can be talk of any higher blessing. God has to return to His people and to show His love for them before He pours forth His Spirit upon them. That is what Joel intends by the order he pursues, and not that a certain stage of physical comfort is indispensable to a high degree of spiritual feeling and experience. The early and latter rains, the fullness of corn, wine, and oil, are as purely religious to Joel, though not so highly religious, as the phenomena of the Spirit in men.
But though that be an adequate answer to our question so far as Joel himself is concerned, it does not exhaust the question with regard to history in general. From Joels own standpoint physical blessings may have been as religious as spiritual; but we must go further, and assert that for Joels anticipation of the baptism of the Spirit by a return of prosperity there is an ethical reason and one which is permanently valid in history. A certain degree of prosperity, and even of comfort, is an indispensable condition of that universal and lavish exercise of the religious faculties, which Joel pictures under the pouring forth of Gods Spirit.
The history of prophecy itself furnishes us with proofs of this. When did prophecy most flourish in Israel? When had the Spirit of God most freedom in developing the intellectual and moral nature of Israel? Not when the nation was struggling with the conquest and settlement of the land, not when it was engaged with the embarrassments and privations of the Syrian wars; but an Amos, a Hosea, an Isaiah came forth at the end of the long, peaceful, and prosperous reigns of Jeroboam II and Uzziah. The intellectual strength and liberty of the great Prophet of the Exile, his deep insight into Gods purposes and his large view of the future, had not been possible without the security and comparative prosperity of the Jews in Babylon, from among whom he wrote. In Haggai and Zechariah, on the other hand, who worked in the hunger-bitten colony of returned exiles, there was no such fullness of the Spirit. Prophecy, we saw, was then starved by the poverty and meanness of the national life from which it rose. All this is very explicable. When men are stunned by such a calamity as Joel describes, or when they are engrossed by the daily struggle with bitter enemies and a succession of bad seasons, they may feel the need of penitence and be able to speak with decision upon the practical duty of the moment, to a degree not attainable in better days, but they lack the leisure, the freedom, and the resources amid which their various faculties of mind and soul can alone respond to the Spirit influence.
Has it been otherwise in the history of Christianity? Our Lord Himself found His first disciples, not in a hungry and ragged community, but amid the prosperity and opulence of Galilee. They left all to follow Him and achieved their ministry, in poverty and persecution, but they brought to that ministry the force of minds and bodies trained in a very fertile land and by a prosperous commerce. Paul, in his apostolate, sustained himself by the labor of his hands, but he was the child of a rich civilization and the citizen of a great empire. The Reformation was preceded by the Renaissance, and on the Continent of Europe drew its forces, not from the enslaved and impoverished populations of Italy and Southern Austria, but from the large civic and commercial centers of Germany. An acute historian, in his recent lectures on the "Economic Interpretation of History," observes that every religious revival in England has happened upon a basis of comparative prosperity. He has proved "the opulence of Norfolk during the epoch of Lollardy," and pointed out that "the Puritan movement was essentially and originally one of the middle classes, of the traders in towns and of the farmers in the country"; that the religious state of the Church of England was never so low as among the servile and beggarly clergy of the seventeenth and part of the eighteenth centuries; that the Nonconformist bodies who kept religion alive during this period were closely identified with the leading movements of trade and finance; and that even Wesleys great revival of religion among the laboring classes of England took place at a time when prices were far lower than in the previous century, wages had slightly risen and "most laborers were small occupiers; there was therefore in the comparative plenty of the time an opening for a religious movement among the poor, and Wesley was equal to the occasion." He might have added that the great missionary movement of the nineteenth century is contemporaneous with the enormous advance of our commerce and our empire.
On the whole, then, the witness of history is uniform. Poverty and persecution, "famine, nakedness, peril, and sword," put a keenness upon the spirit of religion, while luxury rots its very fibers; but a stable basis of prosperity is indispensable to every social and religious reform, and Gods Spirit finds fullest course in communities of a certain degree of civilization and of freedom from sordidness.
We may draw from this an impressive lesson for our own day. Joel predicts that, upon the new prosperity of his land, the lowest classes of society shall be permeated by the spirit of prophecy. Is it not part of the secret of the failure of Christianity to enlist large portions of our population, that the basis of their life is so sordid and insecure? Have we not yet to learn from the Hebrew prophets that some amount of freedom in a people and some amount of health are indispensable to a revival of religion? Lives which are strained and starved, lives which are passed in rank discomfort and under grinding poverty, without the possibility of the independence of the individual or of the sacredness of the home, cannot be religious except in the most rudimentary sense of the word. For the revival of energetic religion among such lives we must wait for a better distribution, not of wealth, but of the bare means of comfort, leisure, and security. When, to our penitence and our striving, God restores the years which the locust has eaten, when the social plagues of rich mens selfishness and the poverty of the very poor are lifted from us, then may we look for the fulfillment of Joels prediction-"even upon all the slaves and upon the handmaidens will I pour out My Spirit in those days."
The economic problem, therefore, has also its place in the warfare for the kingdom of God.
"And it shall be that after such things, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions: And even upon all the slaves and the handmaidens in those days will I pour out My Spirit. And I will set signs in heaven and on earth, Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall he turned to darkness, And the moon to blood, Before the coming of the Day of Jehovah, the great and the awful. And it shall be that every one who calls on the name of Jehovah shall be saved: For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be a remnant, as Jehovah hath spoken, And among the fugitives those whom Jehovah calleth."
This prophecy divides into two parts-the outpouring of the Spirit, and the appearance of the terrible Day of the Lord.
The Spirit of God is to be poured "on all flesh," says the prophet. By this term, which is sometimes applied to all things that breathe, and sometimes to mankind as a whole, Joel means Israel only: the heathen are to be destroyed, Nor did Peter, when he quoted the passage at the Day of Pentecost, mean anything more. He spoke to Jews and proselytes: "for the promise is to you and your children, and to them that are afar off": it was not till afterwards that he discovered that the Holy Ghost was granted to the Gentiles, and then he was unready for the revelation and surprised by it. {Act_10:45} But within Joels Israel the operation of the Spirit was to be at once thorough and universal. All classes would be affected, and affected so that the simplest and rudest would become prophets.
The limitation was therefore not without its advantages. In the earlier stages of all religions it is impossible to be both extensive and intensive. With a few exceptions, the Israel of Joels time was a narrow and exclusive body, hating and hated by other peoples. Behind the Law it kept itself strictly aloof. But without doing so, Israel could hardly have survived or prepared itself at that time for its influence on the world. Heathenism threatened it from all sides with the most insidious of infections; and there awaited it in the near future a still more subtle and powerful means of disintegration. In the wake of Alexanders expeditions, Hellenism poured across all the East; There was not a community nor a religion, save Israels, which was not Hellenised. That Israel remained Israel, in spite of Greek arms and the Greek mind, was due to the legalism of Ezra and Nehemiah, and to what we call the narrow enthusiasm of Joel. The hearts which kept their passion so confined felt all the deeper for its limits. They would be satisfied with nothing less than the inspiration of every Israelite, the fulfillment of the prayer of Moses: "Would to God that all Jehovahs people were prophets!" And of itself this carries Joels prediction to a wider fulfillment. A nation of prophets is meant for the world. But even the best of men do not see the full force of the truth God gives to them, nor follow it even to its immediate consequences. Few of the prophets did so, and at first none of the apostles. Joel does not hesitate to say that the heathen shall be destroyed. He does not think of Israels mission as foretold by the Second Isaiah; nor of "Malachis" vision of the heathen waiting upon Jehovah. But in the near future of Israel there was waiting another prophet to carry Joels doctrine to its full effect upon the world, to rescue the gospel of Gods grace from the narrowness of legalism and the awful pressure of Apocalypse, and by the parable of Jonah, the type of the prophet nation, to show to Israel that God had granted to the Gentiles also repentance unto life.
That it was the lurid clouds of Apocalypse which thus hemmed in our prophets view, is clear from the next verses. They bring the terrible manifestations of Gods wrath in nature very closely upon the lavish outpouring of the Spirit: "the sun turned to darkness and the moon to blood, the great and terrible Day of the Lord." Apocalypse must always paralyze the missionary energies of religion. Who can think of converting the world when the world is about to be convulsed? There is only time for a remnant to be saved.
But when we get rid of Apocalypse, as the Book of Jonah does, then we have time and space opened up again, and the essential forces of such a prophecy of the Spirit as Joel has given us burst their national and temporary confines, and are seen to be applicable to all mankind.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v28 Joe_2:28-32. Afterward] These outward things are only a type…
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Joe_2:28-32. Afterward] These outward things are only a type of spiritual gifts, a prospect of richer blessings; and a grander dispensation is held out, a dispensation remarkable for the Holy Spirit, as its sign and substance. This gift shall be poured out in copious and refreshing showers upon all flesh, Jew and Gentile (Act_10:44; Act_11:17), upon servants and handmaids, the most degraded and despised (Act_2:18). As the result, sons and daughters shall prophesy; dreams to the old and visions to the young; all shall know Divine things clearly.
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Joe_2:30-31.] These manifestations, full of joy to believers, will be menacing to unbelievers. This day of the Lord will be attended by convulsions on earth, prognostications in heaven; to God’s children, to all who call upon him, it will be a day of redemption; but these will be a remnant only. Seek to belong to it (Act_2:40).
HOMILETICS
THE NEW DISPENSATION.—Joe_2:28-32
By a natural transition the prophet rises from the temporal to the spiritual, from showers of rain to the outpouring of the Spirit. One blessing “first” (Joe_2:23), then “afterward” (Joe_2:28) a second and greater blessing. The words have special reference to the new dispensation, the dispensation of the Spirit. There are three distinct features connected together: the outpouring of the Spirit, the judgment upon the ungodly world, and the salvation of a faithful few.
I. The outpouring of the Spirit. “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.” The outward blessings were typical of extraordinary spiritual blessings. Joel felt the need of spiritual influence, and believed that it would bring true enlightenment. We have not only a supernatural prediction, but a gleam of his own pure spiritual life.
1. The extent of the communications. “Upon all flesh.” It was not to be confined within the narrow bounds of Judea, not limited to one, but extended to all races. It was to be given to the pious and to those deemed incapable of spiritual life.
(1) Without distinction of sex. “Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.” Not only parents, but children would receive this gift. Four sisters in one family were prophetesses (Act_21:9) The young are capable of Divine teaching, and God has promised to continue his presence and propagate his word from one generation to another. “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.”
(2) Without distinction of age. “Your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.” God adapts his grace to the condition of men. The inexperienced and the infirm; extremes in life may possess it.
(3) Without distinction of rank. “And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids.” This was something unexpected and had never been seen before. “Even the slaves,” bondsmen and bondswomen, are to share in the gift. The lowest are exalted, and the gospel breaks the fetters of slavery. “Prophecy,” said the Jews, “doth not reside except on the wise, and mighty, and rich;” but the poor have the gospel preached unto them. In Christ “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one.”
2. The form of the communications. “Shall prophesy, dream dreams, and see visions.” These were the three modes by which God revealed his will to men in the O. T. days (Num_12:6). They are physical rather than spiritual; do not necessarily involve renovation of moral nature, but are made the symbols of fuller manifestation of miraculous gifts to some, and the outpouring of the Spirit to all. Yet taking into account the effects of this outpouring, we have reason to find a spiritual meaning. The Spirit would burst through every barrier and quicken the energies of life in all classes. Men would have the power to see and apply the truth of God to the facts of human life, past, present, and future. Spiritual light would not be confined to a select few. Dreams and visions should be given to others, and the mysteries of salvation be proclaimed to all nations. By these gifts the Church is founded, the ministry taught, and the Scriptures expounded in all ages. “Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.”
II. The dreadful judgment. Judgment is connected with the outpouring of the Spirit. When God comes in the majesty of his power heaven and earth quakes. “Each revelation of God prepares the way for another,” says an author, “until that last revelation of his love and of his wrath in the great day.” “I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth.”
1. In the earth. “Blood and fire, and pillars of smoke.” Blood and fire were manifest in the plagues of Egypt, and smoke ascended like the smoke of a smelting-furnace in the descent of Jehovah on Sinai (Exo_19:18). Pillars of cloud roll up from burning towns in times of war (Isa_9:17).
2. In the heavens. “The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood.” The darkening and extinction of the lights of heaven are often mentioned as harbingers of approaching judgment (Isa_13:10; Jer_4:23; Eze_32:1-8; Mat_24:29). The language may be figurative to a certain extent; but strange phenomena in the physical creation have been observed to precede great catastrophes of the moral world. In the judgment on Jerusalem, Josephus tells of physical prodigies, massacres and conflagrations. Humboldt cites cases of remarkable obscuration of the sun, in very eventful years. But whether we understand the words naturally or symbolically, they teach that the judgment day does not come without warning.
1. Foreseen by God’s people. These signs have no terror for them. They call upon God, and find in Him that refuge of which Mount Zion was only a type.
2. Heeded by the penitent. For among those who do not pray to God, some shall be called from their sins to find peace and security in him. “The remnant whom the Lord shall call.”
3. Neglected by the ungodly. Understood and improved by right-minded persons; unheeded and often despised by enemies of God. Thus there is a gradual process of separation among men, a ripening for “the great and terrible day of the Lord.” “Watch ye therefore and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luk_21:36).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Joe_2:29. Pour out my Spirit. Pour out like a rain-fall, or water-fall. The Spirit was not entirely wanting in the nation before this; but the prediction indicates—
1. A greater measure. Not merely drop by drop, but pour out in greater abundance.
2. A wider extent. Not confined to members of the covenant nation, but upon “all flesh.” This a great contrast to Gen_6:3. “This word ‘flesh’ (bâsâr), as contrasted with ‘the spirit,’ denotes human nature so sunk in bondage to its lower elements as to be incapable of spiritual life. But according to Joel, even this impenetrable ‘flesh’ is to be penetrated by the Divine Spirit; even the ‘natural man’ is to be transformed into ‘a spiritual man;’ even the incorrigible are to be recovered to obedience” [Cox].
In those days. This special truth connected with one special time, concerning which he knows little. The prophets sought diligently to know this time (1Pe_1:10). Apostles evidently studied the prophet Joel; but how reluctant was Peter to learn, and how astonished beyond degree that God would pour out his Spirit upon the Gentiles. “It needed,” says one, “an express revelation and direct command before he could be persuaded that all flesh meant more than Jewish flesh. So, often all our lives through, we have words in our mouths, and read and hear them, and yet their true, full meaning never strikes us. The truth is familiar to us, it is daily confessed and repeated by rote, but has never reached our hearts; then perhaps at length something wakens us up, and henceforward the truth is a living reality, influencing and moulding our lives” (Joe_2:30-31). Physical phenomena serve—
1. To awaken men’s minds from lethargy. They quicken attention and put them into attitudes of fear and expectation. Thus they urge repentance, and provide space for it to those who are induced to profit by them.
2. To prepare God’s people for approaching trouble. They stimulate prayer, hope, and effort. In deliverance from Egypt (Deu_6:22); in the destruction of Jerusalem (Mat_24:29); and before the final judgment, God displays signs and wonders to the joy of his people and the terror of his enemies.
Joe_2:31. The terrible day.
1. Great in its nature. The last day. The end of time and the beginning of eternity.
2. Great in its design. To give to all their due. Great things will be done. Men judged, angels ranked, and all accounts settled.
3. Great in its bearings. Great to believers, terrible to unbelievers. Men separated and sent to their own place.
Call upon the name of the Lord. “Implies right faith to call upon him as he is; right trust in him, leaning upon him; right devotion, calling upon him as he has appointed; right life, ourselves who call upon him being, or becoming, by his grace what he wills” [Pusey].
Joe_2:28-31. The gospel dispensation is characterized—
1. By spirituality.
2. By liberty.
3. By power.
4. By expansiveness [Pulpit Analyst].
Shall be saved.
1. The danger. The word delivered means safety by escape. “Those who should be saved,” i.e. those who were escaping from perils imminent and terrible (Act_2:47). The condition of the Church is often desperate; but that of the sinner is more desperate.
2. The Saviour. “The Lord.” None other than Jesus. “For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Act_4:12; Act_2:36).
3. The encouragement.
(1) Whosoever, Jew or Gentile. “Thank God for that whosoever,” said an aged person, “for it includes me.”
(2) As the Lord hath said. God has promised to save all that call upon him (Rom_10:13).
4. The result. Those who are delivered are only a “remnant,” a part of the whole. History and Scripture confirm these words. In the flood and destruction of the cities of the plain; in the entrance into Canaan and the return from captivity; in the first preaching of the gospel and the destruction of Jerusalem, a remnant only was saved. One is tempted to ask with the disciples, “Are there few to be saved?” but the answer is, that has nothing to do with you. “Strive ye.”
The remnant saved. I. The blessing given. Salvation. Not merely promised, but actually given and cheerfully enjoyed, not in word, but in deed. Human beings redeemed and human nature renewed. II. The source from whence it comes. “In mount Zion and in Jerusalem,” i.e. from God himself who dwelt and was worshipped in these places. The Church is the place of safety, and where God may be most easily found. III. The method by which it is secured.
1. God calls men to him.
2. Men call upon God in prayer. One description is a counterpart of the other; both go together, one is the human, and the other the Divine side of salvation. Deliverance depends not upon the worshippers alone, but upon God also. Those only are saved whom God calls to himself, and who call upon or choose him to be their God. It is all of grace. God must first call by his grace; then we obey his call, and call upon him; and he has said, “Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me.” God accounts our salvation his own glory. “The promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Joe_2:28-32. So large a promise naturally awakens inquiry. We ask, “When was it or will it be fulfilled?” Joel expected and saw a fulfilment of it in his day. The people saw God in the ordinances of the sanctuary, but not in the fields and laws of Nature. The beneficent order of Nature was interrupted. This was taken as a judgment, and led to repentance and recognition of God. Were not the same conditions repeated in St Peter’s time with the like results? The Jews came up to the temple to worship, but failed to see “God manifest in the flesh.” Judgment came upon them. They awoke to a consciousness of their sin, repented, and turned unto the Lord. The Spirit came down upon them, and this new accession of life was a judgment to the men of that generation, trying what manner of spirit they were of, revealing the evil spirit by which they were animated, who opposed themselves to the power and grace of God. None the less may we say, “This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel,” in every new crisis of the religious life, in a man, in the race, or in the world. In all ages the same sequence recurs—sin, judgment, repentance, a new spirit, and in this new spirit a new test and criterion to which men are brought, and by which they are either approved or condemned [Samuel Cox].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv28, 32 Cf. Act 2:17 which gives a specific interpretation of…
afterward
Cf. Act 2:17 which gives a specific interpretation of "afterward" (Heb. acherith= "latter," "last"). "Afterward" in Joel Joe 2:28 means "in the last days" (Greek - ἔσχατος), and has a partial and continuous fulfilment during the "last days" which began with the first advent of Christ Heb 1:2 but the greater fulfilment awaits the "last days" as applied to Israel. (See Scofield "Act 2:17"), for phrase, "the last days." See Scofield "Act 2:17".
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv26, 28, 30, 32 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues the speech he began in Joel 2:25, promising good things for the people of Israel.
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praise the name of Yahweh
The name is a metonym for the person, specifically his reputation. AT: "praise Yahweh" or "praise Yahweh because everyone knows he is good" (See: Metonymy)
the name of Yahweh ... who has done wonders
Yahweh speaks of himself by name to show that he will certainly do as he has said. AT: "my name ... because I have done wonders" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
translationWords
praise
Yahweh
God
miracle
shame
people group
Israel
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv26, 28, 30, 32 2:26-27 and you will praise the Lord your God:…
2:26-27 and you will praise the Lord your God: God’s promised restoration of their crops and food supply should lead the people of Judah and Jerusalem to praise and adoration, acknowledging that the Lord was in their midst and that he alone is God.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.