“For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land,
and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.
“Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.
Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,
and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border.
Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head;
and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for Yahweh has spoken it.”
Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up.
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’
Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together.” Cause your mighty ones to come down there, Yahweh.
“Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision.
The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
Yahweh will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but Yahweh will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.
“So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–17 The Prophet confirms in these words what he had…
The Prophet confirms in these words what he had before taught respecting the restoration of the Church; for it was a thing difficult to be believed: when the body of the people was so mutilated, when their name was obliterated, when all power was abolished, when the worship of God also, together with the temple, was subverted, when there was no more any form of a kingdom, or even of any civil government, who could have thought that God had any concern for a people in such a wretched condition? It is then no wonder that the Prophet speaks so much at large of the restoration of the Church; he did so, that he might more fully confirm what would have otherwise been incredible.
He therefore says, Behold, in those days, and at that time, in which I shall restore the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I shall then make all Gentiles to come down into the valley of Jehoshaphat. And the Prophet says this, because the Jews were then hated by all people, and were the execration and the dregs of the whole world. As many nations as were under heaven, so many were the enemies of the Jews. A fall then inter despair was easy, when they saw the whole world incensed against them: “Though God may wish to redeem us, there are yet so many obstacles, that we must necessarily perish; not only the Assyrians are enraged against us, but we have found even greater hatred in our own neighbors.” We, indeed, know that the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Syrians, the Sidonians, the Idumeans, the Philistines, and, in short, all in the surrounding countries, were very hostile to the Jews. Seeing then every access to their land was closed up to the Jews, it was difficult to entertain any hope of deliverance, though God encouraged them. For this reason the Prophet now says, that God would be the judge of the whole world, and that it was in his purpose and power to call together all the Gentiles, as though he said, “Let not the number and variety of enemies frighten you: the Assyrians alone, I know, are not your enemies, but also all your neighbors; but when I undertake the defense of your cause, I shall be alone sufficient to protect you; and however much all people may oppose, they shall not prevail. Then believe that I shall be a sufficient defender, and shall deliver you from the hand of all the nations ” We now perceive the Prophet’s design when he declares, that God would come to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and there call together all nations.
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But the Prophet says, In those days, and at that time, when the Lord shall restore the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, etc. This time the Jews limit to their return: they therefore think, that when liberty to return was granted them by Cyrus and Darius, what the Prophet declares here was then fulfilled; Christian doctors apply this prediction to the coming of Christ; but both interpret the words of the Prophet otherwise than the drift of the passage requires. The Prophet, no doubt, speaks here of the deliverance we have just noticed, and at the same time includes the kingdom of Christ; and this, as we have seen in other parts, is very commonly done. While then the prophets testify that God would be the redeemer of his people, and promise deliverance from Babylonian exile, they lead the faithful, as it were, by a continuous train or course, to the kingdom of Christ. For what else was the Jewish restoration, but a prelude of that true and real redemptions afterwards effected by Christ? The Prophet then does not speak only of the coming of Christ, or of the return of the Jews, but includes the whole of redemption, which was only begun when the Lord restored his people from the Babylonian exile; it will then go on from the first coming of Christ to the last day; as though he said, “When God will redeem his people, it will not be a short or momentary benefit, but he will continue his favor until he shall visit with punishment all the enemies of his Church.” In a word, the Prophet here shows, that God will not be a half Redeemer, but will continue to work until he completes everything necessary for the happy state of his Church, and makes it in every respect perfect. This is the import of the whole.
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 13, 16, 17 When I shall deliver my Church, which standeth of…
When I shall deliver my Church, which standeth of the Jews and of the Gentiles.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–17 Joe 3:1 For, behold, in those days, and in…
Joe 3:1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
Ver. 1. For behold, in those days, and in that time] In his diebus illis ipsis, et in hoc tempore ipso, in those very selfsame days and in that selfsame time, sc. in the time of the Messiah, in the days of the gospel, when God shall deliver Jerusalem and call the remnant of the Gentiles, and so bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, of the whole Israel of God, preaching liberty to the captives, Isa 61:1, and proclaiming the everlasting jubilee, Job 8:3-6. In those happy days, I say, Jer 23:5-6, woe to the wicked enemies of the Church, it shall go ill with them. They are sure to be broken with a rod of iron, to be dashed in pieces like a potter’s vessel, Psa 2:9, dashed against Christ the King, who, as he is piorum rupes, a rock of refuge to his people, such as was that to Moses, Exo 33:22, so he is reorum scopulus, a rock of revenge to persecutors, to split them to pieces, such a rock as that out of which fire arose, Jdg 6:21, the fire of God’s jealousy, Zec 1:14, which burneth unto the lowest hell, Deu 32:22. Let them, therefore, have grace (as the apostle from this ground adviseth, Heb 12:28-29). Let them, at least, have so much wit for themselves as Pilate’s wife had in a dream, to take heed of having anything to do with just men. Let them do as Tertullian counselled Scapula, If thou wilt not spare us, yet spare thyself; if not thyself, yet spare Carthage thy country, which will certainly suffer for thy cruelty to Christians: si non nobis, tibi; si non tibi, Carthagini parcas. God will reduce the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, which shall be as a cup of poison to all the people round about, as a burdensome stone, as a hearth of fire, Zec 12:2-3; Zec 12:6; {See Trapp on "Zec 12:2"} {See Trapp on "Zec 12:3"} {See Trapp on "Zec 12:6"} Their destruction must needs go along with the saints’ salvation, Php 1:28-29 Isa 8:9 Pro 11:8. The Jewish doctors collect from this and other like places in the prophets, that when the Messiah cometh, he shall recollect the Jews into the land of Canaan, where they shall get the better of their enemies, and have a most flourishing commonwealth and glorious Church. For this they daily expect the visible appearance of the Messiah, often throwing open their windows to behold, and crying all together to God, Let thy kingdom come, let it come quickly, even in our days, quickly, quickly, quickly (Buxtorf). That he stays so long is for our sins, say they, which are many. {See Trapp on "Zec 14:2"}{see Trapp on "Zec 14:3"}
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 vv1–17 Though our dividing this chapter from the former seems…
Though our dividing this chapter from the former seems to some a beginning of some new matter, yet indeed the prophet prosecutes his old subject, and proceeds to declare how that great thing mentioned in the last verse of the second chapter should be effected, and in this verse you have a transition to that thing.
Behold: it is a note of great attention, and heeding what is to be here spoken.
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When I shall bring again the captivity; when I shall by Cyrus the type bring Judah’s people out of Babylonish captivity, the emblem of a greater and worse captivity. Judah after the flesh as the type, but, according to the mystery of it, Judah signifieth the whole remnant or residue of those God will save.
Jerusalem, both literally and typically understood; so that beside what refers to the history of the two tribes, or kingdom of the house of David, restored out of captivity by Cyrus, the bringing back the captivity of the whole Israel of God by Christ the Messiah is here to be considered, and all along through this chapter.
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 vv1, 9 We have often heard of the year of the…
We have often heard of the year of the redeemed, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion; now here we have a description of the transactions of that year, and a prophecy of what shall be done when it comes, whenever it comes, for it comes often, and at the end of time it will come once for all.
I. It shall be the year of the redeemed, for God will bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, Joe 3:1. Though the bondage of God's people may be grievous and very long, yet it shall not be everlasting. That in Egypt ended at length in their deliverance into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Let my son go, the he may serve me. That in Babylon shall likewise end well. And the Lord Jesus will provide for the effectual redemption of poor enslaved souls from under the dominion of sin and Satan, and will proclaim that acceptable year, the year of jubilee, the release of debts and servants, and the opening of the prison to those that were bound. There is a day, there is a time, fixed for the bringing again of the captivity of God's children, for the redeeming of them from the power of the grave; and it shall be the last day and the end of all time.
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II. It shall be the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. Though God may suffer the enemies of his people to prevail against them very far and for a long time, yet he will call them to an account for it, and will lead captivity captive (Psa 68:18), will lead those captive that led his people captive, Rev 13:10. Observe,
1. Who those are that shall be reckoned with - all nations, Joe 3:2. This intimates, (1.) That all the nations had made themselves liable to the judgment of God for wrong done to his people. Persecution is the reigning crying sin of the world; that lying in wickedness itself is set against godliness. The enmity that is in the old serpent, the god of this world, against the seed of the woman, appears more or less in the children of this world. Marvel not if the world hate you. (2.) That, whatsoever nation injured God's nation, they should not go unpunished; for he that touches the Israel of God shall be made to know that he touches the apple of his eye. Jerusalem will be a burdensome stone to all people, Zac 12:3. But the neighboring nations shall be particularly reckoned with - Tyre, and Sidon, and all the coasts of Palestine, or the Philistines, who have been troublesome neighbours to the Israel of God, Joe 3:4. When the more remote and potent nations that laid Israel wastes are reckoned with the impotent malice of those that lay near them, and helped forward the affliction, (Zac 1:15), and made a hand of it (Eze 26:2), shall not be passed by. Note, Little persecutors shall be called to an account as well as great ones; and, though they could not do much mischief, shall be reckoned with according to the wickedness of their endeavors and the mischief they would have done.
2. The sitting of this court for judgment. They shall all be gathered (Joe 3:2), that those who have combined together against God's people, with one consent (Psa 83:5), may together receive their doom. They shall be brought down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, which lay near Jerusalem, and there God will plead with them, (1.) Because it is fit that criminals should be tried in the same country where they did the fact. (2.) For their greater confusion, when they shall see that Jerusalem which they have so long endeavored and hoped for the ruin of, in spite of all their rage, made a praise in the earth. (3.) For the greater comfort and honor of God's Jerusalem, which shall see God pleading their cause. (4.) Then shall be re-acted what God did for Jehoshaphat when he gave him victory over those that invaded him, and furnished him and his people with matter of joy and praise, in the valley of Berachah. See Ch2 20:26. (5.) It was in this valley of Jehoshaphat (as Dr. Lightfoot suggests) that Sennacherib's army, or part of it, lay, when it was destroyed by an angel. They came together to ruin Jerusalem, but God brought them together for their own ruin, as sheaves into the floor, Mic 4:12.
3. The plaintiff called, on whose behalf this prosecution is set on foot; it is for my people, and for my heritage Israel. It is their cause that God will now plead with jealousy. Note, God's people are his heritage, his peculiar, his portion, his treasure, above all people, Exo 19:5; Deu 32:9. They are his demesne, and therefore he has a good action against those that trespass upon them.
4. The charge exhibited against them, which is very particular. Many affronts they had put upon God by their idolatries, but that for which God has a quarrel with them is the affront they have put upon his people and upon the vessels of his sanctuary.
(1.) They had been very abusive to the people of Israel, had scattered them among the nations and forced them to seek for shelter where they could find a place, or carried them captive into their respective countries and there industriously dispersed them, for fear of their incorporating for their common safety. They parted their land, and took every one his share of it as their own; nay, they have cast lots for my people, and sold them. When they had taken them prisoners, [1.] They made a jest of them, made a scorn of them as of no value. They would not release them and yet thought them not worth the keeping; they made nothing of playing them away at dice. Or they made a dividend of the prisoners by lot, as the soldiers did of Christ's garments. [2.] They made a gain of them. When they had them they sold them, yet with so much contempt that they did not increase their wealth by their price, but sold them for their pleasure rather than their profit; they gave a boy taken in war for the hire of a harlot, and a girl for so many bottles of wine as would serve them for one sitting, a goodly price at which they valued them, and goodly preferment for a son and daughter of Israel to be a slave and a drudge in a tavern or a brothel. Observe, here, how that which is got by sin is commonly spent upon another. The spoil which these enemies of the Jews gathered by injustice and violence they scattered and threw away in drinking and whoring; such is frequently the character, and such the conversation, of the enemies and persecutors of the people of God. The Tyrians and Philistines, when they seized any of the children of Judah and Jerusalem, either took them prisoners in war or kidnapped them, they sold them to the Grecians (with whom the men of Tyre traded in the persons of men, Eze 27:13), that they might remove them far from their own border, Joe 3:6. It was a great reproach to Israel, God's first-born, his free-born, to be thus bought and sold among the heathen.
(2.) They had unjustly seized God's silver and gold (Joe 3:5), by which some understand the wealth of Israel. The silver and gold which God's people had he calls his, because they had received it from him and devoted it to him; and whosoever robbed them God took it as if they had robbed him and would make reprisals accordingly. Those who take away the estates of good men for well-doing will be found guilty of sacrilege; they take God's silver and gold. But it seems rather to be meant of the vessels and treasures of the temple, which God here calls his goodly pleasant things, precious and desirable to him and all that are his. These they carried into their temples as trophies of their victory over God's Israel, thinking that therein they triumphed over Israel's God, nay, and that their idols triumphed over him. Thus the ark was put in Dagon's temple. Thus they did unjustly. "What have you to do with me (Joe 3:4), with my people; what wrong have they done you? What provocation have they given you? You had nothing to do with them, and yet you do all this against them. Devices are devised against the quiet in the land, and those offended and harmed that are harmless and inoffensive: Will you render me a recompence?" Can they pretend that either God or his people have done them any injury, for which they may justify themselves by the law of retaliation in doing them these mischiefs? No; they have no colour for it. Note, It is no new thing for those who have been very civil and obliging to their neighbours to find them very unkind and unneighbourly and for those who do no injuries to suffer many.
5. The sentence passed upon them. In general (Joe 3:4), "If you recompense me, if you pretend a quarrel with me, if you provoke me thus to jealousy, if you touch the apple of my eye, I will swiftly and speedily return your recompence upon your own head." Those that contend with God will find themselves unable to make their part good with him. He will recompense them suddenly, when they little think of it, and have not time to prevent it; if he take them to task, he will soon effect their ruin. Particularly, it is threatened, (1.) That they should not gain their end in the mischief they designed against God's people. They thought to remove them so far from their border that they should never return to it again, Joe 3:6. But (says God) "I will raise them out of the place whither you have sold them, and they shall not, as you intended, be buried alive there." Men's selling the people of God will not deprive him of his property in them. (2.) That they shall be paid in their own coin, as Adonibezek was (Joe 3:8): "I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah; you shall lie as much at their mercy as they have been at yours," Isa 60:14. Thus the Jews had rule over those that hated them, Est 9:1. And then they shall justly be sold to the Sabeans, to a people far off. This (some think) had its accomplishment in the victories obtained by the Maccabees over the enemies of the Jews; others think it looks as far forward as the last day, when the upright shall have dominion (Psa 49:14) and the saints shall judge the world. It is certain that none ever hardened his heart against God, or his church, and prospered long; no, not Pharaoh himself, for the Lord has spoken it, for the comfort of all his suffering servants, that vengeance is his and he will repay.
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 vv1–17 For, behold, in those days, and at that time,....…
For, behold, in those days, and at that time,.... Which Kimchi refers to the times of the Messiah; and is true of the latter times of the Messiah, of his spiritual reign yet to come:
when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem: not from the Edomites, Tyrians, and Philistines, that had carried them captive in the times of Ahaz; nor from Babylon, where they had been carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar; for nothing of what is after foretold followed upon the return of these captivities: but this designs the present captivity of the Jews, and the restoration of them to their own land; of which see Isa 52:8.
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 This chapter has been partly fulfilled in the several…
This chapter has been partly fulfilled in the several deliverances of the Jews, and will have its full accomplishment at the great day. It contains a prophecy of God reckoning with the enemies of his people, ver. 1-8. Of his openly judging all nations, ver. 9-17. And of the provision he has made for his people, ver. 18-21.
In those days - When I shall by Cyrus bring Judah out of Babylon. Of Judah - As the type of the whole remnant that are saved. And Jerusalem - For beside what refers to the two tribes restored by Cyrus, the bringing back the captivity of the whole Israel of God by Christ is to be considered all along through this chapter.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 The prophecy in this chapter is thought by some…
CHAPTER III
The prophecy in this chapter is thought by some to relate to
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the latter times of the world, when God shall finally deliver
his people from all their adversaries; and it must be confessed
that the figures employed are so lofty as to render it
impossible to restrain the whole of their import to any events
prior to the commencement of the Christian era. The whole
prophecy is delivered in a very beautiful strain of poetry; by
what particular events are referred to is at present very
uncertain, 1-21.
NOTES ON CHAP. III
Verse 1. For, behold, in those days] According to the preceding prophecy, these days should refer to Gospel times, or to such as should immediately precede them. But this is a part of the prophecy which is difficult to be understood. All interpreters are at variance upon it; some applying its principal parts to Cambyses; his unfortunate expedition to Egypt; the destruction of fifty thousand of his troops (by the moving pillars of sand) whom he had sent across the desert to plunder the rich temple of Jupiter Ammon; his return to Judea, and dying of a wound which he received from his own sword, in mounting his horse, which happened at Ecbatane, at the foot of Mount Carmel. On which his army, composed of different nations, seeing themselves without a head, fell out, and fought against each other, till the whole were destroyed. And this is supposed to be what Ezekiel means by Gog and Magog, and the destruction of the former. See Eze 38:1-39:29.
Others apply this to the victories gained by the Maccabees, and to the destruction brought upon the enemies of their country; while several consider the whole as a figurative prediction of the success of the Gospel among the nations of the earth. It may refer to those times in which the Jews shall be brought in with the fulness of the Gentiles, and be re-established in their own land. Or there may be portions in this prophecy that refer to all the events; and to others that have not fallen yet within the range of human conjecture, and will be only known when the time of fulfilment shall take place. In this painful uncertainty, rendered still more so by the discordant opinions of many wise and learned men, it appears to be my province, as I have nothing in the form of a new conjecture to offer, to confine myself to an explanation of the phraseology of the chapter; and then leave the reader to apply it as may seem best to his own judgment.
I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem.] This may refer to the return from the Babylonish captivity; extending also to the restoration of Israel, or the ten tribes.
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 vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17 Joe 3:1-2. For, &c. — This particle shows the…
Joe 3:1-2. For, &c. — This particle shows the connection of this chapter with the latter part of the preceding: as if he had said, As an earnest of the accomplishment of these predictions, my people shall be restored to their own land, and then their enemies shall be humbled: see note on Joe 2:28. In those days, when I shall bring again — Namely, out of Babylon, (to which deliverance this promise seems primarily to refer,) the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem — As the type of the whole remnant which shall be saved. I will also gather all nations — In the type the expression means, all those nations that had oppressed Judah; in the antitype, all the nations that had been enemies to Christ and his church. And will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat — That is, into the place of judgment; for the word Jehoshaphat signifies divine judgment, or, the place where Jehovah will execute judgment. Thus the valley of Jezreel signifies the place where God’s arm, or strength, would exert itself. The expression likewise alludes to the valley of Berachah, or of blessing, as it was afterward called, mentioned 2Ch 20:26, the place in which Jehoshaphat obtained a remarkable victory; or, where God, by his miraculous interposition, so infatuated the enemies of his people, that they destroyed one another, and few or none of them that came against Judah escaped. Archbishop Newcome considers it as a prediction of an extraordinary battle which was to be won in that valley, probably, he thinks, by Nebuchadnezzar, which would utterly discomfit the ancient enemies of the Jews, and resemble that victory of Jehoshaphat. But it seems more probable that the prediction principally refers to a general discomfiture of the enemies of God’s church in the latter days, probably to that foretold Isa 66:16, or to the battle of Gog and Magog, described Ezekiel 39., and that of Armageddon, spoken of Rev 16:14; Rev 16:16. And I will plead with them — I will require of them the reason why they thus used my people. God pleads with men, and vindicates the cause of oppressed truth and righteousness by his judgments. Then the consciences of the guilty fly in their faces, and force them to acknowledge the justice of the punishments they suffer. For my people and for my heritage Israel, &c. — The prophets in the Old Testament often denounced judgments against Edom, Moab, and other hostile neighbours of the Jews, who took advantage of their calamities to vent their spite against them. But since all nations are summoned to answer the impeachment here mentioned, we may suppose the word Israel to comprehend the faithful of all ages; and then we may observe, that the judgments denounced against the church’s enemies, are chiefly for their hatred and cruelty toward God’s servants.
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 vv1–17 For, behold - The prophet by the word, “for,”…
For, behold - The prophet by the word, “for,” shows that he is about to explain in detail, what he had before spoken of, in sum. By the word, “behold,” he stirs up our minds for something great, which he is to set before our eyes, and which we should not be prepared to expect or believe, unless he solemnly told us, “Behold.” As the detail, then, of what goes before, the prophecy contains all times of future judgment on those who should oppose God, oppress His Church and people, and sin against Him in them and all times of His blessing upon His own people, until the Last Day. And this it gives in imagery, partly describing nearer events of the same sort, as in the punishments of Tyre and Sidon, such as they endured from the kings of Assyria, from Nebuchadnezzar, from Alexander; partly using these, His earlier judgments, as representatives of the like punishments against the like sins unto the end.
In those days and in that time - The whole period of which the prophet had been speaking, was the time from which God called His people to repentance, to the Day of Judgment. The last division of that time was from the beginning of the Gospel unto that Day. He fixes the occasion of which he speaks by the words, “when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem.” This form was used, before there was any general dispersion of the nation. For all captivity of single members of the Jewish people had this sore calamity, that it severed them from the public worship of God, and exposed them to idolatry. So David complains, “they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, go serve other gods” 1Sa 26:19. The restoration then of single members, or of smaller bodies of captives, was, at that time, an unspeakable mercy. It was the restoration of those shut out from the worship of God; and so was an image “of the deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God” Rom 8:21, or of any “return” of those who had gone astray, “to the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls 1Pe 2:25. The grievous captivity of the Jews, now, is to Satan, whose servants they made themselves, when they said, “we have no king but Caesar; His Blood be upon us and upon our children.” Their blessed deliverance will be “from the power of Satan unto God” Act 26:18. It is certain from Paul Rom 11:26, that there shall be a complete conversion of the Jews, before the end of the world, as indeed has always been believed. This shall probably be shortly before the end of the world, and God would here say, “when I shall have brought to an end the “captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,” i. e., of that people “to whom were the promises” Rom 9:4, and shall have delivered them from the bondage of sin and from blindness to light and freedom in Christ, then will I gather all nations to judgment.”
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 Back. The people were just returned when the nations…
Back. The people were just returned when the nations around fell upon them, and were miraculously defeated. (Theodoret) --- We shall follow the system respecting God, given [in] Ezechiel xxxviii. (Calmet) --- Most people, with St. Jerome, suppose that the general judgment is described, though some explain it of the captives delivered from their enemies. (Worthington)
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 v1 The Day of the Lord brings full Salvation to…
SECTION III
The Day of the Lord brings full Salvation to Israel and the Destruction of his Enemies
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Joel 3
1 For behold, in those days,1 and at that time
When I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem;
2 That I will gather all the nations,
And will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat;
And there will I deal with (or judge) them,2 for my people, and my heritage,3 Israel.
Because they scattered them among the nations,4
And divided my land.
3 And they cast lots for my people,
They bartered a boy for a harlot,
And sold a maiden for wine,5 and drank it.
4 And, also, what have ye to do with me, Tyre and Sidon,
And all the borders6 of Philistia?
Would you retaliate7 upon me,
Or render me a recompense?
Soon and swiftly8 will I bring your recompense on your own head.
5 Because ye have taken away my silver and my gold,
And have brought into your temples my goodly desirable things,9
6 And ye have sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the sons of Javan,
That ye might remove them far away from their border.
7 Behold, I will raise10 them up out of the place where ye have sold them,
And will return your retaliation on your own head.
8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the sons of Judah,
And they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation,
For Jehovah hath spoken it.
9 Proclaim this among the nations,
Declare (sanctify) a war,
Arouse the mighty ones,
Let all the men of war draw near, come up.
10 Beat your mattocks11 into swords,
And your pruning-hooks into spears,
Let the weak say, I am strong.
11 Hasten12 and come,
All ye nations round about, and assemble yourselves;
Then Jehovah shall bring down13 thy mighty ones.
12 Let the nations arise and come up
To the valley of Jehoshaphat,
For there will I sit to judge all the nations round about.
13 Put m the sickle,14
For the harvest is ripe;
Come, tread,
For the wine-press is full,
The vats overflow,
For their wickedness is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision,
For the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon are darkened,
And the stars withdraw their shining,
16 And15 Jehovah will thunder out of Zion,
And from Jerusalem he will give forth his voice,
So that the heavens and the earth shall shake;
But Jehovah will be a refuge for his people,
And a stronghold for the sons of Israel.
17 And ye shall know that I Jehovah am your God,
Dwelling in Zion my holy mountain;
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
And strangers shall no more pass through her.
18 And it shall come to pass that in that day the mountains shall drop down with new wine,
And the hills shall flow with milk,
And all the river beds of Judah shall be full of water,
And a fountain shall flow forth from the house of Jehovah,
And shall water the valley of Shittim.
19 Egypt shall be a desolation,
And Edom shall be a desolate wilderness,
For their violence against Judah’s sons;
Because they shed blood in their land.
20 But Judah shall dwell16 forever,
And Jerusalem from generation to generation;
21 And I will avenge their blood, which I have not avenged,
And Jehovah will dwell in Zion.
EXEGETICAL
Joe_3:1-3. For behold in those days, etc. The כִּי in Joe_3:1 gives the reason for the thought that deliverance can be found only in Zion, in the day of the Lord, for then shall all heathen nations be judged. In those days, i. e., the days that shall come, the “afterward” of the previous chapter. The signs of the event belong essentially to the event itself; but the time is more exactly determined by the statement “when I shall bring again,” etc. This distinctly shows that the object of the day of the Lord is, the deliverance of the people of God. The judgment of the heathen world is simply a means to that end. Bring back the captivity, or to return the captivity, means to make an end of it. This phrase, from the use here made of it to designate the epoch of judgment as a terminus technicus for a restitutio in integrum promised to God’s people, may have been borrowed from some more ancient prophecy. The condition out of which the captivity is brought appears from the close of Joe_3:2. But the conclusion of the chapter shows, that the captivity is not simply to end, but that its termination involves a positively new and higher order of things. Judah and Jerusalem,i. e., Judah generally, Jerusalem specially.
Joe_3:2. All nations. In the first instance, of course, all those that have offended against Israel; yet these are representatives of the heathen world in general, whose position towards God’s people is essentially the same. The valley of Jehoshaphat. According to 2 Chronicles 20, Jehoshaphat by the miraculous help of the Lord gained a great victory over a Gentile army, in a valley, which subsequently for this reason took the name of that king. Does the prophet here mean that valley? Keil and many others say, no. They insist that the valley of the prophet is an imaginary one, in or near Jerusalem, and is called the valley of Jehoshaphat = “Jehovah judges,” because of its being the place of judgment. The valley certainly stands in close relation to Jerusalem, for in Joe_3:16 it is said that Jehovah, who there judges, shall utter his voice from Zion and Jerusalem. But in this case there is no need of applying a merely geographical measure. Jehovah may judge in a valley far distant from Jerusalem, and yet have his dwelling in Israel, in Zion, and Jerusalem. (See 2Ch_20:15-17, where the Lord, while contending for Israel is, at the same time, regarded as being in his sanctuary in Jerusalem.) If the phrase is to be taken in a symbolic sense, it might be asked, why Joel should have fixed upon a “valley” as the place of judgment, and should have given it the name of a well-known king? He was undoubtedly thinking of the great event under Jehoshaphat. The name of this monarch was significant, and he calls the place “valley of Jehoshaphat,” because he was reminded of that fortunate king who was victorious over Israel’s enemies, and because of the peculiar significance of the name Jehoshaphat = Jehovah judges. By way of anticipation he tells what they have to expect, who are gathered there. To the question, does he mean that well-known valley then, we answer, yes, and no. Yes, because he evidently had in view the spot on which Jeshoshaphat won his victory. No, because he as evidently goes on to describe a more than common battle fought on a spot which could be identified on no map. The multitudes gathered there are too vast to be assembled in any ordinary valley. In painting this prophetic vision there can be no doubt that Joel had in his mind the historical narrative in 2 Chronicles 20. Deal with. E. V. Plead with, i. e. to charge with crime, with the design of punishing it. Taking the word in its full sense of arguing a cause, it implies that the nations argue their own cause, and attempt to vindicate themselves, though, of course they could have no ground to stand upon, since Jehovah is alone and always in the right. My people, my heritage. Therefore what the nations did to Israel must be criminal. They have scattered. The prophet here has in mind what he afterwards more fully describes.
Joe_3:3. They not only scattered God’s people, but treated them with the greatest contempt. This, however, is only mentioned as pars pro toto. At least in Joe_3:19 the prophet looks beyond what was immediately before him, and names oppressions which Israel had long before experienced, so that it is evident that he is thinking of the heathen world in general, and of its hostility to God’s people. A special reference to the future Exile is not to be assumed, as this does not yet come into the prophet’s horizon.
[Pusey: Joe_3:1. For, behold. The prophet by the for shows that he is about to explain in detail what he had before spoken of in sum. By the word behold, he stirs up our minds for something great, which he is to set before our eyes, and which we should not be prepared to expect or believe.
Joe_3:2. Valley of Jehoshaphat. It may be that the imagery is furnished by that great deliverance which God gave to Jehoshaphat when Ammon, and Moab, and Edom came against him, and Jehoshaphat appealed to God, and God turned their swords every one against the other. And they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah (blessing); for there they blessed the Lord.2Ch_20:21. That valley, however, is nowhere called the valley of Jehoshaphat. It continued, says the sacred writer, to be called the valley of Berachah unto this day. And it is so called still. Southwest of Bethlehem and east of Tekoa are still three or four acres of ruin (Robinson, Pal., 3:275), bearing the name of Boreikut (Seetzen’s Map; Ritter, Erdk., 15:635; Wolcott, Excurs. to Hebron, p. 43). The only valley called the valley of Jehoshaphat is the valley of Kedron, encircling Jerusalem on the east. The valley was the common burial-place for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (Williams, H. C., 2:523; Thomson, Land and Book, 2:481.
Joe_3:3. Cast lots. They treated God’s people as of no account and delighted in showing their contempt towards them. They chose no one above another as though all alike were worthless. A girl they sold for an evening’s revelry, and a boy they exchanged for night’s debauch.
Wünsche: Joe_3:3. According to the then prevalent custom, the prisoners of war were sold a slaves. My people. We are to understand by this, not the people as a whole, but only the portion taken captive. But the mistreatment of this part of the covenant people, in the view of the O. T prophets, was a mistreatment of the whole body.—F.]
Joe_3:4-8. And also what have ye, etc. After speaking of the crimes of the heathen in general against Israel, the prophet turns to the neighboring nations. Tyre, Sidon, and the borders of Philistia, i. e., the five small Philistine principalities. He, suddenly, as it were, remembers those who had committed such crimes against Israel as those already mentioned. The question, in fact, especially concerns them. With the genus comes the species which is included in it. In a lively description, we find ourselves in the midst of the nations (comp. Joe_3:11) with whom the process of pleading by Jehovah is carried on. For afterwards there is no more pleading, but a decision. They are represented as claiming to be right; but any presumptive claim of theirs to do what they had done is denied, in the first instance, by the general question, “what have ye to do with me?” a question more fully answered afterwards. Their right to inflict injury upon Israel, or to retaliate for injuries inflicted upon themselves, is denied. They are the persons on whom the retaliation shall come, and that swiftly. Joe_3:5-6 prove the righteousness of the retribution, by a reference to the crimes committed, while Joe_3:7-8 declare the certainty of it. Joe_3:5 alludes, without doubt, to the pillaging of Judah and Jerusalem by the Philistines and Arabians under Joram. 2Ch_21:17. They then carried off the treasures of the temple and the palaces of the city, the latter being designated as “Mine,” because they belonged to those who were among God’s people. The Philistines were the immediate perpetrators of the robbery, but the Phœnicians, the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon, were also involved in the guilt of it, for they bought the captives and sold them to the sons of Javan, or the Greeks of Asia Minor. In Joe_3:7-8, there is a promise that these enslaved captives shall be brought home again, and that, in retaliation, the same thing shall be done to these enemies of Israel, which they have done to Israel. Jehovah will sell them into the hands of the children of Judah, who will again sell them to the Sabæans in Arabia Felix. This prophecy was fulfilled by Alexander the Great and his successors, under whom many Jewish captives were liberated and restored to their own land, while various parts of Philistia and Phœnicia were brought under Jewish rule.
[Pusey: Joe_3:4. What have, ye to do with me. These words declare that those nations had no part in God. He accounts them as aliens. But the words convey besides, that they would, unprovoked, have to do with God, harassing his people without cause.
Joe_3:5. My silver. Not the silver and gold of the temple, as some have thought. At least, up to the Prophet’s time they had not done this. God calls the silver and the gold, which He through his providence had bestowed on Judah, my silver and my gold.
Joe_3:6. And ye have sold, etc. This sin of the Tyrians was probably old and inveterate. As they were the great carriers of the world’s traffic, so they were slave-dealers, and in the earliest times, men-stealers. The Greek ante-historic tradition exhibits them as trading and selling women from both Greece and Egypt. As their trade became more fixed, they themselves stole no more, but like Christian nations, sold those whom others stole or made captive. Even from the times of the Judges, Israel was exposed in part to the violence and fraud of Tyre and Sidon. Sisera’s army came, from their territory, and Deborah speaks of “a damsel or two” as the expected prey of each man in his host. In Joel, the Philistines and Tyrians appear as combined in the traffic. In Amos, the Philistines are the robbers of men, the Phœnicians are the receivers and the sellers. Probably such acts were expressly prohibited by the “brotherly covenant,” or treaty between Solomon and Hiram, king of Tyre. For Amos says that Tyre forgot that treaty, when she sold wholesale the captive Israelites whom the Philistines had carried off. The temptation to Tyrian covetousness was aggravated by the ease with which they could possess themselves of the Jews, the facility of transport, and, as it seems, their value. The wholesale price at which Nicanor set the Jews his expected prisoners, and at which he hoped to sell 180,000, shows the extent of the traffic; and their relative value, £2 14s. 9d., as the average price of each of ninety slaves in Judæa, implies a retail price at the place of sale above the then ordinary price of man.
Joe_3:8. I will sell your sons—the Sabæans. Tyre was taken by Alexander, who sold 13,000 of the inhabitants into slavery. Sidon was taken by Artaxerxes Ochus, and it is said above 40,000 perished. The Sabæans are probably mentioned as being the remotest nation in the opposite direction, a nation, probably, the partner of Tyre’s traffic in men as well as in their other merchandise, and who would as soon trade in Tyrians, as with Tyrians. They were, like the Phœnicians, a wealthy merchant people, and, of old, united with them in the trade of the world, the Sabæans sending forth their fleets across the Indian Ocean, as the Tyrians along the Mediterranean Sea. Three fathers of distinct races bore the name of Sheba, one a descendant of Ham, the other two descended from Shem. The Shemite Sabæans were, some descendants from Sheba the tenth son of Joktan; the others from Sheba, son of Abraham and Keturah. The Sheba of the prophet appears to have been the wealthy Sheba (descended from Joktan) near the Red Sea. They too had distant colonies whither the Tyrians could be transported, as far from Phoenicia as the shores of the Ægean are from Palestine.
Wünsche: Tyre, lit,, Rock. Though Tyre was historically a younger city than Sidon, from its rapid growth and great importance as a commercial centre, it is usually mentioned first when the two cities are named together. There were two Tyres, namely, the Old, built on the main land, and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar after a siege of thirteen years, and the New, built on a rocky island about a mile from the shore. Sidon comes from עוּד, to fish. Its founders were probably fishermen.—Desirable things—Your temples. If by the first phrase the prophet means the rich adornments of God’s temple, and by the latter the heathen temples, the crime here charged is the double one of spoliation and profanation.—Javan. Credner regards this as the name of a city in Arabia Felix. Hitzig places it in Jemen, and thinks it to be the same as the one mentioned Eze_27:19. Schröder takes the word in the sense of distant; unknown nations. But it is undoubtedly the name of the Greeks of Asia Minor.—F.]
Joe_3:9-10. Proclaim this. The prophet has already spoken of the gathering of the nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat, where Jehovah will plead with them. We have heard the accusation and the sentence; and now comes the swift execution of it. Proclaim this. What? If it be Prepare (sanctify) war, and this is to be proclaimed to the heathen, those charged to bear the message should be the heralds of the heathen. But the contents of the message show that it is directed not to the heathen but to Israel. No one shall remain behind, nor feel himself weak, nor withdraw from the holy contest, which is to bring “decision.” It must be considered, then, as a summons to Israel. The battle described is no common one. It is a battle, in which Jehovah Himself shall be present as a judge deciding the fate of the heathen, and helping Israel to win a glorious victory over them. The summoner is Jehovah Himself, or the prophet speaking in his name, who, in his vivid description of the contest, feels himself to be present at it. Proclaim this must, then refer to what was said before, namely: that Jehovah will recompense the heathen for their crimes against Israel, and that Israel shall be fully avenged. For the counterpart of the proposed change of the implements of peace into the instruments of war, see Isa_2:4; Mic_4:3.
[Wünsche: Proclaim, lit., sanctify. The use of this word shows that this great and decisive war is a holy and a righteous one. Credner, Hitzig, Keil, and others regard this as addressed not to the Jews, but to the heathen nations, i. e., to their heralds who are, at the bidding of Jehovah, to summon these nations to a war against Israel. But on this supposition the use of the word “sanctify” is inexplicable.—F.]
Joe_3:11-16. Hasten and come. Now the nations are summoned to collect speedily, as if they were about to accomplish something against Israel, while really they are rushing to their own destruction. Round about. The reference is not to the immediate neighbors of Israel, but the expression is used because God’s people is regarded as holding a central position among the nations. The prophet, however, cannot think of the assemblage of the nations without offering a prayer to Jehovah that He would cause his mighty ones to come down, where the gathering occurs, in the valley of Jehoshaphat. Thy mighty ones. According to Keil they are the angels as heavenly hosts. But if in Joe_3:9 they are men (Keil refers that version to the heathen), they must also be men here. The idea of the angels coming from heaven to help is not Joel’s. It is Israel who fights, under the command of Jehovah (comp. Jdg_5:13). Thy affords no proof against this exposition, since Israel is God’s people, and Israel’s mighty ones are God’s.
Joe_3:12. Here Jehovah himself speaks, and the whole verses may, therefore, be regarded as a kind of answer to the prophet’s prayer. Jehovah summons the nations to awake and to come up (עַלָה here means to ascend) to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For though the gathering place is a valley, and Israel’s mighty ones go down into it from Zion, yet the heathen come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, because, being near to Jerusalem, it is on a higher elevation than the territories (e. g., Philistia) of the neighboring nations. The reason why they are to come up to this valley is found in the meaning of the name Jehoshaphat = “Jehovah sits there to judge.” He does not engage directly in the contest; He does not lead the army, but He sits on a throne to judge,—to pronounce the sentence, and to execute it by means of his mighty ones. At the same time he renders essential aid by those terrible phenomena of nature spoken of (Joe_3:15-16), which mark the contest as “the day of the Lord,” the result of which is the utter destruction of these enemies. How Jehovah will execute the sentence pronounced by Him as Judge, is explained in Joe_3:13, for the exhortation here addressed to the “mighty ones,” while the two armies front each other in battle array, is given by Jehovah. This is evident from the fact that the battle is to be the execution of a deserved sentence. Hence the attack and the fight are no more spoken of, but the result simply, represented by the figure of cutting down ripe corn. Of a threshing and winnowing of the corn thus cut down, as Keil suggests, there is no hint; for with these enemies of Jehovah there could be no separating the wheat and the chaff. The only point in the figure on which attention is fixed, is the “cutting down” what had been before standing. Then comes a new and stronger simile to represent the destruction of these enemies. They shall not only be “cut off,” but “crushed,” or trodden like grapes in the winepress. The overflowing “fullness of the vats” is significant (Keil denies it). It represents the general blood-shedding which shall be proportioned to the “greatness of their wickedness.” The execution itself is not formally described, but it is plainly enough indicated in Joe_3:14. Multitudes, or as some render it “tumult.” The “mighty ones” are now to engage in their bloody work, amid the uproar of battle. The noise expressed or implied is not, as Keil supposes, that of nations rushing together, for they are already assembled, and now, the moment is one of judgment, or “decision.” The valley is the valley of Jehoshaphat, the “valley of decision,” the phrase being immediately followed by the words “for the day of the Lord is come.” This shows that what had been commanded (Joe_3:13) is now being accomplished, and that the contest involves the judgment and destruction of these enemies. This catastrophe is the “day of the Lord,” which is attended by those awful phenomena described (Joe_3:15-16), by which Jehovah displays his omnipotence, and really determines the issue of the battle. The “darkness,” before noticed as a presage of “the day,” now introduces it. “Thunder” = an immediate display of God’s power. “Giving forth his voice,” lit., “roaring,” i. e., of the lion in pursuit of prey, denotes God’s design to punish and destroy. Of course Joel has in his mind not an ordinary thunder-storm, but a far more terrible one. Israel had been previously threatened with a day of punishment marked by similar presages, in connection with the visitation of locusts, but it had passed away. Now, however, the storm overtakes and destroys the heathen, while Israel is not only protected by Jehovah from the judgments that overwhelm the enemies of God, but is introduced into new and far higher privileges than ever before were possessed.
[Wünsche: Joe_3:12. Sit to judge. This posture of the judge was common to the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. In Latin, sedere is often used in the sense of judicare (Liv. 3:46); so in Greek καθίζειν. The decision of a judge made by him standing, was generally deemed to have no legal force. All nations. The “all” is limited by “round about.” Hengstenberg, Keil, and others understand by it all the nations who have become in any way related to the kingdom of God, i. e., all the nations of the earth, as before the final judgment, the Gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world. Credner supposes that the meaning of the double image used in Joe_3:13 is, that as songs of gladness, dancing, and other signs of joy mark the harvest and vintage, so the Jews will find the highest enjoyment in the day of judgment of their enemies. But there is no ground for supposing that the covenant people will have any such feelings.
Pusey: Joe_3:13. In itself, the harvest as well as the vintage, might describe the end of this world as to both the good and the bad, in that the wheat is severed from the chaff and the tares, and the treading of the wine-press separates the wine which is stored up from the husks which are cast away. Yet nothing is said here of storing up aught, either the wheat or the wine, but only of the ripeness of the harvest, and that the vats overflow because their wickedness is great. The harvest is sometimes, though more rarely, used for destruction; the treading of the wine-press is always used as an image of God’s anger; the vintage, of destruction. It seems probable then, that the ripeness of the harvest and the fullness of the vats are alike used of the ripeness for destruction.
Joe_3:14. The prophet continues, as in amazement at the great throng assembling upon one another, multitudes, multitudes, as though, whichever way he looked, there were yet more of these tumultuous masses. It was one living, surging, boiling sea; throngs upon throngs, mere throngs. The word rendered multitudes suggests, besides, the thought of the hum and din of these masses, thronging, onward blindly, to their own destruction.—F.]
Joe_3:17-21. And ye shall know. Jehovah, by his judgment of Israel’s enemies, proves Himself to be Israel’s God; and from Zion, his dwelling place, all strangers and unclean ones are banished. This is the immediate gain to Israel, but other benefits are consequent upon it (comp. Rev_21:27). A time of extraordinary prosperity follows.
Joe_3:18. Wine and milk flow in richest abundance. The mountains and the hills, i. e., the naturally sterile districts, become very fruitful, and as this result depends on the supply of water, the brooks shall not become dry. Vale of Shittim, or Valley of Acacias, now quite dry,—for in such a soil the acacia grows,—shall be watered by a fountain flowing from the house of the Lord, and shall become fruitful. This description, of course, is not to be taken in its merely literal sense. As the blessedness originates with Jehovah, the fertilizing stream is represented as coming from the Temple, the dwelling-place of God. What a contrast between the state of things here depicted, and the condition of the land after its devastation by the locusts!
Joe_3:19. To render Israel’s blessed condition the more conspicuous, the picture of the desolated heathendom is placed beside it. Egypt and Edom are specially mentioned on account of their violence against Judah’s sons, namely, shedding their blood. It is uncertain, what precise instances of this are referred to. Egypt’s sins were probably those of the olden time (Exo_5:16). For that of Edom, see Amo_1:11; Oba_1:10. They, however, like the Phœnicians and Philistines in another place, are here taken as representatives of the enemies of Israel. (Comp. in ref. to Edom Isa_34:13; Jer_49:7; Eze_3:5.)
Joe_3:20. Wholly different shall be the condition of Israel. Judah and Jerusalem shall dwell forever, i. e., they shall be inhabited.
Joe_3:21. While Israel is thus blessed, it will be proved that the wrong committed against him has been fully avenged, or as some take the word, annulled, i. e., by having been punished; and the all-embracing assurance is repeated, Jehovah shall dwell in Zion.
[Pusey : Joe_3:18. A fountain shall come forth out of the house of the Lord. The existence of a large supply of water under the Temple is beyond all question. While the Temple was still standing, mention is made of an ever-flowing fountain under it, as well as pools and cisterns for preserving rain-water. One well acquainted with the localities says, “The pavements had slopes for the sake of a flush of water in order to cleanse away the blood from the victims. For on festival occasions many thousands of animals were slain. But of water there was an unfailing supply, a copious and natural fountain within gushing over; and there being moreover wonderful underground receptacles, in the substructure of the temple, and each of these having numerous pipes, the several streams inter-communicating.” The same writer relates that, more than half a mile from the city, he was told to stoop down, and heard the sound of gushing waters underground. The natural fountain, then, beneath the Temple, was doubtless augmented by waters brought from a distance, as required by the “diverse washings” of the priests, and to carry off the blood of the victims. Whence-soever this water was supplied, it furnished Jerusalem with an abundant supply of water. The superfluous water was carried off underground to what is now “the fountain of the Virgin,” and thence again to the “pool of Siloam.” Thence it carried fertility to the gardens of Siloam. The blood of the victims flowed into the same brook, Kedron, and was a known source of fertility. That little oasis of verdure was a fit emblem of the Jewish people, itself bedewed by the stream which issued from the temple of God. But it made no sensible impression out of or beyond itself. Hereafter the stream, whose streamlets “made glad the city of God,” should make the wildest, driest spots of our humanity “like the garden of the Lord.” Valley of Shittim, or acacia-trees, is a dry valley, for in such the eastern acacia or sandal-wood grows. This wood is very strong and of incredible lightness and beauty. of it the ark of God was made.
Joe_3:19. Egypt a desolation. Brief as Joel’s words are, they express an abiding condition of Egypt. They are expanded by Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah. But the three words of Joel are more comprehensive than any prophecy, except those of Ezekiel. They foretell that abiding condition, not only by the force of the words, but by the contrast with an abiding condition of bliss. The words say, not only that it shall “be desolated” as by a passing scourge, but it “shall pass over into that state;” it shall become what it had not been, and this, in contrast with the abiding condition of God’s people. Yet when Joel threatened Egypt, there were no human symptoms of decay; the instruments of its successive overthrows were as yet wild hordes, or had not the beginnings of being. Egypt would not become barren except by miracle. Even now it recovers whenever water is applied. Nothing could desolate Egypt except man’s abiding negligence or oppression. No passing storm could annihilate a fertility which poured in upon it in ever-renewing richness. Egypt is alike prolific in its people, and in the productions of the earth. Yet with these powers implanted in nature unimpaired, the population is diminished, the land half desert. Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, and Turks, have tried their hands on Egypt. Strange that selfishness or powerlessness for good should have rested upon all; strange that no one should have developed its inherent powers. One long prosperity, and one long adversity. One scarcely broken day, and one troubled night. And that doom foretold in the mid-day of its prosperity by these three words, Egypt shall be a desolation—Edom a desolate wilderness. Its ancient capital, and its rock-dwellings long unknown, have been within the last forty years, again revealed to us. The land is almost the more hopelessly desolate, because it was once artificially cultivated. Edom was the centre of the intercourse of nations. The hill-sides, and mountains, once covered with earth and clothed with vineyards, are now bare rocks. Yet the traces of former fertility are innumerable: every spot capable of sustaining vegetable life was carefully watered and cultivated. The ancient inhabitants seem to have left no accessible place untouched. They have exhibited equal art and industry in eliciting from the grand walls of their marvelous capital, whatever the combination of climate, irrigation, and botanical skill could foster in the scanty soil afforded them. The desolation began soon after the captivity of Judah, and Edom’s malicious joy in it. In Joel’s time, not the slightest shadow was cast on her future. No human eye could tell that she would be finally desolate. But God said by Joel, “Edom shall be a desolate wilderness,” and so it is!
Joe_3:21. I will cleanse her blood. The word rendered cleansed, is not used for natural cleansing, nor is the image taken from the cleansing of the body. The word signifies only to pronounce innocent, or to free from guilt. Nor is blood used of sinfulness generally, but only of the actual guilt of shedding blood. The whole then cannot be an image taken from the cleansing of physical defilement, like the words of Eze_16:9, “then washed I thee with water,” etc. Nor, again, can it mean the forgiveness of sins generally, but only the pronouncing innocent the blood which had been shed. This the only meaning of the words, falls in with the mention of innocent blood, for shedding which, Egypt and Edom had been condemned. In punishing the shedding of it, God declared the blood innocent, whose shedding He punished.—F.]
THEOLOGICAL
1. Three topics are discussed in this chapter: the enmity of the “nations” against Israel; the punishment of the nations; and the new happiness of Israel.
(1.) The enmity of the nations against Israel. How does the prophet regard this? Is the hostility only accidental, exhibiting itself simply in some particular acts? Or has it a deeper ground, namely, in the antagonism of the nations as heathen against Israel as God’s people, or the antagonism between idolatry and the worship of the true God? The mere words of the prophet would not lead us to suppose that he regarded it in the latter light. He speaks only of acts of pillage, carrying away captives, shedding of blood. Nor must we interpret Joe_3:5 as if the acts described were directed against the Temple as such; nor are they the necessary and exclusive offspring of heathenism. But we may and must say that these acts of injury appeared to be the outgrowth of the religious antagonism between the Gentiles and Israel. The people of Israel were God’s people, and enmity against the former was in fact enmity against God’s people, and God himself. That the prophet so regards it, Joe_3:4-5 plainly show. This hostility of the Gentiles or nations, though in one sense accidental, really reflects an inward and profound hatred. Hence the general expression, “all ye heathen, or Gentile,” although, in point of fact, Israel had been injured only by some of them. Thus Israel stands on one side, and all the heathen or Gentiles on the other, in the attitude of antagonists. What one of the latter does, they may be all expected to do, and so may be held responsible for it, inasmuch as they constitute one whole. Therefore, if Israel is to be helped, the judgment must fall on the whole heathen world. Finally, the prophet nowhere intimates that the Gentiles should be employed as God’s instruments in punishing Israel for his guilt. The Gentiles alone appear as the guilty ones.
(2.) The punishment of the nations was a certain and necessary result of Israel’s position as God’s people. They had scattered them; they had parted their land; they had taken their silver and gold; in a word, they had thus taken God’s property, and He could not allow this to go unpunished. He must stand up for his people and destroy their enemies. Though Israel is the agent in inflicting, yet the punishment comes really from the divine hand. Jehovah assembles the nations, and, in the contest between them and his people, gives, by his immediate help, the victory to the latter. This punishment involves the destruction of these enemies. The menaces relating to this point may seem unduly severe; but it is to be observed that the guilt of these nations is very aggravated, going far beyond the ordinary measure of enmity and crime, and therefore, according to the jus talionis, the retribution should be proportionate. Credner’s idea that Joel here abandons himself to the feelings of unbridled revenge, is wholly groundless. Meier justly remarks against this notion, that no prophet ever describes these bloody conflicts as simply growing out of human revenge; they ever regard them as signs of that Higher Power which strikes with destruction everything ungodly. And while the later prophets do not speak of bloody phenomena such as are here described, they yet plainly intimate, that before the consummation of the Messianic age, a catastrophe involving such scenes must come, as a transition epoch, in which everything unholy, as well in Israel as in the heathen world, will be destroyed. The grand object on which all depends, and which faith accepts as certain, is the complete subjugation of God’s enemies, and the complete triumph of his people. The pencil that paints this picture is, indeed, dipped in strong colors, corresponding to the energy of the divine powers which shall realize it. The idea set forth is the essential thing; the expression of it is, of course, modified by the prophet’s historical relations, and the character of the times in which he lived.
(3.) Israel’s new felicity. Amid the extraordinary manifestations of divine wrath connected with the destruction of the wicked, Israel is protected and realizes anew that Jehovah is his God. His land shall no more be seized by a stranger, and its remarkable fertility will be a proof that Jehovah is dwelling in the midst of it. The latter is the main thing in the promise, the productiveness of the land being simply an evidence of it. Of this the fountain issuing forth from the house of the Lord is a symbol and a pledge. Here the promise goes beyond what is merely physically possible, as do also some features of the judgment of the heathen; from which it is plain that the prophet’s mind was fixed, not so much on the literal fulfillment of the prediction, as upon the general truth, that Jehovah will, in a manner eminent and unequivocal, own Israel as his people, by bestowing on him the richest blessings.
2. If now we inquire into the fulfillment of this prophecy, objectively considered, we shall quickly discover, that things took at first quite a different shape from that which Joel seems to have supposed they would. He sees in the heathen only the enemies of God’s people who are to be punished, and he announces their certain punishment on account of their many acts of violence against Israel. The later prophets, on the other hand, charge God’s own people with their sins, and predict judgments, which God will employ the heathen as his instruments to inflict, and which, we know, in later times they did. But there is no evidence, i. e., from his prophecy, that Joel was acquainted with this fact of the future. It is wholly unwarrantable to interpret his words (Joe_3:1), as if he had foreseen and foretold what later prophets announced, namely, the Exile, and the dispersion by the Romans, without giving the reason for either of these events. He does not think it possible—so far as his prophecy shows—that a divine judgment should be inflicted upon Israel. Both the internal (i. e., the guiltiness of Israel and Judah) and the external antecedent conditions of such a judgment are wanting. He knows nothing of those secular powers which brought on the exile, or at least, he does not know them as powers with whom Israel is to come into conflict. It is a false view of the nature of prophecy to suppose that events of the most distant future were revealed with equal clearness to the prophets whose experience, in a sort of intermediate way, corresponded with, or contradicted that future. According to the later prophets the glorious state of Israel is reached, after his having passed through an intermediate condition of humiliation. Joel knows nothing of such an intermediate condition. He represents the felicity of Israel as resulting not simply from the truthfulness of God, who will not utterly abandon even his unfaithful people, while He punishes them, but as a thing which they might at any time secure by penitential confession of sins, and calling upon the Lord. But there is an essential harmony between Joel and the later prophets. How then were their predictions fulfilled? The menaces against the heathen nations mentioned have been remarkably accomplished by actual historical events, particularly by Alexander the Great and his successors. But we must look for a larger and fuller accomplishment of the prophecies of Joel. It is evident that he had in his mind a grand consummation, since he connects it with the general outpouring of the Spirit and the announcement of the day of the Lord. He sees the heathen world utterly overwhelmed, while Israel enters into and holds the position of God’s people. The period of conflict is passed, and that of victory and peace has come.
Now as regards the fulfillment of these prophecies, we might repeat the remarks already made respecting the later ones of Hosea. For Israel as a nation that glorious time had not yet come; nor was there any ground for the immediate expectation of it. The tenor of the prophecy would seem to indicate that it applied exclusively to Israel, because in Joel’s time, Israel alone was God’s people. But this view, which makes God’s people and Israel as a nation identical, though sanctioned in a certain sense by the Old Covenant, has been clearly set aside by the New Covenant. While then the Jewish nation, as such, has no ground for expecting, as the Chiliasts maintain, this promised felicity, it is nevertheless certain that the promise is valid for the people of God as typified by Israel. Its fulfillment is to be looked for in a far different and more glorious way than the prophet, from his stand-point, anticipated. [Whether the so-called Chiliastic theory of the future of the Jews be true or not, there is no necessary antagonism between it and the admission, under the New Covenant, of the Gentiles to the spiritual privileges of God’s people. The Jews still exist as a distinct people. And Paul certainly seems to intimate (Rom_11:25) that there is yet a glorious future for Israel, which shall be realized when “the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.”—F.] The new Israel lives in the hope of a general outpouring of the Spirit, which was begun at Pentecost, and has been continued ever since,—of a final, complete deliverance, and a glorious victory over all its enemies; in a word, of a felicity and salvation which shall be a proof of God’s immediate presence in the midst of it. Whether Joel foresaw all this, i. e., understood the full meaning of his own prediction, may be doubted; but, in the sense already explained, we can appropriate it to ourselves, as Keil remarks: “The people and heritage of the Lord is not only the Old Testament Israel as such, but the Church of God, embracing those who lived under the New as well as the Old Covenant. On it his Spirit is poured out. Jehovah’s judgment of the nations for injuries done to his people is not simply the judgment of such of them, e. g., the Romans and others, that have maltreated the Jews, but the final, general judgment of all nations, of all the enemies of the Church of God. It is this fundamental truth, this glorious hope made sure by almost the oldest of the prophets, which the people of God, from the beginning, have lifted up as a standard. And hence we see in all the victories which God has granted to his people, and in all the judgments inflicted upon the heathen neighbors and enemies of Israel, a fulfillment of this promise, which again finds, as by a thousandfold refraction, a still more particular fulfillment in all the special deliverances of his children, and in all their experiences of his protection. So Luther is not wrong in regarding the rich blessings promised to Judah as identical with those revealed in the Gospel, and through it bestowed upon the Christian Church. As God’s heritage, Zion experienced from the first, and continues to experience, the blessed presence and the grace of God. Still, the final, and complete fulfillment will only come with the consummation of the kingdom of the Parousia, or Second Advent of the Lord.
HOMILETICAL
Joe_3:1. When I shall bring again. God hath set bounds to everything, especially to the sufferings of his people. He determines their beginning, and how long they shall endure. Rejoice, ye faithful, the Lord shall bring again your captivity. He will deliver you from all evil, and help you to reach his heavenly kingdom.
[Henry: Though the bondage of God’s people may he grievous and very long, yet it shall not be everlasting. There is a day, there is a time, fixed for the bringing again of the captivity of God’s children, for the redeeming them from the power of the grave.—F.]
Joe_3:2. I will gather all nations. Though wicked men say that the Lord does not see them, they shall learn by experience that He does, in the time when He shall judge them. Ye proud Gentiles, who cease not to afflict the little flock of the faithful, know that a day of judgment is coming, when the Lord will avenge the blood of his servants.—Whom they have scattered. Those who are unjustly exiled should leave vengeance in the hands of God the righteous judge. Mark that all divine punishment, and even the final judgment of the wicked is for the sake of the godly. Behold how God takes care of his people! Therefore, be of good courage ! Dost thou belong to God’s people? Then He will take care of thee, though He may seem to delay doing so. God’s honor will not permit his people to perish, and their enemies to triumph, for their enemies are his enemies.
[Pusey: Will plead with them. God maketh Himself in such wise a party, as not to condemn those unconvicted, yet the pleading has a separate awfulness of its own. God impleads, so as to allow Himself to be impleaded and answered; but there is no answer. He will set forth what He had done, and how we have requited Him. And we are without excuse. Our memories witness against us; our knowledge acknowledges his justice; our conscience convicts us; all unite in pronouncing ourselves ungrateful, and God holy and just. For a sinner to see himself is to condemn himself, and in the day of judgment God will bring before each sinner his whole self.—F.]
Joe_3:3-5. They have cast lots. In a time of war terrible crimes are very common, but in due season God will punish them.—What have ye to do with me. The true Church is the heavenly Father’s daughter, and Christ’s beloved spouse. Therefore he who persecutes it, is persecuting God and Christ. How great the foolishness of sinners who want to plead with and defy God! O, how certainly will their defiance of Him be visited on their own head. Therefore be humble, and confess thy misdeeds, if thou wouldst escape divine punishment.
[Pusey: Will ye tender me a recompense. Men never want pleas for themselves. Men forget their own wrong-doings, and remember their sufferings. Men, when they submit not to God chastening them, hate Him.
Henry: My silver. Those who take away the estates of good men for well-doing, will be found guilty of sacrilege; they take God’s silver and gold. It is no new thing for those who have been very civil to their neighbors, to find them very unkind and unneighborly, and for those who do no injuries to suffer many.—F.]
Joe_3:1-7. The raging of the nations and their rulers is an indication of that fleshly mind which is always opposed to the kingdom of God. So long as the hope of that kingdom was confined to Israel, the hatred of the heathen was spent on Israel. When that kingdom was taken from Israel, and given to the “little flock,” which “brought forth the fruit of it,” that hatred was simply transferred. The world ever has sought and still seeks to divide the heritage of the Lord, and to bring to shame those who trust in his word of promise. But when God regathers his scattered people Israel, and reestablishes down-trodden Jerusalem, He will also deliver the rest of his elect, and fully recompense them for the sufferings which the world has inflicted on them.
Joe_3:9. Prepare war. Peace must end when we are called on to combat the enemies of God. Then, all must take up arms. “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Through conflict to victory ! through war to peace!
Joe_3:10. [Pusey: Ploughshares into swords. Peace within with God flows forth in peace with man. Where there is not rest in God, all is unrest. And so, all which was needful for life, the means of subsistence, care of health, were to be forgotten for war.—F.]
Joe_3:11-12. Hasten and come. Behold how the Lord holds the godless persecutors of his Church in derision! Let them do what they like, his vengeance shall finally overtake them. If God be for us, who can be against us? The Lord sits as ruler, and is ever judging nations and individuals. No one can escape his judgment. He may long seem to be silent, but ever and anon He comes forth with his judgments now, the harbingers of the final and decisive one.
[Henry: Thy mighty ones. When God’s cause is to be pleaded, either by the law or by the sword, He has those ready who will plead it effectually; witnesses ready to appear for Him in the court of judgment, soldiers ready to appear for Him in the field of battle.—F.]
Joe_3:13. For their wickedness is great. When the measure of men’s sins is full, then execution comes. The judgments of God are then no longer delayed.
Joe_3:14-16. The day of the Lord is near. Tremble ye godless, for the day is near when the Lord will judge you! Behold, the lion is already roaring out of Zion announcing your punishment. Should not that voice, which shall one day be heard by the whole earth, arouse you to repentance? To the wicked, God is a roaring lion, but to the godly a strong fortress.
As God always cared for and defended his peculiar people against the rage of their enemies, so Christ, now protects his peculiar people, Christians, against the violence of their foes. He may allow them, for a time, to be persecuted, to try and perfect their faith by “manifold temptations,” but, in the end, He will destroy their enemies. Examples of this have occurred in past ages; but a greater ruin awaits them. When the great and terrible day of the Lord comes, He will gather all his enemies into the valley of Jehoshaphat; He will bring them before his tribunal, and plead with them for his heritage and people, and will return upon their own heads all the evils they have inflicted upon the true Christendom.
[Henry: The Lord shall roar. The judgment of the great day shall make the ears of those to tingle who continue the implacable enemies of God. As blessings out of Zion are the sweetest blessings, and enough to make heaven and earth sing, so terrors out of Zion are the sorest terrors, and enough to make heaven and earth shake.—The saints are the Israel of God; now in the great day (1) Their longings shall be satisfied. The Lord will be the Hope of his people. As He always was the Founder and Foundation of their hopes, so He will then be the Crown of their hopes. They shall arrive at the desired haven; shall put to shore after a stormy voyage; they shall go to be forever at home with God. (2) Their happiness shall be confirmed. God will be in that day the Strength of the children of Israel, enabling them to welcome that day, and to bear up under the weight of its glories and joys.—F.]
Joe_3:17. Ye shall know. So long as believers are here below, sighing under the burden of sin, and not seeing the means of deliverance, they are apt to think that God has abandoned them.
[Henry: The knowledge which true believers have of God is (1) An appropriating knowledge; they know that He is the Lord their God, yet not theirs only, but theirs in common with the whole Church. (2) An experimental knowledge. They shall find Him their Hope and Strength, in the worst of times. Those know best the goodness of God, who have tasted and seen it.
Pusey: God Himself joins on his own words to those of the prophet. Ye shall know by experience, by sight, face to face, what ye now believe, that I am the Lord your God. Your God, your own, as much as if possessed by none besides, filling all with gladness, yet fully possessed by each.—F.]
Joe_3:18. In that day. Glorious are the promises to the Church of the New Covenant, but they will be completely fulfilled only in a blessed eternity. In this world God feeds us, comforts us with his Word and sacraments, consoles us with manifold blessings in Christ, but in the future world, this grace will be far more superabundant.—By the mountains are meant the kingdoms of this world, which shall flow with the wine and milk of Christian doctrine, by which a rich measure of spiritual gifts shall be imparted to men. For the Gospel is very finely compared to wine as well as milk; to wine, since it is administered to the adult to gladden his heart, and confirm his faith, hope, and love; to milk, as it is also administered to children in Christ, who, as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word. As wine comforts and strengthens man’s heart, so the Word of God preserves and increases faith, and imparts consolation under sufferings. The law does the opposite, holy and just though it be. It accuses them, and threatens death; it makes them faint-hearted and despondent. But the Gospel banishes fear, by revealing a Mediator, the Son of God, and filling the soul with an assurance of the mercy of God. By rivers flowing with, water, the prophet means the wonderful spread of the Gospel, and the rich fruit it will produce. As dry places are barren, and well watered ones fertile, so where the Gospel resounds, the richest and ripest fruits are produced. The Holy Spirit goes with it, imparting his own divine gifts.
[Pusey: As the fountain gushes forth from the hill or mountain side in one ceaseless flow, day and night, streaming out from the recesses to which the waters are supplied by God from his treasure-house of the rain, so day by day, in sorrow or in joy, in prosperity or adversity, God pours out in the Church, and in the souls of his elect, the riches of his grace. The love of God shall stream through every heart; each shall be full according to its capacity, and none the less full, because a larger tide pours through others. All the powers, capacities, senses, speech of the saints who confess God shall flow with a perennial stream of joy, thanksgiving, and jubilee, as of all pleasure and bliss.—F]
Joe_3:19. Shed innocent blood. How highly does the Lord esteem the death, the blood of the faithful!
[Henry: The innocent blood of God’s people is very precious to Him, and not a drop shall be shed, but it shall be reckoned for.—F.]
Joe_3:20-21. Judah shall dwell forever. The Church of the New Covenant is imperishable, for it shall be transplanted from time into eternity. Blessed Zion ! in which the Lord dwells with his Word, and the gifts of his Spirit, and which He quickens by his converting and sanctifying power. Let us make here for ourselves tabernacles, and serve this great King of hearts in the obedience of faith, so that we may at last be transferred to the heavenly Jerusalem. O, the depth of the riches, of the wisdom, and of the knowledge of God! Of the riches of grace, since God, in spite of the unbelief and disobedience of his people, has not forgotten them, nor abrogated his covenant. Of the wisdom, which turns so many hindrances into the means of helping forward his own purposes. Of the knowledge which has foreseen and with absolute certainty has predicted all these things. Learn from Israel, the courageous trust thou mayest have in the mercy of God, even though thou shouldst lie beneath his heavy hand, as long as Jerusalem has lain in her ruins. Learn that the wisdom of God can never fail, nor be at fault, and yield thyself in all circumstances to his wise guidance. When something happens to thee unexpectedly, and destroys some hope which you may have fondly cherished, call to mind and consider the truth, that “known unto God are all his works from the foundation of the world.”
[Henry: It is promised that the Church shall be very happy. Three things are here promised it.
1. Purity. That is put last here as a reason for the rest (Joe_3:21). But we may consider it first as the ground and foundation of the rest. I will cleanse, etc.
2. Plenty (Joe_3:18). That is put first because it speaks the reverse of the judgment threatened in the foregoing chapters. The streams of this plenty overflow and enrich the land.
3. Perpetuity. This crowns all the rest. As one generation of professing Christians passes away, another shall come, in whom the throne of Christ shall endure forever.
Robinson: The last days are at hand, when the wicked shall be driven away in their wickedness, and a fiery deluge of wrath shall overwhelm the earth, but they who love the Lord shall be removed, as Lot, to a mountain of safety, and like Noah, be hidden in an ark of salvation, until the desolation and the tyranny be overpassed. Wherefore, dear Christian brethren, lift up your hearts, and long for his coming, for you shall be his in that day when He makes up his jewels.
Jesus, thy Church with longing eyes
For thy expected coming waits;
When will the promised light arise,
And glory gleam from Zion’s gates?
Teach us in watchfulness and prayer
To wait for the appointed hour;
And fit us by thy grace to share
The triumphs of thy conquering power.—F.]
Prayer suggested by the whole .—Great Saviour ! we thank Thee that Thou wilt one day judge the enemies of Thy Church, and wilt recompense their persecutions and abominations on their own heads. Grant that their further wicked designs may not injure Thy Zion. Arise and punish them; deliver Thy faithful ones, and be their refuge and fortress amid the judgments which shall overtake the world of the ungodly. Adorn Thy Zion with the rich gifts of Thy Spirit, that it may be holy before Thee, and ever overflow with spiritual blessings. Amen.
Footnotes:
[1]Joe_3:1.—Those days i. e., preëminently. In Heb. the personal and demonstrative pronouns sometimes take the article, thus rendering the expression all the stronger and more emphatic.
[2]Joe_3:2.—וְנִשְׁפַּטִתִּי. For the construction see Jos_4:2; 2Ch_22:8; Isa_3:14; Eze_38:22. In the latter place אֶת is used for עִם.
[3]Joe_3:2.—וְנַחַלָתִי, my peculium. The word expresses more than עַמַי, my people. Israel is in apposition with both terms.
[4]Joe_3:2.—The nations, i. e., the neighboring ones. See Joe_3:12.
[5]Joe_3:3.—For wine. ב is here the ב of price, and according to the rule is placed after verbs of buying and selling.
[6]Joe_3:4.—Borders, גְּלִילוֹת, lit., circles, referring to the five subdivisions of Philistia, namely, Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkalon, Gath, and Ekron.
[7]Joe_3:4.—Would you retaliate. Wünsche renders the clause, “Wolht ihr ein Thun mir vergelten,” and adds that it is variously explained. The meaning depends on the sense attached to גָמַל. The ground sense of its radical syllable גַם is fullness, accumulation. The primary meaning of גָמַל is the same. It is used—(1) Intrans., to be full, or complete, specially of fruit, to be ripe. (2) Trans., to complete, to make full, i. e. : (a) To wean, or to take from milk (Gen_21:8; 1 Sam 22:24; Isa_28:9. (b) To ripen with special reference to fruit. (c) To do something with the hands, i. e., to finish it. (d) To recompense what has been done by another, so that its end and aim is accomplished,—something done, in a moral sense, for which men are responsible. It is construed both with ל and על.
[8]Joe_3:4.—Soon and swiftly. See Isa_5:26. Pocock takes both the words adverbially.
[9]Joe_3:5.—Goodly desirable things. Newcome renders the phrase desirable and goodly. הַטֹובִים = not simply “good things,” but “good” in a pregnant sense, optima.
[10]Joe_3:7.—I will raise. מִעִירָם. Hiph. of the intrans. עוּר, to be hot, hence to be watchful. One Kenn. MSS. has מֵעִידָם, I am calling, or will call them as witnesses.
[11]Joe_3:10.—Mattocks. אִתֵּיכֶם. This was an instrument of husbandry having an edge that needed to be sharpened from time to time (1Sa_22:20). All the older versions render it “ploughshares,” which Tregelles favors.
[12]Joe_3:11.—עוּשׁוּ, a ἄπαξ λεγ. perhaps used for חוּשׁ or אוּץ. The Sept. renders it συναθροίζεσθε. Vulg. erumpite; Gesen., Meier, and others, “hasten.” For the use of the וָ to show the close connection between the two imperatives, see Mic_4:13. Kimchi, Ewald, Meier, and others take the following נִקְבָצוּ as an anom. Niphal imperative for הִקבֵצוּ.
[13]Shall bring down, lit., “hath brought down.” What He will do is spoken of as done.
[14]Joe_3:13.—מַגָּל, the sickle, from the root נָגַל; hence the dag fort.
[15]Joe_3:16.—But Jehovah. ו is here clearly antithetic.
[16]Joe_3:20.—תֵּשֵׁב is not to be understood in a passive sense, “habitari,” but actively, i.e. shall dwell in and possess the land.
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 vv2–17 Parallel to Zac 14:2-4, where the "Mount of Olives"…
Parallel to Zac 14:2-4, where the "Mount of Olives" answers to the "Valley of Jehoshaphat" here. The latter is called "the valley of blessing" (Berachah) (Ch2 20:26). It lies between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives and has the Kedron flowing through it. As Jehoshaphat overthrew the confederate foes of Judah, namely, Ammon, Moab, &c. (Psa 83:6-8), in this valley, so God was to overthrow the Tyrians, Zidonians, Philistines, Edom, and Egypt, with a similar utter overthrow (Joe 3:4, Joe 3:19). This has been long ago fulfilled; but the ultimate event shadowed forth herein is still future, when God shall specially interpose to destroy Jerusalem's last foes, of whom Tyre, Zidon, Edom, Egypt, and Philistia are the types. As "Jehoshaphat" means "the judgment of Jehovah," the valley of Jehoshaphat may be used as a general term for the theater of God's final judgments on Israel's foes, with an allusion to the judgment inflicted on them by Jehoshaphat. The definite mention of the Mount of Olives in Zac 14:4, and the fact that this was the scene of the ascension, makes it likely the same shall be the scene of Christ's coming again: compare "this same Jesus . . . shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven" (Act 1:11).
all nations--namely, which have maltreated Judah.
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plead with them-- (Isa 66:16; Eze 38:22).
my heritage Israel-- (Deu 32:9; Jer 10:16). Implying that the source of Judah's redemption is God's free love, wherewith He chose Israel as His peculiar heritage, and at the same time assuring them, when desponding because of trials, that He would plead their cause as His own, and as if He were injured in their person.
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 vv1, 2, 4, 7, 9 1. For — Connects Joe_3:1, with Joe_2:32. The prophet…
1. For — Connects Joe_3:1, with Joe_2:32. The prophet explains why he mentions the deliverance of only a remnant of the Jews — the other nations will be utterly destroyed. At the same time he indicates by what means the salvation of the dispersed is to be wrought; the judgment upon the nations will help to free the Israelites from bondage.
Behold — The truth to be announced is of the greatest importance, and is worthy of the closest attention (Isa_3:1; Isa_7:14; Amo_6:11).
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In those days,… in that time — Refers back, not to Joe_2:28, but to Joe_2:32, the time of the deliverance of the Jews (Jer_33:15); the exact time is determined by what follows.
When I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem — The judgment upon the nations (Joe_3:2), the restoration of the captives (Joe_3:1), the salvation of the remnant (Joe_2:32), all fall into the same period. Whether this is the right translation, or the one mentioned on page 133, “I shall restore the fortune,” there can be no doubt that the prophet intends to promise a radical change in the condition of the people; and, according to the context, an essential element in the restoration of the fortune is the deliverance of the Israelites from the power of the surrounding nations into whose hands they fell after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.
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 vv1–17 1. For] The chapter is closely connected with Joe_2:28-32,…
1. For] The chapter is closely connected with Joe_2:28-32, for explaining how the faithful Israelites will be delivered (Joe_2:32); viz. on account of a judgement to be held upon the heathen world, which will have the effect of freeing the Israelites.
behold] The particle, as often, draws attention to some new and important announcement (cf. Isa_3:1; Isa_7:14; Isa_19:1; Amo_6:11, &c.).
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in those days, and in that time] The same combination, Jer_33:15; Jer_50:4; Jer_50:20. The time referred to is that of Israel’s deliverance (Joe_2:32).
bring again the captivity] or, perhaps, turn the fortune (comp. on Amo_9:14): upon either interpretation, a decisive change in the condition of Judah and Jerusalem is denoted by the words.
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17 (1) That time.—The whole course of the events of…
III.
(1) That time.—The whole course of the events of the world is shown to lead up by Divine providence to the Great Day of the Lord, when “the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and the Lord shall be exalted.” Then will be “the times of the restitution of all things;” then will the people of God be brought out of captivity, and vengeance executed upon their enemies. This progress, with its final consummation, is the subject of the concluding lines of Joel’s prophecy.
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 vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 Vers. 1-3. These verses describe the deliverance of God"s…
Vers. 1-3. These verses describe the deliverance of God"s people and the destruction of his enemies because of their injurious, insulting, and ignominious treatment of his people.
The time referred to: In those days, and in that time, is the first point to be determined. The reference is obviously to the period spoken of in the twenty-eighth verse of the second chapter, where we read, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flush." This seems to fix the date at least of the commencement of the events recorded in these verses. These events must have been subsequent to that Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But a still closer specification of the time is added by way of apposition, namely (asher supplemented by bahem or bah), when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. This form of expression includes, beside the restoration of God"s people from their dispersion and redemption out of captivity or distress of any kind, their elevation also to a higher position of dignity and to greater prosperity than they had ever before enjoyed. Thus of Job we read, (Job_42:10) "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job... also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before." The ki which introduces the verse gives assurance that the blessing promised in the concluding verse of the preceding chapter shall be realized; while the hinneh directs attention to the novelty and importance of the subject introduced in the first verse of this present chapter.
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Vers. 1-8. Deliverance and destruction.
The causal particle, with which the first verse of this chapter commences, connects it closely with the preceding. It not only introduces a further explanation, but confirms the statements there made. The course of the predictions contained in the foregoing chapter embraced the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost; the establishment of the Christian Church; the great catastrophes and troubles that should succeed; the destruction of the holy city and the dispersion of its inhabitants, here called "the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem;" the deliverance of a remnant from those troubles at all events, the eternal salvation of the godly who cleaved to the Lord and his service. Of the general promise, a particular instance is given in the case of the Jews. But the promise to Judah and Jerusalem is a pledge of the spiritual deliverance of his Church and people, as also of temporal deliverance when and wheresoever such may be required.
I DELIVERANCE THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
1. The relation in which Israel stood to God is symbolical of the relation in which God"s people stand to him still. They are his people; my people," he is pleased to call them; my heritage," he names them. They are his "peculiar treasure," and "the lot of his inheritance," as he elsewhere designates them. Their land is his land. We thus see how dear God"s people are to him, and what a deep interest he takes in their persons and in their property in fact, in all that concerns them. They are his for correction when that is needed; they are his for protection from their enemies; they are his to right their wrongs, and to take vengeance on their adversaries; they are his to preserve to them their possessions, and to punish all who trespass thereon, or expel them therefrom. He keeps them and all they have as in the hollow of his hand; and they are dear to him as the apple of his eye.
2. This promise comprehends in itself a series; it is, indeed, instanced in a single case, yet it is not confined to it, but multiplies itself. Just as the Israelites were delivered out of the bondage of Egypt, and Jerusalem out of the hands of Sennacherib in the reign of Hezekiah, and the Jews out of the captivity in Babylon, and other deliverances of the Jewish Church and people took place before the advent of Messiah, so has the promise repeated itself in the many deliverances of God"s people since then. Especially is it exemplified in the great deliverance from sin and Satan wrought out for us by Messiah; and shall have its complete consummation in the judgment of the great day.
II DESTRUCTION OF THE ENEMIES OF GOD"S PEOPLE.
1. Simultaneous with the year of the redeemed shall be the year of recompense for the controversy of Zion. The salvation of God"s people and the destruction of their enemies go hand in hand together. They are frequently connected in time, almost always in prediction.
2. The place as well as the time is indicated, namely, the valley where Jehoshaphat gained his notable victory, and where the allies slew one another, as if a similar fate awaited all the enemies of Israel; or the valley so called in the neighbourhood, and within view of Jerusalem, that their destruction might be within view of the very people they sought to injure; or, as the name denotes, the "valley of judgment," for whatever be the particular place intended, it will be a place of justice.
3. The destruction shall proceed according to strict justice. God will plead the cause of his people, in proof that he deals judicially, not capriciously, nor causelessly, with their enemies. In this way their destruction shall be seen to be the result of a judicial process, and fully deserved.
4. There is an enumeration of the pleas advanced, and an example of the pleading adopted.
(1) Among the former are the dispersion of Israel among foreign and far-off nationalities, the division of their land, the distribution of the inhabitants, the contempt poured on them, the cruelty practised upon them, and the despoiling of their treasures, secular and sacred.
(2) The method of pleading is expressive of deep and deserved indignation. Identifying himself with his people, he indignantly inquires What have ye to do with me, that is, with my people? What injury have they done you? What provocation have they given you? Or, if we adopt the alternative reading of "What are ye to me?" the gist of this indignant interrogatory is What interest have ye in me? What claim have ye upon me? Of what value are ye to me, that I should overlook such unjust and unjustifiable conduct on your part? Further, he asks Will ye requite some supposed injury I have done you, or some imaginary provocation I have given you? Will ye requite me by taking revenge on my people, with whom I am so closely identified? Or do you mean to wreak your gratuitous malice on my people, and, out of sheer malignity, inflict on them injuries altogether unprovoked? Have you shut your eyes on the result of such conduct, which must be a swift and sudden recompense upon your own head?
(3) The common maxim of Ill-got, ill-gone," is exemplified in the conduct of these enemies of God and his people. What they got by one sin, they lavished on another. The Hebrew captives, whom they had taken by violence, they kept in home servitude for domestic drudges to themselves or others, or transported to a distant and foreign land, and sold into slavery, while the proceeds of the barter in the one case, or of sale in the other, they expended on their lusts. The silver and the gold and goodly pleasant things which they plundered from the people, or temple of the Lord, they squandered upon idolatry. It was a common custom among the ancients to hang up in temples spoils taken from the enemy, and trophies of victory; thus the ark of God, when captured by the Philistines, was transferred to the temple of Dagon, the fish-god. With what a black catalogue of crimes these enemies of the people of God were chargeable! There were violence and rapine, slave-dealing, drunkenness and lust, and idolatry.
(4) The law of retaliation also applies here. They had sold the children of Judah and Jerusalem to the Grecians for expatriation to lands remote, where they would have no opportunity of combining for common safety, or whence they could never have the hope of returning to their country. Now, in turn, and as a just retribution, their children would be sold to the children of Judah, and by them to the Sabeans, a people far off. Whether this was accomplished, as some suppose, in the wars of the Maccabees, and their victories over the enemies of the Jews, or not, certain it is that the principle of retribution finds here a fitting place for its operation. The justice of this principle was acknowledged by Adoni-bezek, when he said, "Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me." This principle is very widely prevalent in the affairs of men, not only by way of retribution, but also in the matter of recompense. The evil that men do is returned on their own head; the good likewise has its reward.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON Ver. 1. Restoration from captivity.
It is believed that Joel was the earliest of the prophets who prophesied in Judah and Jerusalem. If so, it is remarkable how boldly he led the way in the general tone of his declarations and predictions, and especially with what poetic insight, with what religious fervour, he connected political events with lessons of eternal morality. In this chapter it would perhaps be possible to find nothing but history; yet the grandeur and solemnity of the language point rather to truths of Divine import and power as the real significance of the prophecy. The very captivity here foretold has its spiritual analogy, and the restoration of Judah is a type of the ransom of mankind.
I THE WORST CAPTIVITY IS THAT OF HUMANITY TO SIN.
1. This implies that sin is not the true and proper lord of our race, but that God has a claim to the loyalty and obedience of men.
2. And that sin is a tyrant, arbitrary, unjust, and basely oppressive.
3. And further, that in such bondage, no peace, no liberty, no satisfaction, are to be found.
II THE ONLY DELIVERER OF HUMANITY IS GOD HIMSELF.
1. His interposition is prompted by Divine compassion.
2. And is effected by supernatural means. In rescuing Judah from the captivity in the East, Jehovah was painting, as it were, beforehand a picture of what was yet to be. In Christ God laid help upon One who was mighty; his designation is emphatically the Redeemer.
3. The interposition is completed by the restoration of the ransomed to greater happiness than by their disloyalty they forfeited and lost.
III THE RESTORED FROM SPIRITUAL CAPTIVITY ARE SUMMONED TO OBEDIENCE AND PRAISE.
1. To obedience, because they have tasted the bitter fruits of rebellion, and have learned the lesson that true happiness lies in cheerful subjection.
2. To praise, because such mercy as they have experienced deserves grateful and unceasing acknowledgments. T.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-8. The persecution of good men.
"For, behold, in those days," etc. "In this chapter the prophet returns from the parenthetic view which he had exhibited of the commencement of the Christian dispensation and the overthrow of the Jewish polity, to deliver predictions respecting events that were to transpire subsequent to the Babylonish captivity, and fill up the space which should intervene between the restoration of the Jews and the first advent of Christ. He announces the judgment to be holden on their enemies after their return to Judaea" (Henderson). And in these two verses he specifies the reason why they were to be punished. Our subject is the persecution of good men on earth.
I THERE HAVE EVER BEEN GOOD MEN ON EARTH. Corrupt as the world has been for sixty centuries, there have always been in every generation some men whose characters in the main have been good, and in whom the great Governor of the world has manifested a special interest. These are in the holy book called by a large variety of names. They are called here:
1. My people. " They are his.
(1) They have surrendered themselves to his will All others are controlled by a variety of laws, they evermore by his will. Whatever they do, in word or deed, they are inspired by a loving loyalty to his will. They are his faithful servants, his loyal subjects, his loving children begotten again by his will.
(2) He has pledged them his loving guardianship. He is their Shepherd. "He leads them by still waters." He is their Father. "As a father pitieth his children." He makes for them all necessary provision, both for this life and for the life that is to come.
2. My heritage. " In Exo_19:5 you have these words, "Now therefore if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine." He who owns the universe, esteems holy souls as the most valuable of his possessions. The vast universe of matter is in his estimation worth nothing in comparison with one truly virtuous spirit.
II THESE GOOD MEN ON EARTH HAVE GENERALLY BEEN SUBJECT TO PERSECUTION. "Whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land." The faithful and the true amongst the Jews had, subsequent to their restoration from Babylonish captivity, been driven by violence amongst the nations. The indignities and cruelties which they. were subject are specified in the subsequent verses. "Persecution.". says an old writer, "is the reigning sin of the world." The enmity between the seed of the woman and the serpent has shown itself from the beginning. "Marvel not," said Christ, "that the world hate you." There is a persecution that, whilst it does not involve bonds, imprisonments, and physical violences, involves the malice of hell, and inflicts grievous injury. There is social calumny, scorn, degradation, and various disabilities. The good must ever suffer in a world like this for conscience" sake.
III THEIR PERSECUTION WILL BE AVENGED BY HEAVEN. "I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel." It is not necessary to suppose that the valley of Jehoshaphat here means the vale through which the Kedron flows, lying between the city of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives; or the valley of blessings mentioned in 2Ch 20, or any other particular place. Its literal meaning is, "the valley where God judgeth." It means here the scene where God would deal out retribution upon the nations that persecuted his people. It was in the valley of Jehoshaphat that in all probability the army of Sennacherib was slain by Heaven"s avenging angel. Ah! the time hastens when persecutors of all types and ages will have full retribution dealt out to them in some great valley of Jehoshaphat. D.T.
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 vv1, 9, 13, 14, 16 For, behold, in those days, and in that time,…
Joe_3:1
For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem.
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The year of recompense
I. It shall be the year of the redeemed. Though the bondage of Gods people may be grievous and long, it shall not be everlasting. That in Egypt ended at length in their deliverance into the glorious liberty of the children of God. That in Babylon shall likewise end well.
II. It shall be the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. Though God may suffer the enemies of His people to prevail against them very far, and for a long time, yet He will call them to an account for it, and will lead those captive that led His people captive.
1. Who those are that shall be reckoned with. All nations. This intimates--
(1) That all the nations had made themselves liable to the judgment of God for wrong done to His people. But the neighbouring nations should be particularly dealt with.
(2) That whatsoever nation injured Gods nation, they should not go unpunished. Little persecutors shall be taken account of as well as great ones.
2. The sitting of this court for judgment.
3. The plaintiff called, on whose behalf this prosecution is set on foot.
4. The charge exhibited against them, which is very particular.
(1) They had been very abusive to the children of Israel.
(2) They had unjustly seized Gods silver and gold.
5. The sentence passed upon them. Return your recompence upon your own head.
(1) They shall not gain their end in the mischief they designed.
(2) They shall be paid in their own coin. (Matthew Henry.)
The persecution of good men
I. There have ever been good men on earth.
1. My people. They are His--
(1) They have surrendered themselves to His will.
(2) He has pledged them His loving guardianship.
2. My heritage (Exo_19:5). He who owns the universe, esteems holy souls as the most valuable of His possessions.
II. These good men on earth have generally been subject to persecution. Whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted My land. There is a persecution that, whilst it does not involve bonds, imprisonments, and physical violences, involves the malice of hell, and inflicts grievous injury. There is social calumny, scorn, degradation, and various disabilities.
III. Their persecution will be avenged by heaven. I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there, for My people and for My heritage Israel. Ah! the time hastens when persecutors of all types and ages will have full retribution dealt out to them in some great valley of Jehoshaphat. (Homilist.)
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 v1 Joel 3
THE JUDGMENT OF THE HEATHEN
Joel 3
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HITHERTO Joel has spoken no syllable of the heathen, except to pray that God by His plagues will not give Israel to be mocked by them. But in the last chapter of the Book we have Israels captivity to the heathen taken for granted, a promise made that it will be removed and their land set free from the foreigner. Certain nations are singled out for judgment, which is described in the terms of Apocalypse; and the Book closes with the vision, already familiar in prophecy, of a supernatural fertility for the land.
It is quite another horizon and far different interests from those of the preceding chapter. Here for the first time we may suspect the unity of the Book, and listen to suggestions of another authorship than Joels. But these can scarcely be regarded as conclusive. Every prophet, however national his interests, feels it his duty to express himself upon the subject of foreign peoples, and Joel may well have done so. Only, in that case, his last chapter was delivered by him at another time and in different circumstances from the rest of his prophecies. Chapters 1-2 are complete in themselves. Chapter 3 opens without any connection of time or subject with those that precede it.
The time of the prophecy is a time when Israels fortunes are at low her sons scattered among the heathen, her land, in part at least, held by foreigners. But it would appear (though this is not expressly said, and must rather be inferred from the general proofs of a post-exilic date) that Jerusalem is inhabited. Nothing is said to imply that the city needs to be restored.
All the heathen nations are to be brought together for judgment into a certain valley, which the prophet calls first the Vale of Jehoshaphat and then the Vale of Decision. The second name leads us to infer that the first, which means "Jehovah-judges," is also symbolic. That is to say, the prophet does not single out a definite valley already called Jehoshaphat. In all probability, however, he has in his minds eye some vale in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, for since Ezekiel (Ezekiel 38) the judgment of the heathen in face of Jerusalem has been a standing feature in Israels vision of the last things; and as no valley about that city lends itself to the picture of judgment so well as the valley of the Kedron with the slopes of Olivet, the name Jehoshaphat has naturally been applied to it. Certain nations are singled out by name. These are not Assyria and Babylon, which had long ago perished, nor the Samaritans, Moab and Ammon, which harassed the Jews in the early days of the Return from Babylon, but Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Edom, and Egypt. The crime of the first three is the robbery of Jewish treasures, not necessarily those of the Temple, and the selling into slavery of many Jews. The crime of Edom and Egypt is that they have shed the innocent blood of Jews. To what precise events these charges refer we have no means of knowing in our present ignorance of Syrian history after Nehemiah. That the chapter has no explicit reference to the cruelties of Artaxerxes Ochus in 360 would seem to imply for it a date earlier than that year. But it is possible that Joe_3:17 refers to that, the prophet refraining from accusing the Persians for the very good reason that Israel was still under their rule.
Another feature worthy of notice is that the Phoenicians are accused of selling Jews to the sons of the Jevanim, Ionians or Greeks. The latter lie on the far horizon of the prophet, and we know from classical writers that from the fifth century onward numbers of Syrian slaves were brought to Greece. The other features of the chapter are borrowed from earlier prophets.
"For, behold, in those days and in that time, When I bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all the nations, And bring them down to the Vale of Jehoshaphat; And I will enter into judgment with them there, For My people and for My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the heathen, And My land have they divided. And they have cast lots for My people: They have given a boy for a harlot, And a girl have they sold for wine and drunk it. And again, what are ye to Me, Tyre and Sidon and all circuits of Philistia? Is it any deed of Mine ye are repaying? Or are ye doing anything to Me? Swiftly, speedily will I return your deed on your head, Who have taken My silver and My gold, And My goodly jewels ye have brought into your palaces.
The sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem have ye sold to the sons of the Greeks, In order that ye might set them as far as possible from their own border. Lo! I will stir them up from the place to which ye have sold them, And I will return your deed upon your head. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the sons of Judah, And they shall sell them to the Shebans, To a nation far off; for Jehovah hath spoken. Proclaim this among the heathen, hallow a war, Wake up the warriors, let all the fighting-men muster and go up Beat your ploughshares into swords, And your pruning-hooks into lances. Let the weakling say, I am strong and come, all ye nations round about, And gather yourselves together. Thither bring down Thy warriors, Jehovah, Let the heathen be roused, And come up to the Vale of Jehoshaphat, For there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put in the sickle, for ripe is the harvest. Come, get you down; for the press is full, The vats overflow, great is their wickedness. Multitudes, multitudes in the Vale of Decision! For near is Jehovahs day in the Vale of Decision. Sun and moon have turned black, And the stars withdrawn their shining. Jehovah thunders from Zion, And from Jerusalem gives forth His voice Heaven and earth do quake But Jehovah is a refuge to His people, And for a fortress to the sons of Israel. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, Who dwell in Zion, the mount of My holiness; And Jerusalem shall be holy, Strangers shall not pass through her again. And it shall be on that day The mountains shall drop sweet wine, And the hills be liquid with milk.
And all the channels of Judah flow with water; A fountain shall spring from the house of Jehovah, And shall water the Wady of Shittim. Egypt shall be desolation, And Edom desert-land, For the outrage done to the children of Judah, Because they shed innocent blood in their land. Judah shall abide peopled forever, And Jerusalem for generation upon generation. And I will declare innocent their blood, which I have not declared innocent, Jehovah who dwelleth in Zion."
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 vv1, 4, 9, 13, 17 CRITICAL NOTES.] For] Explanatory of judgment predicted (ch. Joe_2:31).…
CRITICAL NOTES.] For] Explanatory of judgment predicted (ch. Joe_2:31). Those days] Viz. the outpouring of the Spirit, further described by the words “when I shall bring,” &c., redemption from distress of every kind; including gathering together of the dispersed, elevation into new and greater glory, exceeding earlier political or spiritual condition.
Joe_3:2. Valley of Jehoshaphat] where confederate foes were overthrown, say some (Psa_83:6-8; 2Ch_20:22-26); others think it is near Jerusalem (cf. Zec_14:4), and the term given to indicate the judgments of God upon the nations there. The ultimate events are still future, and fill up the space between the restoration of the Jews and the second advent of Christ. Plead] Not merely argue against enemies, but deal with them in judgments (Isa_66:16; Eze_38:22).
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Joe_3:3. Lots] A common way of dividing captives (Nah_3:10). The harlot was not paid in money, but with a boy; and a girl was of so little value, that they sold her for a drink of wine. This depicts the ignominious treatment of Israel by the enemy.
HOMILETICS
PUNISHMENT UPON THE PERSECUTORS OF GOD’S PEOPLE.—Joe_3:1-3
The prophecy from ch. Joe_2:28 to the end of this book constitutes one whole, embracing the Messianic period, from the day of Pentecost to the final triumph and consummation of the kingdom. The events of the past are framed to describe the revelations of the future. In the second division (ch. Joe_3:1-21) we are introduced to events which issue in the restoration of Israel, which form the crisis of the destiny of the world, and which describe the final conflict of good and evil. Israel, viewed as the representative of God’s kingdom, are persecuted by the Gentile nations who are enemies to God. But he will deliver them from oppression and destroy their persecutors.
I. The cruel treatment of God’s people. God’s people, consecrated to him by covenant, have ever been despised by the world. Ungodly men belong to a system entirely opposed to their spiritual interests, and established upon laws and institutions which resist the authority of God. The indignities done to Israel are specified in the text, and typical of many forms of persecution.
1. They were robbed of their own land. “And parted my land.” All the earth is the Lord’s, but he locates his people, and dwells with them in certain places. The land belonged to him as well as the people, and when they cannot defend it, he will assert his rights to it and regain it. The enemy acted on the ancient motto, “Conquer and divide.” They parted the land and shared it amongst them. But those that enrich themselves by robbing God’s people will be spoiled of their own treasures. Wealth and reputation taken from others will not fit well on ourselves.
Who steals my purse, steals trash;
But he that filches from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.—
2. They were scattered in other lands. “Whom they have scattered among the nations.” God’s people were driven by violence into heathen nations and enslaved. The disciples were persecuted and fled from city to city. The early Christians were banished to mines of other countries, and islands of the sea. “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” Christ had it, and his people cannot expect any better treatment. Scorn and ridicule, social calumny and religious degradation, cannot be avoided. The good will ever excite the ill, and “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
3. They were indignantly treated. “They have cast lots for my people,” &c. (a) They despised them. Treated them all alike, honourable and dishonourable. They were all worthless, despised, and distributed by lot, a greater indignity than captivity and slavery. To trample on the weak and the fallen is most inhuman. “How unsuitable is it for us, who live only by kindness, to be unkind,” says Edwards. “And they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.” (b) They sold them as slaves. They were disposed of to slave-dealers at most ridiculous prices. A boy was given instead of money for the hire of a harlot, and a girl was sold for a drink of wine in revelry. This was done by Assyrians, Chaldees, and Romans. Enmity to God and persecution of his people have often been connected with scenes of sensuality. But how barbarous for men to sport with their own species, and prefer a moment’s gratification to the permanent interests of men. What inhumanity to subject young, innocent children to extreme hardship and anguish from such base motives! Let us thank God that the horrors of slavery are past, that we live in a land of personal liberty and religious laws.
II. The punishment of their enemies. “I will gather all nations,” &c. God may suffer enemies to prevail for a time, but the year of recompenses will come. God will avenge his own elect.
1. The time is fixed. “In those days and in that time.” The day, the hour may be unknown to us; but they are fixed immutably in the purpose and providence of God. There is a year of the redeemed, an acceptable year for the opening of the prison to them that are bound, for the bringing again of the captivity of Zion (Jer_30:3).
2. The place is fixed. The valley of Jehoshaphat may mean the valley in which God destroyed the numerous enemies of that prince (2Ch_20:26-28); or, in allusion to the word (meaning “the Lord hath judged”), it may refer to any scene when God will deal out retribution and execute his enemies. In due time and in some great valley God will punish sinners and reckon with nations for their infamous conduct. God is gathering men now in mysterious ways, will soon plead with them, accuse and condemn them, and “there shall be tribulation, such as there had not been from the beginning of the world.”
3. The reason is assigned. “For my people.” God’s people are precious in his sight, whatever be their treatment and outward condition in the world. (a) They are his people. They have given themselves to him, and belong entirely to him. Others refuse allegiance and forget God, “but the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.” (b) They are his heritage. He chose Israel as his heritage and peculiar treasure, his portion and treasure above other people (Deu_32:9). When weak and desponding in trial he assured them of his love and defence. The most precious things in the universe are holy people. God claims them for his own, will never permit them to be lost, but will vindicate their cause and redeem them from death. “He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of my eye.” “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Joe_3:1. I. The sad condition. “Captivity of Judah.” The Church is often oppressed and persecuted by enemies, thrown into captivity by backslidings, and bound fast by things of time and sense. The sinner is under the bondage of sin, captivated by lust, and lashed by a guilty conscience. II. The blessed change. “Bring again the captivity.” Sins are forgiven, and persecutors are overthrown. God’s power redeemed Israel from literal, and God’s grace delivers men from spiritual, slavery. III. The time of the change. “In those days and in that time.” God has his own times of deliverance. His people should have patience and hope, for they shall not sorrow a day longer than he has purposed. Divine decrees have fixed the time for blessing the Church, and neither Rome nor infidels can hinder the work. “Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion; for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come” (Psa_102:13). IV. The author of the change. “I shall bring again.” It is God’s work and not man’s. He makes, keeps, and saves the Church. He purchased and will defend his people. He will in judgment and in grace destroy the wicked, and bless the righteous. “When the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.”
Joe_3:2.
1. The assembly. “All nations.”
2. The place. “The valley of Jehoshaphat.”
3. The purpose. I “will plead.”
4. The reason. “For my people.” “Here the fate of whole nations is obviously bound up with that of Israel, and is to depend on the relations they have sustained to the people of God” [S. Cox].
Valley. In the days of Joel valleys were the usual fields of “battle,” mountainous and wooded country being unfavourable to the movements, tactics, and strategical combinations of ancient military art. Naturally, therefore, the Prophet would select some valley as the arena of the final conflict. But this conflict was also to be a judgment. Was it possible to select a valley whose very name should convey the idea of judgment and of Divine judgment? Yes; close outside the eastern wall of Jerusalem lay a valley, known as the “valley of Jehoshaphat.” “Jehoshaphat means, Jehovah judges. Here ready to his hand were the very symbols the Prophet required. The scene of the final conflict and the final judgment would be the valley in which Jehovah judgeth and will judge [S. Cox].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3
Joe_3:1-3. Persecution. Oh, if when we oppress and goad our fellow-creatures, we bestowed but one thought upon the dark evidences of human error, which, like dense and heavy clouds, are rising slowly, it is true, but not less surely, to heaven, to pour their after-vengeance on our heads—if we heard but one instant, in imagination, the deep testimony of dead men’s voices, which no power can stifle, and no pride can shut out, where would be the injury and injustice, the suffering, misery, cruelty, and wrong, that each day’s life brings with it [Dickens]?
Sold a girl for wine. A woman in Glasgow, some time since, in order to gratify her immoderate craving for ardent spirits, was said to have offered her own child for sale as a subject for dissection [Whitecross].
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.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Judgment of the Heathen and the Glory of…
The Judgment of the Heathen and the Glory of Israel
A general judgment of all nations, for their mistreatment of Israel, is announced in the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joe_3:1-4). Tyre, Zidon, and Philistia, immediate neighbours of Israel, are arraigned for robbery and slave trade, and sentenced according to the lex talionis (Joe_3:5-8). All nations are then summoned as though to a tryst of arms before Jehovah (Joe_3:9-13), whose terrible Day is described (Joe_3:14-17), ending with the blessing of Judah through the fertility of its land, and with the doom of desolation for Egypt and Edom (Joe_3:18-21).
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1. In those days, etc.] i.e. the period of the Day of Jehovah just mentioned. Bring again the captivity] restore the prosperity, a technical phrase for an epoch-making change: cp. Amo_9:14; Psa_14:7; Job_42:10; Eze_16:53.
2. Valley of Jehoshaphat] an ideal valley in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, called Jehoshaphat from the meaning of the name, 'Jehovah judges.' This prophecy probably occasioned the name (not traced earlier than 300 a.d.) of the modern valley of Jehoshaphat, S. of Jerusalem.
3. Captives of ancient warfare were distributed by lot (Oba_1:11; Nah_3:10) and bartered in connexion with carousals.
4. Coasts of Palestine] RV 'regions of Philistia?' The question implies a protest against punishment by Tyre, etc. Will ye render, etc.] RM 'Will ye repay a deed of mine, or will ye do aught unto me? swiftly,' etc. Do you think to repay me a wrong which I have done you? or will you wrong me? In either case vengeance will be speedily executed upon you.
5. My silver, etc.] not necessarily from the Temple, but the property of the people was reckoned as Jehovah's. Temples] i.e. palaces, the dwellings of the rich.
6. The Phœnicians (Tyre and Zidon) were famous as slave traders (Eze_27:13; Amo_1:9). Grecians] Heb Jevanim, i.e. 'Ionians,' the name by which the Greeks were commonly known amongst the Hebrews: cp. Gen_10:2-4; Eze_27:13; Isa_66:19; Zec_9:13. That ye might, etc.] and thus increase your gain; since the further a slave from home, the greater his value, owing to his less opportunity to escape. Joe_3:5-6 do not necessarily refer directly to any specific events, but to a long course of conduct whereby these peoples profited by every disaster that befell Judah.
7, 8. The captives are to be returned; the enemies in turn are to be taken captive and sold by the Jews to the far distant Sabeans in Arabia, a people famous for traffic in spices and gold (Isa_60:6; Jer_6:20; Eze_27:22; Job_6:19): cp. for story of their queen 1 Kings 10.
9. The theme of the general judgment announced in Joe_3:1-2 is resumed. Heralds are to summon the nations as though to a trial of arms with the hosts of Jehovah (Joe_3:9-11). Gentiles] RV 'nations.' Prepare] RM 'sanctify' with sacrifices or other religious ceremonies (1Sa_7:8.; Jer_6:4; Mic_3:5).
10. Instruments of peace are to be made those of war, the reverse of the promise of Isa_2:4; Mic_4:3.
11. Assemble yourselves] RV 'Haste ye.' Jehovah also is to bring His heavenly hosts (Psa_68:17; Psa_103:20; Zec_14:5).
12. Jehovah now speaks announcing His advent for judgment. According to the NT. the advent of Jehovah is fulfilled in the first and second advents of Christ: cp. Mat_25:31., and see below.
13. The heavenly host is addressed. The harvest, ordinary symbol of joy and bounty (Psa_4:7), is here one of terror (Isa_63:1.; Rev_14:15): cp. also Mat_13:30, Mat_13:39.
14. The valley of decision] determination, judgment: the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joe_3:2, Joe_3:12).
15. Cp. Joe_2:10, Joe_2:31.
16. Roar] suggests the lion. His voice] the thunder: cp. Psalms 29. The figure is of a great tempest with the cry of the beast and thunder combined. Shake] cp. Joe_2:10.
The hope.. the strength] RV 'a refuge.. a stronghold': cp. Psa_14:6; Psa_27:1; Psa_31:4; Psa_43:2; Psa_46:1. The very sounds announcing the doom of the nations will herald a place of safety for Israel.
17. The prophet knew of no heavenly Jerusalem, and he thought of the final consummation of the people of God in Palestine. Holy] inviolable. No enemy should again pass through Jerusalem.
18. Judah shall be wonderfully productive: cp. Amo_9:13. The perennial spring of the Temple mountain, which Isaiah (Isa_8:6) and the author of Psalms 46 had mentioned as a symbol of Jehovah's presence, Joel saw, after the manner of Ezekiel (Eze_47:1.), issuing as a stream to water the dry and desert portion of the land symbolised under the valley of Shittim, or, RM, 'Acacias' (which is the meaning of Shittim), since the acacia grows in very dry places. A Shittim E. of the Jordan is mentioned (Num_25:1; Num_33:49; Jos_2:1), but it is not probably referred to here.
19. As a foil to the fertility of Judah is the desolation of Egypt and Edom, probably mentioned as typical examples of the countries hostile to Judah, and from which Israel had suffered the cruelties of warfare and massacre from the outset of their history. Edom, after the exile, was the object of bitter feeling for recent hostilities. Egypt, it may have been thought, had never adequately suffered for its treatment of Israel when in bondage, since it had escaped the overthrows of Assyria and Chaldea.
20. In their felicity, as described in Joe_3:17.
21. For I will cleanse, etc.] Either the city will be cleansed from all bloodguiltiness, cp. Eze_22:3.; Isa_4:4; Mal_3:3 or, more probably, we must render, with RM, 'and I will hold as innocent their blood which I have not held as innocent,' i.e. the blood of Israel will be held to have been shed innocently, and hence will be avenged upon their enemies. The guarantee is, For the Lord dwelleth in Zion: cp. Joe_3:17. 'Joel, in his little book, passes from the City of Destruction to the City Celestial.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 9 (See Scofield "Jer 15:21").
remnant
(See Scofield "Jer 15:21").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The judgment of the nations (Joe 3:1-8)
III. THE EVENTS OF THE DAY OF THE LORD: ISRAEL’S ENEMIES JUDGED AND THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED
CHAPTER 3
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1. The judgment of the nations (Joe 3:1-8)
2. The preceding warfare of the nations and how it ends (Joe 3:9-16)
3. Jehovah in the midst of His People (Joe 3:17-21)
Joe 3:1-8. The first verse specifies the time when Jehovah will do what He announces in the two verses which follow. It will be in those days, in that time, when the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem is brought back. Clearly then up to this time this cannot yet have been, for the captivity of His people is not yet ended. They are still scattered in the great dispersion among the nations of the earth, The time is future when the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem is brought back. Israel, the ten tribes are not mentioned here, but they are included in the prophecy; they will likewise be brought back. Joel only mentions Judah, because His prophecy was addressed to Judah and Jerusalem. The captivity, or dispersion, which is the same thing, of the people Israel will not end till divine power accomplishes it according to the many promises in the Word of God. And when at last the heavens are silent no longer and Jehovah in His power begins to fulfil His promises and their captivity ends, it will mean judgment for the nations.
It is Jehovah Himself who speaks, what He is going to do in that day, when He arises and has mercy on Zion. “I will also bring together all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat.” How the Lord will bring these nations together and then accomplish His purpose is revealed in Joe 3:9-12. We therefore pass it by for the present till we reach the second part of this chapter. But here is also the place mentioned where this great judgment of nations will be executed. It will be in the valley of Jehoshaphat. The word means translated “Jehovah judges.” This name occurs elsewhere in the Word of God. King Jehu was the son of Jehoshaphat and he was the son of Nimshi 2Ki 9:22. Significant names of the king who had to judge, for Jehu means “He is Jehovah; ” Jehoshaphat, “Jehovah judges; ” Nimshi, “Jehovah reveals.”
In 2Ch 20:1-37 we read the account of King Jehoshaphat’s victory over hostile nations. But the place where this took place is not the valley of Jehoshaphat, but it was called “Berachah,” that is blessing. We mention this for some expositors have claimed that the place where King Jehoshaphat brought judgment upon these nations is the valley of which Joel speaks.
The valley of Jehoshaphat must be looked for in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem. It is generally placed in the valley of the Kidron on the East of Jerusalem. It may not yet be in existence. In Zec 14:1-21 we read of the same events which are here predicted. When the Lord appears His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives in that day. The Mount of Olives will then cleave in the midst and there will be formed a very great valley Zec 14:4. This great valley may be the valley where the Lord judges the nations.
In the valley of Jehoshaphat the Lord will deal with the nations and His judgment will be on account of His people and heritage Israel. The nations scattered them and divided His land. They treated His people like slaves, casting lots for His people, sold a girl for wine and drank it.
The great sin of the nations, the Gentile world-powers, is the sin against Israel. This is repeatedly mentioned by God’s prophets. The foundation of the judgment of the nations of which our Lord speaks in Mat 25:1-46 is likewise the treatment of the Jew. Read also Psa 79:1-3; Psa 83:1-18; Isa 29:1-24; Isa 34:1-17; Jer 25:13-38; Zec 1:14-21; Zec 12:2-14.
In Joel’s day such wickedness as described here of casting lots for His people and selling boys and girls was partially known. The Philistines had done this, as well as Tyre and Sidon. But these words were fulfilled during the Babylonian captivity and in that great dispersion which was brought about by the Roman Empire. After the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 the very thing happened spoken by the prophet. Nearly a million and a half of human beings perished in Jerusalem and the land in that awful warfare. Over 100,000 were taken prisoners. These hundred thousand Jews were disposed by Titus according to Josephus in the following manner: “Those under seventeen years of age were publicly sold; of the remainder, some were executed immediately, some sent away to work in the Egyptian mines (which was worse than death), some kept for public shows to fight with wild beasts in all the chief cities; only the tallest and most handsome were kept for the triumphal procession in Rome.” Jews were sold for so small a price as a measure of barley; thousands were thus disposed of. And what else could we add from the history of centuries, the cruel and terrible persecutions God’s heritage suffered, the thousands and tens of thousands massacred, tortured, outraged and sold as slaves. Have we not beheld but recently similar horrors in Germany? And that history is not yet finished. Outbreaks of hatred against the heritage Israel are still to come and the time of Jacob’s trouble soon to come will eclipse all their former suffering. It will be a time of trouble such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now nor ever shall be Mat 24:21. The day will come when the Lord will judge the nations for the evil they have done.
Joe 3:9-16. This is a prophecy showing what precedes the judgment of these nations. The judgment hosts of the Lord, the angels, are seen coming down, then He appears in all His majesty, while sun and moon are darkened. It is a great dramatic scene which the Spirit of God unfolds. We arrange it, adding the different speakers, to bring out its full value:
The Lord speaking:
Proclaim this among the nations;
Declare a war,
Arouse the mighty ones,
Let all the men of war draw near, let them come up!
Beat your ploughshares into swords,
And your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weak say, I am strong.
Come together
All ye nations round about
Gather yourselves together.
The Prayer of the Prophet:
Thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down,
O Jehovah!
The Lord speaking:
Let the nations arise and come up
To the valley of Jehoshaphat,
For there will I sit to judge all the nations round about.
The Lord to His judgment hosts:
Put in the sickle,
For the harvest is ripe;
Come--Tread!
For the wine-press is full,
The vats overflow;
For their wickedness is great.
The Prophet beholding the gathering:
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For the day of Jehovah is at hand in the valley of decision.
The sun and the moon are darkened
And the stars withdraw their shining.
And Jehovah shall roar from Zion
And send forth His voice from Jerusalem,
And the heavens and the earth shall shake;
But Jehovah will be a refuge for His people
And a fortress for the sons of Israel.
Throughout the prophetic Word we read that great nations confederated will oppose God and His purposes when this age closes. There will be a great western confederacy, the restored Roman Empire. (See annotations on Dan 2:1-49; Dan 7:1-28.) There will also be a great northeastern alliance of nations. This is in view here. Consult Psa 2:1-12, Psa 68:1-6; Isa 29:1-24; Isa 34:1-17; Jer 25:29-38; Eze 38:1-23,Zec 12:1-14; Zec 14:1-21, and Rev 19:19. Judgment then falls upon these opposing nations. The judgment is mentioned as reaping and treading the winepress, the same as in Rev 14:14-20.
Joe 3:17-21. Like nearly all the other prophetic books Joel ends with the vision of the kingdom and the Lord dwelling in the midst of His people. He will appear in all His glory. Jehovah will be a refuge for His people. Then they will come to that knowledge which they so long refused, that the delivering Jehovah is their God. But the Jehovah who appears there is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who was in their midst and who was delivered by the people to be crucified. What a day it will be when “They will look upon Him whom they have pierced and mourn for Him” Zec 12:10. He will dwell in Zion, the mountain of glory. The glory from above will find a resting place on that holy hill. There He will be enthroned as King Psa 2:6. From there the glory will be spread over all Isa 4:5-6; Psa 68:16. “For the Lord hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation. This is my rest forever; here will I dwell for I have desired it” Psa 132:13-18. It is the literal Zion and not something spiritual. Even good expositors of the Bible have missed the mark. One good commentator says: “For Zion or Jerusalem is of course not the Jerusalem of the earthly Palestine, but the sanctified and glorified city of the living God, in which the Lord will be eternally united with His redeemed, sanctified and glorified Church.” Such exposition emanates from ignorance of God’s purposes with His earthly people and in not dividing the Word of Truth rightly.
Joel speaks also of the judgment which will fall upon Egypt in that day. Isaiah also tells of judgment, but through him we learn that Egypt will turn to the Lord and the Lord will graciously heal Egypt Isa 19:1-25). Judah will abide forever. His people will be cleansed. Jehovah, our ever blessed Lord, will dwell in Zion. The happy and glorious state of the land and the whole earth during the millennium is thus tersely stated. For when He reigns there will be righteousness and peace; glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the deep. Thus ends the great vision of Joel, the son of Pethuel. May the eye of faith behold these blessed revelations and may we live in anticipation of what is soon to be.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 9 God’s Judgment upon his Enemies
God’s Judgment upon his Enemies
v. 1. For, behold, in those days and in that time, in the Messianic period which had just been described according to its outstanding features, with the Day of Judgment very prominent in the description, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, of the spiritual Israel, by the deliverance through Christ, of which the return of Judah from exile was but a type,
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v. 2. I will also gather all nations, with the great and mighty heathen nations, and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is here made the scene of the last great Judgment upon men, and will plead with them there, conducting a formal trial with them, for My people and for My heritage Israel, in the interest of the Lord’s people, whom they have scattered among the nations, in the various oppressions and captivities which have struck the Lord’s people from the earliest days, and parted My land, appropriating it or dividing it as they saw fit.
v. 3. And they have cast lots for My people, after they had taken them captive, and have given a boy for an harlot, namely, as the price for which they secured the services of a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, for the sake of a drunken debauch, that they might drink. The description is typical of the manner with which the Lord’s enemies have ever dealt with the believers.
v. 4. Yea, and what have ye to do with Me, O Tyre and Zidon and all the coasts of Palestine? that is, what object did they have in acting as they did, when not only the capitals of Phoenicia, but also the city-states of Philistia were showing such enmity against Him?. Will ye render Me a recompense? seeking revenge for what they consider a wrong done them. They had neither cause to seek revenge nor occasion to carry it out. And if ye recompense Me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head, Cf Psa 7:17,
v. 5. because ye have taken My silver and My gold, in the Temple-treasures and throughout the city of Jerusalem, and have carried into your temples, including also the palaces of their rulers, My goodly, pleasant things, His most costly possessions;
v. 6. the children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, the Philistines being those who reduced the captives to slavery, the Phoenicians those who acted as agents in selling the Hebrew slaves, that ye might remove them far from their border, to be slaves in distant countries.
v. 7. Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, delivering them from the masters to whom they had been sold, and will return your recompense upon your own head, so that their revenge would react upon themselves;
v. 8. and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, when Tyre and Sidon were captured and their inhabitants either killed or reduced to slavery, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, who are mentioned as being the remotest nation toward the east, in the Arabian Desert, to a people far off; for the Lord hath spoken it. The imagery of this paragraph is based, at least in part, upon happenings of those days; but the application includes far more than this, for the Lord makes those incidents typical of the punishments which He intended for all His enemies.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16 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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Behold
"Listen" or "Pay attention"
in those days and at that time
The phrase "at that time" means the same thing as and intensifies the phrase "in those days." AT: "in those very days" or "at that very time" (See: Doublet)
when I return the exiles of Judah and Jerusalem
"When I send the exiles back to Judah and Jerusalem"
Valley of Jehoshaphat
Jehoshaphat, whose name means "Yahweh judges," was king of Judah before Joel lived. There is no known place with this name. It would be best to translate this as the name of a valley that people named after the man Jehoshaphat.
my people and my inheritance Israel
These two phrases emphasize how Yahweh views Israel as his own precious people. AT: "the people of Israel, who are my inheritance" (See: Doublet)
traded a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine so they could drink
These are examples of the kinds of things they did and do not indicate what they did to two particular children. AT: "and did things like trading a boy for a prostitute and selling a girl for wine, so they could drink" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
exile
Judah
Jerusalem
nation
Jehoshaphat
judge
inherit
Israel
lots
prostitute
wine
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 vv1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 3:1-16 Joel here foretold divine judgment on the nations,…
3:1-16 Joel here foretold divine judgment on the nations, particularly those that had oppressed God’s people.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.