This document is a commentary on Joel 3, focusing on the restoration of Judah and Jerusalem and God's judgment on oppressive nations. It discusses the prophetic imagery used to describe both historical events and future judgments, while exploring various interpretations among scholars regarding the events referred to in the prophecy. Ultimately, it conveys the message of redemption for God's people and accountability for their oppressors, culminating in a final divine judgment.

1. JOEL 3 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
The Nations Judged
1 [a]“In those days and at that time,
when I restore the fortunes of Judah and
Jerusalem,
BARNES, "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
1

2. 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.”
CLARKE, "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 Ezekiel 38 and 39.
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 fullness 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
fulfillment 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.
GILL, "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
2

3. Isa_52:8.
HENRY, "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.
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,
JAMISON, "Joe_3:1-21. God’s vengeance on Israel’s foes in the Valley
of Jehoshaphat. His blessing on the church.
bring again the captivity — that is, reverse it. The Jews restrict this to
the return from Babylon. Christians refer it to the coming of Christ. But
the prophet comprises the whole redemption, beginning from the return
out of Babylon, then continued from the first advent of Christ down to
the last day (His second advent), when God will restore His Church to
perfect felicity [Calvin].
K&D, “(Heb. Bib. ch. 4.) Judgment upon the World of Nations, and
Glorification of Zion- Joe_3:1, Joe_3:2. “For, behold, in those days, and
in that time, when I shall turn the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I
will gather together all nations, and bring them down into the valley of
Jehoshaphat, and will contend with them there concerning my people
and my inheritance Israel, which they have scattered among the
nations, and my land have they divided. Joe_3:3. And for my people
they cast the lot; and gave the boy for a harlot, and the maiden they
have sold for wine, and drunk (it).” The description of the judgment-day
predicted in Joe_2:31 commences with an explanatory ‫י‬ ִⅴ‫י‬ ִⅴ‫י‬ ִⅴ‫י‬ ִⅴ. The train of
thought is the following: When the day of the Lord comes, there will be
deliverance upon Zion only for those who call upon the name of the Lord;
for then will all the heathen nations that have displayed hostility to
Jehovah's inheritance be judged in the valley of Jehoshaphat. By hinnhinnhinnhinnēēēēhhhh,
the fact to be announced is held up as something new and important. The
notice as to the time points back to the “afterward” in Joe_2:28 : “in
those days,” viz., the days of the outpouring of the Spirit of God. This
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4. time is still further described by the apposition, “at that time, when I
shall turn the captivity of Judah,” as the time of the redemption of the
people of God out of their prostrate condition, and out of every kind of
distress. ‫בוּת‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ‫ת‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫שׁוּב‬‫בוּת‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ‫ת‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫שׁוּב‬‫בוּת‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ‫ת‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫שׁוּב‬‫בוּת‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ‫ת‬ ֶ‫א‬ ‫שׁוּב‬ is not used here in the sense of “to bring back the
prisoners,” but, as in Hos_6:11, in the more comprehensive sense of
restitutio in integrum, which does indeed include the gathering together
of those who were dispersed, and the return of the captives, as one
element, though it is not exhausted by this one element, but also
embraces their elevation into a new and higher state of glory,
transcending their earlier state of grace. In ‫י‬ ִ ְ‫צ‬ ַ ִ‫ק‬ְ‫ו‬‫י‬ ִ ְ‫צ‬ ַ ִ‫ק‬ְ‫ו‬‫י‬ ִ ְ‫צ‬ ַ ִ‫ק‬ְ‫ו‬‫י‬ ִ ְ‫צ‬ ַ ִ‫ק‬ְ‫ו‬ the prediction of
judgment is appended to the previous definition of the time in the form
of an apodosis. The article in ‫ם‬ִ‫וֹי‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ‫ם‬ִ‫וֹי‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ‫ם‬ִ‫וֹי‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ‫ם‬ִ‫וֹי‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ (all the nations) does not refer to
“all those nations which were spoken of in Hos_1:1-11 and 2 under the
figure of the locusts” (Hengstenberg), but is used because the prophet
had in his mind all those nations upon which hostility towards Israel, the
people of God, is charged immediately afterwards as a crime: so that the
article is used in much the same manner as in Jer_49:36, because the
notion, though in itself an indefinite one, is more fully defined in what
follows (cf. Ewald, §227, a). The valley of YYYYeeee
hhhhōōōōshshshshââââphphphphââââtttt, i.e., Jehovah judges,
is not the valley in which the judgment upon several heathen nations
took place under Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20), and which received the
name of Valley of blessing, from the feast of thanksgiving which
Jehoshaphat held there (2Ch_20:22-26), as Ab. Ezra, Hofmann, Ewald,
and others suppose; for the “Valley of blessing” was not “the valley of
Kidron, which was selected for that festival in the road back from the
desert of Tekoah to Jerusalem” (see Bertheau on 2 Chronicles l.c.), and
still less “the plain of Jezreel” (Kliefoth), but was situated in the
neighbourhood of the ruins of BereikBereikBereikBereikûûûûtttt, which have been discovered by
Wolcott (see Ritter, Erdkunde, xv. p. 635, and Van de Velde, Mem. p.
292). On the other hand, the valley of Jehoshaphat is unquestionably to
be sought for, according to this chapter (as compared with Zec_14:4), in
or near Jerusalem; and the name, which does not occur anywhere else in
either the Old or New Testament, excepting here and in Joe_3:12, is
formed by Joel, like the name ‛‛‛‛ēēēēmeqmeqmeqmeq hechhechhechhechâââârrrrūūūūtstststs in v. 14, from the judgment
which Jehovah would hold upon the nations there. The tradition of the
church (see Euseb. and Jerome in the Onom. s.v. κοιλκοιλκοιλκοιλάάάάςςςς, Caelas, and
Itiner. Anton. p. 594; cf. Robinson, Pal. i. pp. 396, 397) has correctly
assigned it to the valley of the Kidron, on the eastern side of Jerusalem,
or rather to the northern part of that valley (2Sa_18:18), or valley of
Shaveh (Gen_14:17). There would the Lord contend with the nations,
hold judgment upon them, because they had attacked His people
(nachnachnachnachăăăăllllââââththththıııı, the people of Jehovah, as in Joe_2:17) and His kingdom (''''artsartsartsartsıııı).
The dispersion of Israel among the nations, and the division (‫ק‬ ‫ח‬‫ק‬ ‫ח‬‫ק‬ ‫ח‬‫ק‬ ‫)ח‬ of the
Lord's land, cannot, of course, refer to the invasion of Judah by the
Philistines and Arabians in the time of Joram (2Ch_21:16-17). For
although these foes did actually conquer Jerusalem and plunder it, and
carried off, among other captives, even the sons of the king himself, this
transportation of a number of prisoners cannot be called a dispersion of
the people of Israel among the heathen; still less can the plundering of
4

5. the land and capital be called a division of the land of Jehovah; to say
nothing of the fact, that the reference here is to the judgment which
would come upon all nations after the outpouring of the Spirit of God
upon all flesh, and that it is not till Joe_3:4-8 that Joel proceeds to speak
of the calamities which neighbouring nations had inflicted upon the
kingdom of Judah. The words presuppose as facts that have already
occurred, both the dispersion of the whole nation of Israel in exile
among the heathen, and the conquest and capture of the whole land by
heathen nations, and that in the extent to which they took place under
the Chaldeans and Romans alone.
BENSON, "Joel 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 Joel 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 2 Chronicles 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 Isaiah 66:16, or to the battle of Gog and Magog,
described Ezekiel 39., and that of Armageddon, spoken of Revelation 16:14;
Revelation 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.
5

6. CALVIN, "Verse 1
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 tothe
valley of Jehoshaphat, and there call together all nations.
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
6

7. 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.
COFFMAN, "Verse 1
The prophecy of this chapter is one of the most remarkable in the whole Bible;
and, for centuries, interpreters have found no agreement in what to make of it.
More than 150 years ago, Adam Clarke wrote that, "This is a part of the
prophecy which is difficult to understand; all interpreters are at variance upon
it,'" himself leaning toward the view that it referred to certain victories or
changes in the fortunes of the secular state of Israel. It is our conviction that
most of the failure to understand Joel 3 derives from a misunderstanding of the
secular state and fleshly nation of the Jews as the principal, or even the sole,
subject of God's concern and of his prophetic word, a confusion of the two
Israel's of God, the one of the flesh alone, the other of the spirit and mind of
Abraham. It is of this latter Israel, the true Israel alone, that the great prophecies
of the O.T. are speaking, some notable exceptions occurring at a time when the
two were commingled with a secular state which the fleshly Israel had injected
into God's plans by their rebellion against him and their insistence upon having
a king. As during the subsequent centuries the true Israel was necessarily
mingled with the secular, and indeed confused with it, there were indeed many
prophecies and references to "Israel" which applied to them both.
But in this chapter, one should forget all about the secular Israel, the Jewish
state, the Hebrew nation, the fleshly Israel, the old Israel, etc. All of the
references to Judah, Jerusalem, Zion, "my heritage Israel," etc. are used in a
spiritual sense of the church and kingdom of Jesus Christ our Lord. The very
first verse of this chapter dates everything in it subsequently to the Day of
Pentecost; and that leaves the secular Israel completely out of it.
The first section of the chapter, in highly metaphorical language, speaks of the
"true Israel" receiving the forgiveness of sins, and of the judgments of God upon
the nations which opposed his purpose (Joel 3:1-7). Section two (Joel 3:9-13) has
the same meaning as the gathering of the nations for the battle of Armageddon
(Revelation 16); and it also has the summoning of all nations to the Final
Judgment, presented under the figure of the sickle and the harvest as is also the
case in Revelation 14. The reign of Christ is depicted in section three (Joel
3:14-17), during which time, the Lord "roars from Jerusalem" (in the N.T.
which originated there), and also during which time the "people of Israel" (the
church of Jesus Christ) will find their refuge in Jehovah (not in literal
Jerusalem). All men during this phase of divine history will be caught up in "the
valley of decision," where will be determined their destiny as servants either of
Christ, or of the devil.
7

8. The final section of this chapter (Joel 3:18-21) is a figurative presentation of the
wonderful spiritual blessings available in the kingdom of heaven.
Joel 3:1
"For behold in those days, and at that time, when I shall bring back the captivity
of Judah and Jerusalem.
"In those days, and at that time ..." Cole said that this "points to the distant and
vague future";[2] and, although that might be true as it seemed to the people of
Joel's day, it is not so for us. What is clearly meant is that "in the times of the
pouring out of God's Spirit upon all flesh," as prophesied immediately before
these words, the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem will be "brought back." And
of course, we know exactly when that time began, namely, on the first Pentecost
after the resurrection of Christ. As Keil noted, "All of the views which refer
these words to events before the Christian era are irreconcilable with the
context."[3] Everything in this chapter is to occur after the outpouring of God's
Spirit upon all flesh. Hailey correctly identified the time-frame of this chapter
with "the dispensation following Pentecost."[4] All applications of these words to
some future millennium, or to pre-Christian episodes, are incorrect.
"I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem ..." One is at once
aware of variations from this rendition, "The RSV (and a number of
translations) rendering it in the more general sense of restore the fortunes."[5]
This change was evidently made in order to accommodate the interpretation of
this place as pertaining to secular Israel, an interpretation denied by the literal
meaning of the words, because "even after the returns of the sixth and fifth
centuries, many Jews still remained in exile."[6] However, the ASV and all of the
ancient versions harmonize with the KJV in this place, "bring again the captivity
of Judah"; and "this is the literal translation."[7] It is therefore a very general
and widespread captivity which is the subject of the prophecy. What is it? Jesus
mentioned it in the first public sermon he ever preached:
"He hath sent me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovering of sight to
the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised, To proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18).
This is the only release of captives that can properly be identified with the
dispensation of the Spirit of God; and it is clearly a release from bondage and
servitude of sin that is meant. "It is the deliverance from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the Son of God."[8] The terrible captivity
of the Jews (in the general sense) is to Satan, whose servants they chose to
become when they cried, "We have no king but Caesar," and "his blood be upon
us and upon our children." Likewise, the vast majority of the whole Gentile
world as well are engaged in the very same servitude of the evil one. It is that
captivity, preeminently, and above all others, with which God has always been
concerned. In speaking of Jews and Gentiles, let it ever be remembered that all
alike, both Jews and Gentiles, are invited by the gospel of Christ to receive the
turn of their captivity. Whosoever will may come! This sublime truth makes it
impossible to suppose that God has in any manner wronged Israel by his refusal
8

9. to accommodate to their carnal view of God's kingdom which identified it with
their state! The fact that Amos "spoke of `an entire captivity' (Amos 1:6,9),"[9]
at a period long before either the Assyrian or Babylonian captivities occurred,
shows the ancient prophets did not restrict this to a physical captivity. Then, as
now, the problem was sin and rebellion against God.
"Turning again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem" thus refers to the times of
regeneration in the kingdom of Christ, that is, to this present dispensation of the
gospel when all men, of every race and nation, if they so desire, may receive the
forgiveness of their sins and the restoration of their broken fellowship with the
Father.
COKE, "Joel 3:1. For, behold, in those days, &c.— As the foregoing promise of
the Spirit was an assurance to the Jews, that, notwithstanding they might be
reduced very low by their enemies, yet they should not be destroyed as a nation
till God had accomplished all the great prophesies relating to the Messiah; so he
in this chapter assures them of a deliverance from the oppression of their
enemies, which they then laboured under; particularly from the Tyrians,
Sidonians, Philistines, Egyptians, and Idumaeans, who were the neighbouring
nations, and had each in their turns invaded them, pillaged their treasures, and
led them into captivity. Upon this account God expostulates with them, Joel 3:2-6
promises the Jews that their captives should return, and that he would cause
them to execute his just vengeance on their enemies, who, with all their power
and forces, should not be able to deliver themselves; Joel 3:7-16. That Jerusalem
should be taken under his protection, and the Jews enjoy such great prosperity,
and see the violence, unrighteousness, and insolence of their enemies so signally
avenged, as should cause them to acknowledge the power of Jehovah their God,
and adore him for his great and unmerited favours towards them; Joel 3:17 to
the end. Houbigant reads this verse, Behold, after those days, and after that time,
&c. And he supposes that these words refer to the 27th verse of the preceding
chapter, as they evidently cannot refer to the times posterior to the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Romans.
GUZIK, "Joel 3 - Judgment in the Valley of Decision
A. A warning to the nations.
1. (1-3) A promise to bring back scattered and mistreated Israel.
For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of
Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the
Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on
account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the
nations; they have also divided up My land. They have cast lots for My people,
have given a boy as payment for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may
drink.
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10. a. In those days and at that time: Joels prophecy still concerns the time period
connected with it shall come to pass afterward mentioned in Joel 2:28. This is the
broad period of the Last Days, initiated by the Ascension of Jesus and the birth
of the Church on the Day of Pentecost.
i. Many have the wrong idea of the last days, thinking only in terms of the final
years or months immediately before the return of Jesus in glory to this earth, or
the rapture of the Church. Scripturally, we can think of the last days as an era,
one that began with the birth of the Church on the Day of Pentecost. Since that
time, the Church has not been rushing towards a distant edge that represents the
consummation of all things. Instead, at the Day of Pentecost the Church came to
the edge - and has run parallel to the brink for some 2,000 years.
b. When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem: In a lesser,
immediate sense this was fulfilled in the return from the Babylonian exile. In the
greater, ultimate sense it will be fulfilled in the end-times regathering of Israel, to
the point where an expectant Israel welcomes Jesus saying, Blessed is He who
comes in the name of the Lord (Matthew 23:39) and salvation comes to Israel as
a whole (Romans 11:26-27).
c. I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of
Jehoshaphat: Joel here describes the final gather of the nations in rebellion
against God at the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:12-16). There is no
place in Israel known as the Valley of Jehosphaphat but the name Jehoshaphat
means, The Lord Judges. It describes Gods place of judgment.
i. There is no such valley in the land of Judea; and hence the name must be
symbolical. It signifies the judgment of God, or Jehovah judgeth. (Clarke)
ii. This is a judgment of all nations. Joel was written at a time when a terrible
plague of locusts brought the judgment of God upon the people of God. At a time
like that, it is easy to think God, You are dealing harshly with us, but what about
the ungodly nations? We may be bad, but they are worse. Dont you care about
them? God uses Joel 3 to assure Israel that the nations will be dealt with.
d. I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people: Gods
complaint against the nations is that they have mistreated His people. Primarily,
this has in view the way the nations treat Israel, but also extends to how the
nations treat the Church. When Gods people are mistreated, God takes it
personally and will avenge it.
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11. i. In the judgment of the nations Jesus described in Matthew 25:31-46, the
criteria is not faith in Jesus Christ but how the nations have treated the people of
Israel - the brethren of Jesus. Held on the earth after His return in glory, this
judgment determines who is allowed to enter into the Millennial Earth, and who
goes straight to judgment.
ii. They have cast lots for My people: It is bad enough for man to regard any
human life as cheap; it is worse to regard the people of God as cheap. God
remembers and will repay.
HAWKER, “Though it may, in a subordinate and secondary sense, be said, that
these blessings to the Church were in a measure given on the occasional
deliverance of Zion from her enemies, when at any time the Lord reckoned with
her foes: yet, it were sadly to enervate scripture, to suppose that the Holy Ghost
pointed to any temporal mercies when speaking of the great day of the Lord.
Evidently the days here spoken of were the gospel days, and that time the time of
salvation, by the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this scripture, read in this point of view, opens a subject of the most blessed
nature. What thanks is there due from the Church to God the Holy Ghost, for
thus preparing the Church so many ages before the coming of Christ, to be
waiting and looking for her Lord's approach. The valley of Jehoshaphat was
near to Jerusalem, as if pointing to the very spot of the Lord Jesus' ministry.
And how was the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem brought again, but by the
death of Jesus? Reader! how sweet and blessed this subject becomes, when in the
many gracious things said in it, you and I can discover our own personal interest
in them?
EBC, “THE JUDGMENT OF THE HEATHEN
Joel 3:1-21
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 Israel’s 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 Joel’s. 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
11

12. subject with those that precede it.
The time of the prophecy is a time when Israel’s 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 mind’s eye some vale in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, for since
Ezekiel (Ezekiel 38:1-23) the judgment of the heathen in face of Jerusalem has
been a standing feature in Israel’s 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
Joel 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
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13. 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 Jehovah’s 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."
BI, “For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring
again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem.
The year of recompense
I. It shall be the year of the redeemed. Though the bondage of God’s
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 God’s nation, they should not
go unpunished. Little persecutors shall be taken account of as well
as great ones.
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14. 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 God’s 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.)
LANGE, “Joel 3:1-3. For behold in those days, etc. The ‫י‬ ִ‫כּ‬ in Joel 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
Isaiah, 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 Joel 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
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15. generally, Jerusalem specially.
2 I will gather all nations
and bring them down to the Valley of
Jehoshaphat.[b]
There I will put them on trial
for what they did to my inheritance, my
people Israel,
because they scattered my people among the
nations
and divided up my land.
BARNES, "I will gather all nations and bring them down to the 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 come against” him, “to cast God’s people out of” His
“possession,” which “He gave” them “to inherit” 2Ch_20:11, and
Jehoshaphat appealed to God, “O our God, wilt Thou not judge them?”
and God said, “the battle is not yours but God’s,” and God turned their
swords everyone against the other, “and none escaped. And on the fourth
day they assembled themselves in the valley of Berachah” (blessing); “for
there they blesed the Lord” 2 Chr. 24, 26. So, in the end, He shall destroy
antichrist, not by human aid, but “by the breath of His mouth,” and then
the end shall come and lie shall sit on the throne of His glory to judge all
nations. Then shall none escape of those gathered against Judah and
Jerusalem, but shall be judged of their own consciences, as those former
enemies of His people fell by their own swords.
That valley, however, is nowhere called “the valley of Jehoshaphat.” It
continued to be “called the valley of Berachah,” the writer adds, “to this
day.” And it is so called still. Caphar Barucha, “the village of blessing,”
was still known in that neighborhood in the time of Jerome ; it had been
known in that of Josephus . Southwest of Bethlehem and east of Tekoa
are still 3 or 4 acres of ruins , bearing the name Bereikut , and a valley
below them, still bearing silent witness to God’s ancient mercies, in its
but slightly disguised name, “the valley of Bereikut” (Berachah). The
only valley called the “valley of Jehoshaphat” , is the valley of Kedron,
lying between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, incircling the city on
the east.
There Asa, Hezekiah, and Josiah cast the idols, which they had burned
15

16. 1Ki_15:13; 2Ch_30:14; 2Ki_23:6, 2Ki_23:12. The valley was the common
burying-place for the inhabitants of Jerusalem . “There” was the garden
where Jesus oftentimes resorted with His disciples; “there” was His
Agony and Bloody Sweat; there Judas betrayed Him; thence He was
dragged by the rude officers of the high priest. The temple, the token of
God’s presence among them, the pledge of His accepting their sacrifices
which could only be offered there, overhung it on the one side. There,
under the rock on which that temple stood, they dragged Jesus, “as a
lamb to the slaughter” Isa_53:7. On the other side, it was overhung by the
Mount of “Olives,” from where, “He beheld the city and wept over it,”
because it “knew” not “in” that its “day, the things which belong to its
peace;” whence, after His precious Death and Resurrection, Jesus
ascended into, heaven.
There the Angels foretold His return, “This heaven shall so come in like
manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven” Act_1:11. It has been a
current opinion, that our Lord should descend to judgment, not only in
like manner, and in the like Form of Man, but in the same place, over this
valley of Jehoshaphat. Certainly, if so it be, it were appropriate, that He
should appear in His Majesty, where, for us, He bore the extremest
shame; that He should judge “there,” where for us, He submitted to be
judged. “He sheweth,” says Hilary (in Matt. 25), “that the Angels bringing
them together, the assemblage shall be in the place of His Passion; and
meetly will His Coming in glory be looked for there, where He won for us
the glory of eternity by the sufferings of His humility in the Body.” But
since the Apostle says, “we shall meet the Lord in the air,” then, not “in”
the valley of Jehoshaphat, but “over” it, in the clouds, would His throne
be. : “Uniting, as it were, Mount Calvary and Olivet, the spot would be
well suited to that judgment wherein the saints shall partake of the glory
of the Ascension of Christ and the fruit of His Blood and Passion, and
Christ shall take deserved vengeance of His persecutors and of all who
would not be cleansed by His Blood.”
God saith, “I will gather all nations,” of the gathering together of the
nations against Him under antichrist, because He overrules all things,
and while they, in “their” purpose, are gathering themselves against His
people and elect, He, in His purpose secret to them, is gathering them to
sudden destruction and judgment, “and will bring them down;” for their
pride shall be brought down, and themselves laid low. Even Jewish
writers have seen a mystery in the word, and said, that it hinteth “the
depth of God’s judgments,” that God “would descend with them into the
depth of judgment” , “a most exact judgment even the most hidden
things.”
His very presence there would say to the wicked , “In this place did I
endure grief for you; here, at Gethsemane, I poured out for you that
sweat of water and Blood; here was I betrayed and taken, bound as a
robber, dragged over Cedron into the city; hard by this valley, in the
house of Caiaphas and then of Pilate, I was for you judged and
condemned to death, crowned with thorns, buffeted, mocked and spat
upon; here, led through the whole city, bearing the Cross, I was at length
crucified for you on Mount Calvary; here, stripped, suspended between
heaven and earth, with hands, feet, and My whole frame distended, I
offered Myself for you as a Sacrifice to God the Father. Behold the Hands
which ye pierced; the Feet which ye perforated; the Sacred prints which
ye anew imprinted on My Body. Ye have despised My toils, griefs,
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17. sufferings; ye have counted the Blood of My covenant an unholy thing; ye
have chosen to follow your own concupiscences rather than Me, My
doctrine and law; ye have preferred momentary pleasures, riches,
honors, to the eternal salvation which I promised; ye have despised Me,
threatening the fires of hell.
Now ye see whom ye have despised; now ye see that My threats and
promises were not vain, but true; now ye see that vain and fallacious
were your loves, riches, and dignities; now ye see that ye were fools and
senseless in the love of them; but too late. “Depart, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” But ye who
believed, hoped, loved, worshiped Me, your Redeemer, who obeyed My
whole law; who lived a Christian life worthy of Me; who lived soberly,
godly and righteously in this world, looking for the blessed hope and this
My glorious Coming, “Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
of heaven prepared for you from the foundation of the World - And these
shall go into everlasting fire; but the righteous into life eternal.” Blessed
he whoso continually thinketh or foreseeth, provideth for these things.”
And will plead with them there - Woe to him, against whom God
pleadeth! He saith not, “judgeth” but “pleadeth,” making Himself a
party, the Accuser as well as the Judge , “Solemn is it indeed when
Almighty God saith, “I will plead. He that hath ears to hear let him hear.”
For terrible is it. Wherefore also that “Day of the Lord” is called “great
and terrible.” For what more terrible than, at such a time, the pleading of
God with man? For He says, “I will plead,” as though He had never yet
pleaded with man, great and terrible as have been His judgments since
that first destruction of the world by water. Past are those judgments on
Sodom and Gomorrah, on Pharaoh and his hosts, on the whole people in
the wilderness from twenty years old and upward, the mighty
oppressions of the enemies into whose hands He gave them in the land of
promise; past were the four Empires; but now, in the time of antichrist,
“there shall be tribulation, such as there had not been from the
beginning of the world.” But all these are little, compared with that great
and terrible Day; and so He says, “I will plead,” as though all before had
not been, to “plead.””
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;
our reason condemns 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.
For My people - o: “God’s people are the one true Israel, “princes with
God,” the whole multitude of the elect, foreordained to eternal life.” Of
these, the former people of Israel, once chosen of God, was a type. As
Paul says, “They are not all Israel which are of Israel” Rom_9:6; and
again, “As many as walk according to this rule” of the Apostle’s teaching,
“peace be on them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God” Gal_6:16, i. e.,
not among the Galatians only, but in the whole Church throughout the
world. Since the whole people and Church of God is one, He lays down
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18. one law, which shall be fulfilled to the end; that those who, for their own
ends, even although therein the instruments of God, shall in any way
injure the people of God, shall be themselves punished by God. God
makes Himself one with His people. “He that toucheth you, toucheth the
apple of My eye” Zec_2:8. So our Lord said, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou Me?” Act_9:4 and in the Day of Judgment He will say, “I was an
hungered and ye gave me no meat. Forasmuch as ye did it not unto one of
the least of these My brethern, ye did it not to Me” Mat_25:34-35. : “By
calling them “My heritage,” He shows that He will not on any terms part
with them or suffer them to be lost, but will vindicate them to Himself
forever.”
Whom they have scattered among the nations - Such was the offence of
the Assyrians and Babylonians, the first ““army,” which God sent against
His people. And for it, Nineveh and Babylon perished. : “Yet he does not
speak of that ancient people, or of its enemies only, but of all the elect
both in that people and in the Church of the Gentiles, and of all
persecutors of the elect. For that people were a figure of the Church, and
its enemies were a type of those who persecute the saints.” The
dispersion of God’s former people by the pagan was renewed in those
who persecuted Christ’s disciples from “city to city,” banished them, and
confiscated their goods. Banishment to mines or islands were the
slightest punishments of the early Christians .
CLARKE, "The valley of Jehoshaphat - There is no such valley in the
land of Judea; and hence the word must be symbolical. It signifies the
judgment of God, or Jehovah judgeth; and may mean some place (as Bp.
Newcome imagines) where Nebuchadnezzar should gain a great battle,
which would utterly discomfit the ancient enemies of the Jews, and
resemble the victory which Jehoshaphat gained over the Ammonites,
Moabites, and Edomites, 2Ch_20:22-26.
And parted my land - The above nations had frequently entered into
the territories of Israel; and divided among themselves the lands they
had thus overrun.
While the Jews were in captivity, much of the land of Israel was seized
on, and occupied by the Philistines, and other nations that bordered on
Judea.
GILL, "I will also gather all nations,.... Or cause or suffer them to be
gathered together against his people; not the Moabites, Ammonites, and
Edomites, in the times of Jehoshaphat, as Aben Ezra; but either the
Turks, prophesied of under the name of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel, Eze_
38:1; and a multitude of other nations with them, who shall be gathered
together against the Jews, to regain the land of Judea from them, they
will upon their conversion inhabit; or else all the antichristian kings and
nations, which shall be gathered to the battle of the great day of God
Almighty, Rev_16:14;
and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat: Kimchi thinks
this was some valley near to Jerusalem, in which Jehoshaphat built or
18

19. wrought some works, and so was called by his name: Joseph Ben Gorion
(x) speaks of a valley, called the valley of Jehoshaphat, which was near
Jerusalem, to the further end of which one Zachariah, a good man, in the
times of the Jewish wars, was rolled and died, being cast down from the
top of a tower upon the wall east of Jerusalem; and which is confirmed
by R. Abraham, as quoted by Lively; and the true Josephus says (y), that
the valley into which this man was cast lay directly under Jerusalem; and
Benjamin of Tudela (z) makes mention of a valley of this name, which he
says lies between Jerusalem and the mount of Olives; where Jerom (a)
places it by the name of Caelas; with whom Mr. Maundrell (b) agrees,
who says that this valley lies between Mount Moriah and Mount Olivet,
and has its name from the sepulchre of Jehoshaphat: and, according to
Lyra on the place, who is followed by Adrichomius (c), it is the same with
the valley of Kidron, which was so situated; but, why that should be
called the valley of Jehoshaphat, no reason is given. Aben Ezra and
others are of opinion that this is the same with the valley of Berachah,
where Jehoshaphat obtained a very great victory over many nations,
2Ch_20:1; but it does not appear to have been called by his name, and,
besides, seems to be at a great distance from Jerusalem; though there
may be an allusion to it, that as many nations were there collected
together and destroyed, so shall it be in the latter day; and I am of
opinion that no proper name of a place is here meant, as going by it in
common, but is so called from the judgment of God here executed upon
his and his people's enemies. So Jarchi calls it "the valley of judgments";
Jehoshaphat signifying "the judgment" of the Lord: Kimchi says it may
be so called because of judgment, the Lord there pleading with the
nations, and judging them: and in the Targum it is rendered,
"the valley of the division of judgment:''
and to me it designs no other than Armageddon, the seat of the battle of
Almighty God, Rev_16:16; and which may signify the destruction of their
troops; See Gill on Rev_16:16;
and will plead with them there for my people, and for my heritage Israel;
the people of the Jews, who will now be converted, who will have the
"loammi", Hos_1:9, taken off of them, and will be called the people of the
living God again, and be reckoned by him as his portion and inheritance;
though not them only, but all the saints; all that have separated from
antichrist, his doctrine and worship, and have suffered by him:
whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land;
Kimchi refers this to the scattering of the Jews by Titus and his army,
and the partition of Judea among them, which is not amiss; in
consequence of which they are still a scattered people, and their land has
been parted between Turks and Papists (d); sometimes inhabited by the
one, and sometimes by the other, and now by both, on whom God will
take vengeance; he will plead the cause of his people, by the severe
judgments he will inflict on his and their enemies. This may respect the
persecuting of the Christians from place to place, and seizing on their
lands and estates, and parting them, as well as the dispersion of the
Jews, and the partition of the land of Canaan.
19

20. HENRY, "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, Zec_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, (Zec_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 2Ch_
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.
JAMISON, "Parallel to Zec_14:2, Zec_14:3, Zec_14:4, where the
“Mount of Olives” answers to the “Valley of Jehoshaphat” here. The
latter is called “the valley of blessing” (Berachah) (2Ch_20:26). It lies
20

21. 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, etc. (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
Zec_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.
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.
K&D 2-8, “In Joe_3:2 and Joe_3:3 Joel is speaking not of events
belonging to his own time, or to the most recent past, but of that
dispersion of the whole of the ancient covenant nation among the
heathen, which was only completely effected on the conquest of Palestine
and destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and which continues to this
day; though we cannot agree with Hengstenberg, that this furnishes an
argument in favour of the allegorical interpretation of the army of
locusts in ch. 1 and 2. For since Moses had already foretold that Israel
would one day be driven out among the heathen (Lev_26:33.; Deu_
28:36.), Joel might assume that this judgment was a truth well known in
Israel, even though he had not expressed it in his threatening of
punishment in ch. 1 and 2. Joe_3:3 depicts the ignominious treatment of
Israel in connection with this catastrophe. The prisoners of war are
distributed by lot among the conquerors, and disposed of by them to
slave-dealers at most ridiculous prices, - a boy for a harlot, a girl for a
drink of wine. Even in Joel's time, many Israelites may no doubt have
been scattered about in distant heathen lands (cf. v. 5); but the heathen
nations had not yet cast lots upon the nation as a whole, to dispose of the
inhabitants as slaves, and divide the land among themselves. This was
not done till the time of the Romans.
(Note: After the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem, Titus
disposed of the prisoners, whose number reached 97,000 in the
course of the war, 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, some
kept for the public shows to fight with wild beasts in all the chief cities
of Rome; and only the tallest and most handsome for the triumphal
procession in Rome (compare Josephus, de bell. Jud. vi. 9, 2, 3). And
21

22. the Jews who were taken prisoners in the Jewish war in the time of
Hadrian, are said to have been sold in the slave-market at Hebron at
so low a price, that four Jews were disposed of for a measure of
barley. Even in the contests of the Ptolemaeans and Seleucidae for the
possession of Palestine, thousands of Jews were sold as prisoners of
war. Thus, for example, the Syrian commander Nicanor, in his
expedition against the Jews in the Maccabaean war, sold by
anticipation, in the commercial towns along the Mediterranean, such
Jews as should be made prisoners, at the rate of ninety prisoners for
one talent; whereupon 1000 slave-dealers accompanied the Syrian
army, and carried fetters with them for the prisoners (1 Maccabees
3:41; 2 Maccabees 8:11, 25; Jos. Ant. xii. 7, 3).)
But, as many of the earlier commentators have clearly seen, we must not
stop even at this. The people and inheritance of Jehovah are not merely
the Old Testament Israel as such, but the church of the Lord of both the
old and new covenants, upon which the Spirit of God is poured out; and
the judgment which Jehovah will hold upon the nations, on account of
the injuries inflicted upon His people, is the last general judgment upon
the nations, which will embrace not merely the heathen Romans and
other heathen nations by whom the Jews have been oppressed, but all
the enemies of the people of God, both within and without the earthly
limits of the church of the Lord, including even carnally-minded Jews,
Mohammedans, and nominal Christians, who are heathens in heart.
(Note: As J. Marck correctly observes, after mentioning the
neighbouring nations that were hostile to Judah, and then the Syrians
and Romans: “We might proceed in the same way to all the enemies of
the Christian church, from its very cradle to the end of time, such as
carnal Jews, Gentile Romans, cruel Mohammedans, impious Papists,
and any others who either have borne or yet will bear the punishment
of their iniquity, according to the rule and measure of the restitution
of the church, down to those enemies who shall yet remain at the
coming of Christ, and be overthrown at the complete and final
redemption of His church.”)
Before depicting the final judgment upon the hostile nations of the
world, Joel notices in Joe_3:4-8 the hostility which the nations round
about Judah had manifested towards it in his own day, and foretels to
these a righteous retribution for the crimes they had committed against
the covenant nation. Joe_3:4. “And ye also, what would ye with me, O
Tyre and Sidon, and all ye coasts of Philistia? will ye repay a doing to
me, or do anything to me? Quickly, hastily will I turn back your doing
upon your head. Joe_3:5. That ye have taken my silver and my gold,
and have brought my best jewels into your temples. Joe_3:6. And the
sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem ye have sold to the sons of
Javan, to remove them far from their border. Joe_3:7. Behold, I waken
them from the place whither ye have sold them, and turn back your
doing upon your head. Joe_3:8. And sell your sons and your daughters
into the hand of Javan, and they sell them to the Sabaeans, to a people
far off; for Jehovah has spoken it.” By vvvveeee
gamgamgamgam the Philistines and
Phoenicians are added to the ggggōōōōyimyimyimyim already mentioned, as being no less
culpable than they; not, however, in the sense of, “and also if one would
inquire more thoroughly into the fact” (Ewald), or, “and even so far as ye
are concerned, who, in the place of the friendship and help which ye
22

23. were bound to render as neighbours, have oppressed my people”
(Rosenmüller), for such additions as these are foreign to the context; but
rather in this sense, “and yea also ... do not imagine that ye can do wrong
with impunity, as though he had a right so to do.” ‫י‬ ִ‫ל‬ ‫ם‬ ֶ ፍ‫ה־‬ ָ‫מ‬‫י‬ ִ‫ל‬ ‫ם‬ ֶ ፍ‫ה־‬ ָ‫מ‬‫י‬ ִ‫ל‬ ‫ם‬ ֶ ፍ‫ה־‬ ָ‫מ‬‫י‬ ִ‫ל‬ ‫ם‬ ֶ ፍ‫ה־‬ ָ‫מ‬ does not mean,
“What have I to do with you?” for this would be expressed differently
(compare Jos_22:24; Jdg_11:12); but, “What would ye with me?” The
question is unfinished, because of its emotional character, and is
resumed and completed immediately afterwards in a disjunctive form
(Hitzig). Tyre and Sidon, the two chief cities of the Phoenicians (see at
Jos_19:29 and Jos_11:8), represent all the Phoenicians. ‫פל‬ ‫ילוֹת‬ ִ‫ל‬ְ ‫ּל‬‫כ‬‫פל‬ ‫ילוֹת‬ ִ‫ל‬ְ ‫ּל‬‫כ‬‫פל‬ ‫ילוֹת‬ ִ‫ל‬ְ ‫ּל‬‫כ‬‫פל‬ ‫ילוֹת‬ ִ‫ל‬ְ ‫ּל‬‫כ‬, “all
the circles or districts of the Philistines,” are the five small princedoms
of Philistia (see at Jos_13:2). ‫מוּל‬ְ‫מוּל‬ְ‫מוּל‬ְ‫מוּל‬ְ , the doing, or inflicting (sc., of evil),
from ggggââââmalmalmalmal, to accomplish, to do (see at Isa_3:9). The disjunctive
question, “Will ye perhaps repay to me a deed, i.e., a wrong, that I have
done to you, or of your own accord attempt anything against me?” has a
negative meaning: “Ye have neither cause to avenge yourselves upon me,
i.e., upon my people Israel, nor any occasion to do it harm. But if
repayment is the thing in hand, I will, and that very speedily (qalqalqalqal mmmmeeee
hhhhēēēērrrrââââhhhh,
see Isa_5:26), bring back your doing upon your own head” (cf. Psa_7:17).
To explain what is here said, an account is given in Joe_3:5, Joe_3:6 of
what they have done to the Lord and His people, - namely, taken away
their gold and silver, and brought their costly treasures into their palaces
or temples. These words are not to be restricted to the plundering of the
temple and its treasury, but embrace the plundering of palaces and of the
houses of the rich, which always followed the conquest of towns (cf. 1Ki_
14:26; 2Ki_14:14). ‫ם‬ ֶ‫יכ‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫יכ‬ ֵ‫ה‬‫ם‬ ֶ‫יכ‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫יכ‬ ֵ‫ה‬‫ם‬ ֶ‫יכ‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫יכ‬ ֵ‫ה‬‫ם‬ ֶ‫יכ‬ ֵ‫ל‬ ְ‫יכ‬ ֵ‫ה‬ also are not temples only, but palaces as well
(cf. Isa_13:22; Amo_8:3; Pro_30:28). Joel had no doubt the plundering
of Judah and Jerusalem by the Philistines and Arabians in the time of
Jehoram in his mind (see 2Ch_21:17). The share of the Phoenicians in
this crime was confined to the fact, that they had purchased from the
Philistines the Judaeans who had been taken prisoners, by them, and
sold them again as salves to the sons of Javan, i.e., to the Ionians or
Greeks of Asia Minor.
(Note: On the widespread slave-trade of the Phoenicians, see
Movers, Phönizier, ii. 3, p. 70ff.)
The clause, “that ye might remove them far from their border,” whence
there would be no possibility of their returning to their native land,
serves to bring out the magnitude of the crime. This would be repaid to
them according to the true lex talionis (Joe_3:7, Joe_3:8). The Lord
would raise up the members of His own nation from the place to which
they had been sold, i.e., would bring them back again into their own land,
and deliver up the Philistines and Phoenicians into the power of the
Judaeans (mmmmââââkharkharkharkhar bbbbeeee
yyyyââââdddd as in Jdg_2:14; Jdg_3:8, etc.), who would then sell
their prisoners as slaves to the remote people of the Sabaeans, a
celebrated trading people in Arabia Felix (see at 1Ki_10:1). This threat
would certainly be fulfilled, for Jehovah had spoken it (cf. Isa_1:20). This
occurred partly on the defeat of the Philistines by Uzziah (2Ch_26:6-7)
and Hezekiah (2Ki_18:8), where Philistian prisoners of war were
certainly sold as slaves; but principally after the captivity, when
23

24. Alexander the Great and his successors set many of the Jewish prisoners
of war in their lands at liberty (compare the promise of King Demetrius
to Jonathan, “I will send away in freedom such of the Judaeans as have
been made prisoners, and reduced to slavery in our land,” Josephus, Ant.
xiii. 2, 3), and portions of the Philistian and Phoenician lands were for a
time under Jewish sway; when Jonathan besieged Ashkelon and Gaza (1
Maccabees 10:86; 11:60); when King Alexander (Balas) ceded Ekron and
the district of Judah (1 Maccabees 10:89); when the Jewish king
Alexander Jannaeaus conquered Gaza, and destroyed it (Josephus, Ant.
xiii. 13, 3; bell. Jud. i. 4, 2); and when, subsequent to the cession of Tyre,
which had been conquered by Alexander the Great, to the Seleucidae,
Antiochus the younger appointed Simon commander-in-chief from the
Ladder of Tyre to the border of Egypt (1 Maccabees 1:59).
CALVIN, "We also see that the Prophet Haggai speaks in the same manner of
the second temple, — that the glory of the second temple shall be greater than
that of the first, (Haggai 2:3) He, however referred, no doubt, to the prophecy of
Ezekiel; and Ezekiel speaks of the second temple, which was to be built after the
return of the people from exile. Be it so, yet Ezekiel did not confine to four or five
ages what he said of the second temple: on the contrary he meant that the favor
of God would be continued to the coming of Christ: so also Joel means here,
when he says, When God shall restore the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, he
will then call together all the nations; as though he said, “God will pour out not a
small portion of grace, but will become the complete Redeemer of his people; and
when the whole world shall rise against him, he will yet prevail; he will
undertake the cause of his Church, and will secure the salvation of his people.
Whosoever then will attempt to delay or hinder the restoration of the Church,
shall by no means succeed; for the Lord, the defender of his people, will judge all
nations.”
Let us now see why the Prophet particularly mentions the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Many think that valley to be intended, which was called the Valley of Blessing,
where Jehoshaphat obtained a signal and a memorable victory, when yet he was
not provided with large forces, and when many nations conspired against him.
Though Jehoshaphat fought against a large army with a few people, he yet
wonderfully succeeded; and the people there presented thanks to God, and gave
a name to the place. Hence, many think that this valley is mentioned, that the
Prophet might remind the Jews how wonderfully they were saved; for their
enemies had come for the very purpose of destroying the whole of God’s people,
and thought that this was wholly in their power. The memory then of this history
must have animated the minds of the godly with a good hope; for God then
undertook the cause of a small number against a vast multitude; yea, against
many and powerful nations. And this view seems to me probable. Some place this
valley of Jehoshaphat half way between the Mount of Olives and the city; but
how probable their conjecture is I know not.
Unquestionably, with regard to this passage, their opinion, in my judgment, is
the most correct, who think that there is here a recalling to mind of God’s favor,
which may in all ages encourage the faithful to entertain hope of their salvation.
24

25. Some, however, prefer to take the word as an appellative; and no doubt ‫יהושפט‬
ieushaphath means the judgment of God; and so they render it, “The valley of
the judgment of God.” If this is approved I do not oppose. And, doubtless,
though it be a proper name, and the Prophet speak here of that holy King, to
encourage the Jews to follow his example, he yet alludes, no doubt, to the
judgment of God, or to the contest which he would undertake for the sake of his
people: for it immediately follows ‫שם‬ ‫עמם‬ ‫שפטתי‬ ‫וכ‬ uneshaphathti omem shim,
“And I will contend with them there:” and this verb is derived from ‫שפט‬
shephath. Hence also, if it be the proper name of a place, and taken from that of
the King, the Prophet here meant, that its etymology should be considered; as
though he said, “God will call all nations to judgment, and for this end, that he
may dwell in the midst of his people, and really testify and prove this.”
Some apply this passage to the last judgment, but in too strained a manner.
Hence also has arisen the figment, that the whole world shall be assembled in the
valley of Jehoshaphat: but the world, we know, became infected with such
delirious things, when the light of sound doctrine was extinguished; and no
wonder, that the world should be fascinated with such gross comments, after it
had so profaned the worship of God. (13)
But with respect to the intention of the Prophets he, no doubt, mentions here the
valley of Jehoshaphat, that the Jews might entertain the hope that God would be
the guardian of their safety; for he says everywhere that he would dwell among
them, as we have also seen in the last chapter, “And God will dwell in the midst
of you.” So also now he means the same, I will assemble all nations, and make
them to come down to the valley of Jehoshaphat; that is, though the land shall
for a time be uncultivated and waste, yet the Lord will gather his people, and
show that he is the judge of the whole world; he will raise a trophy in the land of
Judah, which will be nobler than if the people had ever been safe and entire: for
how much soever all nations may strive to destroy the remnant, as we know they
did, though few remained; yet God will sit in the valley of Jehoshaphat, he will
have there his own tribunal, that he may keep his people, and defend them from
all injuries. At the same time, what I have before noticed must be borne in mind;
for he names here the valley of Jehoshaphat rather than Jerusalem, because of
the memorable deliverance they had there, when God discomfited so many
people, when great armies were in an instant destroyed and without the aid of
men. Since God then delivered his people at that time in an especial manner
through his incredible power, it is no wonder that he records here the name of
the valley of Jehoshaphat.
I will contend, he says, with them there for my people, and for my heritage,
Israel. By these words the Prophet shows how precious to God is the salvation of
his chosen people; for it is no ordinary thing for God to condescend to undertake
their cause, as though he himself were offended and wronged; and God contends,
because he would have all things in common with us. We now then, see the
reason of this contention, — even because God so regards the salvation of his
people, that he deems himself wronged in their person; as it is said in another
place, “He who toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye”. And to confirm his
doctrine still more, the Prophet adds, For mine heritage, Israel. God calls Israel
25

26. here his heritage, to strengthen distressed minds, and also to comfort them; for if
the Jews had only fixed their minds on their own state, they could not but think
themselves unworthy of being regarded by God; for they were deemed
abominable by all nations; and we also know that they were severely chastised
for having departed from all godliness and for having, as it were, wholly
alienated themselves from God. Since, then, they were like a corrupted body,
they could not but despond in their adversity: but the Prophet here comes to
their assistance, and brings forward the word heritage, as though he said, “God
will execute judgment for you, not that ye are worthy, but because he has chosen
you: for he will never forget the covenant which he made with your father
Abraham ” We see, then, the reason he mentions heritage: it was, that the Jews
might not despair on account of their sins; and at the same time he commends, as
before, the gratuitous mercy of God, as though he had said, “The reason for your
redemption is no other, but that God has allotted to himself the posterity of
Abraham and designed them to be his peculiar people ” What remains we must
defer until to-morrow.
COFFMAN, "Verse 2
"I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of
Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment upon them there for my people Israel,
whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have parted my land.
"The valley of Jehoshaphat ..." "This is not to be thought of as a literal place in
Palestine, but as an ideal place where judgment is to be executed."[10] This is the
same as the place called Armageddon (Revelation 16); and in both cases, it is the
place where God will execute his wrath upon evil men; and absolutely no
"battle" of any kind is prophesied as occurring at either site. This judgment of
God upon "all nations" who have persecuted God's people has already taken
place repeatedly in history, as witnessed by Tyre, Sidon, Sodom, Gomorrah,
Assyria, Nineveh, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and Jerusalem; and it is still
going on! (See my Commentary on Revelation, pp. 374-378.)
"My people Israel whom they have scattered among the nations ..." Many
expositors think only of the dispersion of the Jews; but more than that is meant.
The people and inheritance of God are not merely the O.T. Israel as such, but the
church of the Lord, (the true Israel) of both covenants, upon which the Spirit of
God is poured out.[11]
The "scattering" here must then be applied to all of the many "scatterings" that
were inflicted upon the old Israel, as well as to the "scatterings" of Christians all
over the world, a very considerable number of which have resulted directly from
vicious persecution by evil nations, as that which arose around the martyrdom of
Stephen, the dispersion of the faithful that came about from the persecutions of
the apostolic missionaries, as Paul, who fled from place to place, with a result of
congregations being planted all over the Roman empire; and this pattern
continues indefinitely and even into modern times; it was persecutions which
drove the early colonies to the New World in the 17th century. Thus the
scattering of God's people among the nations is not a one-shot episode that
26

27. happened to ancient Israel. No wonder the commentators cannot decide what
"scattering" is meant here! "And have parted my land ..." Here again, "my
land" is wrongly read as "Palestine"; but the notion that any such place is any
more "God's land" than North America or any other place on earth should have
been laid to rest twenty centuries ago. "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness
thereof" (Psalms 24:1). The parting, or dividing of God's land therefore refers to
the horrible divisions that have come upon the earth through the devices of
wicked men. The whole world today is divided, because the only basis of unity
through "one new man in Christ Jesus" has been denied and rejected by evil
men. This passage teaches that the ultimate judgment of God will fall upon
humanity for their sins. Deane was near the common consensus of opinions in
this comment:
"This must be referred to the long subsequent time (from Joel) when Palestine
became a Roman province, its capital leveled with the ground; then the great
dispersion of the covenant people among the nations commenced, and continues
to the present day."[12]
Apparently, however, Deane failed to include here the similar "scattering" of the
true Israel and the "divisions" of mankind resulting from wickedness. They also,
of course, are included.
COKE, "Joel 3:2. I will—gather all nations, &c.— It is very evident from the
phrase at the close of the verse, Who have parted my land, that all is not to be
taken in a very extensive sense. It is to be understood of the neighbouring
nations;—All the heathen round about, as in Joel 3:12. In this third and last part
of his prophesy, Joel relates what will come to pass in those days, and in that
time, when the Lord shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. He
apparently describes the great actions of the Maccabees; and that this is the
period of time, to which this part of the prophesy relates, is evident from the
raising up the children of Judah and of Jerusalem, whom their enemies had sold
to the Greeks; Joel 3:7. This return happened under Demetrius. The nations
gathered in the valley of Jehoshaphat, which was near to Jerusalem, are the
Seleucidae, who were afterwards destroyed in the same valley, which is therefore
called The valley decision, or of the threshing.—Tyre and Sidon, and the coasts
of Palestine, Joel 3:4 mean the descendants of the ancient enemies of the Jews;
who assisted in the destruction and plundering of Jerusalem, and whose
posterity were destroyed by the Maccabees. The word ‫יהושׁפט‬ Jehoshaphat
signifies, The Lord judges, or the judgment of the Lord. See Joel 3:14. And
possibly, says Dr. Chandler, thus translated, the valley of Jehoshaphat may
denote no particular place in the country of Judaea, but only some place where
God would execute his vengeance on the enemies of the Jews. Houbigant renders
the last clause, Because they have scattered them among the nations, and have
parted my land. See Chandler, and Sharpe.
ELLICOTT, "(2) The valley of Jehoshaphat.—Some fifty years before Joel
prophesied the kingdom of Judah had been menaced by an imposing
confederacy of hostile tribes. It was an occasion of great anxiety. A national fast
was proclaimed, and after it Jehoshaphat engaged and completely routed the
enemy in a valley in the wilderness of Tekoa. (See 2 Chronicles 20) The victory
27

28. was an occasion of immense exultation, and seems to supply the imagery with
which Joel describes the day of the Lord. The name of Jehoshaphat was at some
period given to the Kedron Valley, but it is here used rather in its grammatical
meaning as the scene of the Divine judgment, the words signifying “the valley
where Jehovah judgeth.”
LANGE, “Joel 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 Chronicles20, 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 Joel 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 2 Chronicles 20:15-17, where
the Lord, while contending for Israel Isaiah, 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 Chronicles20. 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.
28

29. 3 They cast lots for my people
and traded boys for prostitutes;
they sold girls for wine to drink.
BARNES, "And they have cast lots - They treated God’s people as of no
account, and delighted in showing their contempt toward them. They
chose no one above another, as though all alike were worthless. “They
cast lots,” it is said elsewhere, “upon their honorable men” Nah_3:10, as
a special indignity, above captivity or slavery. A “girl” they sold for an
evening’s revelry, and a “boy” they exchanged for a night’s debauch.
CLARKE, "Have given a boy for a harlot - To such wretched
circumstances were the poor Jews reduced in their captivity, that their
children were sold by their oppressors; and both males and females used
for the basest purposes. And they were often bartered for the necessaries
or luxuries of life. Or this may refer to the issue of the Chaldean war in
Judea, where the captives were divided among the victors. And being set
in companies, they cast lots for them: and those to whom they fell sold
them for various purposes; the boys to be slaves and catamites, the girls
to be prostitutes; and in return for them they got wine and such things. I
think this is the meaning of the text.
GILL, "And they have cast lots for my people,.... Not only parted their
land, but cast lots for their persons, Or played at dice for them, how
many captives each soldier should have, and which should be their share
and property: ninety seven thousand Jews, Josephus (d) says, were
carried captive by the Romans, who, very probably, cast lots for them, as
was usual in such cases; see Nah_3:10;
and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might
drink; either they gave a boy to be prostituted to natural lusts, in lieu of a
whore; and a girl to be debauched for a bottle of wine: or they gave a boy
for the price of a whore, as the Targum and Kimchi interpret it; that is,
they gave a boy, instead of money, to a whore, to lie with her, as the
eunuch was given to Thais; and they gave a girl to the wine merchant for
as much wine as they could drink at one sitting. These phrases both
express their uncleanness and intemperance, and also the low price and
value they set upon their captives; and is applicable enough to the
Papists, notorious for the same abominable lusts.
JAMISON, "cast lots for my people — that is, divided among themselves
My people as their captives by lot. Compare as to the distribution of
captives by lot (Oba_1:11; Nah_3:10).
29

30. given a boy for ... harlot — Instead of paying a harlot for her
prostitution in money, they gave her a Jewish captive boy as a slave.
girl for wine — So valueless did they regard a Jewish girl that they
would sell her for a draught of wine.
BENSON, "Joel 3:3. They have cast lots for my people — It was customary with
conquerors, in those days, to divide the captives, taken in war, among themselves
by lot, and so did these enemies of the Jews. And have given a boy for a harlot —
By this is meant, that they exchanged, or gave away, Jewish boys, instead of
money, for harlots. And sold a girl for wine, that they might drink — For a
draught of wine, as it were; that is, at a very vile and low rate. These instances
are mentioned, to signify the contempt in which these enemies of the Jews held
the worshippers of the true God; they parted with them, when they had taken
them captives, upon the vilest terms, as setting little or no value upon them. In
Mingrelia, according to Sir John Chardin, they sell captive children for
provisions and for wine: see Harmer vol. 2. p. 374.
CALVIN, "There follows now another indignity still greater; for they cast lot on
God’s people, — On my people they have cast lot, and prostituted a boy for a
harlot, and a girl have they sold for wine, that they might drink. By these words
the Prophet enhances the injury done them; for the Jews had been reproachfully
treated. Some measure of humanity is mostly shown when men are sold; but the
Prophet here complains in the person of God, that the Jews had been exposed to
sale, as though they were the off scourings of mankind, and of no account. They
have cast lots he says; and this was to show contempt; and the Prophet expresses
more clearly what he meant, and says, that a boy had been given for a harlot,
and a girl for wine. Some consider the Prophet as saying, that boys were
prostituted to base and scandalous purposes; but I prefer another view, — that
the enemies sold them for a mean price to gratify their gluttony, or their lust; as
though the Prophet had said, that the Jews had to endure a grievous reproach by
being set to sale, as they say, and that at the lowest price. He farther adds
another kind of contempt; for whatever price the enemies procured by selling,
they spent it either on harlot or on feasting. We hence see that a twofold injury is
here mentioned, — the Jews had been so despised as not to be regarded as men,
and had been sold not for the usual prices, but had been disposed of in contempt
by their enemies almost for nothing; — and the other reproach was, that the
price obtained for them was afterwards spent on gluttony and whoredom: yet
this people was sacred to God. Now this contumelious treatment, the Prophet
says, God would not endure, but would avenge such a wrong as if done to
himself. This is then the meaning.
But the reason which induces me thus to interpret the Prophet is because he says
that a girl was sold for wine, as the boy for a harlot; and the construction of the
Prophet’s words is the same. It is indeed certain that in the latter clause the
Prophet meant nothing else but that the price was wickedly spent for vile and
shameful purposes; then the former clause must be understood in the same way.
Let us proceed
30

31. COKE, "Joel 3:3. And they have cast lots for my people— That is, "They have
divided my captive people by lot among themselves, according to the laws of war
then in use among mankind." See Nahum 3:10. Obad. Joel 3:11. They have given
a boy for a harlot; that is to say, they gave a boy as the price of a harlot; and a
girl for wine; that is, as the price of wine. They put both boys and girls to the
most infamous uses: the boys to wait on their harlots; the girls to be ruined by
their sellers of wine. The boys are given as a reward for gratifying their vile
passions, and the girls as the price of their intemperance. See Chandler.
LANGE, “Joel 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 Joel 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: Joel 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.
Joel 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. 2 Chronicles
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, p43). 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.
Joel 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: Joel 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.]
31

32. 4 “Now what have you against me, Tyre and
Sidon and all you regions of Philistia? Are you
repaying me for something I have done? If you
are paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily
return on your own heads what you have done.
BARNES, "Yea, and what have ye to do with Me? - Literally, “and also,
what are ye to Me?” The words, “And also,” show that this is something
additional to the deeds of those before spoken of. Those, instanced
before, were great oppressors, such as dispersed the former people of
God and “divided their land.” In addition to these, God condemns here
another class, those who, without having power to destroy, harass and
vex His heritage. The words, “what are ye to Me?” are like that other
phrase, “what is there to thee and me?” (Jos_22:24, etc; Mat_8:29, ...), i.
e., what have we in common? These words, “what are ye to Me?” also
declare, that those nations had no part in God. God accounts them as
aliens, “what are ye to Me?” Nothing. But the words convey, besides, that
they would, unprovoked, have to do with God, harassing His people
without cause. They obtruded themselves, as it were, upon God and His
judgments; they challenged God; they thrust themselves in, to their
destruction, where they had no great temptation to meddle, noticing, but
inbred malice, to impel them.
This was, especially, the character of the relations of Tyre and Zidon
and Philistia with Israel. They were allotted to Israel by Joshua, but were
not assailed . On the contrary, “the Zidonians” are counted among those
who “oppressed” Israel, and “out of” whose “hand” God “delivered” him,
when he “cried” to God Jdg_10:12. The Philistines were the unwearied
assailants of Israel in the days of the Judges, and Saul, and David Jdg_
13:1; 1 Sam. 4; 13; 17; 1Sa_23:1; 1 Sam. 30; 1Sa_31:1-13; during 40 years
Israel was given into the hands of the Philistines, until God delivered
them by Samuel at Mizpeh. When David was king of all Israel, the
Philistines still acted on the offensive, and lost Gath and her towns to
David in an offensive war 2Sa_5:17-25; 2Sa_8:1; 1Ch_18:1; 2Sa_21:18;
2Sa_13:9-16. To Jehoshaphat some of them voluntarily paid tribute 2Ch_
17:11; but in the reign of Jehoram his son, they, with some Arabians,
marauded in Judah, plundering the king’s house and slaying all his sons,
save the youngest 2Ch_21:16-17; 2Ch_22:1. This is the last event before
the time of Joel. They stand among the most inveterate and unprovoked
enemies of God’s people, and probably as enemies of God also hating the
claim of Judah that their God was the One God.
Will ye render Me a recompense? - People never want pleas for
32

33. themselves. The Philistines, although the aggressors, had been signally
defeated by David. People forget their own wrong-doings and remember
their sufferings. It may be then, that the Philistines thought that they had
been aggrieved when their assaults were defeated, and looked upon their
own fresh aggressions as a requital. If moreover, as is probable, they
heard that the signal victories won over them were ascribed by Israel to
God, and themselves also suspected, that these “mighty Gods” 1Sa_4:7-8
were the cause of their defeat, they doubtless turned their hatred against
God. People, when they submit not to God chastening them, hate Him.
This belief that they were retaliating against God, (not, of course,
knowing Him as God,) fully corresponds with the strong words, “will ye
render Me “a recompense?” Julian’s dying blasphemy, “Galilean, thou
hast conquered,” corresponds with the efforts of his life against the
gospel, and implies a secret consciousness that He whose religion he was
straining to overthrow “might” be, What he denied Him to be, God. The
phrase “swiftly,” literally “lightly, and speedily, denotes” the union of
easiness with speed. The recompense is returned “upon” their head,
coming down upon them from God.
CLARKE, "
What have ye to do with me - Why have the Syrians and Sidonians
joined their other enemies to oppress my people? for they who touch my
people touch me.
Will ye render me a recompense? - Do you think by this to avenge
yourselves upon the Almighty? to retaliate upon God! Proceed, and
speedily will I return your recompense; I will retaliate.
GILL, "Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all
the coasts of Palestine?.... The Tyrians, Zidonians, and Philistines, were
near neighbours of the Jews, and implacable enemies to them; and are
here put for the enemies of the true church of Christ, the Papists and
Turks, and in whose possession those places now are: these are
addressed by the Lord, inquiring or demanding the reason of their ill
usage of him and his people: "what have ye to do with me?" to be called
by my name, or accounted my people? I know you not, nor will I have any
fellowship with you: or what have ye to do with my people, to disturb and
distress them? what wrong have I or they done you, that you thus use
them?
HENRY, " 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,
33

34. JAMISON, "what have ye to do with me — Ye have no connection with
Me (that is, with My people: God identifying Himself with Israel); I (that
is, My people) have given you no cause of quarrel, why then do ye trouble
Me (that is, My people)? (Compare the same phrase, Jos_22:24; Jdg_
11:12; 2Sa_16:10; Mat_8:29).
Tyre ... Zidon ... Palestine — (Amo_1:6, Amo_1:9).
if ye recompense me — If ye injure Me (My people), in revenge for
fancied wrongs (Eze_25:15-17), I will requite you in your own coin swiftly
and speedily.
BENSON, "Joel 3:4. O Tyre, and Zidon, &c. — “When the Babylonians, the
appointed instruments of my vengeance, afflict my land, why do you also, and
the bordering nations, assist them? Do you take this occasion of avenging the
former victories of my people over you? If so, this your act of revenge shall be
speedily punished.” — Newcome. The expression which he here uses, What have
ye to do with me? signifies the same as that other so common in the sacred books,
What have I to do with you? that is, What is the reason of your so frequently
invading and plundering my land and people?
CALVIN, "God expostulates here with Tyre and Sidon, and other neighboring
nations, and shows that they vexed his people without cause Had they been
provoked some excuse might have been made; but since they made war of their
own accord, the wrong was doubled. This is what God means these words. What
have ye to do with me, O Tyre and Sidon? He indeed continues the subject
before explained: but he speaks of the concern here as hid own; he seems not
now to undertake the protection of his own people, but detents his own cause.
“What have ye to do with me?” he says. God then interposes himself; as though
he said, that the Syrians and Sidonians were not only called by him to judgment
because they had unjustly wronged his people, and brought many troubles on
men deserving no such things; but he says also, that he stood up in his own
defense. “What have I to do with you, O Syrians and Sidonians?” as we say in
French, Qu’avons-nous a desmeller ? (what have we to decide?) Now the Prophet
had this in view, that the Syrians and Sidonians became voluntary enemies to the
Jews, when they had no dispute with them; and this, as we have said, was less to
be borne. “What then have ye to do with me, O Syrians and Sidonians? Do I owe
anything to you? Am I under any obligation to you? Do ye repay me my
recompense?” that is, “Can you boast of any reason or just pretense for making,
war on my people?” He then means, that there had been no wrong done to the
Syrians and Sidonians, which they could now retaliate, but that they made an
attack through their own wickedness, and were only impelled by avarice or
cruelty thus to harass the miserable Jews: “Ye repay not,” he says, “a
recompense to me; for ye cannot pretend that any wrong has been done to you by
me.”
But if ye repay this to me, he says, I will swiftly return the recompense on your
head. ‫גמל‬ gimel means not only to repay, as the Hebrew scholars ever render it,
but also to confer, to bestow, (conferre, ut loquuntur Latine ) as it has been
34

35. stated in another place. ‘What shall I repay to the Lord for all the things which
he has recompensed to me?’ This is the common version; but it is an improper
and inconsistent mode of speaking. David no doubt refers to God’s benefits; then
it is, ‘What shall I repay for all the benefits which the Lord has bestowed on
me?’ Then he who first does wrong, or bestows good, is said to recompense; and
this is the sense in this place. ‘If ye,’ he says, ‘thus deal with me, “swiftly ”, ‫מהרה‬
mere suddenly (for the word is to be taken as an adverb,) will I return
recompense on your head;’ that is, “Ye shall not be unpunished, since ye have
acted so unjustly with me and my people.” We now perceive the whole meaning
of the Prophet: He enhances the crime of the Syrians and Sidonians, because
they willfully distressed the Jews, and joined themselves to their foreign enemies,
for the purpose of seizing on a part of the spoil. As, then, vicinity softened not
their minds, their inhumanity was on this account more fully proved. But, as I
have said, the Lord here places himself between the two parties, to intimate, that
he performs his own proper office when he takes care of the safety of his Church.
He afterwards shows that this wickedness should not be unpunished —If ye deal
thus with me, he says, I shall swiftly (suddenly) return the recompense on your
heads. This passage contains a singular consolation; for God declares that
whatever evils the faithful endure belong to him, and also that he will not suffer
those under his protection and defense to be distressed with impunity, but will
quickly return recompense on the heads of those who unjustly injure his
heritage. We now understand the Prophet’s design: he doubtless intended to
support the minds of the godly with this thought, — that their afflictions are
objects of concern with God and that he will shortly be the avenger of them,
however necessary it may be that they should for a time be thus violently and
reproachfully treated by wicked men.
COFFMAN, "Verse 4
"Yea, and what are ye to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia?
will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily
will I return your recompense upon your own head.
The omission of the names of many nations that were just as wicked as these
cited has been widely misinterpreted, all kinds of allegations regarding the date
of the prophecy being made to turn on the singular mention of just these; but
these do not make up any kind of list, being merely well-known examples of
horrible wickedness leading at last to God's judgment. Robinson spoke of this
and other such data, as "obviously too indefinite to be of any great value in
deciding the prophet's date."[13] It is significant that Amos also used these very
examples of rampant wickedness. "Amos singles out the very nations mentioned
by Joel, and reproaches them with such offences as Joel specifies (Amos
1:6-12)."[14]
"If ye recompense me ..." Jamieson explained the meaning here thus: "If ye
injure me (my people) in revenge for fancied wrongs, I will requite you in your
own coin, swiftly and speedily."[15] In all history, those nations which have
undertaken to destroy Christianity have themselves been speedily destroyed.
Secular Israel, pagan Rome, Assyria and Babylon are ancient examples,
35

36. especially Jerusalem and Rome; but there are modern examples also. Hitler
burned the Bibles at Nuremburg, but the fire did not go out until Berlin was
totally ruined. God is still in control of his world.
COKE, "Joel 3:4. Yea, and what have ye to do, &c.— But what have ye to do,
&c. After God by the prophet had put them in mind of their injustice and cruelty
towards his people, he now comes to inquire into the reason of so unrighteous a
conduct. But, what have ye to do with me? The expression denotes the same as
that other, so common in the sacred books, What have I to do with you?—"What
is the reason of your so frequently invading and often plundering my land and
people." The next words may be read, Will ye take your revenge upon me?—But
if ye vent your spite upon me, I will swiftly and speedily return your vengeance,
&c. Kimchi paraphrases the whole verse thus; "What is this that ye do even unto
me?—Do ye think to be revenged on me, because I have done you evil?—If you
say, that you do now of your own accord evil to me, (for he that doth evil to
Israel, his imagination is to do evil to me, for they are my sons,) if this be the
case, I will soon return your reward on your own heads?" See Chandler.
ELLICOTT, "(4) What have ye to do with me?—Rather, What are ye to me?
God, identifying Himself with His people, threatens retaliation upon their
enemies for the wrongs they had inflicted upon them. Tyre and Zidon had
oppressed the Jews in the time of the judges, and would do so again: the
Philistines also were to the last the inveterate enemies of Israel; but in the end,
could they measure strength with God?
GUZIK, " (4-8) God warns the nations that He will retaliate against those who
have mistreated His people.
Indeed, what have you to do with Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the coasts of
Philistia? Will you retaliate against Me? But if you retaliate against Me, swiftly
and speedily I will return your retaliation upon your own head; because you
have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My
prized possessions. Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem you
have sold to the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their borders.
Behold, I will raise them out of the place to which you have sold them, and will
return your retaliation upon your own head. I will sell your sons and your
daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the
Sabeans, to a people far off; for the LORD has spoken.
a. Will you retaliate against Me? God virtually challenges the nations to come
against Him or His people. He vows to return your retaliation upon your own
head to those who come against Him or His people.
i. Judgment is about the only aspect of Gods plan of the ages that is plainly
logical. The grace and mercy of God is not plainly logical. Salvation by grace
through faith is not plainly logical. The high standing and destiny of the believer
36

37. in Jesus is not plainly logical. Judgment - God simply giving those who reject
Him what they deserve - is plainly logical. It is as if God says to the wicked, You
rejected the saving logic of heaven, so I will give you the plain logic of earth: you
will receive what you deserve before the holy court of My justice.
b. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah:
The nations treated Gods people with contempt, and had no sense of their worth.
Therefore, God will repay them with the contempt they put upon His people,
vowing to return your retaliation upon your own head.
i. Trapp details the horrors that befell the ten Emperors of the Roman Empire
that persecuted Christians:
Nero lost 30,000 of his subjects by pestilence, had his armies utterly defeated in
Britain, suffered a revolution in Armenia, and was so hated by the senators of
Rome that they forced him to kill himself
Domitian was butchered by his own soldiers
Trajan died of a foul disease
Severus died miserably on a military campaign in Britain
Maximus was cut in pieces, together with his own son
Decius died as an exile in a far country
Valerian was whipped to death by the King of Persia who captured him
Aurelian was killed by his own soldiers
Dioclesian poisoned himself
Maximum hanged himself
ii. Ye cannot tread upon the least toe in Christs mystical body, but the head cries
out from heaven, Why hurtest thou me? (Trapp) Paul found this out on the road
to Damascus, when Jesus asked him Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?
(Acts 9:4)
HAWKER, “Verses 4-8
It is observable through the whole of the sacred word, that the day of vengeance,
and the year of the Lord's redeemed are always joined. When Jesus comes to
save, he comes also to destroy. And when he comes to be glorified in his saints, he
comes also to pour out vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the
37

38. gospel of Jesus. Isaiah 63:4; 2 Thessalonians 1:10. And as a further confirmation
of this most sure, but alarming truth, it is worthy observation, that the very
name of Elohim, the blessed God, in his threefold character of person, signifies
the Denouncers of covenant engagements as equally pledged to fulfil
condemnation as promises. And this holy name implies the oath to Adonai, the
mediator. Psalms 110:4 that while his people shall be made willing in the day of
his power, his enemies, both men and devils, shall be put under his footstool. Oh!
that this were but duly considered, and that scripture regarded. Psalms 2:12.
LANGE, “Joel 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. Hebrews, 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. Joel 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. Joel 3:5-6 prove the righteousness of the retribution, by a reference to
the crimes committed, while Joel 3:7-8 declare the certainty of it. Joel 3:5 alludes,
without doubt, to the pillaging of Judah and Jerusalem by the Philistines and
Arabians under Joram. 2 Chronicles 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 Joel 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: Joel 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.
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39. 5 For you took my silver and my gold and
carried off my finest treasures to your temples.
BARNES, "Ye have taken My silver and My gold - 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. For the inroad of the Philistines in the reign of
Jehoram was, apparently, a mere marauding expedition, in which they
killed and plundered, but are not said to have besieged or taken any city,
much less Jerusalem. God calls “the silver and gold” which He, through
His Providence, had bestowed on Judah, “My” gold and silver; as He said
by Hosea Hos_2:8.
“She knew not that I multiplied her silver and gold, whereof she made
Baal;” and by Haggai, “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the
Lord of Hosts” Hag_2:8. For they were His people, and what they had,
they held of Him; and the Philistines too so accounted it, and dedicated a
part of it to their idols, as they had the ark formerly, accounting the
victory over God’s people to be the triumph of their idols over God.
CLARKE, "Ye have taken my silver and my gold - The Chaldeans had
spoiled the temple, and carried away the sacred vessels, and put them in
the temple of their own god in Babylon.
GILL, "Because ye have taken my silver and my gold,.... Which is all the
Lord's, Hag_2:8; or which he had bestowed upon his people, and they
had taken from them:
and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things; either the
rich furniture of the houses of his people, which they carried into their
own houses, or "palaces" (e), as it may be rendered; having either taken
them away themselves, or bought them of others that had taken them: or
else the rich vessels of the temple; as these were carried away by the
Chaldeans, and put into their idol temples, Dan_1:2; so afterward they
were taken by the Romans, and put into the temples of their gods:
whether any of these came into the hands of the Tyrians, &c. by any
means, and were put into their idol temples, as the temple of Hercules, is
not certain; however, it is notorious that the Papists, the Tyrians are an
emblem of, not only build stately temples, and dedicate them to angels
and saints, but most profusely adorn them with gold and silver, and all
goodly and desirable things; which is putting them to an idolatrous use
they were not designed for.
HENRY, " They had unjustly seized God's silver and gold (Joe_3:5), by
39

40. 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.
JAMISON, "my silver ... my gold — that is, the gold and silver of My
people. The Philistines and Arabians had carried off all the treasures of
King Jehoram’s house (2Ch_21:16, 2Ch_21:17). Compare also 1Ki_15:18;
2Ki_12:18; 2Ki_14:14, for the spoiling of the treasures of the temple and
the king’s palace in Judah by Syria. It was customary among the heathen
to hang up in the idol temples some of the spoils of war as presents to
their gods.
BENSON, "Joel 3:5. Because ye have taken my silver and my gold — Have taken
out of my temple the silver and golden vessels dedicated to my service; and have
carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things — Hebrew, my desirable
goodly things. God’s temple was several times despoiled of its ornaments by the
Chaldeans. Once in the reign of Jehoiakim, 2 Chronicles 36:7. Then in the short
reign of Jehoiachin, 2 Kings 24:13, before the last destruction of it, recorded 2
Kings 25:13. Some part of the furniture might probably be sold to the merchants
of Tyre and Sidon. The profanation of God’s temple, and the sacrilegious
robbing it of its vessels and ornaments, were crimes remarkably punished by
God in heathen and infidels: see Jeremiah 50:28; Jeremiah 51:11. So it was in
Belshazzar, Daniel 5:1; in Antiochus Epiphanes, 1 Maccabees 6:12; and
afterward in Pompey and Crassus. And no wonder, for God had given
remarkable proofs of his divine presence being in that place; and the heathen
themselves might have discovered, by the light of nature, that there was but one
true and living God.
CALVIN, "Verse 5
Let us now proceed: He says that their silver and their gold had been taken away
by the Syrians and the Sidonians. All who were the neighbors of that people, no
40

41. doubt, derived gain from their calamity, as is usually the case. They were at first
ill disposed towards them; there was then a new temptation; they gaped after
booty: and they showed themselves openly their enemies, when they saw that
there was hope of gain. Such was the case with the Syrians and Sidonians. There
is no doubt, but that they sedulously courted the favor of the Assyrians, that they
helped them with provisions and other things, that they might partake of the
spoil. It was, therefore, no wonder that gold and silver was taken away by them,
for the carriage of them to Assyria would have been tedious: and, as I have just
hinted, it is usually the case, that conquerors gratify those by whom they have
been assisted. Many extend this plunder generally to the whole wealth of the
people; that is, that the enemies plundered what gold and silver there was in
Judea, and that the Sidonians got a portion of it for themselves. But there seems
to have been a special complaint, that the sacred vessels of the temple were taken
away by the Syrians and Sidonians: I therefore prefer to render the word,
temples, rather than palaces. Some say, ‘Ye have carried away my silver and my
gold to your palaces.’ Though the word is capable of two meanings, yet the
Prophet, I have no doubt, refers here to the temples. The Syrians, then, and the
Sidonians profaned the silver and the gold of the temple by dedicating them to
their idols; they adorned their idols with spoils taken from the only true God.
This was the reason why God was so exceedingly displeased. There was, indeed,
a cause why God, as we have said, contended for the whole nation of Israel: but
it was a far more heinous wrong to spoil the temple, and to strip it of its
ornaments, and then to adorn idols with its sacred vessels; for God was thus
treated with scorn; and in contempt of him, the Syrians and Sidonians built, as it
were, a trophy of victory in their own dens, where they performed sacrilegious
acts in worshipping fictitious gods.
Ye have taken away, he says,my gold and silver, and my desirable good things.
God speaks here after the manner of men; for it is certain that even under the
law he stood in no need of gold or silver, or of other precious things; he wished
the temple to be adorned with vessels and other valuable furniture for the sake
of the ignorant (rudis — rude) people; for the Jews could not have been
preserved in pure and right worship, had not God assisted their weak faith by
these helps. (adminiculis — props, aids) But yet, as obedience is acceptable to
him, he says that whatever was an ornament in the temple was a desirable thing
to him; while, at the same time, by speaking thus, he put on, as I have said, a
character not his own, as he has no need of such things, nor is he delighted with
them. We ought not, indeed, to imagine God to be like a child, who takes delight
in gold and silver and such things; but what is said here was intended for the
benefit of the people, that they might know that God approved of that worship,
for it was according to his command. He therefore calls every thing that was in
the temple desirable, Ye have, he says,carried away into your temples my
desirable good things.
COFFMAN, "Verse 5
"Forasmuch as ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your
temples my goodly precious things, and have sold the children of Judah and the
children of Jerusalem unto the sons of the Grecians, that ye may remove them
far from their border; behold, I will stir them up out of the place whither ye have
41

42. sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head; and I will send
your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they
shall sell them to the men of Sheba, to a nation far off: for Jehovah hath spoken
it."
This is merely an elaboration of the ancient divine principle that "whatsoever a
man soweth, that shall he also reap"; and it applies to states and nations as well
as to individuals. There is no hint in a passage like this of any divine approval of
such things as slavery; Joel was merely citing some well-known examples of
"retribution in kind" as prophecy of the way it would always be under the
government of God. When a nation was victorious, they sold their captives as
slaves; but, in turn, when they were defeated, their citizens were likewise sold
into slavery. David took the sword of Goliath and hung it up in the temple (or
tabernacle); and when Babylon took the Israelites captive, they looted the
treasures of the temple and placed them in the temples of pagan deities. The
prophecy is presented in the imagery of such things which were well known and
understood by the ancients. Adonibezek is a classical example of the retribution
in kind that marked pre-Christian societies. He had his thumbs cut off and was
compelled to grovel for food under the king's table, because he had inflicted
similar atrocities upon others. There is no need to multiply examples of such
things nor to attempt any specific detail of exactly what events Joel used here as
the source of his imagery, as they were very many indeed. The selling into
slavery here, "would not be literal or physical selling, but an avenging by divine
judgment of the shameful treatment inflicted upon the people of the Lord."[16]
6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem
to the Greeks, that you might send them far
from their homeland.
BARNES, "The children also - Literally, “And the sons of Judah and the
sons of Jerusalem have ye sold to the sons of the Greeks.” This sin of the
Tyrians was probably old and inveterate. The Tyrians, 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. Ezekiel speaks of their trade in “the souls of men” Eze_27:13
with “Greece” on the one side, and “Tubal and Mesech” near the Black
Sea on the other. The beautiful youth of Greece of both sexes were sold
even into Persia .
42

43. In regard to the Moschi and Tibareni, it remains uncertain, whether
they sold those whom they took in war (and, like the tribes of Africa in
modern times, warred the more, because they had a market for their
prisoners,) or whether, like the modern Cireassians, they sold their
daughters. Ezekiel however, says “men,” so that he cannot mean,
exclusively, women. From the times of the Judges, Israel was exposed in
part both to the violence and fraud of Tyre and Sidon. The tribe of Asher
seems to have lived in the open country among fortified towns of the
Zidonians. For whereas of Benjamin, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zabulon, it is
said that the old inhabitants of the land dwelt among them Jdg_1:21,
Jdg_1:27, Jdg_1:29-30, of Asher it is said, that they “dwelt among the
Canaanites,” the “inhabitants of the land” Jdg_1:31-32, as though these
were the more numerous. And not only so, but since they did “not drive
out the inhabitants” of seven cities, “Accho, Zidon, Ahlab, Achzib,
Helbah, Aphek, Rehob,” they must have been liable to incursions from
them.
The Zidonians were among those who “oppressed Israel” (Jdg_5:30;
see Jdg_4:3, Jdg_4:7, Jdg_4:13, Jdg_4:15-16). Sisera’s army came from
their territory, (for Jabin was king of Hazor,) and Deborah speaks of “a
damsel or two,” as the expected prey of each man in the whole multitude
of his host. An old proverb, mentioned 427 b.c., implies that the
Phoenicians sent circumcised slaves into the fields to reap their harvest .
But there were no other circumcised there besides Israel.
But the Phoenician slave-trade was also probably, even in the time of
the Judges, exercised against Israel. In Joel and Amos, the Philistines
and Tyrians appear as combined in the traffic. In Amos, the Philistines
are the robbers of men; the Phoenicians are the receivers and the sellers
Amo_1:6, Amo_1:9. Pagan nations retain for centuries the same
inherited character, the same natural nobleness, or, still more, the same
natural vices. The Phoenicians, at the date of the Judges, are known as
dishonest traders, and that, in slaves. The Philistines were then also
inveterate oppressors. On one occasion “the captivity of the land”
coincided with the great victory of the Philistines, when Eli died and the
ark of God was taken. For these two dates are given in the same place as
the close of the idolatry of Micah’s graven image. It endured “unto the
captivity of the land” Jdg_18:30-31 and, “and all the time that the house
of God was at Shiloh,” from where the ark was removed, never to return,
in that battle when it was taken.
But “the captivity of the land” is not merely a subdual, whereby the
inhabitants would remain tributary or even enslaved, yet still remain. A
captivity implies a removal of the inhabitants; and such a removal could
not have been the direct act of the Philistines. For dwelling themselves in
the land only, they had no means of removing the inhabitants from it,
except by selling them; and the only nation, who could export them in
such numbers as would be expressed by the words “a captivity of the
land,” were the Zidonians. Probably such acts were expressly prohibited
“by the brotherly covenant” (see the note at Amo_1:9) 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. Soon after Joel, Obadiah speaks of a captivity
at “Sepharad,” or “Sardis” (see the note at Oba_1:20), the capital of the
Lydian empire.
43

44. The Tyrian merchants were “the” connecting link between Palestine
and the coasts of Asia Minor. The Israelites must have been sold there as
slaves, and that by the Phoenicians. In yet later times the Tyrian
merchants followed, like vultures, on the rear of armies to make a prey
of the living, as the vultures of the dead. They hung on the march of
Alexander as far as India . In the wars of the Maccabees, at Nicanor’s
proclamation, a thousand (2 Macc. 8:34) merchants gathered to the
camp of Gorgias “with silver and gold, very much, to buy the children of
Israel as slaves” (1 Macc. 3:41), and with chains , wherewith to secure
them. They assembled in the rear of the Roman armies , “seeking wealth
amid the clash of arms, and slaughter, and fleeing poverty through
peril.” Reckless of human life, the slave-merchants commonly, in their
wholesale purchase of captives, abandoned the children as difficult of
transport, whence the Spartan king was praised for providing for them .
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. It is mentioned as the
inducement to slave-piracy among the Cilicians. “The export of the slaves
especially invited to misdeeds, being most gainful, for they were easily
taken, and the market was not so very far off and was most wealthy .
The Jewish slaves appear also to have been valued, until those times
after the taking of Jerusalem, when they had become demoralized, and
there was a plethora of them, as God had predicted . The post occupied
by the “little maid” who “waited on Naaman’s wife” 2Ki_5:2, was that of a
favorite slave, as Greek tradition represented Grecian maidens to have
been an object of coveting to the wife of the Persian Monarch . The
“damsel or two” for the wives of each man in Jabin’s host appear as a
valuable part of the spoil. The wholesale price at which Nicanor set the
Jews his expected prisoners, and at which he hoped to sell some
180,000 , shows the extent of the then traffic and their relative value. 2
British pounds. 14 shillings, 9d. as the average price of each of 90 slaves
in Judea, implies a retail-price at the place of sale, above the then
ordinary price of man.
This wholesale price for what was expected to be a mixed multitude of
nearly 200,000, (for “Nicanor undertook to make so much money of the
captive Jews as should defray the tribute of 2000 talents which the king
was to pay to the Romans” (2 Macc. 8:10)), was nearly 5 times as much as
that at which Carthaginian soldiers were sold at the close of the first
Punic war . It was two-thirds of the retail price of a good slave at Athens ,
or of that at which, about 340 b.c., the law of Greece prescribed that
captives should be redeemed ; or of that, (which was nearly the same) at
which the Mosaic law commanded compensation to be made for a slave
accidentally killed Exo_21:30. The facility of transport increased the
value. For, although Pontus supplied both the best and the most of the
Roman slaves , yet in the war with Mithridates, amid a great abundance
of all things, slaves were sold at 3 shillings 3d. .
The special favors also shown to the Jewish captives at Rome and
Alexandria show the estimation in which they were held. At Rome, in the
reign of Augustus , “the large section of Rome beyond the Tiber was
possessed and inhabited by Jews, most of them Roman citizens, having
been brought as captives into Italy and made freedmen by their owners.”
On whatever ground Ptolemy Philadelphus redeemed 100,000 Jews
44

45. whom his father had taken and sold , the fact can hardly be without
foundation, or his enrolling them in his armies, or his employing them in
public offices or about his own person.
Joel lived before the historic times of Greece. But there are early traces
of slavetrade carried on by Greeks . According to Theopompus, the
Chians, first among the Greeks, acquired barbarian slaves in the way of
trade . The Ionian migration had tilled the islands and part of the coasts
of Asia Minor with Greek traders about two centuries before Joel, 1069
b.c. . Greeks inhabited both the coasts and islands between Tyre and
Sardis, where we know them to have been carried. Cyprus and Crete,
both inhabited by Greeks and both in near contact with Phoenicia, were
close at hand.
The demand for slaves must have been enormous. For wives were but
seldom allowed them; and Athens, Aegina, Corinth alone had in the days
of their prosperity 1,330,000 slaves . At the great slave-mart at Delos,
10,000 were brought, sold, removed in a single day .
That ye might remove them far from their border - The Philistines
hoped thus to weaken the Jews, by selling their fighting men afar, from
where they could no more return. There was doubtless also in this
removal an anti-religious malice, in that the Jews clung to their land, as
““the Lord’s land,” the land given by Him to their fathers; so that they, at
once, weakened their rivals, aggravated and enjoyed their distress, and
seemed again to triumph over God. Tyre and Sidon took no active share
in making the Jews prisoners, yet, partaking in the profit and aiding in
the disposal of the captives, they became, according to that true proverb
“the receiver is as bad as the thief,” equally guilty of the sin, in the sight
of God.
CLARKE, "Sold unto the Grecians - These were the descendants of
Javan, Gen_10:2-5. And with them the Tyrians trafficked, Eze_27:19.
That ye might remove them far from their border - Intending to send
them as far off as possible, that it might be impossible for them to get
back to reclaim the land of which you had dispossessed them.
GILL, "The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem,.... Not
children in age literally, as Kimchi, kidnapped or bought by the Tyrians;
but the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem:
have ye sold unto the Grecians; or sons of Javan; it was one part of the
merchandise of Tyre to trade in the persons of men; and Javan, or the
Greeks, with others, were their merchants for them, Eze_27:13; and the
souls of men are a part of the trade of the merchants of Rome, typified by
the Tyrians, Rev_18:13;
that ye might remove them far from their border; from their own land,
or place of dwelling, that so they might not be easily redeemed, and
return to it any more. Rome, the antichristian Tyre, trading with the
souls of men, is to their eternal damnation, as much as in them lies.
Cocceius interprets this of the children of the church being trained up in
45

46. the doctrine of Aristotle, in the times of the schoolmen.
HENRY 6-8, "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.
JAMISON, "Grecians — literally, “Javanites,” that is, the Ionians, a
Greek colony on the coast of Asia Minor who were the first Greeks known
to the Jews. The Greeks themselves, however, in their original descent
came from Javan (Gen_10:2, Gen_10:4). Probably the germ of Greek
civilization in part came through the Jewish slaves imported into Greece
from Phoenicia by traffickers. Eze_27:13 mentions Javan and Tyre as
trading in the persons of men.
far from their border — far from Judea; so that the captive Jews were
cut off from all hope of return.
BENSON, "Joel 3:6. The children also of Judah, &c., have ye sold unto the
Grecians — The descendants of Javan, Genesis 10:2; Genesis 10:5. They
trafficked with Tyre, and traded in slaves, Ezekiel 27:13. It was customary for
the merchants of the neighbouring countries, particularly of Tyre and Sidon, to
buy the children of Israel for slaves of their conquerors, in order to sell them
again: see 1 Maccabees 3:41. The histories which record the calamities of the
Jews, speak of great numbers of them being made captives, and then sold and
dispersed into foreign countries. Thus forty thousand were sold by Antiochus
Epiphanes, 2 Maccabees 5:14; and about ninety-seven thousand at the
destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.
CALVIN, "Verse 6
It follows, And the children of Judah, and the children of Jerusalem, have ye
sold to the children of the Grecians (14). There is here another complaint
subjoined, — that the Syrians and Sidonians had been sacrilegious towards God,
that they had cruelly treated God’s afflicted people. In the last verse, God
inveighed against the Syrians, and Sidonians for having prostituted to their idols
gold and silver stolen from him; he now again returns to the Jews themselves,
who, he says, had been sold to the children of the Grecians; that is, to people
beyond the sea: for as Javan passed into Europe, he includes under that name
46

47. the nations beyond the sea. And he says, that they sold the Jews to the Greeks
that they might drive them far from their own borders, so that there might be no
hope of return. Here the cruelty of the Syrians and Sidonians becomes more
evident; for they took care to drive those wretched men far away, that no return
to their country might be open to them, but that they might be wholly
expatriated.
We now perceive what the Prophet had in view: He intended that the faithful
though trodden under foot by the nations, should yet have allayed their grief by
some consolation, and know that they were not neglected by God; and that
though he connived at their evils for a time, he would yet be their defender, and
would contend for them as for his own heritage, because they had been so
unjustly treated. He afterwards adds —
LANGE, “Joel 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
sell180,000, shows the extent of the traffic; and their relative value, £214s9d., 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.
7 “See, I am going to rouse them out of the
places to which you sold them, and I will return
on your own heads what you have done.
47

48. BARNES, "Behold I will raise them - If this promise relates to the same
individuals who had been sold, it must have been fulfilled silently; as
indeed the return of captives to their own land, unless brought about by
some historical event, belongs not to history, but to private life. The
prophet, however, is probably predicting God’s dealings with the
nations, not with those individuals. The enslaving of these Hebrews in
the time of Joram was but one instance out of a whole system of covetous
misdeeds. The Philistines carried away captives from them again in the
time of Ahaz 2Ch_28:18, and yet again subsequently Eze_16:27, Eze_
16:57; and still more at the capture of Jerusalem Eze_25:15.
CLARKE, "I will raise them - I shall find means to bring them back
from the place whither ye have sold them, and they shall retaliate upon
you the injuries they have sustained. It is said that Alexander and his
successors set at liberty many Jews that had been sold into Greece. And it
is likely that many returned from different lands, on the publication of
the edict of Cyrus. - Newcome.
GILL, "Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold
them,.... That is, bring them back to their own land, from their places
whither they have been carried captive, and where they have dwelt in
obscurity, and as if theft had been buried in graves, but now should be
raised up and restored; and this their restoration will be as life from the
dead. So the Targum,
"behold, I will bring them publicly from the place whither ye have sold
them;''
this is to be understood, not of the same persons, but of their posterity,
they being the same natural body. Kimchi interprets it of them and their
children; them at the resurrection of the dead, their children at the time
of salvation. Some think this had its accomplishment in Alexander and
his successors, by whom the Jews, who had been detained captives in
other countries, were set free; particularly by Demetrius, as Josephus (f)
relates: though it may be applied to the future restoration of the Jews,
out of all countries, unto their own land; or rather to the gathering
together the spiritual Israel, or people of God, who have been persecuted
from place to place by their antichristian enemies;
and will return your recompence upon your own head; do to them as
they have done to others; pay them in their own coin; retaliate the
wrongs done to his people; see Rev_13:10.
JAMISON, "raise them — that is, I will rouse them. Neither sea nor
distance will prevent My bringing them back. Alexander, and his
successors, restored to liberty many Jews in bondage in Greece
[Josephus, Antiquities, 13.5; Wars of the Jews, 3.9, 2].
48

49. BENSON, "Joel 3:7-8. Behold, I will raise them, &c. — I will restore them, or
their posterity, out of their several captivities whither their enemies have
dispersed them. Grotius on this place mentions, that Alexander and his
successors set at liberty many Jews, who were slaves in Greece. Many also, on
occasion of Cyrus’s decree, might return to their country, from such parts of
Asia Minor and the Ionian islands as were subject to that monarch. And will
return your recompense upon your own head — Will inflict upon you the
punishments mentioned in the following verse. I will sell your sons, &c. — This
was fulfilled when Alexander took Gaza, Zidon, and Tyre, and made a great
multitude of captives, of whom he is said to have sold thirty thousand for slaves.
These captives the Jews, who were in favour with him, had the liberty of buying,
and probably afterward sold many of them, by way of traffic, to the Arabians,
here meant by the Sabeans.
CALVIN, "Verse 7
The Prophet declares here more fully and expressly, that God had not so
deserted the Jews, but that he intended, in course of time, to stretch forth his
hand to them again. It was indeed a temporary desertion: but it behaved the
faithful in the meantime to rely on this assurance, — that God purposed again to
restore his people: and of this the Prophet now speaks, Behold, he says, I will
raise them from the place unto which ye have sold them; as though he said
“Neither distance of place, nor the intervening sea, will hinder me from restoring
my people. ” As then the Syrians and Sidonians thought that the Jews were
precluded a return to their country, because they were taken away into distant
parts of the world, God says that this would be no obstacle in his way to collect
again his Church.
But it may he asked, When has this prediction been fulfilled? as we indeed know
that the Jews have never returned to their own country: for shortly after their
return from exile, they were in various ways diminished; and at length the most
grievous calamities followed, which consumed the greatest part of the people.
Since this then has been the condition of that nation, we ought to inquire
whether Christ has collected the Jews, who had been far dispersed. We indeed
know that they were then especially scattered; for the land of Judea never ceased
to be distressed by continual wars until Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people
were almost wholly consumed. Since then it has been so, when can we say that
this prediction has been fulfilled? Many explain the words allegorically, and say,
that the Prophet speaks of apostles and martyrs, who, through various
persecutions, were driven into different parts; but this is a strained view. I
therefore do not doubt, but that here he refers to a spiritual gathering: and it is
certain that God, since the appearance of Christ, has joined together his Church
by the bond of faith; for not only that people have united together in one, but
also the Gentiles, who were before alienated from the Church, and had no
intercourse with it, have been collected into one body. We hence see, that what
the Prophet says has been spiritually fulfilled; even the children of Judah and
the children of Jerusalem have been redeemed by the Lord, and restored again,
not on foot or by sea; for Jerusalem has been built everywhere as it is said in
Zechariah.
49

50. I will therefore gather them, he says; and he adds, I will return recompense on
your head He again confirms what he said before, — that though the ungodly
should exult, while ruling over the children of God, their cruelty would not be
unpunished; for they shall find that the Church is never neglected by God;
though he may subject it to various troubles, and exercise its patience, and even
chastise it, he will yet be ever its defender. It follows —
8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the
people of Judah, and they will sell them to the
Sabeans, a nation far away.” The Lord has
spoken.
BARNES, "I will sell your sons - God Himself would reverse the
injustice of people. The sons of Zion should be restored, the sons of the
Phoenicians and of the Philistines sold into distant captivity. Tyre was
taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and then by Alexander, who sold “more than
13,000” of the inhabitants into slavery ; Sidon was taken and destroyed
by Artaxerxes Ochus, and it is said, above 40,000 of its inhabitants
perished in the flames . The like befell the Philistines (see the notes at
Zep_2:4-7). The Sabaeans are probably instanced, as being the remotest
nation in the opposite direction, a nation, probably, the partner of Tyre’s
traffic in people, as well as in their other merchandise, and who (as is the
way of unregenerate nature) would as soon trade in Tyrians, as with
Tyrians. The Sabaeans were like the Phoenicians, a wealthy merchant
people, and, of old, united with them in the trade of the world, the
Sabaeans sending forth their fleets across the Indian Ocean, as the
Tyrians along the Mediterranean. Three fathers of distinct races bore the
name Sheba; one, a descendant of Ham, the other two, descended from
Shem. The Hamite Sheba was the son of Raamah, the son of Cush Gen_
10:7, and doubtless dwelt of old in the country on the Persian gulf called
by the name Raamah . Traces of the name Sheba occur there, and some
even after our era . The Shemite Sabaeans, were, some descendants of
Sheba, the tenth son of Joktan Gen_10:28; the others from Sheba, the
son of Abraham and Keturah Gen_25:3. The Sabaeans, descended from
Joktan, dwelt in the southwest extremity of Arabia, extending from the
Red Sea to the Sea of Babel-mandeb. The country is still called “ard-es-
Seba” , “land of Saba;” and Saba is often mentioned by Arabic writers .
To the Greeks and Latins they were known by the name of one division
of the race (Himyar) Homeritae. Their descendants still speak an
Arabic, acknowledged by the learned Arabs to be a distinct language
from that which, through Muhammed, prevailed and was diffused ; a
“species” of Arabic which they attribute “to the times of (the prophet)
50

51. Hud (perhaps Eber) and those before him.”
It belonged to them as descendants of Joktan. Sabaeans are mentioned,
distinct from both of these, as “dwelling in Arabia Felix, next beyond
Syria, which they frequently invaded, before it belonged to the Romans.”
These Sabaeans probably are those spoken of as marauders by Job ; and
may have been descendants of Keturah. Those best known to the Greeks
and Romans were, naturally, those in the south western corner of
Arabia. The account of their riches and luxuries is detailed, and,
although from different authorities consistent; else, almost fabulous.
One metropolis is said to have had 65 temples , private individuals had
more than kingly magnificence . Arabic historians expanded into fable
the extent and prerogatives of their Paradise lands, before the breaking
of the artificial dike, made for the irrigation of their country . They
traded with India, availing themselves doubtless of the Monsoon, and
perhaps brought thence their gold, if not also the best and most costly
frankincense . The Sheba of the prophet appears to have been the
wealthy Sheba near the Red Sea. Indeed, in absence of evidence to the
contrary, it is natural to understand the name of those best known.
Solomon unites it with Seba Psa_72:10, (the Aethiopian Sabae.) The
known frankincense-districts are on the southwest corner of Arabia . The
tree has diminished, perhaps has degenerated through the neglect
consequent on Muslim oppression, diminished consumption, change of
the line of commerce; but it still survives in those districts ; a relic of
what is passed away. Ezekiel indeed unites “the merchants of Sheba and
Raamah” Eze_27:22, as trading with Tyre. “The merchants of Sheba and
Raamah, they were thy merchants; with the chief of all spices and with
all precious stones and gold they occupied in thy fairs.” It may be that he
joins them together as kindred tribes yet it is as probable that he unites
the two great channels of merchandise, east and west, Raamah on the
Persian Gulf, and Sheba near the Red Sea. Having just mentioned the
produce of Northern Arabia as poured into Tyre, he would, in this case,
enumerate north, east, and west of Arabia as combined to enrich her.
Agatharcides unites the Sabaeans of southwest Arabia with the
Gerrhaeans, who were certainly on the Persian Gulf . “No people,” he
says , “is apparently richer than the Sabaeans and Gerrhaeans, who
dispense forth everything worth speaking of from Asia and Europe.
These made the Syria of Ptolemy full of gold. These supplied the industry
of the Phoenicians with profitable imports, not to mention countless
other proofs of wealth.” Their caravans went to Elymais, Carmania;
Charrae was their emporium; they returned to Gabala and Phoenicia .
Wealth is the parent of luxury and effeminacy. At the time of our Lord’s
Coming, the softness and effeminacy of the Sabaeans became proverbial.
The “soft Sabaeans” is their characteristic in the Roman poets .
Commerce, navigation, goldmines, being then carried on by means of
slaves, and wealth and luxury at that time always demanding domestic
slaves, the Sabaeans had need of slaves for both. They too had distant
colonies , where the Tyrians could be transported, as far from Phoenicia,
as the shores of the Aegean are from Palestine. The great law of divine
justice, “as I have done, so God hath requited me” Jdg_1:7, was again
fulfilled. It is a sacred proverb of God’s overruling Providence, written in
the history of the world and in people’s consciences.
51

52. CLARKE, "I will sell your sons - When Alexander took Tyre, he reduced
into slavery all the lower people, and the women. Arrian, lib. ii., says that
thirty thousand of them were sold. Artaxerxes Ochus destroyed Sidon,
and subdued the other cities of Phoenicia. In all these wars, says Calmet,
the Jews, who obeyed the Persians, did not neglect to purchase
Phoenician slaves, whom they sold again to the Sabeans, or Arabs.
GILL, "And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the
children of Judah,.... That is, deliver them into their hands, to dispose of
them; this is thought to have been literally fulfilled in the Tyrians, when
thirty thousand (g) of them were sold for slaves, upon the taking of their
city by Alexander, who put some of them into the hands of the Jews, they
being in friendship with him: it mystically designs the power that the
Jewish church, converted, and in union with Gentile Christians, will have
over the antichristian states:
and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off; the
inhabitants of Sheba, a country by the Jews reckoned the uttermost parts
of the earth; see Mat_12:42. These are not the same with the Sabeans, the
inhabitants of Arabia Deserts, that took away Job's oxen and asses; but
rather those who were the inhabitants of Arabia Felix, which lay at a
greater distance. So Strabo (h) says, the Sabeans inhabited Arabia Felix;
and Diodorus Siculus (i) reckons the Sabeans as very populous, and one
of the Arabian nations, who inhabited that Arabia which is called Felix,
the metropolis of which is Saba; and he, as well as Strabo, observes, that
this country produces many odoriferous plants, as cassia, cinnamon,
frankincense, and calamus, or the sweet cane; hence incense is said to
come "from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country", Jer_6:20;
and since the Jews traded with these people for those spices, it is easy to
conceive how they sold their captives to them: now these lived at a great
distance, in the extreme parts of Arabia, both towards the Indian sea and
the Arabian gulf. And Diodorus Siculus (k) observes, that δια τονδια τονδια τονδια τον
εκτοπισµοςεκτοπισµοςεκτοπισµοςεκτοπισµος, because of the distance of their situation, they never came into
the power or under the dominion of any, or were never subdued. These
seem to be the descendants of Cush, the son, of Ham; and if they were the
descendants of Joktan, the son of Shem, as some think, these are placed
by Vitringa (l) in Carmania; and where Pliny (m) makes mention of a city
called Sabe, and of the river Sabis; and it is worthy of notice that the
ancient Greek fathers (n), with one consent, interpret the Sabeans of the
Saracens: and whether they may not design the Turks, in whose
possession this country now is, and into whose hands the antichristian
powers may be delivered by means of the Christians, both Jews and
Gentiles, may be considered;
for the Lord hath spoken it; and therefore it shall be accomplished. The
Targum is,
"for by the word of the Lord it is so decreed;''
whose counsels and decrees can never be frustrated. This, in an ancient
52

53. book of the Jews called Mechilta, is referred to the prophecy of Noah
concerning Canaan, whose sons inhabited Tyre, "a servant of servants
shall he be to his brethren", Gen_9:25, as Jarchi observes.
HENRY, "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.
JAMISON, "sell them to ... Sabeans — The Persian Artaxerxes Mnemon
and Darius Ochus, and chiefly the Greek Alexander, reduced the
Phoenician and Philistine powers. Thirty thousand Tyrians after the
capture of Tyre by the last conqueror, and multitudes of Philistines on
the taking of Gaza, were sold as slaves. The Jews are here said to do that
which the God of Judah does in vindication of their wrong, namely, sell
the Phoenicians who sold them, to a people “far off,” as was Greece,
whither the Jews had been sold. The Sabeans at the most remote
extremity of Arabia Felix are referred to (compare Jer_6:20; Mat_
12:42).
CALVIN, "Verse 8
The Prophet describes here a wonderful change: the Syrians and Sidonians did
sell the Jews; but who is to be the seller now? God himself will take this office, —
I, he says, will sell your children, as though he said, “The Jews shall subdue you
and reduce you to bondage,” — by whose authority? “It shall be, as if they
bought you at my hands.” He means that this servitude would be legitimate; and
thus he makes the Jews to be different from the Syrians and Sidonians, who had
been violent robbers, and unjustly seized on what was not their own: and hence
the manner of the sale is thus described, — “I myself shall be the author of this
change, and the thing shall be done by my authority, as if I had interposed my
own name;” and the Jews themselves shall sell, he says, your sons and your
daughters to the Sabeans, a distant nation; that is, the people of the East: for the
Prophet, I doubt not, by mentioning a part for the whole, meant here to
designate Eastern nations, such as the Persians and Medes; but he says, that the
Tyrians and Sidonians shall be driven to the meet distant countries; for the
Sabeans were very far distant from the Phoenician Sea, and were known as
being very nigh the Indians. (15)
But it may be asked here, When has God executed this judgment? for the Jews
never possessed such power as to be able to subdue neighboring nations, and to
53

54. sell them at pleasure to unknown merchants. It would indeed be foolish and
puerile to insist here on a literal fulfillment: at the same time, I do not say, that
the Prophet speaks allegorically; for I am disposed to keep from allegories, as
there is in them nothing sound nor solid: but I must yet say that there is a
figurative language used here, when it is said, that the Syrians and Sidonians
shall be sold and driven here and there into distant countries, and that this shall
be done for the sake of God’s chosen people and his Church, as though the Jews
were to be the sellers. When God says, “I will sell,” it is not meant that he is to
descend from heaven for the purpose of selling, but that he will execute judgment
on them; and then the second clause, — that they shall be sold by the Jews,
derives its meaning from the first; and this cannot be a common sake, as if the
Jews were to receive a price and make a merchandise of them. But God declares
that the Jews would be the sellers, because in this manner he signifies his
vengeance for the wrong done to them; that is, by selling them to the Sabeans, a
distant nation. We further know, that the changes which then followed were such
that God turned upside down nearly the whole world; for he drove the Syrian
and the Sidonians to the most distant countries. No one could have thought that
this was done for the sake of the Jews, who were hated and abominated by all.
But yet God declares, that he would do this from regard to his Church even sell
the Syrians and the Sidonians, though it was commonly unknown to men; for it
was the hidden judgment of God. But the faithful who had been already taught
that God would do this, were reminded by the event how precious to God is his
heritage, since he avenges those wrongs, the memory of which had long before
been buried. This then is the import of the whole. The Prophet now subjoins —
LANGE, “Joel 3:8. I will sell your sons—the Sabæans. Tyre was taken by
Alexander, who sold13,000 of the inhabitants into slavery. Sidon was taken by
Artaxerxes Ochus, and it is said above40,000 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
54

55. 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
Ezekiel 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.]
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Rouse the warriors!
Let all the fighting men draw near and
attack.
BARNES, "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles - God having before
said that He would “gather all nations,” now, by a solemn irony, bids
them prepare, if, by any means, they can fight against Him. So in Isaiah;
“Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and
give ear, all ye of far countries; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in
pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; take counsel
together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not
stand, for God is with us” (Isa_8:9-10; see also Ezek. 38:7-23).
Prepare - Literally, “hallow, war.” To “hallow war” was to make it holy,
either in appearance or in truth, as the prophet bade them, “sanctify a
fast,” i. e., keep it holily. So God calls the Medes, whom He employed
against Babylon, “My sanctified ones” Isa. 13, and bids, “sanctify the
nations against her” Jer_51:27; and the enemies of Judah encourage
themselves, “sanctify ye war against her” Jer_6:4; and Micah says, that
whosover bribed not the false prophets, “they sanctify war against him”
Mic_3:5, i. e., proclaim war against him in the Name of God. The enemies
of God, of His people, of His truth, declare war against all, in the Name of
God. The Jews would have stoned our Lord for blasphemy, and, at the
last, they condemned Him as guilty of it. “He hath spoken blasphemy.
What further need have we of witttesses? behold, now ye have heard His
blasphemy” Mat_26:65. And He foretold to His disciples, “Whosoever
killeth you, will think he doeth God service” Joh_16:2.
Stephen was persecuted for speaking “blasphemous words against
Moses and against God, this holy place and the law” Act_6:11, Act_6:13.
Paul was persecuted for “persuading people to worship God contrary to
the law and polluting this holy place” Act_18:13; Act_21:28; Act_24:6.
55

56. Antichrist shall set himself up as God, “so that he, as God, sitteth in the
temple of God shewing himself that he is God” 2Th_2:4. Heretics and
unbelievers declaim against the Gospel, as though it, and not themselves,
were opposed to the holiness and Majesty and love of God. The Gnostics
of old spake against the Creator in the Name of God. Arians affected
reverence for the glory of God , being, on their own mis-belief, idolaters
or polytheists . The Apollinarians charged the Church with ascribing to
our Lord a sinful soul, as though the soul must needs be such , find
themselves held the Godhead to have been united to a soulless, and so a
brute, nature.
Manichaeans accused her of making God the author of evil, and
themselves, as do Pantheists now, invented a god who sinned . Novatians
and Donatists accused the Church of laxity. Pelagians charged her with
denying the perfectibility of man’s nature, themselves denying the grace
whereby it is perfected. Muhammed arrayed the truth of the Unity of God
against His Being in Three Persons, and fought against the truth as
idolatry. Some now array “Theism,” i. e., truths as to God which they
have stolen from Holy Scripture, against the belief in God as He has
revealed Himself. Indeed, no imposture ever long held its ground against
truth, unless it masked itself under some truth of God which it perverted,
and so “hallowed” its “war” against God in the Name of God.
Wake up the mighty men - Arouse them, as if their former state had
been a state of sleep; arouse all their dormant powers, all within them,
that they may put forth all their strength, if so be they may prevail
against God.
Let all the men of war draw near - , as if to contend, and close, as it
were, with God and His people (see 1Sa_17:41. 2Sa_10:13), as, on the
other hand, God says, “I will come near to you to judgment” (Mal_3:5;
see Isa_41:1; Isa_50:8). “Let them come up” into His very presence. Even
while calling them to fulfill this their vain purpose of striving with God,
the prophet keeps in mind, into whose presence they are summoned, and
so calls them to “come up,” as to a place of dignity.
CLARKE, "Prepare war - Let all the enemies of God and of his people
join together; let them even call all the tillers of the ground to their
assistance, instead of laboring in the field; let every peasant become a
soldier. Let them turn their agricultural implements into offensive
weapons, so that the weak, being well armed, may confidently say, I am
strong: yet, when thus collected and armed, Jehovah will bring down thy
mighty ones; for so the clause in Joe_3:11 should be rendered.
GILL, "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles,.... This decree of God,
concerning the deliverance of his church; and the destruction of their
enemies; which is to be proclaimed among them, to the terror of them,
and the comfort of God's people, encouraging them to the battle, since
they might be sure of victory; for the prophet here returns to give an
account of the armies to be gathered together, and to be destroyed in the
valley of Jehoshaphat, as appears from Joe_3:12; and to this end heralds
are here ordered to make proclamation of war throughout the nations,
and to gather them to the battle of Almighty God; whether seriously, or
ironically, may be considered; what follows seems to be spoken in the
56

57. latter way, to the enemies of the church; though they may be interpreted
as spoken seriously to the people of God themselves:
prepare war; get all things ready for it, men and arms:
wake up the mighty men; generals, captains, and other officers, men of
strength and courage; let them arouse from the sleep and lethargy in
which they are, and get themselves in a readiness for war, and put
themselves at the head of their troops:
let all the men of war draw near, let them come up; to the land of Judea,
and to Jerusalem; that is, either the Christian powers with their armies,
to defend Jerusalem against the Turks, and deliver it out of their hands;
let them appear on the behalf of the Jews: or else let the enemies of
Christ's church and people come up against them, even the most
powerful of them; let them muster up all their forces, and do the most
they can, they shall not prevail.
HENRY 9-11, "Joel 3:9-17
What the psalmist had long before ordered to be said among the
heathen (Psa_96:10) the prophet here will have in like manner to be
published to all nations, That the Lord reigns, and that he comes, he
comes to judge the earth, as he had long been judging in the earth. The
notice here given of God's judging the nations may have reference to the
destruction of Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, and to the
Antichrist especially, and all the proud enemies of the Christian church;
but some of the best interpreters, ancient and modern (particularly the
learned Dr. Polock), think the scope of these verses is to set forth the day
of the last judgment under the similitude of God's making war upon the
enemies of his kingdom, and his gathering in the harvest of the earth,
both which similitudes we find used in the Revelation, Rev_19:11; Rev_
14:18. Here we have,
I. A challenge given to all the enemies of God's kingdom to do their
worst. To signify to them that God is preparing war against them, they
are called upon to prepare war against him, Joe_3:9-11. When the hour
of God's judgment shall come effectual methods shall be taken to gather
all nations to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, Rev_16:14;
Rev_20:8. It seems to be here spoken ironically: “Proclaim you this
among the Gentiles; let all the forces of the nations be summoned to join
in confederacy against God and his people.” It is like that, Isa_7:9,
“Associate yourselves, O you people! and gird yourselves, but you shall
be broken to pieces. Prepare war; muster up all your strength; wake up
the mighty men; call them into your service; excite them to vigilance and
resolution; let all the men of war draw near. Let them come and enter
the lists with Omnipotence if they dare; let them not complain for want
of weapons, but let them beat their ploughshares into swords and their
pruning-hooks into spears. Let them resolve, if they will, never to return
to their husbandry again, but either to conquer or die; let none plead
unfitness to bear arms, but let the weak say, I am strong and will
venture into the field of battle.” Thus does a God of almighty power bid
defiance to all the opposition of the powers of darkness; let the heathen
rage, and the kings of the earth take counsel together, against the Lord
57

58. and his Christ; let them assemble, and come, and gather themselves
together; but he that sits in heaven shall laugh at them, and, while he
thus calls them, he has them in derision, Psa_2:1, Psa_2:4. The heathen
must be wakened, must be raised from the dead, that they may come up
to the valley of Jehoshaphat, to receive their doom (Joe_3:12), may
come up out of their graves, come up into the air, to meet the Lord there.
Jehoshaphat signifies the judgment of the Lord. Let them come to the
place of God's judgment, which perhaps is the chief reason for the using
of this name here, but it is put together as a proper name for the sake of
allusions to the place so called, which we observed before; let them come
thither where God will sit to judge the heathen, to that throne of glory
before which shall be gathered all nations (Mat_25:32), for before the
judgment-seat of Christ we must all appear. The challenge (Joe_3:9) is
turned into a summons, Joe_3:12. It is not only, Come if you dare, but
You shall come whether you will or no, for there is no escaping the
judgments of God.
JAMISON, "The nations hostile to Israel are summoned by Jehovah to
“come up” (this phrase is used because Jerusalem was on a hill) against
Jerusalem, not that they may destroy it, but to be destroyed by the Lord
(Eze_38:7-23; Zec_12:2-9; Zec_14:2, Zec_14:3).
Prepare war — literally, sanctify war: because the heathen always
began war with religious ceremonies. The very phrase used of Babylon’s
preparations against Jerusalem (Jer_6:4) is now used of the final foes of
Jerusalem. As Babylon was then desired by God to advance against her
for her destruction, so now all her foes, of whom Babylon was the type,
are desired to advance against her for their own destruction.
K&D 9-14, “Fulfilment of the judgment upon all the heathen predicted
in Joe_3:2. Compare the similar prediction of judgment in Zec_14:2. The
call is addressed to all nations to equip themselves for battle, and march
into the valley of Jehoshaphat to war against the people of God, but in
reality to be judged by the Lord through His heavenly heroes, whom He
sends down thither. Joe_3:9. “Proclaim ye this among the nations;
sanctify a war, awaken the heroes, let all the men of war draw near and
come up! Joe_3:10. Forge your coulters into swords, and your vine-
sickles into spears: let the weak one say, A hero am I. Joe_3:11. Hasten
and come, all ye nations round about, and assemble yourselves! Let thy
heroes come down thither, O Jehovah! Joe_3:12. The nations are to rise
up, and come into the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there shall I sit to judge
all the heathen round about.” The summons to prepare for war (Joe_
3:9) is addressed, not to the worshippers of Jehovah or the Israelites
scattered among the heathen (Cyr., Calv., Umbreit), but to the heathen
nations, though not directly to the heroes and warriors among the
heathen, but to heralds, who are to listen to the divine message, and
convey it to the heathen nations. This change belongs to the poetical
drapery of thought, that at a sign from the Lord the heathen nations are
to assemble together for war against Israel. ‫ה‬ ָ‫מ‬ ָ‫ח‬ ְ‫ל‬ ִ‫מ‬ ‫שׁ‬ ֵ ִ‫ק‬‫ה‬ ָ‫מ‬ ָ‫ח‬ ְ‫ל‬ ִ‫מ‬ ‫שׁ‬ ֵ ִ‫ק‬‫ה‬ ָ‫מ‬ ָ‫ח‬ ְ‫ל‬ ִ‫מ‬ ‫שׁ‬ ֵ ִ‫ק‬‫ה‬ ָ‫מ‬ ָ‫ח‬ ְ‫ל‬ ִ‫מ‬ ‫שׁ‬ ֵ ִ‫ק‬ does not mean “to
declare war” (Hitzig), but to consecrate a war, i.e., to prepare for war by
sacrifices and religious rites of consecration (cf. 1Sa_7:8-9; Jer_6:4).
‫ירוּ‬ ִ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ירוּ‬ ִ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ירוּ‬ ִ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ירוּ‬ ִ‫ע‬ ָ‫:ה‬ waken up or arouse (not wake up) the heroes from their peaceful
58

59. rest to battle. With ‫שׁוּ‬ְ ִ‫י‬‫שׁוּ‬ְ ִ‫י‬‫שׁוּ‬ְ ִ‫י‬‫שׁוּ‬ְ ִ‫י‬ the address passes over from the second person to
the third, which Hitzig accounts for on the ground that the words state
what the heralds are to say to the nations or heroes; but the continuance
of the imperative kkkkōōōōttttttttūūūū in Joe_3:10 does not suit this. This transition is a
very frequent one (cf. Isa_41:1; Isa_34:1), and may be very simply
explained from the lively nature of the description. ‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ ָ‫ע‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ ָ‫ע‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ ָ‫ע‬‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ ָ‫ע‬ is here applied to
the advance of hostile armies against a land or city. The nations are to
summon up all their resources and all their strength for this war,
because it will be a decisive one. They are to forge the tools of peaceful
agriculture into weapons of war (compare Isa_2:4 and Mic_4:3, where
the Messianic times of peace are depicted as the turning of weapons of
war into instruments of agriculture). Even the weak one is to rouse
himself up to be a hero, “as is generally the case when a whole nation is
seized with warlike enthusiasm” (Hitzig). This enthusiasm is expressed
still further in the appeal in Joe_3:11 to assemble together as speedily as
possible. The ᅋᅋᅋᅋπ. λεγ.π. λεγ.π. λεγ.π. λεγ. ‫עוּשׁ‬‫עוּשׁ‬‫עוּשׁ‬‫עוּשׁ‬ is related to ‫חוּשׁ‬‫חוּשׁ‬‫חוּשׁ‬‫,חוּשׁ‬ to hasten; whereas no support
can be found in the language to the meaning “assemble,” adopted by the
lxx, Targ., etc. The expression ‫ם‬ִ‫וֹי‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ‫ם‬ִ‫וֹי‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ‫ם‬ִ‫וֹי‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ‫ם‬ִ‫וֹי‬ ַ‫ל־ה‬ ָⅴ by no means necessitates our taking
these words as a summons or challenge on the part of Joel to the
heathen, as Hitzig does; for this can be very well interpreted as a
summons, with which the nations call one another to battle, as the
following ‫צוּ‬ ָ ְ‫ק‬ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬‫צוּ‬ ָ ְ‫ק‬ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬‫צוּ‬ ָ ְ‫ק‬ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬‫צוּ‬ ָ ְ‫ק‬ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬ requires; and the assumption of Hitzig, Ewald, and others,
that this form is the imperative for ‫צוּ‬ ְ‫ב‬ ָ ִ‫ה‬‫צוּ‬ ְ‫ב‬ ָ ִ‫ה‬‫צוּ‬ ְ‫ב‬ ָ ִ‫ה‬‫צוּ‬ ְ‫ב‬ ָ ִ‫,ה‬ cannot be sustained from Isa_
43:9 and Jer_50:5. It is not till Joe_3:11 that Joel steps in with a prayer
addressed to the Lord, that He will send down His heavenly heroes to the
place to which the heathen are flowing together. HanchathHanchathHanchathHanchath an imper. hiph.,
with pathachpathachpathachpathach instead of tzeretzeretzeretzere, on account of the guttural, from nnnnââââchathchathchathchath, to
come down. The heroes of Jehovah are heavenly hosts, or angels, who
execute His commands as gibbgibbgibbgibbōōōōrrrrēēēē khkhkhkhōōōōăăăăchchchch (Psa_103:20, cf. Psa_78:25). This
prayer is answered thus by Jehovah in Joe_3:12 : “Let the nations rise
up, and come into the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will He hold
judgment upon them.” ‫עוֹרוּ‬ ֵ‫י‬‫עוֹרוּ‬ ֵ‫י‬‫עוֹרוּ‬ ֵ‫י‬‫עוֹרוּ‬ ֵ‫י‬ corresponds to ‫ירוּ‬ ִ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ירוּ‬ ִ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ירוּ‬ ִ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬‫ירוּ‬ ִ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬ in Joe_3:9; and at the
close, “all the heathen round about” is deliberately repeated. Still there
is no antithesis in this to “all nations” in Joe_3:2, as though here the
judgment was simply to come upon the hostile nations in the
neighbourhood of Judah, and not upon all the heathen universally
(Hitzig). For even in Joe_3:2 ‫הגוים‬ ‫כל‬‫הגוים‬ ‫כל‬‫הגוים‬ ‫כל‬‫הגוים‬ ‫כל‬ are simply all the heathen who have
attacked the people of Jehovah - that is to say, all the nations round
about Israel. Only these are not merely the neighbouring nations to
Judah, but all heathen nations who have come into contact with the
kingdom of God, i.e., all the nations of the earth without exception,
inasmuch as before the last judgment the gospel of the kingdom is to be
preached in all the world for a testimony to all nations (Mat_24:14; Mar_
13:10).
It is to the last decisive judgment, in which all the single judgments find
their end, that the command of Jehovah to His strong heroes refers. Joe_
3:13. “Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread, for the
59

60. win-press is full, the vats overflow: for their wickedness is great.” The
judgment is represented under the double figure of the reaping of the
fields and the treading out of the grapes in the wine-press. The angels are
first of all summoned to reap the ripe corn (Isa_17:5; Rev_14:16), and
then commanded to tread the wine-presses that are filled with grapes.
The opposite opinion expressed by Hitzig, viz., that the command to
tread the wine-presses is preceded by the command to cut off the grapes,
is supported partly by the erroneous assertion, that bbbbââââshalshalshalshal is not applied
to the ripening of corn, and partly upon the arbitrary assumption that
qqqqââââtstststsıııırrrr, a harvest, stands for bbbbââââtstststsıııırrrr, a vintage; and maggmaggmaggmaggââââllll, a sickle (cf. Jer_
50:16), for mazmmazmmazmmazmēēēērrrrââââhhhh, a vine-dresser's bill. But bbbbââââshalshalshalshal does not mean “to
boil,” either primarily or literally, but to be done, or to be ripe, like the
Greek ππππέέέέσσω,σσω,σσω,σσω, ππππέέέέπτωπτωπτωπτω, to ripen, to make soft, to boil (see at Exo_12:9), and
hence in the pielpielpielpiel both to boil and roast, and in the hiphilhiphilhiphilhiphil to make ripe of
ripen (Gen_40:10), applied both to grapes and corn. It is impossible to
infer from the fact that Isaiah (Isa_16:9) uses the word qqqqââââtstststsıııırrrr for the
vintage, on account of the alliteration with qayitsqayitsqayitsqayits, that this is also the
meaning of the word in Joel. But we have a decisive proof in the
resumption of this passage in Rev_14:15 and Rev_14:18, where the two
figures (of the corn-harvest and the gathering of the grapes) are kept
quite distinct, and the clause ‫יר‬ ִ‫צ‬ ָ‫ק‬ ‫ל‬ ַ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫ב‬ ‫י‬ ִⅴ‫יר‬ ִ‫צ‬ ָ‫ק‬ ‫ל‬ ַ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫ב‬ ‫י‬ ִⅴ‫יר‬ ִ‫צ‬ ָ‫ק‬ ‫ל‬ ַ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫ב‬ ‫י‬ ִⅴ‫יר‬ ִ‫צ‬ ָ‫ק‬ ‫ל‬ ַ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫ב‬ ‫י‬ ִⅴ is paraphrased and explained
thus: “The time is come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is
ripe.” The ripeness of the corn is a figurative representation of ripeness
for judgment. Just as in the harvest - namely, at the threshing and
winnowing connected with the harvest - the grains of corn are separated
from the husk, the wheat being gathered into the barns, the husk blown
away by the wind, and the straw burned; so will the good be separated
from the wicked by the judgment, the former being gathered into the
kingdom of God for the enjoyment of eternal life, - the latter, on the other
hand, being given up to eternal death. The harvest field is the earth (ᅧᅧᅧᅧ γγγγᇿᇿᇿᇿ,
Rev_14:16), i.e., the inhabitants of the earth, the human race. The
ripening began at the time of the appearance of Christ upon the earth
(Joh_4:35; Mat_9:38). With the preaching of the gospel among all
nations, the judgment of separation and decision (ᅧᅧᅧᅧ κρκρκρκρίίίίσιςσιςσιςσις, Joh_3:18-21)
commenced; with the spread of the kingdom of Christ in the earth it
passes over all nations; and it will be completed in the last judgment, on
the return of Christ in glory at the end of this world. Joel does not carry
out the figure of the harvest any further, but simply presents the
judgment under the similar figure of the treading of the grapes that have
been gathered. ‫דוּ‬ ְ‫ר‬‫דוּ‬ ְ‫ר‬‫דוּ‬ ְ‫ר‬‫דוּ‬ ְ‫,ר‬ not from yyyyââââradradradrad, to descend, but from rrrrââââddddââââhhhh, to trample
under foot, tread the press that is filled with grapes. ‫ים‬ ִ‫ב‬ ָ‫ק‬ ְ‫י‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫יקוּ‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫ה‬‫ים‬ ִ‫ב‬ ָ‫ק‬ ְ‫י‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫יקוּ‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫ה‬‫ים‬ ִ‫ב‬ ָ‫ק‬ ְ‫י‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫יקוּ‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫ה‬‫ים‬ ִ‫ב‬ ָ‫ק‬ ְ‫י‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫יקוּ‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫ה‬ is used in
Joe_2:24 to denote the most abundant harvest; here it is figuratively
employed to denote the great mass of men who are ripe for the judgment,
as the explanatory clause, for “their wicked (deed) is much,” or “their
wickedness is great,” which recals Gen_6:5, clearly shows. The treading
of the wine-press does not express the idea of wading in blood, or the
execution of a great massacre; but in Isa_63:3, as well as in Rev_14:20, it
60

61. is a figure denoting an annihilating judgment upon the enemies of God
and of His kingdom. The wine-press is “the wine-press of the wrath of
God,” i.e., “what the wine-press is to ordinary grapes, the wrath of God is
to the grapes referred to here” (Hengstenberg on Rev_14:19).
The execution of this divine command is not expressly mentioned, but in
Joe_3:14. the judgment is simply depicted thus: first of all we have a
description of the streaming of the nations into the valley of judgment,
and then of the appearance of Jehovah upon Zion in the terrible glory of
the Judge of the world, and as the refuge of His people. Joe_3:14.
“Tumult, tumult in the valley of decision: for the day of Jehovah is near
in the valley of decision.” HHHHăăăămmmmōōōōnnnnıııımmmm are noisy crowds, whom the prophet
sees in the Spirit pouring into the valley of Jehoshaphat. The repetition
of the word is expressive of the great multitude, as in 2Ki_3:16. ‫רוּץ‬ ָ‫ח‬ ֶ‫ה‬ ‫ק‬ ֶ‫מ‬ ֵ‫ע‬‫רוּץ‬ ָ‫ח‬ ֶ‫ה‬ ‫ק‬ ֶ‫מ‬ ֵ‫ע‬‫רוּץ‬ ָ‫ח‬ ֶ‫ה‬ ‫ק‬ ֶ‫מ‬ ֵ‫ע‬‫רוּץ‬ ָ‫ח‬ ֶ‫ה‬ ‫ק‬ ֶ‫מ‬ ֵ‫ע‬
not valley of threshing; for though chchchchâââârrrrūūūūtstststs is used in Isa_28:27 and Isa_
41:15 for the threshing-sledge, it is not used for the threshing itself, but
valley of the deciding judgment, from chchchchââââratsratsratsrats, to decide, to determine
irrevocably (Isa_10:22; 1Ki_20:40), so that chchchchâââârrrrūūūūtstststs simply defines the
name Jehoshaphat with gr
eater precision. ‫וגו‬ ‫רוֹב‬ ָ‫ק‬ ‫י‬ ִⅴ‫וגו‬ ‫רוֹב‬ ָ‫ק‬ ‫י‬ ִⅴ‫וגו‬ ‫רוֹב‬ ָ‫ק‬ ‫י‬ ִⅴ‫וגו‬ ‫רוֹב‬ ָ‫ק‬ ‫י‬ ִⅴ (compare Joe_1:15; Joe_2:1) is used here to
denote the immediate proximity of the judgment, which bursts at once,
according to Joe_3:15.
BENSON, "Joel 3:9-10. Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles — “God having
foretold these judgments against Tyre and Sidon, the Philistines, and the
neighbouring nations, who had used the Jews with injustice and cruelty,
proceeds here to confirm his people in the belief of the certainty of their
destruction; which he tells them should be as sure as though they themselves had
gathered them together by proclamation for it: for so are these words, Proclaim
ye, &c., to be understood. Not as commanding what they were actually to do, but
in order to excite their attention, and to let them know that God was as certainly
preparing to bring this vengeance on their enemies, as though he had actually
sent messengers from the Jews to proclaim it among them:” see Chandler.
Prepare war, wake up the mighty men — Rouse and bring forward into the field
your strong and valiant men. In these words the prophet, in an ironical manner,
encourages them to make their utmost effort to oppose the designs of Providence;
but signifies that it should be all in vain. For, should they strengthen themselves
by all the means in their power, yet they should be overcome and punished. Beat
your plough-shares into swords, &c. — That is, make all the provision and
preparation for war, or for your own defence, that you possibly can. For a people
to beat their very plough-shares into swords, &c., signifies a general arming of
themselves, much beyond what had been usual.
CALVIN, "Verse 9
Some think these words were announced lest the people, being terrified by their
evils, should become wholly dejected; and they elicit this meaning, — that God
placed this dreadful spectacle of evils before their eyes, that the Jews might
prepare and strengthen themselves for enduring them; that though nations
61

62. should everywhere rise up, they might yet abide arm in the hope, that God would
be the defender of his own Church. But the Prophet, I doubt not, continues the
same discourse, and denounces war on the heathen nations, who had molested
the Church with so many troubles; Publish this, he says, among the nations,
proclaim war, rouse the strong; let them come, let them ascend: and we know
how necessary it was by such means to confirm what he had previously said: for
the ungodly are moved by no threats, nay, they laugh to scorn all God’s
judgments; while the faithful yielding to their evils, can hardly raise up their
minds, even though God promises to be a helper to them. Except, then, the
matter had been set forth as painted before their eyes they would not have
experienced the power of consolation. Hence the lively representation we see here
was intended for this end, — that the people, being led to view the whole event,
might entertain hope of their future salvation, while they now saw God collecting
his army, and mustering his forces to punish the enemies of his Church. The
faithful, then not only hearing by mere words that this would be, but also seeing,
as it were, with their eyes what the Lord sets forth by a figure, and a lively
representation, were more effectually impressed and felt more assured that God
would become at length their deliverer.
We now then see why the Prophet here bids war to be everywhere announced
and proclaimed, and also why he bids the strong to assemble, and all warlike
men to ascend; as though he said, “The Lord will not disappoint you with empty
words, but will come provided with an army to save you. When ye hear, then,
that he will be the author of your salvation, think also that all nations are in his
power, and that the whole world can in a moment be roused up by his rod, so
that all its forces may from all quarters come together, and all the power of the
world meet in obedience to him. Know, then, that being provided with his forces,
he comes not to you naked, nor feeds you with mere words, as they are wont to
do who have no help to give but words only: this is not what God does; for he can
even to-day execute what he has denounced; but he stays for the ripened time. In
the meanwhile, give him his honor, and know that there is not wanting the means
to protect you, if he wished; but he would have you for a time to be subject to the
cross and to tribulations that he may at length avenge the wrongs done to you.”
It may be now asked who are the nations meant by the Prophet? for he said
before, that God would visit all nations with punishment, whereas, there was
then no nation in the world friendly to the Jews. But in this there is nothing
inconsistent; for God caused all the enemies of the Church to assail one another
on every side, and to destroy themselves with mutual slaughters. Hence, when he
designed to take vengeance on the Tyrians and Sidonians, he roused up the
Persian and Medes; and when he purposed to punish the Persian and Medes, he
called the Greeks into Asia; and he had before brought low the Assyrians. Thus
he armed all nations, but each in its turn; and one after the other underwent the
punishment they deserved. And so the expression of the Prophet must not be
taken in a too restricted sense, as though the Lord would at the same time collect
an army from the whole world, to punish the enemies of his Church; but that he
rouses the whole world, so that some suffer punishment from others; and yet no
enemy of the Church remains unpunished. We now perceive the Prophet’s
objects in saying, Publish this among the nations; that is, God will move dreadful
62

63. tumults through the whole world, and will do this for the sake of his Church: for
though he exposes his people to many miseries, he will yet have the remnant, as
we have before seen, to be saved.
COFFMAN, "Verse 9
"Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let
the men of war draw near, let them come up.
"Here God is proclaiming that the nations themselves will be the instruments of
his judgment. The seeds of destruction are sown in the forces of destruction."[17]
Furthermore, the destructive nations themselves will be destroyed, and their
gathering together for violence is a prophecy of their own doom also. There is
thus a forenotice here of that episode in Revelation 16, where the evil spirits went
forth to gather the kings of the earth "unto the war of the great day of God"
(Revelation 16:14). (See my commentary on Revelation, pp. 374-378.)
COKE, "Joel 3:9. Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles— God, having foretold
these judgments against Tyre and Sidon, the Philistines, and the neighbouring
nations, who had used the Jews with injustice and cruelty, proceeds here to
confirm his people in the belief of the certainty of their destruction; which, he
tells them, should be as sure as if they themselves had gathered them together by
proclamation for it: for so are these words, proclaim ye, &c. to be understood;
not as commanding what they were actually to do, but in order to stir up their
attention, and to let them know that God was as certainly preparing to bring this
vengeance on their enemies in the course of his providence, as if he had actually
sent messengers from the Jews to proclaim it among them. See chap. Joel 2:1 and
Chandler. Instead of, Prepare war, Houbigant reads, Denounce war.
GUZIK, "A proclamation to the nations.
1. (9-13) Gathering the nations for a war of judgment.
Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let
all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into
swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong.
Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together all around. Cause Your
mighty ones to go down there, O LORD. Let the nations be wakened, 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, go down; for the
winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
a. Prepare for war! God challenges the nations to prepare for war against Him.
They will do this exact thing (Revelation 16:12-16), but God will simply laugh at
the puny and futile preparations by the nations (Psalm 2).
63

64. i. Beat your plowshares into swords: If you are going to go into battle against
God, you should have every weapon available! You should also practice your
best positive thinking: let the weak say, I am strong. Nevertheless, the most
positive attitude cant work when man sets himself against His Maker. There was
a Broadway play titled Your Arms are Too Short to Box with God. This is what
the nations dont know, but will learn the hard way.
b. I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations: Though the nations come
against God and His Messiah with every weapon and the most positive frame of
mind, it is all for nothing. They will be plucked like a ripe harvest and crushed in
judgment.
ii. Psalm 2 beautifully expresses the folly of the nations and the triumph of the
LORD: Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of
the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD
and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bonds in pieces and cast
away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall
hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress
them in His deep displeasure: Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.
(Psalm 2:1-6)
c. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; for the winepress is
full: Revelation 14:14-20 also uses this image of the winepress of the wrath of
God to describe Jesus judgment on the nations at Armageddon.
HAWKER, “Verses 9-21
I do not presume to say as much, but I venture to believe, that Joel's prophecy in
this Chapter is looking so far on, as to the second coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The valley of Jehoshaphat is again mentioned. And what violence is there
to the term, to suppose it refers to this present world. The valley the Prophet
Ezekiel was led by the spirit of the Lord down into, evidently referred to this
world; and so it may here. Ezekiel 37:1, etc. And multitudes, multitudes, will be
found in it, in that great day of decision, when the whole events of the gospel will
be decided. Then, and not till then, will be the peaceable reign of the Lord Jesus,
when swords, and spears, and war will be no more. Moreover the morn will be
darkened, and the sun ashamed, from the superior lustre of the glory of Jesus.
Isaiah 24:23. And Jesus' voice will be heard, and his presence known and
enjoyed as King in Zion. Then in truth, and not in figure, will the mountains
drop with wine, and the hills with milk. Jerusalem will truly be cleansed, and
made holy in the blood of the Lamb, and the song of redemption be sung by the
whole Church upon earth, as it is sung in heaven. Let the Reader look at some of
those most blessed and interesting portions of the word of God, and especially
the prophecies of scripture which refer to this great event, and let him determine
for himself, under the Holy Ghost's teaching, in what sense such divine
declarations are to be received. Isa 4; Eze 40 to the end; Zec 14; Re 20 and Re 21
chapters throughout, with Isaiah 65:17 to the end.
64

65. LANGE, “Joel 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 Isaiah 2:4; Micah 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.]
10 Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weakling say,
“I am strong!”
BARNES, "Beat your plowshares into swords - Peace had been already
promised, as a blessing of the gospel. “In His days,” foretold Solomon,
“shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, so long as the
moon endureth” Psa_72:7. And another, “He maketh thy borders peace”
Psa_147:14. Peace within with God flows forth in peace with man.
“Righteousness and peace kissed each other” Psa_85:10. 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.
Let the weak say, I am strong - It is one last gathering of the powers of
the world against their Maker; the closing scene of man’s rebellion
65

66. against God. It is their one universal gathering. None, however seemingly
unfit, was to be spared from this conflict; no one was to remain behind.
The farmer was to forge for war the instruments of his peaceful toil; the
sick was to forget his weakness and to put on a strength which he had
not, and that to the uttermost. But as weakness is, in and through God,
strength, so all strength out of God is weakness. Man may say, I am
strong; but, against God, he remains weak as, it is said, that weak man
Psa_10:18) from the earth may no more oppress.
GILL, "Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into
spears,.... Let not only soldiers, and such as have been trained up in
military discipline, appear in the field on this occasion; but let
husbandmen and vinedressers leave their fields and vineyards, and turn
their instruments of husbandry and vinedressing into weapons of war;
let them not plead want of armour, but convert these to such uses: on the
contrary, when this battle will be over, swords shall be beaten into
ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks, Isa_2:4;
let the weak say, I am strong; such as are weak, through sickness, or old
age, let them not plead their weakness to excuse them from engaging in
this war; but let them make the best of themselves, and say they are
strong and healthy, and fit for it, and enter in it with all courage and
bravery: this is said either ironically to the enemies of God's people,
suggesting that all hands would be wanted, and should be employed,
weak and strong, and all little enough; when they had made the utmost
effort they could, it would be in vain: or else they are seriously spoken to
the people of God, that none of them should excuse themselves, or be
discouraged because of their weakness from engaging in this last and
more battle; but take heart, and be of good courage, and quit themselves
like men, and be strong, since they might be sure of victory beforehand.
The Apostle Paul refers to this text in 2Co_12:10; and applies it to
spiritual weakness and strength; and indeed the weakest believer, that is
so in faith and knowledge, may say he is strong, in comparison of what he
once was, and others are; strong, not in himself, but in Christ, and the
power of his might, and in the grace that is in him; nor should he excuse
himself from fighting the Lord's battles, against sin, Satan, and the
world, and false teachers; or from doing the Lord's work, any service he
calls him to; or from bearing the cross he lays on him on account of his
weakness; nor should he: be discouraged by it from those things; but let
him strengthen himself, as Aben Ezra interprets it, take heart, and be of
good courage.
JAMISON, "Beat your ploughshares into swords — As the foes are
desired to “beat their ploughshares into swords, and their pruning
hooks into spears,” that so they may perish in their unhallowed attack on
Judah and Jerusalem, so these latter, and the nations converted to God
by them, after the overthrow of the antichristian confederacy, shall, on
the contrary, “beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears
into pruning hooks,” when under Messiah’s coming reign there shall be
war no more (Isa_2:4; Hos_2:18; Mic_4:3).
let the weak say, I am strong — So universal shall be the rage of Israel’s
foes for invading her, that even the weak among them will fancy
themselves strong enough to join the invading forces. Age and infirmity
66

67. were ordinarily made valid excuses for exemption from service, but so
mad shall be the fury of the world against God’s people, that even the
feeble will not desire to be exempted (compare Psa_2:1-3).
CALVIN, "Verse 10
He afterwards adds, Beat your plowshares into swords. When Isaiah and Micah
prophesied of the kingdom of Christ, they said, ‘Beat your swords into
pruninghooks, and your spears into plowshares’, (Isaiah 2:4.) This sentence is
now inverted by Joel. The words of Isaiah and Micah were intended figuratively
to show that the world would be at peace when Christ reconciled men to God,
and taught them to cultivate brotherly kindness. But the Prophet says here, that
there would be turbulent commotions everywhere, so that there would be no use
made of the plough or of the pruninghook; husbandmen would cease from their
labor, the land would remain waste; for this is the case when a whole country is
exposed to violence; no one dares go out, all desert their fields, cultivation is
neglected. Hence the Prophet says, ‘Turn your plowshares into swords, and your
pruninghooks into spears;’ that is, field labor will cease, and all will strenuously
apply themselves to war. And let the weak say, I am strong, for there will then be
no exemption from war. Excuses, we know, availed formerly on the ground of
age or disease, when soldiers were collected; and if any one could have pleaded
disease, he was dismissed; but the Prophet says, that there will be no exemption
then; “God”, he says, “will excuse none, he will compel all to become warriors,
he will even draw out all the sick from their beds; all will be constrained to put
on arms”. It hence appears how ardently the Lord loves his Church, since he
spares no nations and no people, and exempts none from punishment; for all
who have vexed the Church must necessarily receive their recompense. Since
then God so severely punishes the enemies of his Church, he thereby gives a
singular evidence of his paternal love to us.
COFFMAN, "Verse 10
"Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the
weak say, I am strong.
This passage was once cited by President Truman when a group of five
preachers called upon him during the Korean war and were received in the
White House office. Some of the area preachers in Washington, D.C. had been
preaching from the contrasting passage in Isaiah 2:4 about beating swords into
plowshares, etc.; and the President, asked, "Why don't you preachers preach all
the Bible?" He then turned to this passage and read from the Bible (which had
just been presented to him), from this very verse, adding, "I don't think these are
minor prophets at all; some of the most important things in the Bible are found
in these short books." It was this writer's privilege to share in that visit and the
President's words regarding the minor prophets have always been remembered
as solemn truth.
Here again, one encounters the notion that the origin of this verse was in Isaiah,
and that Joel was merely giving a "parody of what that prophet wrote";[18] and
such an idea fits in nicely with opinions of a late post-exilic date; but the student
should see again the comments under Joel 2:32, above, for a discussion of the
67

68. true origin of prophetic statements. There is absolutely no evidence whatever
that either Isaiah or Joel quoted the other in these passages; as a matter of fact, if
either of them had done so, he would have said so. "For Jehovah hath spoken it"
(Joel 3:8) is a frequently recurring note in this prophecy.
Rather than being a command upon the part of the Lord that the nations of
earth should arm for war, it would appear to be a prophecy of what they will,
through their wickedness, actually do, converting the total economy of their
societies to the making of instruments of destruction, even the humblest
implements of agriculture being also involved in the perversion. Is not this a
perfect picture of what is going on in the world at this very time? Conditions
symbolized by this are a prelude to the great and final judgment itself. The
language would appear to be similar to that which is said in Revelation 22:11:
"He that is unrighteousness, let him do unrighteousness still:
And he that is filthy, let him be made filthy still:
And he that is righteous, let him do righteousness still:
And he that is holy, let him be made holy still ...
BEHOLD I COME QUICKLY!"
What is indicated by such words as our verse (Joel 3:10), and also by this N.T.
quotation, is that the time of the Final Judgment has almost arrived; and there is
no need whatever for nations of the earth, which have hardly ever done anything
else except prepare for war, to make any significant change; it is too late for that.
The immediate reference in this very short paragraph in Joel 3:12 and Joel 3:13
to the "sickle" of judgment, and the "winepress" of God's wrath strongly
supports this impression. The time indicated by Joel's words here is near the
close of the era when, denying the benign teachings of the Saviour's kingdom,
men shall beat plowshares into swords, etc.: it comes at a time when the final and
irrevocable rebellion of all mankind shall be approaching its climax.
Myers gave a spiritual interpretation of this verse, reading it as equal to, "What
Amos said to Israel, `Prepare to meet your God (Amos 4:12).' The military terms
employed to accentuate the seriousness of the conflict must not be allowed to
obscure the real meaning."[19] Without doubt, this is an acceptable
understanding of this place; but our own preference favors the view given above.
COKE, "Joel 3:10. Beat your plough-shares into swords— He bids them turn all
such of their instruments as they used in times of peace, into instruments of war:
so Virgil,
———Non ullus aratro Dignus honos: squalent abductis arva colonis, Et curvae
rigidum falces constantur in ensem.
Dishonour'd lies the plough; the banish'd swains Are hurried from th'
68

69. uncultivated plains; The sickles into barbarous swords are beat. GEOR. I. ver.
506. WARTON.
Times of peace are on the contrary described thus; They shall beat their swords
into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: Isaiah 2:4.
11 Come quickly, all you nations from every
side,
and assemble there.
Bring down your warriors, Lord!
BARNES, "Once more all the enemies of God are summoned together.
“Assemble yourselves,” (Others in the same sense render, “Haste ye,)
and come, all ye pagan, round about,” literally “from round about,” i. e.,
from every side, so as to compass and hem in the people of God, and
then, when the net had been, as it were, drawn closer and closer round
them, and no way of escape is left, the prophet prays God to send His aid;
“thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.” Against “the
mighty ones” of the earth, or “the weak” who “say” they are “mighty,”
(the same word is used throughout,) there “come down the mighty ones
of God.” The “mighty ones of God,” whom He is prayed to “cause to come
down,” i. e., from heaven, can be no other than the mighty angels, of
whom it is said, they “are mighty in strength” Psa_103:20 (still the same
word,) to whom God gives “charge over” Psa_91:11. His own, “to keep”
them “in all” their “ways,” and one of whom, in this place, killed “one
hundred and fourscore and five thousand” 2Ki_19:35 of the Assyrians.
So our Lord saith, “The Son of man shall send forth His Angels, and they
shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them that do
iniquity” Mat_13:41.
GILL, "Assemble yourselves,.... From divers parts into one place: "be ye
gathered"; or "gather yourselves together", as the Targum and Kimchi;
get together in a body, muster up all the forces you can collect together,
Jarchi, from Menachem, by the change of a letter, renders it, "make ye
haste"; lose time in preparing for this battle; get men, and arms for
them, as fast as you can; be as expeditious as possible:
and come, all ye Heathen; antichristian nations, Mahometan or Papal;
which latter, especially, are sometimes called Heathen and Gentiles,
because of the Heathenish rites introduced into their worship, Psa_
10:16;
69

70. and gather yourselves round about: from all parts, to the valley of
Jehoshaphat or Armageddon, Rev_16:14; this is spoken ironically to
them, to use their utmost endeavours to get most powerful armies
against the people of God, which would be of no avail, but issue in their
own destruction; or it may signify what should be done by the providence
of God, bringing such large numbers of them together to their own ruin:
thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord; which is a prayer of
the prophet, or of the church, to God, that he would send down his
mighty ones, the angels that excel in strength, and destroy this great
army thus gathered together, as an angel in one night destroyed the army
of Sennacherib. So Kimchi and Aben Ezra interpret if of angels, and
many other interpreters; but perhaps it may be better to understand it of
Christian princes and their forces, those armies clothed in white, and
riding on white horses, in token of victory; with Christ at the head of
them, Rev_19:14; who may be said to be caused to "come down"; because,
being assembled shall go down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, where
their enemies are gathered together, and discomfit them, The Targum is,
"there the Lord shall, break the strength of their strong ones.''
HENRY 11-13, "A charge given to the ministers of God's justice to
appear and act against these daring enemies of his kingdom among men:
And therefore cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord! Joe_3:11.
When they bring their forces into the field, let God bring his, let the
archangel's trumpet sound a charge, to call together his mighty ones,
that is, his angels. Perhaps it is with reference to this that Christ's
coming from heaven at the last day is said to be with his mighty angels,
2Th_1:7. These are the hosts of the Lord, that shall fight his battles when
he shall put down all opposing rule, principality, and power when he
shall judge among the heathen, Psa_110:6. Some think these words
(Joe_3:9, Joe_3:10), Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, are not a
challenge to the enemies' hosts, but a charge to God's hosts; let them
draw near, and come up. When God's cause is to be pleaded, either by
the law or by the sword, he has those ready that shall please it effectually,
witnesses ready to appear for him in the court of judgment, soldiers
ready to appear for him in the field of battle. They shall beat
ploughshares into swords, if need be. However, it is plain that to them
the charge in given (Joe_3:13), Put you in the sickle, for the harvest is
ripe; that is, their wickedness is great, the measure of it is full, and they
are ripe for ruin. Our Saviour has expounded this, Mat_13:39. The
harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. And they
are commanded to thrust in their sickle. their sharp sickle, and gather in
both the harvest and the vintage, Rev_14:15, Rev_14:18. Note, The
greatness of men's wickedness makes them ripe for God's judgment.
JAMISON, "Assemble — “Hasten” [Maurer].
thither — to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
thy mighty ones — the warriors who fancy themselves “mighty ones,”
but who are on that very spot to be overthrown by Jehovah [Maurer].
Compare “the mighty men” (Joe_3:9). Rather, Joel speaks of God’s really
70

71. “mighty ones” in contrast to the self-styled “mighty men” (Joe_3:9; Psa_
103:20; Isa_13:3; compare Dan_10:13). Auberlen remarks: One prophet
supplements the other, for they all prophesied only “in part.” What was
obscure to one was revealed to the other; what is briefly described by one
is more fully so by another. Daniel calls Antichrist a king, and dwells on
his worldly conquests; John looks more to his spiritual tyranny, for
which reason he adds a second beast, wearing the semblance of
spirituality. Antichrist himself is described by Daniel. Isaiah (Isa_
29:1-24), Joel (Joe_3:1-21) and Zechariah (Zechariah 12:1-14:21),
describe his army of heathen followers coming up against Jerusalem,
but not Antichrist himself.
BENSON, "Joel 3:11-12. Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O
Lord — After the prophet has given warning, in the way of irony, to the nations
to provide for their defence by all possible means, and to assemble themselves
together from all parts, that they might strive with their united force; he, in the
conclusion of the verse, calls upon God to cause those to come whom he had
appointed to overcome these nations. Some, however, render the clause, the Lord
shall cause thy mighty ones to come down, or to be brought low. Let the heathen
be awakened — Let their courage be roused up; and come to the valley of
Jehoshaphat — To the place of divine judgment.
CALVIN, "Verse 11
At length he concludes, There will Jehovah overthrow thy mighty ones. Though
the Prophet uses the singular number, “thy ”, he no doubt refers to the whole
earth; as though he said, “Whatever enemies there may be to my people, I will
cut them down, however strong they may be.” We now perceive that everything
the Prophet has hitherto said has been for this end — to show, that God takes
care of the safety of his Church, even in its heaviest afflictions, and that he will
be the avenger of wrongs, after having for a time tried the patience of his people
and chastised their faults — that there will be a turn in the state of things, so that
the condition of the Church will be ever more desirable, even under its greatest
evils, than of those whom the Lord bears with and indulges, and on whom he
does not so quickly take vengeance.
COFFMAN, "Verse 11
"Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together:
cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah.
The gathering of the nations in their opposition to God, which is prophesied to
come at the general hardening of mankind that is prophesied as preceding the
Final Judgment is here represented as an act of God Himself, indicating judicial
hardening. Thus, in the case of Judas, Jesus commanded him, "What thou doest,
do quickly" (John 13:27).
"Thy mighty ones to come down ..." Some expositors are inclined to view the
assembled nations as an assembly convened to execute the will of God, but we
believe the assembly here is a spiritual thing, referring to the unanimity with
71

72. which human nations shall oppose God, and that this is a prophecy of their
assembly not to execute God's wrath upon others, but as the occasion when God
will execute his judgment UPON THEM! The next two verses would appear to
make that certain. Keil was of course correct in seeing something here far
greater than a few neighboring nations of ancient Israel. He wrote:
"These are not merely the neighboring nations to Judah, but all heathen nations
who have come in contact with the kingdom of God, all the nations of the earth
without exception, inasmuch as before the last judgment the gospel of the
kingdom is to be preached in all the world for a testimony to all nations"
(Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10).[20]
Verse 12
"Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for
there will I set to judge all the nations round about.
"Jehoshaphat ..." has the meaning of, "The Lord judges, or has judged."[21]
The scene, therefore is the eternal judgment, not that of any earthly event at all.
The language is metaphorical. "The figure of a great battle between the nations
and the warriors of God is joined to that of the nations gathered around before
the judge of all the earth."[22]
"Cause thy mighty ones to come down ..." is a reference to the angels of God,
always mentioned in connection with judgment scenes, especially in the N.T. The
"mighty ones" are not therefore, in any sense, 'righteous nations' but the angels
of heaven; and there is not going to be any kind of a literal conflict on earth to
decide the fate of anything; God's fiat will determine that.
COKE, "Joel 3:11. Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down— The Lord
shall cast down the strong ones: Houbigant. Our translation, however, may be
justified. At the ninth verse the proclamation is for the enemies to ascend, Judaea
being a high and mountainous situation; and, as God's mighty ones were to meet
them, the prophet prays, Thither, namely, to the appointed place, cause thy
mighty ones to descend: "Lead thither thy people, thy mighty army, and give
them the victory over their cruel enemies." In this view the sense is natural and
easy, and the prayer is a proper introduction to the following verses. See
Chandler.
LANGE, “Joel 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
Joel 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. Judges 5:13). Thy
72

73. affords no proof against this exposition, since Israel is God’s people, and Israel’s
mighty ones are God’s.
12 “Let the nations be roused;
let them advance into the Valley of
Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit
to judge all the nations on every side.
BARNES, "Let the pagan be awakened - This emphatic repetition of the
word, “awaken,” seems intended to hint at the great awakening, to
Judgment , when they “who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
being awakened” from the sleep of death. Another word is used of
“awakening” . On the destruction of antichrist it is thought that the
general Judgment will follow, and “all who are in the graves shall hear
the voice of the Son of Man and shall come forth” Joh_5:27-29 : They are
bidden to “come up” into the valley of Jehoshaphat , “for to come into the
presence of the most High God, may well be called “a coming up.” For
there will I sit to judge all the pagan round about,” (again literally “from
round about,) from every side,” all nations from all the four quarters of
the world. The words are the same as before. There “all nations from
every side” were summoned to come, as they thought, to destroy God’s
people and heritage. Here the real end is assigned, for which they were
brought together, for God would sit to judge them. In their own blind will
and passion they came to destroy; in God’s secret overruling Providence,
they were dragged along by their passions - to be judged and to be
destroyed. So our Lord says, “When the Son of Man shall come in His
Glory, and all the Holy Angels with Him, then shall He sit on the throne
of His Glory and before Him shall be gathered all nations” Mat_25:31-32.
Our Lord, in that He uses words of Joel, seems to intend to direct our
minds to the prophet’s meaning. What follows are nearly His own words;
CLARKE, "Let the heathen be wakened - The heathen shall be
wakened.
The valley of Jehoshaphat - Any place where God may choose to display
his judgments against his enemies.
73

74. GILL, "Let the Heathen be awakened, and come to the valley of
Jehoshaphat,.... That is, let the enemies of Christ and his church be
aroused from that state of security in which they are, and prepare for
their own defence; for in such a state the antichristian powers will be
before their destruction; see Rev_18:7; let them bestir themselves, and
exert all the rigour and strength they have; let them come in high spirits
against the people of God; let them invade the holy land, and come even
to the valley of Jehoshaphat; and, when come thither, let them, descend
into the place appointed for their ruin: the land of Judea being said to be
higher than other countries, going to it is generally expressed by going
up to it; otherwise it is more usual to say that men go down a valley than
come up to it; and, mention being made again of this valley, shows that
the same thing is referred to here as in Joe_3:2; these words are said in
answer to the petition in Joe_3:11; for they are spoken by the Lord, as
appears by what follows:
for there will I sit to judge all the Heathen round about; thither gathered
together from all parts: the allusion is to a judge upon the bench, sitting
to hear and try causes, and pass a definitive sentence; and here it
signifies the execution of that sentence; such a pleading the cause of his
people, as to take vengeance and inflict just punishment upon their
enemies; see Psa_9:4.
JAMISON, "See Joe_3:2.
judge all the heathen round about — that is, all the nations from all
parts of the earth which have maltreated Israel; not merely, as
Henderson supposes, the nations round about Jerusalem (compare Psa_
110:6; Isa_2:4; Mic_4:3, Mic_4:11-13; Zep_3:15-19; Zec_12:9; Zec_
14:3-11; Mal_4:1-3).
CALVIN, "Verse 12
The Prophet proceeds with the same subject, — that God will at length become
an avenger of the wrongs of his people, when they shall be unjustly harassed by
profane men. We indeed know that God does not immediately succor his
servants but rests as though he did not regard their troubles; but this he does to
try their patience; and then at a suitable time he declares that he had not been
indifferent, but had noticed the evils done to them, and deferred punishment
until the wickedness of his enemies had been completed. So he says now, that
God will at length be the defender of his people against all the nations assembled
from every quarter in the valley of Jehoshaphat. Of this valley we have said
enough already. But the chief thing is, that the afflictions of the Church shall not
go unpunished; for God at the right time will ascend his tribunal, and cause all
nations from every part of the earth to assemble and to be there judged. Now it
follows
COKE, "Joel 3:12. Let the heathen be wakened— The prophet seems to deliver
the words of this verse by way of answer to his own prayer: "That God would
lead down his people, and give them the victory over their enemies." Let the
heathen be wakened, should rather be rendered, the heathen shall be wakened:
"When they shall find themselves invaded by God's mighty ones, they shall
74

75. awaken out of their security, or be forced to leave the employments and
pleasures of peace, and come up to battle in their own defence." The prophet, as
is very usual in the Scripture, here explains the meaning of the word
Jehoshaphat: There will I sit to JUDGE, &c. "There will I certainly punish
them, and execute the judgment on them which they have deserved;" for the
word ‫שׁפט‬ shapat, denotes the whole process of any cause, whether it issue in the
acquittal or condemnation of the person impleaded. See the note on Joel 3:2 and
Chandler.
LANGE, “Joel 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 (‫ָה‬‫ל‬ַ‫ﬠ‬ 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 Judges,—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 ( Joel 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 Judges, is explained in Joel 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
Joel 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 ( Joel 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 ( Joel 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
75

76. 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: Joel 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 (Liv3:46); 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 Joel 3:13, Isaiah, 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.
13 Swing the sickle,
for the harvest is ripe.
Come, trample the grapes,
for the winepress is full
and the vats overflow—
so great is their wickedness!”
BARNES, "Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe - So Jesus saith,
“let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I
will say to the reapers, Gather ye together the tares and bind them in
bundles to burn them;” and this He explains, “The harvest is the end of
the world; and the reapers are the Angels” Mat_13:30, Mat_13:39. He
then who saith, “put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe,” is the Son of
76

77. Man, who, before He became the Son of Man, was, as He is now, the Son
of God, and spake this and the other things by the Prohets; they to whom
He speaketh are His reapers, the Angels; and the ripeness of the harvest
is the maturity of all things here, good and evil, to be brought to their last
end.
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 winepress 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 fats overflow,
because their wickedness is great.” The harvest is sometimes, although
more rarely, used of destruction Isa_17:5; Jer_51:33; the treading of the
winepress is always used as an image of God’s anger Lam_1:15; Isa_63:3;
Rev_19:15; the vintage of destruction Isa_17:6; Jdg_8:2; Mic_7:1; the
plucking off the grapes, of the rending away of single lives or souls Psa_
80:12. It seems probable then, that the ripeness of the harvests and the
fullness of the vats are alike used of the ripeness for destruction, that
“they were ripe in their sins, fit for a harvest, and as full of wickedness as
ripe grapes, which fill and overflow the vats, through the abundance of
the juice with which they swell.” Their ripeness in iniquity calls, as it
were, for the sickle of the reaper, the trampling of the presser.
For great is their wickedness - The whole world is flooded and
overflowed by it, so that it can no longer contain it, but, as it were, cries
to God to end it. The long suffering of God no longer availed, but would
rather increase their wickedness and their damnation. So also, in that
first Judgment of the whole world by water, when “all flesh had
corrupted his way upon the earth, God said, the end of all flesh is before
Me” Gen_6:12-13; and when the hundred and twenty years of the
preaching of Noah were ended without fruit, “the flood came.” So Sodom
was “then” destroyed, when not ten righteous could be found in it; and
the seven nations of Canaan were spared above four hundred years,
because the “iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full” Gen_15:16; and
our Lord says, “fill ye up the measure of your fathers - that upon you may
come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth” Mat_23:32, Mat_
23:35. So , “God condemneth each of the damned, when he hath filled up
the measure of his iniquity.”
CLARKE, "Put ye in the sickle - The destruction of his enemies is
represented here under the metaphor of reaping down the harvest; and
of gathering the grapes, and treading them in the wine-presses.
GILL, "Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe,.... This is said to the
mighty ones sent, the Christian princes, the executioners of God's
vengeance on antichrist; the angels that will pour out the vials of his
wrath on the antichristian states, compared to reapers, with a sharp
sickle in their hands, to cut them down, as grain is cut when reaped; as
the same states are compared to a harvest ripe, the measure of their sins
being filled up, and the time of their destruction appointed for them
come; see Rev_14:15;
77

78. come, get ye down; to the valley: or "go tread ye" (o); for another simile
is made use of: the reference here is to the treading of clusters of grapes
in the winepress, as appears by what follows: and so the Targum renders
it,
"descend, tread their mighty men;''
in like manner Jarchi interprets it; and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and
Arabic versions, render it: and Dr. Pocock observes, that the word in the
Arabic language signifies to tread, as men tread grapes in a press: the
reasons follow,
for the press is full; of clusters of the vine; or the valley is full of wicked
men, compared unto them, destined to destruction:
the fats overflow; with the juice of grapes squeezed out, denoting the
great effusion of blood that will be made; see Rev_14:18;
for their wickedness is great; is come to its height, reaches even to
heaven, and calls aloud for vengeance; an end is come to it, and to the
authors of it, Rev_18:5. The Targum of the whole is,
"draw out the sword against them, for the time of their end is come;
descend, tread their mighty men slain, as anything is trodden in a
winepress; pour out their blood, for their wickedness is multiplied.''
JAMISON, "Direction to the ministers of vengeance to execute God’s
wrath, as the enemy’s wickedness is come to its full maturity. God does
not cut off the wicked at once, but waits till their guilt is at its full (so as
to the Amorites’ iniquity, Gen_15:16), to show forth His own long-
suffering, and the justice of their doom who have so long abused it (Mat_
13:27-30, Mat_13:38, Mat_13:40; Rev_14:15-19). For the image of a
harvest to be threshed, compare Jer_51:33; and a wine-press, Isa_63:3
and Lam_1:15.
BENSON, "Joel 3:13. Put ye in the sickle — Ye executioners of divine
vengeance: begin to reap; cut down sinners ripe for judgment; let the king of
Assyria and his soldiers cut down Syria and its king, for their violence against
my people. Let Cyaxares and his armies cut down Assyria. Let Nebuchadnezzar
cut down Moab, Ammon, mount Seir, Egypt, Tyre, Zidon, and the Philistines.
After this, let Cyrus destroy the Babylonians, and Alexander the Medes and
Persians. And let the divided Grecian captains cut down one another, till the
Romans cut them down. And when this is done, God will have mighty ones still
to cut down his enemies till the final judgment, wherein they all shall for ever be
destroyed. For the harvest is ripe — That is, they are fit for destruction, as the
ripened corn for reaping. Come, get you down — Namely, into the appointed
valley; as though they were going into a vineyard to gather grapes. Here the
prophet uses another metaphor to express the cutting off the church’s enemies;
for the press is full; the fats overflow — That is, as it is immediately explained,
78

79. their wickedness is great — It is come to its full measure. And as the grapes in
the press are trodden, so the enemies of God’s people are to be trodden in the
wine-press of his displeasure.
CALVIN, "Verse 13
As God defers his judgments when miserable men groan under their burdens,
the Prophet uses a form of speech, which represents God as not delaying, but, on
the contrary, as hastening to judgment, though this be not perceived by carnal
minds; for these two things well agree together — God waiting his opportunity
as to the ungodly and suspending the punishment they deserve — and yet
quickly accelerating their destruction; for he is said to defer with respect to men,
because one day with us is like a hundred years; and he is said to hasten, because
he knows the exact points of time. So he says in this place, Put forth the sickle,
for the harvest has ripened. He uses metaphorical words, but he afterwards
expresses without a figure what he means and says, that their wickedness had
multiplied
But there are here two metaphors, the one taken from the harvest, and the other
from the vintage. The Prophet calls those reapers who have been destined to
execute his judgment; for God makes use as it were of the hired work of men,
and employs their hands here and there as he wills. He afterwards adds another
metaphor, taken from the vintage, Full, he says, are the presses and the vats
overflow; and at last he expresses what they mean, — that their wickedness had
multiplied, that is, that it was overflowing. God said to Abraham, that the
wickedness of the Canaanites was not then completed; and long was the space
which he mentioned for he said that after four hundred years he would take
vengeance on the enemies of his people: that was a long time; and Abraham
might have objected and said “Why should God rest for so long a time?” The
answer was this, — that their wickedness was not as yet completed. But the
Prophet says here, that their wickedness had multiplied; he therefore gives to
God’s servants the hope of near vengeance, as when the harvest approaches and
the vintage is nigh at hand; for then all have their minds refreshed with joy.
Such is the Prophet’s design; to encourage the faithful in their hope and
expectation of a near deliverance, he declares that the iniquities of their enemies
had now reached their full measure, so that God was now ready to execute on
them his vengeance. This is the purport of the whole. It follows —
COFFMAN, "Verse 13
"Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come tread ye; for the winepress is
full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
Revelation 14:14-20 appears to be founded entirely upon this conception
introduced in these few verses of Joel. See CRE for extensive comment on this,
for practically all of it is applicable here.
This verse surely supports the view that the "mighty ones" from above, spoken
of as "coming down" in the preceding verse, must be the angels of God, for,
"Down to N.T. times the eschatological harvesters are usually the angels
(Matthew 13:39; Revelation 14:14-20)."[23] This double figure of the judgment
79

80. under the imagery of the grain harvest and of the grape harvest suggests much
important truth regarding God's final judgment of humanity. It will come at a
time when human wickedness has run its course, borne its fruit, and arrived at a
state where there is nothing else left to do except to reap it! There has been some
refinement of the double figure by subsequent sacred authors who used the
treading of the winepress as particularly indicative of God's wrath, and the
gathering of the wheat into the garner as indicating the salvation of the
righteous.
COKE, "Joel 3:13. Put ye in the sickle— God here either calls on his people the
Jews to prepare themselves to execute his vengeance, for that the time of it was
drawing near; or comforts them by an assurance that he would provide proper
instruments to effect it; and this under a metaphorical representation, Put in the
sickle. He compares the nations to ripened fruits, and the time of their
destruction to the time of harvest: The harvest is ripe; that is to say, "They are
fit for destruction, as the ripened corn for reaping." Come, get ye down; namely,
into the appointed valley, as if they were going into a vineyard to gather grapes.
But Houbigant, more agreeably as he thinks to what follows, would read, Come,
tread ye, namely, the wine-press; for the press is full, the fats overflow: that is, as
it is immediately explained, their wickedness is great; it is come to its full
measure. See Revelation 14:15; Revelation 14:20.
ELLICOTT, "(13) Put ye in the sickle.—In the enthusiasm of his vision the
prophet crowds together metaphors to intensify the description of the coming
encounter between Jehovah and the enemies of His people. It is represented by
the judgment seat, the harvest, and the vintage. The hour of judgment has
arrived—Jehovah Himself is judge. The harvest-time, which is the end of the
world, has come—let the angel-reapers put in their sickle. In the wine-press the
grapes are gathered in—let the labourers hasten to press the juice out with their
feet.
LANGE, “Pusey: Joel 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.
14 Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision!
80

81. For the day of the Lord is near
in the valley of decision.
BARNES, "The prophet continues, as in amazement at the great throng
assembling upon one another, “multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of
decision,” as though, whichever way he looked, there were yet more of
these “tumultuous masses,” so that there was nothing beside them. 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. They all “tumultuously rage together, and imagine a
vain thing, against the Lord and against His Christ” Psa_2:1-2; but the
place where they are gathered, (although they know it not,) is the “valley
of decision,” i. e., of “sharp, severe judgment.” The valley is the same as
that before called “the valley of Jehoshaphat;” but whereas that name
only signifies “God judgeth,” this further name denotes the strictness of
God’s judgment. The word signifies “cut,” then “decided;” then is used of
severe punishment, or destruction decided and decreed , by God.
For the Day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision - Their
gathering against God shall be a token of His coming to judge them. They
come to fulfill their own ends; but His shall be fulfilled on them. They are
left to bring about their own doom; and being abandoned by Him, rush
on the more blindly because it is at hand. When their last sin is
committed, their last defiance of God spoken or acted against Him, it is
come. At all times, indeed, “the Lord is at hand” Phi_4:5. It may be, that
we are told, that the whole future revealed to us “must shortly come to
pass” Rev_1:1, in order to show that all time is a mere nothing, a
moment, a dream, when it is gone. Yet here it is said, relatively, not to us,
but to the things foretold, that it “is near” to come.
CLARKE, "Multitudes, multitudes - ‫המנים‬ ‫המנים‬‫המנים‬ ‫המנים‬‫המנים‬ ‫המנים‬‫המנים‬ ‫המנים‬ hamonimhamonimhamonimhamonim, hamonimhamonimhamonimhamonim, crowds
upon crowds, in the valley of decision, or excision: the same as the valley
of Jehoshaphat, the place where God is to execute judgment on his
enemies.
GILL, "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision,.... The same with
the valley of Jehoshaphat before mentioned; which shows that not any
valley of that name is intended, but a certain place so called from the
judgments of God in it; and here named "the valley of decision", because
here their judgment will be determined, as Kimchi and Jarchi; and at
this time the controversy between God, and his people's enemies, will be
decided, and at an end: or "the valley of concision", as the Vulgate Latin
version; because in this place, and at this time, the nations gathered
81

82. together in it will be cut to pieces: or, as others, "the valley of threshing"
(p); because, as, in Jehoshaphat's time, the Moabites and Ammonites
were threshed by the Jews in the valley of Berachah, to which the
allusion is; so at this time the antichristian kings and their armies will be
threshed and beaten, and destroyed by the men of Judah, God's
professing people; see Mic_4:13; these seem to be the words of the
prophet, breaking out into this pathetic exclamation, upon a sight of the
vast multitudes gathered together in this valley, and slain in it; and the
doubling of the word serves to express the prodigious number of them:
and this shows that this prophecy refers either to the vast army of the
Turks, under the name of Gog, and the great slaughter that will be made
of them; and that this valley may be the same with the valley of
Hamongog, that is, the valley of the multitude of Gog, where their
multitude of slain shall be buried, Eze_39:11; or to that vast carnage of
the antichristian kings and their armies at Armageddon, Rev_16:14; the
Targum is,
"armies, armies, in the valley of the division of judgment:''
for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision; that is, the great
and terrible day of the Lord, to take vengeance on all the antichristian
powers, both eastern and western, is nigh at hand, which will be done in
this valley.
HENRY, "The vast appearance that shall be in that great and solemn
day (Joe_3:14): Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision, the
same which before was called the valley of Jehoshaphat, or of the
judgment of the Lord, for the day of the Lord is near in that valley. Note,
1. The judgment-day, that day of the Lord, has all along been looked
upon, and spoken of, as nigh at hand. Enoch said, Behold, the Lord
comes, as if the Judge were then standing before the door, because it is
certain that that day will come and will come according to the
appointment, and a thousand years with God are but as one day; things
are ripening apace for it; we ought always to be ready for it, because our
judgment is at hand. 2. The day of judgment will be the day of decision,
when every man's eternal state will be determined, and the controversy
that has been long depending between the kingdom of Christ and that of
Satan shall be finally decided, and an end put to the struggle. The valley
of the distribution of judgment (so the Chaldee), when every man shall
receive according to the things done in the body. The valley of threshing
(so the margin), carrying on the metaphor of the harvest, Joe_3:13. The
proud enemies of God's people will then be crushed and broken to
pieces, and made as the dust of the summer threshing-floors. 3.
Innumerable multitudes will be gathered together to receive their final
doom in that day, as in the destruction of Gog we read of the valley of
Hamon-Gog, and the city of Hamonah (Eze_39:15, Eze_39:16), both
signifying the multitude of the vanquished enemies; it is the word here
used, Hamonim, Hamonim, expressed by the way of admiration - O what
vast multitudes of sinners will divine justice be glorified in the ruin of at
that day! A multitude of living (says one of the rabbin) and a multitude
of dead, for Christ shall come to judge both the quick and the dead.
82

83. JAMISON, "The prophet in vision seeing the immense array of nations
congregating, exclaims, “Multitudes, multitudes!” a Hebraism for
immense multitudes.
valley of decision — that is, the valley in which they are to meet their
“determined doom.” The same as “the valley of Jehoshaphat,” that is,
“the valley of judgment” (see on Joe_3:2). Compare Joe_3:12, “there will
I sit to judge,” which confirms English Version rather than Margin,
“threshing.” The repetition of “valley of decision” heightens the effect
and pronounces the awful certainty of their doom.
BENSON, "Joel 3:14-15. Multitudes, &c. — These are Joel’s words, exclaiming,
with prophetic warmth and agitation, Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of
decision! — As though he had said, See what astonishing numbers are brought
together for their destruction! The sentence, thus abrupt and broken, is very
strong and emphatical. The place is called the valley of decision, because in it the
cause would be decided between God and his enemies, and there he would
execute judgment upon them. Houbigant reads, the valley of excision, that is, of
cutting off: and Chandler, the appointed valley, namely, where God had
appointed to execute his judgments. The sun and the moon shall be darkened —
States and kingdoms shall be overthrown; and the stars shall withdraw their
shining — Kings and princes shall be cast down from their state of dignity and
pre- eminence, and shall be deprived of their power and glory. Or the meaning
is, This particular judgment shall be a forerunner of the general one, when the
whole frame of nature shall be dissolved.
CALVIN, "Verse 14
The Prophet confirms the same truth; but he multiplies words, because the
devastation of the Church might have taken away all hope from God’s servants;
for who could have said that the Church could be restored when it was so
miserably wasted, yea, almost reduced to nothing? For the people were so
scattered that the name of Israel was of no account. The people then had ceased
to exist, for they had lost their name; in short, the constitution of the Church was
dissolved, and all might have said, that the people were given up to thousand
modes of destruction, as all execrated the name of Israel. Since it was so,
whatever the Prophets said of the restoration of the people might certainly have
seemed incredible. The repetition then is not superfluous, when the Prophet in
various forms of words testifies and affirms that God would abide faithful, and
that, though Israel should perish according to what men could see, yet God had
power enough to vivify the people when dead: hence the Prophet speaks
emphatically, Nations! Nations! for he assumes here the character of a herald, as
indeed this office had been committed to him, and shows that his predictions
would not be fruitless, that he declared not words which would vanish into air,
but that whatever he declared in God’s name was full of power and energy. It
might indeed have appeared ridiculous in the Prophet to summon all nations
since his doctrine was laughed to scorn, even at Jerusalem. How could his voice
penetrate to the utmost borders of the world and be there heard? Though hidden
then was the power of this prediction, it yet showed itself at last, and it was really
made evident that the Prophet spoke not in vain.
83

84. Besides, he addresses the nations as though they could hear; but he raises thus
his voice, and nobly triumphs over all the wicked for the sake of the godly,
though the wicked then proudly ruled and with high disdain: “They shall come,”
he says, “at length before God’s tribunal, though they now tread the Church
under foot; yea, the nations, the nations.” He does not now mention the valley of
Jehoshaphat, but of concision. ‫חרוף‬ cheruts some take for a fixed decree; but the
word means a sledge or an instrument for threshing. We know not the mode of
threshing used by the Jews, but it is evident from several passages that ‫חרוף‬
cheruts was an instrument with which they were wont to thresh; and I am
inclined to adopt this sense; for the Prophet had first called God’s judgment a
harvest, then he compared it to presses. But if the word “concision” is more
approved, I object not; at the same time, I do not doubt but that the Prophet
alludes to threshing, as he ascribes to God his own office, that of scattering
nations, who seem now to have conspired for the destruction of the Church. If
any one considers it to mean a fixed decree, or a cutting off, as it means in Isaiah,
I make no objection; for many give this interpretation. I have, however,
explained what I most approve.
As to the drift of the subject, there is no ambiguity; the meaning of the Prophet
is, — that God will so punish all the ungodly, that he will cut down and scatter
them all, as when the corn is threshed on the floor.
At last he adds, that nigh was the day of Jehovah in the valley of the sledge. He
intimates, that though God as yet connived at their wickedness, yet the day was
coming on, unknown indeed to men, and that he would come at length to that
valley, that is, that he would inflict such punishment as would prove that he was
the protector of his people. Of this valley we have spoken already; and no doubt
he has throughout a reference to it, otherwise he would not have used a suitable
language, when he said, Ascend into the valley. But what is to ascend into the
valley? for, on the contrary, he ought to have spoken of descending. But he
compares Judea with other parts of the world; and it is, as it is well known
elevated in its situation. Then the higher situation of Judea well agrees with the
ascent of which the Prophet speaks. But he ever means that God would so punish
the nations as to make it evident that he did this in favor of his Church, as we
shall soon see more clearly. But he says —
COFFMAN, "Verse 14
"Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is near
in the valley of decision.
"The tumult of the nations in the valley of decision is not accidental, nor of their
own volition; it is because they have been summoned there by the Lord, `for the
day of the Lord is near.'"[24]
"The valley of decision is the same as the valley of Jehoshaphat, the repetition
heightens the effect."[25]
On the fact of God's causing the nations to move into the valley of decision, two
facts are pertinent:
84

85. (1) in the very nature of man's probation, he is always in the valley of decision as
long as he is on earth, and
(2) when either individuals or whole nations exhibit a final and stubborn attitude
of rebellion against God, judicial hardening always occurs eventually, as in the
classical instance of Pharaoh, or of Judas, or of secular Israel.
Every man is in the valley of decision now; and his "battle of Armageddon" is a
thing of the heart and mind and soul, and not a matter of nations and
battlefields.
COKE, "Joel 3:14. Multitudes, &c.— After the prediction of the slaughter of the
enemies of God's people, Joel cries out with prophetic warmth and agitation,
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! as if he had said, "See what
mighty numbers are brought together for their destruction!" The sentence, thus
abrupt and broken, is very strong and emphatical. Instead of decision,
Houbigant reads excision; and Chandler, very agreeably to the Hebrew word,
the appointed valley; where God had appointed or determined to execute his
judgments.
GUZIK, " (14-17) The Day of the LORD in the valley of decision.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near
in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will
diminish their brightness. The LORD also will roar from Zion, and utter His
voice from Jerusalem; the heavens and earth will shake; but the LORD will be a
shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So you shall
know that I am the LORD your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain. Then
Jerusalem shall be holy, and no aliens shall ever pass through her again.
a. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! Joel looks out upon the Valley
of Jehoshaphat at the Battle of Armageddon, and sees multitudes facing their
eternal fate - truly, it is a valley of decision, and those who fight against the
LORD and His Messiah are in the wrong place in the valley of decision,
ultimately fulfilled at the Battle of Armageddon.
i. The idea of the Valley of Decision has been used in countless evangelistic
meetings to show people that they stand in the Valley of Decision, and must
decide for or against Jesus. Joels context is exactly the opposite. Man does indeed
stand in the valley of decision, but it is God who does the deciding, not man. It is
a valley of judgment - and we should decide for Jesus right now so we never
stand in this valley of decision.
b. The heavens and earth will shake: Joel goes back to the descriptions of cosmic
85

86. cataclysm that were mentioned in Joel 2:30-31. In the midst of it all, the LORD
will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel, and He
will restore both His people and His city to glory.
LANGE, “Joel 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.]
15 The sun and moon will be darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.
BARNES, "The sun and the moon shall be darkened - This may be,
either that they shall be outshone by the brightness of the glory of Christ,
or that they themselves shall undergo a change, whereof the darkness at
the Crucifixion was an image. An ancient writer says ; “As in the
dispensation of the Cross the sun failing, there was darkness over all the
earth, so when the ‘sign of the Son of man’ appeareth in heaven in the
Day of Judgment, the light of the sun and moon and stars shall fail,
consumed, as it were by the great might of that sign.” And as the failure
of the light of the sun at our Lord’s Passion betokened the shame of
nature at the great sin of man, so, at the Day of Judgment, it sets before
us the awfulness of God’s judgments, as though “it dared not behold the
severity of Him who judgeth and returneth every man’s work upon his
own head;” as though “every creature, in the sufferings of others, feared
the judgment on itself.”
CLARKE, "The sun and the moon shall be darkened - High and mighty
states shall be eclipsed, and brought to ruin, and the stars - petty states,
princes, and governors - shall withdraw their shining; withhold their
influence and tribute from the kingdoms to which they have belonged,
and set up themselves as independent governors.
GILL, "The sun and moon shall be darkened,.... Both the politic and
ecclesiastic state of antichrist shall be ruined and destroyed; it shall
"fare" with Rome Papal as it did with Rome Pagan, at the time of its
86

87. dissolution; see Rev_6:12;
and the stars shall withdraw their shining: antichristian princes and
nobles in the civil state, and the clergy of all ranks in the church state,
shall lose their glory.
HENRY, " The amazing change that shall then be made in the kingdom
of nature (Joe_3:15): The sun and moon shall be darkened, as before,
Joe_2:31. Their glory and lustre shall be eclipsed by the far greater
brightness of that glory in which the Judge shall then appear. Nay, they
shall themselves be set aside in the dissolution of all things; for the
damned sinners in hell shall not be allowed their light, for God himself
will be their everlasting light, Isa_60:19. Those that fall under the wrath
of God in that day of wrath shall be cut off from all comfort and joy,
signified by the darkening not only of sun and moon, but of the stars also.
K&D 15-17, ““Sun and moon have become black, and the stars have
withdrawn their shining. Joe_3:16. And Jehovah roars out of Zion, and
He thunders out of Jerusalem; and heaven and earth quake: but
Jehovah is a refuge to His people, and a stronghold to the sons of Israel.
Joe_3:17. And ye will perceive that I Jehovah am your God, dwelling
upon Zion, my holy mountain: and Jerusalem will be a sanctuary, and
strangers will not pass through it any more.” On the forebodings of the
judgment in Joe_3:15, see at Joe_2:10. Out of Zion, the place of His
throne, will Jehovah cause His thunder-voice to sound, will roar like a
lion which is rushing upon its prey (Hos_5:14; Amo_3:4), so that heaven
and earth tremble in consequence. But it is only to His enemies that He is
terrible; to His people, the true Israel, He is a refuge and strong tower.
From the fact that He only destroys His enemies, and protects His own
people, the latter will learn that He is their God, and dwells upon Zion in
His sanctuary, i.e., that He there completes His kingdom, that He
purifies Jerusalem of all foes, all the ungodly through the medium of the
judgment, and makes it a holy place which cannot be trodden any more
by strangers, by Gentiles, or by the unclean of either Gentiles or
Israelites (Isa_35:8), but will be inhabited only by the righteous (Isa_
60:21; Zec_14:21), who, as Rev_21:27 affirms, are written in the Lamb's
book of life. 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. We are forbidden to think of the earthly Jerusalem
or the earthly Mount Zion, not only by the circumstance that the
gathering of all the heathen nations takes place in the valley of
Jehoshaphat, i.e., in a portion of the valley of the Kidron, which is a pure
impossibility, but also by the description which follows of the
glorification of Judah.
CALVIN, "Verse 15
I have already explained this verse in chapter 2 : the Prophet, as we then stated,
describes in these words the terrible judgment of God, in order to shake off the
indifference of men, who carelessly hear and despise all threatening, except the
Lord storms their hearts. These figurative expressions then are intended to
87

88. awaken the ungodly, and to make them know that it is a serious matter when the
Lord proclaims his judgment. Let us now go on with the passage —
COFFMAN, "Verse 15
"The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.
Such terminology as this is used in Revelation 6:12:17, following the pattern
throughout the Bible in references to the judgment of the Final Day. We do not
pretend to know what this means; but it would appear to be certain that cosmic
disturbances of the very greatest magnitude will attend God's final arraignment
and judgment of the prince of his creation, namely, man.
That the final day is always considered "near" (Joel 3:14) by the inspired
authors appears to derive from two things:
(1) in the sense of recurring judgments upon the incorrigibly wicked, as seen in
so many historical examples, notably the destruction of Jerusalem, that day in its
immediate application and impending sense is indeed always near, always
impending and threatening to occur at any time;
(2) all such lesser judgments are likewise omens or tokens of the great and final
event that shall consummate all things and usher in the new heaven and the new
earth.
Furthermore, this ultimate and final event is uncertain as to the time. Not even
Christ in the limitation of his flesh knew when it would be; and, therefore, the
thoughtful of every generation have received it in the words of the prophets as
"near at hand." There is a sense, too, in which it is indeed "near" to every
generation; because, for all practical purposes, the day of death for every man
may be equated with the day of judgment as far as it pertains to him.
16 The Lord will roar from Zion
and thunder from Jerusalem;
the earth and the heavens will tremble.
But the Lord will be a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the people of Israel.
Blessings for God’s People
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89. BARNES, "The Lord shall roar out of Zion - As in the destruction of
Sennacherib, when he was now close upon his prey, and “shook his hand
against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem, the Lord
of hosts lopped the bough with terror, and the high ones of stature were
hewn down, and the haughty were humbled Isa_10:32-33, so at the end.
It is foretold of antichrist, that his destruction shall be sudden, “Then
shall that Wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His
Coming” 2Th_2:8. And Isaiah saith of our Lord, “He shall smite the earth
with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay
the wicked” Isa_11:4. When the multitudes of God’s enemies were
thronged together, then would He speak with His Voice of terror. The
terrible voice of God’s warnings is compared to the roaring of a lion.
“The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord hath spoken, who can
but prophesy?” Amo_3:8. Much more, when those words of awe are
fulfilled. Our Lord then, “The Lion of the tribe of Judah” Rev_5:5. Who is
here entitled by the incommunicable Name of God, I am, shall utter His
awful Voice, as it is said; “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God”
1Th_4:16; and He Himself says, “The hour is coming, in the which all that
are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth, they that have
done good unto the Resurrection of life, and they that have done evil
unto the resurrection of damnation” Joh_5:28-29.
And shall utter His voice from Jerusalem - that is, either from His
Throne aloft “in the air” above the holy city, or from the heavenly
Jerusalem, out of the midst of the tens of thousands of His holy angels
Mat_16:27; Mat_25:31; Mar_8:38; 2Th_1:7, and saints Zec_14:5; Jud_
1:14, who shall “come with Him.” So terrible shall that voice be, that “the
heavens and the earth shall shake,” as it is said, “the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,
the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” 2Pe_
3:10; and “heaven shall open for the coming of the saints,” and ‘hell shall
be moved at the coming’ Isa_14:9 of the evil. : “Nor shall it be a slight
shaking of the earth at His Coming, but such that all the dead shall be
roused, as it were from their sleep, yea, the very elect shall fear and
tremble, but, even in their fear and trembling, shall retain a strong hope.
This is what he saith immediately, ‘The Lord will be the hope (or place of
refuge)’ of His ‘people, and the strength (or stronghold) of the children
of Israel,’ i. e., of the true Israel, the whole people of the elect of God. All
these He will then by that His Majesty at once wonderfully terrify and
strengthen, because they ever hoped in God, not in themselves, and ever
trusted in the strength of the Lord, never presumed on their own.
Whereas contrariwise the false Israelites hope in themselves, while,
‘going about to establish their own righteousness, they submitted
themselves not to the righteousness of God.’ Rom_10:3. The true Israel
shall trust much more than ever before; yet none can trust then, who in
life, had not trusted in Him Alone.
89

90. CLARKE, "The Lord also shall roar out of Zion - His temple and
worship shall be reestablished there, and he will thence denounce his
judgments against the nations. “The heavens and the earth shall shake.”
There shall be great commotions in powerful empires and their
dependencies; but in all these things his own people shall be unmoved,
for God shall be their hope and strength.
GILL, "The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from
Jerusalem,.... Christ, the Lamb, shall now appear as the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, and utter his voice in his providence and judgments on the
behalf of his church and people, signified by Zion and Jerusalem; and
therefore said to roar, and utter his voice from thence; he will be heard
far and near, and strike terror in the hearts of his enemies; see Jer_
25:30;
and the heavens and the earth shall shake; great revolutions will be made
in the world, both in church and state, among the antichristian powers;
and such as will also make them shake and tremble, as well as alter the
form and frame of things among them; see Rev_16:18; changes in
government, civil and ecclesiastic, are sometimes signified by such
phrases, Hag_2:6;
but the Lord will be the hope of his people; the object, author, ground,
and foundation of their hope of salvation here and hereafter; in whom
they may hope for and expect safety and security in the worst of times;
since he will be their "refuge", or their "harbour" (q) as it may be
rendered; to whom they may have recourse, to shelter and screen them
from the rage and wrath of their enemies, and where they will be safe, till
the indignation of God be over and past; and while calamities and
judgments are upon the unchristian and ungodly world, they will have
nothing to fear amidst these storms, being in a good harbour:
and the strength of the children of Israel; of the spiritual Israel; of all
such who are Israelites indeed, the Lord's chosen, redeemed, and called
people, both Jews and Gentiles; the author and giver of their spiritual
strength, the strength of their lives and of their hearts, of their graces
and of their salvation; by whom they are furnished with strength to do
the duties of religion; to exercise grace; to wrestle with God in prayer; to
withstand spiritual enemies; to bear afflictions patiently, and to
persevere to the end: or he is their "fortress" (r); their strong hold and
place of defence, where they are safe from every enemy, free from all
distresses, enjoy solid peace and comfort, and have plenty of provisions,
Isa_33:16.
HENRY, "V. The different impressions which that day will make upon
the children of this world and the children of God, according as it will be
to them. 1. To the wicked it will be a terrible day. The Lord shall then
speak from Zion and Jerusalem, from the throne of his glory, from
heaven, where he manifests himself in a peculiar manner, as sometimes
he has done in the glorious high throne of his sanctuary, which yet was
but a faint resemblance of the glory of that day. He shall speak from
heaven, from the midst of his saints and angels (so some understand it),
90

91. the holy society of which may be called Zion and Jerusalem; for, when we
come to the heavenly Jerusalem, we come to the innumerable company
of angels; see Heb_12:22, Heb_12:25. Now is speaking in that day will be
to the wicked as roaring, terrible as the roaring of a lion (for so the word
signifies); he long kept silence, but now our God shall come, and shall
not keep silence, Psa_50:3, Psa_50:21. Note, The judgment of the great
day will make the ears of those to tingle that continue the implacable
enemies of God's kingdom. God's voice will then shake terribly both
heaven and earth (Isa_2:21), yet once more, Hag_2:6; Heb_12:26. This
denotes that the voice of God will in the great day speak such terror to
the wicked as were enough to put even heaven and earth into a
consternation. When God comes to pull down and destroy his enemies,
and make them all his footstool, though heaven and earth should stand
up in defence of them and undertake their protection, it shall be all in
vain. Even they shall shake before him and be an insufficient shelter to
those whom he comforts forth to contend with. Note, 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. 2. To the righteous it will be a joyful day. When
the heaven and earth shall tremble, and be dissolved and burnt up, then
will the Lord be the hope of his people and the strength of the children of
Israel (Joe_3:16), and then shall Jerusalem be holy, Joe_3:17. The saints
are the Israel of God; they are his people; the church is his Jerusalem.
They are in covenant and communion with him; 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 then
will be the crown of their hopes. He will be the harbour of his people (so
the word is), their receptacle, refuge, and home. The saints in the great
day shall arrive at the desired haven, shall put to shore after a stormy
voyage; they shall go to be for ever at home with God, to their Father's
house, the house not made with hands. (2.) Their happiness shall be
confirmed. God will be in that day the strength of the children of Israel,
enabling them to bid that day welcome and to bear up under the weight
of its glories and joys. In this world, when the judgments of God are
abroad, and sinners are falling under them, God is and will be the hope
and strength of his people, the strength of their heart, and their portion,
when other men's hearts fail them for fear.
JAMISON, "(Compare Eze_38:18-22). The victories of the Jews over
their cruel foe Antiochus, under the Maccabees, may be a reference of
this prophecy; but the ultimate reference is to the last Antichrist, of
whom Antiochus was the type. Jerusalem being the central seat of the
theocracy (Psa_132:13), it is from thence that Jehovah discomfits the foe.
roar — as a lion (Jer_25:30; Amo_1:2; Amo_3:8). Compare as to
Jehovah’s voice thundering, Psa_18:13; Hab_3:10, Hab_3:11.
Lord ... the hope of his people — or, “their refuge” (Psa_46:1).
BENSON, "Joel 3:16. The Lord shall roar out of Zion — He shall strike the
enemies of his people with astonishment, as the roaring of the lion astonishes the
weaker beasts of the forest. And the heavens and the earth shall shake — The
91

92. destruction shall be as certain and dreadful as though God’s enemies were
destroyed by thunder and lightning from heaven. But the Lord will be the hope
of his people — Though the heaven and the earth pass away, his word and
promise, given to his servants, shall not pass away.
CALVIN, "Verse 16
The Prophet explains here more clearly his object, or the end for which he had
hitherto spoken of God’s judgment; for what we have heard served only to
spread terror: but now the Prophet shows that his purpose was to console the
faithful, and to give some relief to their troubles and sorrows. This is the reason
why he introduces God as roaring from Zion and crying from Jerusalem.
Roaring is ascribed to God, inasmuch as he compares himself in another place to
a lion, when representing himself as the faithful protector of the salvation of his
people: “I will be,” he says, “like the lion, who suffers not the prey to be taken
from him, but boldly defends it with all the fierceness he possesses: so also will I
do, I will not suffer my people to be taken from me.” In this sense does the
Prophet now say, that God will roar from Zion. God had been for a time
despised; for the nations had prevailed against his chosen people, and plundered
them at their pleasure; and God then exercised not his power. Since God had
been for a time still, the Prophet says now, that he will not always conceal
himself, but that he will undertake the defense of his people, and be like a lion;
for he will rise up in dreadful violence against all his enemies.
And tremble, he says, shall the heaven and the earth. As almost the whole world
was opposed to his elect people, the Prophet carefully dwells on this point, that
nothing might hinder the faithful from looking for the redemption promised to
them: “Though the heaven and the earth,” he says, “raise oppositions God will
yet prevail by his wonderful power.Tremble, he says, shall all the elements;
what, then, will men do? Though they muster all their forces, and try all means,
can they close up the way against the Lord, that he may not deliver his people?”
We now understand the Prophet’s design in speaking of the shaking of heaven
and earth.
He at last adds, God will be a hope to his people, and strength to the children of
Israel. In this part he gives a sufficient proof of what I have stated, — that he
denounces extreme vengeance on the nations for the sake of his Church; for the
Lord will at length pity his people, though they may seem to have perished
before he succors them. However past hope then the people may be in their own
estimation and in that of all others, yet God will again raise up the expectation of
all the godly, who shall remain, and will inspire them with new courage. He
speaks in general of the children of Israel; but what he says belongs only to the
remnant, of which the Prophet had lately spoken; for not all, we know, who
derive their origin from the fathers according to the flesh, were true Israelites.
The Prophet refers here to the true Church; and hence Israel ought to be taken
for the genuine and legitimate children of Abraham; as Christ, in the person of
Nathanael, calls those true Israelites who imitated the faith of their father
Abraham. I shall to-day finish this Prophet; I do not therefore dwell much on
every sentence. It now follows —
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93. COFFMAN, "Verse 16
"And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the
heavens and the earth shall shake; but Jehovah will be a refuge unto his people,
and a stronghold to the children of Israel.
The figure of the Lord roaring out of Zion and Jerusalem is a reminder of
"how" the Lord does his roaring, namely, through his word, which traditionally,
and even in the instance of the gospel, comes not from Rome, Salt Lake City,
Boston, or Moscow, but from Jerusalem! The shaking of the heavens and the
earth show that the figure of the final judgment is still being used. The author of
Hebrews specifically equated the shaking of the earth with its "removal"
(Hebrews 12:26-28) at the time of the great judgment. (See my Commentary on
Hebrews, pp. 334-336.)
"Jehovah will be a refuge to his people ... a stronghold to the children of
Israel ..." There is no reference here to the fleshly members of Abraham's
descendants; it is the spiritual remnant, the genuine children of Abraham, the
spiritual Israel which is meant. Note also, that their refuge and stronghold will
not be a fortress in Jerusalem, but God himself, namely, as recipients of his
blessings under the new covenant "in Christ." Those commentaries which
explain this in fanciful terms of how the "Jews were victorious over their cruel
foes under Antiochus,"[26] and envision this as a prophecy that God will come to
Jerusalem and protect and promote Israel in the physical and secular sense have
failed to see the eternal and worldwide proportions of this great passage in its
truly spiritual sense.
COKE, "Joel 3:16. The Lord—shall roar out of Zion— This verse may be thus
paraphrased; "Thus shall Jehovah take vengeance on the enemies of his people,
and make the inhabitants of Zion and Jerusalem to execute his judgments upon
them, like a roaring lion devouring his prey. Their destruction shall be as
certain, as if they were destroyed by thunders and lightnings from heaven, or
swallowed up by an earthquake. But Jehovah shall be a sure refuge to his
believing people, and his mighty arm shall save the children of Israel." See Isaiah
13:13. Psalms 14:6; Psalms 61:4.
ELLICOTT, "(16) The Lord also shall roar . . .—This is the key-note of the
prophecy of Amos, who opens his appeal with these words. The majestic roar of
the lion is transferred to express victorious utterance of the Lord’s judgment: it
is irresistible. As St. Paul wrote, “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (1
Thessalonians 2:16). The temporal success of the Jews in their future conflict
with their enemies is blended with the final triumph of the Lord in the judgment
day.
93

94. 17 “Then you will know that I, the Lord your
God,
dwell in Zion, my holy hill.
Jerusalem will be holy;
never again will foreigners invade her.
BARNES, "God Himself wondrously joins on His own words to those of
the prophet, and speaks to His own people; “so (literally, and) ye shall
know,” by experience, by sight, face to face, what ye now believe, “that I
am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.” So He saith
in the second Psalm, “Then shall he speak unto them” Psa_2:5-6 (the
enemies of His Christ) “in His wrath, and vex them in His sore
displeasure; And I have set My king on My holy hill of Zion;” and,
“Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them,
and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, their
God” Rev_21:3, dwelling with them and in them, by an unvarying,
blissful, hallowing presence, never withdrawn, never hidden, never
shadowed, but ever shining upon them. “Your God,” your own, as much
as if possessed by none besides, filling all with gladness, yet fully
possessed by each, as though there were none besides, so that each may
say, “Thou art my Portion, O Lord” Psa_119:57; Lam_3:24; my “Lord,
and my God” Joh_20:28, as He saith, “I am thy exceeding great Reward”
Gen_15:1.
And Jerusalem shall be holy - Literally, “holiness” as John saith, “He
carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed
me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from
God, having the glory of God” Rev_21:10-11.
And there shall no stranger pass through her anymore - “Without,”
says John, “are dogs and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers,
and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” Rev_22:15. None
alien from her shall pass through her, so as to have dominion over her,
defile or oppress her.
This special promise is often repeated. “It shall be called the way of
holiness, the unclean shall not pass over it” Isa_35:8. “Henceforth there
shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean” Isa_
52:1. “The wicked shall no more pass through thee” Nah_1:15. “In that
day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of
hosts” . “And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth”
Rev_21:27. These promises are, in their degree and in the image and
beginning, made good to the Church here, to be fully fulfilled when it
shall be “a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but holy and without blemish” Eph_5:27. Here they do not pass through
her, so as to overcome; “the gates of hell shall not prevail against her.”
However near, as hypocrites, they come to her, they feel in themselves
94

95. that they “are not of her” 1Jo_2:19. There they shall be severed from her
forever. : “Heretics came, armed with fantastic reasons and deceitful
arguments; but they could not pass through her, repelled by the truth of
the word, overcome by reason, cast down by the testimonies of Scripture
and by the glow of faith.” They fell backward to the ground before her.
They “go out from her, because they are not of her” 1Jo_2:19. They who
are not of her can mingle with her, touch her sacraments, but their
power and virtue they partake not. They are inwardly repelled.
CLARKE, "So shall ye know - By the judgments I execute on your
enemies, and the support I give to yourselves, that I am the all-
conquering Jehovah; and that I have again taken up my residence in
Jerusalem. All this may refer, ultimately, to the restoration of the Jews
to their own land; when holiness to the Lord shall be their motto; and no
strange god, or impure people, shall be permitted to enter the city, or
even pass through it; they shall have neither civil nor religious
connections with any who do not worship the true God in spirit and in
truth. This, I think, must refer to Gospel times. It is a promise not ye
fulfilled.
GILL, "So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion,
my holy mountain,.... The church of God, which is his dwelling place; and
will appear more manifestly to be so at this time, when Christ the Lamb
will stand on Mount Zion, with an 144,000, having his Father's name in
their foreheads, Rev_14:1; and which presence of the Lord will be clearly
discerned by his people; by the destruction of their enemies, and by his
protection of them; by his being their hope and strength, their refuge and
their fortress; they will experimentally know his divine inhabitation
among them:
then shall Jerusalem be holy; or "holiness" (s); not Jerusalem, literally
taken, as Kimchi; though, it being now rebuilt, will be inhabited by holy
persons, the converted Jews, and so all manner of holiness practised in
it; but rather the whole church of God everywhere, consisting of holy
persons, made so through the holiness of Christ imputed to them, and
the sanctifying grace of his Spirit wrought in them; not that they will be
perfectly holy in themselves, as the saints will in the New Jerusalem
state, Rev_21:2; but they will be greatly so; holiness will be predominant
and universal among men; there will be more real saints, and fewer
hypocrites will be in the churches; see Isa_4:3;
and there shall no strangers pass through her any more; to hurt and
annoy the church of God; for there shall be none in these times to molest,
disturb, and hurt, in all the holy mountain of the Lord, Isa_11:9; or to
pollute her with false doctrine, superstitious worship, or morality; or her
communion shall not be interrupted and made uncomfortable, or she be
pestered with hypocrites and ungodly persons, strangers to God and
godliness, to Christ, his Spirit, and the power of religion; see Isa_52:1.
HENRY, "Their holiness shall be completed (Joe_3:17): Then shall
95

96. Jerusalem be holy, the holy city indeed; such shall the heavenly
Jerusalem be, such the glorious church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any
such thing. Jerusalem shall be holiness (so the word is); it shall be
perfectly holy; there shall be no remainder of sin in it. The gospel-church
is a holy society, even in its militant state, but will never be holiness itself
till it comes to be triumphant. Then no stranger shall pass through her
any more; there shall not enter into the New Jerusalem any thing that
defiles or works iniquity; none shall be there but those who have a right
to be there, none but its own citizens; for it shall be an unmixed society.
(4.) God shall in all this be manifested and magnified: So shall you know
that I am the Lord your God. By the sanctifying and glorifying of the
church God will be known in his holiness and glory, as the God that
dwells in his holy mountain and makes it holy by dwelling in it; and those
that are sanctified and glorified are so through the knowledge of him
that called them. 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, that he
is their God, but dwelling in Zion his holy mountain; for, though faith
appropriates, it does not engross or monopolize the privileges of the
covenant. [2.] It is an experimental knowledge. They shall find him their
hope and strength in the worst of times, and so they shall know that he is
the Lord their God. Those know best the goodness of God who have
tasted and seen it, and have found him good to them.
JAMISON, "shall ye know — experimentally by the proofs of favors
which I shall vouchsafe to you. So “know” (Isa_60:16; Hos_2:20).
dwelling in Zion — as peculiarly your God.
holy ... no strangers pass through — to attack, or to defile, the holy city
(Isa_35:8; Isa_52:1; Zec_14:21). Strangers, or Gentiles, shall come to
Jerusalem, but it shall be in order to worship Jehovah there (Zec_14:16).
BENSON, "Joel 3:17. So shall ye know that I am the Lord dwelling in Zion —
Very graciously present with you, and ever watching over you and delighting to
save you. Then shall Jerusalem be holy — After the church’s enemies are
destroyed, the Messiah is come, and the remnant saved, the people of God shall
be holy. There shall no strangers pass through her — No profane or unclean
person shall be found in the church of Christ.
CALVIN, "Verse 17
This is a confirmation of the preceding doctrine, ye shall know, he says, that I am
your God. The Prophet intimates that the favor of God had been so hidden
during the afflictions of the people, that they could not but think that they were
forsaken by God. His word ought indeed to be sufficient for us in the greatest
evils; for though God may cast us into the deepest gulfs, yet when he shines upon
us by his word, it ought to be a consolation abundantly available to sustain our
souls. But yet, unless God really appears, we are confounded, and ask where is
his power. For this reason the Prophet now says, that the faithful shall at length
know, that is, really know him as their God.
96

97. There is a twofold knowledge, — the knowledge of faith, received from his
word, — and the knowledge of experience, as we say, derived from actual
enjoyment. The faithful ever acknowledge that salvation is laid up for them in
God; but sometimes they stagger and suffer grievous torments in their minds,
and are tossed here and there. However it may be with them, they certainly do
not by actual enjoyment know God to be their Father. The Prophet therefore
now treats of real knowledge, when he says, that they shall know that they have a
God, — how are they to know this? By experience. Now this passage teaches us,
that though God should not put forth his hand manifestly to help us, we ought
yet to entertain good hope of his favor; for the Prophet spoke for this end, —
that the godly might, before the event or the accomplishment of the prophecy
should come, look to God and cast on him all their cares. Then the faithful,
before they had real knowledge, knew God to be their Father, and hence
hesitated not to flee to him though what the Prophet testified had not yet been
visibly accomplished.
Dwelling in Zion, the mountain of my holiness: This has been designedly added,
that the faithful might know, that God made not a covenant in vain with
Abraham, that mount Zion had not in vain been chosen, that they might there
call on God; for we must have our attention called to the promises, otherwise all
doctrine will become frigid. Now we know that all the promises have been
founded on a covenant, that is, because God had adopted the people, and
afterwards deposited his covenant in the hand of David, and then he designated
mount Zion as his sanctuary. Since, then, all the promises flow from this
fountain, it was necessary to call the attention of the Jews to the covenant: and
this is the reason why the Prophet says now that God dwells in Zion; for
otherwise this doctrine would no doubt only lead to superstition. God, indeed, we
know, cannot be included within the circumference of any place, much less could
he be confined to the narrow limits of the temple; but he dwelt on mount Zion on
account of his own law, because he made a covenant with Abraham, and
afterwards with David.
It then follows, And Jerusalem shall be holy, and aliens shall not pass through it
any more. While he declares that Jerusalem shall be holy, he exempts it at the
same time from profanation. We know that it is a common mode of speaking in
Scripture, and what often occurs, that God’s heritage is holy, and also, that they
profaned it. Hence, when the people were exposed as a prey to the pleasure of
their enemies, the heritage of God became forsaken and polluted, profane men
trod Jerusalem as it were under foot. But now the Prophet exempts the holy city
from this pollution, as though he said, “The Lord will not allow his people to be
thus miserably harassed, and will show that this city has been chosen by him,
and that he has in it his dwelling. Aliens then shall no more pass through it —
Why? For it is first the holy city of God, and then, of his Church.
But as this promise extends to the whole kingdom of Christ, God doubtless
makes here a general promise, that he will be the protector of his Church, that it
may not be subject to the will of enemies; and yet we see that it often happens
otherwise. But this ought to be imputed to our sins, for we make the breaches.
God would, indeed be a wall and a rampart to us, as it is said elsewhere, (Isaiah
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98. 26:1;) but we betray his Church by our sins. Hence aliens occupy a place in it: Ye
we see at this day; for Antichrist, as it has been foretold, has now for ages
exercised dominion in God’s sanctuary. Since it is so, we ought to mourn at
seeing God’s holy Church profaned. Let us yet know, that God will take care to
gather his elect, and to cleanse them from every pollution and defilement. It
follows —
COFFMAN, "Verse 17
"So shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion my holy
mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass
through her any more.
This is a description of the spiritual Zion, mentioned in the preceding verse. It
was beautifully understood and commented upon by Hailey in these words:
"Spiritual Zion is impregnable; strangers will not pass through her as they did
physical Jerusalem. The kingdom over which Jehovah reigns from Zion is one
that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:28); it will stand forever" (Daniel 2:44;
7:13,14).[27]
"Jerusalem shall be holy ..." This, more than anything else, demands a spiritual
application of these words. In no absolute sense was the literal Jerusalem ever
"holy"; nor can there be any reasonable postulation of its holiness in the earthly
sense, as long as the world stands. The only "holy Jerusalem" known to the
Word of God is that of "the new Jerusalem which cometh down from God out of
heaven," which to be sure is a symbol of the glorified church of Jesus Christ.
COKE, "Joel 3:17. Then shall Jerusalem be holy— That is, "After this,
Jerusalem shall be safe under my care, and be no more profaned by the hostile
armies of these mine enemies." These expressions, perhaps, may have a further
reference; and as we have found in the former prophets, that, under predictions
of deliverances from particular enemies, great and future deliverances also in
some remote ages are signified, this possibly may be the case with this latter part
of Joel's prophesy; wherein it has been thought by some (and I doubt not is the
case), that he refers to the great and final restoration of the Jews, when the
fulness of the Gentiles shall be come in.
18 “In that day the mountains will drip new
wine,
and the hills will flow with milk;
all the ravines of Judah will run with water.
A fountain will flow out of the Lord’s house
and will water the valley of acacias.[d]
98

99. BARNES, "And it shall come to pass in that Day - After the destruction
of antichrist, there will, it seems, still be a period of probation, in which
the grace of God will abound and extend more and more widely. The
prophet Zechariah, who continues on the image, of the “living waters
going out from Jerusalem” Zec_14:8, places this gift after God had
gathered all nations against Jerusalem, and had visibly and miraculously
overthrown them Zec_14:2-4. But in that the blessings which he speaks
of, are regenerating, they belong to time; the fullness of the blessing is
completed only in eternity; the dawn is on earth, the everlasting
brightness is in heaven. But though the prophecy belongs eminently to
one time, the imagery describes the fulness of spiritual blessings which
God at all times diffuses in and through the Church; and these blessings,
he says, shall continue on in her for ever; her enemies shall be cut off for
ever. It may be, that Joel would mark a fresh beginning and summary by
his words, “It shall be in that Day.” The prophets do often begin, again
and again, their descriptions. Union with God, which is their theme, is
one. Every gift of God to His elect, except the beatific vision, is begun in
time, union with Himself, indwelling, His Spirit flowing forth from Him
into His creatures, His love, knowledge of Him, although here through a
glass darkly.
The promise cannot relate to exuberance of temporal blessings, even as
tokens of God’s favor. For he says, “a fountain shall come forth of the
house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.” But “the valley
of Shittim” is on the other side Jordan, beyond the Dead Sea, so that by
nature the waters could not flow there. The valley of Shittim or acacia
trees is a dry valley, for in such the Easten Acacia, i. e., the sant or sandal
wood grows. “It is,” says Jerome (on Isa_12:1-6 :19), “a tree which grows
in the desert, like a white thorn in color and leaves, not in size. For they
are of such size, that very large planks , are cut out of them. The wood is
very strong, and of incredible lightness and beauty. They do not grow in
cultivated places, or in the Roman soil, save only in the desert of Arabia.”
It does not decay ; and when old becomes like ebony . Of it the ark of God
was made, its staves, the table of showbread, the tabernacle and its
pillars, the altar for burnt-offerings, and of incense Exo_25:5, Exo_
25:10, Exo_25:13, Exo_25:23, Exo_25:28; Exo_26:15, Exo_26:26, Exo_
26:32, Exo_26:37; Exo_27:1, Exo_27:6; Exo_30:1; Exo_35:7, Exo_35:24;
Exo_36:20, Exo_36:31, Exo_36:36; Exo_37:1, Exo_37:4, Exo_37:10, Exo_
37:15, Exo_37:25, Exo_37:28; Exo_38:1, Exo_38:6; Deu_10:3. The valley
is about six miles from Livias , seven and a half beyond the Dead Sea . It
was the last station of Israel, before entering the land of promise Num_
33:49, from where Joshua sent out the spies Jos_2:1; where God turned
the curse of Balaam into a blessling Num. 23; 24; Mic_6:5; and he
prophesied of the Star which should arise out of Israel, even Christ
Num_24:17; where Israel sinned in Baal Peor, and Phineas turned aside
His displeasure Num_25:1, Num_25:7, Num_25:11.
The existence of a large supply of water under the temple is beyond all
question. While the temple was still standing, mention is made up of “a
99

100. fountain of ever-flowing water under the temple,” as well as pools and
cisterns for preserving rain-water. One evidently well acquainted with
the localities says , “The pavement has slopes at befitting places, for the
sake of a flush of water which takes place in order to cleanse away the
blood from the victims. For on festivals many myriads of animals are
sacrificed. But of water there is an unfailing supply, a copious and
natural fountain within gushing over, and there being moreover
wonderful underground-receptacles in a circuit of five furlongs, in the
substructure of the temple, and each of these having numerous pipes, the
several streams inter-communicating, and all these closed up below and
on the sides - There are also many mouths toward the base, invisible to
all except those to whom the service of the temple belongs. So that the
manifold blood of the sacrifices being brought together are cleansed by
the gush (of water down) the slope.”
This 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 for
the “divers washings” both of the priests and other things, and to carry
off the blood of the victims. Pools near the temple are mentioned by
writers of the third and fourth century ; and Omar, on the surrender of
Jerusalem, 634 a.d., was guided to the site of the ancient temple
(whereon he built his Mosk) by the stream of water which issued through
a water-channel from it . Whencesoever this water was derived, whether
from a perennial spring beneath the temple itself, or whether brought
there from some unfailing source without, it afforded Jerusalem an
abundant supply of water.
Much as Jerusalem suffered in sieges by famine, and its besiegers by
thirst, thirst was never any part of the sufferings of those within . The
superfluous water was and still is carried off underground, to what is
now “the fountain of the Virgin” , and thence again, through the rock, to
the pool of Siloam . Thence it carried fertility to the gardens of Siloam, in
Joel’s time doubtless “the king’s gardens” , still “a verdant spot,
refreshing to the eye in the heat of summer, while all around is parched
and dun.” The blood of the victims flowed into the same brook Kidron,
and was a known source of fertility, before the land was given to
desolation. The waters of Kidron, as well as all the waters of Palestine,
must have been more abundant formerly.
Isaiah speaks of it as “flowing softly” Isa_8:6; Josephus , of the
“abundant fountain;” an official report , of the “fountain gushing forth
with abundance of water.” Still its fertilizing powers formed but one little
oasis, where all around was arid. It fertilized those gardens live miles
from the city, but the mid-space was waterless , thirsty, mournful . Lower
down, the rivulet threaded its way to the Dead Sea, through a narrow
ravine which became more and more wild, where Saba planted his
monastery. “A howling wilderness, stern desolation. stupendous
perpendicular cliffs, terrific chasms, oppressive solitude” are the terms
by which one endeavors to characterize “the heart of this stern desert of
Judaea” .
Such continues to be its character, in the remaining half of its course,
until it is lost in the Dead Sea, and is transmuted into its saltness. Its
valley bears the name of desolation, Wady en Nar , “valley of fire.” No
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101. human path lies along it. The Kidron flows along “a deep and almost
impenetrable ravine” Psa_46:4, “in a narrow channel between
perpendicular walls of rock, as if worn away by the rushing waters
between those desolate chalky hills.” That little oasis of verdure was fit
emblem of the Jewish people, itself bedewed by the stream which issued
from the Temple of God, but, like Gideon’s fleece, leaving all around dry.
It made no sensible impression out of, or beyond itself. Hereafter, “the
stream”, the Siloah, whose “streamlets,” i. e., the artificial fertilizing
divisions, “made glad the city of God” Eze_47:1-12, should make the
wildest, driest spots of our mortality “like the garden of the Lord.”
Desolation should become bright and happy; the parched earth should
shoot up fresh with life; what was by nature barren and unfruitful should
bring forth good fruit; places heretofore stained by sin should be
purified; nature should be renewed by grace; and that, beyond the
borders of the promised land, in that world which they had left, when
Joshua brought them in there.
This, which it needs many words to explain, was vivid to those to whom
Joel spoke. They had that spot of emerald green before their eyes, over
which the stream which they then knew to issue from the temple trickled
in transparent brightness, conducted by those channels formed by man’s
diligence. The eyes of the citizens of Jerusalem must have rested with
pleasure on it amid the parched surface around. Fresher than the
gladliest freshness of nature, brighter than its most kindled glow, is the
renewing freshness of grace; and this, issuing from mount Zion, was to
be the portion not of Judea only, but of the world.
The vision of Ezekiel Eze_47:1-12, which is a comment on the prophecy
of Joel, clearly belongs primarily to this life. For in this life only is there
need for healing; in this life only is there a desert land to be made
fruitful; death to be changed into life; death and life, the healed and
unhealed, side by side; life, where the stream of God’s grace reacheth,
and death and barrenness, where it reacheth not. The fishers who spread
their nests amid “the fish, exceeding many,” are an emblem which waited
for and received its explanation from the parables of our Lord.
In the Revelation, above all, the peace, glory, holiness, vision of God,
can only be fulfilled in the sight of God. Yet here too the increase of the
Church, and the healing of the nations Rev_21:24-26; Rev_22:21, belong
to time and to a state of probation, not of full fruition.
But then neither can those other symbols relate to earthly things.
The mountains shall drop down new wine - Literally, “trodden” out.
What is ordinarily obtained by toil, shall be poured forth spontaneously.
“And the hills shall flow with milk,” literally, “flow milk,” as though they
themselves, of their own accord, gushed forth into the good gifts which
they yield. “Wine” ever new, and ever renewing, sweet and gladdening
the heart; “milk,” the emblem of the spiritual food of childlike souls, of
purest knowledge, holy devotion, angelic purity, heavenly pleasure. And
these shall never cease. These gifts are spoken of, as the spontaneous,
perpetual flow of the mountains and hills; and as the fountain gushes
forth from the hill or mountain-side in one ceaseless flow, day and night,
streaming out from the hidden recesses to which the waters are supplied
by God from His treasure-house of the rain, so day and night, 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. “All the rivers,” literally
101

102. “channels, of Judah shall flow with water.” Every “channel,” however
narrow and easily drying up, shall “flow with water,” gushing forth unto
everlasting life; the love of God shall stream through every heart; each
shall he full according to its capacity and none the less full, because a
larger tide pours through others. How much more , “in those everlasting
hills of heaven, “the heavenly Jerusalem,” resting on the eternity and
Godhead of the Holy Trinity, shall that long promise be fulfilled of the
land flowing with milk and honey, where God, through the beatific vision
of Himself, shall pour into the blessed “the torrent of pleasure,” the
unutterable sweetness of joy and gladness unspeakable in Himself; and
“all the rivers of Judah,” i. e., 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.”
CLARKE, "In that day - After their return from their captivities.
The mountains shall drop down new wine - A poetic expression for
great fertility. Happy times: peace and plenty. The vines shall grow
luxuriantly on the sides of the mountains; and the hills shall produce
such rich pastures that the flocks shall yield abundance of milk.
And all the rivers of Judah - Far from being generally dry in the
summer, shall have their channels always full of water.
And a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord - See the
account of the typical waters in Ezekiel 47, to which this seems to have a
reference; at least the subject is the same, and seems to point out the
grace of the Gospel, the waters of salvation, that shall flow from
Jerusalem, and water the valley of Shittim. Shittim was in the plains of
Moab beyond Jordan; Num_33:49; Jos_3:1; but as no stream of water
could flow from the temple, pass across Jordan, or reach this plain, the
valley of Shittim must be considered symbolical, as the valley of
Jehoshaphat. But as Shittim may signify thorns, it may figuratively
represent the most uncultivated and ferocious inhabitants of the earth
receiving the Gospel of Christ, and being civilized and saved by it. We
know that briers and thorns are emblems of bad men; see Eze_2:6. Thus
all the figures in this verse will point out the happy times of the Gospel:
the mountains shall drop down new wine; the hills flow with milk; the
thorny valleys become fertile, etc. Similar to those almost parallel words
of the prince of poets: -
Mistaque ridenti colocasia fundet acantho.
Ipsae lacte domum referent destenta capellae
Ubera: nec magnos metuent armenta leones.
Molli paullatim flavescet campus arista,
Incultisque rubens pendebit sentibus uva:
Et durae quercus sudabunt roscida mella.
Virg. Ed. 4:20.
Unbidden earth shall wreathing ivy bring,
And fragrant herbs the promises of spring.
The goats with streaming dugs shall homeward speed;
And lowing herds, secure from lions, feed.
Unlabour’d harvests shall the fields adorn,
102

103. And cluster’d grapes shall grow on every thorn:
The knotted oaks shall showers of honey weep.
Dryden.
GILL, "And it shall come to pass in that day,.... When antichrist shall be
destroyed; the Jews converted; the power of godliness revived, and the
presence of God among his people enjoyed. Vitringa, in his Commentary
on Isaiah, frequently applies this, and such like prophecies, to the times
of the Maccabees; though, he owns, they were but an emblem of better
times under the Gospel dispensation; nor does he deny the mystical and
spiritual sense of them;
that the mountains shall drop down new wine; which, and the following
expressions, are to be understood not in a strict literal sense, as
Lactantius (t) seems to have understood them; who says, that, in the
Millennium, God will cause a rain of blessing to descend morning and
evening; the earth shall bring forth all kind of fruit without the labour of
man; honey shall drop from the rocks, and the fountains of milk and
wine shall overflow: but hyperbolically, just as the land of Canaan is said
to flow with milk and honey; not that it really did, but the phrase is used
to denote the fertility of it, and the abundance of temporal blessings in it.
The literal sense is this, that the mountains shall be covered with vines,
on which they are often planted; these vines shall be full of large clusters
of grape; and these grapes, being pressed, shall yield a large quantity of
new wine; and so, by a metonymy, the mountains are said to drop it down
(u), that is, abound with it, or produce an abundance of it: but the
spiritual or mystical sense is, that the churches of Christ in those times,
comparable to mountains, and so to hills in the next clause, for their
exalted and visible glorious state in which they now will be; and for the
rich gifts and graces of the Spirit within them; and for the pasture upon
them, and the trees of righteousness that grow thereon; and also for
their firmness and stability, their immovableness and perpetual
duration; these shall abound with fresh and large discoveries of the love
of God and Christ, which is better than wine, Son_1:2; like wine,
cheering and refreshing; like new wine, though old as to its original, yet
new in the manifestations of it; and which are usually made in the
church, and the ordinances of it, to the making glad the hearts of the
Lord's people; also they shall abound with the blessings of grace, the
fruits of love, such as pardon, peace, justification, &c. which, like wine,
fill with joy, revive and comfort; and though they are ancient blessings,
provided long ago, they are exhibited under the Gospel dispensation in a
new covenant way; and the application of them is made in the churches,
in Zion, where the Lord commands the blessing, even life for evermore.
This may also take in the Gospel, which brings the good news of these
blessings, and so is very reviving and cheering; and, though ordained and
preached of old, is newly revealed under the present dispensation; and
will be more clearly in later times, when all the mountains or churches
will abound with it, and even the whole earth be filled with the
knowledge of it, Isa_11:9; likewise the ordinance of the Lord's supper,
that feast of fat things, of wines on the lees well refined, made in the
103

104. mountain of the Lord, for all his people may be included; and both in
that, and in the ministry of the word, the Lord is sometimes pleased, as
he may more abundantly hereafter, to give his saints some foretaste of
that new wine, which Christ and they shall partake of in his Father's
kingdom; see Son_7:9 Mat_26:29;
and the hills shall flow with milk: that is, there shall be much pasturage
upon them, and a great number of cattle feeding thereon, which shall
yield large quantities of milk; and so, by the same figure as before, the
hills may be said to flow with it (w). The spiritual meaning is, that the
churches of Christ, comparable to hills, for the reasons before given,
shall abound with the means of grace, with the sincere milk of the word;
to which the Gospel is compared for its whiteness and purity, for every
word of God is pure and purifying; for assuaging the wrath the law
produces; it being easy of digestion, even to newborn babes; and its
salutary nourishing virtue and efficacy; and of this there will be great
abundance in the latter day; see Son_4:11 1Pe_2:2;
and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters; that is, the channels in
which the rivers run; these, in a time of drought, are sometimes empty,
and the bottoms of them to be seen, but now full of water, and flow with
it: grace is often in Scripture compared to "water" because of its
refreshing, cleansing, and fructifying nature; and "rivers" denote, an
abundance of it; and the "channels", through which it is conveyed to
men, out of the fulness of Christ, are the ordinances; see Zec_4:12; and
the prophecy suggests, that these should not be dry and empty, but that
large measures of grace shall be communicated by means of them to the
souls of men, to their great comfort and edification, and for the supply of
their wants; see Eze_36:25;
and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord; not meaning
baptism, as some; nor Christ, the fountain of grace, life, and salvation;
but the Gospel, the word of the Lord, that fountain full of excellent truths
and doctrines; of the blessings of grace; of exceeding great and precious
promises; and of much spiritual peace, joy, and comfort: this is the law
or doctrine of the Lord, that should come out of Zion, or the church, Isa_
2:3; the living waters that shall come out of Jerusalem, Zec_14:8; and the
same with the waters in Ezekiel's vision, that came from under the
threshold of the house, Eze_47:1; it seems to denote the small beginnings
of the Gospel, and the great increase and overflow of it in the world, as it
does in all the above passages: this is referred by the ancient Jews (x) to
the times of the Messiah;
and shall water the valley of Shittim; a plain or valley near Jordan, upon
the borders of Moab, at the farther end of Canaan that way, Num_33:49.
Benjamin of Tudela (y) says, that from the mount of Olives may be seen
the plain and brook of Shittim, unto or near Mount Nebo, which was in
the land of Moab. This valley or plain, as the Targum, was so called,
either from the "shittah" tree, Isa_41:19; of which was the wood
"shittim", so much used for various things in the tabernacle and temple,
that grew there; and which Jerom on this place says was a kind of tree
that grew in the wilderness, like a white thorn in colour and leaves,
though not in size, for otherwise it was a very large tree, out of which the
104

105. broadest planks might be cut, and its wood very strong, and of incredible,
smoothness and beauty; and which grew not in cultivated places, nor in
the Roman soil, but in the desert of Arabia; and therefore one would
think did not grow in this plain near Jordan, and so could not be
denominated from hence: but Dr. Shaw (z) observes, that the Acacia is by
much the largest and the most common tree of these deserts (that is, of
Arabia), as it might likewise have been of the plains of Shittim, over
against Jericho, from whence it took its name; and adds, we have some
reason to conjecture that the shittim wood, whereof the various utensils,
&c. of the tabernacle, &c. Exo_25:10, &c. were made, was the wood of the
acacia. Or it may be this place had its name from the rushes which grew
on the banks of Jordan, near to which it was; for so, is the word
interpreted by some (a): and Saadiah Gaon says, this valley is Jordan; so
called, because Jordan was near to a place called Shittim: however, be it
as it will, this can never be understood in a literal sense, that any
fountain should arise out of the temple, and flow as far as beyond
Jordan, and water any tract of land there; but must be understood
spiritually, of the same waters of the sanctuary as in Ezekiel's vision,
Eze_47:1; at most, the literal sense could only be, that the whole land
should be well watered from one end to the other, and, become very
fertile and fruitful, by the order and direction of the Lord, that dwells in
his temple. The mystical sense is best. Jarchi makes mention of a
Midrash, that interprets it of the expiation of the sins of the Israelites, in
the affair of Baalpeor at Shittim, Num_25:1; but the true spiritual sense
is, that the Gospel shall be carried to the further parts of the earth; that
the whole world shall be filled and watered with it, and become fruitful,
which before was like a desert; these living waters shall flow, both
toward the former and the hinder seas, the eastern and west: era, as in
Zec_14:8; see Isa_11:9. Some render it, "shall water the valley of cedars"
(b); the shittim wood being a kind of cedar, of which many things
belonging to the tabernacle, a type of the church, was made, being firm,
sound, incorruptible, and durable; see Exo_25:10; saints are compared
to cedars for their height in Christ, their strength in him, and in his
grace; their large and spreading leaves, branches, and roots, or growth in
grace; and for their duration and incorruption; see Num_24:5; a valley
may signify the low estate of God's people; or be an emblem of lowly,
meek, and humble souls, to whom the Gospel is preached, and who are
watered and revived by it, and to whom more grace is given; see Isa_
40:4. It is by Symmachus rendered "the valley of thorns"; and so
Quinquarboreus (c) says the word signifies and designs such who are
barren in good works.
HENRY, "These promises with which this prophecy concludes have
their accomplishments in part in the kingdom of grace, and the comforts
and graces of all the faithful subjects of that kingdom, but will have their
full accomplishment in the kingdom of glory; for, as to the Jewish
church, we know not of any event concerning that which answers to the
extent of these promises, and what instances of peace and prosperity
they were blessed with, which they may be supposed to be a hyperbolical
description of, they were but figures of better things reserved for us, that
they in their best estate without us might not be made perfect.
JAMISON, "mountains ... drop ... wine — figurative for abundance of
105

106. vines, which were cultivated in terraces of earth between the rocks on
the sides of the hills of Palestine (Amo_9:13).
hills ... flow with milk — that is, they shall abound in flocks and herds
yielding milk plentifully, through the richness of the pastures.
waters — the great desideratum for fertility in the parched East (Isa_
30:25).
fountain ... of ... house of ... Lord ... water ... valley of Shittim — The
blessings, temporal and spiritual, issuing from Jehovah’s house at
Jerusalem, shall extend even to Shittim, on the border between Moab
and Israel, beyond Jordan (Num_25:1; Num_33:49; Jos_2:1; Mic_6:5).
“Shittim” means “acacias,” which grow only in arid regions: implying
that even the arid desert shall be fertilized by the blessing from
Jerusalem. So Eze_47:1-12 describes the waters issuing from the
threshold of the house as flowing into the Dead Sea, and purifying it.
Also in Zec_14:8 the waters flow on one side into the Mediterranean, on
the other side into the Dead Sea, near which latter Shittim was situated
(compare Psa_46:4; Rev_22:1).
K&D, “After the judgment upon all nations, the land of the Lord will
overflow with streams of divine blessing; but the seat of the world-power
will become a barren waste. Joe_3:18. “And it comes to pass in that day,
the mountains will trickle down with new wine, and the hills flow with
milk, and all the brooks of Judah flow with water; and a fountain will
issue from the house of Jehovah, and water the Acacia valley. Joe_3:19.
Egypt will become a desolation, and Edom a barren waste, for the sin
upon the sons of Judah, that they have shed innocent blood in their
land. Joe_3:20. But Judah, it will dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from
generation to generation. Joe_3:21. And I shall expiate their blood that I
have not expiated: and Jehovah dwelleth upon Zion.” The end of the
ways of the Lord is eternal blessing for His people, whilst the enemies of
His kingdom fall victims to the curse. This thought is expressed in figures
taken from the state of the covenant land of the Old Testament, and those
of the bordering kingdoms of Egypt and Edom which were hostile to
Israel. If we bear this in mind, we shall not fall into Volck's error, of
seeking in this description for a clear statement as to the transfiguration
of the land of Israel during the thousand years' reign, whilst the rest of
the earth is not yet glorified; for it is evident from Joe_3:18, as compared
with the parallel passages, viz., Zec_14:6. and Eze_47:1-12, that this
passage does not teach the earthly glorification of Palestine, and
desolation of Egypt and Idumaea, but that Judah and Jerusalem are
types of the kingdom of God, whilst Egypt and Edom are types of the
world-powers that are at enmity against God; in other words, that this
description is not to be understood literally, but spiritually. “In that
day,” viz., the period following the final judgment upon the heathen, the
mountains and hills of Judah, i.e., the least fruitful portions of the Old
Testament kingdom of God in the time of the prophet, will overflow with
new wine and milk, and all the brooks of water be filled, i.e., no more dry
up in the hot season of the year (Joe_1:20). Thus will the fruitfulness of
Canaan, the land of the Lord, flowing with milk and honey, come forth in
all its potency. Even the unfruitful acacia valley will be watered by a
spring issuing from the house of Jehovah, and turned into a fruitful land.
The valley of Shittim is the barren valley of the Jordan, above the Dead
106

107. Sea. The name Shittim, acacia, is taken from the last encampment of the
Israelites in the steppes of Moab, before their entrance into Canaan
(Num_25:1; Jos_3:1), and was chosen by the prophet to denote a very dry
valley, as the acacia grows in a dry soil (cf. Celsii, Hierob. i. p. 500ff.).
The spring which waters this valley, and proceeds from the house of
Jehovah, and the living water that flows from Jerusalem, according to
Zec_14:8, are of course not earthly streams that are constantly flowing,
as distinguished from the streams caused by rain and snow, which very
soon dry up again, but spiritual waters of life (Joh_4:10, Joh_4:14; Joh_
7:38); and, in fact, as a comparison of Eze_47:7-12 with Rev_22:1-2
clearly shows, the “river of the water of life, clear as a crystal,” which in
the New Jerusalem coming down from God upon the earth (Rev_21:10)
proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, and on both sides of
which there grows the tree of life, that bears its fruit twelve times a-year,
or every month, and the leaves of which are for the healing of the
nations. The partially verbal agreement between the description of this
river of water in Rev_22:2, and that in Eze_47:12, overthrows the
millenarian view, that the glorification of Judah and Jerusalem,
predicted by Joel, Zechariah, and Ezekiel, will be a partial glorification of
the earth, viz., of the Holy Land, which takes place before the creation of
the new heaven and the new earth.
Joe_3:19
On the other hand, the curse of desolation will fall upon Egypt and
Edom, on account of the sin which they have committed upon the sons of
Judah. ‫י‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ ‫ס‬ ַ‫מ‬ ֲ‫ח‬‫י‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ ‫ס‬ ַ‫מ‬ ֲ‫ח‬‫י‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ ‫ס‬ ַ‫מ‬ ֲ‫ח‬‫י‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ ‫ס‬ ַ‫מ‬ ֲ‫,ח‬ with the genitive of the object, as in Oba_1:10; Hab_2:8,
Hab_2:17, etc. This sin is then more precisely defined, as consisting in
the fact that they had shed innocent blood of the sons of Judah, i.e., of
the people of God, in their land (''''artsartsartsartsââââmmmm, the land of the Egyptians and
Edomites, not of the Judaeans): that is to say, in the Egypt in the olden
time, more especially by the command to slay all the Hebrew boys (Exo_
1:16), and in the Edom of more recent times, probably when throwing off
the dominion of Judah (see at Amo_1:11 and Oba_1:10). These nations
and lands had both thereby become types of the power of the world in its
hostility to God, in which capacity they are mentioned here, and Edom
again in Isaiah 34 and 63; cf. Jer_49:7. and Eze_35:1-15.
Joe_3:20
On the other hand, Judah and Jerusalem shall dwell for ever, - a
poetical expression for “be inhabited,” both land and city being
personified, as in Isa_13:20, etc. Thus will Jehovah, by means of the final
judgment upon the heathen, wipe away the bloodguiltiness that they
have contracted in their treatment of His people, and manifest Himself
as King of Zion. With these thoughts the prophecy of Joel closes (Joe_
3:21). The verb niqqniqqniqqniqqââââhhhh, to cleanse, with ddddââââmmmm, to wipe away or expunge
blood-guiltiness by punishment, is chosen with reference to ‫יא‬ ִ‫ק‬ָ‫נ‬ ‫ם‬ ָ‫יא‬ ִ‫ק‬ָ‫נ‬ ‫ם‬ ָ‫יא‬ ִ‫ק‬ָ‫נ‬ ‫ם‬ ָ‫יא‬ ִ‫ק‬ָ‫נ‬ ‫ם‬ ָ in
Joe_3:19; and ‫י‬ ִ‫ית‬ ֵ ִ‫נ‬ ‫ּא‬‫ל‬‫י‬ ִ‫ית‬ ֵ ִ‫נ‬ ‫ּא‬‫ל‬‫י‬ ִ‫ית‬ ֵ ִ‫נ‬ ‫ּא‬‫ל‬‫י‬ ִ‫ית‬ ֵ ִ‫נ‬ ‫ּא‬‫ל‬, which follows, is to be taken in a relative sense: so
that there is no need to alter ‫י‬ ִ‫ית‬ ֵ ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬‫י‬ ִ‫ית‬ ֵ ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬‫י‬ ִ‫ית‬ ֵ ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬‫י‬ ִ‫ית‬ ֵ ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬ into ‫י‬ ִ ְ‫מ‬ ַ ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬‫י‬ ִ ְ‫מ‬ ַ ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬‫י‬ ִ ְ‫מ‬ ַ ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬‫י‬ ִ ְ‫מ‬ ַ ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬ otniotniotniotni ֵ ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬ֵ ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬ֵ ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬ֵ ִ‫נ‬ְ‫ו‬ (Ges.); and the latter
has no critical support in the Septuagint rendering κακακακαᆳᆳᆳᆳ ᅚᅚᅚᅚκζητκζητκζητκζητήήήήσωσωσωσω, which
merely reproduces the sense.
107

108. Joe_3:21
Joe_3:21 does not contain the announcement of a still further
punishment upon Egypt and Edom, but simply the thought with which
the proclamation of the judgment closes - namely, that the eternal
desolation of the world-kingdoms mentioned here will wipe out all the
wrong which they have done to the people of God, and which has hitherto
remained unpunished. But Zion will rejoice in the eternal reign of its
God. Jehovah dwells upon Zion, when He manifests Himself to all the
world as the King of His people, on the one hand by the annihilation of
His foes, and on the other hand by the perfecting of His kingdom in glory.
BENSON, "Verse 18
Joel 3:18. The mountains shall drop down new wine — Namely, the vines
planted upon the mountains. The hills shall flow with milk — So fruitful shall
the hills be, that milk shall abound everywhere. And all the rivers, &c. — These
expressions are all figurative, and highly poetical, and, according to Calmet,
symbolical of the doctrine of the gospel; which, accompanied by the Spirit of
grace, was to flow forth from Jerusalem, and to water the Gentile world, which
had been as a barren and uncultivated land.
CALVIN, "Verse 18
The Prophet here declares that God will be so bountiful to his people, that no
good things will be wanting to them either in abundance or variety. When God
then shall restore his Church, it will abound, he says, in every kind of blessing:
for this is the meaning of this language, Distill new wine shall the mountains, and
the hills shall make milk to run down; and all rivers also shall have abundant
waters, and a fountain shall arise from the house of Judah to irrigate the valley
of Shittim. We now perceive the design of Joel. But we must remember that
when the Prophets so splendidly extol the blessings of God, they intend not to fill
the minds of the godly with thoughts about eating and drinking; but profane
men lay hold on such passages as though the Lord intended to gratify their
appetite. We know, indeed, that God’s children differ much from swine: hence
God fills not the faithful with earthly things, for this would not be useful for
their salvation. At the same time, he thus enlarges on his blessings, that we may
know that no happiness shall in any way be wanting to us, when God shall be
propitious to us. We hence see that our Prophet so speaks of God’s earthly
blessings, that he fills not the minds of the godly with these things but desires to
raise them above, as though he said, that the Israelites would in every way be
happy, after having in the first place been reconciled to God. For whence came
their miseries and distresses of every kind, but from their sins? Since, then, all
troubles, all evils, are signs of God’s wrath and alienation, it is no wonder that
the Lord, when he declares that he will be propitious to them, adds also the
proofs of his paternal love, as he does here: and we know that it was necessary
for that rude people, while under the elements of the Law, to be thus instructed;
for they could not as yet take solid food, as we know that the ancients under the
Law were like children. But it is enough for us to understand the design of the
Holy Spirit, namely, that God will satisfy his people with the abundance of all
good things, as far as it will be for their benefit. Since God now calls us directly
108

109. to heaven, and raises our minds to the spiritual life, what Paul says ought to be
sufficient, — that to godliness is given the hope, not only of future life, but also of
that which is present, (1 Timothy 4:8;) for God will bless us on the earth, but it
will be, as we have already observed, according to the measure of our infirmity.
The valley of Shittim was nigh the borders of the Moabites, as we learn from
Numbers 25:1, and Joshua 2:1. Now when the Prophet says, that waters, flowing
from the holy fountains would irrigate the valley of Shittim, it is the same as
though he said, that the blessing of God in Judea would be so abundant, as to
diffuse itself far and wide, even to desert valleys.
COFFMAN, "Verse 18
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweet
wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall flow
with waters; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, and
shall water the valley of Shittim.
This verse begins a paragraph concluding the whole prophecy in which there is a
metaphorical description of the wonderful blessings available to the children of
God in their service of Christ and his kingdom. It may well be admitted that it is
very unlikely that Joel himself fully understood these words, that probably being
the very reason that God gave him the description in metaphorical terms that he
COULD understand. Joel was not writing for himself alone and his own
generation merely, but he most certainly did know that the words he gave had
implications for other generations to come; because, as an apostle expressed it:
"To whom it was revealed (that is, to the prophets), that not unto themselves, but
unto you did they minister these things, which have now been announced to you
through them that preached the gospel unto you by the Holy Spirit sent forth
from heaven" (1 Peter 1:12).
What is seen in this verse is a picture of universal peace, security, plenty, and
tranquility. It is appropriate to remember that even for Christians the blessings
here are not literal, but spiritual. A literal view of this passage is impossible. It is
a picture of the spiritual joys in the days of the outpouring of God's Spirit,
namely, in the days of the present dispensation of the N.T.
"The valley of Shittim ..." was a very dry and unproductive area; and the
imagery is that through the great spiritual blessings available in Christ, some of
the most unpromising situations shall yield precious fruit for the kingdom.
COKE, "Joel 3:18. The mountains shall drop down new wine— Chandler
paraphrases this verse thus: "The consequence of this happy deliverance shall be
the utmost plenty; for at this time the vine shall produce the greatest abundance,
so that the mountains shall drop down new wine. The hills shall abound with
cattle, and, as it were, flow with the plenty of milk which they shall yield. The
course of the rivers shall be no more diverted, but stream down throughout all
the land of Judah; and a fountain shall go forth from the house of the Lord,
which shall water the distant valley of Shittim, or of choice cedars." The
expressions here are figurative, and highly poetical; there are many similar to
109

110. them in Virgil's fourth eclogue, which the heathen poet, I am persuaded,
borrowed from our prophet. Calmet observes, that all this is symbolical, and
figurative of the doctrine of the Gospel; which was to flow forth from Jerusalem,
and to water the Gentile world, as a barren and uncultivated land.
ELLICOTT, "(18) The mountains shall drop down new wine.—The material
prosperity depicted in these verses symbolises the glorious reign of Jehovah
when the last enemy has been destroyed, and “God is all in all.”
A fountain shall come forth.—The spiritual fertilising power of the knowledge of
the Lord is compared to the life-giving influence of a stream of water, which
causes luxuriance to the trees on its banks. This imagery is exemplified by
Ezekiel, who traces the course of the waters issuing from under the threshold of
the house of the Lord (Ezekiel 47). (Comp. Zechariah 14:8; Revelation 22:1.)
The valley of Shittim.—Heb., acacias. Shittim, in the land of Moab, is symbolical
of the barrenness and sterility of land where there is no water; of the dry places
of the world, where there are trees lacking moisture: the heathen, to whom God
is not known, shall yet become covered with the knowledge of the Lord.
GUZIK, " (18-21) Blessing on Gods people, desolation for the nations.
And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine,
the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with
water; a fountain shall flow from the house of the LORD and water the Valley of
Acacias. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom a desolate wilderness, because of
violence against the people of Judah, for they have shed innocent blood in their
land. But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem from generation to
generation. For I will acquit them of the guilt of bloodshed, whom I had not
acquitted; for the LORD dwells in Zion.
a. The mountains shall drip with new wine . . . all the brooks of Judah shall be
flooded with water: After Gods final victory, there is lasting abundance and the
days of drought are just a distant memory. Instead, Egypt shall be a desolation,
along with the other enemies of the LORD and His people.
i. A fountain shall flow from the house of the LORD: Ezekiel 47 describes waters
flowing from the house of the LORD in the time after Jesus triumphant return,
in the Millennium. Zechariah 14:8 also speaks of a great flow of water from
Jerusalem, emptying both into the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
ii. The Valley of Acacias (Valley of Shittim) was a place associated with both
failure and victory. It is located on the eastern side of the Jordan River, to the
north of the Dead Sea. It was where the King of Moab sent his young women to
the men of Israel to seduce them into idolatry and sexual immorality (Numbers
110

111. 25:1-3). It was also the launching place for the armies of Israel when they set out
against Jericho and Canaan in the days of Joshua (Joshua 2:1 and 3:1). When
water from the house of the LORD flows down to the valley of Acacias, then
Gods grace and provision covers the past - every sin, every victory is covered
over by Him.
b. But Judah shall abide forever . . . for the LORD dwells in Zion: God will show
mercy to His people, and grant them forgiveness. This prophecy of Joel, which
began with the desperate plague of locusts, ends with a promise of restoration
and redemption.
i. This is the last promise, but not the least. It referreth, saith Danaeus, to Christ
taking our flesh, by which he dwelt among us being God manifest in the flesh . . .
since he dwelleth with his Church for ever, as it is in the precedent verse, and
maketh her a true Jehovah Shammah, as she is called Ezekiel 48:35. (Trapp)
ii. This prophet, who has many things similar to Ezekiel, ends his prophecy in
nearly the same way: Ezekiel says of the glory of the Church, Yehovah
shammah, THE LORD IS THERE. Joel says, Yehovah shochen betsiyon, THE
LORD DWELLETH IN ZION. Both point out the continued indwelling of
Christ among his people. (Clarke)
BI 18-21, “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall
drop down new wine.
The golden age
I. It will be an age in which great temporal prosperity will be witnessed.
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop
down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of
Judah shall flow with waters.” Here we have set forth the temporal
prosperity which the Church of God is destined to enjoy after the
destruction of its enemies. The Church is now in great poverty. It does
not possess the good things of the material universe. The world itself is
barren. It is rendered so by greed and covetousness. But the day is
coming when the meek shall inherit the earth, and when the earth shall
spontaneously and richly yield her increase. The earth shall yield her
harvest responsive to the smile of heaven.
II. It will be an age in which the hallowed moral influences of the
sanctuary shall pervade society. “And a fountain shall come forth of the
house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.” Thus in the age
to come there will issue from the sanctuary of the Lord a moral influence
as pure, refreshing, and quickening as a stream of water, which shall be
beneficial to the social life of men; indeed, society will be pervaded by the
tide of thought, feeling, and praise which takes its rise in the secret place
of the Most High. This tide shall reach even to the valley of Shittim; the
most distant and barren places of society shall be awakened into moral
verdure by the advent of the life-giving stream.
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112. III. It will be an age in which moral goodness will be continuous and
progressive. “But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from
generation to generation.” Then the redemption of the good will be
eternal. They shall never again be led into captivity. Their moral
condition will be permanent and happy: they shall dwell in it for ever.
Sin of every kind is doomed to become a “desolate wilderness”; but
purity, righteousness, truth, and virtuous character shall continue and
progress in meaning and splendour through the ages.
IV. It will be an age in which the Divine presence will be richly
manifested. “For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for
the Lord dwelleth in Zion.” The men of the age will be made morally
pure, and then God will come and dwell in their midst. Lessons:—
1. The world has not yet reached its ideal condition.
2. There are agencies at work seeking to bring the world under Divine
influences.
3. Let us derive encouragement from this picture of the future of the
race. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the Lord
dwelleth in Zion.
Purified:
These words must be understood in the Christian and spiritual, not in
the Jewish and literal sense. The Judah here spoken of is the spiritual
Judah; those who are followers of the Lord, by the regenerating grace of
God.
I. Vital consecration to god. “I will cleanse their blood that I have not
cleansed.” Take this strictly in a spiritual sense.
1. Medicinally. Illustrate by the circumstances of the cleansing of the
leper. It is said, “the priest shall consider”; and we may be sure the
Great Physician will consider those who seek Him with their sin-
disease. And He will cleanse them, even cleanse the blood which is the
life.
2. It relates to their citizenship. For nothing that defileth, worketh
abomination, and maketh a lie, can enter into the city, can be
reckoned a citizen.
II. The presence of the Lord. “The Lord dwelleth in Zion.”
1. As the strength of Zion. It is strong if salvation be the walls.
2. As the security, or peace, of Zion. The defence of His people.
3. As “the source of happiness” to His people. (James Wells.)
A happy Church
Three things promised it.
1. Purity. “I will cleanse, etc. Put last here, as a reason for the rest.
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113. 2. Plenty. “The mountains shall drop new wine.” Such abundance
shall they have of suitable provision.
3. Perpetuity. This crowns the rest.
(1) The Church of Christ shall continue in the world to the end of
time. All the living members of that Church shall be established in
their happiness to the utmost ages of eternity. (Matthew Henry.)
For the Lord dwelleth in Zion.—
God and the Church
The statement of the prophet amounts to this—that the Lord bears a
peculiar relation to the Church.
I. The Church is the greatest Witness of God. The very existence of the
Church on earth shows that it is a witness of God’s being, providence,
and redemption. This will appear if we consider—
1. The Church of God is decidedly opposed to the principles and
practice of the great mass of mankind. Its creed and conduct are
thought to be holy, just, benevolent, and productive of happiness.
2. A great portion of mankind have in every age and clime opposed the
Church. You cannot put your finger on a page of ecclesiastical history
without discovering this.
3. Still the Church not only has existed, but it has increased. I am not
able to account for this unless it be Divine interposition. From these
considerations we can confidently say that the Church is a living
witness of God in the midst of faithless generations. May it ever be a
bold, brave, honest witness against sin in all its forms.
II. The Church is the brightest illustration of God.
1. By publishing God’s own revelations. This was done by writing,
translating, and printing. If this had not been done, we should have
been to this day under the influence of Druidism. Let the Word of God
have free course, and wherever it goes it will cause the wilderness to
blossom as the rose, and the parched earth to appear in verdure,
fertility, and beauty.
2. By imitating His moral perfections. It not only says such a being as
God exists, but in effect says, Look on me, and you shall see God’s
character exhibited. One of the servants of Plato said once, very
sagaciously, “Plato has written a book against anger, and yet he is one
of the most angry of men.” Christians speak much of Christianity as a
system of love, yet they are hating and persecuting one another.
III. The Church is the highest instrument of God.
1. It ameliorates the outward sufferings of the world. I believe that
there is throughout the world a favourable disposition towards
Christianity, because it is calculated to better the temporal condition
of mankind. Let us endeavour not to contradict this impression.
2. It converts the moral heart of the world. What a noble work God
has given His Church to do; what a solemn charge! The conversion of
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114. the whole world. Let every individual feel his own responsibility. Let
us unite in prayer, that we may be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
(Caleb Morris.)
LANGE, “Joel 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!
19 But Egypt will be desolate,
Edom a desert waste,
because of violence done to the people of Judah,
in whose land they shed innocent blood.
BARNES, "Egypt shall be a desolation - “Egypt” and “Edom” represent
each a different class of enemies of the people of God, and both together
exhibit the lot of all. Egypt was the powerful oppressor, who kept Israel
long time in hard bondage, and tried, by the murder of their male
children, to extirpate them. Edom was, by birth, the nearest allied to
them, but had, from the time of their approach to the promised land,
been hostile to them, and showed a malicious joy in all their calamities
(Oba_1:10-14; Eze_25:12; Eze_35:15; Eze_36:5; Lam_4:22; Psa_137:7;
see the note at Amo_1:11). “Their land,” in which Egypt and Edom shed
the “innocent blood of the children of Judah,” may either be Edom,
Egypt, or Judaea. If the land was Judaea, the sin is aggravated by its
being God’s land, the possession of which they were disputing with God.
If it was Egypt and Edom, then it was probably the blood of those who
took refuge there, or, as to Edom, of prisoners delivered up to them (see
the note at Amo_1:9).
This is the first prophecy of the humiliation of Egypt. Hosea had
threatened, that Egypt should be the grave of those of Israel who should
flee there Hos_9:6. He speaks of it as the vain trust, and a real evil to
Israel Hos_7:11-12, Hos_7:16; Hos_8:13; Hos_9:3; Hos_11:5; of its own
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115. future he says nothing. Brief as Joel’s words are, they express distinctly
an abiding condition of Egypt. They are expanded by Ezekiel Eze_
29:9-12, Eze_29:15; particular chastisements are foretold by Isaiah Isa.
19; Isa_20:1-6, Jeremiah Jer. 46, Ezekiel Ezek. 29–32, Zechariah Zec_
10:11. But the three words of Joel , “Egypt shall become desolation,” are
more comprehensive than any prophecy, except those by 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
“it shall be desolated,” as by a passing scourge sweeping over it, but “it
shall itself ‘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.
The contrast is like that of the Psalmist, “He turneth a fruitful land into
barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. He turneth the
wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water-springs”
Psa_107:33-35. Judah should overflow with blessing, and the streams of
God’s grace should pass beyond its bounds, and carry fruitfulness to
what now was dry and barren. But what should reject His grace should
be itself rejected.
Yet when Joel thus threatened Egypt, there were no human symptoms
of its decay; the instruments of its successive overthrows were as yet wild
hordes, (as the Chaldees, Persians, and Macedonians,) to be consolidated
thereafter into powerful empires, or (as Rome) had not the beginnings of
being. : “The continuous monumental history of Egypt” went back seven
centuries before this, to about 1520 b.c. They had had a line of
conquerors among their kings, who subdued much of Asia, and disputed
with Assyria the country which lay between there . Even after the time of
Joel, they had great conquerors, as Tirhaka; Psammetichus won Ashdod
back from Assyria , Neco was probably successful against it, as well as
against Syria and king Josiah, for he took Cadytis on his return from his
expedition against Carchemish 2Ki_23:29; Pharaoh Hophra, or Apries,
until he fell by his pride Eze_29:3, renewed for a time the prosperity of
Psammetichus ; the reign of Amasis, even after Nebuchadnezzars
conquest, was said to be “the most prosperous time which Egypt ever
saw” ; it was still a period of foreign conquest , and its cities could be
magnified into 20,000.
The Persian invasion was drawn upon it by an alliance with Lydia,
where Amasis sent 120,000 men ; its, at times, successful struggles
against the gigantic armies of its Persian conquerors betoken great
inherent strength; yet it sank for ever, a perpetual desolation. “Rent,
twenty-three centuries ago, from her natural proprietors,” says an
unbelieving writer , “she has seen Persians, Macedonians, Romans,
Greeks, Arabs, Georgians, and at length, the race of Tartars,
distinguished by the name of Ottoman Turks, establish themselves in her
bosom.” “The system of oppression is methodical;” “an universal air of
misery is manifest in all which the traveler meets.” : “Mud-walled
cottages are now the only habitations, where the ruins of temples and
palaces abound. The desert covers many extensive regions, which once
raised Egypt among the chief of the kingdoms.” The desolation of Egypt is
the stranger, because exceeding misrule alone could have effected it.
Egypt in its largest dimensions, has been calculated to contain 123,527
square miless or 79,057,339 acres, and to be three fourths of the size of
France Memoire sur le lae de Moeris. (1843). The mountains which hem
in Upper Egypt, diverge at Cairo, parting, the one range, due east, the
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116. other northwest. The mountains on the west sink into the plains; those
on the east retain their height as far as Suez. About 10 miles below Cairo,
the Nile parted, enclosing within the outside of its seven branches, that
triangle of wondrous fertility, the Delta. A network of canals, formed by
the stupendous industry of the ancient Egyptians, enclosed this triangle
in another yet larger, whose base, along the coast, was 235 miles, in
direct distance about 181. East of the eastern-most branch of the Nile, lay
the “land of Goshen,” formerly, at least for cattle, “the good of the land”
Gen_47:6, Gen_47:11, a part, at least, of the present esh-Sharkiyyeh,
second in size of the provinces of Egypt, but which, 1375 a.d., yielded the
highest revenue of the state .
On the western side of the Nile, and about a degree south of the apex of
the Delta, a stupendous work, the artificial lake of Moeris , enclosing
within masonry 64 34 square miles of water, received the superfluous
waters of the river, and thus at once prevented the injury incidental on
any too great rise of the Nile, and supplied water during six months for
the irrigation of 1724 square miles, or 1,103, 375, acres .
The Nile which, when it overflowed, spread like a sea over Egypt ,
encircling its cities like islands, carried with it a fertilizing power,
attested by all, but which, unless so attested, would seem fabulous.
Beneath a glowing heat, greater than its latitude will account for, the
earth, supplied with continual moisture and an ever renewed alluvial
deposit which supersedes all need of “dressing” the soil, yields, within
the year, three harvests of varied produce . This system of canalising
Egypt must have been of very early antiquity. That giant conception of
the water system of lake Moeris is supposed to have been the work of
Ammenemhes, perhaps about 1673, b.c. . But such a giant plan
presupposes the existence of an artificial system of irrigation which it
expanded. In the time of Moses, we hear incidentally of “the streams” of
Egypt, “the canals” (that is, those used for irrigation), and “the ponds”
Exo_7:19; Exo_8:1, the receptacles of the water which was left when the
Nile retired.
Besides these, an artificial mode of irrigation “by the foot” Deut. 11:40
is mentioned, now no longer distinctly known, but used, like the present
plans of the water-wheel and the lever , to irrigate the lands for the later
harvests. This system of irrigation had, in the time of Joel, lasted
probably for above 1000 years. The Egyptians ascribed the first turning
of the Nile to their first king, Menes , of fabulous antiquity. But while it
lasted in any degree, Egypt could not become barren except by miracle.
Even now it recovers, whenever water is applied. “Wherever there is
water, there is fertility.” : “The productive powers of the soil of Egypt are
incalculable. Wherever water is scattered, there springs up a rapid and
beautiful vegetation. The seed is sown and watered, and scarcely any
other care is requisite for the ordinary fruits of the earth. Even in spots
adjacent to the desert and which seem to be taken possession of by the
sands, irrigation brings rapidly forth a variety of green herbs and
plants.” For its first crop, there needed but to cast the seed, and have it
trodden in by cattle .
Nothing then could desolate Egypt, except man’s abiding negligence or
oppression. No passing storm or inroad could annihilate a fertility,
which poured in upon it in everrenewing richness. For 1000 years, the
Nile had brought to Egypt unabated richness. The Nile overflows still, but
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117. in vain amid depopulation, and grinding, uniform, oppression. Not the
country is exhausted, but man.
“If” says Mengin , “it is true that there is no country richer than Egypt
in its territorial productions, still there is perhaps no one whose
inhabitants are more miserable. It is owing solely to the fertility of its
soil and the sobriety of its cultivators, that it retains the population
which it still has.” The marked diminution of the population had begun
before the Birth of our Lord. “Of old,” says Diodorus , “it far exceeded in
denseness of population all the known countries in the world, and in our
days too it seems to be inferior to no other. For in ancient times it had
more than 18,000 considerable villages and towns, as you may see
registered in the sacred lists. In the time of Ptolemy Lagus more than
30,000 were counted, a number which has continued until now. But the
whole people are said of old to have been about seven million, and in our
days not less than three” .
A modern estimate supposes that Egypt, if cultivated to the utmost,
would, in plentiful years, support eight million . It is difficult to calculate
a population where different ranks wish to conceal it. It has been guessed
however, that two centuries ago, it was four million; that, at the
beginning of this century, it was two million and a half; and that, in 1845,
it was 1,800,000 . The great diminution then had begun 1900 years ago.
Temporary causes, plague, smallpox; conscription, have, in this last
century, again halved the population; but down to that time, it had sunk
to no lower level than it had already reached at least 18 centuries before.
The land still, for its fruitfulness, continues to supply more than its
inhabitants consume; it yields over and above cotton , for strangers to
employ.
Yet its brilliant patches of vegetation are but indications how great the
powers implanted in it. In vain “the rising Nile overflows (as it is
thought) a larger proportion of the soil” than heretofore; in vain has the
rich alluvial deposit encroached upon the gradual slope of the desert; in
vain, in Upper Egypt has a third been added since about the time of the
Exodus. Egypt is stricken. Canals and even arms of the Nile, were allowed
to choke up. Of the seven branches of the Nile, two only, at first artificial,
remain. : “The others have either entirely disappeared or are dry in
summer.” The great eastern arm, the Pelusian, is nearly effaced “buried
almost wholly beneath the sands of the desert.” : “The land at the mouth
of the canal which represents it, is a sand waste or a marsh.” : “There is
now no trace of vegetation in the whole Pelusian plain. Only one slight
isolated rise has some thickets on it, and some shafts of columns lie on
the sand.” : “In the midst of a plain the most fertile, they want the barest
necessaries of life.”
The sand of the desert, which was checked by the river and by the reeds
on its banks, has swept over lands no longer fertilized. : “The sea has not
been less destructive. It has broken down the dykes wherewith man’s
labor held it in, and has carried barrenness over the productive lands
which it converted into lakes and marshes.” A glance at the map of Egypt
will show how widely the sea has burst in, where land once was. On the
east, the salt lake Menzaleh, (itself from west-northwest to southeast
about 50 miles long, and above 10 miles from north to south) absorbs
two more of the ancient arms of the Nile, the Tanitic and the Mendesian .
The Tanitic branch is marked by a deeper channel below the shallow
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118. waters of the lake . The lake of Burlos “occupies from east to west more
than half the basis of the Delta.” Further westward are a succession of
lakes, Edkou, Madyeh (above 12 12 miles) Mareotis (37 12 miles). : “The
ancient Delta has lost more than half its surface, of which one-filth is
covered with the waters of the lakes Mareotis, Madyeh, Edkou, Bourlos,
and Menzaleh, sad effects of the carelessness of the rulers or rather
spoilers of this unhappy country.” Even when the lake Mareotis was,
before the English invasion in 1801, allowed nearly to dry up, it was but
an unhealthy lagoon; and the Mareotic district, once famous for its wine
and its olives and papyrus , had become a desert. So far from being a
source of fertility, these lakes from time to time, at the low Nile, inundate
the country with salt water, and are “surrounded by low and barren
plains” .
The ancient populousness and capabilities of the western province are
attested by its ruins. : “The ruins which the French found everywhere in
the military reconnaissances of this part of Egypt attest the truth of the
historical accounts of the ancient population of the Province, now
deserted” ; “so deserted, that you can scarce tell the numbers of ruined
cities frequented only by wandering Arabs.”
According to a calculation lower than others, 13 of the land formerly
tilled in Egypt has been thrown out of cultivation, i. e., not less than
1,763,895 acres or 2755.710 square miles . And this is not of yesterday.
Toward the end of the 14th century, the extent of the land taxed was
3,034,179 feddans , i. e., 4,377,836.56 acres or 6840.13 square miles. The
list of lands taxed by the Egyptian government in 1824 yields but a sum of
1,956, 40 feddans , or 2,822,171 acres or 4409 square miles. Yet even this
does not represent the land actually cultivated. Some even of the taxed
land is left wholly, some partially, uncultivated .
In an official report , 2,000,000 feddans are stated to be cultivated,
when the overflow of the Nile is the most favorable, i. e., 47 only of the
estimated cultivable amount. The French, who surveyed Egypt minutely,
with a view to future improvement, calculated that above 1,000,000
feddans (1,012,887) might be proximately restored by the restoration of
the system of irrigation, and nearly 1,000,000 more (942,810) by the
drainage of its lakes, ponds and marshes, i. e., nearly as much again as is
actually cultivated. One of the French surveyors sums up his account of
the present state of Egypt ; “without canals and their dykes, Egypt,
ceasing to be vivified throughout, is only a corpse which the mass of the
waters of its river inundates to superfluity, and destroys through
fullness. Instead of those ancient cultivated and fertile plains, one only
finds, here and there, canals filled up or cut in two, whose numerous
ramifications, crossing each other in every direction, exhibit only some
scarcely distinguishable traces of a system of irrigation; instead of those
villages and populous cities, one sees only masses of bare and arid ruins,
remnants of ancient habitations reduced to ashes; lastly, one finds only
lagoons, miry and pestilential, or sterile sands which extend themselves,
and unceasingly invade a land which the industry of man had gained
from the desert and the sea.”
Yet this is wholly unnatural. In the prophet’s time, it was contrary to all
experience. Egypt is alike prolific in its people and in the productions of
the earth. The Egyptian race is still accounted very prolific . So general is
this, that the ancients thought that the waters of tim Nile must have some
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119. power of fecundity . Yet with these powers implanted in nature
unimpaired, the population is diminished, the land half-desert. No one
doubts that man’s abiding misgovernment is the cause of Egypt’s
desolation. Under their native princes, they were happy and prosperous .
Alexander, some of the Ptolemies, the Romans, saw, at least, the value of
Egypt. The great conception of its Greek conqueror, Alexandria, has been
a source of prosperity to strangers for above 2000 years. Prosperity has
hovered around Egypt. Minds, the most different, are at one in thinking
that, with a good government, internal prosperity and its farfamed
richness of production might at once be restored. Conquerors of varied
nations, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Georgians,
Tartars, or Turks have tried their hands upon Egypt. Strange that
selfishness or powerlessness for good should have rested upon all;
strange that no one should have developed its inherent powers! Strange
contrast. 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 those three words, “Egypt shall be a desolation.”
Edom shall be a desolate wilderness - Edom, long unknown, its ancient
capital, its rock-dwellings, have been, within these last forty years, anew
revealed. The desolation has been so described to us, that we have seen
it, as it were, with our own eyes. The land is almost the more hopelessly
desolate, because it was once, artificially, highly cultivated. Once it had
the “fatness of the earth and the dew of heaven from above” Gen_27:39 :
it had Num_20:17 “cornfields” and “vineyards” in abundance, and
“wells” of water; its vegetation, its trees, and its vineyards, attracted the
dew by which they were supported. “Petra,” says Strabo, (xvi. 4, 21), “lies
in a spot precipitous and abrupt without, but within possessed of
abundant fountains for watering and horticulture.” The terrace-
cultivation, through which each shower which falls is stored to the
uttermost, clothing with fertility the mountain-sides, leaves those steep
sides the more bare, when disused. “We saw,” says a traveler , “many
ruined terraces, the evidences and remains of a flourishing agriculture,
which, in the prosperous days of Edom and Petra, clothed many of these
now sterile mountains with fertility and beauty. Fields of wheat and
some agricultural villages still exist in the eastern portion of Edom; but,
with very slight exceptions, the country is blighted with cheerless
desolations and hopeless sterility. The hill-sides and mountains, once
covered with earth and clothed with vineyards, are now bare rocks. The
soil no longer supported by terraces and sheltered by trees, has been
swept away by the rains. The various contrivances for irrigation, which
even now might restore fertility to many considerable tracts, have all
disappeared. Sand from the desert, and the debris of the soft rock of the
mountains, cover the valleys which formerly smiled with plenty.”
Now “the springs have been dried up to such an extent, as to render
the renewal of the general fertility of Edom (well nigh) impossible. In
places along the course of the stream, reeds and shrubs grow luxuriantly,
oleanders and wild figs abound, and give proof that a little cultivation
would again cover the rock, and fill the cliffs with the numberless
gardens which once adorned them. The traces of former fertility are
innumerable; every spot capable of sustaining vegetable life was
carefully watered and cultivated. There are numerous grooves in the
rocks to carry rainwater to the little clefts in which even now figs are
found. Every spot capable of being so protected has been walled up,
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120. however small the space gained, or however difficult the means of
securing it. 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 hanging gardens must have had a wondrous effect
among the noble buildings of the town when it was in all its glory.” This
desolation began soon after the captivity of Judah and Edom’s malicious
joy in it. For Malachi appeals to Judah, that whereas God had restored
him, He had “laid the mountains and the heritage” of Esau “waste for the
jackals of the wilderness” Mal_1:3.
Yet Edom was the center of the conversation of nations. Occupying, as
it did in its narrowest dimensions, the mountains between the south end
of the Dead Sea and the Aelanitic gulf, it lay on the direct line between
Egypt and Babylonia. A known route lay from Heroopolis to Petra its
capital, and thence to Babylon . Elath and Ezion-geber discharged
through its vally, the Arabah, the wealth which they received by sea from
India or Africa. Petra was the natural halting-place of the caravans. “The
Nabataeans,” says Pliny , “enclose Petra, in a valley of rather more than
two miles in extent, surrounded by inaccessible mountains, through
which a stream flows. Here the two roads meet of those who go to
Palmyra of Syria, and of those who come from Gaza.” Eastward again, he
says , “they went from Petra to Fora, and thence to Charax” on the banks
of the Tigris, near the Persian gulf.
Yet further the wealth of Arabia Felix poured by a land-route through
Petra. : “To Petra and Palestine, Gerraens and Minaeans and all the
neighboring Arabs brought down from the upper country the
frankincense, it is said, and all other fragrant merchandise.” Even after
the foundation of Alexandria had diverted much of the stream of
commerce from Leuce Come, the Aelanitic gulf, and Petra to Myos
Hormus on the Egyptian side of the Red Sea, the Romans still connected
Elath and Petra with Jerusalem by a great road, of which portions are
still extant , and guarded the contact by military stations . Of these
routes, that from Arabia Felix and from Egypt to Babylonia had probably
been used for above 1000 years before the time of Joel. Elath and
Eziongeber were well-known towns at the time of the Exodus Deu_2:8.
The contact was itself complex and manifold. The land exports of
Arabia Felix and the commerce of Elath necessarily passed through
Edom, and thence radiated to Egypt, Palestine, Syria. The withdrawal of
the commerce of Egypt would not alone have destroyed that of Petra,
while Tyre, Jerusalem, Damascus, still received merchandise through
her. To them she was the natural channel; the pilgrim-route from
Damascus to Mecca lies still by Petra. In Joel’s time, not the slightest
shadow was cast on her future. Then Babylon destroyed her for a time;
but she recovered. The Babylonian and Persian Empires perished;
Alexander rose and fell; Rome, the master alike of Alexandria and Petra,
meant Petra still to survive. No human eye could even then tell that it
would be finally desolate; much less could any human knowledge have
foreseen it in that of Joel. But God said by him, “Edom shall be a desolate
wilderness,” and it is so!
As, however, Egypt and Edom are only instances of the enemies of
God’s people and Church, so their desolation is only one instance of a
120

121. great principle of God’s Government, that “the triumphing of the wicked
is short, and the joy of the ungodly for a moment” Job_20:5; that, after
their short-lived office of fulfilling God’s judgment on His people, the
judgment rolls round on themselves, “and they that hate the righteous
shall be desolate” Psa_34:21.
CLARKE, "Egypt shall be a desolation - While peace, plenty, and
prosperity of every kind, shall crown my people, all their enemies shall
be as a wilderness; and those who have used violence against the saints
of God, and shed the blood of innocents (of the holy Martyrs) in their
land, when they had political power; these and all such shall fall under
the just judgments of God.
GILL, "Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate
wilderness,.... These two nations having been the implacable enemies of
Israel, are here put for the future adversaries of the church of Christ,
Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan; who will all be destroyed as such, and be
no more: Rome is called, spiritually or mystically, Egypt, Rev_11:8; and
Edom is a name that well agrees with it, it signifying "red", as it is with
the blood of the saints: and it is common, with the Jewish writers, by
Edom to understand Rome; which though it may not be true of all places
they so interpret, yet is of many, and so here. Kimchi, by Egypt
understands the Ishmaelites, or the Turks; and, by Edom, Rome;
for the violence of the children of Judah, because they have shed
innocent blood is their land; either in the land of Judah; or rather in
their own land, Egypt and Edom. This respects the violences and
outrages committed by the antichristian states upon the true professors
of the Christian religion, the Waldenses and Albigenses, and others,
whose innocent blood, in great quantities, has been spilled by them.
Antichrist is represented as, drunk with the blood of the martyrs of
Jesus, and in whom will be found the blood of all the prophets and
saints; and for this reason ruin and destruction will come upon him and
his followers, and blood will be given them to drink, for they are worthy,
Rev_17:6.
HENRY, "I. It is promised that the enemies of the church shall be
vanquished and brought down, Joe_3:19. Egypt, that old enemy of Israel,
and Edom, which had an inveterate enmity to Israel, derived from Esau,
these shall be a desolation, a desolate wilderness, no more to be
inhabited; they have become the people of God's curse; so the Idumeans
were, Isa_34:5. No strength nor wealth of a nation is a defence against
the judgment of God. But what is the quarrel God has with these potent
kingdoms? It is for their violence against the children of Judah, and the
injuries they had done them; see Eze_25:3, Eze_25:8, Eze_25:12, Eze_
25:15; Eze_26:2. They had shed the innocent blood of the Jews that fled
to them for shelter or were making their escape through their country.
Note, The innocent blood of God's people is very precious to him, and not
a drop of it shall be shed but it shall be reckoned for. In the last day this
earth, which has been filled with violence against the people of God, shall
121

122. be made a desolation, when it and all the works that are therein shall be
burnt up. And, sooner or later, the oppressors and persecutors of God's
Israel shall be brought down and laid in the dust, nay, they will at length
be brought down and laid in the flames.
JAMISON, "Edom — It was subjugated by David, but revolted under
Jehoram (2Ch_21:8-10); and at every subsequent opportunity tried to
injure Judah. Egypt under Shishak spoiled Jerusalem under Rehoboam
of the treasures of the temple and the king’s house; subsequently to the
captivity, it inflicted under the Ptolemies various injuries on Judea.
Antiochus spoiled Egypt (Dan_11:40-43). Edom was made “desolate”
under the Maccabees [Josephus, Antiquities, 12.11, 12]. The low
condition of the two countries for centuries proves the truth of the
prediction (compare Isa_19:1, etc.; Jer_49:17; Oba_1:10). So shall fare
all the foes of Israel, typified by these two (Isa_63:1, etc.).
CALVIN, "Verse 19
But he afterwards joins, that the Egyptians and Idumeans would be sterile and
dry in the midst of this great abundance of blessings, for they were professed
enemies to the Church. Hence God in this verse declares that they shall not be
partakers of his bounty; that though all Judea would be irrigated, though it
would abound in honeys milk, and wine, yet these would remain barren and
empty; Mizraim, then, shall be a solitude, Edom shall be a desert of solitude.
Why? Because of the troubles, he says, brought on the children of Judah. God
again confirms this truth, that he has such a concern for his Church, that he will
avenge wrongs done to it. God, then, does not always come to our help when we
are unjustly oppressed, though he has taken us under his protection; but he
suffers us for a time to endure our evils; and yet the end will show, that we have
been ever dear to him and precious in his sight. So he says now, that for the
harassments which the Egyptians and Idumeans occasioned to the children of
Judah, they shall be destitute, notwithstanding the abundance of all good things.
Because they shed, he says, innocent blood in their ( or,in their own) land. If we
refer this to Egypt and Idumea, the sense will be, that they had not protected
fugitives, but, on the contrary, cruelly slew them, as though they had been sworn
enemies. Many, we know, during times of distress, fled to Egypt and Idumea, to
seek refuge there. As, then, the Egyptians had been so inhuman towards the
distressed, the Prophet threatens them with vengeance. But I prefer to view what
is said as having been done in Judea; they have thenshed innocent Blood, that is,
in Judea itself. As God had consecrated this land to himself to pollute it with
unjust slaughters was a more atrocious crime. Forasmuch then as the Egyptians
and Idumeans thus treated the Jews, and slew them in their own country in a
base manner, though they were abiding quietly at home, it is no wonder that God
declares, that he would be the avenger of these wrongs. It follows —
COFFMAN, "Verse 19
"Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the
violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in
their land.
122

123. This continues to be metaphor. Egypt and Edom were traditional enemies of
God's people; and the ruin of such nations (all such) was here prophesied. It has
continued to be fulfilled throughout all history. Those very nations on earth
today where the gospel is not known are the very places where debauchery,
poverty, wretchedness, violence and starvation are among their principal
characteristics.
The Hebrew interpretation of this passage was cited by Deane: "In the day of the
Lord, God will make an end of all the nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and
then great goodness shall accrue to Israel."[28] Of course, that is the same old
carnal misunderstanding of God's Word that resulted in the Jewish rejection of
the Messiah to begin with; and it is exactly the view of all kinds of millenarians
who have fallen into the same old error. As Deane pointed out, "This passage
does not teach the earthly glorification of Palestine and desolation of Egypt and
Idumaea."[29]
ELLICOTT, "(19) Egypt shall be a desolation.—Egypt and Edom always excited
feelings of abhorrence in the hearts of the Jews. The memory of the exile in
Egypt was always fresh and keen; no retrospect of their past history could leave
it out of account. And the national detestation of the false and cruel-hearted
Idumæan kinsmen is recalled by Obadiah in his prophecy and touching record;
as also in Psalms 137, as rendered in the Prayer Book, “Remember the children
of Edom, O Lord, in the day of Jerusalem, how they said, Down with it, down
with it, even to the ground.”
LANGE, “Joel 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 ( Exodus 5:16). For that of
Edom, see Amos 1:11; Obadiah 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 Isaiah 34:13; Jeremiah 49:7; Ezekiel 3:5.)
20 Judah will be inhabited forever
and Jerusalem through all generations.
BARNES, "Judah shall dwell for ever - Not earthly Judah, nor earthly
Jerusalem, for these must come to an end, together with the earth itself,
123

124. of whose end the prophets well knew. It is then the one people of God,
the true Judah, the people who praise God, the Israel, which is indeed
Israel. Egypt and Edom and all the enemies of God should come to an
end; but His people shall never come to an end. “The gates of hell shall
not prevail against her.” The enemy shall not destroy her; time shall not
consume her; she shall never decay. The people of God shall abide before
Him and through Him here, and shall dwell with Him forever.
CLARKE, "But Judah shall dwell for ever - The true Church of Christ
shall be supported, while all false and persecuting Churches shall be
annihilated. The promise may also belong to the full and final restoration
of the Jews, when they shall dwell at Jerusalem as a distinct people
professing the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.
GILL, "But Judah shall dwell for ever,.... The converted Jews shall dwell
in their own land for ever, to the end of the, world and never more be
carried captive, Eze_37:25; and the true professing people of God, as
Judah signifies, shall continue in a church state, evermore, and never
more be disturbed by any enemies, they shall dwell safely and peaceably
to the end of time:
and Jerusalem from generation to generation; shall dwell so in like
manner, age after age; that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, or the
members of the true church of Christ, who shall see and enjoy peace and
prosperity, both temporal and spiritual, as Jerusalem signifies.
HENRY, "3. Perpetuity. This crowns all the rest (Joe_3:20): Judah
shall dwell for ever (when Egypt and Edom are made a desolation), and
Jerusalem shall continue from generation to generation. This is a
promise, and a precious promise it is, (1.) That the church of Christ shall
continue in the world to the end of time. As one generation of professing
Christians passes away, another shall come, in whom the throne of
Christ shall endure for ever, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. (2.) That all the living members of that church (Judah and
Jerusalem are put for the inhabitants of that city and country, Mat_3:5)
shall be established in their happiness to the utmost ages of eternity.
This new Jerusalem shall be from generation to generation, for it is a
city that has foundations, not made with hands, but eternal in the
heavens.
JAMISON, "But Judah shall dwell for ever,.... The converted Jews shall
dwell in their own land for ever, to the end of the, world and never more
be carried captive, Eze_37:25; and the true professing people of God, as
Judah signifies, shall continue in a church state, evermore, and never
more be disturbed by any enemies, they shall dwell safely and peaceably
to the end of time:
and Jerusalem from generation to generation; shall dwell so in like
manner, age after age; that is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, or the
members of the true church of Christ, who shall see and enjoy peace and
124

125. prosperity, both temporal and spiritual, as Jerusalem signifies.
BENSON, "Joel 3:19-20. Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom, &c. — These
two people were remarkable for the spite they bore to the Jews. The Egyptians
were their oppressors when they first became a nation, and afterward exercised
great cruelties upon them, during the reign of the Egyptian kings who were
Alexander’s successors. The Idumeans are often reproved and threatened with
judgments by the prophets, for the malice they took all occasions to vent against
the Israelites, though nearly related to them: see the margin. These two nations,
therefore, are taken, in a general sense, for the enemies of God’s people. But
Judah — The redeemed of the Lord, his church, shall dwell, or continue, for
ever — Free from the annoyance of enemies. The Christian Church is evidently
intended, including probably the conversion and final restoration of the Jews.
CALVIN, "Verse 20
God here testifies that his redemption would not be for a short time, but that its
fruit would be for a long, period, yea, perpetual: for it would be but a small thing
for the Church to be redeemed, except God kept it safe under his own power.
This second thing the Prophet now adds, — that Judeah shall always remain
safe, and that Jerusalem shall be for a continued succession of ages. The ungodly,
we know, sometimes flourish for a time, though before God they are already
doomed to destruction. But the Prophet here declares, that the fruit of the
redemption he promises will be eternal: for God is not led to deliver his Church
only for a moment, but he will follow it with perpetual favor, and remain
constant in his purpose and ever like himself; he is therefore the eternal and
faithful protector of his people. The last verse follows —
COFFMAN, "Verse 20
"But Judah shall abide for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
Judah and Jerusalem here, as frequently, are symbols of God's true Israel upon
earth (both the old and the new), that is, God's true covenant people of both the
O.T. and the N.T. It is the perpetual continuation of God's covenant people upon
earth which is indicated by this, and the words may not be applied carnally to
any heavenly guarantee of the inviolability of the secular state, whether that of
Israel, or any other. The N.T. renewal of this promise is in Matthew 28:18-20,
where is recorded Christ's promise to "be with you always, even to the end of the
world. Amen." The simple meaning of this whole passage is, "That in the days of
the Spirit, God would establish his spiritual people and dwell among them."[30]
21 Shall I leave their innocent blood
125

126. unavenged?
No, I will not.”
The Lord dwells in Zion!
BARNES, "For I will cleanse her blood that I have not cleansed - The
word rendered “cleansed” is not used of 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 in the prophet Ezekiel, “then washed I thee
with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee” Eze_
16:9. 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, fall in with the mention of the “innocent blood,”
for shedding which, Egypt and Edom had been condemned. The words
are the same. There it was said, “because they have shed innocent blood;
dam naki;” here, “I will pronounce innocent their blood, nikkethi
damam.” “How,” it is not said. But the sentence on Egypt and Edom
explains how God would do it, by punishing those who shed it. For in that
He punishes the shedding of it, He declared the “blood” innocent, whose
shedding He punished. So in the Revelation it is said, “I saw under the
altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the
testimony which they held, and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How
long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on
them that dwell on the earth?” Rev_6:10-11. : “Then, at the last judgment,
when the truth in all things shall be made manifest, He shall “declare the
blood” of His people, who clave to Him and His truth, which blood their
enemies thought they had shed justly and deservedly as the blood of
guilty persons, to have indeed been innocent, by absorbing them from
eternal destruction to which He shall then adjudge their enemies for
shedding of it.”
For - (literally and) the Lord dwelleth in Zion He closes with the
promise of God’s abiding dwelling. He speaks, not simply of a future, but
of an ever-abiding present. He who is, the unchangeable God , “the Lord,
infinite in power and of eternal Being, who gives necessary being to all
His purposes and promises,” dwelleth now in “Mount Zion, the city of the
living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb_12:22; add Gal_4:26; Rev_
3:12; Rev_14:1; Rev_21:2, Rev_21:10), now by grace and the presence of
His Holy Spirit, hereafter in glory. Both of the Church militant on earth
and that triumphant in heaven, it is truly to be said, that the Lord
dwelleth in them, and that, perpetually. Of the Church on earth will be
verified what our Saviour Christ saith, “lo I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world” Mat_28:20; and of its members Paul saith,
that “they” are “of the household of God, an holy temple in the Lord, in
whom they are builded together for an habitation of God through the
126

127. Spirit” Eph_2:19, Eph_2:21-22. Of the Church triumphant, there is no
doubt, that “He” doth and will there dwell, and manifest His glorious
presence forever, “in” whose “presence is the fullness of joy, and at His
Right Hand” there are “pleasures for evermore” Psa_16:1-11 :12. It is an
eternal dwelling of the Eternal, varied as to the way and degree of His
presence by our condition, now imperfect, there perfected in Him; but
He Himself dwelleth on for ever. He, the Unchangeable, dwelleth
unchangeably; the Eternal, eternally.
: “Glorious things are spoken of thee, thou city of God” Psa_87:3
Jerusalem, our mother, we thy children now groan and weep in this
valley of tears, hanging between hope and fear, and, amid toil and
conflicts, “lifting up our eyes” to thee and greeting thee from far. Truly
“glorious things are spoken of thee.” But whatever can be said, since it is
said to people and in the words of people, is too little for the “good
things” in thee, which “neither eye hath seen, nor ear heard, nor hath
entered into the heart of man” 1Co_2:9. Great to us seem the things
which we suffer; but one of thy most illustrious citizens, placed amid
those sufferings, who knew something of thee, hesitated not to say, “Our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh out for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory” 2Co_4:17. We will then “rejoice in
hope,” and “by the waters of Babylon,” even while “we sit and weep,” we
will “remember thee, O Zion. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right
hand forget” her cunning. “Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth,
I do not remember thee, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy”
Psa_137:1-9.
O blessed longed-for day, when we shall enter into the city of the saints,
‘whose light is the Lamb,’ where ‘the King is seen in His beauty,’ where
‘all tears are wiped off from the eyes’ of the saints, ‘and there shall be no
more death neither sorrow nor pain, for the former things have passed
away Rev_21:23; Isa_33:17; Rev_21:4. “How amiable are Thy tabernacle,
O Lord of Hosts! My soul longeth, yea fainteth for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God” Psa_84:1-2. “When
shall I come and appear before God?” Psa_42:2, when shall I see that
Father, whom I ever long for and never see, to whom out of this exile, I
cry out, “Our Father, which art in heaven?” O true Father, “Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom_15:6, ...), “Father of mercies and God of all
comfort!” 2Co_1:3. When shall ‘I see the Word, who was in the beginning
with God,’ and who ‘is God?’ Joh_1:1. When may I kiss His sacred Feet,
pierced for me, put my mouth to His sacred Side, sit at His Feet, never to
depart from them? O Face, more Glorious than the sun! Blessed is he,
who beholdeth Thee, who hath never ceased to say, ‘I shall see Him, but
not now; I shall behold Him, but not nigh’ Num_24:17. When will the day
come, when, cleansed from the defilement of my sins, I shall, ‘with
unveiled face, behold the glory of the Lord’ 2Co_3:18, and see the
sanctifying Spirit, the Author of all good, through whose sanctifying we
are cleansed, that ‘we may be like Him, and see Him as He is?’ 1Jo_3:2.
‘Blessed are all they that dwell in Thy house,’ O Lord, ‘they shall ever
praise Thee’ Psa_84:4; forever shall they behold Thee and love Thee.”
127

128. CLARKE, "For I will cleanse their blood - ‫נקיתי‬‫נקיתי‬‫נקיתי‬‫נקיתי‬ nikkeythinikkeythinikkeythinikkeythi, I will avenge the
slaughter and martyrdom of my people, which I have not yet avenged.
Persecuting nations and persecuting Churches shall all come, sooner
or later, under the stroke of vindictive justice.
For the Lord dwelleth in Zion - He shall be the life, soul, spirit, and
defense of his Church for ever. This prophet, who has many things
similar to Ezekiel, ends his prophecy nearly in the same way:
Ezekiel says of the glory of the Church, ‫שמה‬ ‫יהוה‬‫שמה‬ ‫יהוה‬‫שמה‬ ‫יהוה‬‫שמה‬ ‫יהוה‬ Yehovah shammahYehovah shammahYehovah shammahYehovah shammah, The
Lord Is There.
Joel says, ‫בציון‬ ‫שכן‬ ‫יהוה‬‫בציון‬ ‫שכן‬ ‫יהוה‬‫בציון‬ ‫שכן‬ ‫יהוה‬‫בציון‬ ‫שכן‬ ‫יהוה‬ Yehovah shochen betsiyonYehovah shochen betsiyonYehovah shochen betsiyonYehovah shochen betsiyon, The Lord Dwelleth in Zion.
Both point out the continued indwelling of Christ among his people.
GILL, "For I will cleanse their blood which I have not cleansed,.... Which
some understand, as the Targum, of the Lord's, inflicting further
punishments on the, enemies of his people, for shedding their innocent
blood; and that he will not expiate their sins, nor hold them guiltless, or
suffer them to go unpunished; but rather this is to be interpreted in a
way of grace and mercy, as a benefit bestowed on Judah and Jerusalem,
who are the immediate antecedents to the relative here; and in the words
a reason is given why they should dwell safely and peaceably for ever,
because the Lord will justify them from their sins; forgive their
iniquities; cleanse them from all their pollution, signified by blood; of
which grace they will have had no application made to them till this time;
but now all their guilt and faith will be removed; and particularly God
will forgive, and declare to be forgiven their sin of crucifying Christ;
whose blood they had imprecated upon themselves and their children,
and which has remained on them; but now will be removed, with all the
sad effects of it. Though this may also refer to the conversion of the
Gentiles, and the pardon of their sins, and the sanctification of their
persons, in such places and parts of the world, where such blessings of
grace have not been bestowed in times past for many ages, if ever;
for the Lord dwelleth in Zion; and therefore will diffuse his grace, and
spread the blessings of it all around: or "even the Lord that dwelleth in
Zion" (d); he will do what is before promised; being the Lord, he can do
it; and dwelling in Zion his church, it may be believed he will do it; and
this will be for ever, when his Shechinah shall return thither in the days
of the Messiah, as Kimchi observes.
HENRY, "II. It is promised that the church shall be very happy; and
truly happy it is in spiritual privileges, even during its militant state, but
much more when it comes to be triumphant. Three things are here
promised it: -
1. Purity. This 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 their blood that I have not cleansed, that is, their bloody heinous
sins, especially shedding innocent blood; that filth and guilt they had
128

129. contracted by sin, which rendered them unfit for communion with God,
and made them odious to his holiness and obnoxious to his justice; this
they shall be washed from in the fountain opened, Zec_13:1. That shall be
cleansed by the blood of Christ which could not be cleansed by the
sacrifices and purifications of the ceremonial law. Or, if we apply it to the
happiness of a future state, it intimates the cleansing of the saints from
all these corruptions from which they were not cleansed either by
ordinances or providences in the world; there shall not be the least
remains of sin in them there. Here, though they are washing daily, there
is still something that is not cleansed; but in heaven, even that also shall
be done away. Ands the reason is because the Lord dwells in Zion, dwells
with his church, and much more gloriously with that in heaven, and
holiness becomes his house for ever, for which reason, where he dwells
there must be, there shall be, a perfection of holiness. Note, Though the
refining and reforming of the church is work that goes on slowly, and
still there is something we complain of that is not cleansed, yet there is a
day coming when every thing that is amiss shall be amended, and the
church shall be all fair, and no spot, no stain in her; and we must wait for
that day.
2. Plenty, Joe_3:18. This is put first, because it is the reverse of the
judgment threatened in the foregoing chapters. (1.) The streams of this
plenty overflow the land and enrich it: The mountains shall drop new
wine and the hills shall flow with milk, such great abundance shall they
have of suitable provision, both for babes and for strong men. It
intimates the abundance of vineyards, and all fruitful; and the
abundance of cattle in the pastures that fill them with milk. And, to make
the corn-land fruitful, the rivers of Judah shall flow with water, so that
the country shall be like the garden of Eden, well-watered every where
and greatly enriched, Psa_65:9. But this seems to be meant spiritually;
the graces and comforts of the new covenant are compared to wine and
milk (Isa_55:1), and the Spirit to rivers of living water, Joh_7:38. And
these gifts abound much more under the New Testament than they did
under the Old; when believers receive grace for grace from Christ's
fulness, when they are enriched with everlasting consolations, and filled
with joy and peace in believing, then the mountains drop new wine, and
the hills flow with milk. Drink you, drink abundantly, O beloved! When
there is plentiful effusion of the Spirit of grace, then the rivers of Judah
flow with water, and make glad, not only the city of our God (Psa_46:4),
but the whole land. (2.) The fountain of this plenty is in the house of God,
whence the streams take their rise, as those waters of the sanctuary
(Eze_47:1) from under the threshold of the house, and the river of life
out of the throne of God and the Lamb, Rev_22:1. The psalmist, speaking
of Zion, says, All my springs are in thee, Psa_87:7. Those that take
temporal blessings to be meant in the former part of the verse, yet by this
fountain out of the house of the Lord understand the grace of God,
which, if we abound in temporal blessings, we have so much more need
of, that we may not abuse them. Christ himself is the fountain; his merit
and grace cleanse us, refresh us, and make us fruitful. This is said to
water the valley of Shittim, which lay a great way off from the temple at
Jerusalem, on the other side of Jordan, and was a dry and barren valley,
which intimates that gospel-grace, flowing from Christ, shall reach far,
even to the Gentile world, to the most remote regions of it, and shall
make those to abound in the fruits of righteousness who had long lain as
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130. the barren wilderness. This grace is a fountain overflowing, ever-flowing,
from which we may be continually drawing, and yet need not fear its
being drawn dry. This fountain comes out of the house of the Lord above,
from his temple in heaven, flows all that good which here we are daily
tasting the streams of, but hope to be shortly, hope to be eternally,
drinking at the fountain-head of.
JAMISON, "cleanse ... blood ... not cleansed — I will purge away from
Judah the extreme guilt (represented by “blood," the shedding of which
was the climax of her sin, Isa_1:15) which was for long not purged away,
but visited with judgments (Isa_4:4). Messiah saves from guilt, in order
to save from punishment (Mat_1:21).
BENSON, "Joel 3:21. I will cleanse their blood, &c. — The word blood seems
here to signify pollution in general; and the promise implies, that God would
perfectly purge away the guilt and defilement of all the sins of his people, by a
free pardon and entire sanctification. Calmet, who applies this to the times of the
gospel, thus interprets the verse: “Jesus Christ cleanses, by the new law, the
blood which remained unclean under the old. We find in the sacrament of the
new law that real purity, of which the legal ceremonies and purifications were
only a figure.” For the Lord dwelleth in Zion —
And his presence shall be a source of purity, as well as of consolation to his
people. “It is uncertain,” says Archbishop Newcome, “whether we have the key
to this difficult chapter; which may not be fully understood till Jerusalem is
rebuilt, and till the prophecies, Ezekiel 39:5; Ezekiel 39:11; Revelation 20:8-9,
are accomplished.”
CALVIN, "Verse 21
The beginning of the verse is in various ways explained. Some make a stop after
cleanse thus, “I will cleanse, yet their blood I will not cleanse;” as though God
had said, that he would forgive heathen nations all their other wrongs, but could
not forgive them the great cruelty they had exercised against his elect. So the
sense would be, “Avarice may be borne, I could pass by robberies; but, since
they slew my people, I am in this case wholly unforgiving.” Hence, according to
this view, God shows how precious to him is the life of his saints, inasmuch as he
says, that he will not be pacified towards those ungodly men who have shed
innocent blood. But this sense seems rather too forced. Others render thus,
“Their blood will I cleanse, and will not cleanse,” that is, “I will cleanse the Jews
from their defilements, but I will not use extreme severity;” as he says also in
Isaiah 48:10, ‘I will not refine thee as gold or silver, for thou wouldest turn all
into dross.’ They hence think that God promises here such a cleansing of the
Church, as that he would not use extreme rigor, but moderate his cleansing, as it
is needful with regard to our defilements, of which we are all so full.
But this sense seems to me more simple, — that God would cleanse the blood
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131. which he had not cleansed; as though he said, “I have not hitherto cleansed the
pollutions of my people; they are then become, as it were, putrid in their sins;
but now I will begin to purify all their wickedness, that they may shine pure
before me.” There is a relative understood as is often the case in Hebrew. But ‫נקה‬
neke is taken in Jeremiah 30:11, in another sense, that God will exterminate his
Church: but we cannot in this place elicit any other meaning than that God will
cleanse his Church from pollutions; for the Prophet, no doubt, means the
defilements of which the people were full. They will not, then, be able to enjoy
the favor of God while lying in their filth. Now God, in promising to be a
Redeemer, comes to the very fountain and the first thing, — that he will wash
away their filth; for how could God be the Redeemer of the people, except he
blotted out their sins? For as long as he imputes sins to us, he must necessarily be
angry with us, we must be necessarily altogether alienated from him and
deprived of his blessing. He then does not say in vain that he will be a purifier;
for when pollutions are cleansed, there follows another thing, which we have
already noticed as to this, future redemption, and with this —
He at last concludes and says And Jehovah shall dwell in Zion. The Prophet
recalls again the attention of the people to the covenant; as though he said, “God
has willingly and bountifully promised all that has been mentioned, not because
the people have deserved this, but because God has deigned long ago to adopt the
children of Abraham, and has chosen mount Zion as his habitation.” He shows
then this to be the reason why God was now inclined to mercy, and would save a
people, who had a hundred times destroyed themselves by their sins.
coffman, "Verse 21
"And I will cleanse their blood which I have not cleansed: for Jehovah dwelleth
in Zion.
As Myers pointed out, "The Lord dwells in Zion" is almost a signature of
validity with which Joel closes his book."[31] This word is one of assurance and
encouragement and a guarantee of the eternal continuity and abiding presence of
the Lord among his people. They will never be deserted or forsaken. No matter
what may happen around them, nothing can really happen to them; for they are
God's! Myers also observed the similarity of this and the preceding verse to the
concluding passage of Matthew cited under verse 20:
"This reminds the reader of the last verse in Ezekiel, "The Lord is there!" It is
the most reassuring promise and truth of the Bible, comparable to the last
promise of our Lord" (Matthew 28:20).[32]
Thus is concluded this marvelous prophecy of times far beyond his own
generation, and involving information regarding the fate of every man ever born
upon the planet earth, or who may yet be born. There is indeed a sense of
awesome appreciation for words so weighty and so charged with eternal
significance to men. The climax of the prophecy came in this third chapter where
are depicted in terms of the most amazing metaphor the blessings of the eternal
kingdom of Jesus Christ our Lord.
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132. COKE, "Joel 3:21. For I will cleanse, &c.—cleansed— For I will avenge, &c.
avenged. Houbigant reads, I will avenge their blood, and not spare; and the Lord
shall inhabit Zion. The reader will see a variety of different interpretations in
Pocock: but none of these, says Dr. Chandler, satisfy me. If we read the former
part of the words by way of interrogation, the sense will appear strong and
beautiful, and the answer in the latter clause just and striking. "Judah shall
dwell for ever; but shall I declare their blood innocent? Shall I declare their
enemies innocent who have shed their blood, and suffer it to go unrevenged?—I
will not declare it innocent. I will not absolve the blood which has been spilled,
nor suffer it to go unpunished." Thus, Exodus 34:7 it is said of God, that he will
by no means clear the guilty. "Thus be my vengeance executed upon their
enemies; and by taking my people under my especial care, it shall be known that
Jehovah is present with them, and favours Zion with his peculiar protection."
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The sufferings of God's faithful people, and the
destruction of their enemies, have their appointed periods.
1. In those days of the Messiah, I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and
Jerusalem; many of them by the preaching of the Gospel being called into the
glorious liberty of the sons of God, from the bondage of corruption, more
intolerable than that of Egypt or Chaldea. This also may have respect to their
recovery from their present dispersion.
2. Their enemies shall be reckoned with; which some apply to Sennacherib and
the Assyrians, and suppose the days spoken of to refer to the recovery of the
dispersed Jews, who had fled or been taken prisoners on that invasion. Others
apply it to the Romans and neighbouring nations, who had severely wasted
God's heritage: and some imagine that they see in this prophesy the destruction
of the Turkish and Papal powers, assembled to make war against the saints of
the most High, after all their former persecutions of them, whose quarrel God
will now signally espouse, and avenge their wrongs.
3. The charges lying against these enemies of his people are for their cruelty,
robbery, insult, and oppression. They scattered them among the nations; seized
and sold them for slaves, particularly to the Grecians, removing them far from
their own land, which they parted among themselves; either Titus parcelled it
out to his soldiers, or the neighbouring nations, each seized that portion which
lay contiguous to them: and they have cast lots for my people; in such vast
numbers were they taken captive, and their value so small, that their conquerors
gave a boy for the hire of a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
Thus in drinking and fornication they squandered the prey that they had taken;
the common vices of persecutors. God's gold and silver they had plundered;
what he had given to his people, and regarded still as his own: and his pleasant
things, perhaps the vessels or treasures of his sanctuary, they had carried to the
temple of their idols, adding sacrilege and impiety to robbery. Well may God,
therefore, expostulate with them, What have ye to do with me, O Tyre and
Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? which may be put for all the enemies of
Christ's church and people in every age. What have ye to do with me? how dare
you distress my people; what provocation have they given? will ye render me a
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133. recompense? Have they done you any injury, which you would thus retaliate?
No: they were quiet in the land, and had never justly offended them. Note; (1.)
No sweetness of temper, or amiableness of disposition, can soften the enmity of
the wicked against the work of God. (2.) We must not think it strange, if we
receive the greatest unkindness from those whom we have ever studied to oblige.
4. God threatens to return their wickedness into their own bosom. If ye
recompense me, pretending to retaliate wrongs that they had received from
God's people; swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own
head, and give tribulation to those who troubled them. While God recovered his
people from the places whither they had dispersed and sold them, he will sell the
children of these his enemies into the hands of the men of Judah; and they, in
just retaliation of the wrongs which they have received, shall sell them to the
Sabeans, to a people far off. And for this the veracity of God is engaged; the
Lord hath spoken it: the accomplishment of which prophet, some refer to the
days of the Maccabees; others, to the future destruction of the persecuting
powers of Popery or Mohammedism: certain it is, however, that all the enemies
of Christ's church and believing people shall at the last be made their footstool.
See the critical notes.
2nd, Commentators greatly differ about the times referred to in the prophesies
contained in this chapter from Joel 3:9 to Joel 3:17. Some suppose them fulfilled
in the destruction of Sennacherib, or the Assyrians, or Antiochus; others, that
they look forward to more distant ages, and foretel the ruin of all the
antichristian persecuting powers, whether Pagan, Papal, or Mahometan; and
many expressions in the Revelations, which seem to speak of that event, are
borrowed from this chapter. Some still carry the accomplishment farther; and
read in it the great day of final judgment, when the wicked shall be cast into hell,
and the glorified saints of God receive the kingdom of their Father.
1. A defiance is sent to all God's enemies. Let them collect their forces; muster
their armies; furnish themselves with weapons; encourage each other for the
conflict; unite their assembled legions; hasten to the field of battle, rouse up their
courage, and stand in array. Multitudes, multitudes, innumerable shall be the
host in the valley of decision, the same as the valley of Jehoshaphat; which may
not mark any particular place, but the end for which they are assembled,
Jehoshaphat signifying the judgment of the Lord, who will there plead with,
condemn, and destroy his enemies; and the day is near.
They who refer this to the slaughter of the antichristian powers, Revelation
16:14; Revelation 16:16; Revelation 19:18-21 suppose, that they will in the latter
day be gathered together in the land of Judaea, to make war on the saints of the
Most High, and by some eminent stroke of vengeance from God be utterly
consumed.
Applying it to the day of judgment, we may learn, (1.) That it is near, uncertain
when, but surely approaching: highly therefore does it concern us to be always
ready. (2.) That day will fix our final state, whether for happiness or misery
eternal, according to the unerring decisions of the God of truth and judgment.
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134. 2. At the prophet's prayer the executioners of vengeance appear. Cause thy
mighty ones to come down, O Lord; either the holy angels, or the Christian
powers under Christ their leader, going down to the valley of decision, to join
battle with their foes. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, get ye
down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; their enemies are ripe for judgment,
see Revelation 14:18-20; Revelation 19:15-20 and the reason is given, because
their wickedness is great.
3. To the impenitent sinner, or antichristian foe, that day will be full of horror.
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their
shining, according to the description given in scripture of the great day of
judgment. Or figuratively it refers to the kings and princes of the earth, that are
enemies to the Messiah's reign, who shall be cast down before the armies of the
living God, when the Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from
Jerusalem; appearing on the behalf of his church and people, and spreading
terror and dismay among their enemies: and the heavens and the earth shall
shake; the mightiest will tremble before him; or as at the day of final judgment it
will be seen, when the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the earth
shall be burnt up. Woe to the wicked! who then shall find no shelter, no rock to
hide, no mountain to cover their guilty heads.
4. The saints of God will then triumph and rejoice, for the Lord will be the hope
of his people; he who had ever been the object of their hope and trust, will not
then disappoint them, but will be their refuge in this day of evil: and the strength
of the children of Israel; supporting his faithful people through all their conflicts,
and crowning them at last with victory. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your
God, by happy experience of his power and grace; dwelling in Zion my holy
mountain; in the midst of the church of his faithful saints. Then shall Jerusalem
be holy, or holiness; all the saints of God shall be perfect, as their Father who is
in heaven is perfect: and there shall no strangers pass through her any more; no
enemy being left to hurt them, no hypocrite or ungodly persons being any longer
found among them.
3rdly, The great and precious comprized in the conclusion of this chapter, from
Joel 3:18 to the end, may refer to the restoration of the Jews, and above all to the
universal reign of Christ.
1. There shall be the most abundant plenty, either of temporal good things, or
rather of spiritual blessings, diffused among the faithful. The wine and milk of
gospel-grace should flow down like torrents from the hills, refreshing,
strengthening, comforting the members of Christ's church; and from him, the
ever-flowing, overflowing fountain, shall the healing streams go forth, watering
the valley of Shittim, a barren valley beyond Jordan, which may signify the
Gentile world, and intimate the fruitfulness which this watering of the sanctuary
should produce, and the extent of the Redeemer's grace, even to the most distant
corners of the earth.
2. The inveterate enemies of the church shall be destroyed. Egypt and Edom had
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135. often shewn their implacable hatred against Judah, and shed innocent blood in
the land; but they shall now be made perpetual desolations. And these nations
are the figures of the present persecutors of God's people, particularly of Rome,
called Egypt mystically; Revelation 11:8 and red with the blood of saints and
martyrs; but blood shall now be given her to drink, together with all the other
persecuting powers, Pagan or Mahometan, who will perish together. Or if this be
applied to the last great day, then death, sin, and Satan, the most mortal foes of
the saints, shall be destroyed together and for ever.
3. The faithful people of God shall in these glorious days enjoy undisturbed
repose. Judeah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to
generation; to the end of time the church of Christ shall be preserved safe from
all the attacks of the gates of hell: or in the eternal state of bliss, the faithful shall
dwell safely in mansions of glory. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not
cleansed; pardoning all their guilt, saving them from the power of all their sins,
and destroying the very being of sin in them: for the Lord dwelleth in Zion, and
therefore his faithful people may comfortably and confidently expect to be made
partakers of the fulness of this his great salvation.
ELLICOTT, "(21) I will cleanse . . .—The LXX. translate this sentence, “I will
avenge their blood, and not leave it unavenged”—i.e., the “innocent blood”
mentioned in Joel 3:19; but the promise seems rather to indicate, as in the
English Version, the extension of God’s pardon to those hitherto unpardoned.
The Lord dwelleth in Zion—i.e., over a raging and swelling world, probably
unconscious of Him, the Lord nevertheless reigns in the heavenly Jerusalem, and
all His redeemed shall dwell securely under His eternal rule. “And the name of
the city from that day shall be Jehovah Shammah, the LORD IS THERE
(Ezekiel 48:35).
HAWKER, “Verse 21
REFLECTIONS
READER! every part of God's word comes in to support the blessed but solemn
prophecies contained in this Chapter; when, the Lord shall come to be glorified
in his saints, and admired in all them that believe, he will come no less to take out
of his kingdom all things that offend. That day will burn as an oven, when all the
proud, yea, all that do wickedly will be as stubble, and consumed both root and
branch. But to the redeemed, Jesus will arise as the sun of righteousness, with,
healing in his wings.
My unawakened brother, in our common fallen nature (if peradventure this
Commentary should come within your observation) will you suffer me to ask,
have you ever duly pondered these things? Have you solemnly thought, equal to
the importance of the subject, what you will do, or say, when the Lord shall roar
out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem? If, in that dreadful day of God,
the heavens and the earth shall shake, can the unregenerated, unpardoned
sinner, hope to stand in confidence? Is it not important to ask after the way of
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136. safety, and to enquire how to escape the wrath to come? If the righteous scarcely
be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
Ye people of the Lord! Ye that are followers of Jesus in the regeneration; take to
yourselves the sweet promises and rich consolations of this most blessed
scripture. Your Jesus is coming, and will come to save you. Hear what he saith,
and take to yourselves the full comfort of it. You. shall know, Jesus saith, that I
am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion! You shall enjoy his presence, hear his
voice, sit with him on his throne. Jerusalem shall then be holy, and be so forever.
Then no more strangers shall pass through. No more the Canaanite shall be in
the land. No longer the remains of indwelling corruption shall vex the soul; nor
the temptations of Satan, or the persecutors of the world afflict. Jesus will have
taken away all the remains, and have cleansed all the blood of his people that
had not been cleansed. And He will be their joy, their hope, their glory, their
portion forever! Amen.
Farewell Joel! servant of our gracious God! farewell until that blessed day when
thou, and all the Lord's heritage, come to enjoy the fulfilment of thy prophecies,
and enjoy them forever. Thanks for thy ministry, in the short, but precious
gospel truths thou hast from thy master, the Lord God of the Prophets, here
given us. It is thine honor thus to have been employed, while it is the Church's
happiness, to be thus ministered unto. But, blessed forever, blessed be the Lord
who hath sent thee with his message! Precious Jesus! give both to him that
writes, and to him that reads, grace to improve by thy servant's labors; that that
blessedness may be in the lot of both, who hear and keep the words of our God,
as the time for the accomplishment draweth nearer. Amen.
LANGE, “Joel 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 : Joel 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
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137. 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.
Joel 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!
Joel 3:21. I will cleanse her blood. The word rendered cleansed, is not used for
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138. 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 Ezekiel 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.]
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