For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
Behold ... is that time, when I shall bring again the captivity - i:e., 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).
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, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat. Parallel to Zechariah 14:2-4 ("I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, etc. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east," etc.), where the "mount of Olives" answers to the "valley of Jehoshaphat" here. The latter is called 'the valley of blessing' (Berachah) (2 Chronicles 20:26). It lies between Jerusalem and the mount of Olives and has the Kedron flowing through it. As Jehoshaphat overthrew the confederate foes of Judah, namely, Ammon, Moab, etc. (Psalms 83:6-8), in this valley (which was therefore called the valley of blessing, for there they blessed the Lord previous to the victory, 2 Chronicles 20:21-22; 2 Chronicles 20:26), so God was to overthrow the Tyrians, Zidonians, Philistines, Edom, and Egypt, with a similar utter overthrow (Joel 3:4; Joel 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. Since "Jehoshaphat" means "the judgment of Yahweh," 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 Zechariah 14:1-21, 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: cf. "This same Jesus ... shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).
All nations - namely, which have maltreated Judah. And will plead with them there - (Isaiah 66:16; Ezekiel 38:22).
For my people and for my heritage Israel - (Deuteronomy 32:9, "The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance;" Jeremiah 10:16). Implying that the source of Judah's redemption is God's free love wherewith He chose Israel as His special 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.
And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
And they have cast lots for my people - i:e., divided among themselves my people as their captives by lot. Compare as to the distribution of captives by lot (Obadiah 1:11, "Foreigners cast lots upon Jerusalem;" Nahum 3:10, "They cast lots for her [not Amon's] honourable men").
And have given a boy for an harlot - instead of paying a harlot for her prostitution in money, they gave her a Jewish captive boy as a slave.
And sold a girl for wine - so valueless did they regard a Jewish girl that they would sell her for a draught of wine.
Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompence me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;
Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon? - ye have no connection with me (i:e., with my people: God identifying Himself with Israel: I - i:e., my people-have given you no cause of quarrel), why, then, do ye trouble me (i:e., my people)? Compare the same phrase, Joshua 22:24; Judges 11:12; 2 Samuel 16:10; Matthew 8:29.
O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? - (Amos 1:6; Amos 1:9, "For three transgressions of Gaze, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom ... For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant").
If ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head - if ye injure me (my people), in revenge for fancied wrongs (Ezekiel 25:15-17), I will requite you in your own coin swiftly and speedily.
Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:
Because ye have taken my silver and my gold - i:e., the gold and silver of my people. The Philistines and Arabians had carried off all the treasures of King Jehoram's house (2 Chronicles 21:16-17). Compare also 1 Kings 15:18; 2 Kings 12:18, for the spoiling of the treasures of the temple and the king's palace (first Asa's palace; then Jehoash's palace) in Judah by Syria.
And have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things. It was customary among the pagan to hang up in the idol temples some of the spoils of war as presents to their gods.
The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
The children also of Judah ... and of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians - literally, sons of the Javanites, i:e., 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 (Genesis 10:2; Genesis 10:4, "The sons of Japheth ... Javan ... and the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands"). Probably the germ of Greek civilization in part came through the Jewish slaves imported into Greece from Phoenicia by traffickers Ezekiel 27:13 mentions Javan and Tyre "as trading in the persons of men." Aristophanes ('The Birds,' 505-507) alludes (427 BC) to the Phoenician custom of sending circumcised (probably Jewish) slaves to labour in their harvest fields. Their proverbial jest was, 'Cuckoo! (i:e., it is harvest tune, as the cuckoo's note shows) ye circumcised to the field.' Compare 1Ma 3:41 ; 2Ma 8:34 : and earlier, the little slave maiden who waited on Naaman's wife, 2 Kings 5:2.
Far from their border - far from Judea; so that the captive Jews were cut off from all hope of return.
Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:
Behold, I will raise them - i:e., 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, 13: 5; 'Bellum Judaicum,' 3: 9, 2).
And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.
And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the 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 Gaze, were sold as slaves. The Jews are hero 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, where the Jews had been sold. Retributive justice. The Sabeans at the most remote extremity of Arabia Felix are referred to (cf. Jeremiah 6:20, "from Sheba ... a far country;" Matthew 12:42, "The queen of the south (Sheba) ... came from the uttermost parts of the earth," etc.) Three fathers of distinct races bore the name of Sheba; one a descendant of Ham, the other two of Shem. The Hamite Sheba was son of Raamah, son of Cush, and occupied probably the region on the Persian Gulf called Raamah. The Shemite Sabeans were some descended from Sheba, the son of Joktan, and dwelt in the southwestern extremity of Arabia, still called 'Ard-es-Saba,' 'land of Saba,' and were famed for their riches: these are the Sabeans meant here. The other Shemite Sabeans were descended from Abraham and Keturah, and dwelt in Arabia Deserta, not far from Syria which they often invaded. They are probably the marauders meant by Job under the name "Sabeans" (Job 1:15).
Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles. The nations hostile to Israel are summoned by Yahweh to "come up" (this phrase is used because Jerusalem was on a hill) against Jerusalem, not that they may destroy it, but be destroyed by the Lord at it (Ezekiel 38:7-23, "Be thou (Gog) prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou and all thy company ... and I will call for a sword against him ... and I will plead against him," etc.; Zechariah 12:2-9 "I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege against Judah;" Zechariah 14:2-3).
Prepare war - literally, Sanctify war: because the pagan always began war with religious ceremonies. The very Prepare war - literally, Sanctify war: because the pagan always began war with religious ceremonies. The very phrase used of Babylon's preparations against Jerusalem (Jeremiah 6:4, "Prepare (sanctify) ye war against her") 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.
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
Beat your plowshares into swords. As the foes are desired to "beat their plowshares 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 anti-Christian confederacy, shall, on the contrary, "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks," when under Messiah's coming reign they "shall learn war no more" (Isaiah 2:4; Hosea 2:18; Micah 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 strung enough to join the invading forces. Age and infirmity 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 (cf. Psalms 2:1-3).
Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
Assemble yourselves - `Hasten' (Maurer).
Thither - to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Cause thy mighty ones - the warriors who fancy themselves "mighty ones" (Joel 3:10), but who are on that very spot to be overthrown by Yahweh (Maurer). Compare "the mighty men" (Joel 3:9). Rather, Joel speaks of God's really "mighty ones" (His angels), in contrast to the self-called "mighty men" (Joel 3:9; Psalms 103:20; Isaiah 13:3: cf. Daniel 10:13, "The prince (evil angel) of the kingdom of Persia withstood me ... but, lo, Michael one of the chief princes, came to help me"). 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 (Isaiah 29:1-8), Joel (Joel 3:1-21), and Zechariah (Zechariah 12:1-14; Zechariah 13:1-9; Zechariah 14:1-21) describe his army of pagan followers coming up against Jerusalem, but not Antichrist himself.
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat - "wakened," in the opinion of Abarbanel, hints at the awaking of the dead to judgment. The same word [ yee`owruw (H5782)] in Job 14:12 is applied to the awaking out of the death sleep. As previously (Joel 3:9) the pagan "mighty men" "woke up" (the same Hebrew) to wage war with God and His people, so now must they awake from the dead to receive their awful sentence from God the Judge (John 5:27-29; Matthew 25:31-32). See Joel 3:2.
For there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about - i:e., all the nations from all parts of the earth which have maltreated Israel; not merely, as Henderson supposes, the nations round about Jerusalem (cf. Psalms 110:6, "He shall judge among the pagan, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall would the heads over many countries;" Isaiah 2:4, "He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people;" Micah 4:3; Micah 4:11-13; Zephaniah 3:15-19; Zechariah 12:9; Zechariah 14:3-11; Malachi 4:1-3).
Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow: for their wickedness is great. 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 until their guilt is at its full (so as to the Amorites' iniquity, Genesis 15:16), to show forth His own long- suffering, and the justice of their doom who have so long abused it (Matthew 13:27-30; Matthew 13:38; Matthew 13:40, "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire (at the harvest); so shall it be in the end of this world;" Revelation 14:15-19). For the image of a harvest to be threshed, cf. Jeremiah 51:33; and a wine-press of vengeance to be trodden by Christ at His second coming, Isaiah 63:3; Lamentations 1:15.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. Multitudes, multitudes, [hªmoniym]. The twice mention of the multitudes does not refer to the good and bad, for it is only the bad that are spoken of here; but crowds on crowds. The Hebrew is akin in sound and meaning to our hum-the hum of a multitude. The primary judgment here meant is not the final one of the living and the dead; but the final judgment on Antichrist and his followers. The prophet in vision seeing the immense array of nations congregating, exclaims, "Multitudes, multitudes!" a Hebraism for immense multitudes.
In the valley of decision - i:e., the valley in which they are to meet their determined doom. The same as "the valley of Jehoshaphat" - i:e., 'the valley of judgment' (note, Joel 3:2). Compare Joel 3:12, "there will I sit to judge," which confirms the English version rather than margin, 'threshing.' The repetition of "valley of decision" heightens the effect, and pronounces the awful certainty of their doom.
The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
The Lord also shall roar out of Zion - (cf. Ezekiel 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 (Psalms 132:13), it is from thence that Yahweh discomfits the foe.
Roar - as a lion (Jeremiah 25:30; Amos 1:2; Amos 3:8). Compare as to Yahweh's voice thundering, Psalms 18:13; Habakkuk 3:10-11.
But the Lord will be the hope of his people - or, their refuge, as the same Hebrew [ machªceh (H4268)] is translated (Psalms 46:1, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble").
So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
So shall ye know - experimentally by the proofs of favours which I shall vouchsafe to you. So "know" (Isaiah 60:16, "Thou shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob;" Hosea 2:20).
That I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion - as peculiarly your God.
My holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her anymore
- to attack or to defile the holy city (Isaiah 35:8, "The unclean shall not pass over it;" Isaiah 52:1, "Awake! awake! put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean;" Zechariah 14:21, "There shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts"). Strangers, or Gentiles, shall come to Jerusalem, but it shall be in order "to worship" "the King, Yahweh of hosts," there (Zechariah 14:16).
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, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
The mountains shall drop down new wine - figurative for abundance of vines, which were cultivated in terraces of earth between the rocks on the sides of the hills of Palestine (Amos 9:13, "The mountains," instead of mist or vapour, shall distill that which maketh glad the heart of man, new wine, Psalms 104:15).
And the hills shall flow with milk - i:e., they shall abound in flocks and herds yielding milk plentifully, through the richness of the pastures.
And all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters - the great desideratum for fertility in the parched East (Isaiah 30:25).
And a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim - the blessings, temporal and spiritual, issuing from Yahweh's house at Jerusalem, shall extend even to Shittim, on the border between Moab and Israel, beyond Jordan (Numbers 25:1; Numbers 33:49; Joshua 2:1; Micah 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 Ezekiel 47:1-12 describes the waters issuing from the threshold of the house as flowing into the Dead Sea, and purifying it. Also in Zechariah 14:8 ("Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be") the waters flow on one side into the Mediterranean, on the other side into the Dead Sea, near which latter Shittim was situated (cf. Psalms 46:4, "There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God." So in the final heavenly Jerusalem, Revelation 22:1). The fact in nature which suggested the image was, that there was a fountain under the temple which carried off the blood of the sacrifices; and carrying it off, was intermingled with that blood, the image of the all-atoning blood of Christ. Zechariah adds to Joel's image the idea of the perennial permanence of the life-giving, stream, "in summer and in winter shall it be" (Zechariah 14:8). Ezekiel adds the ideas of the gradual increase of the waters of life, their exceeding depth, the healing of all which could be healed, and the abiding desolation wherever the waters did not reach (Pusey).
Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness. "Edom" was subjugated by David, but revolted under Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:8-10), and at every subsequent opportunity tried to injure Judah. "Egypt" under Shishak spoiled Jerusalem under Jehoram (2 Chronicles 13:2-10) of the treasures in the temple and the king's house. Subsequently to the captivity it inflicted, under the Ptolemies, various injuries on Judea. Antiochus spoiled Egypt (Daniel 11:40-43). Edom was made "desolate" under the Maccabees (Josephus, 12: 11, 12). The low condition of the two countries for centuries proves the truth of the prediction (cf. Isaiah 19:1, etc.; Jeremiah 49:17; Obad
10). So shall fare, at the Lord's second coming, all the foes of Israel, typified by these two, (Isaiah 63:1, etc.)
But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
But Judah shall dwell forever - (Amos 9:15, "I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord God") i:e., be established as a flourishing state.
For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD
For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed - I will purge away from Judah the extreme guilt (represented by "blood," the shedding of which was the climax of her sin, Isaiah 1:15) which was for long not "purged" away but visited with judgment (Isaiah 4:4). Messiah saves from guilt, in order to save from punishment (Matthew 1:21).
For the Lord dwelleth in Zion. See the note at Joel 3:17. Remarks:
(1) Before the second advent of Messiah there shall be one last desperate effort made by Satan Antichrist, and their dupes, against the Lord and His people. The powers of the world shall be arrayed against their Maker and Divine King in open hostility. It shall be the closing scene of man's apostasy. As Baal's worshippers were gathered by Jehu, without one being missing, for the glorification of Baal, as they thought, but really for their own destruction, so "all the pagan" (Joel 3:11), that is, all who belong not really to Christ shall assemble themselves, "the mighty men" and the "weak" alike (Joel 3:9), for the destruction of God's people and the glorification of Antichrist, as they shall think, but really for their own destruction.
(2) How short-sighted and infatuated are the ungodly, with all their fancied wisdom! Their own blind passion shall urge them headlong to the valley of the judgment of Yahweh, as the "valley of Jehoshaphat" means. The Lord shall there vindicate the cause of his oppressed people on all their oppressors (Joel 3:1-2). He regards His people's wrongs in the same light as if they were done to Himself. His people are "His heritage." Therefore, God will recompense (Joel 3:4) their enemies in kind, for every act of injury and robbery committed against them (Joel 3:3-8).
(3) Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Egypt, and Edom, are types of the various foes of Israel and the Church in all ages, especially in the last age. They "sanctify war" (Joel 3:9) - that is, proclaim, as it were, a holy war against the saints. They profess to be doing God service when they persecute the people of God (John 16:2). Almost every persecution of the Church has been carried on ostensibly in the name of God. Even Antichrist, the last and worst persecutor, shall pretend that his cause is God's cause; for "he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Thessalonians 2:4). Tyre and Sidon represent the mercantile peoples, whose god is self and mammon, and who, when their selfish and worldly interests seem to be at all endangered by the cause of God, do not scruple to oppose it and His people, and even to make a gain of their sufferings. Egypt, the powerful oppressor of Israel, represents the proud and haughty enemies of the Israel of God, whom God shall "break in pieces" hereafter, as He did "Rahab" of old (Psalms 89:10, margin; Isaiah 51:9-10). Edom represents those who, though naturally allied to God's people, as Esau was to Israel, yet hate true religion, and instead of fraternal sympathy in the times of affliction, evince a malicious pleasure in the calamities of the elect.
(4) God will recompense those (Joel 3:19) various classes of enemies according to their evil deserts. "Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness." Nothing seemed more improbable than such an event at the time when Joel wrote. Egypt's power dated at least seven centuries before thin, to about 1520 BC, according to their 'continuous monumental history' (Sir G. Wilkinson's 'Egypt,' quoted in Rawlinson's. 'Herodotus,' 2: 393). Their empire rivaled Assyria at the time. Their system of canals and irrigation was on a vast scale, the artificial Lake Moeris on the southwest bank of the Nile, enclosing within masonry sixty-four square miles of the superfluous waters of the Nile, and supplying water for the irrigation of 1,724 square miles during six months of the year. This stupendous work was completed by Ammenemhes about 1673 BC, so that in the time of Joel, for a thousand years, art and nature had been combining to produce an internal prosperity in Egypt seldom equalled. The soil generally yielded three harvests in the year. It was, according to Diodorus (1: 31) the most densely populated country in the world. How unlikely, then it seemed that such a country should become "a desolation!" Yet such it has become: and such shall be the doom of all the present and coming anti-Christian antitypes to Egypt and Edom. God's mighty ones shall come down and utterly destroy Antichrist's mighty men (cf. Joel 3:9 with Joel 3:11). For no word of the Lord shall fail: all shall be accomplished.
(5) So utterly has Edom become "a desolate wilderness" that no remains of it were known until, within the last half century, the rock-dwellings of its capital, Petra, once the central emporium of the caravan trade, were discovered. Truly has it been written, "They that hate the righteous shall be desolate" (Psalms 34:21).
(6) As the anti-Christian enemies are given up to their own infatuation, so as to "beat their plowshares into swords, and their pruning-hooks into spears" (Joel 3:10) for war with the people of God; so, on the contrary, after their consequent excision, Israel and the nations of the whole world converted by her, "shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks," under the coming reign of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 2:4). Happy time, for which the whole world, travailing in pain, sigheth, waiting for the time when the creature shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God! (Romans 8:21.)
(7) Meanwhile the ordeal of the times of Antichrist must first be endured, as all the prophets have foretold. Daniel describes his worldly conquests; the Revelation of John, his spiritual tyranny, and the spiritual guise which he assumes as the second beast, with "the horns of a lamb," but the speech of "the dragon" (Revelation 13:11). Paul (2 Thess
2) describes in full the blasphemy of his pretensions, and the awful success which shall attend his efforts to deceive those who "receive not the love of the truth, that they may be saved."
(8) The same judgment which brings destruction to the anti-Christian faction brings salvation to the Israel of God, both the literal and the spiritual (Joel 3:16). Jerusalem shall be "the holy mountain" and the dwelling where the Lord her God shall especially manifest His presence with a glory never yet realized, and "strangers" shall no more defile the holy city (Joel 3:17). Temporal blessings shall be accompanied with spiritual blessings in richest abundance. The vivifying and refreshing waters of life shall flow from Christ the Fountain, dwelling in Jerusalem, the restored capital of the theocracy, which shall then first be fully realized. Having "cleansed" His people from their past stains, Messiah shall make them to become a fit dwelling for their holy God and King (Joel 3:21). Lord, hasten the blessed time!
Bibliographical Information Jamieson, Robert, D.D.; Fausset, A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on Joel 3". "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged". https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/jfu/joel-3.html. 1871-8.
Verse 1
For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
Behold ... is that time, when I shall bring again the captivity - i:e., 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).
Verse 2
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, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat. Parallel to Zechariah 14:2-4 ("I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, etc. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east," etc.), where the "mount of Olives" answers to the "valley of Jehoshaphat" here. The latter is called 'the valley of blessing' (Berachah) (2 Chronicles 20:26). It lies between Jerusalem and the mount of Olives and has the Kedron flowing through it. As Jehoshaphat overthrew the confederate foes of Judah, namely, Ammon, Moab, etc. (Psalms 83:6-8), in this valley (which was therefore called the valley of blessing, for there they blessed the Lord previous to the victory, 2 Chronicles 20:21-22; 2 Chronicles 20:26), so God was to overthrow the Tyrians, Zidonians, Philistines, Edom, and Egypt, with a similar utter overthrow (Joel 3:4; Joel 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. Since "Jehoshaphat" means "the judgment of Yahweh," 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 Zechariah 14:1-21, 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: cf. "This same Jesus ... shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11).
All nations - namely, which have maltreated Judah. And will plead with them there - (Isaiah 66:16; Ezekiel 38:22).
For my people and for my heritage Israel - (Deuteronomy 32:9, "The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance;" Jeremiah 10:16). Implying that the source of Judah's redemption is God's free love wherewith He chose Israel as His special 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.
Verse 3
And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
And they have cast lots for my people - i:e., divided among themselves my people as their captives by lot. Compare as to the distribution of captives by lot (Obadiah 1:11, "Foreigners cast lots upon Jerusalem;" Nahum 3:10, "They cast lots for her [not Amon's] honourable men").
And have given a boy for an harlot - instead of paying a harlot for her prostitution in money, they gave her a Jewish captive boy as a slave.
And sold a girl for wine - so valueless did they regard a Jewish girl that they would sell her for a draught of wine.
Verse 4
Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompence me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;
Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon? - ye have no connection with me (i:e., with my people: God identifying Himself with Israel: I - i:e., my people-have given you no cause of quarrel), why, then, do ye trouble me (i:e., my people)? Compare the same phrase, Joshua 22:24; Judges 11:12; 2 Samuel 16:10; Matthew 8:29.
O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? - (Amos 1:6; Amos 1:9, "For three transgressions of Gaze, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom ... For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant").
If ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head - if ye injure me (my people), in revenge for fancied wrongs (Ezekiel 25:15-17), I will requite you in your own coin swiftly and speedily.
Verse 5
Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:
Because ye have taken my silver and my gold - i:e., the gold and silver of my people. The Philistines and Arabians had carried off all the treasures of King Jehoram's house (2 Chronicles 21:16-17). Compare also 1 Kings 15:18; 2 Kings 12:18, for the spoiling of the treasures of the temple and the king's palace (first Asa's palace; then Jehoash's palace) in Judah by Syria.
And have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things. It was customary among the pagan to hang up in the idol temples some of the spoils of war as presents to their gods.
Verse 6
The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.
The children also of Judah ... and of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians - literally, sons of the Javanites, i:e., 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 (Genesis 10:2; Genesis 10:4, "The sons of Japheth ... Javan ... and the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands"). Probably the germ of Greek civilization in part came through the Jewish slaves imported into Greece from Phoenicia by traffickers Ezekiel 27:13 mentions Javan and Tyre "as trading in the persons of men." Aristophanes ('The Birds,' 505-507) alludes (427 BC) to the Phoenician custom of sending circumcised (probably Jewish) slaves to labour in their harvest fields. Their proverbial jest was, 'Cuckoo! (i:e., it is harvest tune, as the cuckoo's note shows) ye circumcised to the field.' Compare 1Ma 3:41 ; 2Ma 8:34 : and earlier, the little slave maiden who waited on Naaman's wife, 2 Kings 5:2.
Far from their border - far from Judea; so that the captive Jews were cut off from all hope of return.
Verse 7
Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:
Behold, I will raise them - i:e., 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, 13: 5; 'Bellum Judaicum,' 3: 9, 2).
Verse 8
And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.
And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the 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 Gaze, were sold as slaves. The Jews are hero 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, where the Jews had been sold. Retributive justice. The Sabeans at the most remote extremity of Arabia Felix are referred to (cf. Jeremiah 6:20, "from Sheba ... a far country;" Matthew 12:42, "The queen of the south (Sheba) ... came from the uttermost parts of the earth," etc.) Three fathers of distinct races bore the name of Sheba; one a descendant of Ham, the other two of Shem. The Hamite Sheba was son of Raamah, son of Cush, and occupied probably the region on the Persian Gulf called Raamah. The Shemite Sabeans were some descended from Sheba, the son of Joktan, and dwelt in the southwestern extremity of Arabia, still called 'Ard-es-Saba,' 'land of Saba,' and were famed for their riches: these are the Sabeans meant here. The other Shemite Sabeans were descended from Abraham and Keturah, and dwelt in Arabia Deserta, not far from Syria which they often invaded. They are probably the marauders meant by Job under the name "Sabeans" (Job 1:15).
Verse 9
Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles. The nations hostile to Israel are summoned by Yahweh to "come up" (this phrase is used because Jerusalem was on a hill) against Jerusalem, not that they may destroy it, but be destroyed by the Lord at it (Ezekiel 38:7-23, "Be thou (Gog) prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou and all thy company ... and I will call for a sword against him ... and I will plead against him," etc.; Zechariah 12:2-9 "I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege against Judah;" Zechariah 14:2-3).
Prepare war - literally, Sanctify war: because the pagan always began war with religious ceremonies. The very Prepare war - literally, Sanctify war: because the pagan always began war with religious ceremonies. The very phrase used of Babylon's preparations against Jerusalem (Jeremiah 6:4, "Prepare (sanctify) ye war against her") 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.
Verse 10
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
Beat your plowshares into swords. As the foes are desired to "beat their plowshares 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 anti-Christian confederacy, shall, on the contrary, "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks," when under Messiah's coming reign they "shall learn war no more" (Isaiah 2:4; Hosea 2:18; Micah 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 strung enough to join the invading forces. Age and infirmity 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 (cf. Psalms 2:1-3).
Verse 11
Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
Assemble yourselves - `Hasten' (Maurer).
Thither - to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Cause thy mighty ones - the warriors who fancy themselves "mighty ones" (Joel 3:10), but who are on that very spot to be overthrown by Yahweh (Maurer). Compare "the mighty men" (Joel 3:9). Rather, Joel speaks of God's really "mighty ones" (His angels), in contrast to the self-called "mighty men" (Joel 3:9; Psalms 103:20; Isaiah 13:3: cf. Daniel 10:13, "The prince (evil angel) of the kingdom of Persia withstood me ... but, lo, Michael one of the chief princes, came to help me"). 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 (Isaiah 29:1-8), Joel (Joel 3:1-21), and Zechariah (Zechariah 12:1-14; Zechariah 13:1-9; Zechariah 14:1-21) describe his army of pagan followers coming up against Jerusalem, but not Antichrist himself.
Verse 12
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat - "wakened," in the opinion of Abarbanel, hints at the awaking of the dead to judgment. The same word [ yee`owruw (H5782)] in Job 14:12 is applied to the awaking out of the death sleep. As previously (Joel 3:9) the pagan "mighty men" "woke up" (the same Hebrew) to wage war with God and His people, so now must they awake from the dead to receive their awful sentence from God the Judge (John 5:27-29; Matthew 25:31-32). See Joel 3:2.
For there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about - i:e., all the nations from all parts of the earth which have maltreated Israel; not merely, as Henderson supposes, the nations round about Jerusalem (cf. Psalms 110:6, "He shall judge among the pagan, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall would the heads over many countries;" Isaiah 2:4, "He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people;" Micah 4:3; Micah 4:11-13; Zephaniah 3:15-19; Zechariah 12:9; Zechariah 14:3-11; Malachi 4:1-3).
Verse 13
Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow: for their wickedness is great. 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 until their guilt is at its full (so as to the Amorites' iniquity, Genesis 15:16), to show forth His own long- suffering, and the justice of their doom who have so long abused it (Matthew 13:27-30; Matthew 13:38; Matthew 13:40, "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire (at the harvest); so shall it be in the end of this world;" Revelation 14:15-19). For the image of a harvest to be threshed, cf. Jeremiah 51:33; and a wine-press of vengeance to be trodden by Christ at His second coming, Isaiah 63:3; Lamentations 1:15.
Verse 14
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. Multitudes, multitudes, [hªmoniym]. The twice mention of the multitudes does not refer to the good and bad, for it is only the bad that are spoken of here; but crowds on crowds. The Hebrew is akin in sound and meaning to our hum-the hum of a multitude. The primary judgment here meant is not the final one of the living and the dead; but the final judgment on Antichrist and his followers. The prophet in vision seeing the immense array of nations congregating, exclaims, "Multitudes, multitudes!" a Hebraism for immense multitudes.
In the valley of decision - i:e., the valley in which they are to meet their determined doom. The same as "the valley of Jehoshaphat" - i:e., 'the valley of judgment' (note, Joel 3:2). Compare Joel 3:12, "there will I sit to judge," which confirms the English version rather than margin, 'threshing.' The repetition of "valley of decision" heightens the effect, and pronounces the awful certainty of their doom.
Verse 15
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
The sun and the moon shall be darkened - (notes, Joel 2:10; Joel 2:31).
Verse 16
The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
The Lord also shall roar out of Zion - (cf. Ezekiel 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 (Psalms 132:13), it is from thence that Yahweh discomfits the foe.
Roar - as a lion (Jeremiah 25:30; Amos 1:2; Amos 3:8). Compare as to Yahweh's voice thundering, Psalms 18:13; Habakkuk 3:10-11.
But the Lord will be the hope of his people - or, their refuge, as the same Hebrew [ machªceh (H4268)] is translated (Psalms 46:1, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble").
Verse 17
So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
So shall ye know - experimentally by the proofs of favours which I shall vouchsafe to you. So "know" (Isaiah 60:16, "Thou shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob;" Hosea 2:20).
That I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion - as peculiarly your God.
My holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her anymore
- to attack or to defile the holy city (Isaiah 35:8, "The unclean shall not pass over it;" Isaiah 52:1, "Awake! awake! put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean;" Zechariah 14:21, "There shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts"). Strangers, or Gentiles, shall come to Jerusalem, but it shall be in order "to worship" "the King, Yahweh of hosts," there (Zechariah 14:16).
Verse 18
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, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
The mountains shall drop down new wine - figurative for abundance of vines, which were cultivated in terraces of earth between the rocks on the sides of the hills of Palestine (Amos 9:13, "The mountains," instead of mist or vapour, shall distill that which maketh glad the heart of man, new wine, Psalms 104:15).
And the hills shall flow with milk - i:e., they shall abound in flocks and herds yielding milk plentifully, through the richness of the pastures.
And all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters - the great desideratum for fertility in the parched East (Isaiah 30:25).
And a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim - the blessings, temporal and spiritual, issuing from Yahweh's house at Jerusalem, shall extend even to Shittim, on the border between Moab and Israel, beyond Jordan (Numbers 25:1; Numbers 33:49; Joshua 2:1; Micah 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 Ezekiel 47:1-12 describes the waters issuing from the threshold of the house as flowing into the Dead Sea, and purifying it. Also in Zechariah 14:8 ("Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be") the waters flow on one side into the Mediterranean, on the other side into the Dead Sea, near which latter Shittim was situated (cf. Psalms 46:4, "There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God." So in the final heavenly Jerusalem, Revelation 22:1). The fact in nature which suggested the image was, that there was a fountain under the temple which carried off the blood of the sacrifices; and carrying it off, was intermingled with that blood, the image of the all-atoning blood of Christ. Zechariah adds to Joel's image the idea of the perennial permanence of the life-giving, stream, "in summer and in winter shall it be" (Zechariah 14:8). Ezekiel adds the ideas of the gradual increase of the waters of life, their exceeding depth, the healing of all which could be healed, and the abiding desolation wherever the waters did not reach (Pusey).
Verse 19
Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness. "Edom" was subjugated by David, but revolted under Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:8-10), and at every subsequent opportunity tried to injure Judah. "Egypt" under Shishak spoiled Jerusalem under Jehoram (2 Chronicles 13:2-10) of the treasures in the temple and the king's house. Subsequently to the captivity it inflicted, under the Ptolemies, various injuries on Judea. Antiochus spoiled Egypt (Daniel 11:40-43). Edom was made "desolate" under the Maccabees (Josephus, 12: 11, 12). The low condition of the two countries for centuries proves the truth of the prediction (cf. Isaiah 19:1, etc.; Jeremiah 49:17; Obad
10). So shall fare, at the Lord's second coming, all the foes of Israel, typified by these two, (Isaiah 63:1, etc.)
Verse 20
But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
But Judah shall dwell forever - (Amos 9:15, "I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord God") i:e., be established as a flourishing state.
Verse 21
For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD
For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed - I will purge away from Judah the extreme guilt (represented by "blood," the shedding of which was the climax of her sin, Isaiah 1:15) which was for long not "purged" away but visited with judgment (Isaiah 4:4). Messiah saves from guilt, in order to save from punishment (Matthew 1:21).
For the Lord dwelleth in Zion. See the note at Joel 3:17. Remarks:
(1) Before the second advent of Messiah there shall be one last desperate effort made by Satan Antichrist, and their dupes, against the Lord and His people. The powers of the world shall be arrayed against their Maker and Divine King in open hostility. It shall be the closing scene of man's apostasy. As Baal's worshippers were gathered by Jehu, without one being missing, for the glorification of Baal, as they thought, but really for their own destruction, so "all the pagan" (Joel 3:11), that is, all who belong not really to Christ shall assemble themselves, "the mighty men" and the "weak" alike (Joel 3:9), for the destruction of God's people and the glorification of Antichrist, as they shall think, but really for their own destruction.
(2) How short-sighted and infatuated are the ungodly, with all their fancied wisdom! Their own blind passion shall urge them headlong to the valley of the judgment of Yahweh, as the "valley of Jehoshaphat" means. The Lord shall there vindicate the cause of his oppressed people on all their oppressors (Joel 3:1-2). He regards His people's wrongs in the same light as if they were done to Himself. His people are "His heritage." Therefore, God will recompense (Joel 3:4) their enemies in kind, for every act of injury and robbery committed against them (Joel 3:3-8).
(3) Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Egypt, and Edom, are types of the various foes of Israel and the Church in all ages, especially in the last age. They "sanctify war" (Joel 3:9) - that is, proclaim, as it were, a holy war against the saints. They profess to be doing God service when they persecute the people of God (John 16:2). Almost every persecution of the Church has been carried on ostensibly in the name of God. Even Antichrist, the last and worst persecutor, shall pretend that his cause is God's cause; for "he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2 Thessalonians 2:4). Tyre and Sidon represent the mercantile peoples, whose god is self and mammon, and who, when their selfish and worldly interests seem to be at all endangered by the cause of God, do not scruple to oppose it and His people, and even to make a gain of their sufferings. Egypt, the powerful oppressor of Israel, represents the proud and haughty enemies of the Israel of God, whom God shall "break in pieces" hereafter, as He did "Rahab" of old (Psalms 89:10, margin; Isaiah 51:9-10). Edom represents those who, though naturally allied to God's people, as Esau was to Israel, yet hate true religion, and instead of fraternal sympathy in the times of affliction, evince a malicious pleasure in the calamities of the elect.
(4) God will recompense those (Joel 3:19) various classes of enemies according to their evil deserts. "Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness." Nothing seemed more improbable than such an event at the time when Joel wrote. Egypt's power dated at least seven centuries before thin, to about 1520 BC, according to their 'continuous monumental history' (Sir G. Wilkinson's 'Egypt,' quoted in Rawlinson's. 'Herodotus,' 2: 393). Their empire rivaled Assyria at the time. Their system of canals and irrigation was on a vast scale, the artificial Lake Moeris on the southwest bank of the Nile, enclosing within masonry sixty-four square miles of the superfluous waters of the Nile, and supplying water for the irrigation of 1,724 square miles during six months of the year. This stupendous work was completed by Ammenemhes about 1673 BC, so that in the time of Joel, for a thousand years, art and nature had been combining to produce an internal prosperity in Egypt seldom equalled. The soil generally yielded three harvests in the year. It was, according to Diodorus (1: 31) the most densely populated country in the world. How unlikely, then it seemed that such a country should become "a desolation!" Yet such it has become: and such shall be the doom of all the present and coming anti-Christian antitypes to Egypt and Edom. God's mighty ones shall come down and utterly destroy Antichrist's mighty men (cf. Joel 3:9 with Joel 3:11). For no word of the Lord shall fail: all shall be accomplished.
(5) So utterly has Edom become "a desolate wilderness" that no remains of it were known until, within the last half century, the rock-dwellings of its capital, Petra, once the central emporium of the caravan trade, were discovered. Truly has it been written, "They that hate the righteous shall be desolate" (Psalms 34:21).
(6) As the anti-Christian enemies are given up to their own infatuation, so as to "beat their plowshares into swords, and their pruning-hooks into spears" (Joel 3:10) for war with the people of God; so, on the contrary, after their consequent excision, Israel and the nations of the whole world converted by her, "shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks," under the coming reign of the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 2:4). Happy time, for which the whole world, travailing in pain, sigheth, waiting for the time when the creature shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God! (Romans 8:21.)
(7) Meanwhile the ordeal of the times of Antichrist must first be endured, as all the prophets have foretold. Daniel describes his worldly conquests; the Revelation of John, his spiritual tyranny, and the spiritual guise which he assumes as the second beast, with "the horns of a lamb," but the speech of "the dragon" (Revelation 13:11). Paul (2 Thess
2) describes in full the blasphemy of his pretensions, and the awful success which shall attend his efforts to deceive those who "receive not the love of the truth, that they may be saved."
(8) The same judgment which brings destruction to the anti-Christian faction brings salvation to the Israel of God, both the literal and the spiritual (Joel 3:16). Jerusalem shall be "the holy mountain" and the dwelling where the Lord her God shall especially manifest His presence with a glory never yet realized, and "strangers" shall no more defile the holy city (Joel 3:17). Temporal blessings shall be accompanied with spiritual blessings in richest abundance. The vivifying and refreshing waters of life shall flow from Christ the Fountain, dwelling in Jerusalem, the restored capital of the theocracy, which shall then first be fully realized. Having "cleansed" His people from their past stains, Messiah shall make them to become a fit dwelling for their holy God and King (Joel 3:21). Lord, hasten the blessed time!