Joel 3:1-7
Joel 3:1
For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I
shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
Once the seventy year captivity of Judah will be
completed, they will be returned to the land about 516 B.C. where they will
rebuild the temple and the walls of Jerusalem.
Then when the fullness of time comes Jesus will be born in Bethlehem and
that is why Judah will be returned to the land.
The northern kingdom will never be returned to the land but will be
assimilated into Gentile kingdoms.
Joel 3:2
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.
Here God will bring all the nations who have come against
the nation of Judah and Israel and will bring them into judgment.
The word “plead” in the Hebrew may also be understood as “sentence of
bring judgment.” The name
“Jehoshaphat” means “God Judges.”
So in this verse we have God stating that he is going to bring judgment against
the enemies of national Israel such as Babylon, Assyria, and the others that
have persecuted the people when they came out of Egypt.
This also parallels the fact that on Judgment day God is going to judge
all the nations and their leaders who have persecuted the true believers in the
Kingdom of God. When God speaks of
Israel being his heritage he speaks of ancient Israel where the blood line to
Christ ran through the tribe of Judah and the believers who are the inheritors
of the Kingdom of God.
And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no
inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I am thy
part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.
(Numbers 18:20)
Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of
Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are
many; the land is given us for inheritance.
(Ezekiel 33:24)
The physical inheritance of the land which Israel
received was contingent upon their obedience to God and if they obeyed him they
would be allowed to stay in the land but if they disobeyed him and went after
other gods then they would lose the land which they finally did permanently in
70 A.D.
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
(1 Peter 1:4)
The inheritance the believer in Christ receives is based
upon obedience but not the individual Christian’s obedience but Christ’s
obedience in which he fulfilled that obedience fully.
And being found in fashion as a
man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. (Philippians 2:8)
Our inheritance is based fully on Christ and his sacrifice upon Calvary
for all the Elect of God. God is
going to bring into judgment all those who have persecuted the true believers on
Judgment Day. The term “Valley of
Jehoshaphat” is another synonym for judgment day of all the unbelievers
consisting of those on the Old Testament and New Testament side of Calvary.
Those pagan nations who came against ancient Israel and the modern
nations which persecuted and killed the true believers will all be judged on
Judgement Day where sentence will be carried out.
And before him shall be gathered
all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth
his sheep from the goats: (Matthew
25:32)
Joel 3:3
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.
The pagan nations who had persecuted Israel had shown
that they had a low opinion of human life.
The Assyrians were a very cruel people and contemptuously treated their
conquests with the utmost cruelty.
They would cast lots for the right to own a person and a young boy was given for
the price of a harlot. If they
wanted wine to drink, they would trade a girl for wine.
Joel 3:4
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
recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own
head;
Tyre and Sidon were both enemies of the nation of Israel.
They probably also represented the other Gentile nations in that area who
persecuted ancient Israel. In Sidon
they also sold captured Jews for slaves.
Those pagan cities thought that they had victory over Israel and over God
himself. When God removed them out
of their land and placed his people in there, did they think that they were
somehow going to get even with God and attack swiftly and hope to win their land
back? If they tried it, then God
would return their own recompense upon them, that is, he will swiftly bring
judgment against them like they wanted to do to Israel.
Joel 3:5
Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have
carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:
Their swift judgment was coming because Tyre and Sidon
had taken the treasures of God’s people and brought it into their pagan temples
and also into the palaces of the rulers.
God takes that serious when a pagan nation attempts to plunder his goods
even though these were the goods of his people nevertheless God took the
spoiling of them very seriously.
Joel 3:6
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.
Whenever the Phoenicians would capture any of the Jews
from Judah or Jerusalem, they would sell them westward to Greece which would
mean they were removing any future threats of retaliation by moving the
conquered people farther away. This
is why in 70 A.D. the Romans took many of the Jews to Rome and sold them as
slaves. If they removed them far
from their homeland, then there would be little possibility of an uprising.
In the days of slavery here in the USA if a slave escaped, let’s say in
Virginia and was caught, the owner would sell that slave south to get them
farther away from the free states in the north.
The chances of that slave escaping to the north was reduced tremendously.
Joel 3:7
Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye
have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: