Joel 3 Commentary

Updated: Tue, 10/15/2024 - 08:41 By admin

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John MacArthur's Introduction to Book of Joel
Chuck Swindoll's Introduction to the Book of Joel

AUTHOR: Joel

DATE: 835 B.C.

OUTLINE OF JOEL
I. Title Verse: the Author, Joel 1:1
II. Desolation, Joel 1:2-Joel 2:17
A. The Character of the Desolation, Joel 1:2-12
B. The Reactions to the Desolation, Joel 1:13-14
C. The Picture of the Desolation, Joel 1:15-20
D. The Prophecy of Future Desolation, Joel 2:1-11
E. The Exhortation in View of Desolation, Joel 2:12-17
III. Deliverance, Joel 2:18-Joel 3:21
A. The Promise of Immediate Deliverance, Joel 2:18-27
B. The Promise of Future Deliverance, Joel 2:28-Joel 3:21
1. Its initiation, Joel 2:28-32
2. Its judgments, Joel 3:1-17
3. Its consummation, Joel 3:18-21
(Ryrie Study Bible)

Joel 3:1 "For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

in those days and at that time: Joel 2:29 Da 12:1 Zep 3:19,20
when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem: Dt 30:3 2Chr 6:37,38 Ps 14:7 85:1 Isa 11:11-16 Jer 16:15 23:3-8 Jer 29:14 30:3,18 Eze 16:53 37:21,22 38:14-18 39:25,28,29 Am 9:14

IN THOSE DAYS AND AT THAT TIME:
RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

Joel 3:1-8 begins with a promise of restoration and then proceeds to a legal scene in which God produces evidence against the nations which will result in their judgment. As you read Joel 3 keep in mind that this climactic judgment scene describes the events that will take place in the "terminal generation," the divine climax which will take place in the last of the last days of this present evil age (Gal 1:4-note) in which we are living and which will bring in the new age in which Messiah reigns from Mt Zion in Jerusalem. As someone has well said "Israel is God's timepiece." In other words, the major events in God's plan for the ages in some way involve the little nation of Israel. It behooves us therefore to keep one eye first on the Scriptures describing God's sovereign plan and another eye on Israel who He will use to work out His perfect plan of redemption. And so fittingly Joel 3 describes the climactic events in world history beginning with God's promise to restore "the apple of His eye" (Dt 32:10KJV), the nation of Israel.

Joel 3 God's Judgment of the Nations

The timing - When God restores Israel - Joel 3:1
The place - Valley of Jehoshaphat - Joel 3:2
The reasons - Mistreatment and Exploitation of Israel - Joel 3:3-6
The recompense - Joel 3:7-8

POSB - When the final, climactic Day of the LORD comes to earth, one of the events will be the terrifying judgment of the nations. But the story of human history does not end with judgment. God promises a glorious, eternal kingdom to His people. Both Jews and Gentiles—all who truly place their faith in the LORD and genuinely follow Him—will inherit the kingdom of God. His kingdom will be established on earth when the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, returns to earth. These are the two great events Joel uses to close his great book. This is, The Final Climactic Day of the LORD: God’s Judgment of the Nations and His Promise of a Glorious, Eternal Kingdom, Joel 3:1–21. The present Scripture gives a detailed account of God’s coming judgment of the nations:

God’s judgment of the nations (Joel 3:1–16).
God’s promise of a glorious, eternal kingdom (Joel 3:17–21). (Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible Commentary)

Charles Feinberg introduces Joel 3 - No prophet of the Old Testament has a more important revelation of the end times than the one now before us in the third chapter. How gracious of God to let us know the exact time of these happenings. They will take place when the Lord Himself returns the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem. The return of Israel to the land will never be fully accomplished until the Lord does it by His omnipotent power. (Note Jer 23:1-8.) At the time of God’s regathering of Israel to the land, He will gather all nations into the Valley of Jehoshaphat to judgment. The prophet evidently has in mind the historical narrative in 2 Chronicles 20. Tradition has assigned the judgment to the Kidron Valley; though this tradition is only from Eusebius’ time (fourth century AD on), there are those who believe it to be correct. The site indicated must be in or near Jerusalem. The method of God’s gathering of the nations to the judgment is set forth in Joel 3:9-12. (Cp. also Zech 12:1-3, 9; Zech 14:2-4; Is 29:1-8.) One of the most important features of the judgment is the basis of it: the nations will be judged for God’s people and for His heritage The great sin of the nations—all will be involved in it in the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer 30:7)—is that against Israel. Little do the nations realize how they incur the wrath of God when they lay violent hands upon His heritage and the plant of His choosing. He will not suffer it always. Joel shows the day of reckoning has come. (The Minor Prophets)

Gilliland writes that "Associated with the coming day of the Lord will be an international tribunal. This court will not be a forum for the vindication of human rights. It will be convened to establish divine rights. Under review will be the attitudes and actions of Gentile nations in relation to God's covenant people Israel. This will be the day of reckoning for the enemies of God's people. In a sense this chapter forms the climax of the book. The same God who brought the swarms of locusts in the earlier parts of the book is the God who will bring the Gentile nations together. Just as those locusts devastated the land so will the invasion of the future Gentile hordes have a devastating effect upon it. Similarly, as the Lord supernaturally destroyed the locust plague, so will He judge the nations. After the plague there was the restoration of the years the locusts had eaten, and after this judgment the land will be brought to abundant fruit and prosperity. In this way the two apparently disparate parts of Joel are brought together with the events in one part foreshadowing what will take place at a later date, only on a larger scale. (What the Bible Teaches – Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah)

Gilliland has the following outline of Joel 3:1-17 A Day of Retribution

The Setting of the Judgment (Joel 3:1-2b)
The Sins requiring Judgment (Joel 3:2c-8)
The Summons to Judgment (Joel 3:9-12)
The Sentence of Judgment (Joel 3:13-17).

For (because)(Hebrew ki) is a term of explanation. God is explaining how this restoration will come about in those days and at that time.

Keil and Delitzsch elaborates on this explanation - The description of the judgment-day predicted in Joel 2:31-note commences with an explanatory כִּי. (transliterated as ki') 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.

Pusey on for - The prophet by the for shows that he is about to explain in detail what he had before spoken of in sum.

For behold, in those days and at that time - This double mode of expression, employed to give greater prominence to the period. Joel immediately grabs the reader's attention with BEHOLD! What follows is of great import. In fact what follows summarizes the judgment of the world as we know it, so it is worthy reading with utmost attention. In the last days, God will arouse Jews from all around the world to return to the promised land of Israel. In that day, the ancient promise of God will be fulfilled, the promise that He would personally return the Jews to their homeland (Dt. 30:3). Still, after they return, all will not be well. A period of Great Tribulation, a time known as Time of Jacob's Distress, will come upon the earth (Jer 30:7-note; Da. 12:1-note; Am. 5:18–20). In those days and at that time will take place in the LAST of the last days. The the last days begin with Jesus' first coming (see Hebrews 1:2-note, cf Acts 2:17, 2Ti 3:1-note, 1Pe 1:20-note)

Lange's commentary on behold -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.

Behold (02009)(hinneh) is an interjection meaning behold, look, now; if. "It is used often and expresses strong feelings, surprise, hope, expectation, certainty, thus giving vividness depending on its surrounding context." (Baker) Hinneh generally directs our mind to the text, imploring the reader to give it special attention. In short, the Spirit is trying to arrest our attention! And so hinneh is used as an exclamation of vivid immediacy (e.g., read Ge 6:13)!

Spurgeon reminds us that "Behold is a word of wonder; it is intended to excite admiration. Wherever you see it hung out in Scripture, it is like an ancient sign-board, signifying that there are rich wares within, or like the hands which solid readers have observed in the margin of the older Puritanic books, drawing attention to something particularly worthy of observation." I would add, behold is like a divine highlighter, a divine underlining of an especially striking or important text. It says in effect "Listen up, all ye who would be wise in the ways of Jehovah!"

Hinneh is translated in the Septuagint (Lxx) with the interjection idou (strictly speaking a command in the second person aorist imperative, middle voice) a demonstrative particle (used 1377 times in the Septuagint and NT) which is found especially in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke "and giving a peculiar vivacity to the style by bidding the reader or hearer to attend to what is said: "Behold! See! Lo!" (Thayer) The command is calling for urgent attention. Do this now! Don't delay! It could be loosely paraphrased "Pay attention!" or "Listen up!" to arouse attention and introduce a new and extraordinary fact of considerable importance.

Keil and Delitzsch on In those days and at that time - The notice as to the time points back to the “afterward” ("It will come about after this") in Joel 2:28-note: “in those days,” viz., the days of the outpouring of the Spirit of God. This time is still further described by the apposition, “at that time, when I shall turn ("restore") 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. שׁוּב אֶת שְׁבוּת is not used here in the sense of “to bring back the prisoners,” but, as in Hosea 6:11, in the more comprehensive sense of restitutio in integrum (Latin = restoration to the original condition), 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 those days and at that time - What time? This is the time that God chooses to restore the spiritual and material fortunes of the nation of Israel. Notice that in light of the great import of the events to be described, God in essence gives them three time references. First, He gives a double time notice In those days and at that time which is a rare occurrence (This will ultimately be fulfilled when the Lord returns in Rev 19:11-21-note and then in Rev 20:4-6-note. Note that in those days goes back to Joel 2:29-note and so those days include a day of revival (Joel 2:28-32-note), a day of retribution (Joel 3:1-17) and the day of restoration (Joel 3:18-21). God then specifies the "when" of in those days and at that time, stating that it will be WHEN I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem. And Joel 3:2 continues the details of the "when" by stating that it is when God gathers all the nations in the valley of Jehoshaphat. So if you are a Jew who is alive in those days and at that time, when you see the nations of the world coming into this valley, you will know that your redemption draweth nigh. More specifically your Redeemer draws nigh, the time when "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB.” (Ro 11:26-note)

It is interesting to note that each of these sections ends with a reference to Zion and/or Jerusalem (Joel 3:16, 17, 21), for this is clearly the center of all of the momentous events in the Day of the LORD which brings judgment on the godless Gentile nations and deliverance for the redeemed remnant of Israel. In those days, the Day of the LORD will bring about an end of the "day of man," "the times of the Gentiles." In those days, the age we are living in will come to an abrupt end and the new age of the Kingdom of God will begin in the Millennium. See Millennium 2 for a summary of the events leading up to the millennium, including Great Tribulation and the 70th week of Daniel.

ESV Study Bible note on in those days - This generic reference recalls the events of Joel 2:28–32-note and particularly the Day of the LORD (Jer. 33:15; 50:4, 20).

The time phrase at that time occurs in other prophecies that speak of the time of the end of this age when God will move mightily on behalf of His Chosen People, the nation of Israel, judging the Gentiles and restoring the Jews! Notice that the first two passages in Jeremiah use the exact same time phrase as Joel.

Jeremiah 33:15-note ‘In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David (MESSIAH WILL RETURN) to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth (cf Rev 19:11-21-note .Rev 20:4-6-note).

Jeremiah 50:4 “In those days and at that time,” declares the LORD, “the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the LORD their God they will seek (cf Zech 8:21-23 - describes the attitude of the Jews in the MILLENNIUM).

Jeremiah 50:20 ‘In those days and at that time,’ declares the LORD, ‘search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but there will be none; and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant (cf Zech 13:1-note).’

Daniel 12:1-note “Now at that time (THIS IS Time of Jacob's Distress, Great Tribulation) Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time (cf Mt 24:21-note); and at that time your people (ADDRESSING THE NATION OF ISRAEL), everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued (SEE Romans 11:26-27-note).

Zephaniah 3:19; 20-note “Behold (hinneh), I am going to deal at that time With all your (ISRAEL'S) oppressors (SEE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT IN Joel 3:2ff), I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will turn their shame into praise (Joel 2:19-note, Joel 2:26-note) and renown In all the earth (cf Zech 8:23, IN THE MILLENNIUM). 20 “At that time I will bring you in, Even at the time when I gather you together (ALL OF THESE EVENTS WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE DAY OF THE LORD - SEE SCHEMATIC FOR RELATIONSHIP TO THE "LAST DAYS" AND THE MILLENNIUM); Indeed, I will give you renown and praise Among all the peoples of the earth, When I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” Says the LORD.

Zechariah 8:23 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations (GENTILES) will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’”

Ryrie - Gentiles, too, will seek the blessings and knowledge of God in the Millennium.

When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem - Not "IF" but "WHEN!" This promise from Jehovah to Israel is as certain as the rising of the sun and the going down of the same! Note that this is NOT a promise given to the Church but to the Jews. Passages such as this obliterate the false doctrine of replacement theology / supersessionism which suggests that the Church has now replaced Israel and that the Church is actually the nation of Israel (see Israel of God)! Absurd to the max and Anti-Semitic at its core!

The Lord will restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, in fulfillment of His promise through Moses in Deuteronomy 30...

“So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you, 2 and you return (COMPARE OT VERSION OF "REPENT") to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today (RETURN AND REND BOTH COMMANDS IN Joel 2:12-13-note), you and your sons (THIS PROMISE WAS TO BE AVAILABLE TO GENERATION AFTER GENERATION AND FINALLY TO THE "TERMINAL GENERATION", THOSE JEWS ALIVE IN THE Time of Jacob's Distress - Jer 30:7), 3 then (WHEN THEY REPENT) the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you (cf Joel 2:13-note, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4 “If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. 5 “The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed (ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB), and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 “Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants (SEE CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART, cf Joel 2:32-note, Zech 12:10-14-note, Zech 13:1-note, Zech 13:8-9-note, Ro 11:26-27-note), to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. 7 “The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 “And you shall again obey the LORD, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. 9 “Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers (cf Joel 2:21-32-note); 10 if you obey the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul. (Dt 30:1-10)

PHYSICAL, SPIRITUAL, POLITICAL
RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

Restore (07725)(shub/sub) means movement back to a place of departure, and figuratively to God restoring Israel's souls (circumcising their hearts) and restoring their land. A reversal of direction. A restoration. The Septuagint (Lxx) uses epistrepho meaning to turn back, return, convert.

Here is a summary of Scriptures describing God's restoration of Israel physically, spiritually and politically:

Physical characteristics

1. Topography and geography of the earth changed

Isaiah 2:2-note; Ezek 47:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12; Ezekiel 48:8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20; Zec 14:4, 8, 10-note

2. Wild animals tamed

Isaiah 11:6, 7, 8, 9-note; Isaiah 35:9; Ezekiel 34:25

3. Crops abundant

Isaiah 27:6; 35:1, 2, 6, 7; Amos 9:13; Zechariah 14:8-note

4. Human longevity increased

Isaiah 65:20, 21, 22, 23

Spiritual and religious characteristics and events

1. Satan confined in the abyss

Revelation 20:1, 2, 3-note

2. Millennial temple built

Ezekiel 40:5-43:27 - See Schematic Diagram of this Temple

3. Animal sacrifices offered as memorials to Christ’s death

Isaiah 56:7; 66:20, 21, 22, 23; Jer. 33:17,18; Ezek 43:18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27; 45:13-46:24; Malachi 3:3, 4-note

4. Feasts of the New Year, Passover, and Tabernacles reinstituted

Ezek 45:18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25; Zechariah 14:16, 17, 19, 19, 20, 21-note

Table summarizing all Seven Great Feasts of Israel

5. Nations worship in Jerusalem

Isaiah 2:2, 3, 4; Mic 4:2-note; Micah 7:12-note; Zechariah 8:20, 21, 22, 23; Zechariah 14:16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21-note

6. Worldwide knowledge of God

Isaiah 11:9-note; Je 31:34-note; Mic 4:5-note; Hab 2:14-note cf Ps 22:27, 67:1,2, 72:19, 86:9, 98:1, 2, 3 Zec 14:8,9 Rev 11:15-note; Rev 15:4-note

7. Unparalleled filling of and empowerment by the Holy Spirit on Israel

Isaiah 32:15; 44:3; Ezekiel 36:24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29; 39:29-note; Joel 2:28, 29-note

8. New Covenant with Israel fulfilled

Jeremiah 31:31, 32, 33, 34; Ezek 11:19, 20; 36:25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32--note

9. Righteousness and justice prevails

Isaiah 9:7-note; Isaiah 11:4-note; Isaiah 42:1, 2, 3, 4; Jeremiah 23:5

Political characteristics and events

1. Israel reunited as a nation

Jeremiah 3:18; Ezekiel 37:15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23-note

2. Israel at peace in the land

Deut. 30:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10-note; Isaiah 32:18; Hosea 14:5, 7; Am 9:15; Mic 4:4-note; Micah 5:4-note, 5a; Zec 3:10; Zech 14:11-note

3. Abrahamic Covenant land-grant boundaries established

Ge 15:18, 19, 20, 21-note; Ezek 47:13-48:8, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27

4. Christ in Jerusalem rules over Israel

Isaiah 40:11; Micah 4:7-note; Micah 5:2b-note

5. Davidic Covenant fulfilled with Christ on the throne of David

2 Sa 7:11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16; Isaiah 9:6, 7; Jeremiah 33:17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26-note; Am 9:11,12, Lk 1:32, 33-note

6. Christ rules over and judges the nations

Isaiah 11:3, 4, 5-note; Micah 4:2,3a-note; Zec 14:9-note; Revelation 19:15-note

7. Resurrected saints reign with Christ

Mt 19:28; 2 Ti 2:12; Revelation 5:10-note; Revelation 20:4-note

8. Universal peace prevails

Isaiah 2:4-note; Isaiah 32:17,18; 60:18; Ho 2:18; Mic 4:2, 3, 4-note; Micah 5:4-note; Zechariah 9:10

9. Jerusalem made the world’s capital

Jeremiah 3:17; Ezekiel 48:30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35; Joel 3:16, 17-note; Mic 4:1, 6, 7, 8-note; Zechariah 8:2, 3

10. Israel exalted above the Gentiles

Isaiah 14:1, 2; 49:22, 23; 60:14, 15, 16, 17; Isaiah 61:5, 6, 7, 8, 9-note

11. The world blessed through Israel

Micah 5:7-note

Joel 3:2 I will gather all the nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land.

I will gather all the nations: Zep 3:8 Zec 14:2-4 Rev 16:14,16 19:19-21 20:8
And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat: Joe 3:12 2Ch 20:26 Eze 39:11 Zec 14:4
Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel: Isa 66:16 Eze 38:22 Am 1:11 Ob 1:10-16 Zec 12:3,4 Rev 11:18 16:6 Rev 18:20,21
Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land: Jer 12:14 49:1 Eze 25:8 35:10 Zep 2:8-10

A DIVINELY INSPIRED GLOBAL
GATHERING FOR JUDGMENT

Some day in the future, the LORD God Almighty will summon all the nations of the world to gather for war to fight against Israel. At that time, God will pour out His wrath upon all the nations of the world as alluded to by other OT prophets.

Isaiah 13:9-note Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and He will exterminate its sinners from it.

Zephaniah 1:14-18 Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. 15 A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 A day of trumpet and battle cry Against the fortified cities And the high corner towers. 17 I will bring distress on men So that they will walk like the blind, (THE REASON FOR THIS DREAD DAY) Because they have sinned against the LORD; And their blood will be poured out like dust And their flesh like dung. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the LORD’S wrath; And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end, Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth.

A small technical note - The NAS does not translate the

I will gather all the nations - I will signifies God is sovereign and in control. This gathering will include all the nations, for all of the nations have to one degree or another been anti-Israel. This the is outworking of God's plan of the ages. History is "His Story." And remember that that all of these events are part of the Day of the LORD. Verses such as this express demonstrate the mysterious relationship between God's sovereignty and Man's responsibility. All the nations will be held responsible for coming against Israel, even though it is God Who gathers them! In short, behind all the international political and and military maneuvering will be the invisible invincible hand of the Almighty God.

And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat ("The Lord Judges," "Yahweh judges") - Remember that this is all occurring in the context of in those days, at that time. God controls the TIME and the PEOPLE (nations) involved in these terminal events of the present evil age (Gal 1:4-note) in this verse even controls the PLACE.

We see a similar prophecy in Zephaniah...

Zephaniah 3:8 “Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “For the day when I rise up as a witness. Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour out on them My indignation, All My burning anger; For all the earth will be devoured By the fire of My zeal.

Other prophecies speak of the judgment of the nations:

Ps 110:6 He will judge among the nations, He will fill them with corpses, He will shatter the chief men over a broad country.

Is 66:18 “For I know their works and their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.

Jeremiah 25:32 Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, evil is going forth From nation to nation, And a great storm is being stirred up From the remotest parts of the earth.

Ezekiel 39:21 “And I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them.

Micah 4:11-12 “And now many nations have been assembled against you Who say, ‘Let her be polluted, And let our eyes gloat over Zion.’ 12 “But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD, And they do not understand His purpose; For He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

As Gilliland says "The crimes of the centuries will not be settled in The Hague but in the "valley of Jehoshaphat". (What the Bible Teaches – Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah)

Psalm 2 alludes to the gathering of the nations, presenting it as if it THEIR idea

The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” (Psalm 2:2-3)

Then I will enter into judgment with them there (cf Joel 3:12-note, Joel 3:21-note) - Then signifies sequence. After all the nations on in this valley, God will bring His righteous judgment to bear on them.

Enter into judgment (08199)(shaphat) is a verb that means to judge or govern and here in the niphal means to execute justice, i.e., obtain justice and rightness to one who has been wronged, in this case the nation of Israel (cf 2 Chr 22:8; Isa 66:16; Jer 2:35; 25:31; Eze 17:20; 20:35, 36; 38:22).

Isaiah uses shaphat with a meaning similar to Joel 3:2 (and also in the context of the Day of the LORD)...

Isaiah 66:16 For the LORD will execute judgment by fire snd by His sword on all flesh, And those slain by the LORD will be many.

John Martin commenting on Isaiah 66:14-18 - When God restores His people to Jerusalem (Isa 66:10–13) in the Millennium, they will rejoice and prosper, but on His and her enemies He will swoop down in judgment like a fire (cf. 2 Th 1:7–9) and a whirlwind to slay them. This judgment will be fair because of their abominations: worshiping in idolatrous gardens (cf. Isa. 1:29; 65:3) and eating ceremonially unclean animals such as pigs (cf. 65:4; 66:3; Lev. 11:7) and rats (cf. Lev. 11:29). When the Messiah returns, His judgment will be on all the nations (cf. Zech. 14:3-note; Rev. 19:17–18) and because of that judgment the world will see His glory. (Bible Knowledge Commentary)

On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel - This verse explains why God is judging on the nations. It is because of His people and His inheritance Israel. While God clearly loves His Church, I fear sometimes many in the Church forget that He also loves Israel and that He has a plan for her that will not be frustrated. Passages such as this reflect God's faithfulness to His covenant promises, even to a people who have often times been unfaithful. Joel had given the basis for God's acting on behalf of His people in giving them the offer of forgiveness if they would repent...

And rend your heart and not your garments." Now return to the LORD your God, For (HERE IS WHY HE WILL ACT ON BEHALF OF HIS PEOPLE) He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, And relenting of evil. Who knows whether He will not turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a libation For the LORD your God? (Joel 2:13-14-note)

Whom they have scattered among the nations - The nations of the world have been part of the scattering of Jews among the nations and for this they will be held accountable by God.

And they have divided up My land - We see this even in our day, epitomized by the fact that the Muslims possess the most valuable piece of land in the world in their control of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Their "pay day" will surely come "some day," in those days and at that time! The land of Palestine (Israel) belongs to God. He bestowed the right to live on the land to the Jews. This right was given to the Jews by covenant (Ge. 12:7-note; Ge 15:8-21-note, Dt. 3:20; 17:14; 18:9). Therefore, any person or nation who invades, divides, or exploits God’s land is bound to face His condemnation in the last days of human history.

Zechariah also gives us some additional details regarding the Day of the LORD when King Jesus returns in judgment...

Zechariah 12:1-3-note The burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him (CLEARLY HE IS ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH WHAT HE IS ABOUT TO DESCRIBE), 2 “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem (THIS IS THE SAME TIME FRAME OF Joel 3:2), it will also be against Judah. 3 “It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured (THEY WILL TRY TO "LIFT IT" OR DESTROY IT, BUT THEY WILL BE DESTROYED!). And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it (THIS IS THE WORLD'S LAST GASP EFFORT TO ANNIHILATE ISRAEL - WHAT THEY HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DO FOR CENTURIES!). 12:9 “And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem (DESCRIBED IN Revelation 19:11-21=note;).

Zechariah 14:2-4-note For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 3 Then (WHEN? WHEN THINGS LOOK THE MOST HOPELESS FOR THE NATION OF ISRAEL!) the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. 4 In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.

The prophet Daniel spoke of this day in highly figurative language in explaining King Nebuchadnezzar's dream to him...

Daniel 2:34-35-note - “You continued looking until a Stone (MESSIAH) was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue (AS DESCRIBED ABOVE IN Revelation 19:11-21) on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. 35“Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Daniel 2:44-45-note “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms (AS DESCRIBED ABOVE IN Revelation 19:11-21), but it will itself endure forever. 45 “Inasmuch as you saw that a Stone (MESSIAH) was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.”

Daniel 7 while focusing on primarily on the beast, the Antichrist, who is the head and representative of all the nations, describes his judgment (and in effect their judgment) writing...

“I kept looking, and that horn (LITTLE HORN, THE ANTICHRIST) was waging war with the saints (HE IS SPEAKING PRIMARILY OF ISRAEL) and overpowering them 22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One (JOEL 3 DESCRIBES ASPECTS OF THIS FAVORABLE JUDGMENT ON BEHALF OF GOD'S INHERITANCE ISRAEL), and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom (THIS IS THE INCEPTION OF THE MILLENNIUM). 23 “Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth (MOST CONSERVATIVE SCHOLARS FEEL THIS IS A "REVIVED ROMAN EMPIRE"), which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it (THESE HORRIBLE EVENTS OCCUR IN Daniel's Seventieth Week). 24 ‘As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them (THE LITTLE HORN, THE ANTICHRIST), and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25 ‘He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One , and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they (THE JEWS AND ALL THOSE WHO WILL NOT TAKE THE MARK OF THE BEAST) will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time (THE LAST HALF OF Daniel's Seventieth Week, the Time of Jacob's Distress Jer 30:7, Great Tribulation is synonymous with other time phrases = 1260 days, 42 months, "time, times, and half a time", "a time of distress" - Da 12:1). 26 ‘But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. 27 ‘Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’ (Daniel 7:21-27-commentary)

THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT

Valley of Jehoshaphat is found only twice in the Bible - Joel 3:2 and Joel 3:12. There is no record of a valley by this name in Joel's day. While there is not complete consensus, most modern conservative sources feel this valley is the one situated between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, which in modern times was used by the Jews as a burying ground (quite fitting in light of the Gentile carnage that will transpire there!). Beginning in the fourth century A.D, this valley has been identified with the Kidron valley, but to reiterate there is no record that the name the Valley of Jehoshaphat is given to the Kidron Valley.

J A Thompson - The valley of Jehoshaphat has been variously identified. Some have thought that Joel had no definite place in mind; e.g. Targum Jonathan translates this name ‘the plain of the decision of judgment’, and Theodotion renders ‘the place of judgment’. Since Joel uses the geographical term ‘valley’, most students have thought that some location was intended. Ibn Ezra suggests the valley of Berachah S of Bethlehem, where Jehoshaphat’s forces gathered after the destruction of enemies (2 Ch. 20:26), but Zc. 14 locates the judgment near Jerusalem, and according to 1 Enoch 53:1 all people gather for judgment in a deep valley near the valley of Hinnom. Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions identify the place of final judgment as the Kidron valley, between Jerusalem and the mount of Olives. Therefore many have been buried there, Muslims especially on the W slope and Jews especially on the E slope of the valley. A Graeco-Roman tomb on the E slope has been called mistakenly the tomb of King Jehoshaphat. As early as the Bordeaux pilgrim (AD 333) and Eusebius’ Onomasticon (s.v. Koilas), the name Jehoshaphat was associated with this valley. Some object that Joel uses the word ’ēmeq, ‘broad valley’, while the Kidron valley is called naḥal, ‘ravine’ (2 Sa. 15:23). Other identifications are ‘the king’s dale’ (2 Sa. 18:18), which runs into the Kidron valley from the NW (so C. F. Keil, E. G. Kraeling) and the valley of Hinnom, W and S of Jerusalem. (The New Bible Dictionary)

NET Note - There is a play on words in Joel 3:2. Jehoshaphat in Hebrew means “the Lord has judged,” and the next line in verse 2 further explicates this thought. The location of this valley is uncertain (cf. Joel 3:12). Many interpreters have understood the Valley of Jehoshaphat to be the Kidron Valley, located on the east side of old Jerusalem. Since this is described as a scene of future messianic activity and judgment, many Jews and Muslims have desired to be buried in the vicinity, a fact attested to in modern times by the presence of many graves in the area. A variation of this view is mentioned by Eusebius, Onomasticon 1:10. According to this view, the Valley of Jehoshaphat is located in the Hinnom Valley, on the south side of the old city. Yet another view is held by many modern scholars, who understand the reference to this valley to be one of an idealized and non-literal scene of judgment. (Net Notes Joel 3)

POSB has an interesting suggestion - During the reign of King Jehoshaphat, a number of the surrounding nations attacked Judah with a powerful army. The small nation of Judah stood little chance, so the godly King Jehoshaphat did the only thing he could. He cried out to the LORD for help and deliverance, and the LORD heard his prayer. The LORD miraculously stirred strife among the invaders, and the coalition of enemy nations ended up turning against one another. Not a single sword was used against a soldier of Judah. As a result of this miraculous victory, the fear of God fell on all the surrounding nations. Most likely, the valley where this miraculous victory took place was renamed The Valley of Jehoshaphat. However, we must remember that this is mere speculation, for there is no record where the valley was named after King Jehoshaphat. If it was, the valley was originally known as the Kidron Valley (see 2 Chr. 20:1–30). Other Bible scholars feel that the reference to the valley is symbolic, referring only to the fact that the LORD will judge the nations of the world in some valley surrounding Jerusalem. Still other scholars feel that the Valley of Jehoshaphat is the Valley of Esdraelon (This is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew word Jezreel) (map = Jezreel means "God sows"), where they say the last great battle of human history, the Campaign of Armageddon, will be fought (Re. 16:16). (Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible Commentary)

Tony Garland on Valley of Jehoshaphat - A key passage associated with the Campaign of Armageddon mentions that God will assemble all nations in the “Valley of Jehoshaphat” (Joel Joel 3:2, Joel 3:12). Some hold that the Valley of Jehoshaphat (“Yahweh shall judge”1 ) refers to the valley situated between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives to the east.2 It was in this valley where king Jehoshaphat is thought to have overthrown the enemies of Israel, the “valley of Beracah”(2 Chr. 20:26).3

Its identification with the Kidron Valley, which began in the fourth century, is somewhat uncertain since no actual valley of this name is known to pre-Christian antiquity. Eusebius in the Onomasticon (ed. Klostermann, p. 70) located the valley of Jehoshaphat in the Valley of Hinnom, possibly because of the judgments that were associated with that place in connection with the idolatrous kings of Judah (cf. Jer. Jer. 7:31f; Jer 19:5f, where it is called “the valley of Slaughter”). Since the time of the Pilgrim of Bordeaux (A.D. 333), however, the Kidron has become increasingly the site popularly accepted.4

Others suggest the name is descriptive of what God will accomplish (judgment) at the location rather than any association with an event in the life of King Jehoshaphat. Perhaps it is to be associated with the plain of Esdraelon:

It is clear both from the contexts of Joel Joel 3:2, Joel 3:12 and from the term used twice in Joel Joel 3:14, “the valley of decision” (cf. Zep. 3:8), that the name is to be interpreted as the scene of judgment, and not taken from the king of the same name. Eze. 39:11 and Rev. 16:16 seem to locate it in the plain of Esdraelon (Armageddon).5

Notes

1 W. S. Lasor, “Jehoshaphat, Valley Of,” in Geoffrey W. Bromiley, ed., International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979, 1915), 2:979.

2 “Joel Joel 3:2, Joel 3:13 speaks of events taking place in ‘the valley of Jehoshaphat,’ which seems to be an extended area east of Jerusalem.”—J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958), 341.

3 Merrill K. Unger, R. Harrison, Frederic F Vos, and Cyril J. Barber, The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1988), s.v. “Jehoshaphat, Valley of.”

4 Lasor, “Jehoshaphat, Valley Of,” 2:979.

5 Ibid.

Joel 3:3 "They have also cast lots for My people, Traded a boy for a harlot And sold a girl for wine that they may drink

2Ch 28:8,9 Am 2:6 Ob 1:11 Na 3:10 Rev 18:13

SINS OF THE NATIONS
AGAINST JEHOVAH'S PEOPLE ISRAEL

Jehovah now gives reasons for His judgment against all of the nations. It is important to note that God’s concern was His people Israel, so He listed only the sins that were specifically committed against them (a direct rebuttal of the Anti-Semitic false teaching of replacement theology / supersessionism). The list of sins is not all inclusive, but is enough sins to show that every nation stood guilty before Him. If a ruler, leader, or citizen of any nation mistreats God’s people, the LORD is bound by His covenant promise to execute judgment against the nation or individual.

NET Note - Joel vividly refers to a situation where innocent human life has little value; its only worth is its use in somehow satisfying selfish appetites of wicked people who have control over others (cf. Amos 2:6 and Amos 8:6). (Net Notes Joel 3)

They have also cast lots for My people - They treated God's Chosen People with contempt and as of no account! As noted above, God's focus is on the nation of Israel which is His personal possession (cf My people...My inheritance - Joel 3:2) and the "apple of His eye" (Dt 32:10KJV)! Casting lots (note) for human beings demonstrates how little value the Gentiles placed on the life of the Jews. These passages foreshadow the horrors of the Nazi death camps (cf Auschwitz Concentration Camp), where the Chosen People were treated by the godless Nazis as if they were worthless dung. Here we see that the nations traded young boys for prostitutes and little girls for wine so they could get drunk.

Obadiah 11 and Nah 3:10 both associate casting lots over refugees with the horrors that accompany capture of a city by a foreign army.

Obadiah 1:11 “On the day that you stood aloof, On the day that strangers carried off his wealth, And foreigners entered his gate And cast lots for Jerusalem– You too were as one of them.

Nahum 3:10 Yet she became an exile, She went into captivity; Also her small children were dashed to pieces At the head of every street; They cast lots for her honorable men, And all her great men were bound with fetters.

Lots (gowral) pebbles, sticks, or pottery shard blindly pulled out of a container for decision making based on what seems like chance

Duane Garrett - After the capture of a city, victorious soldiers took boys and girls (older people were killed off) and sold them as slaves. The fact that the price of these slaves only bought a night with a prostitute or a little wine shows how cheaply they were regarded. In contrast to the behavior of these nations, Exod 21:16 forbids kidnapping people to sell them as slaves, and Deut 21:14 prohibits the sale of prisoners of war in Israel. (New American Commentary - Volume 19A - Hosea-Joel)

Traded a boy for a harlot - exploitation of the innocent in order to satisfy their sinful lusts.

POSB - Imagine the heartache involved with having your child torn away from you and then exchanged to a stranger just so a person could temporarily satisfy his lustful cravings. These persons will face God’s terrifying judgment. (Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible Commentary)

Gilliland comments that...

Human life was regarded so cheaply that it amounted to little more than a night of immorality or a means of getting drunk. Examples of this type of treatment come to us from Josephus' account of the destruction of Jerusalem in Roman times where we are told that the large numbers of Jewish prisoners of war were disposed of in the following manner as recounted by Josephus in his Book of 9.3.

"He (Titus) chose out the tallest and most beautiful, and reserved them for the triumph; and as for the rest of the multitude that were above seventeen years old, he put them into bonds and sent them to the Egyptian mines. Titus also sent a great number into the provinces, as a present to them, that they might be destroyed upon their theaters, by the sword and by the wild beasts; but those that were under seventeen years of age he sold for slaves."

Though suspected of considerable exaggeration, the statistics given by the historians of these events are quite staggering. At the time of the siege under Titus, Josephus claims Jerusalem to have been a crowded city of 2.7 million persons; his estimate of the captives sent to Egypt is 100,000 and the number of casualties 1,100,000. In the next century the followers of Bar Kochba, in his failed revolt of ad 135, are set by the Roman historian Dio Cassius at 580,000. After these dispersions the markets were glutted by slaves and the price of a Jewish slave was less than the price of a horse..(What the Bible Teaches – Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah)

And sold a girl for wine that they may drink - Selling of a girl speaks of sex (human) trafficking which is nothing new in our modern era and will be rampant in the last of the last days (Rev 18:11, 13-note- “merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes...slaves and human lives.). Joel vividly recalls how little value the heathen had placed on the lives of the Jews. Here their value was sadly equated with whatever could be obtained to pay for their selfish appetites. There are similar statements in Amos

Amos 2:6; Thus says the LORD, “For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke its punishment, Because they sell the righteous for money And the needy for a pair of sandals.

Amos 8:6 So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”

Brian Bell - COURT IS IN SESSION! (1) God’s promise, the Jews will be back in the land. Here is God summonsing the Gentile nations to court. They’ll be judged for the sins committed against His people Israel. This has been long in coming, but it will come.4 Reasons for Judgment: 2.2.1. They, [1] Scattered my people [2] Divided my people [3] Sold my people [4] Robbed my people. (Sermon on Joel 3:1-21)

Joel 3:4 "Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head.

Moreover, what are you to Me: Jdg 11:12 2 Chr 21:16 28:17,18 Acts 9:4
O Tyre : Am 1:6-10,12-14 Zec 9:2-8
Are you rendering Me a recompense: Eze 25:12-17
swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head: De 32:35 Isa 34:8 59:18 Jer 51:6 Lu 18:7 2Th 1:6

THE LAW OF REAPING
AND SOWING

POSB - To oppose or abuse any of God’s people was to oppose the LORD Himself, for the LORD identifies with His people. (Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible Commentary)

In Joel 3:4-8 Jehovah gives examples of Gentile mistreatment of the Jews which are representative of all Israel's enemies because God said He would "judge ALL the surrounding nations." (Joel 3:12). And so Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia function as examples of the type of behavior by all of the nation that stood opposed to God and His people Israel. This passage also indicates that Anti-Semitism has been with us since ancient times.

Moody Bible Commentary adds "God’s future judgment of Israel’s enemies is presented through the impending judgment of Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia, areas that range from the northern to the southern coastline of Israel. God rhetorically asked these nations, in courtroom style, if they believed they were rendering Him a recompense (i.e., “giving Me what I deserve”) by their treatment of Israel."

Gentile hatred of Israel and the Jews will crescendo until the time when the Antichrist exerts his satanically enabled global dominion for three and one-half years (synonymous with other time phrases = 1260 days, 42 months, "time, times, and half a time") in the Great Tribulation (begins in Mt 24:15-note, named in Mt 24:21-note; cf 2 Th 2:3-note; 2 Th 2:4-note) also known as the Time of Jacob's Distress (Jeremiah 30:7-note) and "a time of distress" (Da 12:1-note). This will all transpire in the Day of the LORD, which occurs during the last of the last days preceding the Second Coming of the Lord.

Moreover - The Hebrew adverb gam (01571) is frequently used to introduce the just and appropriate response of God to transgression (Judges 2:21; Jeremiah 4:12).

Gilliland has an interesting comment - It may seem strange that smaller nations like Phoenicia (Tyre and Sidon) and Philistia are mentioned but that may be the very point. If the sins of these lesser nations are not overlooked in God's court, how much more will the more grievous crimes of larger nations qualify for righteous judgment! (What the Bible Teaches – Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah)

Phoenicia - Their civilization was organized in city-states, similar to those of ancient Greece, perhaps the most notable of which were Tyre, Sidon, Arwad, Berytus, Byblos and Carthage. Each city-state was a politically independent unit, and it is uncertain to what extent the Phoenicians viewed themselves as a single nationality.

What are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia - Of note is that all of these nations were on the coast and had open access to the Mediterranean, which would have enabled them to easily participate in maritime trafficking of human beings just alluded to in Joel 3:3. They were also longtime adversaries of Israel, especially the Philistines.

Brian Bell says this verse reminds him of the Broadway play in 1976-78 entitled "Your Arms Too Short to Box with God." (Sermon on Joel 3:1-21)

Are you rendering Me a recompense? - (NET = "Are you trying to get even with Me", ESV = "Are you paying me back for something?") Jehovah is asking if He had done them any against them for which they were trying to pay Him back? The idea is "Do they have any justifiable grudge which they are seeking to settle? NLT says "Are you trying to take revenge on me? If you are, then watch out! I will strike swiftly and pay you back for everything you have done."

Keil and Delitzsch on Are you rendering Me a recompense? - 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 (qal mehērâh, see Isa. 5:26), bring back your doing upon your own head”. To explain what is here said, an account is given in Joel 3:5, 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.

How would they take revenge on God? Certainly they could do nothing to Him directly. But they could attack Israel who was as "the pupil of His eye." (Dt 32:10). There is an analogous situation in the NT when Saul was persecuting the Church of Jesus Christ, Christ saw it as an attack against Himself...

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, 2 and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; 4 and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 5 And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, (Acts 9:1-5)

Joel 3:4 is an answer to the psalmist's prayer:

A Song, a Psalm of Asaph. O God, do not remain quiet. Do not be silent and, O God, do not be still. 2 For behold, Your enemies make an uproar, and those who hate You have exalted themselves. 3 They make shrewd plans against Your people, and conspire together against Your treasured ones (God's enemies are trying to take revenge on Jehovah by taking it out on His treasured ones!). (NOW THE PSALMIST REVEALS THEIR GOAL - ANNIHILATION OF ISRAEL) They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more.” (Ps 83:1-4)

Recompense (01576)(gemul from gamal = to deal fully or adequately with, deal out to, wean, ripen) is a masculine noun which means recompense, benefits, something deserved, dealings, doings. Gemul indicates the dealings with others (Jdg. 9:16). The dealing of a nation or person returns on them (Ps. 28:4; Pr. 12:14; Isa. 3:11; Oba 1:15). Gemul refers to a receipt which is deserved whether the recipient accepts it or returns it (Joel 3:4, 7). It speaks of the recompense of the Lord (Ps. 28:4; Isa. 35:4; 66:6). Ps. 103:2 says "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits (recompense, reward; Lxx = antapodosis = reward)

Gemul - 19x in 17v - benefit(1), benefits(1), dealings(1), deeds(1), deserved*(1), good deed(1), recompense(11), recompense*(1), what he deserves*(1).

Jdg. 9:16; 2 Chr. 32:25; Ps. 28:4; Ps. 94:2; Ps. 103:2; Ps. 137:8; Prov. 12:14; Prov. 19:17; Isa. 3:11; Isa. 35:4; Isa. 59:18; Isa. 66:6; Jer. 51:6; Lam. 3:64; Joel 3:4; Joel 3:7; Obad. 1:15

But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head - This is a warning from the Almighty God! Be very careful if you attempt to "pay back" God! One might "attempt" to take revenge on God but it is ridiculous because He has done nothing evil. And if they attempt to "get even" with God, He will quickly respond with righteous retribution for their unrighteous action, "For the LORD is a God of recompense, He will fully repay." (Jer 51:56, cf Dt 7:4).

NET Note - Heb "quickly, speedily, I will return your recompense on your head." This is an idiom for retributive justice and an equitable reversal of situation. (Net Notes Joel 3)

God says He will repay in proportion to how they mistreat Israel. We see this in Obadiah 1:15

“For the day of the LORD draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head.

Ultimately this recompense to the nations is reflected in His covenant with the patriarchs...

And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3-note)

This basic principle is seen in Paul's warning to the Galatians

Do not be deceived (present imperative with a negative), God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. (Gal 6:7-note)

Recompense (01580)(gamal) basically means to render either good or evil to someone. Gamal means to deal fully or adequately with, deal out to, to recompense another, to wean, to bring to completion or ripen. The main idea is requital in personal relationships and can be in the form of a reward (2 Sa 19:36, 1 Sa 24:17). It means to recompense an evil (Deut 32:6, 2 Chr 20:11, Ps 137:8). Or it can also be in form of unmerited acts of grace by God (Isa 63:7) or by men such as David manifested to Saul (1 Sa 24:17). Evil deeds can be paid back with evil (Pr 3:30). God will requite the enemies of Israel as here in Joel 3:4 or Obadiah 1:15.

Gamal can also mean can mean to wean. This meaning appears five times in the Qal stem (1 Sa 1:23-24; Hos. 1:8; 1 Ki. 11:20; Isa. 28:9), and in all three of its Niphal (passive) occurrences, it means "to be weaned" (Ge 21:8; 1 Sa 1:22). The idea of bringing to an end is demonstrated in verses that describe a child who is weaned (Ge 21:8).

Gamal - 36x in 32v - bore ripe(1), brought(1), compensate(1), deal bountifully(2), dealt(2), dealt bountifully(2), did(2), does(2), done(1), granted(2), recompense(1), repaid(1), repay(1), rewarded(4), rewarding(1), ripening(1), weaned(12).

Gen. 21:8; Gen. 50:15; Gen. 50:17; Num. 17:8; Deut. 32:6; 1 Sam. 1:22; 1 Sam. 1:23; 1 Sam. 1:24; 1 Sam. 24:17; 2 Sam. 19:36; 2 Sam. 22:21; 1 Ki. 11:20; 2 Chr. 20:11; Ps. 7:4; Ps. 13:6; Ps. 18:20; Ps. 103:10; Ps. 116:7; Ps. 119:17; Ps. 131:2; Ps. 137:8; Ps. 142:7; Prov. 3:30; Prov. 11:17; Prov. 31:12; Isa. 3:9; Isa. 11:8; Isa. 18:5; Isa. 28:9; Isa. 63:7; Hos. 1:8; Joel 3:4

Gilbrant on Tyre (06865)(Tsor) -

Tyre was one of the main city-states of Phoenicia in the area of Lebanon. The center of Tyre was located on a rocky isle (as the name denotes), a short distance from the coast. Such a location provided an excellent defense. With a long breakwater, it boasted one of the best harbors along the Palestinian coast. The island is now joined to the mainland by a sandy isthmus built by Alexander the Great during the siege of 322 b.c.

The history paralleled the Hebrew occupation of Canaan. The Phoenicians were excellent merchants of the seas and were traders of purple. They worshiped many gods, and their principal deity, Baal, considerably influenced God's people.

At various periods of history, the Tyrians interacted with Israel commercially and religiously. David made a treaty with Hiram, king of Tyre, who sent the famous cedar trees of Lebanon for the building of the palace (2 Sam. 5:11f). Solomon continued this agreement with King Hiram, who supplied him with lumber and gold needed for building the Temple and his own house (1 Ki. 5:1-18). The two kings engaged in joint ventures searching for exotic goods (1 Ki 10:22).

Later in Israel's history, King Ahab married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre (1 Ki. 16:31). She was a zealous follower of Baal and sought to kill the prophet Elijah.

The prophets composed many oracles and laments of destruction against Tyre for its arrogant pride over being the greatest merchant of the sea and the handler of the finest and richest goods of the time (Isa. 23; Jer. 25:22; 47:4; Ezek. 26-28).

The city of Tyre was also a center of religious idolatry and sexual immorality. Through Isaiah, God extended the hope of restoration to Tyre. The city's merchandise and hire could have been dedicated to Yahweh, and it would have supplied food and fine clothing to those who dwelt before Him (Isa. 23:17f). Evidently, Tyre rejected the Lord's offer, because Ezekiel's prophecy against the city offers a detailed picture of Tyre, its commercial empire, its sin and its eventual demise (Ezek. 26:1-28:19; Ezek 29:18ff).

Ezekiel's prophecy is significant for several reasons. First, Ezekiel prophesied that Tyre would be destroyed so thoroughly that it would be like "the top of a rock" and "a place for the spreading of nets" (Ezek 26:4f). While this prophecy was initially fulfilled, the final destruction of Tyre did not come for almost 1900 years (a.d. 1291). However, the city was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar for thirteen years (587-574 b.c.) and conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 a.d. after a seven-month siege, during which he built a causeway out to the island. Second, Ezekiel suggests that Nebuchadnezzar's failure to accomplish his objectives in Tyre was one of the reasons God permitted him to successfully attack Egypt (Ezek 29:18ff). Third, the description of Tyre's arrogance has been compared to that of Satan, with Tyre's words, "I am a God. I sit in the seat of God," being the prototypical expression of the Fall (Ezek 28:2). (Complete Biblical Library Hebrew-English Dictionary)

Related Resources on Tyre:

Is the king of Tyre prophecy in Ezekiel 28 referring to Satan?
Tyre in Prophecy (excellent article) - Excerpt "So accurate were the prophecies made by Ezekiel that skeptics were forced to suggest a later date for his writings. Yet, such a later date cannot be maintained, and the admission of Ezekiel’s accuracy stands as irrefutable evidence of the prophet’s divine inspiration. With the penetrating gaze that can only be maintained by the Divine, God looked hundreds of years into the future and instructed Ezekiel precisely what to write so that in the centuries following the predictions, the fulfillment of every detail of the prophet’s words could be denied by no honest student of history. “When the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent” (Jeremiah 28:9). Ezekiel’s accurate prophecy adds yet another piece of insurmountable evidence to the fact that “all Scripture is inspired of God” (2 Timothy 3:16).
The Fall of Tyre
Easton's Bible Dictionary Tyre
Fausset Bible Dictionary Tyre
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible Tyre
Hastings' Dictionary of the NT Tyre (2) Tyre
Smith Bible Dictionary Tyre
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Tyre
Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia Tyre
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia Tyre
The Jewish Encyclopedia Tyre

Joel 3:5 "Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your temples,

Since you have taken My silver and My gold: 2Ki 12:18 2Ki 16:8 2Ki 18:15,16 2Ki 24:13 2Ki 25:13-17 Jer 50:28 Jer 51:11 Da 5:2,3
to your temples 1Sa 5:2-5
My precious treasures: Da 11:38

THE NATIONS HAVE
STOLEN FROM GOD

Since you have taken My silver and My gold - God refers to the sins of the nations in Joel 3:4. Don't miss the possessive pronoun "My" for God (My people = Joel 3:3) is saying these precious metals and treasures belong to Him, so when they took them, they were stealing from God!

Brought My precious treasures to your temples - In the ancient world when one defeated a nation, it was taken as a sign that the defeated nations God was defeated and/or not strong enough. So it was not uncommon for the conquering nation to take the religious symbols that represented that nation's God.

Below are passages that record the heathen taking of God's precious things, although they do not obviously relate to Tyre, Sidon or Philistia. Some of these passages refer to the kings giving away God's precious things.

2 Chronicles 21:16-17 Then the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who bordered the Ethiopians; 17 and they came against Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions found in the king’s house together with his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

Comment: Even though God stirred the enemies, they would be held responsible for their mistreatment of Israel!

2 Kings 12:18 Jehoash king of Judah took all the sacred things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own sacred things and all the gold that was found among the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king’s house, and sent them to Hazael king of Aram. Then he went away from Jerusalem.

2 Kings 16:8 Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria.

2 Kings 18:15; 16 Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasuries of the king’s house.
(18:16) At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD, and from the doorposts which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

2 Kings 24:13 He carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, just as the LORD had said.

2 Kings 25:13-17 Now the bronze pillars which were in the house of the LORD, and the stands and the bronze sea which were in the house of the LORD, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried the bronze to Babylon. 14They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze vessels which were used in temple service. 15The captain of the guard also took away the firepans and the basins, what was fine gold and what was fine silver. 16The two pillars, the one sea, and the stands which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD–the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight. 17The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a bronze capital was on it; the height of the capital was three cubits, with a network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of bronze. And the second pillar was like these with network.

Jeremiah 50:28 There is a sound of fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon, To declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, Vengeance for His temple.

Jeremiah 51:11 Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The LORD has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, Because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it; For it is the vengeance of the LORD, vengeance for His temple.

Daniel 5:2; 3 When Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 5:3 Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them.

Joel 3:6 and sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory,

sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks : Joe 3:3,8 De 28:32,68 Eze 27:13

ANCIENT VERSION OF
"ETHNIC CLEANSING"

and sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory They have engaged in a human slave trade and taken the citizens of Jerusalem and Judah and sold them as slaves to the Greeks. Such trade has not only deprived the victims of their liberty but also removed them far from their territory to distant lands from which the possibility of return was markedly decreased This crime would be repaid to them in true "lex talionis" in Joel 3:7-8.

After their victory over Israel, the Assyrian transferred the 10 northern tribes to Assyria in 722 BC. Babylon took most of Judah to Babylon after Jerusalem fell in 586 BC.

Among the Phoenicians (Tyre, Sidon) slave trade was well known source of "commerce" for these maritime nations. Keil says the Phoenicians role in selling slaves was related to the fact that they purchased from the Philistines Jews who had been taken captive and "and sold them again as salves to the sons of Javan (the Hebrew name for Greece), i.e., to the Ionians or Greeks of Asia Minor."

We read of Tyre's slave trade in Ezekiel 27:13

“Javan, Tubal and Meshech, they were your traders; with the lives of men and vessels of bronze they paid for your merchandise.

Amos also referred to the Phoenician and Philistine slave trade

Amos 1:6; 9 Thus says the LORD, “For three transgressions of Gaza (Philistines) and for four I will not revoke its punishment, Because they deported an entire population To deliver it up to Edom. ...9 Thus says the LORD, “For three transgressions of Tyre and for four I will not revoke its punishment, Because they delivered up an entire population to Edom and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.

Joel 3:7 behold, I am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them, and return your recompense on your head.

I am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them: Isa 11:12 43:5,6 49:12 Jer 23:8 30:10,16 31:8 32:37 Eze 34:12,13 36:24 38:8 Zec 10:6-10
and return your recompense on your head: Joe 3:4 Jud 1:7 1Sa 15:33 Es 7:10 Mt 7:2 2Th 1:6 Jas 2:13 Rev 13:10 Rev 16:6 19:2

PROPHECY OF
PAY BACK

Here is an example of God's just justice!

Behold (02009)(See above for discussion of hinneh) - used to arrest the reader's attention concerning what Jehovah is getting ready to say.

I am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them - Jehovah would provoke the Jews to make "Aliyah" so that they would make their way back to their homeland.

and return your recompense on your head - God orchestrates this "pay day" some day! He does not say when, but just promises their recompense is coming! Basically the Tyre, Sidon and Philistia would "trade places" with the Jews, an suffer righteous retribution for what they did to the Jews. As God declared twice in the NT (quoting Dt 32:35) "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." (Ro 12:19, Heb 10:30).

Joel 3:8 "Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation," for the LORD has spoken.

I will sell: De 32:30 Judges 2:14 4:2,9
your sons: Isa 14:1,2 60:14
Sabeans: Job 1:15 Eze 23:42
to a distant nation: Jer 6:20

LAW OF
LEX TALIONIS

Lex Talionis means an "eye for an eye" - In Latin, the "law of retaliation" derives from talionis, genitive of talio = an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Compare “an eye for an eye,” Lev 24:19–21-note.

Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah - Just as they sold Israel into slavery, God would sell them into the power of the Jews. In short the enslaved (Jews) will become the enslavers!

POSB comments that "this prophecy (Joel 3:3-6) has been partially fulfilled down through the centuries as nation after nation conquered the area, capturing and enslaving the survivors. But each of these disasters was only a foreshadowing of God’s future judgment of the nations. In the last days—the Day of the LORD—when the Messiah returns to set up God’s kingdom on earth, all nations will serve under Him. He will establish the seat of His government in Jerusalem and all nations will become subservient to Israel. In that day, Jerusalem will finally receive the honor that was always due the great city of God (Isaiah 41:11–12; Amos 9:12; Ob. 15–21; Micah 7:16–17; Zephaniah 2:6–7)." (Preacher's Outline and Sermon Bible Commentary)

And they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation - The Jews would sell them to the Sabeans which was in southern Arabia. There is no Biblical record of this transaction.

The Sabeans were very likely the people from which the Queen of Sheba had come to visit Solomon in 1 Kings 10:1–15.

Holman Bible Dictionary - A group of people thought to be akin to the Israelites through either Ham (Genesis 10:6-7 ) or Shem (Genesis 10:28 ). They settled southwest Arabia (modern Yemen) and became prosperous traders. One of the major caravan routes was in their control. They dealt mainly in rich spices, gold, and precious stones. The Sabeans also were agrarian, developing elaborate irrigation devices to make their region more fertile. The queen of Saba (Sheba) traveled to Jerusalem (about 1,500 miles) during Solomon's reign to strike trade agreements with the thriving Israelites (1 Kings 10:1-10 ). The Sabeans are credited with domesticating the camel so that such journeys could be made. Matthew 12:42 promises the “Queen of the South” will condemn the people of Jesus' day in final judgment, indicating she had more faith than they. Some have tried to identify her homeland as Ethiopia.

Hubbard helps understand sell...to the Sabeans - "The retribution is exact: the Hebrews, who had no love for the sea, were sold to the sea-peoples; the people of Phoenicia and Philistia, seasoned sea goers, will be sold to the Sabeans, desert dwellers". (TNTC)

NET Note - The Sabeans were Arabian merchants who were influential along the ancient caravan routes that traveled through Arabia. See also Job 1:15; Isa 43:3; 45:14; Ps 72:10. (Net Notes Joel 3)

Allen interprets Antiochus III's enslavement of the people of Sidon in 345 B.C. and Alexander the Great's enslavement of the citizens of Tyre and Gaza in 332 B.C. as a partial fulfillment, assuming Jews were involved in these transactions. But clearly in the context of Joel 3's emphasis on the judgment in the Day of the LORD, the complete fulfillment of God's vengeance of Israel's enemies is yet to come to pass in the future.

For the LORD has spoken - God explains why this will come to pass. God says it. That settles it!

Gilliland - This poetic justice was inscribed in Israel's early history, where the Pharoah who ordered the murder of the Hebrews' sons, himself paid the price of the life of his firstborn. Having the children drowned in the waters of the Nile, he himself sank in the waters of the Red Sea. Here that exact equivalence was all the more painful as the children of Judah would become the "middlemen" in selling to the Sabeans those whose fathers had taken them captive. (What the Bible Teaches – Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah)

Keil and Delitzsch on possible fulfillment of this verse - This occurred partly on the defeat of the Philistines by Uzziah (2 Chron. 26:6, 7) and Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:8), where Philistian prisoners of war were certainly sold as slaves; but principally after the captivity, when 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 Macc. 10:86; 11:60); when King Alexander (Balas) ceded Ekron and the district of Judah (1 Macc. 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 Macc. 1:59).

On the other hand the Moody Bible Commentary writes "Some have suggested that this was literally fulfilled by Artaxerxes III in 345 BC and Alexander the Great in 332 BC who took the children of Tyre and Sidon captive as slaves. This is unlikely, since these nations are mentioned here merely as representatives of all the Gentile nations that will gather against Israel at the end of days. These verses describe the judgment of the nations when the Lord vindicates His people (Gn 12:3; Ps 43 and Ps 54)."

"Who were the Sabeans?"

The Sabeans were an ancient people group mentioned in the Bible as coming from a nation far away from Israel (Joel 3:8). They were a people of stature (Isaiah 45:14) and a rival nation to Israel (Job 1:15). The Sabeans lived in the land of Sheba, which archeology suggests was a Semitic trading state that existed for 1,000 years in the area that is now Yemen. The capital of Sheba was called Marib (or Ma’rib), and the kingdom existed from 1200 BC to AD 275, trading primarily in spices. The land of the Sabeans was eventually destroyed as a result of civil war. The Sabeans feature in three biblical passages. The first of which, chronologically speaking, is in the book of Job. Job the man was subject to a long list of successive tragedies, of which one was an attack by the Sabeans. These raiders stole Job’s oxen and donkeys and struck down his servants with the sword, leaving only one man alive to run back and report the incident to Job (Job 1:13–15). The next two biblical events involving the Sabeans are prophecies by Isaiah and Joel. Isaiah prophesies about Israel’s eventual victory over three cultures: the Egyptians, the Cushites, and the Sabeans. The men of Sheba are called “those tall Sabeans” in Isaiah 45:14, meaning they were apparently men of stature and strength. Isaiah prophesies that all three of these groups will eventually be humbled before Israel and admit that Israel’s God is the true God: “They will bow down before you / and plead with you, saying, / ‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other; / there is no other god’” (Isaiah 45:14). In Joel’s prophecy, the Sabeans are mentioned as a distant nation to whom the men of Judah will sell their enemies as slaves, as a sign of God’s punishment on Tyre and Sidon, nations who dared to come against God’s people (Joel 3:4–8).

The Queen of Sheba, or the Queen of the South, who traveled a long way to hear Solomon’s wisdom, was likely a Sabean, and the elaborate riches she gave to Solomon show that the Sabeans were a wealthy people. Centuries after her visit to Jerusalem, two warring clans fought for control of Sheba and eventually weakened the empire, and it was overtaken by the Himyarite Kingdom. At that point the mighty Sabeans ceased to exist as a distinct people. (From Gotquestions.org one of the best reference sites on the web)

Joel 3:9 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men! Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up!

Proclaim this among the nations: Ps 96:10 Isa 34:1 Jer 31:10 50:2
Prepare a war: Heb sanctify, Eze 21:21,22
rouse the mighty men: Isa 8:9,10 Jer 46:3,4 Eze 38:7

THE CALL TO ARMS

Verbs in bold red are imperatives or commands in the Hebrew.

In this next section Joel 3:9-17 Joel gives us more details concerning the restoration of Israel and the judgment of the nations in Joel 3:1-2-note. And in this verse we see the call is to muster the armies of all the nations and prepare to bring them into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the Valley of Decision, for God has decided their fate!

Keil and Delitzsch add that Joel 3:9–17 describes the "Fulfilment of the judgment upon all the heathen predicted in Joel 3:2. Compare the similar prediction of judgment in Zech. 14:2-4-note. 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."

Proclaim this among the nations - This command is addressed not to the armies per se but to those who function as "heralds" who are to convey the divine summons to the heathen nations of the world. This proclamation begins to bring to fruition the gathering of the nations for judgment (Joel 3:2). The question this phrase raises is who is to make this proclamation? There is not a clear answer, except to say that clearly this message is to resound throughout the Gentile world.

Prepare a war - This is not just "A war," not just any war, but "THE war" of all wars, the last battle of human history, the Campaign of Armageddon.

Prepare (consecrate, sanctify) (06942) (qadash) means to set apart. Or literally "sanctify a war." Keil and Delitzsch explain that "to consecrate a war, i.e., to prepare for war by sacrifices and religious rites of consecration (cf. 1 Sam. 7:8, 9; Jer. 6:4)."

Gilliland comments on "sanctify a war" noting that "refers to the ancient custom where nations offered sacrifices and performed religious ceremonies prior to going to the battlefield. If ever there was a war which could be described as "holy" it was this engagement. In the earlier Old Testament the purpose of "holy wars" was to destroy the enemies of the Lord and of Israel. This war would fulfill this role in a most significant way. Ironically, these Gentile nations will "sanctify a war" and undertake a military expedition to their own undoing." (What the Bible Teaches – Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah)

Rouse the mighty men! - This is the bugle call to get ready for battle. The Gentile forces are mustered. Three times in Joel 3:9-12 we see the call to the Valley - "come up" (Joel 3:9), "hasten and come" (Joel 3:11), and "come up." (Joel 3:12). While Israel's enemies are called to "come up," heavenly warriors in a prayer are called to "come down" (Joel 3:11).

Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up! - The nations are to gather because it is God's will that they gather. (Joel 3:2-note). The time of "harvest" is ripe! (Joel 3:13-note).

Joel 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man."

Beat your plowshares into swords: Isa 2:4 Mic 4:3 Lu 22:36
Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man: 2 Chr 25:8 Zec 12:8

PREPARE WEAPONS
FOR WAR

Verbs in bold red are imperatives or commands in the Hebrew.

Keil and Delitzsch - 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).

Beat your plowshares into swords, And your pruning hooks into spears - Preparation for war means arming the armies with every ounce of firepower that can be mustered, including even implements normally used for peacetime plowing and pruning.

NET Note on plowshares - Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.

NET Note on pruning hook - This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117–18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle. (Net Notes Joel 3)

Judgment of the nations of the world must precede peace among the nations of the world. There will be no "peace in the Middle East" until the Prince of peace returns! (Isaiah 9:6, 7-note describing His two advents) When the Messiah returns, then the beating of plowshares into swords will be reversed by swords into plowshares in a glorious time of peace in the new age.

And He (MESSIAH IN HIS MILLENNIAL KINGDOM) will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war. (Isaiah 2:4-note; Micah 4:3-note)

Comment: See the bronze statue given to the United Nations in 1959 by the then Soviet Union, which depicts a man with a hammer, beating a sword into a plowshare (picture). On a humorous note there was a button for sale at Chicago's Peace Museum which said, “Beat your enemies into plowshares.”

The call to war at the end of this present evil age precedes the coming of worldwide peace when the Prince of peace returns to wage and win this final battle of the ages. See numerous passages that describe this time of peace in Messiah's Millennial Kingdom..

NET Note adds that "Isaiah describes a time of kingdom blessing and prosperity, whereas Joel describes a time of eschatological conflict and judgment." (Net Notes Joel 3)

Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man" - The idea is to stiffen up your courage for the day of battle. In the Septuagint (Lxx) it is a command "The weak (adunatos) are continually to say (present imperative) "I am strong (ischuo). The mighty ones in this verse are those who are to come into the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Decision) and enter into the battle against the mighty ones of Jehovah! (Joel 3:11) They will find that they are no match for the army of the LORD!

NET Note - The “weak” individual mentioned here is apparently the farmer who has little or no military prowess or prior fighting experience. Under ordinary circumstances such a person would be ill-prepared for assuming the role of a soldier. However, in the scene that Joel is describing here even the most unlikely candidate will become a participant to be reckoned with in this final conflict. (Net Notes Joel 3)

Joel 3:11 Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones.

Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations: Joel 3:2 Eze 38:9-18 Mic 4:12 Zep 3:8 Zec 14:2,3 Rev 16:14-16 19:19,20 Rev 20:8,9
Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones. Ps 103:20 Isa 10:34 13:3 37:36 2Th 1:7 Rev 19:14

THE DIVINE SUMMONS
TO ASSEMBLE

Verbs in bold red are imperatives or commands in the Hebrew.

Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations - Here we have two divine commands which call for assembly of the nations as quickly as possilbe in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:2). Remember that "The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes." (Pr 21:1). God is sovereign and in full control of this last great battle (and its inevitable outcome!)

And gather yourselves there - The Hebrew is qabats (used in Joel 2:6, Joel 2:16, Joel 3:2, Joel 3:11) and is translated in the Septuagint in Joel 3:11 with the verb sunago (gives us "synagogue" a holy gathering of the Jews for worship) which is in the aorist imperative, God is commanding a gathering of unholy Gentiles, not for the purpose of worship, but for His holy wrath! In the Valley of Jehoshaphat, the Valley of Decision, the judgment time for the nations of the world is "ripe!"

A PRAYER

Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones - This is a prayer by the righteous (some think this is Joel's prayer). This reminds me of the cry in Revelation 6

When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Rev 6:9-10-note)

Comment: Joel 3 (and many other prophetic passages) is in effect God's answer to the saint's cry from beneath the altar. The time has arrived. It is "Decision Time" for the multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Decision. (Joel 3:14-note)

NET Note - Some commentators prefer to delete the line “Bring down, O LORD, your warriors,” understanding it to be a later addition. But this is unnecessary. Contrary to what some have suggested, a prayer for the LORD’s intervention is not out of place here. (Net Notes Joel 3) (ED: IS THIS JOEL'S PRAYER? POSSIBLY, BUT ONE CANNOT BE DOGMATIC. IT COULD BE THE PRAYER OF THE SAINTS ON THE EARTH WHO ARE SUFFERING PERSECUTION AT THE HANDS OF THE ANTICHRIST!)

Your mighty ones -. Keil refers to the mighty ones as "heavenly heroes." Mighty is gibbor a word used in one of the great names of Christ, Christ Mighty God - El Gibbor, which is a good reminder that they [and we] are mighty not in their [our] own strength but in the strength of El Gibbor (cf a NT "warfare" command to "be strong [present imperative a command only possible to obey unless we are filled with/controlled by His Spirit - Eph 5:18-note] in the Lord and in the strength of His might" = Eph 6:10-12-note, cf 2 Ti 2:1-note, 2 Cor 12:9-10-note). This is a prayer asking for God's army to meet the world's armies. While this undoubtedly includes angels, we the saints will be riding on white horses (yes, even those of you who have never ridden a horse before!) following behind our King of kings in His triumphant "equestrian entrance"...

“These (Rev 17:11-13-note) will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” (Revelation 17:14-note)

Comment - In the first advent Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a lowly donkey not as a conqueror of Rome, but the humble Servant (Mk 10:45) Who would conquer the greatest enemy, death (1 Cor 15:26). In His second advent, He returns riding a white horse, just as the triumphant Roman generals would do as they rode ahead of their conquering army (cf 2 Cor 2:14-16).

Tony Garland on the called and chosen and faithful - The angels which did not follow Satan in his rebellion (Rev. 12:4) are also said to be “chosen”: “The elect angels” is tōn eklektōn angelōn . But being called speaks of a time prior to having come to the faith—something the elect angels do not experience for they have never been lost, but remained continually faithful. Calling is unique to those saints who at one time were not saints, that is, human beings rather than angels (Ro 1:6; Ro 8:28-30; 2Ti. 2:9). (Alan F. Johnson, Revelation: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary) “These epithets called, chosen, and faithful, can only strictly apply to saints [not angels].” (Gregory K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text)

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. (Revelation 19:11-14-note)

Tony Garland on the composition of the armies which are in heaven - The army is composed of “saints” which denotes those who are set apart and dedicated to God. This term includes both angels (e.g., 2Th 1:7+) and men (1Th 3:13+). Joel indicates that God’s “mighty ones” will be among them—almost certainly a reference to angels (Joel 3:11).Scripture records rare glimpses into the abilities of these mighty ones. When Hezekiah petitioned the LORD for defense against Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, the LORD sent His angel who killed 185,000 Assyrians in one night (2K. 19:35). When forces came against Elisha and his servant became alarmed, Elisha prayed that the LORD might open his eyes: “And behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (2K. 6:14 cf. Ps. 68:17).....Since The 70th Week of Daniel is not over until Christ has returned to earth, it seems that the OT saints have not yet been resurrected (Da 12:2-note)(Ed: For example, compare Daniel rising at "the end of the age" Da 12:13-note). Therefore, they are not a part of the army which rides forth. If the resurrection of the Tribulation saints (Rev 7:9, 14-note) occurs at the institution of the Millennial Kingdom (“they lived,” Rev. 20:4-note)—and the Tribulation has not yet officially ended—neither will they have been resurrected to participate in the army. This infers that the human element of the army is limited to the previously-raptured Church. (note)

Henry Morris on Your mighty ones - These "mighty ones" must be the armies of the saints with Christ in heaven, as they "come down" with Him to smite and judge the rebellious nations at Armageddon (Revelation 19:11-21-note).

Joel 3:12 Let the nations be aroused And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations.

to the valley of Jehoshaphat,: Joe 3:2,14 2Ch 20:26 Eze 39:11 Zec 14:4
For there I will sit to judge All the surrounding nations.: Ps 2:8,9 7:6 76:8,9 96:13 98:9 110:5,6 Isa 2:4 3:13 Eze 30:3 Mic 4:3 Rev 19:11

TIME TO WAKE UP!
IT'S TIME FOR WAR

Let the nations be aroused (This is a command in the present imperative in the Septuagint - Lxx) - An exhortation for the nations (personified) to awaken for war. The Hebrew verb be aroused ('ur) is used by Jeremiah to describe Babylon is as stirring, preparing to move against Judah (Jeremiah 6:22; Jeremiah 50:41). In Daniel 11, the king of the north stirs up his power and courage against the king of the south (Daniel 11:2-note, Daniel 11:25-note). In Israel's struggle against Sisera, Deborah is urged “Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and take away your captives, O son of Abinoam." (Jdg 5:12-note).

It is time for the nations to "wake up!" It is God's predetermined time for the real "War of the Worlds," the last battle of the Campaign of Armageddon.

Be aroused (05782) ('ur) means to stir, to arouse, to awaken and is used of raising something or someone to action, agitating someone, or motivating them. (Jdg. 5:12-note; Ps. 57:8, Zech 9:13). The Lxx translates it with the verb exegeiro mean to wake up (Mk 6:45) and as noted above is in the present imperative.

And come up - It is interesting that the Hebrew verb come up (alah) means to ascend (as does the Lxx verb used to translate alah = anabaino = climb up) implying the valley was at a higher elevation.

To the valley of Jehoshaphat - See previous note on the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

Brian Bell - Valley of Meggido - Armageddon (city); Harmageddon (hill); plain of Esdraelon. Valley of Jehoshaphat – Kidron valley. Edom – Isa 63:1-6 This campaign is pictured as extending from the plain of Meggido, down through Jerusalem, extending down to Edom in the south, which ultimately covers the whole land of Israel...See Rev.14:14-20 (1600 furlongs/stadia=184 miles) (Sermon on Joel 3:1-21)

For - term of explanation - Simply explains why the nations are to come to this valley. Of course they are deceived, thinking that the are coming to once and for all time annihilate God's Chosen People and the nation of Israel. Wrong! As the psalmist records...

Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples (GENTILE NATIONS) devising a vain thing? (Heb = riq = worthless; Lxx = kenos = empty, that which does not attain its goal!) (The question is rhetorical = the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would even dare to rebel against the Almighty God!) 2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed (THE MESSIAH - Heb = mashiach/masiyah; Lxx = Christos), (THIS PROPHECY WILL BE FULFILLED IN THE DAY OF THE LORD, IN THE CAMPAIGN OF ARMAGEDDON) saying, 3 (THE REBELLIOUS KINGS CONTINUE THEIR DECEPTION) “Let us tear their (GOD'S) fetters apart and cast away their (FATHER AND SON'S) cords from us!” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. 5 Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury (COMPARE Joel 3:16 - "the LORD roars from Zion And utters His voice from Jerusalem"), saying, 6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion (Tsiyyon), My holy mountain.” (cf Isaiah 2:2-note, Zechariah 14:9, 10-note) 7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.

There I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations - This description pictures Jesus as the Judge (John 5:22, cf 2 Ti 4:1-note) Who presides over this gathering of godless Gentiles in the Valley of Decision. His verdict is about to be rendered (Rev 19:15-21)!The purpose of the gathering is judgment at mentioned in Joel 3:2-note.

In the Messianic psalm, Psalm 2, the Father addresses the Son

Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. 9 ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’” (Ps 2:8-9)

Giesler - PROBLEM: Joel declares that God will “sit to judge all the surrounding nations.” But, elsewhere the Bible says God “stands to judge the people” (Isa. 3:13). Which is true? SOLUTION: Both are figures of speech which express literal and compatible truths. God “sits” to hear everyone impartially and decide their guilt or innocence. Then He “stands” to execute the judgment on the case. Each expression describes a different aspect of God’s rule as judge. (When Critics Ask)

Joel 3:13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.

Put in the sickle: Dt 16:9 Mk 4:29 Rev 14:15,16
for the harvest is ripe: Jer 51:33 Ho 6:11 Mt 13:39
for the wine press is full: Isa 63:3 La 1:15 Rev 14:17-20
for their wickedness is great: Ge 13:13 15:16 18:20

NET Rush forth with the sickle, for the harvest is ripe! Come, stomp the grapes, for the winepress is full! The vats overflow. Indeed, their evil is great!

TWO METAPHORS: THE HARVEST IS RIPE
THE WINE PRESS IS FULL!

Verbs in bold red are imperatives or commands in the Hebrew.

Keil and Delitzsch - 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. The judgment is represented under the double figure of the reaping of the fields and the grapes as they are tread by stomping feet or crushed by 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.

Joel now figuratively depicts God’s future judgment of the wicked using metaphors of a winepress (Wikipedia on wine press) and a harvest (description of a harvest) both of which would be familiar to his agrarian readers.

We see a striking contrast in the two metaphors used here with their use in a literal sense in Joel 2:24-note to describe the abundant harvest of wine and grapes in the coming glorious Millennial Kingdom of God, Joel recording that...

The threshing floors will be full of grain, And the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil.

And so in Joel 2:24 we see the effect of the good hand of the LORD on the nation of Israel for blessing and in Joel 3:11 we see the effect of the heavy hand of the LORD (cf 1 Sa 5:6,9, 7:13) on the nations of the world for judgment.

God's future judgment of the entire world is seen in many OT passages such as

Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. 12 I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold And mankind than the gold of Ophir. 13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, And the earth will be shaken from its place At the fury of the LORD of hosts In the day of His burning anger. (Isaiah 13:11-13-note)

Keil and Delitzsch - 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 (ἡ γῆ, Rev. 14:16), i.e., the inhabitants of the earth, the human race.

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe - Joel gives a metaphorical description of the sin of the nations as "ripe" and ready to be harvested. Unlike a normal grain harvest, there will be no separation from wheat and chaff, for these rebels are all chaff and all bound for eternal destruction after experiencing sure and sudden temporal destruction. The irony of this metaphor is that normally harvesting of grapes or grains was a time of joy and celebration of life, but here is a time of gloom and certainty of death to the Gentile forces. The harvest was not one of ripe grain, but ripe sinners!

Jesus alludes to this end of the age harvest of wicked "wheat" in His parable of the wheat and the tares...

And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world (NOTE IT IS NOT THE CHURCH! THIS IS A PICTURE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD, NOT THE WORLD IN THE CHURCH!); and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom (IN Mt 13:19 SEED WAS THE "WORD" BUT HERE IT IS GOD'S PEOPLE PLANTED IN THE WORLD - EACH WITH A DIVINE ASSIGNMENT-TO SOW THE SEED OF THE GOSPEL!); and the tares are the sons of the evil one (SONS OF SATAN - Jn 8:44, 1 Jn 3:10); 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest (REPRESENTATIVE OF GOD'S JUDGMENT) is the end of the age (THE AGE WE ARE IN NOW); and the reapers are angels. 40“So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. (Mt 13:37-40)

John describes Jesus at His Second Coming to judge the nations...

From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations (cf harvest is ripe), and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty (cf the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great) (Rev 19:15-note)

Tony Garland comments - He Himself treads is autos patei : He, He is presently treading. As with His rule, His identity as the One Who treads is emphasized. His rule is future tensewhereas His treading is present tense. This indicates He is treading the winepress at His Second Coming before He takes up His rule over the nations. This provides further evidence that His rule upon the throne of David begins after His return (Mat. 25:31).

Although the armies of heaven are with Him (Rev. 19:14+, Rev 19:19+), it appears that He alone does the work of judgment: “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. . . . I looked, but there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me” [emphasis added] (Isa. 63:3-5). Isaiah 63:1-6 (commentary) made it clear that although the armies of saints and angels will return with him, they will not participate in the fighting. Messiah will fight this battle by Himself.⁴⁹He is responding to the command recorded by Joel: “Come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow—for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:13b-14). When John saw Him in His glory, He had feet like fine brass, “as if refined in a furnace” (Rev. 1:15+). This glowing hot feet foreshadow His trampling the winepress in judgment which John sees now. See commentary on Revelation 1:15. See Grapes of Wrath.

The prophet Micah also speaks of a time of harvest a common metaphor used to depict judgment in Scripture. The motive of the nations who are about to be "threshed" and "harvested" is their Satanically inspired desire to annihilate the literal nation of Israel in hopes that they can bring God's plan for the ages to an end!

Writhe and labor to give birth, Daughter of Zion, Like a woman in childbirth; For now you will go out of the city, Dwell in the field, And go to Babylon. There you will be rescued; There the LORD will redeem you From the hand of your enemies. 11 Now also many nations have gathered against you (ISRAEL), who say, “Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.” But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, nor do they understand His counsel; for He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor. “Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hooves bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples; I will consecrate their gain to the Lord, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.” (Micah 4:11-13-note)

Charles Ryrie writes "This passage looks further ahead, to the great Campaign of Armageddonn immediately preceding the Second Coming of Christ and the Millennial kingdom. There the world will be lined up against Israel (ED: cf Joel 3:2, 12-14), but God will give Israel victory, using horn of iron and hoofs of bronze."

W A Criswell - In a remarkable prophecy, Micah foresees the Babylonian Exile of the Jews, which took place in the sixth century. He makes it clear that the Exile and return have to take place before the messianic age.

Henry Morris - Here Micah leaps over the coming captivity in Babylon (Micah 4:10) and deliverance therefrom, to the great ultimate invasion of Israel in the last days (Revelation 16:13-16). There is a near and far fulfillment as shown below

Tony Garland comments on Micah's prophecy - Notice the ignorance of the nations in regard to God’s plans concerning Zion: “They do not know the thoughts of the Lord, nor do they understand his counsel.” This is evident even in our own day. We study the book of Revelation and these related passages which make it abundantly clear that God has a future plan for the nation Israel and that plan includes her ownership of His land with Jerusalem as her eternal capital. Yet, the daily news indicates great confusion on the part of the nations as to the status of Jerusalem and the Promised Land in general. People the world over wonder what the big fuss is about the Jews and Jerusalem, but it is all so clear to any student of the Scriptures. Alas, the nations of the world are almost completely ignorant of God’s Word concerning the subject—as they will be in the day of their demise seen by Micah. “This prophecy envisioned Nebuchadnezzar’s armies that were composed of many nations, but it is to be fulfilled in the armed forces of the nations gathered at Armageddon (Rev 16:13-16+), who will be determined to destroy Israel and do away with God’s plan and take over the earth.”⁴³

Isaiah 27:12-13 describes a positive harvest, for while the nations that come against Israel will be threshed, winnowed and discarded as chaff, the redeemed of Israel will be regathered when the nation is restored to Millennial prominence (cf God's stated purpose in Joel 3:1-note)...

In that day (expressions of time should always prompt a question "When?") the LORD will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and you (ISRAEL) will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. 13 It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

When? This refers to the end times, to Time of Jacob's Distress (Jeremiah 30:7-note) during which God first destroys Babylon in the 7th Bowl (Rev 16:17) and then the armies of the world, multitudes, multitudes in the Valley of Decision

Allen Ross explains that " From beyond the Euphrates and from beyond the Wadi of Egypt (these are the boundaries of the Land), Israelites would be regathered. Never did Israel have the Land of Promise according to the biblical dimensions; and certainly never did a pure Israel possess it. Here God will “thresh” (hypocatastasis) through the lands of oppression, the chaff will be discarded, but the good grain regathered into the barn. Paul in Romans 11 carries the theme to its clear statement: “All Israel will be saved.” (Ro 11:25-26-note, cf Zech 12:10-14-note, Zech 13:1-note, Zech 13:8-9-note) Ezekiel will explain in his wonderful vision of the dry bones that Israel will be regathered at the end of the age in two steps, first physically regathered (the bones come together), meaning restored to the land as a nation but in unbelief; and then there will be the spiritual quickening (the Spirit breathes life into the bones) in which the surviving Jewish people will come to faith in massive numbers (Ezekiel 37-note). The second image here is of the trumpet blast. The image, quite possibly the Word of God like a trumpet blast, calls or summons the people to the holy mountain, which he says now, is in Jerusalem. The apostle Paul used the image of the trumpet for the end of the age ingathering (like Israel’s festival of Ingathering at Tabernacles) at the coming of the LORD. When the LORD gave Israel victory over Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt when He restored them to their land in 536, that was a great deliverance (see diagram of near/far fulfillment). But this passage was not fulfilled at that time (although it could have been used to explain the victory); in fact, some of the oracles of these end times were written by the prophets after the return from the exile. Evil still existed, Israel was not pure, and their stay in the land would not last but a few centuries and they would be scattered again. The fulfillment still lies in the future.

Come, tread, for the wine press is full - Another metaphor of their sins filled to the brim and overflowing.

What a literal wine-press is to ordinary grapes, the wrath of God is to the "grapes" (nations) referred to here” (Keil). In other words, this is not a fruitful wine-press, for it is the wine-press of the wrath of God (Rev 14:19-note), the time of the treading of the grapes of wrath, the final conflagration when God crushes all His enemies at the Second Coming of Christ (Isaiah 34:2-8; Isaiah 63:1-6-note; Joel 3:12-14; Zephaniah 3:8-note; Revelation 19:15-note). See also Garland's discussion of the Grapes of Wrath.

NET Note - Heb “go down” or “tread.” The Hebrew term רְדוּ (rédu) may be from יָרַד (yarad, “to go down”) or from רָדָה (radah, “have dominion,” here in the sense of “to tread”). If it means “go down,” the reference would be to entering the vat to squash the grapes. If it means “tread,” the verb would refer specifically to the action of those who walk over the grapes to press out their juice. The phrase “the grapes” is supplied in the NET translation for clarity. (Net Notes Joel 3)

The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great - Vats are pictured as filled with their sins, which are so great that the vat is could not hold them all!

NET Note makes an excellent point - The immediacy of judgment upon wickedness is likened to the urgency required for a harvest that has reached its pinnacle of development. When the harvest is completely ripe, there can be no delay by the reapers in gathering the harvest. In a similar way, Joel envisions a time when human wickedness will reach such a heightened degree that there can be no further stay of divine judgment (cf. the “fullness of time” language in Gal 4:4). (Net Notes Joel 3)

Isaiah 63:1-6 (see commentary) presents a picture which parallels Joel's description of the final reaping and treading of the earth...

Who (MESSIAH) is this who comes from Edom, with garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” 2 Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? 3 “I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment. 4 “For the day of vengeance (HIS JUDGMENT IN THE VALLEY OF DECISION) was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come (DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL, RESTORATION OF THE NATION). 5 “I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me. 6 “I trod down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

We see a similar description of reaping in the last days by the apostle John in Revelation 14...

Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. 17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles. (Rev.14:14-20)

Tony Garland's commentary on
Revelation 14:14-20

Revelation 14:14

a while cloud

Clouds are often associated with God, and particularly the Son of Man (Mt. 24:30; Luke 21:27; Rev. 1:7+). See commentary on Revelation 1:7.

One like the Son of Man

A clear indication that none other than Jesus is sitting on the cloud (Dan. 7:13; Mt. 26:64). The reason that Son of Man oversees the harvest of wheat is that it is He who sowed the good seed (Mt. 13:37).

having on His head a golden crown

Crown is στέφανον [stephanon] . See Crowns.

Revelation 14:15

another angel came out of the temple

When angels come out of the temple on a mission, this is an indication of their divine mandate. The seven angels with the seven last plagues come out of the heavenly temple (Rev. 15:6+). It is a voice from the temple which gives them final authority to “pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth” (Rev. 16:1+). The harvest of both the faithful and the ungodly are initiated by the Father, from within the temple.

for the time has come

The longsuffering and grace of God and His desire that all should have opportunity to repent now finally draws to a close for He knows that no more will come (2Pe. 3:9). His mercy withholds judgment, but his justice and righteousness make it unavoidable (Rev. 16:7 +).

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32). This is the end of the age, the long period when both good and evil were allowed to grow side-by-side. Now there will be a separation in preparation for the Millennial Kingdom to follow:

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Mat. 13:47-50)

All who remain alive on the face of the planet must now identify with one or the other of the two criminals crucified with Christ. All the world stands guilty. Those in the first harvest, like the repentant thief on the cross (Luke 23:42), turn in desperation to Christ for cleansing of their sins. They are the wheat. Those in the second harvest (the vintage of wrath) are like the thief who continues to revile Christ (Luke 23:39).

They are the tares which are gathered for destruction.

for the harvest of the earth is ripe

The harvest is used throughout the Scriptures to symbolize the final gathering and separation of that which is desirable and productive (wheat) from that which is useless and for the fire (tares, chaff). The judgment attending the harvest is often represented by the threshing floor where the grain is separated from the outer husk (2Sa 24:16; 1Chr. 21:15; Jer. 51:33; Dan. 2:35+; Mic. 4:12).58

For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor When it is time to thresh her; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come.” (Jer. 51:33)

The long age so central to Jesus’ teaching concerning the “kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 13:24, 31, 33, 44-45, 47, 52) has now drawn to a close. (See The Arrival of God’s Kingdom.) It is now the time of the harvest. “But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:29).

At the harvest at the end of the age, there are both wheat and tares. The harvest includes a reaping of both and their separation. The wheat is gathered and preserved, the tares are gathered and destroyed.

But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ (Mt. 13:26-30)

It seems best to understand the two harvests depicted here as two aspects of the final harvest at the end of the age: a harvest of redemption and a harvest of wrath.⁵⁹ Those who view both as harvests of judgment have difficulty explaining why there should be two such harvests of wrath and what, if anything, can be said to differ between them? When the two harvests are compared, we see that Jesus is specifically associated with the first harvest—for it was He who sowed the good grain. Unlike the second harvest, there is no hint of wrath associated withthe first harvest: no angel from the altar, no power over fire, no grapes, no trampling, no blood. The only possible negative aspect concerning the first harvest is that it is said to be ripe, exēranthē from zērainō , which means to dry up or wither and is used to describe plants without good roots (Mark 4:6).⁶⁰ However, since the first harvest involves not grapes, but by implication wheat, this could just be a description of what naturally occurs when wheat reaches its maturity. All things considered, it seems best to understand these as two different harvests, one to gather faithful wheat and the other to destroy wild grapes. We are in agreement with Alford:

What is the distinction between the two ingatherings? And why do we read of the casting into the wine-press of God’s wrath in the second case, and of no corresponding feature in the other? Again, why is the agency so different—the Son of man on the white cloud with a golden crown in the one case, the mere angel in the other? Besides, the two ingatherings seem quite distinct. The former is over before the other begins. On the whole then, though I would not pronounce decidedly, I must incline to think that the harvest is the ingathering of the saints, God’s harvest, reaped from the earth: described here thus generally, before the vintage of wrath which follows.⁶¹

Revelation 14:16

He who sat on the cloud

The Son of Man is the one who reaps the first harvest of the saved. Although He is intimately involved with the first harvest, Scripture reveals that angels carry out the details of both harvests.

the earth was reaped

The reaping which takes place is worldwide. “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Mt. 24:31). One view connects this event with the resurrection of the saved dead prior to the Millennial Kingdom (cf. Rev. 20:4+).

This, then, is our Lord’s return at the end of the tribulation to harvest the bodies of the saints who die during the tribulation (Rev. 14:13+) so as to reunite them with their souls, which, up to this point, will have been under the altar before God (Rev. 6:9+). This reaping is the gathering of the harvest into Christ’s barn (Mat. 13:30). . . . The living redeemed will still be on earth, but the bodies of all deceased saints will have been resurrected and taken to Heaven. This addresses the state of all the saved during the tribulation.⁶²

The saints which remain alive at the end of the Tribulation participate in the Sheep and Goat Judgment and enter the Millennial Kingdom in their natural bodies (Mt. 25:31-34). (See MacArthur's sermons on Sheep and Goat Judgment of the Nations - sermon 1, sermon 2, sermon 3)

Revelation 14:17

another angel came out of the temple in heaven

The authority to issue the command to reap the vintage of wrath is equally dependent upon the authority of God. See commentary on Revelation 14:15. Jesus taught that the angels would be involved in the final harvest:

The enemy who sowed them [the tares] is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! (Mt. 13:39-43)

The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. . . . So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just. (Mat. 13:41-42, 49).

This second angel initiates the gathering of the tares, the removal of the ungodly who are “taken”:

“Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away. And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together: the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field: the one will be taken and the other left.” And they answered and said to Him, “Where, Lord?” So He said to them, “Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.” (Luke 17:30-37 cf. Mt. 24:28-note)

As in the days of Noah, those whom are taken are taken in judgment (Mt. 24:38-39; Luke 21:26-27-note). The “eagles will be gathered together” to feast on the carrion of the dead (Job 39:30; Rev. 19:17-18+).⁶³

Revelation 14:18

another angel came out from the altar

The mention of the altar connects the upcoming vintage of wrath with the cry of the souls under the altar at the opening of the fifth seal. “And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ ” (Rev. 6:10+). God had told them that they should rest until the remaining number of their fellow servants would be killed as they were. That time has now come.

who had power over fire

This may be the same angel who offered the prayers of the saints with incense “upon the golden altar which was before the throne” (Rev. 8:3+). There, after offering the prayers, he filled his censer with fire from the altar and threw it to the earth prefiguring the series of trumpet judgments (Rev. 8:4-6+). Similarly, it was “a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God” which resulted in the release of the four angels bound at the Euphrates bringing the plague of demonic horsemen. This final vintage of wrath is also motivated by mountains of prayer by the saints of all times and ages for righteous judgment and vindication by God.

This is the baptism of fire spoken of by John the Baptist. In his warning to the Pharisees and Sadducees who were coming to his baptism, he indicated that the One following after him would initiate two baptisms. Every person living would receive one or the other.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Mat. 3:11-12) [emphasis added]

John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” (Luke 3:16-17-note) [emphasis added]

The term and with fire is better translated “or with fire.” The immediate context certainly indicates that to be baptized with fire is the result of judgment (notice the reference to purging and burning in the next verse). Other than the visible tongues (billows) of fire which appeared over the disciples’ heads at Pentecost, references to fire burning up unprofitable chaff refer to judgment rather than cleansing. The threshing fan (Mat. 3:12) refers to a wooden shovel used for tossing grain into the wind in order to blow away the lighter chaff, leaving the good grain to settle in a pile. The chaff would then be swept up and burned, the unquenchable fire refers to the eternal punishment of hell or the lake of fire.⁶⁴

gather the clusters of the vine of the earth

Joel foresaw the vintage of wrath associated with the Day of the 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. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD isnear in the valley of decision. (Joel 3:12-14)

The reason that these vines will be trodden is that they are wild grapes. Like His chosen nation Israel, those on the earth had not born the fruit God intended.

For their vine is of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. Their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of cobras. (Deut 32:32-33)

Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. (Isa. 5:1-5-note) [emphasis added]

for her grapes are fully ripe

God allows evil to have its full fruit for several reasons. First, He provides ample opportunity for the godless to repent and seek forgiveness and restoration. Secondly, He allows the depth of sin to have its full development in those who have forever turned their back on redemption. “But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Ge 15:16-note). Although His patience and mercy are abundant, He must eventually judge in order to vindicate His character: “The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, so that men will say, ‘Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely He is God who judges in the earth’ ” (Ps. 58:10-11).

Revelation 14:19

threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God

This is not a fruitful winepress, for it is the winepress of the wrath of God. This is the time of the treading of the grapes of wrath, the final conflagration when God wipes out all His enemies at the second advent of Christ (Isa. 34:2-8; 63:1-6; Joel 3:12-14; Zep. 3:8 (note); Rev. 19:15+). See Grapes of Wrath.

Revelation 14:20

outside the city

The city is Jerusalem. Like unclean and accursed things, these will be disposed of outside the city.

For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. (Heb. 13:11-13)

The valley of Jehoshaphat was outside Jerusalem and it is there that the fullest vengeance of God shall be poured out, “the press is full” (Joel 3:13).⁶⁵

The judgment of the nations in Joel 3:12-14 (which supplies the dual figures of harvest and vintage) takes place in the valley of Jehoshaphat, which traditions links with the Kidron valley lying between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. Zechariah 14:1-4 (note) places the final battle on the outskirts of Jerusalem.⁶⁶

See Campaign of Armageddon.

and blood came out

The bloodshed associated with the judgment which falls at the Campaign of Armageddon at the close of the Tribulation period is unprecedented:

The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made overflowing with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. The wild oxen shall come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust saturated with fatness. For it is the day of the LORD’S vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion. (Isa. 34:6-8)

It results in the staining of Jesus garments (Isa. 63:1-6-note; Rev. 19:13+). See Blood Stained Garments.

up to the horses bridles

Possibly a reference to the armies in heaven who follow after Christ on white horses (Rev. 19:14+). More likely, a reference to the horses of Christ’s enemies.

one thousand six hundred furlongs

Furlong is σταδίων [stadiōn] , a distance of one-eighth of a mile (185 meters)⁶⁷. The total distance is approximately 200 miles.⁶⁸

The blood stretches for 1,600 furlongs, which is approximately two hundred miles. The two hundred miles may refer to the entire area from the Valley of Armageddon to Bozrah, which is about two hundred miles. Another possible explanation is that it refers to the round trip distance between Jerusalem and Bozrah. The fighting will begin in Jerusalem and move to Bozrah (100 miles), and with the Second Coming, will return back from Bozrah to the Valley of Jehoshaphat (another 100 miles). But the best explanation is based on Jeremiah 49:20-22 . . . In the context (see Jer. 49:13-14), this passage is dealing with the Campaign of Armageddon. The massive blood-letting that begins at Bozrah begins moving south down the Arabah until it empties in the Red Sea at the present-day cities of Eilat and Akaba. The distance from there to Jerusalem is about two hundred miles.⁶⁹

Armageddon is in the north of Palestine [Rev. 16:14-16+], the valley of Jehoshaphat is in the south. Bozrah is named by Isaiah as the place where the Lord treads the winepress [Isa. 63:1-6-note]. And the distance between the farthest points of this “front” is 1600 furlongs.⁷⁰

What is signified is a vast destruction of human life over a circumscribed area. Certainly what is stated of the vast slaughter is beyond anything ever known.⁷¹

Although it is possible that this description is hyperbole, one must ask why then does Scripture mention this precise distance? Besides implicating the areas that might be involved (above), it would seem to indicate the magnitude of the final slaughter of all the ungodly. Attempts to understand the exact magnitude of the judgment are nearly impossible, but can provide some insight into the immensity of the slaughter:

Let us consider the biblical portrayal of the size of this disaster: this river of blood is 184 miles long, and its depth is the height of a horse’s bit. Now, if a horse’s bit is four feet high, we can calculate the volume required to fill a blood stream of varying widths, and as we know that the typical quantity of blood in a person is six quarts, we can then calculate how many people it would take to supply the blood. The blood from one billion human beings would make a stream not even twenty yards wide over this length of 184 miles (a trough 4’ deep with radiused sides would average 53 feet in width to hold the blood from one billion humans). If these figures are taken literally—and surely, when we recognize the literality of fulfilled prophecy in Daniel, they must be—then it is clear that God portrays the slaying of all unregenerate mankind. Notably, as the width is not given, we cannot determine the population of the earth at this time.⁷²

See Campaign of Armageddon.

Child of Adam, hear, and be admonished now while salvation is so freely offered. Be not deceived, for God is not mocked. Those impieties of thine, those guilty sports and gaieties, will yet have to be confronted before the judgment seat. Those gatherings in the gaming-hells and drink-shops of Satan, those sneers and witty jests at sacred things, those fiery lusts burning on the altars of carnal pleasure, are all written down in the account-books of eternity to be brought forth in the great day. . . . Think, O man, O woman, how would you fare were He this night to strike! If not in the city, in reconciliation with the King, outside is only death and damnation, and nothing can make it different.⁷³

THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC - The inspirational words of this great old civil war hymn are certainly apropos to the inspired words of Joel 3:13 - Play piano version. Johnny Cash's version. Here is an excellent youtube version which is guaranteed to get your soul stirring for the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to trample wickedness and right wrongs. Maranatha! Hosanna! Hallelujah! Amen!

Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the LORD,
He is trampling out the vintage
where the grapes of wrath are stored,
He hath loosed the fateful lightning
of His terrible swift sword,
His truth is marching on!