Joel 2:28

afterward After the bestowal of the material prosperity promised in Joel 2:23.

pour out i.e. send forth, not in scant measure, but abundantly: the measure of spiritual illumination, which was normally restricted to prophets or other favoured individuals, will be extended to all. The prophets regularly, in their visions of the future, look forward to an age when Israel will both enjoy the undisturbed possession of material benefits, and also be morally and spiritually regenerate: see e.g. Isaiah 29:18-24; Isaiah 30:23-25; Isaiah 32:1-8 (the change of character, which is to mark the ideal Israel of the future), Isaiah 32:15-18; Isaiah 33:5-6; Isaiah 33:24; Isaiah 55:13, 14; Jeremiah 31:12-14; Jeremiah 31:33-34. For the gift of the spirit in particular, comp. Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 44:3; Isaiah 59:21; Ezekiel 36:27; Ezekiel 39:29; Zechariah 12:10.

my spirit The -spirit" in man is the principle of life, upon which consciousness and intelligence depend, and which imparts activity to the inert -flesh" (see e.g. Genesis 2:7; Isaiah 31:3; Isaiah 42:5; Ezekiel 37:5; Ezekiel 37:9-14; Psalms 146:4): and the -spirit" of God is analogously (in the O.T.) the conscious vital force peculiar to God, which, as proceeding from Him, is the power which creates and sustains the life of created beings (Genesis 1:2; Job 33:4; Psalms 104:30), and to the operation of which are attributed extraordinary faculties and activities of man, as well as supernatural spiritual gifts (see e.g. Genesis 41:38; Exodus 31:3; Numbers 11:17; Jdg 11:29; 1 Samuel 11:6; 1 Samuel 16:13; Micah 3:8; Isaiah 11:2; Isaiah 63:11; Psalms 51:11; Haggai 2:5; Nehemiah 9:20; and compare the passages quoted at the end of the last note). The spirit of God is mentioned, as the source, in particular, of prophetic power (whether in its lower or higher forms) in Numbers 11:25-26; Numbers 11:29; 1Sa 10:6; 1 Samuel 10:10; 2 Samuel 23:2; Hosea 9:7; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 59:21; Isaiah 61:1; Zechariah 7:12; Nehemiah 9:30. Similarly here: Joel anticipates a time when the aspiration of Moses (Numbers 11:29) will be realized.

all flesh The expression is used (a) sometimes in a wider sense to denote all living beings, including both mankind and animals, as Genesis 6:17; Genesis 6:19; (b) sometimes in a narrower sense, of mankind alone, as Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 49:26. Here it is used in the second sense: but the prophet, as the context shews, has in reality only Israel in his mind; other nations are pictured by him as destroyed (Joel 3:2; Joel 3:9 ff.). Comp. the surprise expressed in Acts 10:45 at the Spirit being poured out upon the Gentiles.

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, &c. Joel poetically specializes the operation of the spirit, in such a manner that it manifests itself differently in different classes of the people. The distinction is not to be understood with prosaic literalness any more than it is to be inferred from Isaiah 11:12 (see the Heb.) that Isaiah expected only the men of Israel, and the women of Judah, to return from exile.

prophesy i.e. will have insight into Divine truth, and will be moved to express it, in the manner which is at present confined to such as specially bear the name of prophets. The term is of course not to be misunderstood, as if it referred merely to predictions relating to the future: the reference is in general to inspired instruction in moral and religious truth. Two special modes of consciousness in which Divine truths frequently presented themselves to the prophet (Numbers 12:6) are then particularized, the dreamand the vision:in illustration of the former, see Deuteronomy 13:2; Jeremiah 23:25; Jeremiah 23:32; Jeremiah 27:9; Jeremiah 29:8 (in these passages the dream is spoken of in terms of disparagement, on account of its liability to become a source of self-deception); for the latter, see on Amos 1:1; Amos 7:1.

young men how, it may be asked, do the "young men" differ from the "sons," just before? Probably as older and more independent; it is the term often employed to denote the young, able-bodied warriors of Israel (2 Kings 8:12; Jeremiah 11:22; Jeremiah 18:21).