INTRODUCTION TO JOEL 3 This chapter, which some make the fourth, contains a prophecy of God's judgments on all the antichristian nations at the time of the Jews' conversion, and the reasons of them, Joel 3:1; a threatening of Tyre and Zidon, by way of retaliation, for carrying the riches of the Jew... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR, BEHOLD, IN THOSE DAYS, AND AT THAT TIME,.... Which Kimchi refers to the times of the Messiah; and is true of the latter times of the Messiah, of his spiritual reign yet to come: WHEN I SHALL BRING AGAIN THE CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH AND JERUSALEM: not from the Edomites, Tyrians, and Philistines, that... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL ALSO GATHER ALL NATIONS,.... Or cause or suffer them to be gathered together against his people; not the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, in the times of Jehoshaphat, as Aben Ezra; but either the Turks, prophesied of under the name of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel, Ezekiel 38:1; and a multitude... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY HAVE CAST LOTS FOR MY PEOPLE,.... Not only parted their land, but cast lots for their persons, Or played at dice for them, how many captives each soldier should have, and which should be their share and property: ninety seven thousand Jews, Josephus d says, were carried captive by the Roman... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, AND WHAT HAVE YE TO DO WITH ME, O TYRE, AND ZIDON, AND ALL THE COASTS OF PALESTINE?.... The Tyrians, Zidonians, and Philistines, were near neighbours of the Jews, and implacable enemies to them; and are here put for the enemies of the true church of Christ, the Papists and Turks, and in whose p... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE YE HAVE TAKEN MY SILVER AND MY GOLD,.... Which is all the Lord's, Haggai 2:8; or which he had bestowed upon his people, and they had taken from them: AND HAVE CARRIED INTO YOUR TEMPLES MY GOODLY PLEASANT THINGS; either the rich furniture of the houses of his people, which they carried into... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN ALSO OF JUDAH AND THE CHILDREN OF JERUSALEM,.... Not children in age literally, as Kimchi, kidnapped or bought by the Tyrians; but the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem: HAVE YE SOLD UNTO THE GRECIANS; or sons of Javan; it was one part of the merchandise of Tyre to trade in the person... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I WILL RAISE THEM OUT OF THE PLACE WHITHER YE HAVE SOLD THEM,.... That is, bring them back to their own land, from their places whither they have been carried captive, and where they have dwelt in obscurity, and as if theft had been buried in graves, but now should be raised up and restored;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL SELL YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS INTO THE HAND OF THE CHILDREN OF JUDAH,.... That is, deliver them into their hands, to dispose of them; this is thought to have been literally fulfilled in the Tyrians, when thirty thousand g of them were sold for slaves, upon the taking of their city by... [ Continue Reading ]
PROCLAIM YE THIS AMONG THE GENTILES,.... This decree of God, concerning the deliverance of his church; and the destruction of their enemies; which is to be proclaimed among them, to the terror of them, and the comfort of God's people, encouraging them to the battle, since they might be sure of victo... [ Continue Reading ]
BEAT YOUR PLOUGHSHARES INTO SWORDS, AND YOUR PRUNING HOOKS INTO SPEARS,.... Let not only soldiers, and such as have been trained up in military discipline, appear in the field on this occasion; but let husbandmen and vinedressers leave their fields and vineyards, and turn their instruments of husban... [ Continue Reading ]
ASSEMBLE YOURSELVES,.... From divers parts into one place: "be ye gathered"; or "gather yourselves together", as the Targum and Kimchi; get together in a body, muster up all the forces you can collect together, Jarchi, from Menachem, by the change of a letter, renders it, "make ye haste"; lose time... [ Continue Reading ]
LET THE HEATHEN BE AWAKENED, AND COME TO THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT,.... That is, let the enemies of Christ and his church be aroused from that state of security in which they are, and prepare for their own defence; for in such a state the antichristian powers will be before their destruction; see Re... [ Continue Reading ]
PUT YE IN THE SICKLE, FOR THE HARVEST IS RIPE,.... This is said to the mighty ones sent, the Christian princes, the executioners of God's vengeance on antichrist; the angels that will pour out the vials of his wrath on the antichristian states, compared to reapers, with a sharp sickle in their hands... [ Continue Reading ]
MULTITUDES, MULTITUDES IN THE VALLEY OF DECISION,.... The same with the valley of Jehoshaphat before mentioned; which shows that not any valley of that name is intended, but a certain place so called from the judgments of God in it; and here named "the valley of decision", because here their judgmen... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SUN AND MOON SHALL BE DARKENED,.... Both the politic and ecclesiastic state of antichrist shall be ruined and destroyed; it shall "fare" with Rome Papal as it did with Rome Pagan, at the time of its dissolution; see Revelation 6:12; AND THE STARS SHALL WITHDRAW THEIR SHINING: antichristian prin... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD ALSO SHALL ROAR OUT OF ZION, AND UTTER HIS VOICE FROM JERUSALEM,.... Christ, the Lamb, shall now appear as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and utter his voice in his providence and judgments on the behalf of his church and people, signified by Zion and Jerusalem; and therefore said to roar,... [ Continue Reading ]
SO SHALL YE KNOW THAT I [AM] THE LORD YOUR GOD DWELLING IN ZION, MY HOLY MOUNTAIN,.... The church of God, which is his dwelling place; and will appear more manifestly to be so at this time, when Christ the Lamb will stand on Mount Zion, with an 144,000, having his Father's name in their foreheads, R... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY,.... When antichrist shall be destroyed; the Jews converted; the power of godliness revived, and the presence of God among his people enjoyed. Vitringa, in his Commentary on Isaiah, frequently applies this, and such like prophecies, to the times of the Maccabees... [ Continue Reading ]
EGYPT SHALL BE A DESOLATION, AND EDOM SHALL BE A DESOLATE WILDERNESS,.... These two nations having been the implacable enemies of Israel, are here put for the future adversaries of the church of Christ, Pagan, Papal, and Mahometan; who will all be destroyed as such, and be no more: Rome is called, s... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT JUDAH SHALL DWELL FOR EVER,.... The converted Jews shall dwell in their own land for ever, to the end of the, world and never more be carried captive, Ezekiel 37:25; and the true professing people of God, as Judah signifies, shall continue in a church state, evermore, and never more be disturbed... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I WILL CLEANSE THEIR BLOOD [WHICH] I HAVE NOT CLEANSED,.... Which some understand, as the Targum, of the Lord's, inflicting further punishments on the, enemies of his people, for shedding their innocent blood; and that he will not expiate their sins, nor hold them guiltless, or suffer them to go... [ Continue Reading ]