Reflections on Joel 3

Joel 03 (Contemporary English Version)


1. At that time I, the LORD, will make Judah and Jerusalem prosperous again.
   
2. Then in Judgment Valley I will bring together the nations that scattered my people Israel everywhere in the world, and I will bring charges against those nations. They divided up my land
   
3. and gambled to see who would get my people; they sold boys and girls to pay for prostitutes and wine.
   
4. You people of Tyre and Sidon and you Philistines, why are you doing this? Are you trying to get even with me? I'll strike back before you know what's happened.
   
5. You've taken my prized possessions, including my silver and gold, and carried them off to your temples.
   
6. You have dragged the people of Judah and Jerusalem from their land and sold them to the Greeks.
   
7. But I'll make the people of Judah determined to come home, and what happened to them will happen to you.
   
8. I'll hand over your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, who live far away. I, the LORD, have spoken!
   
9. Say to the nations: "Get ready for war! Be eager to fight. Line up for battle and prepare to attack.
   
10. Make swords out of plows and spears out of garden tools. Strengthen every weakling."
    
11. Hurry, all you nations! Come quickly. Ask the LORD to bring his warriors along.
    
12. You must come now to Judgment Valley, where the LORD will judge the surrounding nations.
    
13. They are a field of ripe crops. Bring in the harvest! They are grapes piled high. Start trampling them now! If our enemy's sins were wine, every jar would overflow.
    
14. Crowds fill Decision Valley. The judgment day of the LORD will soon be here--
    
15. no light from the sun or moon, and stars no longer shine.
    
16. From the heart of Jerusalem the LORD roars like a lion, shaking the earth and sky. But the LORD is a fortress, a place of safety for his people Israel.
    
17. I am the LORD your God. And you will know I live on Zion, my sacred hill, because Jerusalem will be sacred, untouched by foreign troops.
    
18. On that day, fruitful vineyards will cover the mountains. And your cattle and goats that graze on the hills will produce a lot of milk. Streams in Judah will never run dry; a stream from my house will flow in Acacia Valley.
    
19. Egypt and Edom were cruel and brutal to Judah, without a reason. Now their countries will become a barren desert,
    
20. but Judah and Jerusalem will always have people.
    
21. I, the LORD, live on Mount Zion. I will punish the guilty and defend the innocent.
    

---

Judgment has now moved from Israel to the nations that persecuted Israel. The context continues to be unclear since it is difficult to find historical events that coincide with the text. Verse one places these events at a time when God has "restored the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem." We have yet to see this happen, so the most likely occurrence for the events described here are yet in the future. This would also suggest that Israel is a reference to all God's people and not simply a nationalistic reference.

Whenever these events occur, it will be a time of retribution against those who have persecuted God's people. The charges against them are that they have scattered God's people, sold them into slavery, and divided His land. The overarching charge is their failure to recognize God's sovereignty. Disdain for God's people is disdain for God. This charge is one also brought earlier against Israel. She took God's blessings but did not recognize Him as the source.

The retribution against the nations will be suited to the charge. They sold Israel into slavery and dispersed the people. Now the dispersed Israel will become slave traders and sell the sons and daughters of these nations into slavery. Then comes a call to war. It will be a holy war. Not a jihad in which the people of God suppose themselves to be fighting for God. God doesn't need us to fight for Him. This war will be the armies of the nations against the Lord Himself. The armies are summoned to the Valley of Jehoshaphat for this war. This is likely not a geographical location for the meaning of the name is "the Lord judges." This will be divine warfare against the enemies of God's people. The events described here that surround this war can be compared to Armageddon, it it may well be that this is a reference to Armageddon. The ominous events described in verses 15-16 signal the approaching day of the Lord, "The sun and moon will grow dark, and the stars will cease their shining. The LORD will roar from Zion and raise His voice from Jerusalem; heaven and earth will shake."

This war against the nations is not only aimed at retribution for their sins against the people of God and God Himself, but at demonstrating God's power to His people and on behalf of His people. God's people suffer throughout the ages at the hands of God's enemies, but there comes a time when all is made right. In the perspective of eternity, the suffering of God's people in this lifetime is minuscule in comparison to the blessings God will pour out on His people for all eternity.