Joel 3:1-8
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Joel 3:1
"In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of
Judah and Jerusalem (,)."
Jeremiah 50:4,20 and 33:15 likewise employ the phrase "in those days
and at that time." And in all three instances in Jeremiah the phrase
refers to 'deliverance from enemies.' Thus, in Joel 3:1 the reference is
to that period just after the Second Advent and the Armageddon battle; this
is the very beginning of the Millennium.
tvbw bvw, is "to restore the fortunes," or "to restore the
captivity of Judah;" this is a direct reference to the regathering
and restoration of Israel. The phrase signals the end of the Diaspora,
and is referred to in Ezekiel 39:25, which says, "Therefore this is
what the Sovereign Lord says: I will now bring Jacob back from captivity
and will have compassion on all the people of Israel, and I will be zealous
for my holy name (a reference to the covenants with Israel)." And
Zephaniah 3:20 says, "At that time I will gather you; at that time
I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples
of the earth when I restore your fortunes (captivity) before your very eyes,'
says the Lord."
Joel 3:2
"I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of
Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my
inheritance, my people Israel, for they scattered my people among the nations
and divided up my land."
"All the nations," here, refers to the Gentiles still alive just
after the Second Advent. And they will be brought down to the "Valley
of Jehoshaphat." Jehoshaphat means 'the Lord judges.' And is presently
identified with the Kidron. It is that valley situated between the Mount
of Olives and Jerusalem. And it was here that the Moabites and Ammonites
were slaughtered by the Lord as they opposed Israel and Jehoshaphat.
Joel, however, is not making reference to the valley as it exists today.
The location is the same, but a deeper valley will be formed by the Second
Advent earthquake which splits the Mount of Olives, according to Zechariah
14:4-6, which says, "On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of
Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two
from east to west, forming a great valley (Jehoshaphat), with half of the
mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain
valley , for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the
earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will
come, and all the holy ones with him."
Thus, the Mount of Olives will vanish into a great valley, ge' gedholah
me'odh, "a huge valley." Here, then, Christ will judge these
unbelieving Gentiles; and He will not only judge them, but He is also the
plaintiff, the accuser. And the "inheritance" and "my people"
both refer to the same group of people: true Israel, the regenerate Jews.
"For they" is the Gentiles, and "scattered my people among
the nations" refers to persecution of the Jews in the form of anti-Semitism
by these unbelieving Gentiles.
This anti-Semitism and persecution is narrated in Revelation 12:1-10. This
period will mark the most intensive persecution of the Jews in the history
of the world. And the bulk of the persecution occurs in the final half
(3 and one-half years) of the Tribulation.
Matthew 25:31-46 tells the story of these Gentiles. They were evangelized
by the 144,000 Jewish evangelists of the Tribulation. Some became believers;
these are the sheep. Others rejected Him; these are the goats. The sheep
enter the Millennium. The goats are cast into the Lake of Fire for all
eternity.
Joel 3:3
"They cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes;
they sold girls for wine that they might drink."
The term "they" refers to the Roman soldiers under Titus in 70
AD as they besieged the city of Jerusalem. As you recall, the Emperor Nero
thought he was quite a musician and vocalist. He gave command performances
at his own command. All his officials and nobles were mandated to attend.
And, of course, wishing to remain alive, they lied and praised his abilities.
There was one, however, who, according to Theodor Mommsen, "fell asleep"
at one of Nero's performances; this miscreant was Vespasian; he was a Roman
General and very powerful. Nero could not execute such a powerful man,
so he banished him to Judea, which was Nero's idea of a living hell. After
Nero's death, Vespasian and his three legions were perceived as being all
that could keep the Empire together; thus, Vespasian was made Emperor.
Almost simultaneously, the Jewish situation exploded. And Jerusalem was
besieged.
Vespasian's son, Titus, captured the city and destroyed it in August of
70 AD. One million nine hundred thousand Jews, men, women and children,
died during the siege and capture of the city. Only 97,000 Jews survived
and they were all taken prisoner. It was for this group of survivors that
the Roman soldiers "cast lots." They gambled for the "distribution
of prisoners of war." [1]
The phrase "cast lots" (lrvg ddy) is also used in Obadiah 11 and
Nahum 3:10. "On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off
his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem
(the survivors), you were like one of them," Obadiah 11. And Nahum
3:10 says, "Yet she was taken captive and went into exile. Her infants
were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. Lots were cast for her
nobles, and all her great men were put in chains."
So the picture is one of the Roman soldiers gambling for survivors of the
city of Jerusalem, just as armies had done in the past. "And traded
boys for prostitutes" means that young Jewish boys were given over
as catamites to be used in pederasty. "Jews (particularly slaves)
were often forced into shameful passive participation during orgies and
private shackups. In A.D. 70, Emperor Vespasian ordered three shipfuls
of eminent young male Jerusalemites to be placed in Roman brothels; whereupon
his son Titus, in celebration of his victory, sent an additional four hundred
Judean boys and girls 'for immoral purposes.'" [2]
Too, "they sold girls for wine that they might drink;" this is
a reference to the selling of young Jewish females to another soldier for
a cup of wine. That was the value of a female after the siege of Jerusalem:
for a cup of wine you could buy one. And of course the intent was rape,
violence, etc.
Flavius Josephus witnessed the siege of Jerusalem and wrote of it. He describes
the horrors, suffering, starvation and death of the siege. Our Lord, also,
prophesied the fall of Jerusalem in Luke 21; the year was 30 AD. This passage
is very similar to, but not the same as Matthew 24. Matthew 24 describes
the period just prior to the Second Advent; Luke 21 describes the period
prior to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. There are very real similarities,
but these are the similarities of persecution.
Luke 21:6 "As for what you see here, the time will come when not one
stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down."
This is Titus destroying the Temple in 70 AD.
Luke 21:9 "When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened.
These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away."
Here our Lord is speaking of that period from 30 AD until 70 AD. There
will be wars and commotions.
Luke 21:11 The "great signs" includes the gift of tongues on
the Day of Pentecost. This fulfills Isaiah 28. The purpose of tongues
was to evangelize the Jews and to warn of the coming destruction of Jerusalem
in 70 AD and the subsequent Diaspora, the dispersion of the Jews as a punishment
from God.
Luke 25:13 "This will result in your being witnesses to them."
Here our Lord is saying that crisis and suffering bring people to salvation.
Luke 25:16 "You will be betrayed by parents, brothers, relatives and
friends, and they will put some of you to death." This reference is
confirmed by Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian. Many of the Jews,
during the siege, betrayed their own family members for food, even to the
point of cannibalism.
Luke 21:20 "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies (the Roman
armies of Titus and Vespasian), you will know that its desolation (the dispersion,
the final phase of discipline) is near."
Luke 21:24 "They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners
to all the nations (dispersion of the Jews throughout the world). Jerusalem
will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles (the Church
Age) are fulfilled." Here is the verse that defines the difference
between this description of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD and the siege
of Jerusalem during the Tribulation just before the Second Advent, the Day
of the Lord.
Joel Chapter 3:4-8 is a parenthetical insertion; in this parenthesis Joel
marks a parallel between the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in 70 AD, and
the Philistine raid on the Jews in 845 BC, when the Philistines took many
Jews captive and sold them to the Phoenicians, who in turn sold them as
slaves to the Greeks. This event was within the memory of Joel's generation
and was therefore a very real example of that which Joel is stating in his
parenthesis: God punishes anti-Semitism; the Jews themselves are to remember
this and depend upon it. [3]
These Jewish slaves were sold to the Greeks by the Phoenicians because the
Greeks of the ninth century BC were the most notorious homosexuals and pederasts
in the world. And the demand for young people of both genders was extraordinary.
"The cult of nudity, and deification of the male body, had made homosexuality
quite fashionable in Greek society. Athletics and militarism were prime
interests, and personalized with hedonistic humanism they encouraged a camaraderie
conducive to spiritual and physical homophilia." [4]
This particular event is related in II Chronicles 21:16 and 17, which says,
"The Lord aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines
and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites. 17 They attacked Judah, invaded
it and carried off all the goods found in the king's palace, together with
his sons and wives. Not a son was left to him except Ahaziah, the youngest."
The reference to Jehoram dates the passage for us: 845 BC.
Joel 3:4
"Now what have you against me, O Tyre and Sidon and all you regions
of Philistia? Are you repaying me for something I have done? If you are
paying me back, I will swiftly and speedily return on your own heads what
you have done."
Joel begins the parenthesis with the judicial or forensic language, "What
have you done to me?" This legal phrase (yl MtyWZZnmf hm) is also
found in Judges 8:1; Jeremiah 2:5,29; Micah 6:3. The prosecuting attorney
is the Lord Jesus Christ; He makes the charges; and He will act as judge
and executioner.
Tyre, known now as Sur, was the foremost city of the Phoenicians. Sidon,
known now as Seda, located approximately 30 miles north of Tyre, was at
one time the foremost city of Phoenicia. Indeed, this is why both the Old
Testament writers and Homer refer to the Phoenicians as 'Sidonians.' And
the phrase "all you regions of Philistia" refers to the Philistine
pentapolis: Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron.
The Phoenicians were great traders and were the only people of the ancient
world intrepid enough to sail out of the Mediterranean, through the Pillars
of Hercules, into the Atlantic. And the Philistines were progeny of the
'Greek Sea Peoples' and were a military people. They trained year-round
and found it demeaning to farm and produce food. Thus to obtain food and
necessities they raided Judah for food. And to obtain money they kidnapped
Jews and sold them into slavery. [5]
Another translation of verse 4 might read: "Do you inflict evil on
me? (The question demands a 'yes' answer.) When you inflict evil on me,
quickly and speedily I will inflict evil on your heads." , [6,7]
Joel 3:5,6
"For you took my silver and my gold and carried off my finest treasures
to your temples. You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks,
that you might send them far off from their homeland."
The phrase "fines treasures" refers to the furniture and articles
from the Temple in Jerusalem. These items, the silver and gold, and the
people of Judah and Jerusalem are all viewed as God's possessions. This,
then, is the intimacy between God and the Jews. And we have already seen
the purpose for which the Greeks intended the purchased slaves. Not only
were they bartered for, but they were removed from their homeland.
Joel 3:7,8
"'See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you
sold them, and I will return on your own heads what you have done. I will
sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell
them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.' The Lord has spoken."
God will allow the Jews to participate in the punishment of the Phoenicians.
This is a reference to the destruction of Sidon by Artaxerxes III in 343
BC; and the invasion and subduement of Tyre and Gaza in 332 BC by Alexander
the Great. Alexander the Great was favorably disposed toward the Jews and
had Jewish administrators as governmental assistants. After he conquered
Phoenicia, he turned the Phoenician slaves over to these Jewish assistants;
they in turn sold them to the Arabs (called Sabeans in verse 8). The Sabeans
inhabited the southern tip of Arabia. [8]
This completes the parenthesis of Joel 3:4-8.
Notes:
[1] Wolff, Hans Walter. Joel and Amos; page 77.
[2] Edwardes, Allen. Erotica Judaica; page 122.
[3] Theime, Robert. Joel.
[4] Edwardes, Allen. Erotica Judaica; page 110.
[5] Macalister, R.A.S. The Philistines: Their History and Civilization;
1965. Corroborated by Robert Thieme in Joel.
[6] Thieme, Robert. Notes on Joel; 1976.
[7] Wolff, Hans Walter. Joel and Amos; page 78. Here, although he argues
for a date of 400-443 BC, Dr. Wolff presents information that admits to
a much earlier dating: "Myers, "Date," 181-85. Cf. Nvy ("Javan,"
i.e. Greece) in Ezek 27:13,19 --in the framework of a list which may derive
from the period before 587 and may perhaps have reached the transmitter
of the book of Ezekiel by way of Tyrian exiles; so Zimmerli, Ezechiel, 661."
[8] Thieme, Robert. Joel.
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