โยเอล 3:3 วิจารณ์

In the close of the foregoing chapter we had a gracious promise of deliverance in Mount Zion and Jerusalem; now this whole chapter is a comment upon that promise, showing what that deliverance shall be, how it shall be wrought by the destruction of the church's enemies, and how it shall be perfected in the everlasting rest and joy of the church. This was in part accomplished in the deliverance of Jerusalem from the attempt that Sennacherib made upon it in Hezekiah's time, and afterwards in the return of the Jews out of their captivity in Babylon, and other deliverances wrought for the Jewish church between that and Christ's coming. But it has a further reference, to the great redemption wrought out for us by Jesus Christ, and the destruction of our spiritual enemies and all their agents, and will have its full accomplishment in the judgment of the great day. Here is a prediction, I. Of God's reckoning with the enemies of his people for all the injuries and indignities that they had done them, and returning them upon their own head (Joe 3:1-8). II. Of God's judging all nations when the measure of their iniquity is full, and appearing publicly, to the everlasting confusion of all impenitent sinners and the everlasting comfort of all his faithful servants (Joe 3:9-17). III. Of the provision God has made for the refreshment of his people, for their safety and purity, when their enemies shall be made desolate (Joe 3:18-21). These promises were not of private interpretation only, but were written for our learning, "that we, through patience and comfort of this scripture, might have hope."

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, Joe 3:1; a threatening of Tyre and Zidon, by way of retaliation, for carrying the riches of the Jews into their temples, and selling their persons to the Greeks, Joe 3:4; an alarm to prepare for the battle of Armageddon, or the destruction that shall be made in the valley of Jehoshaphat, Joe 3:9; and after that an account of the happy state of the church of Christ, their safety and security, plenty, prosperity, and purity, to the end of the world, Joe 3:16.

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 Romans, who, very probably, cast lots for them, as was usual in such cases; see Nah 3:10; and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink; either they gave a boy to be prostituted to natural lusts, in lieu of a whore; and a girl to be debauched for a bottle of wine: or they gave a boy for the price of a whore, as the Targum and Kimchi interpret it; that is, they gave a boy, instead of money, to a whore, to lie with her, as the eunuch was given to Thais; and they gave a girl to the wine merchant for as much wine as they could drink at one sitting. These phrases both express their uncleanness and intemperance, and also the low price and value they set upon their captives; and is applicable enough to the Papists, notorious for the same abominable lusts. (d) De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 3.

(Chapter 3, verses 1 onwards) For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There I will enter into judgment against them concerning my people, my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and have divided up my land. They have cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes; they have sold girls for wine that they may drink. LXX: For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the 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. They cast lots for my people and traded boys for prostitutes; they sold girls for wine to drink. Let us say that we promised, first connecting the later things to the earlier ones according to anagoge, if we are able, we will try to refer them to the day of judgment. With the believers saved on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and with the rest of the people of Judaea called, who believed with the apostles and through the apostles, at that time after the Lord had turned the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, who had come to preach seen, and to the captives, remission, and delivered those who confess the Lord, and who are in the Church, in which there is a vision of peace, will gather all the nations that did not want to believe: and will lead them into the valley of Jehoshaphat, which more significantly, according to the Hebrew truth, is said in Greek κατάξω, that is, I will lead them down, and I will draw them from the highest to the lowest. At the same time, consider when the Lord summons unbelievers, even hostile powers, to judgment and disputes with them on behalf of his people: 'I will bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.' But when he encourages believers to battle, he says: 'Stir up the strong ones: let all the warriors come forth and ascend.' The nations are urged not to descend, but to ascend into the Valley of Jehoshaphat. For everyone who is judged because of their sins is placed in the valley, which is called Jehoshaphat, that is, the judgment of the Lord. For whoever believes in the Lord will not be judged. And there he will argue with them, not by the power of majesty, but by convincing them with the truth of reason, those who have divided the people of God and dispersed his inheritance among the nations, in order to compel the servants of God to serve themselves. And they divided his land, separating it with many errors among themselves, so that some worshiped Jupiter, others Juno, and Minerva, and fever, and rust, and Anubis, and the crocodile, and the ibis, and the owls, and hawks, and storks. Under these names, the people of God were once divided: those hostile nations, that is, the princes of this world and the rulers of darkness, not only divided the people of God among themselves, but they also put boys in brothels, forcing them to change their natural disposition, about whom the Apostle speaks: Therefore, God handed them over to shameful passions: indeed, their women exchanged the natural use (or, their own nature) for that which is against nature. Similarly, men, forsaking natural use with women, were inflamed with lust for one another, men committing indecent acts with other men, and receiving in themselves the penalty that was due for their error. And not content with this, they sold the girl for wine, so that they could drink and satisfy their lustful desire. All of these things, according to the Jews, were fulfilled in the times of Vespasian, Titus, and especially Hadrian, exactly as described. But if we want to refer to what is written on the day of judgment, we say that everyone who is saved is saved in the Church, whether in heavenly Jerusalem. And after the captivity of the Jews and Jerusalem is turned, then all are to be gathered and led into the valley of Josaphat: and there the Lord will judge with those who persecuted his people, and divided for themselves the inheritance of the Lord, and scattered them among the nations, and cast lots for their land: which we must not only accept concerning heretics, who divided God's people for themselves and made them into gentiles, but also against every rigid and proud teacher, who rule over the clergy under the name of doctrine and priesthood, and oppress those who are subject to them. And when they are negligent and cause scandal to one of the least, they even place boys in brothels or hand them over to prostitutes. They sell girls for the sake of their pleasure, whose god is their belly, and they glory in their shame (Philippians 3). Furthermore, they entrust young men to prostitutes and sell girls for the sake of luxury, not hesitating to corrupt wrongdoers for the sake of shameful profit.

GOD'S VENGEANCE ON ISRAEL'S FOES IN THE VALLEY OF JEHOSHAPHAT. HIS BLESSING ON THE CHURCH. (Joel 3:1-21) bring again the captivity--that is, reverse it. The Jews restrict this to the return from Babylon. Christians refer it to the coming of Christ. But the prophet comprises the whole redemption, beginning from the return out of Babylon, then continued from the first advent of Christ down to the last day (His second advent), when God will restore His Church to perfect felicity [CALVIN].

cast lots for my people--that is, divided among themselves My people as their captives by lot. Compare as to the distribution of captives by lot (Oba 1:11; Nah 3:10). given a boy for . . . harlot--Instead of paying a harlot for her prostitution in money, they gave her a Jewish captive boy as a slave. girl for wine--So valueless did they regard a Jewish girl that they would sell her for a draught of wine.

(Heb. Bib. ch. 4.) Judgment upon the World of Nations, and Glorification of Zion- Joe 3:1, Joe 3:2. "For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall turn the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather together all nations, and bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will contend with them there concerning my people and my inheritance Israel, which they have scattered among the nations, and my land have they divided. Joe 3:3. And for my people they cast the lot; and gave the boy for a harlot, and the maiden they have sold for wine, and drunk (it)." The description of the judgment-day predicted in Joe 2:31 commences with an explanatory כּי. 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. By hinnēh, the fact to be announced is held up as something new and important. The notice as to the time points back to the "afterward" in Joe 2:28 : "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 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 את שׁבוּת is not used here in the sense of "to bring back the prisoners," but, as in Hos 6:11, in the more comprehensive sense of restitutio in integrum, 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 וקבּצתּי the prediction of judgment is appended to the previous definition of the time in the form of an apodosis. The article in כּל־הגּוים (all the nations) does not refer to "all those nations which were spoken of in Hos 1:1-11 and 2 under the figure of the locusts" (Hengstenberg), but is used because the prophet had in his mind all those nations upon which hostility towards Israel, the people of God, is charged immediately afterwards as a crime: so that the article is used in much the same manner as in Jer 49:36, because the notion, though in itself an indefinite one, is more fully defined in what follows (cf. Ewald, 227, a). The valley of Yehōshâphât, i.e., Jehovah judges, is not the valley in which the judgment upon several heathen nations took place under Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20), and which received the name of Valley of blessing, from the feast of thanksgiving which Jehoshaphat held there (Ch2 20:22-26), as Ab. Ezra, Hofmann, Ewald, and others suppose; for the "Valley of blessing" was not "the valley of Kidron, which was selected for that festival in the road back from the desert of Tekoah to Jerusalem" (see Bertheau on 2 Chronicles l.c.), and still less "the plain of Jezreel" (Kliefoth), but was situated in the neighbourhood of the ruins of Bereikût, which have been discovered by Wolcott (see Ritter, Erdkunde, xv. p. 635, and Van de Velde, Mem. p. 292). On the other hand, the valley of Jehoshaphat is unquestionably to be sought for, according to this chapter (as compared with Zac 14:4), in or near Jerusalem; and the name, which does not occur anywhere else in either the Old or New Testament, excepting here and in Joe 3:12, is formed by Joel, like the name ‛ēmeq hechârūts in v. 14, from the judgment which Jehovah would hold upon the nations there. The tradition of the church (see Euseb. and Jerome in the Onom. s.v. κοιλάς, Caelas, and Itiner. Anton. p. 594; cf. Robinson, Pal. i. pp. 396, 397) has correctly assigned it to the valley of the Kidron, on the eastern side of Jerusalem, or rather to the northern part of that valley (Sa2 18:18), or valley of Shaveh (Gen 14:17). There would the Lord contend with the nations, hold judgment upon them, because they had attacked His people (nachălâthı̄, the people of Jehovah, as in Joe 2:17) and His kingdom ('artsı̄). The dispersion of Israel among the nations, and the division (חלּק) of the Lord's land, cannot, of course, refer to the invasion of Judah by the Philistines and Arabians in the time of Joram (Ch2 21:16-17). For although these foes did actually conquer Jerusalem and plunder it, and carried off, among other captives, even the sons of the king himself, this transportation of a number of prisoners cannot be called a dispersion of the people of Israel among the heathen; still less can the plundering of the land and capital be called a division of the land of Jehovah; to say nothing of the fact, that the reference here is to the judgment which would come upon all nations after the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon all flesh, and that it is not till Joe 3:4-8 that Joel proceeds to speak of the calamities which neighbouring nations had inflicted upon the kingdom of Judah. The words presuppose as facts that have already occurred, both the dispersion of the whole nation of Israel in exile among the heathen, and the conquest and capture of the whole land by heathen nations, and that in the extent to which they took place under the Chaldeans and Romans alone.