Commentary by Ron Beckham
Verse 1. For behold,
in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah
and Jerusalem,
Israel, along with the former country of Judah
with its capital city of Jerusalem, are literal, historical places
composed of real people. The promises of these verses are for them
God will restore the fortunes of Judah
and Jerusalem. Indeed their fortunes
have already been restored, as you can see on a map of the Middle
East, or by visiting that country as we did a few years ago. A
nation (or nations Israel and Judah) that ceased to be has become
a nation once more because of the promise of God
But the place and its people are also a parable
of even more, and the promises to them are extended to all those who
no longer live for themselves, but place their faith in the Lord.
Your fortunes will be restored
because of His promise and in response to the simple trust you place
in Him. The fortunes of this
world, including money, fame, the admiration of others, good looks,
strength, or whatever, will soon be gone. But if you simply love
the Lord, His promise is that He will restore
all that is lost and more, and nothing will ever be lost again.
Verse 2. I will
gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of
Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on
behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have
scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land.
All nations, all people will enter
into judgment before the Lord God, maker of heaven and
earth. You are responsible for what you have done and will someday
have to look God straight in the face at a time when your deeds will
be open for all to see. Jehoshaphat
means the Lord (Yahweh)
Judges, and this valley,
according to Jewish tradition, was the part of the Kidron Valley
between the Temple and the Mount of Olives.
It was Gods Will that the Jewish nation,
Israel, along with the southern portion of that country, called
Judah, would be scattered among the
nations. And yet, those who scattered
them were not interested in Gods will they simply acted because
they were mean spirited and vindictive. God will judge those who
harm His little ones. This is true even though much of our trouble
in life will work to our ultimate good (it often cures our unbelief)
and reveals Gods glory.
Verse 3. They have
also cast lots for My people, traded a boy for a harlot and sold a
girl for wine that they may drink.
It is suggested that you read the Commentary of
Friday Study Ministries on the Book of Daniel Chapter One What was
done to the captives that survived the destruction of Israel and
subsequently Judah was terrible. The atrocities committed upon
the Jewish people down through the centuries and especially during
World War II were unbelievably horrible, and it not only did happen,
but God remembers what happened to every boy and girl of that time.
Just as they would cast
lots for the garments of Jesus while He was dying for our
sins (Psalm 22:18, Matthew 27:35), soldiers previously had cast
lots to see if a Jewish captive would die immediately after
the destruction of Israel or be sold into slavery. It may well be
that Daniel ended up in Babylon because he was traded
for a harlot that had followed the
Babylonian army, and it is certain that many a Jewish girl was sold
as a slave in return for a drink of wine. God remembers and will
JUDGE those who harm His little ones.
Verse 4. Moreover,
what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia?
Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me,
swiftly and speedily I will return your
recompense on your head.
What can you give to the Lord that will pay Him
for your sins? The Philistine city states such as Tyre and Sidon
were (are) responsible for the deaths of many among Gods people.
What could they give to God in exchange for the acts that had been
committed? When you consider who God is, the answer is nothing!
He is holy and we are all sinners in His sight, worthy only of death
(Romans 3:23).
We are debtors to God because of what we have
done, and as this verse says, if we attempt to recompense
God (repay Him) through our good works, He will fling our
offerings back into our faces. We have nothing to give to God. But
there is a Remedy for what we have done. Yes, the wages of sin is death, but the gift
of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans
6:23). You can give Him nothing, but He gives you everything in His
Son.
Verse 5. Since you
have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to
your temples,
The enemies of Israel and Judah invaded the
Holy Land on many occasions. Israel was sacked and destroyed in 722
BC. Judah, the Southern Kingdom, was conquered in 586 BC.
Jerusalem was taken at the latter time. The Babylonians removed the
silver and gold from the Temple in Jerusalem and brought it back to
their pagan temples in what is now Iraq.
Its easy to blame the troubles that have come
to modern Iraq on the British, or on Saddam Hussein or on the
Americans and no doubt one Muslim group blames another, but its
also interesting to look at these verses and conclude that God has a
long memory. The reality is that every place of worship, all
countries and everything in the world belongs to Him. (Its MY
silver and MY gold). If we unlawfully take what is His, He
will, in turn and in His time, take what is ours.
Verse 6. and sold
the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove
them far from their territory,
Not only did those who invaded the Holy Land
take the silver and gold
of the Temple (verse 5), but they also sold the young men, the
children of Judah and Jerusalem, into slavery. And God, who knows
everything about us all, reveals their real purpose. It was to get
rid of the Jews forever! The young boys were sold to Greek
traders, while the invaders of the land nodded their heads and
smiled, concluding they were gone for good!
But now, thousands of years in the future, here
they (the Jews) are again in the land that God has given to them.
Indeed the people of Judah were being judged for THEIR sins in what
happened, but God is not pleased by those who harm His little ones,
even though the judgment in our lives may somehow ultimately bring
benefit. God remembers and He will strike back at those who do
harm. Vengeance is Mine says the
Lord (Deuteronomy 32:35, Romans 12:19).
Verse 7. behold, I
am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them, and
return your recompense on your head.
Who would guess that the fulfillment of this
verse would be thousands of years in the future? The neighbors of
the modern nation Israel are the descendents of those who sacked the
Temple (verse 5) and they sold Jewish children into slavery at that
time. The reason that Israels Arab and other neighbors have not
been able to conquer Israel is right here in this verse because
God is repaying a debt from long ago.
When it seems in your life that God has not
answered your prayer, remember these verses in Joel. God has a very
long memory and He WILL repay the wrongs that have been done to
you. His timetable is not like yours. Moses addressed God in this
way: A thousand years in Your sight are
like yesterday when it is past (Psalm 90:4), and Peter said
something very much the same (2 Peter 3:8). God WILL answer your
prayer, but WAIT on Him, for His time is not like ours and the
answers we need may actually be found in eternity.
Verse 8. Also I
will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of
Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation,
for the Lord has spoken.
A recent old saying is this: What
goes around, comes around! In other words, as Paul said in
Galatians 6:7, whatever a man sows, that
he will also reap. The Sabeans
lived in Egypt, near the Nile River just as Israel and Judah would
be enslaved; their attackers would be, too. In this verse we see
WHY retribution will come upon those who do evil to others God,
who is just in all His ways and is the judge of all mankind, demands
full payment for all sin. His judgments are appropriate to the
crime whereas our judgments are often inappropriate and we tend to
judge the wrong people.
In these verses, God, through the prophet Joel,
is speaking directly to those who sold Jewish children to slave
traders, saying, What you have done to them, I will do to you.
And since all (of us)
have sinned (Romans 3:23) you and I
have a real problem. But dont be afraid. Yes, the
wages of sin is death but its also true that the
gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans
6:23). The judgment due us all has fallen on the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are redeemed from our crimes against God when we trust
in the Lord.
Verse 9. Proclaim
this among the nations: Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men! Let all
the soldiers draw near, let them come up!
Try to imagine that YOU are the United States
of America, on December 7th, 1941. It is a peaceful
morning in the Territory of Hawaii, as most of them are, but then
you notice airplanes in the sky. Many airplanes! And they are
dropping bombs on you! On your children, on the soldiers, sailors
and other citizens of your country. And such events have fallen
upon many peaceful countries and villages in history. What will you
do when this happens?
Why, you will proclaim
this among the nations. You will prepare
a war. You will rouse the mighty
men. You will declare that all the young men are soldiers
and you will draw them near as you call them up and train them for
battle! Thats what you would do! These chapters in the little
Book of Joel should wake us up! We are in a supernatural war that
is raging all around us, and as soldiers in that war we should draw
near and prepare for battle. God is calling you up!
Verse 10. Beat your
plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the
weak say, I am a mighty man.
The first part of this verse is precisely the
reverse of Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3. Those verses speak of a time
and setting in which the enemys futile war against God and His
people will be over. The Lord has the victory and there is no need
to fight anymore. These verses in Joel address us right now in our
present situation. The war is not over and we live in a
supernatural war zone and are being continually attacked as the
enemy flings unbelief at us from every side.
In a war zone, it is prudent to defend yourself
by any means available. The armor of God
is carefully itemized in Ephesians 6:10-18. Essentially we are to
put on Christ, our defense, and two interesting offensive weapons
are revealed: 1) The sword
of the Spirit which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:17), and
2) we are to pray
in the Spirit on all occasions (Ephesians 6:18). The truth
is that we are indeed personally weak,
but each of us is also a mighty man
with great weaponry, when we trust in the Lord.
Verse 11. Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather
yourselves there. Bring down, O Lord, Your mighty ones.
The interesting thing
about the Book of Joel, is that his (actually, the Lords)
prophesies not only have application for Joels time, but they also
had relevance to the disciples of the Lord in Acts Chapter Two, and
they reach out to all of us, from now to the end of time.
The Lord God, Maker of
heaven and of earth, is calling to you right now: Hasten
and come! like the Lord calls through Joel in this verse.
As we will see in the following section, we are being summoned to
the valley of decision, and our
choice is important indeed, because we are deciding our own outcome
for all eternity. Will you choose to be with the Lord? or are you
so intent on doing things your way, that you will reject Him
forever!
We glimpsed in verse 10
that the mighty ones of God are
often considered weak by the
people of this world. But it is His strength we must look to; not
our own. Its so fascinating that God does the work and yet He
shares the credit, the glory, with His people. It is so hard for
the typical parent, especially in these impatient times, to allow
children to learn by doing it themselves. And yet our God, who
could perfectly do it all Himself, chooses to involve His mighty
ones in much of His work upon this earth.
Verse 12. Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of
Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding
nations.
Its time to wake up!
When Joel uttered the Word of the Lord, it was not only to the
people of Judah, but its also to all people of all time,
everywhere. Let the nations be aroused
is a shout to you and me. We are to come to the valley
of Jehoshaphat, a name which literally means Jehovah
(Yahweh) is Judge. According to Jewish tradition, Jehoshaphat
was the part of the Kidron Valley that lay between the Temple and
the Mount of Olives.
The name of this valley
refers to verse 14 of this chapter in Joel, where it is called the valley
of decision. Jesus is the One who will judge the nations,
and He will separate the people one from
another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats
(Matthew 25:32). When He Judges the nations, which side will you be
on? The surrounding nations of
this verse in Joel are being judged by their works (see verse 7)
what are YOUR works? Jesus said, This is
the work of God, that you believe in the One He has sent
(John 6:29). You decide your place in eternity by your faith (or
your unbelief).
Verse 13. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread,
for the wine press is full; the vats overflow, for their wickedness
is great.
The question that
individuals ask: How could this happen to me? is partially
answered by these verses. You are not just an individual, but
also you are likely the citizen of some country or another. God
does view us as separate persons and will reward those individuals
who have placed their faith in the Lord, and respond to His command
that we love one another (John
13:34). But God has also shown that He will judge sinful nations,
even though some of His people may be a part of them. From that
perspective, when we pray for our leaders, we are also praying for
the safety of our families and ourselves.
We should always recognize
that the judgment of God is imminent that is, He may return at any
time. All you have to do is read a daily newspaper or watch the
news on TV and you will agree that the harvest
is ripe. He compares the boldness of wanton sinners in this
world with a farmer who notes it is time to harvest the crops. The
wickedness of this place is indeed
great and its time to trust in
the One who loves you before its too late!
Verse 14. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For
the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
Any estimate you may hear
about how many people have lived in human history will be based on
the philosophical understanding of the one who provides the educated
guess. The evolutionist will come up with a different number than
the creationist, but they agree that billions of people have lived
on this planet. There indeed will be multitudes who attend the judgment of the Lord. You will be there
and so will I.
What is your decision
about Him, about God? He has actually made His decision about you,
for He has decided that you are a sinner like the rest of us and in
need of His Son. The judgment will come soon. The fact that it has
been thousands of years since the words of this verse were uttered
is best understood in the light of Psalm 90:4, where Moses observed
that a thousand years in (Gods)
sight are like a day that has just gone by.
Indeed, days have passed and the day of
the Lord IS near.
Verse 15. The sun and moon grow dark and the stars lose their
brightness.
These verses must be
viewed with other Scriptures, such as Isaiah 13:10 -
the rising sun will be darkened and the
moon will not give its light. In Matthew 24:29, the Lord
referred to a future time when the sun will
be darkened, and the moon will not give its light
That
includes the moment when the Lord will gather
together His elect from the four winds Matthew 24:31.
There is a song that includes the phrase, The
things of earth grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and
grace. We wont need the sun at that time, for He will be
with us. But He is also here for you right this minute!
Note this: Human beings
depend on natural understanding. If we can see it with our eyes we
decide that it is real. The alternative (we cant discern it
physically, but simply believe) is considered by some to be
madness. But God calls it faith, which is trust based on
understanding given through His Holy Spirit. There will be times
when our mere senses are not enough. When we see Him face-to-face,
it will be like the sun and moon grow dark
for we will not need natural understanding and perception anymore.
And we desperately need comprehension in and through His Holy Spirit
right now!
Verse 16. The Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from
Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth tremble. But the Lord is a
refuge for His people and a stronghold to the sons of Israel.
Are you for the Lord or
against Him? Its one or the other and there is no middle ground.
If you are placing your trust in yourself and some abilities you
might think you have, youre against the Lord. If you trust in Him
and look to His strength, His love, instead of your own, then youre
on His side and He is your refuge.
He can seem frightening to those who dont know Him, and that is why
so many pretend He does not exist. It is to them like He roars
from Zion and they are afraid.
Everything changes when
you have faith in God through the Lord Jesus Christ. You KNOW that
God has given peace to You in His Son. His Holy Spirit is IN you
and He is continually reassuring you that all is well; you dont
need to be afraid. To those who love Him, He is a
refuge for His people, and that includes those who are the
sons of Israel. His promise to that nation, that people,
will never be broken.
Verse 17. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling
in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers
will pass through it no more.
When we are with the Lord,
we will have no more questions. Everything will be answered in
Him. We will KNOW that He is the
Lord our God, for we will see Him face-to-face. Its interesting,
by the way, that those Jews who have sought to return to the land of
Israel are called Zionists. By some outsiders, Zionist is
intended as an insult, but the Lord is in that place, and He intends
for them to be with Him in Zion.
All of us, often without even realizing it, have a great need to be
in the place where He (God) is.
The direct and future
reference in this verse is the New
Jerusalem glimpsed in places like Revelation 21:2. It is
also called the bride, the Lambs wife,
in Revelation 21:9-10. Yes, there is a place prepared in eternity
for all those who have placed their faith in the Lord, but the Jerusalem
of these verses is more than just a place; it is also a people, holy,
set apart by God. Strangers will
not be there - it is a place, a setting and a reality for those who
trust in the Lord.
Verse 18. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills
will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah will flow with
water; and a spring will go out from the house of the Lord to water
the valley of Shittim.
The Bible contains such wonderful imagery
and this verse is certainly right up there with the very best in the
Word of God. What is YOUR image of the good life? Freedom from
worry? God is offering that to you and more. A full bank account?
He is giving you much more than money; Hes offering you Himself!
Do you want friends? By accepting His love, you become lovable,
and others will want to be with you.
It is like the very mountains
of difficulties that have surrounded you, will
drip with sweet wine. You may
prefer the analogy of milk,
and can view the hills
you have been climbing all these years turned into excellent, but
low-calorie ice cream sundaes. Jesus offers living
water to those who trust in Him,
and such water
flows from the throne of God (Ezekiel 47, Revelation 22:1). Shittim
are acacias, a type of tree that flourishes in dry soil. You will
flourish. The Lord will give you everything!
Verse 19. Egypt will become a waste, and Edom will become a
desolate wilderness, because of the violence done to the sons of
Judah, in whose land they have shed innocent blood.
Those who trust in the Lord and revere
His Name will have enemies. Many
go to destruction
(Matthew 7:13) and your belief in the Lord is likely to be unpopular
with them. Underneath it all, everybody knows the Lord is real and
its simply foolish pride that causes so many to deny Him and take
issue with those who place their faith in Him. The people who lived
in Judah, where the prophet Joel spoke and subsequently wrote these
words, had a lot of enemies.
God introduced a great offensive thrust
called Israel into the world in this supernatural war that has
raged since the beginning of time. He used Moses to bring a people
to the land and to jot down the first five Books of the Bible.
Moses, Joel and many others BELIEVED in God, and the enemy used
nations typified by Egypt and Edom to harass and ultimately destroy
them. But God remembers and just like He is vindicating the people
of Judah (the Jews) who became innocent
blood at the hands of their
enemies, He remembers what has happened to you.
Verse 20. But Judah will be inhabited forever and Jerusalem for
all generations.
There are many strong statements in
Scripture that not only will there be a heaven in the future of
those who trust in the Lord, but the land of Israel on this earth
will also be occupied forever
(Ezra 9:12, Amos 9:15). Do you want permanence in your life? Even
the people who like adventure and change have a need for a place
and/or person of stability in their lives, and God offers
stability.
We saw in verse 19 that well have plenty
of adventure in life because we will have many enemies and certainly
have no reason to be bored! But again, stability at the core of
life is important to everyone, and when God is our foundation, we
are secure. Scripture emphatically states that Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever
(Hebrews 13:8). Just like Judah was destroyed, but lives again
today, if you seem to lose everything, youve lost nothing, because
you are SAFE in Him.
Verse 21. And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged;
for the Lord dwells in Zion.
God said through Moses in Deuteronomy
32:35, Vengeance is Mine,
and through Paul the Apostle, He said much the same in Romans
12:19. Though we may not see it because our perspective is so
limited, God is so much BETTER at vengeance than we are. His
vengeance is appropriate, whereas we often tend to shoot the wrong
messenger.
His statement in this verse: I
will avenge their blood, not only
refers directly to those in the land of Judah, the Jews, but it also
is a statement that He is watching out for you and me. You dont
need to be embarrassed or afraid, for He is with you and He will
defend you. If disaster strikes, He will fix it. If it seems like
centuries have passed (and sometimes that is precisely the way it
works), He will make it right. TRUST in the Lord. He loves you and
He will not forget what has happened to you.
One thing to especially note is that the Judgment of God fell on
Jesus Christ. When you place your faith in the Son of God, YOUR
sins are forgiven because He paid the price. Trust in Him and you
will be avenged
forever.
Ron Beckham, Pastor
Friday Study Ministries
P.O. Box 92131
Long Beach, CA
90809-2131 USA
www.fridaystudy.org
Ron@fridaystudy.org
