Joel 3

Notes

Ver. 2, 8-16 chiefly relate to the destruction of the antichristians and Turks in the great age to come, in which the just judg ment of God will be fearfully manifested. The valley of Jehoshaphat denotes the place where the Lord will destroy them, as he did the enemies of Jehoshaphat in the valley of Berachah, 2 Ch. 20. 1-26; and may be the same as Armageddon, Re. 14. 14, 16; or Hamon-gog, Eze. 39. 4-11; or the valley before Jerusalem, Zec. 14. 4. The words import that there will be a general combination against God's people, abundantly furnished with weapons of war; but God, by the instruments of his wrath, will suddenly cut them off, trample them under his feet, ruin all ranks, and deprive them of all their comforts. 16-18. Amidst the terrible commotions attending the fall of Antichrist and Mahometanism, the Lord will remarkably comfort, protect, and strengthen his people, particularly the newly converted Jews; and their church and nation shall be singularly holy; neither polluted by unclean persons nor doctrines, nor molested by enemies. And great shall be the abundance of ordinances, spiritual blessings, and gracious influences, suited to both strong and weak believers. Yea, by means of the preached gospel, the most barren places shall become fruitful in saints and good works. 19-21. And while the Egyptians, Edomites, and other inveterate enemies of the church, shall be destroyed, the Jews and people of God shall enjoy undisturbed repose; for he who dwells among them and in them will pardon their guilt, and deliver them from the power and filth of their sins.

Ver. 4. Tyre and Zidon, upon many occasions, proved very unfriendly to the Jews, and, after the days of Hiram, omitted few opportunities of doing them injury, 2 Ch. 21. 16; 28. 18; Am. 1. 6, 9.—Will ye render me a recompense? Will you retaliate upon me, in the persons of my people, either because you covet the territory I have given them (see ver. 6), or because they compete with you in some branch of commerce, or despise your idolatry. C.

Ver. 7. I will raise them, &c. Alexander of Macedon and his successors restored great multitudes of enslaved Jews to liberty. Ptolemy Philadelphus, the Grecian monarch of Egypt, restored above 100,000, and at an expense of 400 talents[≈ 14 tonnes · 13 tons]—Josephus' Antiquities, b. xii. c. ii. § 2, 3—which act and liberality of a heathen monarch might well minister a severe rebuke, while it furnishes a bright example, to Christian kings and governments. C.

Ver. 8. I will sell your sons, &c. When Alexander of Macedon took Tyre, after a protracted siege, he sold, according to Arrian, 30,000 of the people for slaves. C.

Ver. 17. Strangers. Enemies from strange countries, and of strange speech, shall no longer be permitted to enter and ravage the beloved city. Or it may well signify that the Gentiles, who shall now be co-inhabitants of the spiritual Jerusalem, shall be no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, Ep. 2. 19. C.

Ver. 18. Shittim may be translated thorns; and the prophecy considered emblematic of the progress of the gospel in superseding the cares of time by introducing the hopes of eternity, Mat. 13. 22. C.

Ver. 19. Egypt and Edom. Not literally these countries; at least not these countries alone, but all countries that have enslaved and evil-entreated the Jewish and Christian church. C.

Reflections.—The most kind and obliging often find others unkind and unneighbourly. And no sweetness of temper or conduct can soften the enmity of the wicked. But dreadful is their danger who injure the people of God; for without fail, and in great fury, especially at the last day, will God reckon with them! But when wicked men are cast down, believers shall be lifted up in comfort, holiness, and safety.—How delightful shall this world be when all the corners of it shall be filled with the knowledge, glory, and grace of the Lord! And still more happy in the eternal state, in which God and the Lamb shall be ALL and IN ALL.

Concluding Remarks on the Book of Joel.

The study of natural history is, in all its branches, exceedingly curious, interesting, and instructive; but in none more than in entomology, or the description of insects. The interest excited by this branch of study arises from many topics, such as, the astonishing variety of their genera and species; their wonderful forms either of beauty or hideousness; the innumerable multitudes in which many of them are produced; the relative loudness of voice and muscular power with which many of them are endowed; their powerlessness as individuals, with their irresistibility in masses; the insatiable appetite and voracity of some in their imperfect state, as the caterpillar of the butterfly, and of others in their perfect condition, as the locust or the white ant.

But the chief excellence of natural history appears when it is viewed in its relation to God and his providence;—when the inhabitants of every leaf are examined as evidence of his liberality and goodness (Ps. 145. 16), or discovered to be instruments of his judgment which he can call forth at his pleasure, to chastise the rebellious, and humble the pride of man. A single worm can sink whole navies in the ocean; the young of a tiny fly can blight the early hopes of the entire harvest; a creature almost invisible to the naked eye can empty the teeming granaries; while the locust, which the finger crushes as the moth, can invade an empire with the irresistibility of an Alexander, and spread famine and death over continents.

To this view of natural history the book of Joel is particularly directed; and it affords a noble example of the fact, that the Scriptures excel all other books, as much in sublimity as in piety and truth. C.