As we go through this chapter, we find figurative language being used and many different views about what the days and time Joel is speaking about. Is he speaking about the time of Judah when they return from captivity, and God will judge their enemies? Or is he speaking about a future time, a time in the New Testament and beyond? Or is he speaking about both?
Although these verses may imply or even hint at things that will happen in New Testament times, we must bear in mind what these words meant for Judah and their enemies during those days and times.
Kelly, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Now we find in the New Testament that there may be a passing application included within the scope of a prophecy, but also an ultimate and therefore more complete fulfilment. They are, of course, both true. It is a mistake to deny the imminent and lesser application; it is still more grossly erroneous not to look for more.’
Many commentators have different views concerning the time of ‘those days’, Joel 3:1. Some suggest it’s speaking of the New Testament time, and others suggest it applies to the time when God’s people returned from captivity.
Gifford, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Joel 2:28-32 contain prophecy of the beginning of the church, the Christian dispensation. Joel 3:1-16 seems to contain prophecy of the return of the Jews from captivity long before Jesus came to earth, long before the former prophecy was fulfilled. How do we explain Joel’s jumping forth to one scene and then going back to a much earlier one? In Joel 3:1-16 God is promising that the captivity would end, but in Joel 2:28-32, He is telling the people of an even greater blessing, a time of release from spiritual captivity to Satan. Thus, He starts with the greater blessing.’
God will judge all nations on account of His people, especially Judah’s enemies, Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Egypt and Edom, Amos 1:6 / Amos 1:9 / Isaiah 9:12 / Isaiah 14:28-32 / 2 Chronicles 21:16-17.
Some commentators suggest that the gathering of the nations, Joel 3:2, is a reference to the gathering of spiritual Israel out of all nations through the preaching of the Gospel, Matthew 28:19-20 / Mark 16:15-16 / Acts 8:4.
The place where Jehoshaphat defeated the nations of Moab and Ammon is recorded in 2 Chronicles 20, but the reference to ‘The Valley of Jehoshaphat’, Joel 3:2, isn’t a literal place in Palestine but a figurative place where God will bring His judgment.
It points more to an event, not an actual location, kind of like the place ‘Armageddon’ in Revelation 16. The Valley of Jehoshaphat, which means ‘God shall judge’ and ‘Armageddon’ are the places where God will vent His anger and wrath upon all those who oppose Him.
When the Israelites were taken into Assyrian and Babylonian captivity, their captors showed little consideration for the people. ‘They cast lots for my people’, Joel 3:3 / Nahum 3:10, refers to the sinfulness of Israel’s enemies, drunkenness, and human slavery, especially child abuse, which are prominent here.
God is going to bring judgment upon Tyre, Sidon and Philistia, Ezekiel 26:1-28:19 / Ezekiel 28:20-26 / Isaiah 23-29 / Isaiah 14:28-30 / Jeremiah 47 / Ezekiel 25:15-17, because they had mistreated God’s people, and they will reap what they sow, Galatians 6:7. They will be treated as they treated others around them, especially God’s people.
They stole the temple treasures of Israel and placed them in their pagan temples of false gods, Hosea 2:8 / Haggai 2:8. They traded in slavery by selling Israelites to other nations, Amos 1:6 / Amos 1:9 / Ezekiel 27:13 / Ezekiel 27:19.
God will sell His enemies’ sons and daughters to Judah, and then Judah will sell their enemies’ sons and daughters to the Sabeans, a nation far away. The Sabeans were an old group of people who were mentioned in Job 1:15 and described as a people of stature in Isaiah 45:14.
Later, the very people to whom they had sold God’s people, the Greeks, would eventually be the people who would conquer and sell them as slaves to other nations. They eventually reaped what they sowed when Alexander the Great conquered their cities.
The nations, Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, are called to prepare for battle; they are called to come to the ‘Valley of Jehoshaphat’, Joel 3:2 / Joel 3:12, where the Lord will judge the nations.
This again speaks of judgement on Judah’s enemies. God will overthrow these people, and He will use the judgment of these people in reference to any people who come up against Judah.
God says to His enemies, ‘beat your ploughshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears,’ Joel 3:10. In Isaiah 2:1-4, and Micah 4:1-3, we find similar figurative language used.
Micah 4:3 and Isaiah 2:4 both read, ‘they will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.’ But here in Joel 3:10, ‘beat your ploughshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears’. In Micah and Isaiah, the weapons are made into farming implements, but in Joel, the farming implements are made into weapons.
The point is that when Micah and Isaiah speak, they both speak in terms of peace, which will come in the future, hence why the weapons are made into farming implements. But here in Joel, there will be no peace for God’s enemies because they are about to be judged, hence why the farming implements are made into weapons.
The word ‘warriors’, Joel 3:11, means mighty ones; this could be either angels, Daniel 9:20-23 / Matthew 13:39 / Revelation 14:14-20, or cherubim, Ezekiel 10. Whoever they are, they are God’s chosen fighters. God’s enemies will have no chance.
Joel mentioned that the harvest is ripe, Joel 3:13. This is in reference to coming judgment, where they would reap as he had sown, Galatians 6:7-8 / Matthew 13:24-30.
Notice that Joel calls the place the ‘valley of decision’, Joel 3:14, which simply means the valley of judgment. In other words, the nations were called by God to judgment. Once again, this is not to be taken literally as a place, but figuratively as an event.
The nations were so evil that God now decides to judge them and destroy them, Joel 3:15-16, which meant God’s people would be free from them. This is a picture of God’s kingdom standing and the earthly kingdoms falling.
As we noted earlier, the mention of the sun and the moon being darkened is figurative judgment talk, Joel 3:16 / Judges 5:4 / Psalms 18:7 / Psalms 77:18 / Isaiah 13:10 / Isaiah 13:13 / Ezekiel 32:7 / Zechariah 14:6-7 / Mark 13:23 / Matthew 24:29, which symbolises the end of the kings and rulers of the nations, Hebrews 12:22-29. In other words, there are going to be big changes.
God is described as roaring like a lion towards His enemies, Joel 2:11 / Jeremiah 25:30 / Amos 1:2. But at the same time, He speaks of hope and strength to His own people, Joel 3:16.
When God carried out His judgment on the nations, the promise was that no conquering strangers would pass through Jerusalem again. Because of the judgments which God is bringing upon the nations, His people will know that He will once again dwell in Jerusalem with them, and no one will invade Jerusalem again.
Joel began the chapter by referring to what would happen ‘in those days and at that time’, Joel 1:1. That is, the days and time when God would bring Judah back from exile and the judgment which will follow all those nations who abused God’s people.
Here in Joel 3:18-21, we read about what will happen when they do return from captivity, Ezra / Nehemiah. ‘In that day,’ the blessings will be abundant, there will be blessings of security, and there will be a future for God’s people.
Judah shall be blessed by a ‘fountain, from the house of the Lord,’ Ezekiel 47:1-23, even the ‘valley of acacias’, ‘Shittim,’ Numbers 33:49 / Joshua 3:1, which was a very dry place, would be blessed, Joel 3:18.
Gifford, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Jerusalem was the centre of worship under the old covenant, but in the Christian age, Jerusalem is not the centre of worship, John 4:21. So these words of Joel do not have reference to something in this age.’
Notice how Joel 3:17 and Joel 3:21 speak of God dwelling in Zion. Some commentators suggest that Joel 3:17 and Joel 3:21 are speaking of the new Jerusalem, and spiritual city of God, the church, that descended from heaven, Hebrews 12:22 / Revelation 3:12 / Revelation 14:1 / Revelation 21:2 / Revelation 21:10. In other words, no stranger, unbeliever, would pass through the church because God dwells within His church.
However, Kelly, in his commentary, says the following.
‘At the judgment of the dead, Jehovah will not roar as here out of Zion, neither will He dwell there, making Jerusalem holiness. For earth and heaven will have fled away, Revelation 20:11. The absolutely new creation follows for eternity in Revelation 21:1-5. But here the picture is so different as necessarily to suppose a time wholly distinct. It is the earthly Jerusalem, not the heavenly; it is not the Lord’s shout calling His own to meet Him in the air, but His lion-like roar against His enemies on earth. It is His dwelling in Zion, His holy mountain, so as to make the holiness of Jerusalem no longer a mockery but a blessed reality. It is not yet the hour when the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth and the works that are therein being burned up.’
We should note the words ‘never again will foreigners invade her’, used in Joel 3:18. Those words ‘never again’ simply imply that if it happens again, it won’t happen in the same way.
Egypt and Edom, Joel 3:19, who symbolise God’s enemies, will be desolate because of their violence, Obadiah 10-14 / Ezekiel 25:12 / Ezekiel 35:15 / Ezekiel 36:5 / Lamentations 4:22 / Psalms 137:7 / Amos 1:11.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following concerning Joel 3:21.
‘The word rendered ‘cleansed’, KJV, is not used of natural cleansing, nor is the image taken from the cleansing of the body. The word signifies only to pronounce innocent, or to free from guilt. Nor is ‘blood’ used of sinfulness generally, but only of the actual guilt of shedding blood.’
Judah and Jerusalem shall abide forever, acquitted of their guilt, Joel 3:20-21. God won’t free the wicked but bring just judgment on them for the harm that they brought on His people.
Gifford, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Judah would dwell intact throughout that particular age, the Mosaic age, but when the Christian age began, they would no longer be God’s people nor would Jerusalem be the centre of worship.’
Constable says the following.
‘God’s final promise through Joel was that He would avenge the blood shed by these enemies of Israel, which He had not yet avenged in the prophet’s day. He promised to do this because He dwelt in Zion, that is, He had a special covenant relationship with Israel, Ezekiel 43:1-12 / Zechariah 2:10-13.’
When difficult times come into our lives, they can actually be a blessing if they turn us back to God, Amos 4:6-12 / Job 1:20-22. God sees all, the good and the bad. He sees those who oppose Him and His people and promises they will be judged.
He also promises that repentance is available to all, but if people don’t repent, then they will be judged, 2 Corinthians 7:8-10 / Joel 2:13. Israel was chosen in 586 B.C., but in A.D. 70, they were punished because they didn’t change their ways.
We must remember that ‘The Day of the Lord’ is coming for us all, 2 Peter 3:7-10, after which there will be no more chances to repent, and so we must prepare now, 2 Peter 3:11-14.
The good news is that God doesn’t want anyone to perish because He loves us too much, and the reason He hasn’t returned yet is that He’s giving people time to come to Him, 2 Peter 3:9.