Joel 3:1-21

     At the end of the eschatological Day of the Lord (which Joel prophesied about in 2:28-32), God promised to restore the fortunes of Israel (Joe 3:1) and to judge the surrounding nations for the years of hostility to His people, specifically for scattering them and dividing up their land (Joe. 3:2). These nations treated God’s people so poorly they even traded a boy for a harlot and sold a girl for wine (Joe 3:3). God specifically names Tyre, Sidon and Philistia for their actions, and suggests their hostility is an act of unjustified revenge on their part (Joe 3:4a); however, God promises to repay them swiftly (Joe 3:4b, cf. 7). These Gentile nations stole God’s treasures (Joe 3:5) and “sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory” (Joe 3:6). But God promised to rouse His people and return them back to the Promised Land (Joe 3:7), and will recompense the nations by selling them into captivity (Joe 3:8). God then challenges the nations to war with Him, even calling farmers to turn their instruments of work into weapons of war (Joe 3:9-11a). The phrase, “Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones” (Joe 3:11b) could allude to angelic warriors who will battle during the time of the Tribulation. God calls these nations to assemble at the valley of Jehoshaphat, a broad plain where He will render judgment upon them and destroy them (Joe 3:12-14; cf. Rev. 19:11-21). This will be a time of darkness for the nations (Joe 3:15) as “The LORD roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth tremble” (Joe 3:16a). But Israel will not be afraid, for “the LORD is a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the sons of Israel” (Joe 3:16b). After His judgment upon the nations, Israel will know God is their Savior, and Jerusalem will become a place of holiness (Joe 3:17). The millennial blessings will begin to fall upon God’s people, for “in that day 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” (Joe 3:18). In contrast, Egypt and Edom will become waste lands, “because of the violence done to the sons of Judah, in whose land they have shed innocent blood” (Joe 3:19). But Judah and Jerusalem will be a safe dwelling forever (Joe 3:20), and God will avenge Israel’s enemies and will dwell in Zion (Joe 3:21). These future conditions will display God’s judgment upon His enemies as well as His blessings upon those He loves.