Joel 3:1-21: The Twelve Series

Welcome back to our study of the Twelve, the ancient Hebrew name for the Old Testament books that we call the minor prophets. 


Today we return to the book of Joel. As we always do here at VBVF, we consider the background and context of a biblical book. Joel is #9/12, and Haggai is next. but first, let’s set Joel in the context of The Twelve. 


Let’s look at the timelines of the two nations in the time of the divided monarchy, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. 


The voices of the prophets ceased in the north as the Assyrians crushed Israel, taking them into captivity in 722 BC, an exile from which they never returned. 


 Judah endured another 135 years before falling to the Babylonians, who conquered the Assyrians. Our studies of Jonah through Joel live on our website, vbvf.org, under the “Old Testament” tile. look for the series entitled “The Twelve” 


In addition to the historical setting, let’s review some other important features. 


Author: the author of the book is Joel, which means “The Lord is God”. 


Date/Historical Setting: the best date seems to be very close to the Babylonian exile, sometime from about 600 BC to 500 BC. The three remaining minor prophets – Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi – were all written after the exiles returned to Judah, about the same time as the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. 


Content: Joel opens with Judah facing a disastrous locust plague. at that moment, God calls them to repentance in 2.12, and promises His people restoration and blessing in three ways: material (the lesser blessing), and spiritual, which we call the greater blessing, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon God’s people; today, we will cover the final blessing, securing and vindicating Judah in their restored land. 


Structure: There are two distinct parts of the book. the first is the descent into tragedy (1.1 – 2.17) and the second (2.18 – 3.21) describes God’s blessing of His people, accomplished in three stanzas. chapter 3, which we’ll examine today, is the final stanza and closes the prophecy with Joel’s account of the salvation of God poured out on His people and God’s judgment poured out on His enemies. 


Themes: What’s this book about? Two great truths. great judgment and suffering, and great hope. the book stands as a picture of the judgment of God upon Judah, but also the blessing of God. and both are expressed in terms of the Day of the Lord. 


As we examine this final chapter of Joel, I believe there is a lesson here we sometimes overlook. To consider this, let’s look at this chapter from a larger perspective. I’ve observed that Christians have a tendency to think about God mostly through the lens of our own experience. believers see Him as loving, gracious, and merciful because that’s Who He is to us. we sometimes fail to see Him as He truly is, as Scripture reveals Him, in all the fullness and complexity of the Persons and Nature of the Father and the Son and the Spirit. this chapter shows us a more complete view of the eternal God. He is loving, gracious, and merciful to the redeemed, but to the wicked, He is a righteous, just, holy, wrathful, even vengeful God Who will not forever tolerate sin and wickedness, nor the people and nations who endorse and perpetrate it, especially those who oppose and attack God’s own people, be they Israel or the church. the love of God is seen in both the salvation of the righteous and the judgment of the wicked, and in this chapter, we see both. 


The passage presents three elements: we’ll see them as we go through the chapter and in today’s outline as well. and remember to keep a clear focus on the overall theme of the book, the Day of the Lord. 


In chapter 2. v 17, the nations asked Judah a taunting, mocking question: “Where is your God?” -- this passage is God’s answer to that question. God is about to show up. 



Judgment Earned (3.1-8)


Let’s set the stage with verses 1.2a. verse 1 begins with a temporal transitional phrase, much like we find in 2.28. here we learn two key truths in this passage which serves as a prelude to the rest of the chapter. God will bless His people and judge their enemies. 



“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel,


When will be the fulfillment of this prophecy? It will be at the end of the days, and apparently both elements will happen simultaneously, as God brings history to a close, saving and vindicating Israel and all of His people, and judging their enemies. 


This phrase, “restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,” is used in the OT when the Lord changes from judgment to restoration, as He has here. He is pouring out His blessings on Israel, while He also judges the nations by pouring out destruction on them, in a place described as the Valley of Jehoshaphat. there is no such known location in Israel. ”Jehoshaphat” means “God judges”. the Lord is taking these actions as a result of His complete identification with His people. note the use of the possessive personal pronoun “my” in this passage. ”my people,” “my heritage,” “my land” “my silver” “my gold” and “my treasures”. this personal identification of God with Israel is mirrored in Acts 9.4 by Jesus’s identification with the church. let’s see what brought these nations under God’s judgment. Note the keyword “because” the Lord lists five reasons.


because they have scattered them among the nations 


First, they took God’s people. “They” refers to “all the nations” from verse 2. Certainly, Assyria and Babylon, perhaps others, were guilty of taking the Jews into exile, scattering them among the nations, and away from the land God gave them for their possession. 


and have divided up my land, 


Second, they took God’s land. As they conquered territory from Israel and Judah, their enemies occupied and owned the land, dividing it up among their people instead of the Jews, taking from them what they valued most, their homes and land, the great promise of the land of Canaan, promised to them by Yahweh as their possession. 


3 and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.


Third, they considered God’s people as worthless. with depraved callousness and without pity, the people of the nations divided up the captives of war among the victors by casting lots to decide who would “own” captives. this was one of the sins of Edom, as we read in Obadiah 1.11. and then the victors sold the children for a pittance, a boy for the price of a night with a harlot, a young girl for a bottle of wine. 


The Lord interrupts the accounting of the sins of the nations to confront them in verse 4. 


4 “What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. 


This is the equivalent of the God of the Universe, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, saying to the Philistines, “You want a piece of Me?” Bonus advice from VBVF: don’t try to taunt God. it will never end well for you. 


5 For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. 


Fourth, they took God’s treasures. the enemies of God’s people went into God’s house, the Temple in Jerusalem, looted the silver and gold (and there was a lot of it), and carried the spoils back to the temples of their idolatrous false gods. absolutely a way to get the Lord’s full attention. 


6 You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border.


Fifth, they sold God’s people into slavery. the nations sold the captured Jews into slavery far from their homes, trying to ensure that the nation of Judah could not rise to power again. God purposed that He would return that cruelty to the heads of the offending nations. 


7 Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head. 8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.”


In God’s justice, He defines a punishment in keeping with Exodus 21.23, where the Mosaic Law prescribes proportionate justice: “then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” . this principle is also known in Latin as lex talionis, or the law of retaliation. it has two purposes: it ensures that the punishment fits the crime, and it prohibits excessive punishment based on a desire for revenge. here, the punitive judgment of God declares that the nations would suffer the same wrong that the Jews suffered. 


To summarize the sins of the nations that earned the judgment of God: they took God’s people, they took God’s land, they considered God’s people worthless, they took God’s treasures, and they sold God’s people into slavery. apart from heartfelt repentance, this will earn God’s wrath every time. 


Judgment Promised (3.9-15)


So what was God’s response?


9 Proclaim this among the nations:

Consecrate for war; 

 stir up the mighty men.

Let all the men of war draw near;

 let them come up.

10 Beat your plowshares into swords,

 and your pruning hooks into spears;

 let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”

11 Hasten and come,

 all you surrounding nations,

 and gather yourselves there.

Bring down your warriors, O Lord.

12 Let the nations stir themselves up

 and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat;

for there I will sit to judge

 all the surrounding nations.


The nations aren’t calling to each other to rise up against the Lord, as we see in Psalm 2. This is the Almighty God summoning the nations to appear before Him. 


He calls them to bring all their warriors, even the weak who would not be considered fit nor trained for battle. they are to consecrate themselves for the fight. the same word is used of consecrating the Passover lamb, and the priestly garments. 


The nations are also to take common farm tools, such as plows and pruning hooks, used to plow fields and tend crops or trees, and repurpose them into weapons of war. This is the exact opposite of Micah 4.3 and Isaiah 2.4. 


13 Put in the sickle,

 for the harvest is ripe.

Go in, tread,

 for the winepress is full.

The vats overflow,

 for their evil is great.

14 Multitudes, multitudes,

 in the valley of decision!

For the day of the Lord is near

 in the valley of decision.

15 The sun and the moon are darkened,

 and the stars withdraw their shining.


Verse 13 either includes two figures – grain and grapes – or the word for “sickle” can be translated as “vintager’s knife,” a curved knife, shaped like a sickle but smaller, used for harvesting clusters of grapes from a vine. in either case, the image is clear: the time for the harvest has come, and the sin of the people is complete. ripe, so to speak. the vats are overflowing with the sin and wickedness of the nations as a winepress would be. 


This second passage is a frightening image of darkness descending on a valley filled with all the nations of the world. ”multitudes” could also be translated as “mobs” – a large crowd of greatly agitated people. and as supernatural darkness falls, the Day of the Lord, the Day of Judgment, draws near. and I want to clarify something here because this verse can be taken out of context and misused. this is not a moment for the nations or for people to decide for or against Yahweh as if He were giving them an opportunity to repent. this is not calling for the decision of the multitude, but a place for God’s decision about the multitude. the Judge of all the Earth now renders His verdict. for more detail, compare this passage to Revelation 14.14-20, for they are very similar. 


We see the same imagery of the Day of the Lord in Zephaniah 3.8 “Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord,

 “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey.

For my decision is to gather nations,

 to assemble kingdoms,

to pour out upon them my indignation,

 all my burning anger;

for in the fire of my jealousy

 all the earth shall be consumed.


For all their sins against God’s people, the Lord will hold these nations accountable for their wickedness. but there is more to the finale of this book. 


Salvation Provided: (3.16-21)


Now we finally see the vindication and redemption of Israel.


16 The Lord roars from Zion,

 and utters his voice from Jerusalem,

 and the heavens and the earth quake.

But the Lord is a refuge to his people,

 a stronghold to the people of Israel.

17 “So you shall know that I am the Lord your God,

 who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain.

And Jerusalem shall be holy,

 and strangers shall never again pass through it. (meaning to invade and conquer it)


When the Lord roars, it is for His people. and in language reminding us of the Psalms, Yahweh is declared the refuge and stronghold of His people. on that day and forevermore, Jerusalem shall be holy, set apart as the City of God, and no invader shall enter it again. 


18 “And in that day

the mountains shall drip sweet wine,

 and the hills shall flow with milk,

and all the streambeds of Judah

 shall flow with water;

and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord

 and water the Valley of Shittim (Acacias).

19 “Egypt shall become a desolation

 and Edom a desolate wilderness,

for the violence done to the people of Judah,

 because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

20 But Judah shall be inhabited forever,

 and Jerusalem to all generations.

21 I will avenge their blood,

 blood I have not avenged, 

 for the Lord dwells in Zion.”


The close of the book is a comparison. Egypt and Edom will be judged for their part in the murder of innocent Jews. but Judah and Jerusalem will enjoy a glorious future, becoming a paradise, with a similar description as the promised land of Canaan was following the exodus, a land flowing with sweet wine, milk, and reliable, not seasonal, streams of water in all of Judah. best of all, a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord, a prophecy Joel shares with Zechariah 14.8, Psalm 46, and Ezekiel 47. A river of living water is also a truth spoken by Jesus in John 7.37-38, and presented most clearly in Revelation 22.1-2a: Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. 


The people of God will ultimately be saved. all those who belong to Yahweh will enjoy eternal life in a remade universe. let’s look at the apostle John as he describes the scene in 


Revelation 21.1-4: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Come quickly, Lord Jesus!


Conclusion


As we close, there is much to learn from this final chapter of Joel. I encourage you to go back and review the first two chapters to remind you about the flow of the book, but for today’s chapter, there are three truths we must see. 


Write: God identifies with His people. the relationship we see between God and Israel in the OT is very similar to the relationship we see between Jesus Christ and the Church in the NT. In both cases, the relationship is compared to a marriage. Ephesians 5.26-27 challenges husbands with this command: 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. What a beautiful picture. God loves us. His people are precious to Him!


Write: God is just. theologians define the justice of God as the “perfection of his nature whereby he is infinitely righteous in himself and in all he does, the righteousness of the divine nature exercised in his moral government”. one element of His justice is His vindictive or punitive justice, in which He “inflicts punishment on account of transgression”. we learn this from II Thessalonians 1.5-7a: 5 This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering— 6 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us. He will certainly forgive sin, but He never simply overlooks it. this is the lesson the nations learned as Yahweh judged them for their treatment of the nation of Israel. 


We must learn to see all of God. He is the savior of the redeemed, our merciful Great Shepherd and our Great High Priest, but Jesus Christ is much more than that. listen to II Timothy 4.1-2a: I (Paul) charge you (Timothy) in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; the fact that Jesus is the Judge of the whole world should compel us to preach the Gospel. the lost may believe there is no final Judge, no one to whom they will ultimately give an account, but that is not true, for I Peter 4.5 tells us that they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. That truth should give God’s people hope, for our salvation is made complete through our redemption but also the destruction of those who would harm us. it may not be right away, but the Word of God is sure. that day is coming!


Conclusion


One final thought: Jesus taught us to pray by giving us a model prayer, which we call the Lord’s prayer. it’s found in Matthew 6.9-10, and it begins like this:


“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name. 

10 Your kingdom come,

your will be done, 

 on earth as it is in heaven. 


When we pray this prayer, we need to realize we are praying not just for the salvation of the righteous, but the destruction of the wicked, for both, are His will, and that’s how it will one day be in Heaven. see Revelation 20-22. and we’re asking Him to accomplish those same purposes here on earth. so come, Lord Jesus, bring Your righteous Kingdom, and do Your perfect and just will here in this place. Amen!