1For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. 3And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
Verse 1 begins with the word “for” and specifies the time frame as “in those days” and “in that time.” Thus, these verses are to be connected to those at the end of the previous chapter. They refer to the events which will occur “before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come” (2:31). Specifically, the LORD says that He is speaking of the time when He will “bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem.” Since the context is that of the future day of the LORD, He is not referring to the return of Judah from the Babylonian captivity of history. Revelation 13:10, a verse sandwiched between John’s visions of two beasts, one from the sea and the other from the earth, interjects a word of comfort for God’s people at that time: “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” God is encouraging His people by telling them that those afflicting them will be afflicted in kind. He speaks of an enemy who leads into captivity and kills with the sword. There will be another time of captivity for the people of Israel when the Antichrist and his armies attack the nation at the middle of the seven-year Tribulation period.
Zechariah wrote: “Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zechariah 14:1-2).
At the end of the Tribulation period, however, God will bring those taken captive from Israel back to their homeland. First, He will destroy their enemies. He will gather all nations “to the valley of Jehoshaphat” for judgment. The name “Jehoshaphat” means “the LORD has judged.” The armies of Antichrist will gather in a broad plain near the hill of Megiddo (Revelation 16:14), about 57 miles north of Jerusalem. It seems likely that God will cause them there to fight against one another, just as the enemies of Judah did in the time of king Jehoshaphat (II Chronicles 20:22-24). Ezekiel said concerning God’s judgment on the ruler Gog, “And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother” (Ezekiel 38:21).
Despite Israel’s disobedience and failure to repent, God still speaks of them as “my people,” “my heritage Israel,” and of the land as “my land.” He will judge those who mistreat them, He will cause His people to repent, and He will bring them back from the future captivity.
4Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompence me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head; 5because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things: 6the children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border. 7Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: 8and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it.
Verses 4-8 are addressed to Tyre and Sidon. The verses which precede this section and the remainder of this chapter are about the day of the LORD. Thus, we would expect that the intervening words to Tyre and Sidon would also have reference to that time in the future.
Ezekiel 26-28 are chapters of prophecy concerning Tyre, with the last part of Ezekiel 28 containing prophecy concerning Sidon. In Ezekiel 26:7, God said that He would bring the Babylonian king Nebuchadn(r)ezzar against Tyre: “For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.” Then later in the same chapter, God said with reference to Tyre, “And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD” (verse 14) and “I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD” (verse 21).
There is historical record that about 250 years later, Alexander the Great also laid siege against Tyre. Yet, Tyre did not cease to exist. The New Testament contains a number of references to Tyre and Sidon:
Matthew 15:21 : “Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.”
Mark 3:8 : “...they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he [Jesus] did, came unto him.”
Luke 6:17 : “And he came down with them [the apostles], and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases....”
Acts 12:20 : “And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon....”
Acts 21:3 : “Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her burden.”
Acts 27:3 : “And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself.”
In view of these references and in view of Joel’s placing his address to Tyre and Sidon in a chapter context of the day of the LORD, it seems reasonable to conclude that the irrevocable destruction of Tyre prophesied in Ezekiel 26 has not yet taken place. Today Tyre is the fifth-largest city in Lebanon. Saida (Sidon) is located about 20 miles north of Tyre. In the future, Tyre, Sidon, and neighboring territories will seek to take advantage of the incursion of Antichrist in Israel. They will take silver and gold for their palaces (the word translated “temples” in verse 5 can also be translated “palaces”; it is not commonly used for pagan temples). They will sell young people from Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, probably again a reference to those loyal to the Antichrist, who will be the antitype of the Seleucid “little horn” referred to in Daniel 8:9. Joel implies that Tyre, Sidon, and the territories of Philistia will do these things in a desire to get even with the God of Israel. The LORD said that He would bring their ill-conceived actions back on their own heads. He will both bring home to Israel those who were sold and will have the children of their abductors sold to the Sabeans (people of Sheba, in southwest Arabia, location of Yemen today).
9Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 10Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. 11Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. 12Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 13Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. 14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
Verses 9-15 contain two calls to action, one to the nations to come up (verses 9 and 12) to the valley where the final battle will take place, and another for God to cause His heavenly army to come down (verses 11 and 13) to execute judgment on those nations. The word translated “Gentiles” in verse 9 and “heathen” in verse 12 is the word “nations.” Both Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3 spoke of a day when the nations would “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks.” That day of lasting peace will come after the return of Christ to reign on the earth. Before His return, however, the nations are told, “beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears.” Joel’s admonition, “let the weak say, I am strong” is a taunt to the troops of the nations to give it their best because this battle will be their last stand. God’s heavenly army will “put in the sickle” to “gather the clusters of the vine of the earth.” The multitudes in the valley of decision will be “cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God” (Revelation 14:18-19).
In Joel 2:10, the sun, moon, and stars were darkened at the arrival of the invading army of Antichrist at the middle of the Tribulation period. That darkening was against Israel because God was judging the nation through that attack. In Joel 3:15, however, the sun, moon, and stars are darkened at the end of the Tribulation period, this time against the armies of the nations under Antichrist, who will be judged for their rebellion against the God of Israel and mistreatment of His people.
16The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. 17So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. 18And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim. 19Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. 20But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. 21For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.
The final verses of the book of Joel scarcely want any explanation. The LORD Himself will dwell in Jerusalem. The city will be holy, and the land will receive blessing. The city will never be invaded again. The remnant of Israel will forever be safe.
A spring will flow out of the temple in Jerusalem and will water the valley of Shittim (Acacia trees), probably on the east of the Jordan River (Joshua 3:1). When Ezekiel saw a vision of the future millennial temple, he wrote:
“Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.” The angel who showed Ezekiel the waters from the temple said, “These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed” (Ezekiel 47:1,8). In that day, the Dead Sea will not be dead anymore.
The book of Joel closes with a word of judgment against Egypt and Edom for the violence they committed against Israel and a word of assurance of perpetual safety for Israel. The judgment on Egypt will not be permanent, as is prophesied in Isaiah 19:22 : “And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them.” God will settle accounts with all who have mistreated His people, probably throughout the four waves of “locust” attacks by Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome and in prior days. The settled present tense conclusion is given in the final words, “the LORD dwelleth in Zion.”
Note: All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.