Commentary on the
BOOK OF JOEL
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Joel's prophecy of the Day of the Lord was cited by Peter in his first sermon on the day of Pentecost. It's imagery was adapted by John in Revelation. The book of Joel thus stands as one of the great "end time" prophecies of Israel's prophets.
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| CHAPTER ONE | CHAPTER TWO | CHAPTER THREE |
1 -
Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain:
Zion is the name of the Jebusite garrison
or stronghold that David captured; it became the seat of his
kingdom and was called the city of David after his name (II Sam.
5:4-12); Zion was also the place of the ark of the covenant in
David’s day (II Sam. 6:1-19); it was here that David built an
altar to the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite,
and here that Solomon built the temple (II Sam. 24:18-25; I
Chron. 21:18-22:19). Zion thus became a symbol of God’s dwelling
place among his people, and was therefore called his
holy mountain.
[1]
The two most prominent words translated
“trumpet” in the Old Testament are the Hebrew
shophar, which occurs
here and describes a trumpet made of ram’s horn (Josh. 6:4), and
the chatsotserah, the
silver trumpets used by priests in various ceremonial capacities
(Num. 10:1-10). The term
shophar is used for the voice of the Lord, which sounded as
a trumpet upon mount Sinai when he spoke to Moses (Ex. 19:16,
19; 20:18, 19; Deut. 18:16;
cf. I Thess. 4:16
where “the voice of the
archangel and the trump of God” contemplate the same thing,
and Rev. 1:10 where the voice of Christ is described as a
trumpet). Shophar
occurs most frequently where a trumpet is sounded to assemble
the people either to receive important information, to prepare
against imminent threat, or to rally to or retire from battle (I
Sam. 13:3; II Sam. 2:28: 18:16; Neh. 4:18, 20; Ezek. 7:14); it
is the word used for the trumpet given to watchmen charged with
sounding the alarm warning of invasion (Ezek. 33:3-6). The
plague of locusts is treated figuratively as the invading armies
of an alien people; the sentinels are thus charged to sound the
alarm and blow the trumpet to prepare against the impending
danger.
let
all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord
cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
In ancient warfare, walled cities were
besieged and encompassed about with armies; shut up within,
their inhabitants were forced to eat bread and drink water by
measure. Such sieges might endure for months or even years,
until at length the city’s provisions failed and the inhabitants
perished from famine, or were forced to surrender. The prospect
of famine by drought and locust plague would have instilled no
less terror than an invading army; its consequences equally real
and dire. As the trumpet gave warning of approaching armies, so
here it would announce the cloud of descending of locusts; the
day of divine visitation was near at hand and the inhabitants
are called to fear and trembling.
2 –
A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of
thick darkness,
Light and joy would flee away; darkness and
gloom would cover the land in the day of the Lord’s wrath. The
language is figurative and poetic, evoking natural phenomena to
describe the emotional, spiritual, and political conditions that
would prevail in time of crisis and trouble. We encounter
similar language in Ezekiel’s prophecy against Pharaoh and
Egypt:
And
when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the
stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the
moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of heaven
will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land,
saith the Lord God. Ezek. 32:7, 8
Prior to Noah, the heavens did not rain;
the earth was watered by dew and mist (Gen. 2:5, 6). Storm
clouds and rain first occurred with the universal flood. Clouds
thus came to be associated by the prophets with times of divine
judgment, as if the face of the sky represented the disposition
of heaven and the wrath of God who set his face against men.
as
the morning spread upon the mountains:
Jesus said “When
it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is
red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather today: for the
sky is red and lowering” (Matt. 16:2, 3). That is the sense
of the phrase use here: “as
morning spread upon the mountains” bespeaks the face of the
sky at dawn and the threatening weather the clouds portend as
they descend upon the mountains.
a
great people and a strong;
With these words calling the locust swarms
“a great people” we encounter the first intimation of a
plenior sensus (Lat.
“fuller sense”) that looked beyond the immediate historical
setting unto Messianic times and the destruction of the nation
by Rome. The intimation, though but faintly suggested here, will
go on and grow as the prophecy unfolds and Joel foretells of the
“great and notable day of the Lord” Peter warned was fast
overtaking his generation (Acts 2:14-21). Here, however, the
prophet’s purpose is to liken the locusts to an invading army,
which calling them “a people” helps to advance. Precedence for
such use occurs in Proverbs, where Solomon says “The
ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in
summer; the conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their
houses in the rocks” (Prov. 30:25, 26).
there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more
after it, even to the years of many generations.
This description provides further
intimation of a plenior
sensus, looking ahead to the Roman Empire, which was the
greatest empire ever to rise upon earth. Daniel described it as
iron that “breaketh in
pieces and subdueth all things” (Dan. 2:40) and
“dreadful, terrible, and
strong exceedingly” (Dan. 7:7). Rome has never been equaled,
even to the years of many generations. The language is
reminiscent of the locust plague visited upon the Egyptians,
which was described, saying,
“before them there were
no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such, for
they covered the face of the whole earth” (Ex. 10:14, 15).
3 –
A fire devoureth before them and behind them a flame burneth:
the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a
desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
The locusts are now likened to a prairie
fire, which sweeps across the land devouring everything in its
path. Before the army the land appears as the very garden of
Eden for fertility and fatness, filled with orchards, vineyards,
and fields of grain and produce of every kind; behind them is
left a desolate waste; nothing escapes; all is consumed as if by
fire.
4 –
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as
horsemen, so shall they run.
With this verse, the apostle John begins to
freely appropriate the vision in the Apocalypse (Rev. 9:1-11).
In its immediate historical context, Joel describes a
plague of locusts that strips the land of
vegetation. In the
Apocalypse, the locusts become the “abomination of
desolation”—the Roman infantry and cavalry— that descended upon
Jerusalem, Judea, Galilee, and Palestine, denuding the land of
men (cf.
Matt. 24:15-20 and Luke 21:20-24).
The phrase “abomination of desolation” originates in the book of
Daniel, who employed the term to describe the desolating power
that would end the Jewish state 490 prophetic years from the
restoration of the Babylonian captivity and the rebuilding of
Jerusalem’s wall by Nehemiah in 454 B.C. Daniel was told in
vision that there were “seventy weeks” of years (490)
“determined upon thy people and upon the holy city;” and that
following the “cutting off” (crucifixion) of Messiah,[2]
the Romans would “destroy the city and the sanctuary;” and that
for the “overspreading of abominations he shall make it
desolate, even until the consummation” (Dan. 9:24-27). Daniel
was further informed that the abomination of desolation would be
“set up” (e.g., the forces assembled) 1290 days, or a little
more than 3 ½ years, following the taking away of the daily
sacrifice (Dan. 12:11, 12). This should be understood in
reference to the cessation of the twice daily offering by the
Jewish nation on behalf of Nero Caesar in the late summer of
A.D. 66, which Josephus says was the true cause and beginning of
the war.[3]
The siege itself, however, would begin 1335 days from the said
starting point, as in fact it came about, the Roman army
suddenly appearing before Jerusalem at the feast of Passover,
shutting up within the city two
million seven hundred thousand Jews, almost half of whom
perished from famine during the siege.[4]
Hence, the famine here predicted by Joel because of locusts,
found its ultimate fulfillment in the Roman siege of Jerusalem,
sent by God in vengeance upon the nation for the murder of
Christ and persecution of his church and gospel.
5 –
Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they
leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the
stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
In verse 4, the prophet likens the locust
plague to the charge of mounted horsemen. In the instant verse,
Joel expands upon the simile of an invading army, likening the
noise of millions of locusts to the jostling of chariots, and
the crackling of fire as it devours stubble after the harvest.
We may well envision the Roman army as it
marched into Judea and encamped before Jerusalem, the soldiers
in their armor, together with their eagles and standards, set
about the task of returning Jerusalem to Roman rule or to
consign it to utter destruction. But the terror of the Romans
without the city was surpassed only by the seditious within it:
for three competing groups formed who, in fighting one another
to determine which would be tyrant of them all, managed to
destroy the city’s store of grain, dooming the inhabitants to
famine. According to Josephus:
It
was now a miserable case, and a sight that would justly bring
tears into our eyes, how men stood as to their food, while the
more powerful had more than enough, and the weaker were
lamenting [for want of it.] But the famine was too hard for all
other passions, and it is destructive to nothing so much as to
modesty; for what was otherwise worthy of reverence was in this
case despised; insomuch that children pulled the very morsels
that their fathers were eating out of their very mouths, and
what was still more to be pitied, so did the mothers do as to
their infants; and when those that were most dear were perishing
under their hands, they were not ashamed to take from them the
very last drops that might preserve their lives: and while they
ate after this manner, yet were they not concealed in so doing;
but the seditious every where came upon them immediately, and
snatched away from them what they had gotten from others; for
when they saw any house shut up, this was to them a signal that
the people within had gotten some food; whereupon they broke
open the doors, and ran in, and took pieces of what they were
eating almost up out of their very throats, and this by force:
the old men, who held their food fast, were beaten; and if the
women hid what they had within their hands, their hair was torn
for so doing; nor was there any commiseration shown either to
the aged or to the infants, but they lifted up children from the
ground as they hung upon the morsels they had gotten, and shook
them down upon the floor. But still they were more barbarously
cruel to those that had prevented their coming in, and had
actually swallowed down what they were going to seize upon, as
if they had been unjustly defrauded of their right. They also
invented terrible methods of torments to discover where any food
was, and they were these to stop up the passages of the privy
parts of the miserable wretches, and to drive sharp stakes up
their fundaments; and a man was forced to bear what it is
terrible even to hear, in order to make him confess that he had
but one loaf of bread, or that he might discover a handful of
barley-meal that was concealed; and this was done when these
tormentors were not themselves hungry; for the thing had been
less barbarous had necessity forced them to it; but this was
done to keep their madness in exercise, and as making
preparation of provisions for themselves for the following days.
These men went also to meet those that had crept out of the city
by night, as far as the Roman guards, to gather some plants and
herbs that grew wild; and when those people thought they had got
clear of the enemy, they snatched from them what they had
brought with them, even while they had frequently entreated
them, and that by calling upon the tremendous name of God, to
give them back some part of what they had brought; though these
would not give them the least crumb, and they were to be well
contented that they were only spoiled, and not slain at the same
time.[5]
6 –
Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces
shall gather blackness.
The advancing army excites terror, causing
great anxiety and anguish of heart. “All faces gather blackness”
like soot upon a pot is a figure of speech used to describe the
fear and dread that that covers men’s faces as the danger
approaches and their doom is realized(cf.
Nahum 2:10). Similar usage occurs in the book of Esther, when
Haman was confronted with his doom:
“As the word went out of
the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face” (Est. 7:8).
To feed themselves, the Jews crept from the
city to gather herbs in the rough valleys below. Many of these
were caught by the Romans. And because they could not let them
go nor guard so great a number of prisoners, they were crucified
before Jerusalem’s walls five hundred or more a day:
So
now Titus's banks were advanced a great way, notwithstanding his
soldiers had been very much distressed from the wall. He then
sent a party of horsemen, and ordered they should lay ambushes
for those that went out into the valleys to gather food. Some of
these were indeed fighting men, who were not contented with what
they got by rapine; but the greater part of them were poor
people, who were deterred from deserting by the concern they
were under for their own relations; for they could not hope to
escape away, together with their wives and children, without the
knowledge of the seditious; nor could they think of leaving
these relations to be slain by the robbers on their account;
nay, the severity of the famine made them bold in thus going
out; so nothing remained but that, when they were concealed from
the robbers, they should be taken by the enemy; and when they
were going to be taken, they were forced to defend themselves
for fear of being punished; as after they had fought, they
thought it too late to make any supplications for mercy; so they
were first whipped, and then tormented with all sorts of
tortures, before they died, and were then crucified before the
wall of the city. This miserable procedure made Titus greatly to
pity them, while they caught every day five hundred Jews; nay,
some days they caught more: yet it did not appear to be safe for
him to let those that were taken by force go their way, and to
set a guard over so many he saw would be to make such as guarded
them useless to him. The main reason why he did not forbid that
cruelty was this, that he hoped the Jews might perhaps yield at
that sight, out of fear lest they might themselves afterwards be
liable to the same cruel treatment. So the soldiers, out of the
wrath and hatred they bore the Jews, nailed those they caught,
one after one way, and another after another, to the crosses, by
way of jest, when their multitude was so great, that room was
wanting for the crosses, and crosses wanting for the bodies.[6]
7 –
They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like
men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they
shall not break their ranks:
Proverbs says, “The
locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands”
(Prov. 30:27).The plague of locusts resembles a marching
army as it advances: they scale walls like men upon ladders;
each one follows the one that precedes it in an orderly fashion;
they do not scatter in many directions, but keep their ranks
like an army, advancing methodically step by step, devouring
whatever lay in their path.
Jerusalem had three walls. The Romans
gained the first two walls within a month of beginning the
siege. However, the Jews managed to burn the embankments built
by the Romans to take the third wall. Despairing to take the
city with their usual engines of war, and as there were no
materials to construct new embankments, the Romans dug trenches
and mounds around the city, enclosing the inhabitants to allow
the famine to weaken the city’s defenses. This fulfilled Jesus’
prophecy in Luke 19:41-44:
And
when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy
day, the things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are
hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, what
thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee
round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even
with the ground, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon
another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
8 –
Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in
his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be
wounded.
In the press and confusion of hand-to-hand
battle, as soldiers thrust and swing their swords, it must
sometimes happen that they inadvertently wound their comrades,
get in one another’s way and trip and fall upon the sword. The
locust army is not subject to the like casualties: having no
swords, they do not thrust one another; facing no opponent in
battle, they do not break their ranks, depart from their paths,
or trip each other; and being so light, even should one fall
upon a sword, it would not be wounded. Thus, unlike a human army
that may be opposed with sword and shield, the locusts advance
unhindered; no weapon forged against them can prosper.
Closed in by the Romans, the famine quickly
consumed the city’s inhabitants:
So
all hope of escaping was now cut off from the Jews, together
with their liberty of going out of the city. Then did the famine
widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and
families; the upper rooms were full of women and children that
were dying by famine, and the lanes of the city were full of the
dead bodies of the aged; the children also and the young men
wandered about the market-places like shadows, all swelled with
the famine, and fell down dead, wheresoever their misery seized
them. As for burying them, those that were sick themselves were
not able to do it; and those that were hearty and well were
deterred from doing it by the great multitude of those dead
bodies, and by the uncertainty there was how soon they should
die themselves; for many died as they were burying others, and
many went to their coffins before that fatal hour was come. Nor
was there any lamentations made under these calamities, nor were
heard any mournful complaints; but the famine confounded all
natural passions; for those who were just going to die looked
upon those that were gone to rest before them with dry eyes and
open mouths. A deep silence also, and a kind of deadly night,
had seized upon the city; while yet the robbers were still more
terrible than these miseries were themselves; for they brake
open those houses which were no other than graves of dead
bodies, and plundered them of what they had; and carrying off
the coverings of their bodies, went out laughing, and tried the
points of their swords in their dead bodies; and, in order to
prove what metal they were made of they thrust some of those
through that still lay alive upon the ground; but for those that
entreated them to lend them their right hand and their sword to
despatch them, they were too proud to grant their requests, and
left them to be consumed by the famine. Now every one of these
died with their eyes fixed upon the temple, and left the
seditious alive behind them. Now the seditious at first gave
orders that the dead should be buried out of the public
treasury, as not enduring the stench of their dead bodies. But
afterwards, when they could not do that, they had them cast down
from the walls into the valleys beneath. However, when Titus, in
going his rounds along those valleys, saw them full of dead
bodies, and the thick putrefaction running about them, he gave a
groan; and, spreading out his hands to heaven, called God to
witness that this was not his doing[7]
9 –
They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the
wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in
at the windows like a thief.
The locusts behave like an army once it has
gained a city, spreading themselves everywhere, entering the
streets and lanes, breaking open houses, slaying the
inhabitants, looting and plundering the city of spoils. Josephus
describes the Romans in similar terms when they got the mastery
of the city:
So
the Romans being now become masters of the walls, they both
placed their ensigns upon the towers, and made joyful
acclamations for the victory they had gained, as having found
the end of this war much lighter than its beginning; for when
they had gotten upon the last wall, without any bloodshed, they
could hardly believe what they found to be true; but seeing
nobody to oppose them, they stood in doubt what such an unusual
solitude could mean. But when they went in numbers into the
lanes of the city with their swords drawn, they slew those whom
they overtook without and set fire to the houses whither the
Jews were fled, and burnt every soul in them, and laid waste a
great many of the rest; and when they were come to the houses to
plunder them, they found in them entire families of dead men,
and the upper rooms full of dead corpses, that is, of such as
died by the famine; they then stood in a horror at this sight,
and went out without touching any thing. But although they had
this commiseration for such as were destroyed in that manner,
yet had they not the same for those that were still alive, but
they ran every one through whom they met with, and obstructed
the very lanes with their dead bodies, and made the whole city
run down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fire of
many of the houses was quenched with these men's blood. And
truly so it happened, that though the slayers left off at the
evening, yet did the fire greatly prevail in the night; and as
all was burning, came that eighth day of the month Gorpieus
[Elul] upon Jerusalem, a city that had been liable to so many
miseries during this siege, that, had it always enjoyed as much
happiness from its first foundation, it would certainly have
been the envy of the world. Nor did it on any other account so
much deserve these sore misfortunes, as by producing such a
generation of men as were the occasions of this its overthrow.[8]
10
– The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble:
the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw
their shining:
This language is best understood as
figurative and poetic, intended to emphasize the immensity of
the coming calamity; viz.,
so terrible is the preternatural host sent against the
rebellious nation that creation itself trembles and shrinks from
the sight of them. But if the inanimate creation is so affected,
how much more should the people and rulers fear the destruction
decreed? A second way the language may be understood is
metaphorically, in which the world
natural is put in
place for the world
political, so that the earth represents the people or
masses, the ruling orbs, the governing authorities— the sun, the
king or governor; the moon, the high priest or priestly caste;
and stars, the princes and elders of the people—all whose
brilliance would be overshadowed, impotent to arrest or allay
the impending disaster.
11
– And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army:
The Lord not only commands the invasion,
but leads it himself, going before the host into battle against
his enemies. Hence, inasmuch as the vision’s
plenior sensus looked
ahead to the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome, implicit in this
passage is Christ’s providential rule over the kingdoms of men,
and his coming—his second
coming— to execute wrath upon the Jewish nation. Christ
received the government of the world at his ascension, when he
sat down on the right hand of the majesty in heaven “angels,
authorities, and powers being made subject unto him” (I Pet.
3:22; cf. Acts 2:33;
Heb. 1:3; 2:8). As heir of the world (Rom. 4:13), Christ rules
the nations with a rod of iron:
“Ask of me, and I shall
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost
parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them
with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a
potter’s vessel” (Ps. 2:8, 9; cf. Rev. 2:27). “The LORD said
unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy
strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies”
(Ps. 110:1, 2). It is sometimes imagined that Christ’s
kingdom and coming would entail an earthly throne seated in
Jerusalem, where he would rule the world in human form. Yet,
Jesus rejected this very thing, not only when he was tempted to
yield to his fleshly passions, but a second time when the Jews
sought to make him king by force (Matt. 4:8-10; John 6:15);
moreover, he told Pilate in the plainest terms
“my kingdom is not of
this world” (John 18:36). Nay, rather as the Psalms quoted
directly above show, Christ has had the government of the world
from the time of his ascension and he rules in the power of his
divine glory. But if his kingdom and reign are of a divine
nature, consisting in his invisible government and providential
rule of the nations, how much more must his second coming
conform to this rule, seeing that he would come in the glory of
his Father with the holy angels? (Mark 8:38;
cf. Matt. 16:27, 28).
For “glory” by definition is the heavenly realm; and whatever is
of the heavenly realm is invisible to the eye of man, as Paul
expressly states: “Now
unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God,
be honour, and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (I Tim. 1:17).
Toward the end of the same epistle, Paul states this same basic
fact again:
That
thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the
appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in his times shall
shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings,
and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the
light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor
can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.1 Tim.
6:14-16
In his humiliation, Christ assumed human
form, taking on him the seed of Abraham, and was therefore
“manifest in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16;
cf. Heb. 2:14-16;
Phil. 2:7, 8); however, in his ascension and glorification,
Christ resumed his divine glory. Since, therefore, no man can
see Christ in his glory, his “appearing” and “revelation” was
not to the physical eye of man, but to the eye of his
understanding through the fulfillment of world events he
foretold while yet upon earth, showing that he was in fact the
blessed and only Potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords.
This is also the essence of John’s Apocalypse;
viz., the revelation
of Christ’s divinity by his command of history and nature,
putting his enemies beneath his feet and avenging the blood of
his saints and prophets upon the Jews and Romans.
for
his camp is very great: for he is strong that excuteth his word:
The exceeding greatness of the Roman power
rendered impossible the success of the Jewish revolt, which was
fated from the beginning to bring about the nation’s
destruction. The
national election of Israel had been merely temporary and
provisional, to bring Christ into the world that he might die
upon a Roman cross and thus bring salvation to all mankind.
However, the death of Christ meant that the calling and election
of Israel had this ironic twist: that the nation would incur the
blood-guilt of its own Messiah and so suffer divine wrath and
retribution. Isaiah prophesied of the nation’s end in terms
particularly forceful:
I am
sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that
sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that
was not called by my name. I have spread out my hands all the
day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was
not good, after their own thoughts…Thus saith the Lord, The
heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the
house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my
rest?...He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that
sacificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a god’s neck; he that
offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that
burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen
their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations.
I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears
upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake,
they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose
that in which I delighted not. Hear the word of the LORD, ye
that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that
cast you out for my name’s sake, said, let the LORD be
glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be
ashamed. A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the
temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompense to his
enemies…For, behold the LORD will come with fire, and with his
chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and
his rebuke with flames of fire. Isa. 65:1, 2; 66:1-6, 15
The fulfillment of this prophecy in New
Testament times is unmistakable: First, Paul cites it in his
epistle to the Romans regarding the call of the Gentiles, which
should have incited the Jews to emulation and to imitate the
Gentiles by obedience to the gospel. However, the nation
obstinately persisted in rebellion and unbelief, and thus came
to destruction (Rom. 10:20). Second, reference to “casting out”
for the Lord’s name sake was fulfilled in the Jews putting out
of the synagogue anyone who confessed Christ (John 9:22, 34;
12:42; 16:2). Third, the
prophecy, which twice makes reference to the coming of the Lord
in wrath against the Jewish nation, was cited by Stephen at his
trial for saying Jesus would come and destroy the city and
temple and change the customs delivered to the people by Moses
(Acts 6:14; 7:49, 50). Stephen quoted Isaiah in support of the
proposition that the temple was sacred only insofar as ordained
by God and that God himself had condemned it to overthrow more
than seven hundred years before. Hence, in rejecting Stephen’s
warning, they were in effect rejecting God’s warning, sealing
their own fate.
for
the day of the Lord is great and very terrible;
The apostle Peter quoted Joel on the first
Pentecost following the Lord’s resurrection; saying that the
“great and terrible day of the Lord” would overtake his
generation (Acts 2:14-21, 40). This same day of the Lord is the
subject of Peter’s second epistle, which speaks of the heavens
passing away with a great noise and the elements melting with
fervent heat (II Pet. 3:10-12). The language is figurative and
metaphoric, as may be seen by the promised “new heavens and
earth” that follows. The promise of new heavens and earth occurs
in Isaiah’s prophecy, which is cited immediately above.
Reference to the new heavens and earth occur at Isa. 65:17 and
66:22. The only thing spoken of between these verses is the A.D.
70 destruction of Jerusalem. Hence, it is clearly seen that it
is not the physical cosmos that was to be destroyed, nor a new,
physical creation that was contemplated by the new heavens and
earth; rather, the new heavens and earth refer to the
socio-political economy
of the world beneath the reigning Christ, whose kingdom and
gospel are ever advancing, overspreading the earth, converting
the nations and regenerating the fallen race of man.
|
In the new
heavens and earth, the church is the new Jerusalem,
which carries the gospel to all mankind, winning the
nations to Christ. Rev. 21:1, 2, 9, 10
The promised new heavens
and earth are like bookends enclosing the destruction of
Jerusalem; nothing else comes between them.
|
and
who can abide it?
The prophet Malachi asked this same
question in connection with the coming of Christ and the day of
the Lord upon the Jewish nation:
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way
before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to
his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight
in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But
who may abide the
day of his coming? and
who shall stand when he appeareth?... For, behold, the day
cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and
all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh
shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave
them neither root nor branch…Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
Lord. Mal. 3:1, 2; 4:1,
5 (emphasis added)
The messenger sent to prepare the way
before Christ was John the Baptist (Matt. 11:10-14). John’s
message was eschatological; warning the Jewish nation to repent
and avert the wrath Malachi foretold. According to John the
Baptist, God had already laid the Roman ax against Israel’s
national tree, and would shortly hew it down and cast it into
the burning:
But
when he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he
said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to
flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet
for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, We have
Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of
these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the
axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree
which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into
the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but
he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not
worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and
with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly pure
his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Matt. 7-12
The exclamation “who can abide it?”
also occurs in Revelation:
And
the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and
the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and
every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of
the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us,
and his us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and
from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is
come; and who shall be
able to stand? Rev. 6:15-17 (emphasis
added)
Yet, the language about hiding themselves
in the rocks and dens of the earth was used by Jesus regarding
the destruction of Jerusalem as he was led out to be crucified:
And
there followed him a great company of people, and of women,
which also bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto
them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for
yourselves, and for your children. For, behold, the days are
coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and
the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.
Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and
to the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in a green
tree, what shall be done in the dry? Luke 23:27-31
Jesus was the “green tree,” moist and alive
with the Spirit of God; the Jews were the “dry tree,” dead and
withered in sin and disbelief, who would be burned up like chaff
in the coming judgment. Thus, at every turn we find that the
prophesied “day of the Lord,” be it Joel’s or any other
prophet’s, had as its primary subject the destruction to be
visited upon the Jewish nation for the murder of Christ. We say
“primary” because divine retribution was also meted out upon
Rome and the nations of the Roman Empire for their part in
persecuting the church and refusing the gospel (see comments at
Joel 3:9-17, below).
12 – Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with
all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with
mourning:
The nation is called to repentance; no half measure will do:
they are called to turn to God with the whole heart,
unreservedly, fully yielding and compliant. The internal
conversion of the heart should then produce outward
manifestations of repentance by fasting, weeping, and mourning
for their sins.
13 – and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto
the LORD your God:
Rending one’s garments was an expression of great personal
calamity. Where the heathen might cut themselves as expression
of great grief, the Jews rent their garments instead, prohibited
by the law to imitate the customs of the pagan nations around
them (Lev. 19:28; 21:5). When Jacob learned that Joseph was
dead, he “rent his
cloths, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned his son
many days” (Gen. 37:34). But such outward shows would be
meaningless unless they mirrored the inward rending of the
heart. The expression is similar to Paul’s statement that
“he is not a Jew, which
is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward
in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and
circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the
letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Rom. 2:28, 29).
for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great
kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
These words were used God to proclaim his name when Moses asked
to see his glory. Descending upon Mount Sinai, God passed before
Moses and proclaimed “The
LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and
abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by
no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers
upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the
third and to the fourth generation” (Ex. 34:5-7). Thus,
although anger and wrath are necessary attributes of God’s
holiness, they come only with the greatest reluctance after long
forbearance when there is no other remedy. The cup of divine
wrath and retribution sometimes takes centuries to fill. When
God promised Abraham the land of Canaan, he said it would not be
until the fourth generation, or about 430 years, that he would
give the land unto them
“for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Gen. 15:16).
The Jews were “vessels for wrath fitted for destruction” whom
God endured for 1,500 years with much longsuffering (Rom.9:22),
but who “filled up” the measure of their iniquity by the death
of Christ and persecution of his church (Matt. 23:32-39; I
Thess. 2:14-16; Rev. 6:9-11; 17:4; 19:2) Viewing a great
catastrophe, men view the immediate suffering and ruin and ask
Why, but fail to consider that perhaps for many decades or long
centuries God forewent retribution, until he could forebear no
more. God repents of the evil he inflicts, but the iniquity of
man compels him.
14 – Who knoweth if he will return and repent,
Although the prophecy is given in absolute terms, the
possibility that God will turn from the purposed destruction
remains open if the people repent. Moses thus held open the
possibility to avert the latter-day destruction of the nation if
it would but repent and obey the voice of the Lord:
“When thou art in
tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in
the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be
obedient unto his voice; (for the LORD thy God is a merciful
God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget
the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them” (Deut.
4:30, 30).
and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a
drink offering unto the LORD your God?
The prospect of God leaving a meat offering and drink offering
suggests a mitigation of his wrath such that a remnant may be
preserved and left behind him. The prophet does not hold out the
hope of full pardon, but only of partial alleviation; for if the
threat were too easily and completely averted, the people would
not fully fear the Lord nor come to repentance in their hearts,
but would presume upon the mercy of God and be emboldened to do
evil. “Because sentence
against an evil work is not exceuted speedily, therefore the
heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” (Eccl.
8:11).
15 – Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn
assembly:
As before, “trumpet” here is from the Hebrew
shophar, or a ram’s
horn, used to call the people to assembly or to warn of imminent
danger (see comments at Joel 2:1). The law imposed only one
fast, the annual fast of the Day of Atonement on the tenth day
of the seventh month when the High Priest made atonement for the
temple against the sins and uncleanness of the people so that
the presence of God might continue to dwell in their midst (Lev.
16:29-34). While ceremonial fasting was otherwise discouraged as
a form of false asceticism (Isa. 58:3-12; Col. 2:20-23),
spontaneous and circumstantial fasting was widely practiced as
an acceptable form of contrition for sin; for it is
inappropriate for those that are in mourning for sin to feast
and carouse : “And in
that day did the LORD GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to
mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: and
behold joy an gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating
flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we
shall die” (Isa. 22:12, 13).
16 – Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the
elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts:
let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of
her closet.
The threatened crisis was so great that the whole people were
called to assemble themselves in the temple and beseech the
God’s pardon; none were exempted: bride and groom, though
standing at the very threshold of their vows and consummation of
their marriage, were to postpone their wedding and resort to the
temple to entreat the mercies of God.
17 – Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between
the porch and the altar,
The priests were God’s appointed intermediaries for the people;
they were thus charged to make intercession and to lead the
people in entreating God’s mercy and pardon. There were three
courts in the temple: the court of the Gentiles, where anyone
might worship; the court of Israel, where only circumcised males
who were ceremoniously clean could enter, and the court of
women, where Jewish women were required to worship. “Between the
porch and the altar” likely refers to the court of Israel, for
it was here that assemblies of the people were addressed by
their leaders and kings; it was here also that the prophet
Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, suffered martyrdom (Matt.
23:35). This prophet foretold his death and prefigured Christ.
For when he wrote “They
shall look on me whom they have pierced” and
“Smite the shepherd, and
the sheep shall be scattered” (Zech. 12:10; 13:7), the
prophet wrote of himself, but these things also looked ahead to
Christ (Matt. 26:31; John 19:37;
cf. Zech. 11:7-17).
It was perhaps also in this court that Jesus sometimes taught in
the temple, though it was the outer court where the
money-changers and those that sold doves kept shop (Mark 11:17;
John 2:14), for when he says
“my house shall be called
of all nations the house of prayer” he signifies the court
of Gentiles. And as she could not enter the court of Israel, it
would also have been the outer court where the woman taken in
adultery was brought before Jesus; hence it appears that the
Lord taught here many times as well (John 8:2-11; 20).
and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine
heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them:
wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
The immediate threat was of a plague of
locusts, coupled with famine and drought. However, as we have
seen, the plenior sensus
looked ahead to the A.D. 70 destruction of the nation by Rome.
Therefore, in saying
“give not thine heritage that the heathen should rule over them”
the prophecy appears to anticipate
the conquest of Palestine by Pompey the Great in 63 B.C.
After defeating Mithridates of Pontus,
Pompey deposed Antiochus Asiaticus, the last of the Seleucids
(64 B.C). The Jews
were governed at the time by Antigonus, who had deposed his
brother, Hyrcanus, thrust him from the high priesthood, and put
on the royal diadem.
The disputing brothers at first agreed to submit the
matter to Pompey’s judgment, but Antigonus had a change of heart
and shut the gates of Jerusalem against Pompey. Pompey laid
siege to the city with Hyrcanus for his assistant, taking it
after a siege of five months, bringing the Jews under Roman
rule. 49 B.C. marked Julius Caesar’s civil war against Pompey
and the Roman senate. When the forces of Pompey were defeated at
Pharsalus (Aug. 8, 48 B.C.), Pompey fled to Egypt. When Caesar
arrived, he found Pompey had been murdered, and king Ptolemy
XIII making war against his sister and co-regent, Cleopatra,
whom he had expelled from the throne shortly before. A boy in
age, Ptolemy and the kingdom were under the control of the
eunuch Pothinus. Caesar, who was consul that year, declared his
wish that Ptolemy and Cleopatra disband their armies and settle
their dispute before him in process of law, rather than by armed
force between them.
Pothinus, thinking it
unseemly for the king to submit the contest to Caesar’s
arbitrage, attacked Caesar’s forces with the royal army. In the
war that resulted, Ptolemy was slain, the royal army defeated,
and Egypt came under the power of Rome and Caesar. Caesar
received help in this war from Antipater, father of Herod the
Great. In reward for his assistance, Caesar gave the government
of Judea to Antipater, who in turn gave the government of
Galilee to Herod when he was twenty-five years of age (46 B.C.).[9]
Herod was made king by Octavian Caesar and Marc Antony in the
winter of 39 B.C.[10]
The New Testament narratives open with the conception of John
the Baptist in the autumn of 3 B.C. Herod died shortly before
Passover in 1 B.C. at the age of seventy, having reigned
twenty-seven years from being made king by the Romans.
[11] Jesus was born the
preceding winter, 2 B.C., and was baptized the fifteenth year of
Tiberius (A.D. 29) on the threshold of his thirtieth birthday
(Luke 3:1, 23).
18
– Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his
people.
The people’s repentance will restore the
Lord’s favor and compassion for his people, and return his
blessing to the land so that it again becomes fruitful and
productive. The phrase “be jealous for his land” evokes the
image of a husband resentful of an affront or dishonor done to
his wife, which he is ready to vindicate or revenge; the idea
being that the Lord will nourish and protect the land to remove
the reproach it suffered when it was desolate and unfruitful,
and this for the benefit of his people. A similar thought occurs
in Isaiah: “In that day
sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine. I the LORD do keep it;
I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it
night and day. Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and
thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would
burn them together” (Isa. 27:2-4).
19
– Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I
will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied
therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the
heathen:
In the people’s repentance, prayer, and
fasting, the prophet holds out the assurance that God will
answer their entreaty and fully satisfy their need. Corn, wine,
and oil, were the three great staples of ancient life. By
repenting and forsaking their sins, God would provide the things
necessary to daily life. The existence of famine and drought
would have been viewed by surrounding nations as evidence that
the Jews were forsaken by God and would have been an occasion
for gainsaying them, saying, “Where is their God.” In restoring
their corn, wine, and oil, the reproach they suffered among the
heathen would thus be taken away.
20
– But I will remove far off from you the northern
army,
The normal origin of locusts is not from
the north, but the south, from the Libyan, Egyptian, and Arabian
deserts. It would therefore seem that the locust swarm, driven
by winds, took a circuitous route into Judea, entering from the
north. On the other hand, the form of the word “northern”
indicates the native
land, and cannot therefore in fairness be said to apply to
locusts that originate in the south. Accordingly, many
commentators take “northern” (the word “army” has been supplied
by the translators) in reference to the Assyrio-Babylonian
invasions, which are specifically referred to as coming from the
north (Jer. 1:13, 14; 4:6; Ezek. 1:4). Farrar finds in the
phrase “I will remove far
off from you the Northerner” an allusion to Ezekiel’s vision
of Gog and Magog, the great pagan hoard that comes from the
“north parts” and invades restored Israel in the latter days
(Ezek. 28:15).[12]
Farrar mistakenly believed Gog and Magog described the Scythian
invasion from northern Europe in the seventh century before
Christ, which reached as far as Ashkelon before being repelled
in 596 B.C. Others have supposed Ezekiel’s vision described
Antiochus IV Epiphanes. However, Gog’s invasion of restored
Israel follows the appearance of “David their Prince,” which
plainly refers to Christ (Ezek. 37:25), so that the vision must
be understood in reference to New Testament times. Hence, the
better view is that Gog and Magog envisions the great end-time
persecution of Nero Caesar against the church. Assuming that
Joel describes is other terms the invasion of Gog and Magog,
“northerner” would then have reference to the
Romans.[13]
and
will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face
toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea,
and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up,
because he hath done great things.
In answer to the people’s repentance, the
locust swarm will be driven into the wilderness between the Dead
Sea and the Mediterranean, where millions of rotting locusts
would send up a pestilential stench. However, according to its
plenior sensus, the
passage likely refers to the cataclysmic judgments visited upon
the Romans preceding the death of Nero, including a hurricane
followed by a pestilence that killed thirty thousand in the city
of Rome, and the series of civil wars that followed Nero’s
death, leaving Italy in ruins, littered with tens of thousands
of rotting and unburied corpses following epic battles. The sum
of these judgments was to succor the church and redeem her from
the hand of her persecutors, as envisioned here by Joel.
21
– Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do
great things.
As the invading army of locusts had “done
great things” and mighty deeds in terms of desolating the land
and visiting judgment upon the people; so the Lord would do
great things by restoring the land’s fertility in response to
the people’s repentance.
22
-Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the
wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig
tree and the vine do yield their strength.
“Pastures of the wilderness” refers to
wild, uncultivated places away from human cities and settlements
where cattle and beasts forage and graze. “Fig tree and vine”
bring in view human cultivation. The drought removed and the
locusts driven away, vegetation returns and cultivation resumes:
The pastures germinate; the trees bear fruit; the fig and vine
yield their strength. In returning his care to the land, the
Lord satisfies the need of both man and beast.
23
– Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD
your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and
he will cause to come down for you the rain, and former rain,
and the latter rain
“Children of Zion” refers to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem; but as Zion was the capital city, the
whole remnant of God’s covenant people is almost certainly
signified. The marginal reading for “the former rain” is “a
teacher of righteousness.” Those adopting this translation view
the reference as applying to either Joel himself, to the
instructions of Moses, the prophets and priests, or even
prophetically to Christ. Assuming the translation is correct, it
seems more likely that the
plague and drought
were the “teacher of righteousness” to chasten the people and
lead them to repentance, so that the sense becomes “Rejoice, for
the Lord hath chastened you moderately .” In favor of this sense
is the verb tense “hath given,” which is the perfect tense,
signifying completed action in the past. The plague and drought
were in the past, not the former rain, which was withheld (Joel
1:10, 17-20). But if the translation “former rain” is correct,
it would seem to conflict with the clause following, which
promises the former and latter rains
in the future: “he
will cause to come
down for you the rain, and former rain, etc.” But as “teacher of
righteousness” gives us pause as to its meaning, the present
reading was undoubtedly chosen because it is easier to grasp.
However, as the Hebrew is obscure, it is impossible to say
definitively which is correct.
in
the first month.
The first month was at the first called
Abib by the Jews, but
after the Babylonian captivity it was called
Nisan according to
Chaldean usage (Ex. 12:2; 13:4; Neh. 2:1; Esther 3:7). The first
month was determined by the new moon on or just preceding the
vernal equinox. The new moon marking the first month had to
precede the vernal equinox because Passover occurred at the full
moon on or after the vernal equinox. Hence, for the full moon to
occur on or after the equinox, it was necessary that the new
moon occur on or just before it. But the lunar calendar had not
always been used by the Jews; it was instituted under Moses to
regulate the annual cycle of feasts. Prior to Moses, it appears
that a calendar of twelve months of thirty days apiece was used,
with five epagomenal days added at the end of the year to fill
out 365, according to the manner of the Egyptians. This appears
from the account of the flood in which were accomplished 150
days in five months, so that each month necessarily consisted of
thirty days (Gen. 7:11-8:4). The lunar cycle, however, consists
of 29 ½ days. To account for the half day, the months alternated
in length between 29 and 30 days. But as twelve lunar months
equals only 254 days (6 x 29 + 6 x 30 = 254), a thirteenth month
of thirty days was added seven times in nineteen years to bring
the lunar cycle back in synchronization with the solar year.
24
– And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall
overflow with wine and oil
Wheat, wine and oil, being comparatively
imperishable and capable of being stored for many years, were
the most important crops. Whereas the floors and barns had been
empty of grain and the fats without wine or oil due to the
plague and drought, repentance would restore the Lord’s favor,
who would thus bless the people and abundantly supply their
need.
25
– And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath
eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm,
my great army which I sent among you.
Again we note the future tense appended to
these passages over against the perfect tense in the problematic
clause in v. 23, above. “The years” that the drought and pests
had eaten refers to the annual harvest and the store of grain,
wine, and oil that it produced, which might last for several
years. The pests sent by the Lord to destroy the land and eat up
the crops and were as the invasion of a “great army.” Herodotus
describes the army of Xerxes drying up streams, rivers, and
whole lakes by the multitude of soldiers and livestock in his
army, so that we may imagine the ravage done to the land by an
army merely passing through, foraging provisions. Josephus
indeed describes the army of Simon, one of the leaders in the
Jews’ war with Rome, as having left Idumea a desert waste by
reason of his army:
And
as one may see all the wood behind despoiled of their leaves by
locusts, after they have been there, so was there nothing left
behind Simon’s army but a desert. Some places they burnt down,
some they utterly demolished, and whatever grew in the country
they either trod it down or fed upon it, and by their marches
they made the ground that was cultivated, harder and more
untractable than that which was barren. In short, there was no
sign remaining of those places that had been laid waste, that
ever they had had a being.[14]
Thus, are locusts like an army of men, and
an army of like a plague of locusts.
26,
27 – And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise
the name of the LORD your God, and none else: and my people
shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst
of Israel, and that I am the LORD you God, and none else: and my
people shall never be ashamed.
The blessing of the Lord upon his people
would result in their praising and confessing him to be the one
true God: the Lord who inhabited the praises of Israel and dwelt
in their midst; in clinging to him, God would never allow his
people to suffer shame or disappointment.
28,
29 – And it shall come to pass afterward,
The term “afterward” is synonymous with
“last” or “latter days.” This
is seen by Peter’s quotation of Joel’s prophecy on Pentecost
following the Lord’s ascension, where he substitutes “last days”
for Joel’s use of “afterward” (Acts 2:17). The eschatological
import of the phrase also appears in several Old Testament
passages. The prophet Jeremiah uses it interchangeably with
latter days when he speaks of the salvation Christ would bring
to the Gentiles: “And
afterward I shall bring again the captivity of the children of
Ammon” and “But it
shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring again
the captivity of
Elam” (Jer. 49:6, 39). Similarly, Hosea says,
“Afterward shall the
children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God and David
their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the
latter days.”
that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;
The outpouring of the Spirit spoken of here
should be distinguished from the Spirit’s indwelling of the
believer by the word. Receipt of the Spirit is either direct and
miraculous, or indirect and non-miraculous by the word. The word
is to the Spirit like copper wire is to electricity; as
electricity travels through and is conducted by copper wire, so
the Spirit is communicated and conducted by the word. Jesus
said, “It is the spirit
that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I
speak unto you they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63).
As we receive and yield to the word, we receive Christ’s Spirit.
All believers are thus “sealed” with the Spirit of adoption by
the hope of eternal life in the believer’s breast, by which we
also cry Abba, Father (Rom. 8:14-23; II Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph.
1:13, 14). This indwelling pertains to all believers for all
time, and is not attended by miraculous gifts (John 14:16). But
the outpouring of the Spirit here mentioned was direct and
miraculous, and was of limited scope and duration, belonging to
the latter days of the pre-messianic age, and served as a
witness of the truth of the gospel as the word of God. “All
flesh” signifies men and women of every race, language, and
nation, whether Jew or Gentile. Similarly, when Peter said
“the promise is unto
you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off”
(Acts 2:39), he means that the promise was also to the Gentiles,
for it is they were afar off, but were made nigh by the blood of
Christ (Eph. 2:17).
and
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall
dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon
the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour
out my spirit.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit was given
only to the apostles, save that the household of Cornelius
received a limited dispensation of the Holy Spirit by a like
outpouring as a testimony that the Gentiles were acceptable to
God without circumcision, purified by the obedience of faith
(Acts 10:34, 35, 44-48). In all other instances, the miraculous
gifts of the Holy Ghost were communicated by the laying on of
the apostles’ hands (Acts 8:4-19; 19:1-6). The phrase “in those
days” signifies the “last days” and establishes the limit during
which the miraculous gifts might be received, which almost
certainly terminated following the destruction of Jerusalem: for
the gifts were among the signs given to urge men to repentance
preceding the great and terrible day of the Lord.
30
– And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth,
blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
These signs should probably be understood
literally, as describing conditions that marked the
deteriorating stability of the Jewish nation and polity as it
approached the end. The thirteenth chapter of Josephus’ second
book of Wars is
devoted to describing the conditions prevailing among the Jews
as the end drew near, which wells comports with the instant
language, of which we provide a single example:
Now
when these were quieted, it happened, as it does in a diseased
body, that another part was subject to an inflammation; for a
company of deceivers and robbers got together , and persuaded
the Jews to revolt, and exhorted them to assert their liberty,
inflicting death on those that continued in obedience to the
Roman government, and saying, that such as willingly chose
slavery ought to be forced from such their desired inclinations;
for they parted themselves into different bodies, and lay in
wait up and down the country, and plundered the houses of the
great men, and slew the men themselves, and set the villages on
fire; and this till all Judea was filled with the effects of
their madness. And thus the flame was every day more and more
blown up, till it came to a direct war.[15]
31
– The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into
blood,
This is best understood in reference to the
“blood, fire, and pillars of smoke” from burning villages and
hamlets like those described by Josephus, above, whose smoke
would have blackened the sun by day and made the moon red by
night as is often seen to occur when fields are burned after the
harvest.
before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
The day of the Lord was fulfilled in the
Jewish war with Rome and the year-of-four-emperors that followed
Nero’s death. This may be plainly seen by Peter’s exhortation to
his fellow countrymen to “save yourselves from this untoward
generation” (Acts 2:40). “This generation” was the time frame
established by the Lord for his coming in the clouds of heaven
in judgment upon the Jewish nation (Matt. 24:29, 30; Mk. 13:30).
Christ would come in his kingdom in power while the disciples
were still alive to see it (Matt. 16:27, 28; Mk. 8:38-9:1);
before they had had time to evangelize all the cities of Israel
(Matt. 10:23); the very Sanhedrin that tried him would see
Christ seated on the right hand of power, coming in the clouds
of heaven (Matt. 26:64; Mk. 14:62). And that this was understood
by the earliest Christian writers to be nothing less than the
second coming of Christ is well attested. Origen
(A.D. 184–254),
the great Alexandrian thinker and writer thus states:
We do not deny,
then, that the purificatory fire and the destruction of the
world took place in order that evil might be swept away, and all
things be renewed; for we assert that we have learned these
things from the sacred books of the prophets…But according to
Celsus, ‘the Christians, making certain additional statements to
those of the Jews, assert that the Son of God has been already
sent on account of the sins of the Jews; and that the Jews
having chastised Jesus, and given him gall to drink, have
brought upon themselves the divine wrath.’ And anyone who likes
may convict this statement of falsehood, if it be not the case
that the whole Jewish nation was overthrown within one single
generation after Jesus had undergone these sufferings at their
hands. For forty and two years, I think, after the date of the
crucifixion of Jesus, did the destruction of Jerusalem take
place.[16]
Origen’s use of the phrase “all things renewed” almost certainly
alludes to Rev. 21:5, where John describes a “new heaven and a
new earth” in which Christ’s bride is the ‘new Jerusalem.’ The
implication is that Origen interpreted Revelation’s imagery as
being bound up in the destruction of the old Jerusalem by the
coming of Christ such that the church became the “new
Jerusalem,” taking its place. More importantly, Origen was not
alone in this opinion, nor did it originate with him: Celsus
cites other
Christians as taking the view that Christ returned in vengeance
upon the Jewish nation. Indeed, Origen’s quotation of Celsus
gives every indication that the view was then
normative and
widely held among
Christians, as indeed it would have to have been for it to come
to the attention of an unbeliever and outsider like Celsus, and
find its way into his works as representative of the general
view among Christians. Since it is unlikely Celsus would include
mention of this belief among early Christians if it was merely
aberrative and isolated, at this time in history a “preteristic”[17]
understanding of eschatology was apparently the
dominant view within
the church.
The famous church historian, Eusebius (A.D. 260–340), was also a
Preterist. Regarding Jacob’s prophecy of the “last days” (LXX
“end of days,” Gen 49:1, 10) Eusebius states:
For we must understand by ‘the end of the days’ the end of
national existence of the Jews. What, then, did he say they must
look for? The cessation of the rule of Judah, the destruction of
their whole race, the failing and ceasing of their governors,
and the abolition of the dominant kingly position of the tribe
of Judah, and the rule and kingdom of Christ, not over Israel
but over all nations, according to the word, ‘This is the
expectation of the nations.’[18]
According to Eusebius, then, the ‘latter days’ describes the
period ending with
the abolition of the Jewish state and polity, which has been
replaced by the universal dominion and government of Christ.
Concerning Christ’s second advent, Eusebius writes:
So, then, the prophecy before us says that He comes forth from
His place, and will descend upon the high-places of the earth.
How are we to understand this? Shall we take it literally of the
hills and mountains of Israel, which are the subjects of so many
prophecies, Jerusalem itself and Mount Sion, in which our Lord
and Saviour spent so much time? If so, their destruction and
ruin at the descent of Christ would be prophesied. And it is the
fact that after the Saviour's coming and the treatment He
received all the hills mentioned were besieged, and utterly
desolated. But the rulers of the Jewish people as well, and
their kingdom that existed previously, their sacrificial system
and the seats of their teachers, here called Mountains
metaphorically, are said to be shaken by the Descent of the Lord
from heaven. And who could deny that this was fulfilled after
the time of our Saviour Jesus Christ, when he sees all these
things not only shaken, but abolished?[19]
Hence we see that Eusebius, like Origen before him, was of the
opinion that Christ’s second coming as an
accomplished fact,
evidenced by the destruction of the Jewish state. Even Jewish
Christians took this view, as witnessed by the ‘Moriad.’
The Moriad is a book-length epic poem written by a third century
Christian-Jew about the A.D. 70 destruction of the Jewish state.
The name is taken from Mount Moriah (Zion) with ‘ad’ appended as
a suffix similar to the ‘Iliad’ and the ‘Aeneid.’ The poem was
written by Ben Asaph and translated into English from Syriac
Hebrew by Anselm Korlstoff in 1857. Book two, entitled “The
Advent,” describes Christ’s coming to visit destruction upon the
Jewish nation:
“And now, O Branch, (on earth called Christ), descend,
And bring the Second Institution to an end.
Sweep from the land the wretched Jewish State,
Their temple burn, and yield them to their fate.
To spirit-baptism they will not aspire,
So let Jerusalem be baptized with fire![20]
This is a clear reference to John the Baptist’s eschatological
warning in Matt 3:10–12, and shows this third century
Christian-Jew understood Christ’s second coming as fulfilled in
the A.D. 70 fall of Jerusalem.
32-
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name
of the LORD shall be delivered:
“The name of the Lord” here must be
understood as nothing less than
Jesus Christ. The
apostles taught in his name (Acts 4:18, 19); performed miracles
in his name (Acts 4:9, 10), and baptized for remission of sins
in Jesus’ name (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5; 22:16). They also
proclaimed before the Sanhedrin that murdered the Lord “Neither
is there salvation in any other: for thee is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts
4:12).
for
in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD
hath said, Isaiah’s kingdom prophecy proclaimed that
“out of Zion shall go
forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Isa.
2:3). Zechariah said “In
that day thee shall be a fountain opened to the house of David
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness”
(Zech. 13:1). That fountain is the blood of Christ embodied
in the gospel. The fountain of salvation once opened, soon
carved channels into the wide world, bring deliverance to all
mankind. Jesus thus told the disciples
“that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in his name among all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Lk. 24:47). Today, the
fountain has become a measureless ocean; Christianity has filled
the earth. “The earth
shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as
the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14).
and
in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
Although wide world has received the
gospel, only a remnant of the Jews obeyed: “Though
the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
a remnant shall be saved” (Rom. 9:27-30). This is not
because God actively prevented their believing; to the contrary,
the gospel call is for all; God would have
all men to be saved
and come to a knowledge of the truth; God commands
all men to everywhere
to repent and to believe the gospel (Acts 17:30; I Tim. 2:4; II
Pet. 3:9). However, the gospel is repugnant to natural man—to
repent from sin; to deny ourselves; to mortify the lusts of the
flesh; to submit to the governance of God over our lives; to put
God’s will before our own; to suffer the rejection and shame of
naming Jesus as Lord—all this and countless more inherent in the
Christian life is repugnant to the natural man, whose first
instincts are to follow the carnal appetites and impulses of his
mind. Most follow the broad road to destruction; only a remnant
of any generation take the straight gate and narrow way to
salvation. The word of God is a discerning of the thoughts and
intents of the heart; those who have the world in their hearts
will not obey the gospel; those that have put the world behind
them will believe and obey. The choice is entirely our own.
[1] Because Zion was
the seat of God’s earthly throne, it also came to be
called upon heaven itself, the true tabernacle and
throne of God (Ps. 11:4; 15:1). As Zion became the seat
of David’s earthly kingdom, so the heavenly Zion became
the seat of Christ’s throne when he sat down at the
right hand of the Majesty in heaven (Ps. 2:6-12; cf.
Acts 13:33; Ps. 110:1, 2); the church is the seat of
Christ’s earthly and temporal kingdom, and is thus
called the new Jerusalem, the covenantal habitation of
the saints (Rev. 21:2, 3; cf. Gal. 4:21-31; Heb.
12:22-28; Isa. 2:1-5). It is from the heavenly Zion that
the Lord roars against his enemies on behalf of the
church in Joel 3:16, 17.
[2]
Christ would be manifest 483 years after the decree to
restore and rebuild Jerusalem, or at his baptism in the
fall of A.D. 29, the fifteenth year of Tiberius (Lk.
2:1-23). The remaining week is divided between Christ’s
3 ½ year ministry and the 3 ½ year war with Rome. There
is a gap following the cutting off of Messiah in A.D. 33
until his coming again in wrath at the outbreak of the
war that destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 66.
[3]
Josephus, J.W.,
2.17.2 (Whiston ed.)
[4]
Josephus, J.W.,
6.9.3 (Whiston ed.)
[5]
Josephus, J.W.,
5.10.3; (Whiston ed.). Like a plague of locusts, the
Roman army denuded the land of all trees and vegetation
around Jerusalem building siege-works to reduce the city
to subjection:
And now
the Romans, although they were greatly distressed in
getting together their materials, raised their banks in
one and twenty days, after they had cut down all the
trees that were in the country that adjoined to the
city, and that for ninety furlongs round about, as I
have already related. And truly the very view itself of
the country was a melancholy thing; for those places
which were before adorned with trees and pleasant
gardens were now become a desolate country every way,
and its trees were all cut down: nor could any foreigner
that had formerly seen Judea and the most beautiful
suburbs of the city, and now saw it as a desert, but
lament and mourn sadly at so great a change: for the war
had laid all the signs of beauty quite waste: nor if any
one that had known the place before, had come on a
sudden to it now, would he have known it again; but
though he were at the city itself, yet would he have
inquired for it notwithstanding. Josephus,
J.W., 6.1.1;
(Whiston ed.)
[6]
Josephus, J.W., 5.11,1; (Whiston ed.)
[7]
Josephus, J.W.,
5.12.3, 4; (Whiston ed.)
[8]
Josephus, J.W.,
6.8.5; (Whiston ed.)
[9]
Josephus, Ant.
14.9.2. This means Herod would have been born in 71 B.C.
[10]
Andrew E. Steinman,
When did Herod
the Great Reign, 51 Novum Testamentum, 8
[11]
Josephus, Ant.
17.6.1; 17.8.1
[12]
F.W. Farrar, “Joel” in
The Minor
Prophets (New York, Anson D.F. Randolph & Company),
118, 121.
[13]
Precedent for referring to the Romans as coming from the
north is found in the book of Daniel. The eleventh
chapter of the book of Daniel provides a timeline of the
latter days of the Jewish nation, beginning with the
Mede-Persian Empire, followed by the kingdom of the
Greeks, and ending with the Roman Empire. Upon his
death, Alexander the Great’s kingdom was divided between
his generals, which ultimately devolved into four
kingdoms or dynasties. The two most powerful of these
were the Seleucid dynasty of Syria, called the king or
kingdom of the
north, and the Ptolemaic dynasty seated in Egypt,
called the king or kingdom of
the south.
Most of the eleventh chapter of Daniel is devoted to the
vicissitudes of these two kingdoms. However, with the
passage of time the power of these two kingdoms decayed
and the balance of world powers shifted, until the
phrase “king of the north” and “king of south” came no
longer to refer to these two dynasties, but to new world
powers grown up in their place. The point where this
transition occurs in Daniel’s vision is best understood
as verse forty, where the prophecy skips ahead from the
depredations of Antiochus IV Epiphanes to the “time of
the end.” By this view, the king of the south refers to
Mithidates of Pontus, and the king of the north, to the
Romans, first under Pompey the Great who conquered
Mithidates and brought Judea under Roman rule (vv. 40,
41), followed by Julius Caesar who conquered Egypt and
settled the government of Judea upon Antipater, the
father of Herod the Great (vv. 42-45).
[14]
Josephus, J.W.,
4.9.7; Whiston ed.
[15]
Josephus, Wars,
2.13.6; Whiston ed.
[16]
Origen,
Contra Celsus
4.21–22
[17]
The term ‘Preterism’ is derived from the Latin
praeteritus, meaning that
which has past;
it describes
a school of eschatology that views end-time
prophecy as being fulfilled within the lives of the
first disciples. Specifically, Preterists view the
end-time language and imagery of Daniel, Revelation, and
related prophecies as describing events culminating in
the persecution under Nero, the series of Roman civil
wars that followed Nero’s death, and the destruction of
Jerusalem by Rome.
[18]
Eusebius,
Demonstratio Evangelica, 8.5.375
[19]
Eusebius,
Demonstratio Evangelica, 6.13.271;
Farrar edition.
[20]
Ben
Asaph, The
Moriad (Nashville, 1857), 2:170–75; p. 51
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