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the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be a shamed.

28¶ And it shall come to pass

28-32. And, &c.] According to the arrangement of the Hebrew Text these verses form a chapter by themselves. And then follows, introduced by them, the descriptionthe first description given-of the last things.

it shall come to pass] To the Hebrew prophet, temporal judgments and the final judgment, temporal deliverance and the great Messianic deliverance, cannot be dissevered. One is typical of the other; one suggests the other; and the words which he uses apply primarily, sometimes to the type, sometimes to the antitype. Further, the Messianic times, foreshadowed by present blessings, are in themselves twofold. Sometimes they are the times which follow the first coming of the Messiah, sometimes those during which He shall reign after His second coming; the blessings consequent on His first coming being the antitypes of the previous temporal blessings, and themselves typical of those which are to come hereafter. Accordingly the prophet Joel passes on from the immediate blessings of his countrymen to the future blessings which were to be bestowed on the whole world, (1) on the coming of the Messiah, and (2) in His final reign.

afterward] This word refers back to the in the first place of v. 23. It is paraphrased by St Peter (Acts ii. 17) by "in the last days." Both these expressions "afterward," "in the last days," are formulas by which the Messianic times are meant. The promise of the full bestowal of the blessing in a future dispensation does not imply that God's Spirit was not in a degree communicated to His ancient people. But under the Old Testament His Spirit was communicated less freely to each recipient, and less generally. What is now promised is that there shall be a time or dispensation, when He shall not be imparted scantily, but poured out copiously as rain, so that His gifts and graces should become the characteristic of that dispensation. "For the word 'pour' does not mean merely to give in drops but in great abundance" (Calvin).

pour out my spirit] The effusion of the Holy Spirit may be shewn by the manifestation of His gifts or of His graces. His gifts are "the gifts of healing, of miracles, of prophecy, of discerning of spirits, of divers kinds of tongues, of interpretation of tongues (1 Cor. xii. 9, 10). His graces are "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Gal. v. 22, 23). During the apostolic days He manifested Himself in both of these ways. On the Day

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of Pentecost, as it was the first occasion of the promised effusion, He shewed Himself in a way which could not but strike the eye and ear of the most heedless, the gift of tongues: and whenever the apostles laid their hands on the baptized, the gift of tongues and of prophesying was vouchsafed to at least some of the confirmed (Acts viii., X., xix.). But the effusion of God's Spirit is no less really proved by an abounding of His graces than by an exhibition of His gifts. "Charity" is but another word for the ordinary working of God's Holy Spirit in the heart; and this "charity" St Paul prefers to "the best of gifts," "more excellent" than miracles, healing, tongues, knowledge, prophesying (1 Cor. xii. 31), and greater even than "faith and hope" (xiii. 13). When His gifts have been withdrawn, His graces still remain, to prove that God's Spirit has been poured upon His Church.

my spirit] The cause of spiritual life, as in the beginning of physical life. (Gen. i. 2.) A glimpse at the doctrine of the personality of the Holy Ghost is here prophetically given, as elsewhere of the doctrine of the personality of the Word. It is only by the New Testament that it is made clear that the Spirit, by which men have wisdom, knowledge, faith, and other gifts, is a Divine Person in the Unity of the Godhead, who "divides to every man severally as He will" (1 Cor. xii. 11); but there are hints and anticipations of this great truth scattered throughout the Law and the Prophets, Num. xi. 25; 1 S. x. 10; Ps. li. 11; Isai. xliv. 3; Ezek. xxxix. 29.

upon all flesh] It is probable that these words teach, by anticipation, the truth which it was vouchsafed to Isaiah rather than to Joel to declare plainly (Isai. lxv. 1, 2; Rom. x. 20); that God's Church should not be confined to the Jewish nation, but should embrace all mankind. The "all flesh" in the present passage is distinguished into its component species as "your sons, your daughters, your old men, your young men;" the promise, however, is not thereby limited to the Jewish nation, but overleaps the bounds of race.

prophesy...dream...visions] The vision and the dream are means by which God communicates with the prophet (Num. xii. 6; Dan. i. 17). The "vision" is the ecstatic trance, from which the prophetic "dream" only differs in this, that in the dream the action of the ordinary faculties is suspended by natural causes, in the trance or vision by supernatural and extraordinary causes. In both vision and dream the bodily senses are closed to external

your young men shall see visions : 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

objects, the reflective and discursive faculty is still, and the spiritual faculty of immediate perception by means of an inward sense alone energizes. The prophet being in this state, the subject manifested to him by God is unfolded before his inner sight. The visions of Isaiah (vi.), Ezekiel (i.), Daniel (viii., x., xi., xii.), Zechariah (i., iv., v., vi.), St Peter (Acts x.), St Paul (2 Cor. xii.) are prominent instances of scenes presented in the ecstatic trance; Gen. xv. and Dan. vii. of similar scenes presented in the prophetic dream. On returning from the state of ecstasy, or dream, to his ordinary state, the prophet declared, for the edification of God's people, the things which he had seen or heard, though still without any attempt of his own at systematizing or arranging them. Hence the fragmentary character of prophecy, its disregard of times, its imagery, its dramatic form, its obscurity.

The words, "They shall prophesy, they shall dream dreams, they shall see visions," are the specifications and expansions of the fundamental promise, “I will pour out my Spirit upon them." They neither add to its latitude nor take away from it. Prophecy, visions, dreams are naturally selected by Joel as being the recognized forms of the manifestation of the Spirit under the Old Testament. When therefore the power of speaking with tongues, exhibited in many persons on the Day of Pentecost, made manifest the abundant presence of the Spirit, St Peter's auditors would at once acknowledge that "this was that which was spoken by the prophet Joel," without waiting for the specific manifestation of His working by means of dream, or vision, or prophecy. That the promise was exhausted on the Feast of Pentecost, St Peter is so far from stating that he implies the contrary (Acts ii. 39). The Pentecostal miracle was a proof that the dispensation in which the Spirit was outpoured had begun. The effusion then begun would afterwards exhibit itself by all the gifts and graces of the Spirit, most of all by charity.

29. the servants...the handmaids] Slaves. The extraordinary character of this promise is shewn by the use of the word "also." There is no instance of a slave having the gift of prophecy in the Old Testament. The new dispensation holds out a prospect even to the slaves of being equalized with their lords by receiving the "free Spirit" of God as well as

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they. Man's slaves become God's servants, as in the LXX. rendering, quoted by St Peter, Acts ii. 18.

in those days] The Day of Pentecost, with the period immediately succeeding it, is the time primarily signified by "those," .e. the Messianic "days;" but from these first-fruits we look onwards, for a still farther and larger fulfilment of the promise, to the Second Coming, the preceding signs of which are described in the next two verses.

spirit] In Acts ii. 18 there are added the words, "and they shall prophesy;" exhibiting the effect of the Spirit being poured upon them, and giving prominence to the equal favour shewn to master and slave.

30. And I will shew] The vision of the prophet passes on (with a glance at the destruction of Jerusalem) to the final judgment enemies), which is to precede the inauguration (typified by the judgment on locusts and of the reign of righteousness. This verse and the two next verses are quoted by St Peter (Acts ii. 19-21) as well as the previous the Pentecostal miracle. They probably were verses, though apparently unconnected with the text for those "many other words with which he testified and exhorted, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation" (ii. 40).

"The

blood, and fire] Cf. Exod. vii. 20. waters that were in the river were turned into

blood," i.e. blood-red. See note on Exod.

vii. 17.

"The Lord sent thunder and hail,

and the fire ran along upon the ground," Exod. ix. 23, where see note. There may be a reference to Deut. vi. 22, "And the Lord gave signs and wonders great and sore upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household." The plagues of Egypt, which preceded the deliverance of the Israelites and the over

throw of the Egyptians, were typical of the signs and wonders that are to precede the final deliverance and overthrow.

pillars] Or, "wreaths," as the smoke that ascended on Mount Sinai, Exod. xix. 18.

31. The sun...the moon] Our Lord, in His discourse on the Mount of Olives (Matt. xxiv. 29; Mark xiii. 24; Luke xxi. 25), announces that the same signs are to precede the last day; and they are seen by St John at the opening of the sixth seal, before "the great day of His wrath" (Rev. vi. 12). The connexion of these passages is unmistakeable.

mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said,

and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

The application of the prophet's words is simply to designate those of the exiles who remade certain by them.

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deliverance] such as shall have escaped. Cf. Obad. 17.

as the LORD hath said] by me His prophet. Joel declares the promise to emanate not from himself, but from God. Those who give a very early date to Obadiah see in the words a reference to Obad, 17. See Introduction to Obadiah.

the remnant whom the LORD shall call] This is the first appearance of the doctrine of "the remnant" in Scripture. It is developed by Isaiah, Micah, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, but specially by Isaiah; and it is enforced by St Paul (Rom. ix. 27, xi. 5). In most passages the word is used

NOTES on CHAP. 6. The substantive D is derived from ND (piel), "to adorn," and therefore means "brightness," or "colour." It is a distinct word from 1, "a pot," which is derived either from D, "to break in pieces," or from the kindred word ", "to boil up." Consequently, the etymology suggested by the marginal reading "pot," and the reading in the text, founded upon that etymology, "blackness," must be exchanged for "redness," "brightness," or "colour." The more common acceptation of the verb pap is "to collect," or "to gather," but it will bear the meaning of "to gather into itself," that is, "to withdraw:" and this is the meaning that must be given to it in this passage. Gesenius has noticed that, four verses lower down, DN, "to collect," or "to gather," is similarly used in the sense of "to gather into itself," that is, "to withdraw" (Joel ii. 10, as 1 S. xiv. 19).

כל פנים קבצו פארור Accordingly, the force of

is, "all faces are blanched."

17. It has been argued by those who favour the rendering "the heathen should rule over them," (1) that the verb cannot be used in the sense of "use a byword or proverb," unless followed by the kindred noun Sup. This is disproved by Ezek. xvi. 44, VOL. VI.

main alive to the end, so as to be brought back again from captivity (Isai. xi. 11, 16; Jer. xxxi. 7); the surviving captives being opposed both to those who have died in exile and to the dwellers in Jerusalem. But elsewhere the Israelites are divided into the majority and the remnant, the ungodly and the righteous. And thus "the remnant whom the Lord shall call" is the Old Testament form of the doctrine of the election of grace (Rom. ix. 27, xi. 5); Mount Zion representing the Church of Christ, and the remnant representing the elect gathered within it. In the present passage the meaning is that salvation will be found among the dwellers in Zion and those of the exiles who have been brought back thither safe. St Peter refers to these words of Joel in Acts ii. 39, “For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call," evidently in allusion to the LXX, rendering of Joel. It would seem from this, that St Peter understood by "the remnant" the restored exiles, whom he regards as types of the far-off Gentiles, who are to be brought home by the call of God.

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pression should be translated "use a proverb among them :" the idea is repeated in the next clause, where the same preposition is used, Dy 17D", "say among the peoples," and then follows the proverb itself, which would be used "among them" (the Jews) and "among the peoples" (the Gentile nations), “Where is their God?"

18. The two futures ", p", having the vau prefixed, would express a past time, if a past tense had preceded, but only if a past tense had preceded. This is not the case here, for the locust-devastation and the things predicted as about to take place, not observance of the fast-day are, as we hold, events related as having occurred. If they had followed a descriptive narration, or (as Keil assumes), some such clause as "Then the people observed the fast" (in the past

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tense), they would have expressed past time, given you hammōreh litzědákâb, and He bath but not otherwise.

23. p

has been rendered, (1) "The teacher for righteousness," (2) "The former rain moderately," (3) "The former rain in accordance with righteousness." It has been rendered, "The teacher for, or of, righteousness," by the Chaldee, Jonathan, the Vulgate, the margin of A. V., Jarchi, Abarbanel, St Jerome, Grotius, Hesselberg, Hengstenberg, Keil, Pusey, Wordsworth. has been rendered, "The former rain," by the A. V., Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Tanchum, Calvin, Pococke, Chandler, Rosenmüller, Holzhausen, Credner, Maurer, Hitzig, Ewald, Meier, Umbreit, Schmoller, Wünsche. pry has been rendered, "In right measure" (which is substantially the same as the rendering of the A. V.), by Calvin, Rosenmüller, Holzhausen, Credner, Maurer, Hitzig, Wünsche; "for justification," by Ewald, Meier, Umbreit; "for a blessing," or "for salvation," by Schmoller. The following is a summary of the grammatical arguments for each of the three ren

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II. For the second and the third as against the first, in respect to the same word:

I.

In the only other place in which Joel uses the word i he confessedly uses it in the sense of "former rain," not in that of "teacher." This creates a probability (greater than the adverse probability founded upon the usage of other writers) that he uses it in the sense of "former rain" here. This probability is strengthened, when we find that it is in the same sentence as that in which the doubtful word occurs, that the same word, n, is certainly used in the sense of "former rain."

It is probable that the more readily admits of being substituted for 71, inasmuch as both 71 and 7 are derived from the same root, 7", "to shoot forth."

2. The article is not required in other passages where "former rain" is spoken of. Here it is at least admissible, and therefore there is no reason why it should not have been used by the author.

3. The clause, "and He will cause to come down for you the rain," is attached to the previous clause, "He hath given you ethhammōreh litzědákâh,” by the vau conversive prefixed to the verb in the future tense, 7. Consequently the verb expresses, not a future, but the same time as the tense in the previous clause, which is a perfect tense; and the passage ought to be translated, "For He hath

caused to come down for you the rain," &c. The coming down of the rain is by the He

brew idiom represented as the result of giving hammōreh litzědákâh, or, at any rate, as contemporaneous with that act (Keil) or subsequent to it (Pusey). Now if hammōreb means "the former rain," no difficulty arises; there is a good reason for naming the autumn rainfall first, and then the general rains (see note ad loc.). But if it mean "the teacher," it must mean a teacher contemporary with, or Then who is the preceding, the rainfalls. teacher? Hofmann holds it to be the prophet Joel himself; Hengstenberg the idealized collective teacher; Keil understands by it Moses, the priests, and the prophets that preceded or were contemporary with Joel, "not excluding a reference to the Messiah:" but he allows that the context and the grammatical construction will not admit of the Messiah (who was future) being directly meant. But if hammōreh does not mean the Messiah, the probability that it means "the teacher" at all is greatly diminished.

III. For the first and third as against the second, in respect to the word лp:

The ordinary meaning of Y is "righteousness," or "justice," or "fairness," sensu ethico, not "correctness of measure," sensu physico. The translations "for righteousness," and "in accordance with righteousness," retain the ethical sense of pY, and are therefore preferable to "moderately."

IV. In respect to the particle >:

to PT, means (1) "to," "at," "for," "with The preposition, which is here prefixed a view to," (2) "in reference to," "in accordverbially by our "-ly." There is therefore no ance with," or (3) it may be translated adpreference to be given to any one of the three in accordance with righteousness," on acrenderings, "for righteousness," "moderately," count of this particle.

The conclusion of the grammatical argument is that the balance of probability is in favour (1) of meaning "the former rain," as in the second and third renderings, and (2) of

meaning "for, or, in accordance with righteousness," as in the first and third renderings. Consequently, "the former rain in accordance with righteousness," is grammatically preferable to either "the teacher for righteousness," or "the former rain moderately."

The argument from the context leads to the same conclusion.

First, as to 1:

The prophet begins by denouncing two physical woes-locusts and drought: he proceeds to promise, on the people's repentance, "in the first place," the physical removal and reversal of those evils, by the destruction of the locusts and the supply of fertilizing rains; and

finally he shews that these two physical blessings are typical of two future spiritual blessings, to be bestowed "afterwards "-the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the overthrow of the enemies of God's people. The prophet places before us (1) drought, (2) rain, (3) the Holy Spirit; and again, (1) locusts, (2) their destruction, (3) the judgment of the enemies of God's people. There is no place at all for the teacher of righteousness in the same division with the physical rains, and the removal of the locusts.

: לצדקה Next, as to

CHAPTER III.

1 God's judgments against the enemies of his people. 9 God will be known in his judgment. 18 His blessing upon the church.

`OR, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring

CHAP. III. 1. For, behold] This is the first picture of the coming golden age, as it is drawn for us by a Hebrew prophet. Its details are filled in by almost every subsequent prophet, and they are substantially adopted and confirmed by the authority of our Lord and of His Apostle St John. In this first picture we may note the following features, (1) signs and wonders in the heavens (Joel ii. 30, iii. 15; cf. Isai. xiii. 10; Matt. xxiv. 29; Rev. vi. 12); (2) the Day of the Lord (Joel ii. 1, 31; cf. Obad. 15; Zeph. i. 15; Zech. xiv.; Mal. iv. 1); (3) the restoration of the Jewish exiles (or what is typified by them) (Joel iii. 1, 7; cf. Amos ix. 14; Isai. xi. 11; Jer. xxxi. 7; Zeph. iii. 20; Acts ii. 39); (4) the judgment, overthrow, and subjection of all their enemies (Joel iii. 2, 8, 12, 19; cf. Dan. vii.; Zech. xiv. 12; Matt. xxv. 41; Rev. xix., xx.); (5) Zion the seat of deliverance and salvation (Joel ii. 32, iii. 16, 17, 21; cf. Obad. 17, 21; Zech. xiv. 11); (6) Jeho vah's universal reign of triumph and peace in Zion (Joel iii. 16, 17; cf. Zech. xiv. 9; Rev. xi. 15). And these are all the features that are essential. Little more is added by the later prophets. The great day is dwelt upon by Joel with more emphasis than by any of the seers who followed him.

For] The conjunction for is used, because the prophet proceeds to explain why he had used the words "remnant" and "such as shall have escaped." An escape will be needed (this is the connecting idea), for the wrath of God will be exhibited in the earth.

Judah and Jerusalem] Still there is no mention of the Ten Tribes.

2. all nations] More exactly all the nations or Gentiles. So in Obad. 15, 16,

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"all the heathen," i.e. all who have wronged Israel.

the valley of Jehoshaphat] In the reign of Jehoshaphat the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites gathered an immense army, "a great multitude," and encamped near Engedi, to the west of the Dead Sea. A great terror fell upon Jerusalem. Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast, and after his prayer Jahaziel promised that God would fight for Israel. The Israelites marched to the head of one of the valleys leading down to Engedi, in which the allied force was encamped, but before they had reached the battle-field the enemies had turned their arms against themselves; Moab and Ammon attacked and destroyed Edom, and then each other. Jehoshaphat and his army spent three days in spoiling the slain, and on the fourth day they held an assembly in the valley and solemnly named it the valley of Berakah, or Blessing (2 Chro. xx.). This occurrence took place about a hundred years before the time that we have assigned to Joel, and it is not improbable that the imagery which he here uses is derived from the tradition of this great deliverance. "The great multitude" (2 Chro. xx. 2), "the great company" (ib. 12), "multitudes, multitudes" (Joel iii. 14) are again gathered in the valley, for the Lord there to sit in judgment upon them. It is no longer, however, called the valley of Berakah, i.e. of Blessing, but the valley of Jehoshaphat, i.e. the valley of the judgment of Jehovah. The name is coined by Joel on account of its meaning, and for the purpose of recalling the historical association. There is no place so named either in the valley of the Kidron or elsewhere.

plead] The word in the original is still connected with the name Jehoshaphat. So in

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