heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. 3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. 4 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head; 5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into Isai. lxvi. 16, "By fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh;" and in Ezek. xxxviii. 22, " And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood." 66 parted my land] This cannot be referred to anything that had taken place at the time that Joel wrote, nor was there anything in the age of Uzziah to suggest its probability. It must refer to the Chaldæan and Roman con quests, and to the future oppression of God's people of which those conquests were types. 3. cast lots] As was usual for prisoners whom they regarded slightingly, Nah. iii. 10. a boy...a girl] The Jewish prisoners were held so cheap that a slave-girl was sold by her captor for a draught of wine ("an old song," as we might say) and a slave-boy was given in place of the small coin thrown to a prostitute (Gen. xxxviii. 16; Hos. iii. 2). During the Jewish war Titus took 97,000 prisoners, of whom he publicly sold all that were under 17 years of age. After Hadrian's Jewish war four Jews were sold for a measure of barley at Hebron. 4. Yea, and what have ye to do with me] i.e. "Why do ye too harass my people? He passes, in the next four verses, from the future antagonists who should carry his countrymen captive and seize their land, to the enemies who in his own day had plundered them of their goods, and had sold such of them as they caught for slaves. O Tyre, and Zidon] The crime of the Tyrians and Sidonians consisted in being the receivers of the slaves, whom they bought from the Philistines and sold to the Greeks of Asia Minor. the coasts of Palestine] The word so rendered may mean the coasts on to which the sea rolls, or the circuits or districts belonging to each of the five chief cities of Philistia or Palestine, The Philistines and Arabians had 6. sold unto the Grecians] The Tyrians and Sidonians, owing to their maritime character, would naturally come in contact with the Greeks. About 200 years before the time of Joel, the Greeks had colonized Asia Minor, and would there be the ready recipients of Tyre's slaves. We have no Greek historical records of this date to consult; but to sell as slaves those taken in war was the universal practice at this period of the world's history. Ezekiel mentions the trade of the Tyrians with the Greeks (xxvii. 13). Movers gives many instances of early slave-dealing on the part both of Tyrians and of Greeks (Phönizier,' II. 3, pp. 70, 80; see also Wilkins, Phoenicia and Israel,' p. 119, 1871). There is no reason for supposing a town named Javan in Yemen to be meant by Joel. 8. the Sabeans] the Shebans, i. e. the people whose country was situated in Arabia Felix, at the S.W. extremity of Arabia, to the east of the Red Sea; probably descended from Sheba, son of Joktan. The Sabeans, a Cushite tribe, lived on the opposite side of the Red Sea, and therefore in Africa. See notes on Gen. x. 7, 28; Job i. 15; Ps. lxxii. 10; and Clarke's Bible Atlas.' As the Tyrians sold Jewish prisoners to the maritime people of the far west, so the Jews should sell Tyrians to the traders of the far east. Philistines may have been sold by Uzziah (2 Chro. xxvi. 6) and by Hezekiah (2 K. xviii. 8). We learn from Diod. Sic. (XVII. 46) that more than 13,000 Tyrians were sold into slavery after Alexander's conquest. 9. Proclaim ye this] He returns from the parenthetical denunciation of Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia to "the Gentiles" in general, the "all nations" of verse 2, whom He had said that He would gather together. This verse contains their summons to come with their arms in their hands to receive their overthrow. Cf. Zech. xiv. 2, 3, "Behold I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle...then shall the Lord go forth and fight against these nations." Cf. also Ezek. xxxviii. 16. The whole of these two chapters should be read in elucidation of the text. Prepare] Lit. "sanctify" by sacrifices and religious rites. 10. plowshares...pruningbooks] This expression, which afterwards became proverbial, was perhaps suggested to Joel by seeing around him the agricultural activity which was fostered by king Uzziah; "for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains: husbandmen also, and vinedressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry" (2 Chro. xxvi. 10). Joel's cry is addressed to the heathen before the judgment of Jehovah upon them. Isaiah (ii. 4) and Micah (iv. 3) reverse the words when describing the state of the world after the judgment has been passed, and the Lord has assumed His king dom in Zion. "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Martial's epigram (XIV. 34) on the pruninghook that was made out of a sword illustrates Isaiah and Micah: Pax me certa ducis placidos conflavit in usus : Squalent abductis arva colonis ; Sarcula cessabant, versique in pila ligones; 'Fast.' 1. 697. let the weak say, I am strong] No excuse on the ground of infirmity is to be admitted. 11. Assemble] Rather, Hasten. The word, found only here, is connected with one which means "to hurry." thy mighty ones] Either the angels, 2 K. vi. 17; Ps. ciii. 20 (Hitzig, Hengstenberg, Pusey, Keil), or the Jewish heroes (Wunsche, Schmoller), or the mighty ones of the heathen that He is about to overthrow, who are still His. 12. valley of Jehoshaphat] As in v. 2. "The Mohammedans have borrowed from the Jews a tradition, which locates the judgment in the Kidron, or valley of Jehoshaphat.' It has its origin in a misinterpretation of Joel iii. 12. But be this as it may, the belief exercises a powerful influence alike on Jews and Mohammedans. The favourite burying-place of the latter is the narrow ledge outside the Haram wall on the brow of the Kidron; and the Jews often travel from the ends of the earth that they may lay their bones in the vast cemetery which covers the opposite bank of the ravine" (Porter, ' Giant Cities of Bashan and Syria's Holy Places,' Lond. 1866, p. 122). avill I sit to judge] Cf. Dan. vii. 9; Matt. xxv. 31; Rev. xx. 4. 13. the harvest is ripe...the press is full] Two metaphors applied to the congregated heathen. They stand thick together and ready for destruction in the valley of judgment, as the ripe ears of corn at harvest; awaiting to be trodden under foot, as grapes in the press. Cf. Matt. xiii. 39. In Rev. xiv. 18, the same metaphors are used with a similar application. get you down] Rather, tread (the winepress). for their wickedness is great] Probably an allusion to Gen. vi. 5, suggesting that the cause of the first great visitation and of the last is the same. judgment" (from a word meaning "to decide," 1 K. xx. 40; Isai. x. 22). It is a name of similar import with the valley of Jehoshaphat. St Jerome, following Aquila and Symmachus, translates "destruction;" Holzhausen and Credner, referring to Isai. xxviii. 27, xli. 15, render it "threshing instrument." Cf. the word Armageddon = mountain of cutting to pieces, Rev. xvi. 16. 16. shall roar] As a lion, cf. Hos. v. 14; and His thunder (His voice) shall shew His presence at Jerusalem. Cf. 1 Thess. iv. 16, "For the Lord Himself shall descend with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God." Amos commences with the same words, "The Lord will roar from Zion and utter his voice from Jerusalem" (i. 2), probably to attach his prophecy as closely as possible to Joel's. See Introduction, § I. but the LORD] The remainder of the book describes the reign of Jehovah after the judgment. 17. there shall no strangers pass through her any more] So Isai. xxxv. 8; Jer. xxx. 8; Obad. 17. In Zech. xiv. 21 the promise stands thus: "In that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts." It is spiritualized in the book of the Revelation into "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life," Rev. xxi. 27. 18. the mountains shall drop down new wine] The same expression is used by Amos, ix. 13. He therefore begins and ends his prophecy by a citation from Joel. the hills shall flow with milk] Cf. Ovid, 'Met.' I. III: "Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris, ibant; Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella." Eurip. Bacchæ,' 142:— Ρεῖ δὲ γάλακτι πέδον, 'Peî d'oïvw, peî dè pedioσâv Νέκταρι. a fountain] This characteristic of the reign of peace is found also in Ezek. xlvii., in Zech. xiv. 8, and in Rev. xxii. 1. Ezekiel sees the stream issue from the eastern threshold of the temple and flow down to the Dead Sea, and heal its waters, while by the banks grow all manner of trees for food and medicine. In Zechariah's vision it parts into two branches, flowing into the Dead Sea and into the Mediterranean. The two later prophets therefore preserve the same imagery, and see the stream flowing (in one of its branches, after it had become divided) in the same direction as Joel; for the valley of Shittim is, no doubt, the valley of the Acacias, on the borders of Moab, on the other side of Jordan, where the Israelites halted and sinned (Num. xxv.). The stream then is first to fill the Jordan valley and the Dead Sea, and then to spread itself even beyond the borders of Judah. It symbolizes the healing and fructifying power which was to emanate from Jerusalem. St John spiritualizes the image still more by making the stream proceed not from the material Jerusalem, but "out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" (Rev. xxii. 1). Thus we see that the stream is the Holy Spirit's grace. The emblem was no doubt originally suggested by the existence of the "gushing fountain under the temple" mentioned by Tacitus ('Hist.' V. 12). 19. Egypt...Edom] The desolation of these nations is introduced into the picture in order to serve as a contrast to the peace enjoyed by the servants of Jehovah. The only violence recorded in the historical books to which Joel could refer is the invasion of Shishak in the reign of Rehoboam (1 K. xiv. 25), and the Edomite war in the reign of Jehoram (2 Chro. xxi. 8). There may be many unrecorded instances (cf. Amos i. 11). The blood that they shed "in their land" must have been that of Jewish prisoners. Egypt and Edom stand here, as often elsewhere, for types and representatives of the various enemies of God's people, some far off and some near. For Edom, see Introduction to Book of Obadiah. 20. shall dwell] i.e. shall be dwelt in, the land being personified, as in Isai. xiii. 20. 21. I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed] Egypt and Edom had been condemned (v. 19) for shedding innocent blood. Jehovah will prove that it was innocent (cleanse it), wherever He has not already proved it, by avenging it. "At the last judgment, wherein the truth in all things shall be made manifest, He shall declare the blood of His people adhering to Him and His truth, which in this world had been shed (and by their enemies thought justly and deservedly as of guilty persons so to have been), to have indeed been innocent, by absolving them from eternal destruction, to which He shall then adjudge their enemies for shedding it" (Pococke ad loc.). "I will not absolve the blood that hath been spilt, nor suffer it to go unpunished" (Chandler ad loc.). Thus it comes to mean, "I will avenge on their enemies the innocent blood of my people which I have not yet avenged;" a stern but not uncharacteristic conclusion of the first Hebrew apocalyptic description of the last things. The thought left with us is that of eternal peace and happiness face to face with eternal desolation and punishment. 1. His occupation, and home. THIS HIS prophet's name, though so like that of Isaiah's father (Amoz), is of a totally different origin. According to a probable derivation, it would mean burden, or burdensome, and would then agree well with the heavy tidings with which he was charged, concerning Israel, Judah, and the neighbouring nations. Like six of the minor prophets, he does not mention his father's name; but he gives us some interesting details about himself, his home and manner of life, as well as the way in which he was called to exercise the office of a prophet of the Lord. At the opening of his prophecy he says that he was among the herdmen of Tekoa. In his answer to Amaziah the priest of Bethel (vii. 14), he states that he was a herdman. It is not, as in the A. V., the same word that is used in each case. In the latter passage the word (boker) properly designates one who has the care of oxen and cows; yet may be applied to a shepherd. And with this agrees the term employed in the former place. It is not the common word used for a shepherd, but one that marks the peculiar breed of sheep or goats that he tended. Amongst the Arabs this still bears the name of nakad, and their keeper is styled nakkád, as Amos here speaks of himself as nokēd. It was unsightly and small, but was highly prized for the softness of its wool or hair. The word used by the prophet to designate his employment means one who owned such cattle as well as kept them. In the former sense it is used in the only other place in the O. T. where it is found (2 K. iii. 4). "Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-master." 2. His call, date, subject and style Amos then may have been the possessor of the flock that was under his care. Yet as he describes himself (i. 1) as "among the herdmen of Tekoa," it would not appear that he was wealthy. And his condition in life is further indicated when he says (vii. 14) that he was a gatherer (or rather cultivator) of sycomore fruit. Such an occupation belongs to one in an humble class, and may perhaps indicate that he worked for hire. "Only the very poor, at this day, gather sycamore fruit or use it." (Thomson's 'The Land and the Book,' p. 23.) Tekoa is generally believed to have been his birth-place, though Amos does not expressly say this. He speaks of himself as among the herdmen of Tekoa. In the same way Jonah is described (2 K. xiv. 25) as of Gath-hepher, and Jeremiah (i. 1) describes himself as of the priests that were in Anathoth. Tekoa can hardly have been a place of importance in early times, for it is not mentioned in that part of Joshua which has been well called the "Domesday Book of Israel." Its name may signify a place where tents are pitched, and agrees well with the nature of the soil in the neighbourhood, which is suited chiefly for pasture. The city was one of those built for defence in Judah by Rehoboam, as we read in 2 Chro. xi. 5, 6. It was situated on an eminence six miles south of Bethlehem, through which the road to it from Jerusalem lay, and gave its name to the wilderness frequented by the shepherds (2 Chro. xx. 20). Jerome, who lived at Bethlehem, thus describes it in his prologue to Amos: "Beyond it there is no village, not even rude cottages or huts. Such is the vast wilderness which stretches |