Daily Thoughts from Joel: Doing Our Part (3:1-16)

“For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land, and have cast lots for my people, and have traded a boy for a prostitute, and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it.

“What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will return your payment on your own head swiftly and speedily. For you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their own border. Behold, I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will return your payment on your own head. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the LORD has spoken.”

Proclaim this among the nations:  Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men.  Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up.  Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”

Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there.  Bring down your warriors, O LORD.  Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.  Go in, tread, for the winepress is full.  The vats overflow, for their evil is great.

Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision!  For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.  The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake.  But the LORD is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel.  (Joel 3:1-16 ESV)

The Day of Yahweh always brings judgment for His enemies and blessing for His chosen ones.  With the restoration of the fortunes of Israel comes a judgment on all the nations in the Valley of Jehoshaphat (the word means “Yahweh has judged).  Wherever Yahweh judges is the valley of Jehoshaphat.  The nations, particularly Tyre and Sidon and Philistia are mentioned because they forced Israel from her borders into exile and sought to own Yahweh’s land.  And they are mentioned for their gross violation of the Law of Yahweh.  Retribution will be complete.

So Yahweh calls on His armies, the armies of Israel, from among those even who plow the fields, urging them to shape their farming instruments into instruments of war.  They will have a harvest of people and the blood will overflow the “winepress.”  But God will protect His people Israel.  Can you imagine the farmer arming himself for war?  Can you imagine his fear, but also his courage as he obeys God?

Though smaller versions of this prophecy have been fulfilled, the final fulfillment is yet to come.  And even now God is calling on us, the “weak”, to say, “I am a warrior.”  With Yahweh leading us we are to enter into the fray against the powers of darkness with Him as our refuge.  It is all playing out to that “great and awesome Day of the Lord comes”, when all the world will be subdued as God’s kingdom, when all instruments of war will become useless, and peace and joy will reign.

Are you doing your part?