Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joel 3:11
Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
11. Assemble yourselves ] The word is found only here, and its meaning is very uncertain. A.V. follows LXX., Targ., Syr., Ibn Ezra, and Kimchi; but the rendering rests upon no philological basis, and is merely conjectured from the context. It is best to suppose an error in the text, and for to read , Hasten.
all ye nations ( Joe 3:2) round about, and gather yourselves together ] In Eze 36:4; Eze 36:7 the nations round about Israel are its more immediate neighbours; but the context ( Joe 3:2 ; Joe 3:9 ; Joe 3:12 a) shews that the expression is meant here more generally.
thither cause thy mighty ones (or warriors) to come down ] the prophet suddenly turns aside to address Jehovah: he has bidden the nations assemble, for the contest against Israel, in the valley of Jehoshaphat ( Joe 3:2 ; Joe 3:12): he now prays Jehovah to cause His warriors also to descend thither to meet them. The mighty ones are, no doubt, the angelic hosts (Psa 68:17; Zec 14:5), whom Joel pictures as the agents of Jehovah’s will, and who are called in Psa 103:20 the “mighty in strength.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Once more all the enemies of God are summoned together. Assemble yourselves, (Others in the same sense render, Haste ye,) and come, all ye pagan, round about, literally from round about, i. e., from every side, so as to compass and hem in the people of God, and then, when the net had been, as it were, drawn closer and closer round them, and no way of escape is left, the prophet prays God to send His aid; thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Against the mighty ones of the earth, or the weak who say they are mighty, (the same word is used throughout,) there come down the mighty ones of God. The mighty ones of God, whom He is prayed to cause to come down, i. e., from heaven, can be no other than the mighty angels, of whom it is said, they are mighty in strength Psa 103:20 (still the same word,) to whom God gives charge over Psa 91:11. His own, to keep them in all their ways, and one of whom, in this place, killed one hundred and fourscore and five thousand 2Ki 19:35 of the Assyrians. So our Lord saith, The Son of man shall send forth His Angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity Mat 13:41.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Assemble yourselves; the war proclaimed, Joe 3:9, pro vision made, Joe 3:10, now hasten to the general rendezvous; embody yourselves as you march, and hasten what you can, as the word imports.
Come all; not simply and in utmost latitude, but all that are here concerned.
Gather yourselves together round about; all round about Judea, the nations near about this valley of vision.
Thither, toward Judea and Jerusalem, the church and heritage of God, cause thy mighty ones to come down; direct and lead them by thy providence, that they may pitch their tents, or encamp there; let all thy mighty ones, whether enemies of thy church gathered against it, or friends of thy church, and gathered for its defence, let them all here encamp; or all those mighty warriors which thou wilt make use of successively to punish the proud oppressors of thy church; so the Chaldeans punished Assyria, Persians and Medes punished Babylon, Alexander punished the Persians, and the divided captains successors plagued one another with wars within sight, as it were, of Jerusalem and Judah.
O Lord; with which the prophet comforts himself and Gods people, intimating that all these mighty ones are under Gods conduct, and he is in the midst of them to save his own people.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. Assemble“Hasten”[MAURER].
thitherto the valleyof Jehoshaphat.
thy mighty onesthewarriors who fancy themselves “mighty ones,” but who are onthat very spot to be overthrown by Jehovah [MAURER].Compare “the mighty men” (Joe3:9). Rather, Joel speaks of God’s really “mighty ones”in contrast to the self-styled “mighty men” (Joe 3:9;Psa 103:20; Isa 13:3;compare Da 10:13). AUBERLENremarks: One prophet supplements the other, for they all prophesiedonly “in part.” What was obscure to one was revealed to theother; what is briefly described by one is more fully so by another.Daniel calls Antichrist a king, and dwells on his worldly conquests;John looks more to his spiritual tyranny, for which reason he adds asecond beast, wearing the semblance of spirituality. Antichristhimself is described by Daniel. Isaiah (Isa29:1-24), Joel (Joe3:1-21) and Zechariah (Zec12:1-14:21), describe his army of heathen followers comingup against Jerusalem, but not Antichrist himself.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Assemble yourselves,…. From divers parts into one place: “be ye gathered”; or “gather yourselves together”, as the Targum and Kimchi; get together in a body, muster up all the forces you can collect together, Jarchi, from Menachem, by the change of a letter, renders it, “make ye haste”; lose time in preparing for this battle; get men, and arms for them, as fast as you can; be as expeditious as possible:
and come, all ye Heathen; antichristian nations, Mahometan or Papal; which latter, especially, are sometimes called Heathen and Gentiles, because of the Heathenish rites introduced into their worship,
Ps 10:16;
and gather yourselves round about: from all parts, to the valley of Jehoshaphat or Armageddon, Re 16:14; this is spoken ironically to them, to use their utmost endeavours to get most powerful armies against the people of God, which would be of no avail, but issue in their own destruction; or it may signify what should be done by the providence of God, bringing such large numbers of them together to their own ruin:
thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord; which is a prayer of the prophet, or of the church, to God, that he would send down his mighty ones, the angels that excel in strength, and destroy this great army thus gathered together, as an angel in one night destroyed the army of Sennacherib. So Kimchi and Aben Ezra interpret if of angels, and many other interpreters; but perhaps it may be better to understand it of Christian princes and their forces, those armies clothed in white, and riding on white horses, in token of victory; with Christ at the head of them, Re 19:14; who may be said to be caused to “come down”; because, being assembled shall go down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, where their enemies are gathered together, and discomfit them, The Targum is,
“there the Lord shall, break the strength of their strong ones.”
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
At length he concludes, There will Jehovah overthrow thy mighty ones. Though the Prophet uses the singular number, “ thy ”, he no doubt refers to the whole earth; as though he said, “Whatever enemies there may be to my people, I will cut them down, however strong they may be.” We now perceive that everything the Prophet has hitherto said has been for this end — to show, that God takes care of the safety of his Church, even in its heaviest afflictions, and that he will be the avenger of wrongs, after having for a time tried the patience of his people and chastised their faults — that there will be a turn in the state of things, so that the condition of the Church will be ever more desirable, even under its greatest evils, than of those whom the Lord bears with and indulges, and on whom he does not so quickly take vengeance.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THREE GREAT DAYS
Joe 3:11-15
IN the on-going of our Bible studies, we have reached this Book of Joel, and for several services we have dwelt upon the study of the same. On Thursday, at the Thanksgiving service, I spoke to you from Joe 2:15-32 discussing in that connection A Solemn Appeal, A Sacred Promise, and The Out-Pouring of the Spirit.
Tonight I bring you to this third chapter of Joel with the deliberate purpose of helping men and women who are hesitant and fearful to reach a positive decision for God and His Christ. All that I shall say this evening has that objective, and I have no disposition to disguise it.
This text seems to me to fall under the natural division of three great days; The Day of Judgment, The Day of Decision, and The Day of the Lord.
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord.
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge (Joe 3:11-12).
It is a clear indication of an approaching judgment day. I know that people are now telling us that there will be no judgment day. A few years ago Professor Paul Haupt of the Johns Hopkins University, in an address before the American Philosophical Society was reported to have said, There is no biblical foundation for the story of the final day of judgment. The Book of Zechariah which Jews as well as Christians give as authority for the description of the last judgment, refers merely to a municipal plan for municipal improvements laid out by the Maccabees. The language has been misinterpreted.
Since the time of that utterance, it has become quite popular to hold the judgment day in contempt, and to declare it only a mythreligious imagination; but, just the same, practically every Book of the sixty-six that go to make up the Bible holds some reference to the judgment day.
According to this text there will be certain characteristics of it.
First, It will be a solemn assembly.
Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord (Joe 3:11)
The constitution of that assembly is rather clearly voiced by the Master Himself. In Matthews Gospel, the 25th chapter, we read the following:
When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory:
And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took Me in:
Naked, and ye clothed Me: I was sick, and ye visited Me: I was in prison, and ye came unto Me.
Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee drink?
When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee?
Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee?
And the King shall ansixter and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.
Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave Me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in: naked, and ye clothed Me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not.
Then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee?
Then shall He answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal (Mat 25:31-46).
It must have been that Ringwaldt was dwelling upon this very passage when he penned the poem,
Great God, what do I see and hear!
The end of things created!
The Judge of all men doth appear,
On clouds of glory seated:
The trumpet sounds; the graves restore
The dead which they contained before;
Prepare, my soul, to meet Him.
The dead in Christ shall first arise
At the last trumpets sounding
Caught up to meet Him in the skies,
With joy their Lord surrounding:
No gloomy fears their souls dismay,
His presence sheds eternal day
On those prepared to meet Him.
But sinners, filled with guilty fears,
Behold His wrath prevailing;
For they shall rise, and find their tears
And sighs are unavailing:
The day of grace is past and gone:
Trembling they stand before the throne,
All unprepared to meet Him.
Great God, what do I see and hear!
The end of things ereated!
The Judge of all men doth appear,
On clouds of glory seated.
Low at His Cross I view the day
When heaven and earth shall pass away,
And thus prepare to meet Him.
In that day the sleepers shall be wakened.
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about (Joe 3:12).
Just what that awakening will mean is suggested by Rev 20:11-13
And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works?
Dear John Newton sensed its awfulness; hence his hymn:
Day of judgment, day of wonders,
Hark! the trumpets awful sound,
Louder than a thousand thunders,
Shakes the vast creation round:
How the summons
Will the sinners heart confound!
See the Judge, our nature wearing,
Clothed in majesty Divine;
You who long for His Appearing
Then shall say, This God is mine:
Gracious Saviour,
Own me in that day for Thine.
At His call the dead awaken,
Rise to life from earth and sea;
All the powers of nature, shaken
By His looks, prepare to flee:
Careless sinner,
What will then become of thee?
The approach of that day is at hand.
Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great (Joe 3:13).
It is my profound conviction that the ministry of America, and for that matter, the ministry of the world is altogether too much engaged in singing lullabies and rocking cradles. They are declaring peace, peace, when there is no peace. They are administering sleeping potions to the people at the very time when they should be shaking them, and compelling them to become broad awake.
Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull, the notable father of the present great editor of the Sunday School Times, Charles G. Trumbull, relates the following experience:
One Sunday I passed with a near relative, and there I met a gentleman whom I had never seen before, but who was connected with my relative. I sat with him at the table and we had a pleasant conversation. In the evening this gentleman was out at a church service, and the lady of the house was suffering with a headache. I urged her to retire while I would sit up and close the house after the visitor came in. As I did this, I sat by the fire in the sitting-room on the cold winter night. When the visitor was in, and the house closed, we still sat together there. He spoke of the service which he had attended, and he was evidently much impressed with the sermon. You dont often hear a sermon like that, especially from such a minister, he said.
The minister brought us right up face to face with the judgment seat, and there he left us. There were no soft words to ease us down, such as, But I trust this is not you, my brethren. Then as if soliloquizing as he sat there looking into the fire, he added, I TELL YOU THAT, IN THE GREAT DAY, WE WHO GO OVER TO THE LEFT HAND WILL NOT FEEL VERY KINDLY TOWARD THE MEN WHO HAVE GLOSSED THIS THING OVER, WHEN THEY HAD A CHANCE TO TELL US THE PLAIN TRUTH.
This complaint, made against the ministry and others charged with the responsibility of warning the people, is certainly in order today. A considerable portion of the ministry seems disposed to gloss things over, and making sin a light matter, doing away with the terrors of the Law, and bringing salvation within our power!
THE DAY OF DECISION
The second great day suggested by this text is the Day of Decision.
Multitudes in the valley of decision (Joe 3:14).
Jesus was always deeply concerned about the multitudes, just as God, the Father, has from time immemorial revealed a kindred concern.
We read, But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd (Mat 9:36).
Again, when the multitudes thronged to Christ in the mountain of Galilee, bringing with them the lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, in addition to His healing He said to His disciples,
I have compassion on the multitude, because. they continue with Me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.
And you will remember that He performed that miracle of the loaves and fishes, And they did all eat, and were filled (Mat 15:32; Mat 15:37).
The times upon which we have fallen have again put the multitudes into distress and need, and millions on millions of dollars are being raised throughout the cities of the United States, and, for that matter, other cities of the world, to feed the hungry multitudes. However, while Jesus Christ was not indifferent to their physical needs, as was abundantly shown both by His miracles of healing and His miracles of feeding, He knew that there was a far deeper interest, and an interest that was fundamental to life itself and all its varied phases, and that was the interest of decision.
It is a singular fact, but fact it is, that the big majority of those who are now suffering from lack of bread and shivering with cold are men and women who have never made a great decision for Christ. To be sure, there are Christians involved in the Bread-Line, and doubtless some fairly consecrated souls, but the testimony of all social workers is that they are the exception,not the rule.
David in his day was able to say, I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread (Psa 37:25). If David were alive now he probably could not justly make that remark, but beyond question he would say that the righteous of the earth fare a thousandfold better than those who know not God and regard not the Gospel.
A decision for Christ affects character and influences conduct, and high character and righteous conduct count tremendously in the commercial mart. When they are found combined with industry, and it is doubtful if they can exist apart from it, they are in demand, and it is a bit difficult for the world to wag on without them.
I personally know, at this very period of depression and unemployment, men whose talents are not even of the average, but whose Christianity is decisive, and whose conduct is uniformly admirable, and with whom energy is a Christian grace, who still have more positions open to them than they can possibly accept and fill.
There are important days in ones life;the day when one leaves home, for instance; the day when one embarks in business for himself; the day when one makes a life choice of a profession; the day when one graduates with his College class; the day when one stands at the altar and pledges to a chosen partner fidelity for life; but there is no day in human existence that holds such potentialities of good as the day in which one decides deliberately to yield his or her heart to the Lord. That, after all, is the big decision!
It took Peter, the plain fisherman, and lifted him to immortal honors; it took Paul, the persecutor of Christians, and made him an Apostle of Light by whose writings the entire world has felt illumination; it took John Newton, the sinful sailor, and converted him into the most influential of saints; it took John G. Woolley from a common gutter drunkard and made him into the leading temperance orator of the land, and into a Christian whose character shone resplendent, and whose ministry was in the power of the Spirit; and it took John Bunyan, the profane unbeliever, and made of him a matchless Christian author.
As a matter of fact, decision requires character, and it also contributes to character. If one would sit down to read the Book of Daniel, the very first thing that would profoundly impress him would be the firm decision of that immortal man. The great decision for God he made in his youth, and when the exigencies arose he found himself capable of choosing the right and standing against the wrong. The text says, But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the kings meat, nor with the wine which he drank (Dan 1:8).
That is a great phrase, Daniel purposed in his heart! That is decision! Doubtless his influence was felt also with his brothers, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who, when they faced the proposition of image worship, refused to bend the knee, and when threatened with death if they dared to defy the king, answered,
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up (Dan 3:17-18).
That is decision! That is character! That is the most valuable commodity of life.
You know, what they call the printers devil often makes mistakes in setting type. Sometimes those mistakes are ludicrous, sometimes embarrassing. At other times the mistake itself becomes most suggestive. Such a mistake that printer made who, setting up some type about Daniel, had before his eyes the line He had an excellent spirit in him, but by his mistake made the type to read,He had an excellent spine in him.
That is the essential feature of the human frame. The man who has not a good backbone will never command the respect of his fellows or deserve the special favor of God. The man who cannot make a decision is lacking in character; the man who cannot make a decision will be uncertain of conduct; the man who cannot make a decision and stand by it, will be the play-thing of the winds of temptation and the waves of passion.
Joshua once said to the Israelitish multitude, Choose you this day whom ye will serve (24:15). It was a demand for decision; it was an appeal to character. In my judgment more men and women fail from this lack than from almost all others combined.
When Jacob called together his sons that he might tell them that which should befall them in the last days, he said to Reuben, Thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: unstable as water, thou shalt not excel (Gen 49:3-4).
James writes A double minded man is unstable in all his ways (Jas 1:8).
This country has honored Abraham Lincoln above all other Presidents; yea, if a popular vote were taken, it is altogether likely that he would be named as the first Americanall American history considered; and the thing that made Abraham Lincoln the marvelous man that he was, was his ability to reach a decision and stay by it. You will remember that in the days of the Civil War his Cabinet was not with him, and his Secretaries were often in opposition. It is said that once he had a certain measure that he believed ought to be put through. He called the Cabinet together and explained it in all detail, and then, addressing the members, said, All who are in favor of adopting this plan will say aye. Immediately he, himself, said, Aye. The rest were silent. Those who oppose this plan will say No. Every member of the Cabinet shouted No!
He was silent a moment, and then looking up with a twinkle in his eye, said, Gentlemen, the ayes have it, and the plan is adopted.
That was characteristic of Abraham Lincoln. What he felt to be right he stood for until it was accomplished.
Our text also carries another clear indication, namely,
Immortal destinies rest with decision. God seldom deals with men in reference to time only. The eternity in which He lives determines His very thought and decides His very speech; He is no temporizer. To Him Heaven and hell are realities, and the hereafter is the first and most important of all considerations.
Dean Farrar has commonly been thought of as a liberal minister; as a matter of fact he was supposed to hold pretty much with the Universalists. Yet, when once he stood before Cambridge students and addressed himself to the subject of Eternity he said this,
Is there then no hell here, that we can be so very certain that there will be none hereafter? Nay, seeing here that indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish fall upon every soul of man that doeth evil; seeing that the Scriptures, from beginning to end and whole Books of them, blaze like the walls of Belshazzars palace with messages of doom; seeing that God hath declared His wrath against sin as clearly as though He had engraven it upon the sun or written it in stars upon the midnight skythis presumptuous ease about the after-life, this growing indifference to the thought of future punishment, this philosophy which is so treacherous and so timid, seems to me, and I say it deliberately, at once an aberration of the intellect and an infatuation of the will. Oh, better surely that a sinner should tremble with agony, as the last leaves of the aspen shudder in the late autumnal wind, than that he should thus falsely presume that he knows more of God than God Himself hath taught him; and, seeing, as has been said, that wrath is written in Scripture against his way of life, should hope that it is not wrath, but mercy, and so rush upon the bosses of the Almightys buckler as the wild horse rusheth into the battle.
It will not be forgotten that when Aaron Burr was a student at College, a great revival swept the School. In that day professors believed God and were not above the practice and preaching of the Word, and were often most effective in personal soul-winning endeavor. The young lad, Aaron Burr, was 19 years of age when he was brought face to face with the necessity of a decision between God and the world. So deep was his conviction that he finally asked leave to go to the country for a week to consider the matter, and was granted it. At the end of that time he came back, saying, I have decided never to trouble myself further over my sours salvation.
From that moment he was reckless in his sin, desperate in his lust, and finally became the murderer whose brilliant talents made his black career seem all the more terrible in the eyes of men and before God.
Decision, I tell you, is the call of every life, and I speak what you do know when I say if you can make it for God and right, your future is made, and if you cannot make it, future holds for you nothing but blackness of darkness, temporal defeat, and eternal death!
THE DAY OF THE LORD
This text brings us to the third and most notable of the days suggested in this text, The Day of the Lord, saying, For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision (Joe 3:14).
There are two or three suggestions in the statement itself, The day of the Lord is near.
The time of His Appearance approaches. Possibly never in human history have so many signs of the soon-coming of the Son of Man existed as now. You may combine the testimony of Old and New Testament Prophets, and you will find them paralleled in present history.
The Old Testament prophecy that Israel should return to the land of Judea in unbelief is being rapidly fulfilled in the Zionist movement. The rehabilitation of that land, and the quickened growth of Jerusalem itself are also in line of fulfilment.
The New Testament prophecy such as is found in 2 Timothy 3, or Matthew 24, are all proving the molds of history at this moment. A man doesnt live who will question that perilous times have come, for men are
Lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth (2Ti 3:1-7).
Again, it will be remembered that a few years ago even the prophecies of Jesus spoken of in Matthew 24 were held a bit in scorn by world-improvers. Namely, such sentences as these:
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers place.
Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many (Mat 24:6-7; Mat 24:11).
The last eighteen years have impressed all thoughtful men with the certainty of Christs infallibility in the matter, for they have seen His every prophetic sentence changed into historic fact; for, as in Isaiahs time, writing with prophetic vision, he said,
Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every mans heart shall melt (Isa 13:6-7).
This Prophet, Joel, in Joe 1:15 cries,
Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Zephaniah appeals to the people in these words,
Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, He hath bid His guests (Zep 1:7).
The New Testament Prophets take up the refrain, Paul writing to the Thessalonians in his Second Letter says,
Now we beseech you, brethren, by the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him,
That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand (2Th 2:1-2).
And John, in the last Book of the Bible, after having told us of his vision into the open Heaven, puts into the angels lips these words,
And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this Book: for the time is at hand (Rev 22:10).
The Lords Coming is the end of probation.
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.
The circle of time that sweeps about each of our lives is also the circle of opportunity. We must decide before we cross that line what we will do with Jesus!
It is reported that Antiochus Epiphanes was at the height of his power as king of Syria; he conceived the idea of invading Egypt and making that country his own. The Ptolemies, who were the ruling family there at that time, appealed to Rome for help against Antiochus. Rome listened favorably, and an envoy was sent with a letter from the Roman Senate, ordering the Syrian king to cease the invasion of Egypt and to make peace at once.
Antiochus asked for time to consult with his friends and leaders before he gave his answer, but the Roman envoy, Popilius, with his staff, drew a circle in the sand around Antiochus and said, Before you step out of that circle, you must decide. There was no alternative left to the Syrian King. He surrendered.
Around each of us the circle is drawn already, and God only knows the size of it. For some of us it will be as was said to the false prophet Hannaniah, This year thou shalt die. But whether time is short or long, it is our one and only opportunity, and since we have no claim on any of it except the present the Scripture injunction becomes significant, Behold, now is the day of salvation; To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. The further text suggests my last thought
Dont let time end for you in darkness. It is written,
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the Children of Israel (Joe 3:15-16).
What a contrast here! Darkness and judgment for unbelievers, and light and strength for the children of God! Such it always has been, is now, and will ever be.
To illustrate, Paul, as he approached the end, uttered those immortal words,
I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His Appearing.
How triumphant the utterance! How confident he is that the end of time is but the beginning of eternity for a man of God!
Contrast it, if you will, to another of kindred mental greatness, who rejected Jesus and finished his earthly course in the melancholy of unbelief. I speak of the great poet of Germany, Goethe. Hear him while he speaks,it is his last sentence, I have scarcely tasted twenty-four hours of happiness during my long and unhappy life, and finally, Wont somebody open the shutters and let in the light, it is so darkso dark!
Listen again, if you will, to Englands most gifted bard, whose poetry had charmed the world, but when he came to the end without God, and faith was gloomy and desolate, he moaned,
Oh, but to die, and go, alas!
Where all have gone, and all must go;
To be nothing that I was
Ere born to life and living woe
Count oer the woes these hours have seen,
Count oer the days from anguish free,
And know, whatever thou hast been,
Tis something better not to be.
Or, if you like, think with me in conclusion, of the death of the French infidel, Mirabeau, who with his last breath pled for opium to deaden conscience, and drive away the terrible phantoms that haunted the visions of coming doom.
How much better to be able to say with the Apostle, Whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lords,
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
(11) Thy mighty onesi.e., thy, because Jehovah had summoned them to take arms, as champions against Him in the final conflict.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Joe 3:11. Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down The Lord shall cast down the strong ones: Houbigant. Our translation, however, may be justified. At the ninth verse the proclamation is for the enemies to ascend, Judaea being a high and mountainous situation; and, as God’s mighty ones were to meet them, the prophet prays, Thither, namely, to the appointed place, cause thy mighty ones to descend: “Lead thither thy people, thy mighty army, and give them the victory over their cruel enemies.” In this view the sense is natural and easy, and the prayer is a proper introduction to the following verses. See Chandler.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joe 3:11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
Ver. 11. Assemble yourselves, and come all ye heathen ] Come and fetch your bane, whereof by your forwardness to come uncalled ye may seem to be ambitious; judgments need not go to find you out; for you associate yourselves, that ye may be broken in pieces, Isa 8:9 , as at Armageddon, Rev 16:16 . Come on, therefore, since you will needs be so mad, and take what befalls you. “Who would set the briars and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together,” Isa 27:4 ; see Zec 14:2-3 Eze 38:4 ; Eze 38:16-23 Rev 19:17-18 . See Trapp on “ Zec 14:2 “ See Trapp on “ Zec 14:3 “ The word hero Englished assemble is by Jarchi rendered festinate, hasten; by others conglobamini, cluster together, that ye may be the sooner cut off, that the mouth of God s sword may have its full bit, that he may make an utter end, and your affliction may not rise up the second time, Nah 1:9 .
Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Assemble yourselves. Compare Joe 3:2. Hebrew ‘ushu = haste ye, as in Septuagint and Vulgate. Occurs only here.
heathen = nations.
thither. To the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Thy mighty ones. Compare Psa 103:20. Isa 13:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Assemble: Joe 3:2, Eze 38:9-18, Mic 4:12, Zep 3:8, Zec 14:2, Zec 14:3, Rev 16:14-16, Rev 19:19, Rev 19:20, Rev 20:8, Rev 20:9
cause: etc. or, the Lord shall bring down thy mighty ones, mighty. Psa 103:20, Isa 10:34, Isa 13:3, Isa 37:36, 2Th 1:7, Rev 19:14
Reciprocal: Jdg 4:7 – And I 2Ki 10:21 – And they came Isa 41:1 – let the people Isa 43:9 – all the Eze 30:3 – the time Oba 1:15 – the day Zec 14:5 – and all
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Joe 3:11. All ye heathen is an invitation for all nations to come and partake of the blessings offered by the Lord of heaven and earth, Cause thy mighty one is rendered “the Lord shall bring down in the margin, which agrees with the thought in the general context of the passage.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joe 3:11-12. Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord After the prophet has given warning, in the way of irony, to the nations to provide for their defence by all possible means, and to assemble themselves together from all parts, that they might strive with their united force; he, in the conclusion of the verse, calls upon God to cause those to come whom he had appointed to overcome these nations. Some, however, render the clause, the Lord shall cause thy mighty ones to come down, or to be brought low. Let the heathen be awakened Let their courage be roused up; and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat To the place of divine judgment.