Let the nations rouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about.
The last chapter of Joel gathers the world's armies to one place, and the summons comes from God Himself. The name of the meeting place is itself the answer: commentators read "Jehoshaphat" as a statement about who judges.
This valley appears nowhere else in the Bible. Its name explains the scene.
This is mentioned only in Joel 3:2, 12, as a place where God will judge the nations for how they treated His people, at the time He brings Judah into blessing. The name means "Jehovah is judge." Some take it as a symbolic name for the place where God will judge. Joel 3:14 speaks of "the valley of decision," which is also linked with God's judgments.
The setting is not only a battlefield. It is the seat of a government God had once stepped back from and now takes up again.
Before His people can have full blessing, God must take up His direct government of them again. He must do it in the same place where He gave it up. He must take possession once more of the seat of that government — a seat He chose Himself. There He will plead in His power with all the nations that dispute His rights... The word "Jehoshaphat" means "the judgment, or the sceptre, of Jehovah or Jah."
God tells the nations to arm and come up. He is daring them.
They must soon answer the prophet's ironic call: "Prepare for war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up"... "Assemble yourselves, and come, all you nations, and gather yourselves together from round about: cause your mighty ones to come down there, O Jehovah." No doubt the Spirit has in mind those legions of angels that the Lord Jesus refused for Himself... For in that day there will be, so to speak, a pitched battle between the powers of God and the powers of evil. No one can doubt the result.
Verse 12 says God will judge — the earlier verses say why. The wrongs listed are wrongs done to Israel, and God treats them as done to Himself.
He lists all the wrongs done to His people as wrongs done to Himself. Through them He would repay in judgment the very same evils on the nations that inflicted them.
The sentence matches the crime measure for measure.
All the nations are to be judged as nations in this world in that day. He holds to righteous retribution. What they made Israel suffer, they must suffer themselves. In God's eyes it is right that they should receive what they gave to the Jews — the nations that wronged and insulted Israel not only during the time of the law, but right up to the end, after Christianity came.
"There I will sit to judge" pictures a court in session on earth. Kelly argues from the imagery that those on trial are alive.
He invites them to that valley of Jehoshaphat, where the living are set to meet a judgment they will never forget. The "valley of Jehoshaphat" is a literal place in the land of Israel. This again disproves the idea that it is a resurrection scene. That kind of scene appears in the solemn setting of the great white throne. It does not appear in images taken from the sickle or the winepress. Those images belong only to the Son of Man's dealing with nations.
Commentators differ on where this valley is. One reading looks for a valley that does not yet exist.
We should look for the valley of Jehoshaphat close to Jerusalem. Most writers place it in the Kidron valley, east of Jerusalem. It may not exist yet... When the Lord appears His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives in that day. The Mount of Olives will then split down the middle, and this will form a very great valley (Zech. 14:4). This great valley may be the valley where the Lord judges the nations.
The judgment is not the end of the story.
This intervention meant judgment on the rebellious. Yet the One who stepped in, Jehovah, would be the hope of His people — Himself the strength of the children of Israel... Jerusalem would be holy. Strangers would no longer pass through it, defiling it as their prey... We see that this is effective and sovereign grace.
- Name — "Jehoshaphat" means Jehovah judges. The gathering place already names the Judge.
- Summons — the call to arm and come up is God's challenge, not the nations' idea. The outcome is not in doubt.
- Ground — God judges the nations for what they did to His people. He counts it as done to Himself, and repays it in the same measure.
- Session — "there I will sit" is a court on earth over living nations. The great white throne is where the dead stand.
- Result — the sentence on the nations clears the ground for Jerusalem's holiness and Israel's blessing.
Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe come, get you down, for the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
Joel has called the nations to gather in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and now a voice orders the reaping to begin. The sickle and the full winepress raise three questions: whose hand reaps, why the crop counts as ripe, and what follows the treading.
The nations arrive armed and confident, but the reaping puts the outcome in another hand. One writer traces the sickle, the press and the overflowing vats back to God Himself.
But however great the pride of the men of war, it was, after all, the judgment of God — the sickle of God reaping the earth. His press should be full, His vats should overflow; for the iniquity was great. In Revelation the harvest is not the same as the vintage. The first is the judgment that separates the good from the wicked, and the wicked from the good; the second is the carrying out of vengeance. Here, I think, the two together give the general idea of the judgment being carried out, though the symbol of the winepress is the stronger one.
The winepress adds something the harvest does not. Another writer links this moment to Isaiah 63, where one day carries two names.
The winepress of God's wrath shows overwhelming judgment falling on what is so wholly evil that no distinction needs to be made. It is remarkable that Joel 3:13, which predicts the harvest, also predicts the winepress judgment. It is of this terrible moment that Isaiah 63:1-6 speaks also. Verse 4 of that passage calls it "the day of vengeance," but it also calls it "the year of My redeemed." The total crushing of the enemies will mean a final redemption of the godly. The same thing happened at the Red Sea, when God redeemed Israel and crushed the Egyptians.
The verse gives a reason for the order: the crop is ripe and the vats overflow. That ripeness has a history behind it.
The treading of the winepress, or the carrying out of God's judgment, speaks of corruption that came first or of the ripening of the vine of the earth. If the Lord in judgment has to tread the winepress, the winepress has first to be filled.
That delay has a purpose. It leaves the verse standing as a question for the reader today.
God is full of goodness and patience. He only strikes when iniquity has come to the full. He still seeks souls while it is still the acceptable day, the day of salvation. No one knows the day "when He shall rise for the spoil." But who will say the harvest is not ripening for the sickle? Who will say the grapes of the vine of the earth are not filling up for the day of His wrath?
Joel names the place twice in this chapter, and both names carry meaning.
The valley of Jehoshaphat appears only in Joel 3:2 and 12, as the place where God will judge the nations for their treatment of His people, at the time He brings Judah into blessing. The name means "Jehovah is judge," and some take it as a symbol for the place where God will judge. In Joel 3:14 occurs "the valley of decision," which is also connected with God's judgements.
This reaping has a set time and a set aim. Both are tied to one people.
The time is the coming of the day of the Lord, when He judges the nations and restores Israel. Here, therefore, we see Israel to be the centre of His purposes, Jerusalem the centre of His interests, Zion the centre of His government. The nations that have long oppressed them are gathered for judgment. The power and glory of Jehovah appear on the side of His chosen people, and go out from His chosen city.
The reaping is not the last word in the chapter. What follows the treading is fruitfulness.
This intervention meant judgment for the rebellious. But the One who stepped in, Jehovah, would be the hope of His people — Himself the strength of the children of Israel... there should be abundant blessing on the land of His people; wine should flow down from their mountains, and milk from their hills.
- Ripening — God does not cut the crop early. He strikes only when wickedness has come to the full, and He still seeks souls while the day of salvation lasts.
- Reaping — however loud the gathered armies, the sickle is God's. The harvest separates; the winepress crushes what is wholly evil.
- Place — the valley bears the name "Jehovah is judge," and Joel also calls it "the valley of decision." The ground names its own Judge.
- Purpose — God deals with the nations for their treatment of His people. Israel stands at the centre of His purposes, Zion at the centre of His government.
- Result — the day that treads the winepress is also the year of His redeemed. Judgment ends with Jehovah as the hope of His people, and the land flowing with blessing.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Jehovah is at hand in the valley of decision.
Joel's last chapter gives one piece of ground two names. It is the valley of Jehoshaphat, where God judges, and the valley of decision, where the crowds gather. So whose decision is settled there, and whose day is near?
What the nations did to God's people brings them here. Each name for the valley tells them what to expect.
The nations have oppressed God's people in many ways, and sold them as slaves. God will pay them back on their own heads. They are called to arm themselves, to bring all their mighty men, and to come to the valley of Jehoshaphat. That is the valley of judgment, and there God will deal with them. In the valley of decision (or threshing) they will be cut to pieces.
Is this valley only a picture, or a place on the map? One writer holds to the place, and says it rules out one kind of judgment.
He invites them to that valley of Jehoshaphat, where the living will meet a judgment they can never forget. The "valley of Jehoshaphat" is a real place in the land of Israel. That again disproves the idea of a resurrection scene, which belongs to the solemn judgment of the great white throne.
Who stands in the valley? Not the dead, raised for judgment. These are living nations, busy with their own plans. That also fixes when this scene happens.
What follows makes it plain that only the living are judged here — the wicked nations of the earth. God pours out judgment on them while they think of nothing more than a campaign or politics... Still, this is not "the end" of 1 Corinthians 15:24. It is the close of the age, of this present evil age. After it comes the glorious world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (Revelation 11), and the fulfilment of most of the prophecies, when the earth is blessed under His reign.
God has a case against these nations. The valley is where He settles it.
This is the judgment of the nations. It is needed to make good God's rights over His oppressed people, and to show the nations what He is in His government of the earth... The word "Jehoshaphat" means "the judgment, or the sceptre, of Jehovah or Jah." There, in judgment, He pleads with the nations for His people, whom they had scattered, and for His land, which they had divided.
The armies think they chose their moment. The sickle and the winepress in the verse before say otherwise.
However great the pride of the men of war, it was, after all, the judgment of God — the sickle of God reaping the earth. His press would be full, His vats would overflow, for the wickedness was great... What multitudes in that day would learn what comes of despising the word of grace, and of the pride that raised them up in rebellion against Jehovah of hosts! All the order of human government, with its grandeur and its power, would disappear before the judgment of God.
Verse 13 gives two farming pictures, not one thing said twice. One separates; the other only crushes.
In Revelation 14:14–20 God's judgments appear in two pictures: the harvest, which separates, and the vintage, which spares no one. Joel 3:13 points to both.
The verse says twice that the day is near. That day ends the massed armies. For a small group who trust God, it means rescue.
"Men rose up" — all the power of man was there. Their mighty ones were roused and came down with their weapons to the valley of Jehoshaphat. But the Lord was there too, with His own mighty ones, whom He had brought down. It was multitudes — multitudes, but in "the valley of decision," and the day of the Lord near... Here is the escape of the remnant whose hope was in "the name of the Lord."
- Gathered. The nations arm themselves and march to the valley of Jehoshaphat. They think it is their campaign. It is God's summons to judgment.
- Named. Jehoshaphat means the judgment of the Lord. The other name, decision, also reads as threshing — where the crowds are cut to pieces.
- Charged. They scattered His people and divided His land. There He pleads with them for what is His.
- Threshed. Verse 13 gives two tools: a harvest that separates and a winepress that only crushes. Verse 14 shows the multitudes standing in the crop.
- Delivered. The same day that ends the armies is escape for those whose hope is in the name of the Lord.