Proclaim this among the nations prepare war, arouse the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up.
A call goes out to the nations to arm themselves. God Himself issues it. Who is really mustering these armies? Where do they go, and what is the case against them?
The words read like a war recruiter's speech. But the speaker is the One the armies will march against.
In such a strain of solemn irony does God challenge His adversaries to the battle. He calls on them to summon all their forces, and to muster all their strength.
The muster has a destination, given a few verses later: the valley of Jehoshaphat. The name itself tells you what will happen there.
This part of Joel details the last days, when God brings back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem. That time comes before the age of peace and blessing, when the curse is taken away completely. It is the judgment of the nations, needed to vindicate God's rights over His oppressed people… Before their full blessing, God must take up His direct government of them again, in the same place where He gave it up. There He will plead in His power with all the nations that dispute His rights. He will show Himself among His people, and act as One dwelling with them, upholding their rights, because they belong to Him. Israel is His inheritance. 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 proclamation follows a long list of wrongs done to Israel in the earlier verses. The summons is the answer to that record.
But the nations, all nations, are to be judged as such in this world in that day. So the passage lists the insults they had done to Israel, and the Lord declares that He will pay them back. He holds to righteous retribution. What they caused Israel to suffer, they must suffer themselves… So the call goes out among the nations: let them muster all their forces and escape their fate if they can.
Verse 9 turns farming tools into weapons — the opposite direction from the world's hope of disarmament. One writer sees in this the collapse of every human plan for improving the world, and then the far greater force that answers the nations' "mighty men."
Before that day comes, the utter failure of charitable and other schemes for improving the world will be plain… They must soon answer the prophet's ironical call to consecrate for war and stir up the mighty men… The call goes up for the Lord's mighty ones to come down there, to meet the world in its might. Those legions of angels are surely in the mind of the Spirit — the ones the Lord Jesus refused for Himself. 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.
Another writer notes what the nations must leave behind.
The nations receive a call to prepare for war. They are all to assemble. They are to wake up, leave their peaceful work, and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Who echoes this call on earth? One writer points to the powers behind the coming world alliance.
The dragon (the devil), the beast, and the false prophet form a terrible trinity of evil. Revelation 16:13-14 brings them together in one purpose: war. The present League of Nations, which is a mere shadow, is for peace; the real League of Nations, when it appears, will be for war. The evil spirits that come out of the mouths of these three are deceptive and inflammatory words and teachings. And in forming and spreading them, Antichrist will take the lead.
The nations come armed and confident. The prophecy answers with a sickle and a winepress.
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 would be full and His vats would overflow, for the wickedness was great… What multitudes in that day would learn the cost of their contempt for the word of grace! They would learn the cost of their pride too — the pride that raised them up in rebellion against the Lord of hosts. All governmental order, its grandeur and its power, would disappear before the judgment of God.
- Proclamation. God Himself sends the call to arms among the nations. It is irony — a challenge to His enemies, not approval of their war.
- Provocation. The case is retribution: what the nations did to His people and His land, they must receive back on their own heads.
- Place. The muster ends in the valley of Jehoshaphat. The name means the judgment or sceptre of the Lord, so the place announces the verdict.
- Power. His mighty ones answer their mighty men — the legions of angels the Lord once refused for Himself. That battle's outcome is never in doubt.
- Press. Every human scheme for peace fails. Then the sickle and the winepress sweep away all human grandeur before God.
Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning-knives into spears; let the weak say, I am strong.
Joel 3 shows God gathering all nations into the valley of Jehoshaphat. Verse 10 belongs to a call to arms — but who gives the order, and why would God tell the world to beat its farm tools into weapons?
One writer hears the order as God daring His enemies to test their strength against Him.
In solemn irony God challenges His enemies to the battle. He calls on them to summon all their forces, and to muster all their strength.
A plowshare is the blade that cuts the furrow; a pruning hook is the curved knife used on vines. Here both are hammered into weapons. One writer points to the day when the change runs the other way.
Today nations turn their plowshares into swords. Some day they will do the opposite, and change their swords into plowshares. Righteousness and peace will surely kiss each other. Creation's curse and birth pains will end.
So the world does not disarm little by little before the day of the Lord. One writer says the drift runs the other way.
Peace will not come before the day of Jehovah. Instead, the world will see a gathering for war on a scale it has never seen yet. The desire to do great things, impatience of obligations, and lust of conquest and military glory will soon give men such a taste for war that no restraint will be enough to hold them back. Restraint will be harder still, because jealousy of each other will have led them to pile up vast stores for military use.
The same writer traces war past treaties and peace campaigns to its root in man himself.
Meanwhile, every effort of peace movements is at best a pleasant illusion, at worst an unbelieving confidence in man, and always ignorance of God's word... Wars certainly have their roots in the passions and desires of man. To escape the bad fruit, you must first make the tree good.
God tells the weakest man to call himself a warrior. Every human scheme for improving the world must answer the same call — and then a different army comes down.
Before that day comes, the utter failure of charitable and other schemes for improving the world will be plain... They must soon answer the prophet's ironical call: "wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up"... "Bring Your mighty ones down there" to meet the world in its might. For in that day there will be, so to speak, a pitched battle between the powers of God and those of evil. No one can doubt how it ends.
The nations arm and march to a valley. Its name settles the outcome before the fighting starts.
This is the judgment of the nations. That judgment must happen, to vindicate God's rights concerning 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." There, in judgment, He pleads with the nations for His people, whom they had scattered, and for His land, which they had divided.
- Speaker — The order to forge weapons is God's challenge to His enemies. He speaks "in solemn irony," calling them to muster all their strength.
- Reversal — Today nations "turn their plowshares into swords." In that day they will "change their swords into plowshares."
- Reason — Human effort will not bring peace. "Wars have their roots in the passions and desires of man," so the tree must be made good first.
- Mismatch — Both sides answer a summons. Man wakes his mighty men; God brings down His mighty ones, and no one can doubt how it ends.
- Verdict — The armies gather in the valley of Jehoshaphat, "the judgment of Jehovah." There God pleads with the nations for His scattered people and His divided land.
Haste ye and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together. Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah.
God calls the nations to hurry, crowd together, and bring every fighter they have. Then another voice asks the LORD to send down His own warriors.
Chapter 3 is about God's judgment of the nations. The name of the valley where they gather carries the whole point.
This is the judgment of the nations. The judgment is needed to uphold God's rights concerning 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 call to arm and assemble sounds like a war cry from the nations. God is the speaker. And by the last line of the verse, someone else takes over.
God challenges His adversaries to the battle in a tone of solemn irony. He calls on them to summon all their forces, and to muster all their strength... In the last clause of the verse it is the prophet who speaks, asking Jehovah to step in and judge the assembled armies. And He does not turn a deaf ear to the appeal.
The verse ends by turning from the nations to the LORD, and the contrast is deliberate — each side calls up its own strength.
And if the Gentiles are to awaken all their mighty men for the day of God, God on His part will cause His mighty ones to come down (v. 11).
Who are these warriors? Commentators point to God's angelic hosts, who come down before the Lord Himself appears.
Verses 9-16. This is a prophecy showing what comes before the judgment of these nations. The judgment hosts of the Lord, the angels, come down first. Then He appears in all His majesty, while the sun and moon go dark.
William Kelly names the same hosts, and points to help the Lord Jesus once refused:
The Spirit surely has in mind those legions of angels which the Lord Jesus declined for Himself. "Bring down Your warriors" — to meet the world in its might. For in that day there will be, so to speak, a pitched battle between the powers of God and those of evil. No one can doubt the result.
"Gather yourselves there" names a place on a map, not a symbol. That detail rules out one common reading.
He invites the nations to that valley of Jehoshaphat, where the living are destined 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 of a resurrection scene. The solemnities of the great white throne describe such a scene, not figures taken from the sickle or the winepress. Those figures belong only to the Son of Man's dealing with nations... In this place the gathered Gentiles shall find their graves. There is not a single thing man prides himself on that will not come into the dust of death.
This gathering is not an isolated scene in prophecy.
Throughout the prophetic Word we read of great nations joined in alliance. They will oppose God and His purposes when this age closes... Judgment then falls upon these opposing nations. This judgment appears as reaping and treading the winepress, the same as in Revelation 14:14-20.
The chapter does not end with the armies. The same coming has another side.
Though this intervention was the judgment of the rebellious, the One who intervened, Jehovah, would be the hope of His people. He Himself would be the strength of the children of Israel. And so they would know Him as Jehovah their God, dwelling in Zion, His holy mountain.
- Summons. God gives the order to arm and assemble. It is a challenge to His enemies, spoken in solemn irony: bring every force you have.
- Site. They gather in a literal valley in Israel. Its name means the judgment of Jehovah, and there He pleads with the nations for His scattered people and His divided land.
- Descent. The nations wake their mighty men; God brings down His own. The prophet asks for them, and commentators name them as the angel hosts, who come before He appears in majesty.
- Sentence. The outcome is settled before the battle starts. Scripture pictures it as reaping and treading the winepress, and every human boast ends in the dust of death.
- Shelter. One act, two outcomes. The intervention that judges the rebellious makes Jehovah the hope and strength of His people.
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.
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
Joel's last chapter gathers the nations to face the judgment of God. At that moment the lights of heaven fail. What does the darkness mean? Is it a physical wonder, a picture of falling powers, or both? And what happens once the light is gone?
This darkness falls on nations still alive on the earth. One commentator marks off what the scene is not, and when it happens.
Only the living are judged here — the wicked nations of the earth. God pours out His judgment on them while they think of nothing more than a campaign or politics. What follows makes it plain: this is not a rising from the dead to be judged according to their works... Still, it is not "the end" of 1 Cor. 15:24, but the close of this present evil age. The glorious world-kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ follows it... At the judgment of the dead Jehovah will not roar out of Zion as He does here, and He will not dwell there and make Jerusalem holy. For earth and heaven will have fled away.
God formed the sun, moon and stars to give light. Here they give none, and the settled order of the heavens breaks off.
The sun, the moon and the stars will then be in darkness. They will not be in the light they were formed for, the light that once filled them. The heavens and the earth will be shaken too, instead of keeping the even, steady course in which they had made their rounds for thousands of years. All of it bears witness to the terrors of that day.
Commentators differ on how to read the darkened heavens. Some take the words at face value: signs in the sky, with the Lord appearing in glory among them. One of them traces the prophecy from a past locust plague to a far greater day ahead.
Joel is one of the earliest prophets. He announces a great locust judgment that came on the people of Israel and on the land. Yet his prophecy points to the great future fulfilment in the "Yom Jehovah," the Day of the Lord... This verse gives the physical signs. The verses that follow show that the Lord will appear in His Glory in the middle of these wonders in the heavens.
Others read the sun in such prophecies as a symbol of rule. A list of Bible symbols gives it that way, and names this verse among its examples.
Sun. — The supreme ruling power. (Isa. 13:9-10; Ezek. 32:7; Joel 3:15.)
The darkness is not the last word. The judgment that falls on the nations is the same event that settles God's people.
God first speaks of the nations at the time when His people return from captivity (v. 1-15), and of the judgments carried out on the Gentiles. In the later verses He speaks of the Jews. Jerusalem is to be holy; Jehovah will dwell in Zion; He will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel. This will be their case when the judgment of God falls upon the nations.
The darkness has a purpose. It clears the ground for what comes next.
For the end has come. Judgment is to clear the scene, and then glory is to fill it. The Lord is to dwell in Zion, and Judah and Jerusalem are to be at rest and in safety... and the earth itself is to be a quiet dwelling place.
- Judged. God judges the living here — the wicked nations of the earth — at the close of this present evil age. This is not the dead raised to be judged by their works.
- Darkened. Sun, moon and stars hold back the light they were formed to give. Their steady course of thousands of years breaks off, and bears witness to that day.
- Disputed. Commentators differ on the picture. Some read physical signs in the sky as the Lord appears in glory. Others read the sun as a symbol of the supreme ruling power.
- Answered. Jehovah roars out of Zion and dwells there. The same judgment that ends the nations makes Him the hope and strength of His people.
- Filled. Judgment clears the scene so that glory can fill it: the Lord dwelling in Zion, Jerusalem holy, and the earth at rest.
And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake and Jehovah will be a shelter for his people, and the refuge of the children of Israel.
Joel's final chapter ends with the nations massed for battle. God answers with a sound that shakes creation. One voice does two opposite things at once: it makes heaven and earth tremble, and it shelters a people.
This verse is the climax of a summons. God calls the nations to a valley whose name is already a verdict.
In this last chapter the prophecy looks on to the time of full blessing and glory. But first it shows us how God prepares the world for it by His sweeping judgment on the nations. Zion is the place that judgment goes out from. God summons the nations to the valley of Jehoshaphat ("Jehovah judges"). We see them in their multitudes in the valley of threshing. Then the Lord roars out of Zion and the very heavens shake at the sound.
One commentator sets this moment apart from the Lord's call to His own to meet Him in the air. The place here is Jerusalem on earth, and the sound is a lion's roar against enemies.
But here the picture is so different that it must mean a completely different time. This is the Jerusalem on earth, not the heavenly one. This is not the Lord's shout calling His own to meet Him in the air. It is His lion-like roar against His enemies on earth. He is dwelling in Zion, His holy mountain, so that the holiness of Jerusalem is no longer a mockery but a blessed reality.
Some read every scene of shaking as the final judgment at the end of all things. The details of this verse rule that out — God is still roaring out of Zion, and He is still dwelling there.
What follows makes it plain that the ones judged here are the living only — the wicked nations of the earth, judged by an outpouring of divine judgment while they think of nothing more than a campaign or politics. This is not a rising from the dead to be judged according to their works… At the judgment of the dead Jehovah will not roar out of Zion as He does here, and He will not be dwelling there, making Jerusalem holy. For earth and heaven will have fled away.
Behind the noise is an act of government. The same act that judges the rebels gives God's people their confidence.
But Jehovah Himself would take back the reins of government on earth and make His voice heard from Jerusalem. The heavens and earth would tremble when He stepped in. And though His stepping in meant judgment on the rebellious, the One who stepped in, Jehovah, would be the hope of His people — Himself the strength of the children of Israel. So they would know Him as Jehovah their God, dwelling in Zion, His holy mountain… We see that this is effectual and sovereign grace.
The ESV calls God "a refuge" and "a stronghold" here. Older translations say "the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel." The idea behind the words is a place you run to when everything else is falling apart.
But for His people He has something very different in store. He is their hope, or their "place of repair," their "harbour," in that day.
Joel's closing words become the opening words of Amos. There the same roar has a different target.
Amos opens where Joel ends… But how solemn it is that Jehovah utters His voice from the very centre of His worship and government — not to comfort and guide, but to denounce. And He denounces not strangers and enemies, but His own people!
- One voice. God speaks from Zion. That one sound shakes heaven and earth and shelters His people. The verse turns on the word "but."
- Roar. The image is a lion's roar: judgment aimed at enemies on earth, not the shout that calls His own to meet Him in the air.
- Living, not dead. God is still dwelling in Zion when this happens. So this cannot be the final judgment, when heaven and earth have fled.
- Refuge. The promise is a harbour and a fortress — a place to run to while everything around is being shaken.
- Warning. Amos opens with Joel's closing line. There the same roar denounces God's own people.
And ye shall know that I, Jehovah, [am] your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain; and Jerusalem shall be holy, and no strangers shall pass through her any more.
The last chapter of Joel gathers the nations for judgment and then turns to the city at the centre of it all. It promises knowledge, God's presence, and a city no invader can enter — which leaves one question: when?
The words "so you shall know" point to knowledge Israel long refused. One writer ties it to a person they once rejected.
Like nearly all the other prophetic books, Joel ends with a vision of the kingdom. In it the Lord dwells among His people. He will appear in all His glory. The Lord will be a refuge for His people. Then they will come to that knowledge which they so long refused — that the delivering Lord is their God. But the Lord who appears there is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He was among them, and the people handed Him over to be crucified.
The verse does not only say blessing comes to Zion. It says God Himself lives there, and that changes who may set foot on it.
Here we find a very important thing. Not only will God establish blessing in Zion, but He Himself will dwell there. He will take exclusive possession of it. No stranger's foot shall ever again defile that holy mountain.
Dwelling there also means reigning there, and the glory does not stay put.
He will dwell in Zion, the mountain of glory. The glory from above will find a resting place on that holy hill. There He will be enthroned as King. From there the glory will spread over all.
Jerusalem carried the name holy while being anything but. One writer says the promise makes the name real, and he fixes both the place and the time.
It is the earthly Jerusalem, not the heavenly. This is not the Lord's shout calling His own to meet Him in the air, but His lion-like roar against His enemies on earth. He dwells in Zion, His holy mountain, and so makes the holiness of Jerusalem a blessed reality instead of a mockery. It is the time when all things are restored, as the full stream of prophetic testimony says. But it is in no way the last hour of that day. In that hour everything must be destroyed, to make way for the eternal judgment and the new heavens and new earth.
The strangers of this verse are not visitors. They are foreign powers who treated the city as plunder. Once they are gone, blessing pours over the land.
Jerusalem would be holy. Strangers would no longer pass through it, defiling it as their prey. And that is not all. Rich blessing would come on the land of His people. Wine would flow down from their mountains, and milk from their hills… Egypt and Edom would be made desolate. But Judah and Jerusalem would live in everlasting blessing, for the Lord would have cleansed them. We can see that this is effectual and sovereign grace.
Israel has returned to the land before. So has God already kept this promise? One writer checks it against the sieges the city has actually suffered.
This passage matters even more because Jerusalem comes back to blessing, never to be trampled down again. No strangers will pass through her any more. But the Gentiles who helped bring her affliction are destroyed forever. In the time of Nebuchadnezzar, when Jerusalem was in trouble, and again when Titus besieged and took it, the Gentiles were not destroyed at all. When Cyrus sent back a remnant to Jerusalem, they remained captive, and strangers are still in Jerusalem.
This dwelling is not only future. One writer applies it to believers through the risen Christ.
To this also we have come. For in the risen Lord we are brought to the very dwelling-place of God. We do not only find God fully revealed, for the blessing of His people. We find that He is pleased to dwell among them, in infinite rest and satisfaction. God could not dwell in a scene where there was anything contrary to Christ. But where the excellence and fragrance of Christ fills the whole air, where all is of Him, God can dwell with unspeakable delight.
- Dwelling. The centre of the verse is not a restored city but a resident God — He takes Zion for Himself and reigns there.
- Knowing. Because He dwells there, Israel at last knows their deliverer as God — the One they handed over to be crucified.
- Holiness. Because He dwells there, Jerusalem's holiness stops being a title and becomes fact.
- Cleared. Because He dwells there, the strangers who treated her as plunder are gone, and never return.
- Ours. The same rule holds for believers now. God dwells where all is of Christ.