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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joel 3:1-8

We have often heard of the year of the redeemed, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion; now here we have a description of the transactions of that year, and a prophecy of what shall be done when it comes, whenever it comes, for it comes often, and at the end of time it will come once for all. I. It shall be the year of the redeemed, for God will bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, Joel 3:1. Though the bondage of God's people may be grievous and very long, yet it... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joel 3:3

And they have cast lots for my people ,.... Not only parted their land, but cast lots for their persons, Or played at dice for them, how many captives each soldier should have, and which should be their share and property: ninety seven thousand Jews, Josephus F4 De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 9. sect. 3. says, were carried captive by the Romans, who, very probably, cast lots for them, as was usual in such cases; see Nahum 3:10 ; and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 3:3

Have given a boy for a harlot - To such wretched circumstances were the poor Jews reduced in their captivity, that their children were sold by their oppressors; and both males and females used for the basest purposes. And they were often bartered for the necessaries or luxuries of life. Or this may refer to the issue of the Chaldean war in Judea, where the captives were divided among the victors. And being set in companies, they cast lots for them: and those to whom they fell sold them for... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 3:3

Verse 3 There follows now another indignity still greater; for they cast lot on God’s people, — On my people they have cast lot, and prostituted a boy for a harlot, and a girl have they sold for wine, that they might drink. By these words the Prophet enhances the injury done them; for the Jews had been reproachfully treated. Some measure of humanity is mostly shown when men are sold; but the Prophet here complains in the person of God, that the Jews had been exposed to sale, as though they were... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joel 3:1-3

These verses describe the deliverance of God's people and the destruction of his enemies because of their injurious, insulting, and ignominious treatment of his people. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joel 3:1-8

Deliverance and destruction. The causal particle, with which the first verse of this chapter commences, connects it closely with the preceding. It not only introduces a further explanation, but confirms the statements there made. The course of the predictions contained in the foregoing chapter embraced the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost; the establishment of the Christian Church; the great catastrophes and troubles that should succeed; the destruction of the holy city and the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joel 3:1-8

The persecution of good men. "For, behold, in those days," etc. "In this chapter the prophet returns from the parenthetic view which he had exhibited of the commencement of the Christian dispensation and the overthrow of the Jewish polity, to deliver predictions respecting events that were to transpire subsequent to the Babylonish captivity, and fill up the space which should intervene between the restoration of the Jews and the first advent of Christ. He announces the judgment to be... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joel 3:2-8

Retribution. Joel's prophetic foresight beholds the calamities that are to come upon the Jews, his countrymen. Looking back upon the past, we are able by the records of history to verify the justice of these predictions. The transportations into the East, the oppression under Antiochus, the dispersion by the Romans,—these awful events in Hebrew history rise before our view. But where shall we look for a fulfilment of the predictions of vengeance and of retribution? Surely God in his... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joel 3:3

They have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink . Such was the contumely with which they were treated at the time of the great catastrophe referred to. The captives were distributed by lot among the conquerors; these in turn sold them to the slave-dealers for the merest trifle—a slave-boy for the hire of a harlot, or a slave-girl for a glass or draught of wine. Such treatment had been predicted ages before, and was... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Joel 3:3

And they have cast lots - They treated God’s people as of no account, and delighted in showing their contempt toward them. They chose no one above another, as though all alike were worthless. “They cast lots,” it is said elsewhere, “upon their honorable men” Nahum 3:10, as a special indignity, above captivity or slavery. A “girl” they sold for an evening’s revelry, and a “boy” they exchanged for a night’s debauch. read more

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