Joel 2:28

28. Afterward After the realization of the temporal prosperity. Not the expression used by other prophets (Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1). Joel seems to point to a date nearer than that suggested by the other expression, but he also leaves the exact time indefinite.

I will pour out “Shaphakh does not mean merely to give in drops, but to pour out in great abundance” (Calvin).

My spirit The spirit is the life principle in man, the invisible power to which all external actions must be traced. In a similar way all the visible manifestations of Jehovah, whatever the sphere, are caused by the Spirit of Jehovah: creation (Genesis 1:2; Job 33:4); the endowment of Israel’s heroes with warlike energy and administrative power (Judges 3:10; Judges 11:29; compare Journal of Biblical Literature, xix, 1:140ff., and xxiii, Joel 1:13 ff.). It is, however, especially in the sphere of the ethical, the religious, and the spiritual that the Spirit is active. The Spirit produces the prophetic power in its lower and higher forms (1 Samuel 10:6; 1Sa 10:10 ; 1 Samuel 19:20; Isaiah 61:1, etc.); it inspires the high ethical and spiritual ideas and ideals of the prophets. Thus far the Spirit had been the possession of only a select few; in the afterward the limitation will be done away with. Moses had expressed the wish (Numbers 11:29), “Would that all Jehovah’s people were prophets, that Jehovah would put his Spirit upon them!” Of the realization of this wish in the future Joel is now convinced.

Upon all flesh A phrase used by the Hebrews sometimes in a wider sense, including all living creatures, both man and beast (Genesis 6:13; Genesis 7:15; Genesis 9:11; Genesis 9:15); at other times in a narrower sense, of mankind alone (Jeremiah 25:31; Psalms 65:2); here only mankind, since animals nowhere appear as recipients of the Divine Spirit and the following clause seems to exclude them. It is a further question, however, whether all mankind is included or whether the promise is to be limited to Israel. Keil argues for the former, yet it is more probable, judging from the context, that the prophet has in mind Israel only. The specifications of 28, 29 point in that direction, and the expectation of the destruction of all nations (chapter 3) decides the point in favor of Israel alone (compare Acts 10:45). But while the outpouring is to be confined to Israel, within the nation no one is to be excluded; all are to become active organs of the divine revelation.

Shall prophesy… shall dream dreams… shall see visions No distinction will be made of sex, age, or position, but the prophet distinguishes between different methods in which the revelation is to be received and the prophetic gift to be exercised. He does not mean, however, that each of the methods is peculiar to the age with which it is connected. That the Spirit manifests itself to the weakened mind of the old man in dreams of the night, to the lively fancy of the youth and maiden in sights during the day that is, true visions and to the soul of the child, less able to resist, merely as a divine influence cannot be proved from the Bible. Visions and dreams are two forms in which prophetic revelation is imparted (Numbers 12:6). All that the prophet means with the specification is that “their sons, daughters, old persons, and youth would receive the Spirit of Jehovah with all its various gifts.”

Prophesy They will be able to do the work which in the past was limited to the prophets, they are to become “organs of divine revelations,” to make known to those outside of Israel the will of God. (For an excellent discussion of the inspiration and activity of the Hebrew prophets see Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible, article “Prophecy and Prophets.”)