Joel 3:1

1. For Connects Joel 3:1, with Joel 2:32. The prophet explains why he mentions the deliverance of only a remnant of the Jews the other nations will be utterly destroyed. At the same time he indicates by what means the salvation of the dispersed is to be wrought; the judgment upon the nations will help to free the Israelites from bondage.

Behold The truth to be announced is of the greatest importance, and is worthy of the closest attention (Isaiah 3:1; Isaiah 7:14; Amos 6:11).

In those days,… in that time Refers back, not to Joel 2:28, but to Joel 2:32, the time of the deliverance of the Jews (Jeremiah 33:15); the exact time is determined by what follows.

When I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem The judgment upon the nations (Joel 3:2), the restoration of the captives (Joel 3:1), the salvation of the remnant (Joel 2:32), all fall into the same period. Whether this is the right translation, or the one mentioned on page 133, “I shall restore the fortune,” there can be no doubt that the prophet intends to promise a radical change in the condition of the people; and, according to the context, an essential element in the restoration of the fortune is the deliverance of the Israelites from the power of the surrounding nations into whose hands they fell after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.