Reading through the Bible in one Year: Jeremiah 17-21

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

Joel 3:1-3

"For behold, in those days and at that time,

When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,

2I will gather all the nations,

And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.

Then I will enter into judgment with them there

On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,

Whom they have scattered among the nations;

And they have divided up My land.

3"They have also cast lots for My people,

Traded a boy for a harlot,

And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.

God's promise to Abraham has not been completely fulfilled yet.  The wadering of the people caused punishment and discipline to be issued which delayed the promise of God.  Yet here God promises that He will restore the fortunes of the Jews and that at about the same time He will gather the nations for judgment.  This is consistent with other scriptures where God talks about raising the righteous and the unrighteous so that they will stand judgment before Him.

Zech. 14:4

And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.

The Bible Knowledge commentary suggests that the valley that is formed when the Mount of Olives is split is where this judgment will take place.  So according to this view, this valley doesn't exist yet.  On the other hand here is Walvood's view on it:

“The future Day of the Lord will include judgment on the nations after the Second Coming (Matt. 25:31–46). The Valley of Jehoshaphat described the valley between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives containing in modern times a small cemetery just outside the wall and the Brook Kidron. Whether the Valley of Jehoshaphat would literally be large enough to judge the nations, it is pictured as a place of judgment and the name Jehoshaphat itself means “the Lord judges.” In this valley Jehoshaphat, who was king over Judah 875–850 b.c., experienced a military victory over his enemies, whom God caused to quarrel among themselves, so that Jehoshaphat did not need to fight them because they destroyed each other.”^[1]

The truth of the matter is that no one knows where the judgment will take place.  It is assumed that it will be somewhere around Jerusalem, and it is known to take place in a valley, but anything else is merely guesswork.    

The comments regarding selling God's people could be a literal note regarding people being sold into slavery, or it could be that it is a picture of how cheap human life has come to be in the eyes of the Jews.  People were sold for stupid reasons, and regarded as being worthless.  Jewish boys would be offered as payment for a harlot, while girls were considered worthless, they were sold for a glass of wine.

Joel 3:4-8

"Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head. 5"Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your temples, 6and sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them far from their territory, 7behold, I am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them, and return your recompense on your head. 8"Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation," for the Lord has spoken.

Jeremiah 50:17

"Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

Lament. 5:2

Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,

Our houses to aliens.

Micah 2:4

"On that day they will take up against you a taunt

And utter a bitter lamentation and say,

'We are completely destroyed!

He exchanges the portion of my people;

How He removes it from me!

To the apostate He apportions our fields.'

This prophecy was literally fulfilled several times.  At about the 4th century B. C.  the citizens of Tyre and Sidon were sold to the people of Judah by Alexander the Great as slaves, thus fulfilling this prophecy, (Walvoord).  In regard to the end times it symbolizes that the Jews will have a place of authority over the nations, the tables will turn and the nations will be slaves of the Jews.  Whether this means literal slaves or that the Jews simply have control over them is not clear.

Joel 3:9-11

Proclaim this among the nations:

Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men!

Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up!

10Beat your plowshares into swords,

And your pruning hooks into spears;

Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man."

11Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations,

And gather yourselves there.

Bring down, O Lord, Thy mighty ones.

Notice that the proclamation is not to draw Israel to arms, it is to draw the nations to arms.  This is a call to every fighting man and every peace-loving man to become a fighting man.  This will not be a time of weakness, it will be a time where everyone will want to fight the fight.  The judgment of God in the valley will be great, regardless who is ready for battle at that time they will not be able to fight against the armies of God.  The call is for the nations to join together in world war against God, at this point, He is asked to send His army out to fight on the earth.

Father, as we consider Your word today, place Your words in our mouths as we witness to those around us.  I ask that You will develop a passion in this group of believers for spreading Your word to the world around them.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

Reading through the Bible in one Year: 1 Corinthians 15-16

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters,

I have copied and pasted some comments from Erik concerning past studies, they are well worth the reading.  I appreciate his comments, Erik has the spiritual seniority and exhaustive knowledge of the Bible, and his comments are always valuable edifying your walk with God.  If you want to access them in the future, they will be archived under the appropriate chapters that he is commenting on.

Joel 3:12-13

Let the nations be aroused

And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,

For there I will sit to judge

All the surrounding nations.

13Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.

Come, tread, for the wine press is full;

The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.

Joel repeats what he has heard from the Lord, almost shouting as he writes as to the urgency of his message.  I was thinking about this, and try to keep this in mind as you read his writing.  When Joel received the revelation from God, the urgent message to pass out to all the Jews, he had no idea if it was going to happen in two days, a month, or a year.  I'll bet that if you had asked him, he would not have believed his prophecy would stand waiting for fulfillment for two to three thousand years.  In his mind, the vision was fresh, God was angry with the world for shunning His guidance, and judgment was coming fast.  The symbolic language of harvesting the world was a reality to him as he reflected on the vision or the word that God had given to him to share with the nations.  If you can imagine, a message like this would practically drive a prophet nuts because of the hardness of the hearts of the people.  We really don't know the outcome of the message though.  Perhaps the people listened to Joel and repented, temporarily returning to the Lord.

Another thing to consider when you think about the message of the prophets is how that the people reacted to their message.  If a prophet proved to be a false prophet, they were subject to death:

Deut. 13:1-5

"If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,' 3you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4"You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. 5"But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.

Deut. 18:18-22

'I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19'And it shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. 20'But the prophet who shall speak a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' 21"And you may say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?' 22"When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.

When prophets carried the message that Joel carried, they were looking for an immediate fulfillment, it was a matter of life and death.  In most cases, the prophecies that God gave these prophets had an immediate fulfillment, which preserved the prophet’s life.  As an example of this, look at yesterday's reading:

Jeremiah 20:1-2

When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things, 2Pashhur had Jeremiah the prophet beaten, and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin Gate, which was by the house of the Lord.

Jeremiah 20:7-10

O Lord, Thou hast deceived me and I was deceived;

Thou hast overcome me and prevailed.

I have become a laughingstock all day long;

Everyone mocks me.

8For each time I speak, I cry aloud;

I proclaim violence and destruction,

Because for me the word of the Lord has resulted

In reproach and derision all day long.

9But if I say, "I will not remember Him

Or speak anymore in His name,"

Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire

Shut up in my bones;

And I am weary of holding it in,

And I cannot endure it.

10For I have heard the whispering of many, "Terror on every side!

Denounce him; yes, let us denounce him!"

All my trusted friends,

Watching for my fall, say: "Perhaps he will be deceived, so that we may prevail against him

And take our revenge on him."

I realize that this is a little off topic, but the thought was going through my mind as Joel is wrapping up his prophecy in this chapter.  Notice also that Jeremiah could not keep his mouth shut, the message was burning within his soul, he couldn't wait to share the message.  Now on with the rest of the story.

Joel 3:14-17

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!

For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

15The sun and moon grow dark,

And the stars lose their brightness.

16And the Lord roars from Zion

And utters His voice from Jerusalem,

And the heavens and the earth tremble.

But the Lord is a refuge for His people

And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.

17Then you will know that I am the Lord your God,

Dwelling in Zion My holy mountain.

So Jerusalem will be holy,

And strangers will pass through it no more.

We have covered all of this in reference to the prophetic future where God will judge the nations.  The preamble of the sun and moon growing dark, and the stars dimming are consistent with the prophecy from Revelation and Isaiah concerning the end times.

Matthew 24:29

"But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken,

Rev. 6:12-13

And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind.

God will judge the nations, when the sun grows dark, the world will realize that Jesus is Lord.  The Jews will then know that Jesus is the Messiah and at that time.

Joel 3:18-21

And it will come about in that day

That the mountains will drip with sweet wine,

And the hills will flow with milk,

And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water;

And a spring will go out from the house of the Lord,

To water the valley of Shittim.

19Egypt will become a waste,

And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,

Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah,

In whose land they have shed innocent blood.

20But Judah will be inhabited forever,

And Jerusalem for all generations.

21And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged,

For the Lord dwells in Zion.

Look at the difference between the Jews before, living scattered among the nations, loosing their sacred ground to the Gentiles, and living in prosperity in this prophecy.  This is after the Lord gathers the Jews from among the nations.  One interesting note on verse 18 is that the "sweet wine" is fresh squeezed grape juice that is not fermented yet.  An abundance of fresh squeezed juice indicated prosperity in the land because fermented juice, or wine was used to preserve the grape juice.  Remember, this was prior to refrigeration. 

Ezekiel 47:1-5

Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar. 2And he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate by way of the gate that faces east. And behold, water was trickling from the south side.

3When the man went out toward the east with a line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he led me through the water, water reaching the ankles. 4Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the knees. Again he measured a thousand and led me through the water, water reaching the loins. 5Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded.

Another interesting note is the reference to the spring and the flow of water out from the house of the Lord (Verse 18).  This was expanded upon by Ezekiel 47:1-12 as the water flowed out from the house of the Lord it became deeper and wider, contrary to the natural flow of water.  It started as a trickle and turned into a river, intense enough to turn the oceans of salt water into fresh water.  God's word will heal the nations, as it flows out from the sanctuary of God, all the nations of the earth will be blessed and redeemed because of it.  As God's message is spread out from His temple, it grows exponentially, expanding as it spreads instead of diminishing. 

Contrast the spiritual growth and economic wealth of the Jews with the future poverty of the Egyptians and Edomites in verse 19.  The tables will soon turn for the Jews.  This was a welcomed message to the Jews of the Old Testament times because they were often running to Egypt for help, and were servants of Egypt to a certain extent even after the Exodus.  When someone has power over you and that makes you a servant of theirs.  As long as the Jews continued to allow the false gods and pagan rituals to be a part of their lifestyle, they were servants of the foreign nations.  Once they turn exclusively to Jehovah, all the foreign gods will fade away and God will bless them.  I'm not saying that the modern day Jews are not sincere and are following other gods.  I'm saying that it won't be long until they are re-joined together, and will bond together to recognize Jesus as their Messiah, then great things will happen.  Their little nation will grow way beyond the worlds expectations, their borders will expand, and they will grow into a world power.  Whether this occurs before the Millennium or during it, I am not well versed enough to say, but I can say that according to prophecy they will be restored to their rightful place in God's order. 

One last observation, in verse 21, God will avenge their blood.  They won't have to do it themselves. 

Out of time, have to wrap it up, I hope that my deviation from the chapter was profitable for you.  I enjoyed looking at the properties of an Old Testament prophet, and enjoyed the review that Joel made over his material.

Father, as we read through Your word, place that burning desire in each of our hearts to share Your Gospel in spite of what the world may think.  I pray for boldness for each one involved in this study that we will all be witnesses for You sharing from our hearts with others.

In Him,

Joe Turner.

Note: All Scriptures are from the New American Standard Bible.