Joel 3:11

Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) Thy mighty ones—i.e., thy, because Jehovah had summoned them to take arms, as champions against Him in the final conflict.

Benson Commentary

Joel 3:11-12. Thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord — After the prophet has given warning, in the way of irony, to the nations to provide for their defence by all possible means, and to assemble themselves together from all parts, that they might strive with their united force; he, in the conclusion of the verse, calls upon God to cause those to come whom he had appointed to overcome these nations. Some, however, render the clause, the Lord shall cause thy mighty ones to come down, or to be brought low. Let the heathen be awakened — Let their courage be roused up; and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat — To the place of divine judgment.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:9-17 Here is a challenge to all the enemies of God's people. There is no escaping God's judgments; hardened sinners, in that day of wrath, shall be cut off from all comfort and joy. Most of the prophets foretell the same final victory of the church of God over all that oppose it. To the wicked it will be a terrible day, but to the righteous it will be a joyful day. What cause have those who possess an interest in Christ, to glory in their Strength and their Redeemer! The acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favour to some, will be a day of remarkable vengeance to others: let every one that is out of Christ awake, and flee from the wrath to come.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Once more all the enemies of God are summoned together. "Assemble yourselves," (Others in the same sense render, "Haste ye,) and come, all ye pagan, round about," literally "from round about," i. e., from every side, so as to compass and hem in the people of God, and then, when the net had been, as it were, drawn closer and closer round them, and no way of escape is left, the prophet prays God to send His aid; "thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord." Against "the mighty ones" of the earth, or "the weak" who "say" they are "mighty," (the same word is used throughout,) there "come down the mighty ones of God." The "mighty ones of God," whom He is prayed to "cause to come down," i. e., from heaven, can be no other than the mighty angels, of whom it is said, they "are mighty in strength" Psalm 103:20 (still the same word,) to whom God gives "charge over" Psalm 91:11. His own, "to keep" them "in all" their "ways," and one of whom, in this place, killed "one hundred and fourscore and five thousand" 2 Kings 19:35 of the Assyrians. So our Lord saith, "The Son of man shall send forth His Angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity" Matthew 13:41.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. Assemble—"Hasten" [Maurer].

thither—to the valley of Jehoshaphat.

thy mighty ones—the warriors who fancy themselves "mighty ones," but who are on that very spot to be overthrown by Jehovah [Maurer]. Compare "the mighty men" (Joe 3:9). Rather, Joel speaks of God's really "mighty ones" in contrast to the self-styled "mighty men" (Joe 3:9; Ps 103:20; Isa 13:3; compare Da 10:13). Auberlen remarks: One prophet supplements the other, for they all prophesied only "in part." What was obscure to one was revealed to the other; what is briefly described by one is more fully so by another. Daniel calls Antichrist a king, and dwells on his worldly conquests; John looks more to his spiritual tyranny, for which reason he adds a second beast, wearing the semblance of spirituality. Antichrist himself is described by Daniel. Isaiah (Isa 29:1-24), Joel (Joe 3:1-21) and Zechariah (Zec 12:1-14:21), describe his army of heathen followers coming up against Jerusalem, but not Antichrist himself.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Assemble yourselves; the war proclaimed, Joel 3:9, pro vision made, Joel 3:10, now hasten to the general rendezvous; embody yourselves as you march, and hasten what you can, as the word imports.

Come all; not simply and in utmost latitude, but all that are here concerned.

Gather yourselves together round about; all round about Judea, the nations near about this valley of vision.

Thither, toward Judea and Jerusalem, the church and heritage of God, cause thy mighty ones to come down; direct and lead them by thy providence, that they may pitch their tents, or encamp there; let all thy mighty ones, whether enemies of thy church gathered against it, or friends of thy church, and gathered for its defence, let them all here encamp; or all those mighty warriors which thou wilt make use of successively to punish the proud oppressors of thy church; so the Chaldeans punished Assyria, Persians and Medes punished Babylon, Alexander punished the Persians, and the divided captains successors plagued one another with wars within sight, as it were, of Jerusalem and Judah.

O Lord; with which the prophet comforts himself and God’s people, intimating that all these mighty ones are under God’s conduct, and he is in the midst of them to save his own people.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Assemble yourselves,.... From divers parts into one place: "be ye gathered"; or "gather yourselves together", as the Targum and Kimchi; get together in a body, muster up all the forces you can collect together, Jarchi, from Menachem, by the change of a letter, renders it, "make ye haste"; lose time in preparing for this battle; get men, and arms for them, as fast as you can; be as expeditious as possible:

and come, all ye Heathen; antichristian nations, Mahometan or Papal; which latter, especially, are sometimes called Heathen and Gentiles, because of the Heathenish rites introduced into their worship, Psalm 10:16;

and gather yourselves round about: from all parts, to the valley of Jehoshaphat or Armageddon, Revelation 16:14; this is spoken ironically to them, to use their utmost endeavours to get most powerful armies against the people of God, which would be of no avail, but issue in their own destruction; or it may signify what should be done by the providence of God, bringing such large numbers of them together to their own ruin:

thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord; which is a prayer of the prophet, or of the church, to God, that he would send down his mighty ones, the angels that excel in strength, and destroy this great army thus gathered together, as an angel in one night destroyed the army of Sennacherib. So Kimchi and Aben Ezra interpret if of angels, and many other interpreters; but perhaps it may be better to understand it of Christian princes and their forces, those armies clothed in white, and riding on white horses, in token of victory; with Christ at the head of them, Revelation 19:14; who may be said to be caused to "come down"; because, being assembled shall go down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, where their enemies are gathered together, and discomfit them, The Targum is,

"there the Lord shall, break the strength of their strong ones.''

Geneva Study Bible

Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. Assemble yourselves] The word is found only here, and its meaning is very uncertain. A.V. follows LXX., Targ., Syr., Ibn Ezra, and Kimchi; but the rendering rests upon no philological basis, and is merely conjectured from the context. It is best to suppose an error in the text, and for עושו to read חושו, Hasten.

all ye nations (Joel 3:2) round about, and gather yourselves together] In Ezekiel 36:4; Ezekiel 36:7 the nations round about Israel are its more immediate neighbours; but the context (Joel 3:2; Joel 3:9; Joel 3:12 a) shews that the expression is meant here more generally.

thither cause thy mighty ones (or warriors) to come down] the prophet suddenly turns aside to address Jehovah: he has bidden the nations assemble, for the contest against Israel, in the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:2; Joel 3:12): he now prays Jehovah to cause His warriors also to descend thither to meet them. The mighty ones are, no doubt, the angelic hosts (Psalm 68:17; Zechariah 14:5), whom Joel pictures as the agents of Jehovah’s will, and who are called in Psalm 103:20 the “mighty in strength.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - This verse expresses the precipitancy with which the procession of the hostile nations is hurried on in order to meet their doom, as also the prophet's prayer for the descent of Jehovah's mighty ones to the slaughter. Assemble yourselves, and come. It is rather, hasten, and come; the word עוּשׁוּ, only occurring here, being equivalent to חוּשׁוּ, equivalent to "hasten ye." The LXX. and Chaldee, indeed, favour the sense of "assemble;" the former has συναθροίζεσθε. But that idea is expressed afterwards by the verb קְבָּצוּ, which is an anomalous form of the imperative Niph. for הִקָּבְצו, though some take it for the perfect with vau consec. The word hanchath is usually and properly taken as the imperative Hiph., from nachath, to come down, the pathach taking the place of tzere on account of the guttural and the nun retained without assimilation, as the nun rarely falls away in verbs that have a guttural for their second stem-letter. The meaning

(1) then, is, "Assemble yourselves." The margin,

(2) however, has, "The Lord shall bring down," i.e. cause to succumb, destroy, "thy mighty ones," which must then signify "the mighty ones of the enemy."

This, though supported by the Chaldee, Syriac, Vulgate, and Jerome, is less simple and obvious, necessitating also a corresponding change of the verbal form into חִנְחִת or הִנְחִית. The LXX. rendering is peculiar, and as follows: "Let the meek become a warrior." Joel 3:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Fulfilment of the judgment upon all the heathen predicted in Joel 3:2. Compare the similar prediction of judgment in Zechariah 14:2. The call is addressed to all nations to equip themselves for battle, and march into the valley of Jehoshaphat to war against the people of God, but in reality to be judged by the Lord through His heavenly heroes, whom He sends down thither. Joel 3:9. "Proclaim ye this among the nations; sanctify a war, awaken the heroes, let all the men of war draw near and come up! Joel 3:10. Forge your coulters into swords, and your vine-sickles into spears: let the weak one say, A hero am I. Joe 3:11. Hasten and come, all ye nations round about, and assemble yourselves! Let thy heroes come down thither, O Jehovah! Joel 3:12. The nations are to rise up, and come into the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there shall I sit to judge all the heathen round about." The summons to prepare for war (Joel 3:9) is addressed, not to the worshippers of Jehovah or the Israelites scattered among the heathen (Cyr., Calv., Umbreit), but to the heathen nations, though not directly to the heroes and warriors among the heathen, but to heralds, who are to listen to the divine message, and convey it to the heathen nations. This change belongs to the poetical drapery of thought, that at a sign from the Lord the heathen nations are to assemble together for war against Israel. קדּשׁ מלחמה does not mean "to declare war" (Hitzig), but to consecrate a war, i.e., to prepare for war by sacrifices and religious rites of consecration (cf. 1 Samuel 7:8-9; Jeremiah 6:4). העירוּ: waken up or arouse (not wake up) the heroes from their peaceful rest to battle. With יגּשׁוּ the address passes over from the second person to the third, which Hitzig accounts for on the ground that the words state what the heralds are to say to the nations or heroes; but the continuance of the imperative kōttū in Joel 3:10 does not suit this. This transition is a very frequent one (cf. Isaiah 41:1; Isaiah 34:1), and may be very simply explained from the lively nature of the description. עלה is here applied to the advance of hostile armies against a land or city. The nations are to summon up all their resources and all their strength for this war, because it will be a decisive one. They are to forge the tools of peaceful agriculture into weapons of war (compare Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3, where the Messianic times of peace are depicted as the turning of weapons of war into instruments of agriculture). Even the weak one is to rouse himself up to be a hero, "as is generally the case when a whole nation is seized with warlike enthusiasm" (Hitzig). This enthusiasm is expressed still further in the appeal in Joel 3:11 to assemble together as speedily as possible. The ἁπ. λεγ. עוּשׁ is related to חוּשׁ, to hasten; whereas no support can be found in the language to the meaning "assemble," adopted by the lxx, Targ., etc. The expression כּל־הגּוים by no means necessitates our taking these words as a summons or challenge on the part of Joel to the heathen, as Hitzig does; for this can be very well interpreted as a summons, with which the nations call one another to battle, as the following ונקבּצוּ requires; and the assumption of Hitzig, Ewald, and others, that this form is the imperative for הקּבצוּ, cannot be sustained from Isaiah 43:9 and Jeremiah 50:5. It is not till Joel 3:11 that Joel steps in with a prayer addressed to the Lord, that He will send down His heavenly heroes to the place to which the heathen are flowing together. Hanchath an imper. hiph., with pathach instead of tzere, on account of the guttural, from nâchath, to come down. The heroes of Jehovah are heavenly hosts, or angels, who execute His commands as gibbōrē khōăch (Psalm 103:20, cf. Psalm 78:25). This prayer is answered thus by Jehovah in Joel 3:12 : "Let the nations rise up, and come into the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will He hold judgment upon them." יעורוּ corresponds to העירוּ in Joel 3:9; and at the close, "all the heathen round about" is deliberately repeated. Still there is no antithesis in this to "all nations" in Joel 3:2, as though here the judgment was simply to come upon the hostile nations in the neighbourhood of Judah, and not upon all the heathen universally (Hitzig). For even in Joel 3:2 כל הגוים are simply all the heathen who have attacked the people of Jehovah - that is to say, all the nations round about Israel. Only these are not merely the neighbouring nations to Judah, but all heathen nations who have come into contact with the kingdom of God, i.e., all the nations of the earth without exception, inasmuch as before the last judgment the gospel of the kingdom is to be preached in all the world for a testimony to all nations (Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10).

It is to the last decisive judgment, in which all the single judgments find their end, that the command of Jehovah to His strong heroes refers. Joel 3:13. "Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread, for the win-press is full, the vats overflow: for their wickedness is great." The judgment is represented under the double figure of the reaping of the fields and the treading out of the grapes in the wine-press. The angels are first of all summoned to reap the ripe corn (Isaiah 17:5; Revelation 14:16), and then commanded to tread the wine-presses that are filled with grapes. The opposite opinion expressed by Hitzig, viz., that the command to tread the wine-presses is preceded by the command to cut off the grapes, is supported partly by the erroneous assertion, that bâshal is not applied to the ripening of corn, and partly upon the arbitrary assumption that qâtsı̄r, a harvest, stands for bâtsı̄r, a vintage; and maggâl, a sickle (cf. Jeremiah 50:16), for mazmērâh, a vine-dresser's bill. But bâshal does not mean "to boil," either primarily or literally, but to be done, or to be ripe, like the Greek πέσσω, πέπτω, to ripen, to make soft, to boil (see at Exodus 12:9), and hence in the piel both to boil and roast, and in the hiphil to make ripe of ripen (Genesis 40:10), applied both to grapes and corn. It is impossible to infer from the fact that Isaiah (Isaiah 16:9) uses the word qâtsı̄r for the vintage, on account of the alliteration with qayits, that this is also the meaning of the word in Joel. But we have a decisive proof in the resumption of this passage in Revelation 14:15 and Revelation 14:18, where the two figures (of the corn-harvest and the gathering of the grapes) are kept quite distinct, and the clause כּי בשׁל קציר is paraphrased and explained thus: "The time is come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe." The ripeness of the corn is a figurative representation of ripeness for judgment. Just as in the harvest - namely, at the threshing and winnowing connected with the harvest - the grains of corn are separated from the husk, the wheat being gathered into the barns, the husk blown away by the wind, and the straw burned; so will the good be separated from the wicked by the judgment, the former being gathered into the kingdom of God for the enjoyment of eternal life, - the latter, on the other hand, being given up to eternal death. The harvest field is the earth (ἡ γῆ, Revelation 14:16), i.e., the inhabitants of the earth, the human race. The ripening began at the time of the appearance of Christ upon the earth (John 4:35; Matthew 9:38). With the preaching of the gospel among all nations, the judgment of separation and decision (ἡ κρίσις, John 3:18-21) commenced; with the spread of the kingdom of Christ in the earth it passes over all nations; and it will be completed in the last judgment, on the return of Christ in glory at the end of this world. Joel does not carry out the figure of the harvest any further, but simply presents the judgment under the similar figure of the treading of the grapes that have been gathered. רדוּ, not from yârad, to descend, but from râdâh, to trample under foot, tread the press that is filled with grapes. השׁיקוּ היקבים is used in Joel 2:24 to denote the most abundant harvest; here it is figuratively employed to denote the great mass of men who are ripe for the judgment, as the explanatory clause, for "their wicked (deed) is much," or "their wickedness is great," which recals Genesis 6:5, clearly shows. The treading of the wine-press does not express the idea of wading in blood, or the execution of a great massacre; but in Isaiah 63:3, as well as in Revelation 14:20, it is a figure denoting an annihilating judgment upon the enemies of God and of His kingdom. The wine-press is "the wine-press of the wrath of God," i.e., "what the wine-press is to ordinary grapes, the wrath of God is to the grapes referred to here" (Hengstenberg on Revelation 14:19).

The execution of this divine command is not expressly mentioned, but in Joel 3:14. the judgment is simply depicted thus: first of all we have a description of the streaming of the nations into the valley of judgment, and then of the appearance of Jehovah upon Zion in the terrible glory of the Judge of the world, and as the refuge of His people. Joel 3:14. "Tumult, tumult in the valley of decision: for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision." Hămōnı̄m are noisy crowds, whom the prophet sees in the Spirit pouring into the valley of Jehoshaphat. The repetition of the word is expressive of the great multitude, as in 2 Kings 3:16. עמק החרוּץ not valley of threshing; for though chârūts is used in Isaiah 28:27 and Isaiah 41:15 for the threshing-sledge, it is not used for the threshing itself, but valley of the deciding judgment, from chârats, to decide, to determine irrevocably (Isaiah 10:22; 1 Kings 20:40), so that chârūts simply defines the name Jehoshaphat with greater precision. כּי קרוב וגו (compare Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1) is used here to denote the immediate proximity of the judgment, which bursts at once, according to Joel 3:15.