Joel 3:10

Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. BEAT YOUR PLOWSHARES INTO SWORDS. As the foes are desired to "beat their plowshares into swords, and their pruning-hooks into spears," that so they may perish in their unhallowed attack on Judah and Jerusalem; so these latter, and the nations converted to God by them, after the overthrow of the anti-Christian confederacy, shall, on the contrary, "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks," when under Messiah's coming reign they "shall learn war no more" (; ; ). LET THE WEAK SAY, I AM STRONG - so universal shall be the rage of Israel's foes for invading her, that even the...

He afterwards adds, _Beat your plowshares into swords. _When Isaiah and Micah prophesied of the kingdom of Christ, they said, ‘Beat your swords into pruninghooks, and your spears into plowshares’, (Isaiah 2:4.) This sentence is now inverted by Joel. The words of Isaiah and Micah were intended figuratively to show that the world would be at peace when Christ reconciled men to God, and taught them to cultivate brotherly kindness. But the Prophet says here, that there would be turbulent commotions everywhere, so that there would be no use made of the plough or of the pruninghook; husbandmen would cease from their labor, the land would remain waste; for this is the case when a whole country is exposed to violence; no one dares go out, all desert their fields, cultivation is neglected. Hence the Prophet says, ‘Turn your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears;’ that is, fiel...

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....

BEAT YOUR PLOWSHARES INTO SWORDS - Peace had been already promised, as a blessing of the gospel. “In His days,” foretold Solomon, “shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, so long as the moon endureth” Psalms 72:7. And another, “He maketh thy borders peace” Psalms 147:14. Peace within with God flows forth in peace with man. “Righteousness and peace kissed each other” Psalms 85:10. Where there is not rest in God, all is unrest. And so, all which was needful for life, the means of subsistence, care of health, were to be forgotten for war. LET THE WEAK SAY, I AM STRONG - It is one last gathering of the powers of the world against their Make

EXPOSITION JOEL 3:1 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. JOEL 3:1 The _time _referred to: IN THOSE DAYS, AND IN THAT TIME, is the first point to be determined. The reference is obviously to the period spoken of in the twenty-eighth verse of the second chapter, where we read, "And it shall come to pass _afterward_,_ _that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flush." This seems to fix the date at least of the commencement of the events recorded in these verses. These events must have been subsequent to that Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But a still closer specification of the time

BEAT YOUR PLOUGHSHARES INTO SWORDS, AND YOUR PRUNING HOOKS INTO SPEARS,.... Let not only soldiers, and such as have been trained up in military discipline, appear in the field on this occasion; but let husbandmen and vinedressers leave their fields and vineyards, and turn their instruments of husbandry and vinedressing into weapons of war; let them not plead want of armour, but convert these to such uses: on the contrary, when this battle will be over, swords shall be beaten into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks, Isaiah 2:4; LET THE WEAK SAY, I [AM] STRONG; such as are weak, through sickness, or old age, let them not plead their weakness to excuse them from engaging in this war; but let them make the best of themselves, and say they are strong and healthy, and fit for it, and enter in it with all courage and bravery: this is said either ironically to the enemies of G

III. THE EVENTS OF THE DAY OF THE LORD: ISRAEL'S ENEMIES JUDGED AND THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The judgment of the nations (Joel 3:1) _ 2. The preceding warfare of the nations and how it ends (Joel 3:9) 3. Jehovah in the midst of His People (Joel 3:17) Joel 3:1. The first verse specifies the time when Jehovah will do what He announces in the two verses which follow. It will be in those days, in that time, when the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem is brought back. Clearly then up to this time this cannot yet have been, for the captivity of His people is not yet ended. They are still scattered in the great dispersion

A CHALLENGE TO THE NATIONS TO APPEAR IN THE VALLEY OF JUDGMENT TO MEET THEIR DOOM. Returning to the idea of Joel 3:2, Joel represents Yahweh as bidding the heralds make proclamation among the nations, challenging them to perform the religious rites used to initiate a campaign, and to advance against Him. Let them put their utmost strength into the battle, converting the implements of peace into weapons of war (contrast Isaiah 2:4), and playing the hero even to the feeblest man amongst them. Let the warriors haste and present themselves in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where Yahweh will execute judgment upon them. Under two figures the judgment is expressed: the nations are like ripe corn, which the angel reapers are bidden cut, or grapes filling the press, ready for them to tread. Multitudes await their fate in the Valley of

BEAT YOUR PLOWSHARES, &c. This precedes the opposite command to be given after this in Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3, when Hosea 2:18 shall be fulfilled. PRUNINGHOOKS: or, scythes....

Part II. Chap. Joel 2:18 to Joel 3:21 Jehovah's answer to His people's prayer of penitence. He will remove from them the plague of locusts, and bestow upon them an abundance of both material and spiritual gifts (Joel 2:18-32); His judgment will alight only upon the nations who are their foes; His own people will dwell for ever securely under the protection of His presence (ch. 3)....