Joel 3:13

Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. PUT YE IN THE SICKLE; FOR THE HARVEST IS RIPE: COME, GET YOU DOWN; FOR THE PRESS IS FULL, THE FATS OVERFLOW: FOR THEIR WICKEDNESS IS GREAT. Direction to the ministers of vengeance to execute God's wrath, as the enemy's wickedness is come to its full maturity. God does not cut off the wicked at once, but waits until their guilt is at its full (so as to the Amorites' iniquity, ), to show forth His own long- suffering, and the justice of their doom who have so long abused it (Matthew 13:27; ;...

As God defers his judgments when miserable men groan under their burdens, the Prophet uses a form of speech, which represents God as not delaying, but, on the contrary, as hastening to judgment, though this be not perceived by carnal minds; for these two things well agree together — God waiting his opportunity as to the ungodly and suspending the punishment they deserve — and yet quickly accelerating their destruction; for he is said to defer with respect to men, because one day with us is like a hundred years; and he is said to hasten, because he knows the exact points of time. So he says in this place, _Put forth the sickle, for the harvest has ripened. _He uses metaphorical words, but he afterwards expresses without a figure what he means and says, that _their wickedness had multiplied _ But there are here two metaphors, the one taken from the harvest, and the other from the vintage....

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....

Verse 13. _PUT YE IN THE SICKLE_] The destruction of his enemies is represented here under the metaphor of reaping down the harvest; and of gathering the grapes, and treading them in the wine-presses....

PUT YE IN THE SICKLE, FOR THE HARVEST IS RIPE - So Jesus saith, “let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them;” and this He explains, “The harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the Angels” Matthew 13:30, Matthew 13:39. He then who saith, “put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe,” is the Son of Man, who, before He became the Son of Man, was, as He is now, the Son of God, and spake this and the other things by the Prohets; they to whom He speaketh are His reapers, the Angels; and the ripeness of the harvest is the maturity of all things here, good and evil, to be brought to their last end. In itself

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

PUT YE IN THE SICKLE, FOR THE HARVEST IS RIPE,.... This is said to the mighty ones sent, the Christian princes, the executioners of God's vengeance on antichrist; the angels that will pour out the vials of his wrath on the antichristian states, compared to reapers, with a sharp sickle in their hands, to cut them down, as grain is cut when reaped; as the same states are compared to a harvest ripe, the measure of their sins being filled up, and the time of their destruction appointed for them come; see Revelation 14:15; COME, GET YE DOWN; to the valley: or "go tread ye" o; for another simile is made use of: the reference here is to the treading of clusters of grapes in the winepress, as appears by what follows: and so the Targum renders it, "descend, tread their mighty men;'' in like manner Jarchi interprets it; and so the Septuagint, Syria

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

PUT YE IN THE SICKLE. Compare Matthew 13:39; Revelation 14:15; Revelation 14:18. SICKLE. vintage-knife. Heb _. maggal._ Occurs only here and Jeremiah 50:16. THE HARVEST. the vintage. Compare Jeremiah 51:33.Hosea 6:11. GET YOU DOWN. go in: i.e. into the winepress. tread ye. PRESS. Hebrew. _gath._ FATS. Hebrew. _yekeb_. See note en Joe 2:74. THEIR. The 1611 ed