Joel 3:21

For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD FOR I WILL CLEANSE THEIR BLOOD THAT I HAVE NOT CLEANSED - I will purge away from Judah the extreme guilt (represented by "blood," the shedding of which was the climax of her sin, ) which was for long not "purged" away but visited with judgment (). Messiah saves from guilt, in order to save from punishment (). FOR THE LORD DWELLETH IN ZION. See the note at . Remarks: (1) Before the second advent of Messiah there shall be one last desperate effort made by Satan Antichrist, and their dupes, against the Lord and His people. The powers of the world shal...

The beginning of the verse is in various ways explained. Some make a stop after _cleanse _thus, “I will cleanse, yet their blood I will not cleanse;” as though God had said, that he would forgive heathen nations all their other wrongs, but could not forgive them the great cruelty they had exercised against his elect. So the sense would be, “Avarice may be borne, I could pass by robberies; but, since they slew my people, I am in this case wholly unforgiving.” Hence, according to this view, God shows how precious to him is the life of his saints, inasmuch as he says, that he will not be pacified towards those ungodly men who have shed innocent blood. But this sense seems rather too forced. Others render thus, “Their blood will I cleanse, and will not cleanse,” that is, “I will cleanse the Jews from their defilements, but I will not use extreme severity;” as he says also in Isaiah 48:10, ‘I...

18-21 There shall be abundant Divine influences, and the gospel will spread speedily into the remotest corners of the earth. These events are predicted under significant emblems; there is a day coming, when every thing amiss shall be amended. The fountain of this plenty is in the house of God, whence the streams take rise. Christ is this Fountain; his sufferings, merit, and grace, cleanse, refresh, and make fruitful. Gospel grace, flowing from Christ, shall reach to the Gentile world, to the most remote regions, and make them abound in fruits of righteousness; and from the house of the Lord above, from his heavenly temple, flows all the good we daily taste, and hope to enjoy eternally....

Verse Joel 3:21. _FOR I WILL CLEANSE THEIR BLOOD_] נקיתי _nikkeythi, I will_ _avenge_ the slaughter and martyrdom of my people, which I have not _yet avenged_. Persecuting _nations_ and persecuting _Churches_ shall all come, sooner or later, under the stroke of vindictive justice. _FOR THE LORD DWELLETH IN ZION._] He shall be the life, soul, spirit, and defense of his Church for ever. THIS prophet, who has many things similar to Ezekiel, ends his prophecy nearly in the same way: _Ezekiel_ says of the glory of the Church, יהוה שמה _Yehovah_ _shammah_, THE LORD IS THERE. _Joel_ says, יהוה שכן בציון _Yehovah shochen betsiyon_, THE LORD DWELLETH IN ZION. Both point out the continued indwelling of Christ among his people....

FOR I WILL CLEANSE HER BLOOD THAT I HAVE NOT CLEANSED - The word rendered “cleansed” is not used of natural cleansing, nor is the image taken from the cleansing of the body. The word signifies only to pronounce innocent, or to free from guilt. Nor is “blood” used of sinfulness generally, but only of the actual guilt of shedding blood. The whole then cannot be an image taken from the cleansing of physical defilement, like the words in the prophet Ezekiel, “then washed I thee with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee” Ezekiel 16:9. Nor again can it mean the forgiveness of sins generally, but only the pronouncing innocent the blood which had been shed. This, the only meaning of the words, fall in with the mention of the “innocent blood,” for shedding which, Egypt and Edom had been condemned. The words are the same. There it was said, “because the

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

FOR I WILL CLEANSE THEIR BLOOD [WHICH] I HAVE NOT CLEANSED,.... Which some understand, as the Targum, of the Lord's, inflicting further punishments on the, enemies of his people, for shedding their innocent blood; and that he will not expiate their sins, nor hold them guiltless, or suffer them to go unpunished; but rather this is to be interpreted in a way of grace and mercy, as a benefit bestowed on Judah and Jerusalem, who are the immediate antecedents to the relative here; and in the words a reason is given why they should dwell safely and peaceably for ever, because the Lord will justify them from their sins; forgive their iniquities; cleanse them from all their pollution, signified by blood; of which grace they will have had no application made to them till this time; but now all their guilt and faith will be removed; and particularly God will forgive, and declare to be forgiven the...

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

THE FUTURE FELICITY OF JUDAH CONTRASTED WITH THE DESOLATION OF HER OPPRESSORS. In that golden age when Yahweh shall dwell in Zion miraculous fertility shall transform the land, covering it with vineyards and pastures. The watercourses, now treacherous because in the heat they become dry beds of sand, shall then be brimming with perennial streams. From the Temple shall issue a spring which shall pass through the Wady of the Acacias. Egypt the oldest of Judah's oppressors and Edom most bitterly hated of her later foes shall be destroyed and become desert; but Judah shall be inhabited for ever, and Yahweh shall dwell eternally (so render dwelleth) in Zion. JOEL 3:18. VALLEY OF SHITTIM: rather, Wady of the Acacias. Probably not the name of a definite gorge, but typical; the place-names of this chapter are of the same kind as those used by Bunyan. Acacias grow in arid regions. _Cf._ f

CLEANSE... CLEANSED. clear... cleared. This could be done only by avenging it; for God will "by no means clear the guilty" (Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18); and Egypt, Edom, &c., were guilty (Joel 3:19), and are not to be cleansed", but punished for shedding Judah's blood. The Hebrew _nakah is_ not used of cleansing, naturally or ceremonially. Not the same word as Isaiah 4:4. The Septuagint and Syriac render it "make inquisition for" in 2 Kings 9:7. and evidently read _nakam =_ to avenge (akin to _nakah)._ This would be. vivid reference to Pent in...