(Calvin, Commentary on Joel, Part 10)
Lecture Forty-seventh.
We said in our yesterday's Lecture, that God proves the
singular love he has to his Church by condescending to undertake her
cause, and contend as a worldly man would do for his paternal
inheritance. He says, that "his heritage, Israel, had been dispersed
among the nations"; as though he said, that it was an intolerable
thing that enemies should, like robbers, thus divide his heritage.
He speaks first of the people, then of the land; for God, as it is
well known, consecrated the land to himself, and he would not have
it occupied by profane nations. There was then a twofold sacrilege,
- the people were carried away into distant lands, and others were
sent to inhabit and possess their land, which God had destined for
his children and elect people.
There follows now another indignity still greater; for they
cast lot on God's people, - "On my people they have cast lot, and
prostituted a boy for a harlot, and a girl have they sold for wine,
that they might drink". By these words the Prophet enhances the
injury done them; for the Jews had been reproachfully treated. Some
measure of humanity is mostly shown when men are sold; but the
Prophet here complains in the person of God, that the Jews had been
exposed to sale, as though they were the off scourings of mankind,
and of no account. They have cast lots he says; and this was to show
contempt; and the Prophet expresses more clearly what he meant, and
says, that a boy had been given for a harlot, and a girl for wine.
Some consider the Prophet as saying, that boys were prostituted to
base and scandalous purposes; but I prefer another view, - that the
enemies sold them for a mean price to gratify their gluttony, or
their lust; as though the Prophet had said, that the Jews had to
endure a grievous reproach by being set to sale, as they say, and
that at the lowest price. He farther adds another kind of contempt;
for whatever price the enemies procured by selling, they spent it
either on harlot or on feasting. We hence see that a twofold injury
is here mentioned, - the Jews had been so despised as not to be
regarded as men, and had been sold not for the usual prices, but had
been disposed of in contempt by their enemies almost for nothing; -
and the other reproach was, that the price obtained for them was
afterwards spent on gluttony and whoredom: yet this people was
sacred to God. Now this contumelious treatment, the Prophet says,
God would not endure, but would avenge such a wrong as if done to
himself. This is then the meaning.
But the reason which induces me thus to interpret the Prophet
is because he says that a girl was sold for wine, as the boy for a
harlot; and the construction of the Prophet's words is the same. It
is indeed certain that in the latter clause the Prophet meant
nothing else but that the price was wickedly spent for vile and
shameful purposes; then the former clause must be understood in the
same way. Let us proceed -
Joel 3:4-6
4 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all
the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompence? and if ye
recompense me, swiftly [and] speedily will I return your recompence
upon your own head;
5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into
your temples my goodly pleasant things:
6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye
sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their
border.
God expostulates here with Tyre and Sidon, and other
neighboring nations, and shows that they vexed his people without
cause Had they been provoked some excuse might have been made; but
since they made war of their own accord, the wrong was doubled. This
is what God means these words. "What have ye to do with me, O Tyre
and Sidon?" He indeed continues the subject before explained: but he
speaks of the concern here as hid own; he seems not now to undertake
the protection of his own people, but detents his own cause. "What
have ye to do with me?" he says. God then interposes himself; as
though he said, that the Syrians and Sidonians were not only called
by him to judgment because they had unjustly wronged his people, and
brought many troubles on men deserving no such things; but he says
also, that he stood up in his own defense. "What have I to do with
you, O Syrians and Sidonians?" as we say in French, Qu'avons-nous a
desmeller? (what have we to decide?) Now the Prophet had this in
view, that the Syrians and Sidonians became voluntary enemies to the
Jews, when they had no dispute with them; and this, as we have said,
was less to be borne. "What then have ye to do with me, O Syrians
and Sidonians? Do I owe anything to you? Am I under any obligation
to you? Do ye repay me my recompense?" that is, "Can you boast of
any reason or just pretence for making, war on my people?" He then
means, that there had been no wrong done to the Syrians and
Sidonians, which they could now retaliate, but that they made an
attack through their own wickedness, and were only impelled by
avarice or cruelty thus to harass the miserable Jews: "Ye repay
not," he says, "a recompense to me; for ye cannot pretend that any
wrong has been done to you by me."
"But if ye repay this to me, he says, I will swiftly return the
recompense on your head". "Gamal" means not only to repay, as the
Hebrew scholars ever render it, but also to confer, to bestow, as it
has been stated in another place. 'What shall I repay to the Lord
for all the things which he has recompensed to me?' This is the
common version; but it is an improper and inconsistent mode of
speaking. David no doubt refers to God's benefits; then it is, 'What
shall I repay for all the benefits which the Lord has bestowed on
me?' Then he who first does wrong, or bestows good, is said to
recompense; and this is the sense in this place. 'If ye,' he says,
'thus deal with me, "swiftly", "meherah" suddenly (for the word is
to be taken as an adverb,) will I return recompense on your head;'
that is, "Ye shall not be unpunished, since ye have acted so
unjustly with me and my people." We now perceive the whole meaning
of the Prophet: He enhances the crime of the Syrians and Sidonians,
because they willfully distressed the Jews, and joined themselves to
their foreign enemies, for the purpose of seizing on a part of the
spoil. As, then, vicinity softened not their minds, their inhumanity
was on this account more fully proved. But, as I have said, the Lord
here places himself between the two parties, to intimate, that he
performs his own proper office when he takes care of the safety of
his Church.
He afterwards shows that this wickedness should not be
unpunished - "If ye deal thus with me, he says, I shall swiftly
(suddenly) return the recompense on your heads". This passage
contains a singular consolation; for God declares that whatever
evils the faithful endure belong to him, and also that he will not
suffer those under his protection and defense to be distressed with
impunity, but will quickly return recompense on the heads of those
who unjustly injure his heritage. We now understand the Prophet's
design: he doubtless intended to support the minds of the godly with
this thought, - that their afflictions are objects of concern with
God and that he will shortly be the avenger of them, however
necessary it may be that they should for a time be thus violently
and reproachfully treated by wicked men.
Let us now proceed: He says that their silver and their gold
had been taken away by the Syrians and the Sidonians. All who were
the neighbors of that people, no doubt, derived gain from their
calamity, as is usually the case. They were at first ill disposed
towards them; there was then a new temptation; they gaped after
booty: and they showed themselves openly their enemies, when they
saw that there was hope of gain. Such was the case with the Syrians
and Sidonians. There is no doubt, but that they sedulously courted
the favor of the Assyrians, that they helped them with provisions
and other things, that they might partake of the spoil. It was,
therefore, no wonder that gold and silver was taken away by them,
for the carriage of them [to Assyria] would have been tedious: and,
as I have just hinted, it is usually the case, that conquerors
gratify those by whom they have been assisted. Many extend this
plunder generally to the whole wealth of the people; that is, that
the enemies plundered what gold and silver there was in Judea, and
that the Sidonians got a portion of it for themselves. But there
seems to have been a special complaint, that the sacred vessels of
the temple were taken away by the Syrians and Sidonians: I therefore
prefer to render the word, temples, rather than palaces. Some say,
'Ye have carried away my silver and my gold to your palaces.' Though
the word is capable of two meanings, yet the Prophet, I have no
doubt, refers here to the temples. The Syrians, then, and the
Sidonians profaned the silver and the gold of the temple by
dedicating them to their idols; they adorned their idols with spoils
taken from the only true God. This was the reason why God was so
exceedingly displeased. There was, indeed, a cause why God, as we
have said, contended for the whole nation of Israel: but it was a
far more heinous wrong to spoil the temple, and to strip it of its
ornaments, and then to adorn idols with its sacred vessels; for God
was thus treated with scorn; and in contempt of him, the Syrians and
Sidonians built, as it were, a trophy of victory in their own dens,
where they performed sacrilegious acts in worshipping fictitious
gods.
"Ye have taken away, he says, my gold and silver, and my
desirable good things". God speaks here after the manner of men; for
it is certain that even under the law he stood in no need of gold or
silver, or of other precious things; he wished the temple to be
adorned with vessels and other valuable furniture for the sake of
the ignorant people; for the Jews could not have been preserved in
pure and right worship, had not God assisted their weak faith by
these helps. But yet, as obedience is acceptable to him, he says
that whatever was an ornament in the temple was a desirable thing to
him; while, at the same time, by speaking thus, he put on, as I have
said, a character not his own, as he has no need of such things, nor
is he delighted with them. We ought not, indeed, to imagine God to
be like a child, who takes delight in gold and silver and such
things; but what is said here was intended for the benefit of the
people, that they might know that God approved of that worship, for
it was according to his command. He therefore calls every thing that
was in the temple desirable, "Ye have, he says, carried away into
your temples my desirable good things".
It follows, "And the children of Judah, and the children of
Jerusalem, have ye sold to the children of the Grecians". There is
here another complaint subjoined, - that the Syrians and Sidonians
had been sacrilegious towards God, that they had cruelly treated
God's afflicted people. In the last verse, God inveighed against the
Syrians, and Sidonians for having prostituted to their idols gold
and silver stolen from him; he now again returns to the Jews
themselves, who, he says, had been sold to the children of the
Grecians; that is, to people beyond the sea: for as Javan passed
into Europe, he includes under that name the nations beyond the sea.
And he says, that they sold the Jews to the Greeks that they might
drive them far from their own borders, so that there might be no
hope of return. Here the cruelty of the Syrians and Sidonians
becomes more evident; for they took care to drive those wretched men
far away, that no return to their country might be open to them, but
that they might be wholly expatriated.
We now perceive what the Prophet had in view: He intended that
the faithful though trodden under foot by the nations, should yet
have allayed their grief by some consolation, and know that they
were not neglected by God; and that though he connived at their
evils for a time, he would yet be their defender, and would contend
for them as for his own heritage, because they had been so unjustly
treated. He afterwards adds -
Joel 3:7
Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold
them, and will return your recompence upon your own head:
The Prophet declares here more fully and expressly, that God
had not so deserted the Jews, but that he intended, in course of
time, to stretch forth his hand to them again. It was indeed a
temporary desertion: but it behaved the faithful in the meantime to
rely on this assurance, - that God purposed again to restore his
people: and of this the Prophet now speaks, "Behold, he says, I will
raise them from the place unto which ye have sold them"; as though
he said "Neither distance of place, nor the intervening sea, will
hinder me from restoring my people." As then the Syrians and
Sidonians thought that the Jews were precluded a return to their
country, because they were taken away into distant parts of the
world, God says that this would be no obstacle in his way to collect
again his Church.
But it may he asked, When has this prediction been fulfilled?
as we indeed know that the Jews have never returned to their own
country: for shortly after their return from exile, they were in
various ways diminished; and at length the most grievous calamities
followed, which consumed the greatest part of the people. Since this
then has been the condition of that nation, we ought to inquire
whether Christ has collected the Jews, who had been far dispersed.
We indeed know that they were then especially scattered; for the
land of Judea never ceased to be distressed by continual wars until
Jerusalem was destroyed, and the people were almost wholly consumed.
Since then it has been so, when can we say that this prediction has
been fulfilled? Many explain the words allegorically, and say, that
the Prophet speaks of apostles and martyrs, who, through various
persecutions, were driven into different parts; but this is a
strained view. I therefore do not doubt, but that here he refers to
a spiritual gathering: and it is certain that God, since the
appearance of Christ, has joined together his Church by the bond of
faith; for not only that people have united together in one, but
also the Gentiles, who were before alienated from the Church, and
had no intercourse with it, have been collected into one body. We
hence see, that what the Prophet says has been spiritually
fulfilled; even the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem
have been redeemed by the Lord, and restored again, not on foot or
by sea; for Jerusalem has been built everywhere as it is said in
Zechariah.
"I will therefore gather them", he says; and he adds, I will
return recompense on your head". He again confirms what he said
before, - that though the ungodly should exult, while ruling over
the children of God, their cruelty would not be unpunished; for they
shall find that the Church is never neglected by God; though he may
subject it to various troubles, and exercise its patience, and even
chastise it, he will yet be ever its defender. It follows -
Joel 3:8
And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the
children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a
people far off: for the LORD hath spoken [it].
The Prophet describes here a wonderful change: the Syrians and
Sidonians did sell the Jews; but who is to be the seller now? God
himself will take this office, - "I, he says, will sell your
children", as though he said, "The Jews shall subdue you and reduce
you to bondage," - by whose authority? "It shall be, as if they
bought you at my hands." He means that this servitude would be
legitimate; and thus he makes the Jews to be different from the
Syrians and Sidonians, who had been violent robbers, and unjustly
seized on what was not their own: and hence the manner of the sale
is thus described, - "I myself shall be the author of this change,
and the thing shall be done by my authority, as if I had interposed
my own name;" and the Jews themselves shall sell, he says, your sons
and your daughters to the Sabeans, a distant nation; that is, the
people of the East: for the Prophet, I doubt not, by mentioning a
part for the whole, meant here to designate Eastern nations, such as
the Persians and Medes; but he says, that the Tyrians and Sidonians
shall be driven to the meet distant countries; for the Sabeans were
very far distant from the Phoenician Sea, and were known as being
very nigh the Indians.
But it may be asked here, When has God executed this judgment?
for the Jews never possessed such power as to be able to subdue
neighboring nations, and to sell them at pleasure to unknown
merchants. It would indeed be foolish and puerile to insist here on
a literal fulfillment: at the same time, I do not say, that the
Prophet speaks allegorically; for I am disposed to keep from
allegories, as there is in them nothing sound nor solid: but I must
yet say that there is a figurative language used here, when it is
said, that the Syrians and Sidonians shall be sold and driven here
and there into distant countries, and that this shall be done for
the sake of God's chosen people and his Church, as though the Jews
were to be the sellers. When God says, "I will sell," it is not
meant that he is to descend from heaven for the purpose of selling,
but that he will execute judgment on them; and then the second
clause, - that they shall be sold by the Jews, derives its meaning
from the first; and this cannot be a common sake, as if the Jews
were to receive a price and make a merchandise of them. But God
declares that the Jews would be the sellers, because in this manner
he signifies his vengeance for the wrong done to them; that is, by
selling them "to the Sabeans, a distant nation". We further know,
that the changes which then followed were such that God turned
upside down nearly the whole world; for he drove the Syrian and the
Sidonians to the most distant countries. No one could have thought
that this was done for the sake of the Jews, who were hated and
abominated by all. But yet God declares, that he would do this from
regard to his Church even sell the Syrians and the Sidonians, though
it was commonly unknown to men; for it was the hidden judgment of
God. But the faithful who had been already taught that God would do
this, were reminded by the event how precious to God is his
heritage, since he avenges those wrongs, the memory of which had
long before been buried. This then is the import of the whole. The
Prophet now subjoins -
Joel 3:9-11
9 Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the
mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into
spears: let the weak say, I [am] strong.
11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather
yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to
come down, O LORD.
Some think these words were announced lest the people, being
terrified by their evils, should become wholly dejected; and they
elicit this meaning, - that God placed this dreadful spectacle of
evils before their eyes, that the Jews might prepare and strengthen
themselves for enduring them; that though nations should everywhere
rise up, they might yet abide arm in the hope, that God would be the
defender of his own Church. But the Prophet, I doubt not, continues
the same discourse, and denounces war on the heathen nations, who
had molested the Church with so many troubles; "Publish this, he
says, among the nations, proclaim war, rouse the strong; let them
come, let them ascend": and we know how necessary it was by such
means to confirm what he had previously said: for the ungodly are
moved by no threats, nay, they laugh to scorn all God's judgments;
while the faithful yielding to their evils, can hardly raise up
their minds, even though God promises to be a helper to them.
Except, then, the matter had been set forth as painted before their
eyes they would not have experienced the power of consolation. Hence
the lively representation we see here was intended for this end, -
that the people, being led to view the whole event, might entertain
hope of their future salvation, while they now saw God collecting
his army, and mustering his forces to punish the enemies of his
Church. The faithful, then not only hearing by mere words that this
would be, but also seeing, as it were, with their eyes what the Lord
sets forth by a figure, and a lively representation, were more
effectually impressed and felt more assured that God would become at
length their deliverer.
We now then see why the Prophet here bids war to be everywhere
announced and proclaimed, and also why he bids the strong to
assemble, and all warlike men to ascend; as though he said, "The
Lord will not disappoint you with empty words, but will come
provided with an army to save you. When ye hear, then, that he will
be the author of your salvation, think also that all nations are in
his power, and that the whole world can in a moment be roused up by
his rod, so that all its forces may from all quarters come together,
and all the power of the world meet in obedience to him. Know, then,
that being provided with his forces, he comes not to you naked, nor
feeds you with mere words, as they are wont to do who have no help
to give but words only: this is not what God does; for he can even
to-day execute what he has denounced; but he stays for the ripened
time. In the meanwhile, give him his honor, and know that there is
not wanting the means to protect you, if he wished; but he would
have you for a time to be subject to the cross and to tribulations
that he may at length avenge the wrongs done to you."
It may be now asked who are the nations meant by the Prophet?
for he said before, that God would visit all nations with
punishment, whereas, there was then no nation in the world friendly
to the Jews. But in this there is nothing inconsistent; for God
caused all the enemies of the Church to assail one another on every
side, and to destroy themselves with mutual slaughters. Hence, when
he designed to take vengeance on the Tyrians and Sidonians, he
roused up the Persian and Medes; and when he purposed to punish the
Persian and Medes, he called the Greeks into Asia; and he had before
brought low the Assyrians. Thus he armed all nations, but each in
its turn; and one after the other underwent the punishment they
deserved. And so the expression of the Prophet must not be taken in
a too restricted sense, as though the Lord would at the same time
collect an army from the whole world, to punish the enemies of his
Church; but that he rouses the whole world, so that some suffer
punishment from others; and yet no enemy of the Church remains
unpunished. We now perceive the Prophet's objects in saying,
"Publish this among the nations"; that is, God will move dreadful
tumults through the whole world, and will do this for the sake of
his Church: for though he exposes his people to many miseries, he
will yet have the remnant, as we have before seen, to be saved.
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', (Isa.2, Mic.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 labour, 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, field labour
will cease, and all will strenuously apply themselves to war. And
"let the weak say, I am strong", for there will then be no exemption
from war. Excuses, we know, availed formerly on the ground of age or
disease, when soldiers were collected; and if any one could have
pleaded disease, he was dismissed; but the Prophet says, that there
will be no exemption then; "God", he says, "will excuse none, he
will compel all to become warriors, he will even draw out all the
sick from their beds; all will be constrained to put on arms". It
hence appears how ardently the Lord loves his Church, since he
spares no nations and no people, and exempts none from punishment;
for all who have vexed the Church must necessarily receive their
recompense. Since then God so severely punishes the enemies of his
Church, he thereby gives a singular evidence of his paternal love to
us.
At length he concludes, "There will Jehovah overthrow thy
mighty ones". Though the Prophet uses the singular number, "thy", he
no doubt refers to the whole earth; as though he said, "Whatever
enemies there may be to my people, I will cut them down, however
strong they may be." We now perceive that everything the Prophet has
hitherto said has been for this end - to show, that God takes care
of the safety of his Church, even in its heaviest afflictions, and
that he will be the avenger of wrongs, after having for a time tried
the patience of his people and chastised their faults - that there
will be a turn in the state of things, so that the condition of the
Church will be ever more desirable, even under its greatest evils,
than of those whom the Lord bears with and indulges, and on whom he
does not so quickly take vengeance.
Prayer.
Grant, Almighty God, that as we ara assailed on every side by
enemies, and as not only the wicked according to the flesh are
incensed against us, but Satan also musters his forces and contrives
in various ways to ruin us, - O grant, that we being furnished with
the courage thy Spirit bestows, may fight to the end under thy
guidance and never be wearied under any evils. And may we, at the
same time, be humbled under thy mighty hand when it pleases thee to
afflict us and so sustain all our troubles that with a courageous
mind we may strive for that victory which thou promises to us, and
that having completed all our struggles we may at length attain that
blessed rest which is reserved for us in heaven through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen.
Calvin, Commentary on Joel
(Continued in part 11...)
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