The Pulpit Commentary — Joel — Section 52

their return to thoir own lo.nd. Tho hietorlo Iere.el, we may find their fulfllment in melt reforenco is thought by some to bo the event evente BB the following: the defeat of tho no.rro.tcd in 2 Chron. xxi. 161 17, where His Philistinee by Uzziah," when ho went forth written," Tho Lorri stirred up o.go.inet Jo- e.ncl warred against the Philietince, an•I hora.m tho Hpirit of tho Philietinos .... And brake down the wall of Gath, a.nrl tho wall they co.mo up into Judah, and bro.ke into it, of ,Jahneh, e.nd the wall of Aehdod, amt o.nd oa.rried o.wa.y [margin, 'carried ca.p- built cities about Ashdod, and a.moo" tho tivo ') a.11 the eubet,mce that wae found in Philietinee;" their defeo.t also by Hezekiah, tho king's houeo, and hi~ sons also, and hie when" he smote the PhiliRtines even nnto wivce." Gazo., e.nd the borders thereof, from tl,o Vera. 7, 8.-In these veraee we he.ve the tower of the watchman to tho fenced city ; " recompense of reward so deservedly dealt and the temporary eubjection of portions of out to the enemies of Iera.ol. Palestinian and Phoonician territory to tho Ver. 7.-Behold, I will ra.ile them out of Jews in Ma.ccabea.n times, together with tho the ple.ce whither ye hBve 1old them. Instead siege and destruction of their cities, a.a of "ro.iee," some prefer u waken," "ro-ase," narrated by the Jewish hietorian ,foecphue or "stir up." The Judma.ne would be roused e.nd in the First Book of Maccabe88. We out of the countries into which they had learn e.lso from Diodorua that thirteen thou- been sold, o.nd restored to their own land, sand ce.ptive 'l'yrie.ns were sold into slavery and the measure which had been meted after the victory of Alexander the Great. to them meted in turn to their enemies. The deliverance mentioned here may be Vere. 9-17.-After a. parenth~sis of five exemplified, if not realized in pa.rt, in the verses, viz. 4-8, detailing the injnrioue time of Alexander the Great and his enc- treatment of the Jews by some of the Hur- cessors, when Jewish captives in many rounding nations, and the righteous retribu- lands were set nt liberty. Thus Demetrius, tion visited on those nations, the prophet in hie letter to Jonathe.n, writes, "I also make free all those Jews who have been resumes the enbject broached at the begin- ma.de captives and slo.ves in my kingdom." ning of the chapter, especially in ver. 2, And will return your recompense upon your about the judgment to he visited on tha own head ; better rendered, and will tum nations in genera.I. The verses now before bacT, your doing upon your head. A righteous us describe very graphically the execution retaliation a.waited Philistines and Phm- nicio.ns. 'rhey in tum would fall illto the of that judgment. hands of the J udmans, and- be made prisoners Ver. 9 pictures the proclama.tion and other of war, e.nd, as they had done, so should it preliminaries of war. Heralds are sent out be done to them. to ma.ko procle.mation among the nations. Ver. 8.-A.nd I will aell your ■Olli and Prepare (margin, ,anctify) war. Cuta.in your daughters into the hand of the ohildren forme.lities of a. religious nature were cus- of J'uda.h, and they shBll sell them to the tomary among the heathen when war was Sa.beans, to e. people far oft'. The Hebrew proclaimed and prepared for. Thus also expression does not mean "to ·sell by the among the Jews supplico.tion was made anrl hand of," e.s it is erroneously rendered by sacrifices offered, IMI we read in 1 Sam. vii. some ; but "to 11011 into the hand," that is, 8, 9, that before the battle with the Ph.ilis- to deliver over into the power of the children tines at Mizpeh, the peoplo urged Samuel of Jude.h. The Se.beans were the inhabitants to make earnest supplication and sacrifice of Sheho., in Arabia. Felix, a people e.cti vely for them, when in compliance he "took a. engaged in trade, e.nd related to the Pales- sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt tinians in the south, e.s the Grecians in the offerillg wholly unto the Lord: and SllIIluel north. They were a. people a.a far off ( or cried unto thtl Lord for Turael ; " and thus more so) in o.n easterly direotion e.s the a. preparation for war WIMI a consecration of Greeks of Ionia in a. westerly ; and so Kim- we.r by religious rites. Wake up the mighty chi, "They were fe.r off from their land me:i,; or rather, (1) according to Keil, waken more than the Jo.vanites." "As the Tyrians up or arou,e the mi!Jhty men. (2) A pre- sold Jewish prisoners to the maritime peoplo ferable rendering, according to Wiinschc, of the far West, so the Jews shoul<l sell is "Wake up, ye mighty men;" whilo he 'fyrio.ns to traders of the far East." The u~derstands the whole arlclresa as dircctecl LXX., miste.king c•tt::11, for the plural of to the covenant people. It is obeervable that '=!'P, translate the clause, " They shall sell one manuscript has 11•11;-:, equivalent to" mako th.em illto captivity to a far-distant nation." stron"," i.e. the heroes. In either case, the If wee.re not to'understand these predictions, hcroo~ may be conceived as enjoying poaceful with Hengstenherg, as an application of the repose when they a.ro rudely rou,;c,l by the generlll truth that God shall gather o.gain deola.re.tion of war; and as tho word "war" the dispersed of Judah and tho captives of ill indefinite through the absence of the ~OIJ:I,, I!. 60 THE BOOK OF JOEL, [on. m. 1-21.·