Joel 3:1-3 - I will gather all nations

3:1

We now get the universal nature of God’s dealings with the world. God will bring the captives of Judah and Jerusalem back. This would seem to imply that this is referring to the time of the Babylonian captivity and therefore favours a later date for the prophecy of Joel. If an earlier date is accepted, then this would be taken as looking far ahead, or maybe it is completely prophetic in the sense of looking forward to the very end times. Given the re-establishment of the nation of Israel some seventy years ago it could be referring to present times.

3:2,3

This verse seems best taken as referring to the very end times when God will gather all nations together. In fact this highlights an important point about interpreting Biblical prophecy. For many prophecies, particularly those relating to the end times, we have a tendency to think it was completely fulfilled in some particular historical context, or that it is only relevant to the very end times. In most cases, possibly all, it seems that there are partial fulfillments, sometimes on more than one occasion, but not a complete fulfillment. So when we see prophecies we may see a partial fulfillment in Israel’s history, we should not be overly concerned if there are “bits missing”. Take a look at the example of Jesus. People like Moses and David, amongst others, were “types” of the Messiah. Ie they had some of the characteristics of the Messiah, but were most definitely not the Messiah. This in no way devalues their lives, nor the significance of their lives, but someone much greater lay ahead.

Anyway, back to the text! The nations will be gathered for judgement, and the primary charge will be what they did to God’s people. Now does this take away Israel’s guilt? In no way, only the blood of Jesus takes away guilt, but the nations were still responsible for their actions against Israel. In the same way, today many nations will have to answer to God for their attitude and actions towards Israel. This does not mean Israel is perfect, she most certainly is not and has her own repenting to do, but it is a foolish nation that does not treat Israel justly.

Valley of Jehoshaphat is probably used because of the meaning, valley of judgement, rather than a direct reference to the king of that name, or a particular place.

Verse 3 shows the nations devaluing people, treating them as mere objects. Sadly that still goes on today, in many and various ways.