 |  |
Joel 3: 4-8. Moving on we come to verse 4 where a severe challenge is issued.
"Now what have you got against Me, O Tyre and Sidon and all you regions of
Philistia? Are you repaying Me for something I have done? If you are paying My back, I
will swiftly and speedily return on your heads what you have done. For you took My
silver and My gold and carried off My finest treasures to your temples. You sold the
people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, that you might send them far from your
homeland.
See, I am going to rouse them out of the places to which you sold them, and I will
return on your own heads what you have done. I will sell your sons and daughters to the
people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away, the Lord has
spoken" (Joel 3: 4-8, N.I.V.).
The region termed Palestine in the A.V. of Joel 3: 4 must not be confused with
modern day Palestine. Most translations, like the N.I.V. above, have Philistia and this
was a coastal strip of land west of Jerusalem. Tyre and Sidon were two sea ports some
100 miles or so north of that region. The following map may be of some use. It shows
some of the principal places and divisions of the land which took place during the reigns
of the kings of Israel and Judah.
---Illustration---
(BE-LI.65).
Why Tyre and Sidon and the regions of Philistia should be singled out for mentioning
is not obvious. Earlier Amos (1: 10-12) had accused Tyre of not remembering the
brotherly covenant, which may be a reference to II Sam. 5: 11 and II Kings 5: 1 and
9: 11-14. Ezekiel 28: 24 had described Sidon as a pricking brier and a grievous
thorn but doesn't give clear indication of what he had in mind. It could be that Tyre and
Sidon together with parts of Philistia, were the haven of the wealthy slave traders.
Amos 1: 6-9 mentions Gaza, a port of Philistia, and links it with the slave trade. This
would be in agreement with Joel 3: 6.
Some think that the reference to slavery shows that Joel was written after the return to
the land from the Babylonian exile because Nehemiah mentions it in 5: 5 and 13: 16.
This practice, however, had taken place on many occasions and, as we have read, Amos
mentions it in 1: 6-9 and that prophecy was written before the exile. The reference to
temple robbery would also be more appropriate if placed before the exile. On returning
to their homeland the people wanted to build a temple but Ezra and Nehemiah clearly
indicate that it was a humble place with none of the splendour of Solomon's temple.
Joel 3: 4 finishes by stating the obvious. If they, or anyone else come to that,
attempts to "get their own back" on God then He will swiftly and speedily return on their
heads what they have done. In this age of grace in which we live, God is silent and