The Judgment of the Nations (3:1-17). 

        For the average Israelite the Day of the Lord was first and foremost the day of divine vengeance on the enemies of Israel (cf. Amos 5:18), therefore the prophets stress primarily the judgment on Israel (cf. IPet. 4:17), but the reality of the Divine judgment of the nations is never denied. It belongs to God’s attributes as “Judge of all the earth.”

        The vision of judgment falls into two parts (vers. 1-8, 9-17), and the contrast between them is most instructive for our understanding of the prophetic picturing of the distant future. First Joel deals with nations known to him. Their treatment of God’s people is to provide the ground of judgment, and as they have treated them, so will they be treated. Our Lord’s teaching in Matt. 25:31-46 lifts this to the highest plane and lays bare its underlying principles. Man’s reaction to the people of God illuminates his true character and shows his true reaction to Christ Himself.

        But there are other nations unknown to the prophet and to Israel. Immediately the sharp-cut details of vers. 1-8 vanish, and we meet the typical vagueness and general terms of apocalyptic (see p. 115). The prophet does not know on what grounds these nations will be judged, but he knows the judgment is certain.

        It is likely that the valley of Jehoshaphat (vers. 2, 12) belongs to the symbolic language of apocalyptic. There is no certainty in its identification with the Kidron valley (though this is at least as early as the fourth century A.D.). Jehosha­phat means “Jehovah judges,” and this is in all probability the reason behind the choice of name.