Joel 3:2
I will gather all the nations
And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Then I will enter into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
And they have divided up My land.
It shall be a time of recompences for the controversy of Zion.
Though God may suffer the enemies of his people to prevail against them very far and for a long time, yet
He will call them to an account for it, and will lead the captive to freedom
Psalms 68:18
You have ascended on high,
You have led captive Your captives;
You have received gifts among men,
Even among the rebellious also,
that the Lord God may dwell there.
He will lead those captive that led his people captive,
Revelation 13:10
If anyone is destined for captivity,
to captivity he goes;
if anyone kills with the sword,
with the sword he must be killed.
Here is the perseverance
and the faith of the saints.
Observe that those who are the ones that shall be reckoned with are ALL NATIONS ! (Joel 3:2).
● This shows us that ALL NATIONS had made themselves liable to the judgment of God for wrong done to his people.
Persecution is the sin of the world which lies in wickedness a and is set against godliness.
The enmity against God’s people, which is coming from the old serpent, the god of this world, is the enmity against the seed of the woman. And this enmity appears in the children of this world. Marvel not if the world hate you.
● This shows us that whatsoever nation injured God’s nation, they will not go unpunished; for he that touches the people of God shall be made to know that he touches the apple of his eye.
Jerusalem will be a burdensome stone to all people,
Zechariah 12:3
It will come about in that day
that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone
for all the peoples;
all who lift it will be severely injured.
And all the nations of the earth
will be gathered against it
I will gather ALL the nations.
They all shall be gathered for judgment, that all those who have combined together against God’s people, with one consent, may together receive their doom.
Psalms 83:5
For they have conspired together with one mind;
Against You they make a covenant
They shall be brought down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, which lay near Jerusalem, and there God will plead with them,
▪︎ Near Jerusalem, because it is fit that criminals should be tried in the same country where they did their criminal act.
▪︎ Near Jerusalem, for their greater confusion, when they shall see that Jerusalem which they have so long endeavored, and hoped to bring it to ruins, in spite of all their rage, is made to a praise in the earth.
▪︎ Near Jerusalem, for the greater comfort and honor of God’s Jerusalem, which shall see God pleading their cause.
Then shall be re-acted what God did for Jehoshaphat when he gave him victory over those that invaded him, and furnished him and his people with matter of joy and praise, in the valley of Berachah.
2 Chronicles 20:26
Then on the fourth day they assembled
in the valley of Beracah,
for there they blessed the Lord.
Therefore they have named that place
“The Valley of Beracah” until today.
It was in this valley of Jehoshaphat (as Dr. Lightfoot suggests) that Sennacherib’s army, or part of it, lay, when it was destroyed by an angel. They came together to ruin Jerusalem, but God brought them together for their own ruin, as sheaves into the floor,
Micah 4:12
But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord,
And they do not understand His purpose;
For He has gathered them like sheaves
to the threshing floor.
Note that God’s people are His heritage, His peculiar, His portion, His treasure, above all people,
Exodus 19:5
Now then, if you will indeed obey
My voice and keep My covenant,
then you shall be My own possession
among all the peoples,
for all the earth is Mine
Deuteronomy 32:9
For the Lord’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
Israel (and likewise the true followers of the Christ) are His, and therefore He has a good action against all those that trespass upon them.
This verse is parallel to Zechariah 14:2-4, where the “Mount of Olives” answers to the “Valley of Jehoshaphat”.
Zechariah 14:2-4
²For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. ³Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. ⁴In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south.
The latter is called “the valley of blessing” (Berachah) (2 Chronicles 20:26).
It lies between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives and has the river Kedron flowing through it. As Jehoshaphat overthrew the confederate foes of Judah, namely, Ammon, Moab, &c. (Psalms 83:6-8 ), in this valley, so God was to overthrow the Tyrians, Zidonians, Philistines, Edom, and Egypt, with a similar utter overthrow (Joel 3:4, Joel 3:19 ).
This all has been long ago fulfilled; but the ultimate event shadowed forth herein is still future, when God shall specially interpose to destroy Jerusalem’s last foes, of whom Tyre, Zidon, Edom, Egypt, and Philistia are the types.
As “Jehoshaphat” means “the judgment of YHWH,” or “YHWH has judged” the valley of Jehoshaphat may be used as a general term for the theater of God’s final judgments on Israel’s foes, with an allusion to the judgment inflicted on them by Jehoshaphat.
The definite mention of the Mount of Olives in Zechariah 14:4 , and the fact that this was the scene of the ascension, makes it likely the same shall be the scene of Christ’s coming again: compare “this same Jesus . . . shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
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