Silver and Gold Carried into Foreign Temples Joel 3:5

Joel the prophet told the people of Judah the LORD was going to “recompense” “Tyre, Zidon and the coasts of Palestine” for their “recompense”, and in chapter three and verse five of his prophesy Joel shared how these enemies of Israel took the “silver, gold and goodly pleasant things” as the reason for his revenge upon them. We read:

Because you have taken my silver and my gold,

and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

The verse begins, “Because you have taken my silver and my gold,...” Joel began with the word, “Because you have taken” or “gotten, fetched, laid hold of, seized, received, acquired, bought and snatched away” “my silver” which means “money, metal, ornament, shekels and talents” “and my gold” or “precious metal of brilliance and splendor”. One of the reasons the LORD was to “recompense” “Tyre, Zion and the coasts of Palestine” was because they took “the LORD's” “precious metals” from His people.

The verse goes on to say, “...and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:” Joel continued, “and have carried” or “entered, gone in, attain to and brought to pass” “into your temples” which means “palaces, naves, sanctuaries and halls” “my goodly” or “pleasant, agreeable, good, excellent, rich, appropriate and valuable in estimation” “pleasant things” which means “desirable and the object of affection and beloved”. Not only did “Tyre, Zion and the coasts of Palestine” take the LORD's “silver and gold” but they also took into their ungodly “temples” all the valuable “things” which were His as well.

When we meditate upon these words of Joel, we begin to understand that those who steal from the LORD do not get away with their thefts. He's watching, and though it may appear for a time that the LORD is losing, He never does. This is why it is so important that people have a relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ His Son. Those who reject from Him steal “valuables” He had deemed worthy, and to reject His Son will indeed bring His “recompense”.

Next time Joel shares about “the children also of Judah and Jerusalem”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.