Enemy Sons and Daughters Sold Joel 3:8

Joel the prophet described how the LORD was going to “raise” the children of Judah out of the places their enemy “sold” them, and He was also to “recompense” this opposing “nation” for selling them. In chapter three and verse eight of his prophesy, Joel told how the LORD would sell the enemy's “sons and daughters” where we read:

And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD has spoken it.

The verse begins, “And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah,...” Joel began with the phrase, “and I will sell” which means “merchandise and surrender” “your sons” or “male children” “and your daughters” or “female children” “into the hand” which means “strength, power, part and portion” “of the children” which refers to “sons, grandsons and youth” “of Judah” which means “praised” and refers to “the tribe descended from Judah the son of Jacob”. As part of the retribution from the LORD against those who “sold” the “children of Judah”, the LORD was going to “sell” their “sons and daughters” to “Judah's” control.

The verse continues, “...and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD has spoken it.” Joel added, “and they shall sell them” or “merchandise and surrender” “to the Sabeans” which means “drunkard, he who is coming and the people of the nation of Sheba” “to a people” or “nation usually of non-Hebrew people” “far off” which means “remote and distant land”: “for the LORD” which refers to “Yehovah or Jehovah who is the existing One and the proper name for the one true God” “has spoken it” or “declared, conversed, commanded, promised, warned and threatened it”. After the “children” of the enemies were under the control of Judah, Judah would sell them to “foreign” and “distant” countries such as “the Sabeans”.

When we meditate upon these words of Joel, we begin to see the how the “vengeance” of “the LORD” is powerful, thorough and in like kind. Because the opposing nation “sold” the “children” of “Judah” to lands that were far away from their boarders, the LORD would do the same unto them. Can we imagine how the LORD will respond to those who have rejected His Son Jesus Christ as their Savior and LORD? Let us be aware, “whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap”, and when people oppose the LORD and his “children”, let woe be to those enemies.

Next time Joel shares how the LORD tells the “Gentiles” to “prepare war”, 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.