Harvest Time in Context (Joel 3)

by Brad Kibler

Before jumping in to today's devotion, let me remind you that this week's lesson will be about Joel and Obadiah. Monday's devotion mentioned Joel 2:13 and Tuesday's mentioned Joel 2:28-32, but I didn't spell out a specific section to read. If you haven't read Joel yet, go ahead and read at least chapters 1 & 2 today. Obadiah is only one chapter, so you can read that either Thursday or Friday depending on whether you choose to finish Joel today (it is only 3 chapters) or split it up and do chapter 3 tomorrow.

Harvest Time in Context (Joel 3)

In Joel 3, we see a picture of the last days: "In those days and at that time when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat" (1-2a). That leads me to ask, what is the Valley of Jehoshaphat?

There was a king of Judah named Jehoshaphat who was being threatened by Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir in 2nd Chronicles 20. He prayed "O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but out eyes are upon you" (12). God answered Jehoshaphat's prayer by having the enemy armies slaughter each other and leave the people of Judah unharmed. Not only did Judah not lose lives, but it took them three days to collect all the plunder left in the valley of the battlefield. Jehoshaphat's prayer for judgment on God's enemies got answered in a mighty way in a specific valley, and his name literally means "the Lord judges", so any way you look at it the Valley of Jehoshaphat it appears to be a reference to God's judgment.

Joel 3:2, goes on to say, "There [in the Valley of Jehoshaphat] I will enter into judgment against them..." If we skip down to verse 12, he comes back around to that point: "Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow – so great is their wickedness." We don't swing sickles very often in our society, so that reference may be lost on us as well. We see the sickle occasionally as the implement held by the grim reaper in pop culture, but we don't actually see it used to harvest grain. That leads me to ask, what does this harvesting symbolism mean?

Jesus gives us a similar picture in the parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13:24-30. He says that a man sowed seed in his field but that his enemy sowed weed seeds among his good seeds. The servants came to the man and asked if the man wanted them to pull up the weeds, but he said no, "because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest" (29-30). Jesus later explains the symbolism to his disciples: "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are the angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age" (37-40)" This brings more clarity as to what exactly is being referred to with the harvesting symbolism. If Joel and Jesus both use this, that leads me to ask, is this symbolism used elsewhere that I might have missed?

John alludes back to the Joel 3 passage in Revelation 14:14-20: "I looked, and there before me... was one 'like a son of man' with... a sharp sickle in his hand. Then [an] angel came out of the temple and called... to him... 'Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.' So he... swung his sickle over the earth and the earth was harvested.... Another angel came out... and he too had a sharp sickle Still another angel... called... to him who had the sharp sickle, 'Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe.' The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city and blood flowed out of the press..." To a reader unfamiliar with the harvest symbolism used by Joel of the sickle and the winepress, this could easily be misunderstood. Indeed, there are other times when Jesus spoke of a plentiful harvest, and the workers were too few, and this usually meant an evangelistic harvest rather than one of judgment (Mat 9:27, Luke 10:2, John 4:35). Still other Biblical writers; Paul, the Hebrew writer and James, all speak of a "harvest of righteousness" (2 Co 9:10, Heb 12:11, Jas 3:18) which is also unrelated to the harvest of judgment.

Can you get a full grasp of Joel's meaning without familiarizing yourself with the story of Jehoshaphat? Does Jesus' explanation of his use of symbolism bring clarity to how Joel used similar symbols? Can you get the full import of John's meaning without knowing that he is making a reference to the symbolism used by Joel? God's Word is woven together like a beautiful quilt. There are things we can see close up in the fine details that become better understood as we step back and look at the context.

Now when you read Joel 3, today or tomorrow, I hope you'll have a head start as to some more of the extended context.