Joel 3:7-8

[7] Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: [8] 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 hath spoken it.

What is the context of Joel 3:7-8?

What does Joel 3:7-8 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

To pay back these nations, the Lord said He would revive the Israelites in the remote places to which they had been sold. The Israelites would grow strong there and would sell the descendants of these Phoenicians and Philistines to the Sabeans (cf. Ezekiel 27:22-23). Thus He would pay them back in kind, which is His customary method of retribution ( Galatians 6:7). This may have been fulfilled in the fourth century B.C, or the fulfillment may still be future. Allen saw Antiochus III"s enslavement of the people of Sidon in345 B.C. and Alexander the Great"s enslavement of the citizens of Tyre and Gaza in332 B.C. as a partial fulfillment, assuming Jews were involved in these transactions. ^[1] Probably the fulfillment lies in the future, specifically the end of the Tribulation, since this whole section of Joel deals with what God will do in that day of the Lord. Again, Phoenicia and Philistia probably represent all the enemies of Israel (cf. Isaiah 25:10-12; Obad.) over whom Israel will eventually gain ascendancy.