The Prophet confirms in these words what he had before taught respecting the restoration of the Church; for it was a thing difficult to be believed: when the body of the people was so mutilated, when their name was obliterated, when all power was abolished, when the worship of God also, together…

We also see that the Prophet Haggai speaks in the same manner of the second temple, – that the glory of the second temple shall be greater than that of the first, He, however referred, no doubt, to the prophecy of Ezekiel; and Ezekiel speaks of the second temple, which was to be built after the…

There follows now another indignity still greater; for they cast lot on God’s people, – On my people they have cast lot, and prostituted a boy for a harlot, and a girl have they sold for wine, that they might drink.

God expostulates here with Tyre and Sidon, and other neighboring nations, and shows that they vexed his people without cause Had they been provoked some excuse might have been made; but since they made war of their own accord, the wrong was doubled. This is what God means these words.

Let us now proceed: He says that their silver and their gold had been taken away by the Syrians and the Sidonians. All who were the neighbors of that people, no doubt, derived gain from their calamity, as is usually the case.

It follows, And the children of Judah, and the children of Jerusalem, have ye sold to the children of the Grecians. There is here another complaint subjoined, – that the Syrians and Sidonians had been sacrilegious towards God, that they had cruelly treated God’s afflicted people.

The Prophet declares here more fully and expressly, that God had not so deserted the Jews, but that he intended, in course of time, to stretch forth his hand to them again.

The Prophet describes here a wonderful change: the Syrians and Sidonians did sell the Jews; but who is to be the seller now? God himself will take this office, — I, he says, will sell your children, as though he said, “The Jews shall subdue you and reduce you to bondage,” – by whose authority? “It…

Some think these words were announced lest the people, being terrified by their evils, should become wholly dejected; and they elicit this meaning, – that God placed this dreadful spectacle of evils before their eyes, that the Jews might prepare and strengthen themselves for enduring them; that…

He afterwards adds, Beat your plowshares into swords. When Isaiah and Micah prophesied of the kingdom of Christ, they said, ‘Beat your swords into pruninghooks, and your spears into plowshares’, (Isa. 2:4, Mic. 4:3) This sentence is now inverted by Joel.

At length he concludes, There will Jehovah overthrow thy mighty ones. Though the Prophet uses the singular number, “thy”, he no doubt refers to the whole earth; as though he said, “Whatever enemies there may be to my people, I will cut them down, however strong they may be.” We now perceive that…

The Prophet proceeds with the same subject, – that God will at length become an avenger of the wrongs of his people, when they shall be unjustly harassed by profane men.

As God defers his judgments when miserable men groan under their burdens, the Prophet uses a form of speech, which represents God as not delaying, but, on the contrary, as hastening to judgment, though this be not perceived by carnal minds; for these two things well agree together – God waiting his…

The Prophet confirms the same truth; but he multiplies words, because the devastation of the Church might have taken away all hope from God’s servants; for who could have said that the Church could be restored when it was so miserably wasted, yea, almost reduced to nothing? For the people were so…

I have already explained this verse in chapter 2: the Prophet, as we then stated, describes in these words the terrible judgment of God, in order to shake off the indifference of men, who carelessly hear and despise all threatening, except the Lord storms their hearts.

The Prophet explains here more clearly his object, or the end for which he had hitherto spoken of God’s judgment; for what we have heard served only to spread terror: but now the Prophet shows that his purpose was to console the faithful, and to give some relief to their troubles and sorrows.

This is a confirmation of the preceding doctrine, ye shall know, he says, that I am your God. The Prophet intimates that the favor of God had been so hidden during the afflictions of the people, that they could not but think that they were forsaken by God.

The Prophet here declares that God will be so bountiful to his people, that no good things will be wanting to them either in abundance or variety. When God then shall restore his Church, it will abound, he says, in every kind of blessing: for this is the meaning of this language, Distill new wine…

But he afterwards joins, that the Egyptians and Idumeans would be sterile and dry in the midst of this great abundance of blessings, for they were professed enemies to the Church.

God here testifies that his redemption would not be for a short time, but that its fruit would be for a long, period, yea, perpetual: for it would be but a small thing for the Church to be redeemed, except God kept it safe under his own power.

The beginning of the verse is in various ways explained. Some make a stop after cleanse thus, “I will cleanse, yet their blood I will not cleanse;” as though God had said, that he would forgive heathen nations all their other wrongs, but could not forgive them the great cruelty they had exercised…