What is the meaning of Joel 3:4? Now what do you have against Me, O Tyre, Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? • Tyre and Sidon were wealthy Phoenician port-cities (see Isaiah 23:1-9; Ezekiel 26–28), while Philistia’s coastal towns (Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, Gath) had long warred against Israel (1 Samuel 17:4; 2 Kings 18:8). God calls them out by name—literal peoples who had harmed His covenant nation. • By asking, “What do you have against Me?” the Lord reveals that hostility toward His people is taken personally (Zechariah 2:8; Acts 9:4). Their real quarrel is with God Himself. • Psalm 83:4-7 shows these same neighbors plotting Israel’s destruction; Amos 1:6-10 indicts both Philistia and Tyre for trafficking Hebrew captives. Joel 3:6 will echo that charge. • The address sets the courtroom scene: the nations stand accused before the Judge of all the earth (Genesis 18:25; Joel 3:2). Are you rendering against Me a recompense? • “Recompense” speaks of payback. The Lord asks whether they think they are evening a score. In reality, He has done them no wrong; their desire for revenge is groundless (Psalm 7:8-9). • Vengeance belongs to God alone (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19). Any attempt to settle accounts with Him is folly, for no one can accuse the Almighty of injustice (Job 40:2; Isaiah 45:9). • Their brutality—plundering temple treasures and selling Judah’s children—was not correction but greed and spite (Joel 3:5-6). God exposes the emptiness of their claim to retaliate. • The question underscores moral responsibility: nations, like individuals, cannot escape God’s scrutiny (Psalm 33:13-15; Revelation 20:12). If you retaliate against Me, I will swiftly and speedily return your recompense upon your heads. • Divine retribution is certain and proportional: “As you have done, it will be done to you” (Obadiah 15; see also Psalm 7:15-16; Galatians 6:7). • “Swiftly and speedily” stresses both certainty and imminence. Compare Zephaniah 1:14 (“The great day of the LORD is near—near and coming quickly”) and Isaiah 5:26-30. • History confirms the prophecy: – Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre for thirteen years (Ezekiel 26:7-11). – Alexander the Great destroyed Tyre’s island fortress in 332 BC, stripping her wealth (Zechariah 9:3-4). – Philistia fell to successive empires; by the Maccabean period its identity had largely vanished (Jeremiah 47:4-7). • Yet Joel looks beyond ancient events to the ultimate “Valley of Decision” where all nations will face the Lord’s verdict (Joel 3:12-14; Revelation 16:14-16). • God’s promise of swift justice is both a warning to the ungodly and a comfort to His people that evil will not stand (Nahum 1:2-3; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8). summary Joel 3:4 is God’s direct challenge to historical enemies who exploited Israel. He exposes their baseless hostility, rejects their attempt at retaliation, and vows immediate, proportional judgment. The verse affirms that attacking God’s people is attacking God Himself, that vengeance is His alone, and that He will unfailingly repay cruelty—both in recorded history and in the climactic day of the LORD. |
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