Joel 2:29

And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour my Spirit.

And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And also - And even. Upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit.

And also, with equal freeness, upon the servants and upon the handmaids, upon the meanest believers: see . My Spirit, of sanctification and adoption.

Joe 2:29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.Ver. 29. And also upon the servants] They shall be the free men and women of Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 7:22, by as full a measure of God’ s free and noble Spirit bestowed upon them as upon their masters and mistresses. The Trent translation hath it, upon my servants and my handmaids but there is no such pronoun in the original though it is true that all that have the Spirit are his; and the contrary, Romans 8:9 Ephesians 1:13 The scope of the text is, as Mercer well noteth to show that ut gratuitum et commune Christ beneficium, sic et spiritus, as the benefits of Christ are free and common to all his people, so is the Spirit. And surely, next to the love of Christ indwelling in our nature, we may well wonder at the love of the Holy Ghost, that will dwell in our defiled souls, and act in them as he doth. For there are diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:4, as the diverse smells of flowers come from the same influence, and the diverse sounds in the organ from the same breath.

(29) And also (better, even) upon the servants. . . .—The result of which promise, according to St. Peter’s interpretation, is “They shall prophesy.” “The promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39).

Verse 29. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids] The gifts of teaching and instructing men shall not be restricted to any one class or order of people. He shall call and qualify the men of his own choice; and shall take such out of all ranks, orders, degrees, and offices in society. And he will pour out his Spirit upon them; and they shall be endowed with all the gifts and graces necessary to convert sinners, and build up the Church of Christ on its most holy faith. And this God has done, and is still doing. He left the line of Aaron, and took his apostles indiscriminately from any tribe. He passed by the regular order of the priesthood, and the public schools of the most celebrated doctors, and took his evangelists from among fishermen, tent-makers, and even the Roman tax-gatherers. And he, lastly, passed by the Jewish tribes, and took the Gentile converts, and made them preachers of righteousness to the inhabitants of the whole earth. The same practice he continues to the present day; yet he did not then pass by a man brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, no more than he would now a man brought up in a celebrated seminary of learning. He is ever free to use his own gifts, in his own way; and when learning is sanctified, by being devoted to the service of God, and the possessor is humble and pious, and has those natural gifts necessary for a public teacher, perhaps we might safely say, God would in many cases prefer such: but he will have others, as intimated in the prophecy, that we may see the conversion of men is not by human might, nor power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. The learned man can do nothing without his Spirit; the unlearned must have his gifts and graces, without which both their labours would be unprofitable; and thus the excellency of the power is of God, and no flesh can glory in his presence. See my sermon on this passage.

29. Even those holding menial positions will share in the same spiritual illumination (comp. in the N.T. 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11).

And also upon the servants - God tells beforehand that he would be no respecter of persons. He had said, that He would endow every age and sex. He adds here, and every condition, even that of slaves, both male and female.

29. And also — Better, and even. Introduces something very extraordinary.