Joel 3:17

So shall ye know that I [am] the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain,.... The church of God, which is his dwelling place; and will appear more manifestly to be so at this time, when

So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

So, by these effects of my presence with my people, by my anger against their enemies, by punishing them by each other, overthrowing oppressors, by fulfilling what is foretold, shall ye, ye that suffer for my sake, but hope in my word, and support yourselves on my strength, know, by most comfortable and unquestionable experience, that I am the Lord your God; that I have remembered my covenant for you, and acted according to the power and mercy of an almighty and all-gracious God. Dwelling in Zion; very graciously present with you, and ever watching over you, and delighting to save you, as a man would do his dwellinghouse. My holy mountain; which is chosen and separated from all others to be the place of his habitation, as , which he loves above all places. Then, after these things are finished, when enemies are destroyed, and the remnant is saved, and the Messiah is come, (for to him and his days do these things finally and ultimately refer,) and the gospel is preached, shall Jerusalem, the church of Christ, the spiritual Jerusalem, be holy; be much more holy and pure than now, being made so by the word and Spirit, and afflictions too. There shall no strangers pass through her any more; no profane and unclean persons shall pass through it as formerly, and bring their strange fashions, rites, worship, or doctrine; though they have done it formerly, as in Solomon’ s days, and Ahaz’ s and Manasseh’ s time, they shall do so no more for ever.

Joe 3:17 So shall ye know that I [am] the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.Ver. 17. So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God] You shall experiment that which, during your deep afflictions, ye made some doubt of, and were ready to say, as Gideon did to the angel "If the Lord be for us, why is it thus with us?" or, as your unbelieving forefathers in the wilderness, "Is God among us?" as if that could not be, and they athirst. Dwelling in Zion] Defending my people and dispensing my best blessings to them. "The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion," Psalms 134:3. The blessings that come out of Zion are far beyond those that otherwise come out of heaven and earth. Then shall Jerusalem be holy] With a double holiness, imputed and imparted; the profane being purged out here in part, but hereafter in all perfection. This our Saviour sweetly sets forth in those two parables of the tares and of the dragnet, Matthew 13:24-30; Matthew 13:36-42; Matthew 13:47-50. Or, "It shall be holy," that is, dear to God, and under his care, favour, and protection from the dominion, direption, and possession of profane heathens. And there shall no strangers pass through her any more] Either to subdue her and prejudice her (as the proverb runs of the Great Turk, that wherever he sets his foot no grass grows any more, such havoc he makes), or to fasten any filth or contagion upon her. See Revelation 21:27, where St John alludeth to this text, as all along that book he borroweth the elegancies and flowers of the Old Testament to set out the state of the New in succeeding ages. If this promise be not so fully performed to us as we could wish, we must lay the blame upon our sins, whereby the reformation is ensnared and our prosperity hindered. "Behold, the Lord’ s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear," Isaiah 59:1-2. Nothing intricates our actions more than sin; this is that devil in the air that hinders our happiness; this is that mischief-making hell-hag, Trouble-town. Charm this devil and make him fall from his heaven (which is to do hurt), and we shall inherit the promises. The godly man only prospers, Psalms 1:3.

(17) No strangers pass through her.—Strangers signify the aliens who had hitherto oppressed. They are like the spots and wrinkles which would defile the bride—the Church of God.

Verse 17. So shall ye know ] By the judgments I execute on your enemies, and the support I give to yourselves, that I am the all-conquering Jehovah; and that I have again taken up my residence in Jerusalem. All this may refer, ultimately, to the restoration of the Jews to their own land; when holiness to the Lord shall be their motto; and no strange god, nor impure people, shall be permitted to enter the city, or even pass through it; they shall have neither civil nor religious connections with any who do not worship the true God in spirit and in truth. This, I think, must refer to Gospel times. It is a promise not yet fulfilled.

17. In consequence of this deliverance Israel will know that Jehovah is its God, dwelling in its midst, and ready to succour it; Jerusalem also will no more be defiled by the presence in it of strangers. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God] Cf. Ezekiel 38:23; Ezekiel 39:6-7; Ezekiel 39:22; Ezekiel 39:28 : and comp. on Joe 2:27. dwelling in Zion] Isaiah 8:18, &c.: synonymous with ‘in the midst of Israel,’ Joe 2:27. and Jerusalem shall be holy, &c.] Cf. Nahum 1:15; Isaiah 52:1 b. Israel’s foes being annihilated, there will no more be any heathen to force their way into the holy city, and defile it. strangers] members of an alien race, who have no share in Israel or its privileges, and who do not care for them. The word has often this sense, as Hosea 7:6; Jeremiah 30:8; Ezekiel 7:21; Ezekiel 11:9.

God Himself wondrously joins on His own words to those of the prophet, and speaks to His own people; “so (literally, and) ye shall know,” by experience, by sight, face to face, what ye now believe,