The Nations Judged (3:1–16)

Valley of Jehoshaphat (3:2). Though there is no certainty as to the location of this valley, the Judean king Jehoshaphat defeated a coalition of Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites in the vicinity of the Desert of Tekoa in the Valley of Beracah (Heb. “blessing”: 2 Chron. 20:20–26), which was so named because of the Judean victory.

Tyre and Sidon … regions of Philistia (3:4). It is not certain as to which historical incident this passage is referring to or if it is simply referring to the common practice and reputation of these seaports. Tyre and Sidon were the leading port cities of the Phoenicians since at least late second millennium B.C., controlling the sea trade routes to Egypt, Anatolia, the Aegean, and beyond. The southern region of Philistia was also involved in trade in the first millennium B.C.

Sold … to the Greeks (3:6). Slavery in the ancient Near East was not an economically productive institution. The palace economy was not complex enough to absorb a high number of slaves for supervision. Not until the Greco-Roman period did slavery become a powerfully viable economic force. Slaves were often foreign prisoners of war, and they were often, as in the case in Joel, foreign slaves brought from abroad. They were usually dedicated to the temple to serve the religious personnel. Members of the local population who went into debt were often sold into slavery–usually temporary, until they were able to redeem themselves.

Black youth with hands bound behing his back. Found in the Fayum, near Memphis, Egypt, bronze, 2nd–1st century B.C.

Marie-Lan Nguyen/Wikimedia Commons, courtesy of the British Museum

The slave trade was a lucrative enterprise for some merchants. Slaves from Subartu in northern Mesopotamia were valued in Babylon and Assyria in the Old Babylonian period.45 The Joseph story in Genesis provides a touching example of the difficult life of a slave and what it was like to be sold into slavery. The Code of Hammurabi determined that the seller in many cases granted a one-month “guarantee” that the slave would not run away or die.46 In the Neo-Assyrian period this was lengthened to one hundred days.47 The average price of a slave in the late third millennium B.C. was between ten and fifteen shekels of silver, twenty in the early second millennium B.C., and rose to up to sixty in the Neo-Assyrian period.

Though nothing is known for certain concerning slave trade from the coast of Canaan to the Greeks, the trading relationships between the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean in this period are well established.48 Ezekiel 27:13 also notes slave trade between Greece and Tyre in the sixth century B.C.

The Greeks or Ionians (biblical “Javan,” probably referring to Greek-speaking peoples from the western coast of Anatolia and the Aegean islands) are mentioned in Assyrian sources by the eighth century B.C. during the reign of Sargon II (721–705 B.C.).49

Sabeans (3:8). The exact location of Sheba, or Saba, is uncertain, although it was most likely in south Arabia, in present-day Yemen. However, the Saba are mentioned in Assyrian annals during the reigns of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 B.C.) and Sargon II in the vicinity of northern Arabia.50 It is possible that there was an expansion of the southern Sabeans to the north in this period. Sabeans are also known in the vicinity of Ethiopia in Africa.51

Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears (3:10). This is a reversal of the end of warfare described in Isaiah 2:2–4 and Micah 4:1–4. Farmers are called up for military service and must bring their agricultural implements, from which the blacksmith will refashion the seven-inch metal tip of the plowshare (or possibly a heavy hoe) into swords, and pruning hooks (small knives used to remove leaves from grapevines) into spearheads.52 The plow was a single-furrow plow, a straight pole that was parallel to the ground, with a point or plowshare at the end. Before the Iron Age, many plowshares were made of either stone or bronze, and many have survived in archaeological excavations. The point of the plow broke up the hard ground in order to give the seeds a place to germinate during the winter months. A hoe was needed to smash the dirt clods and level the ground. At any rate, having a sharp point was crucial (see 1 Sam. 13:19–22).53

Iron plow from Ekron

Todd Bolen/www.BiblePlaces.com

The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine (3:15). The eighth century B.C. Deir ‘Alla inscription describes Balaam’s vision where he saw the heavens with “dense cloud, that darkness exists there, not brilliance.”54 The similarity between the texts lies in the contrast between the darkness and brilliance. Moreover, the Hebrew root ngh, a term usually associated with the light of heavenly bodies, is also attested in the Balaam text.