Matthew Henry on Joel 3:9-17
What the psalmist had long before ordered to be said among the heathen (Psa 96:10) the prophet here will have in like manner to be published to all nations, That the Lord reigns, and that he comes, he comes to judge the earth, as he had long been judging in the earth. The notice here given of God's judging the nations may have reference to the destruction of Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, and to the Antichrist especially, and all the proud enemies of the Christian church; but some of the best interpreters, ancient and modern (particularly the learned Dr. Polock), think the scope of these verses is to set forth the day of the last judgment under the similitude of God's making war upo…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joel 3:15
(See on Joe 2:10; Joe 2:30).
John Gill on Joel 3:15
The sun and moon shall be darkened,.... Both the politic and ecclesiastic state of antichrist shall be ruined and destroyed; it shall "fare" with Rome Papal as it did with Rome Pagan, at the time of its dissolution; see Revelation 6:12;
and the stars shall withdraw their shining: antichristian princes and nobles in the civil state, and the clergy of all ranks in the church state, shall lose their glory.
John Calvin on Joel 3:15
Joel 3:15
15. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
15. Sol et luna obscurabuntur (vel, contrahent nigredinem,) et stellae retrahent splendorem suum.
I have already explained this verse in [12]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. These figurative expressions then are intended to awaken the ungodly, and to make them know that it is a serious matter when the Lord proclaims his judgment. Let us now go on with the passage --
Keil & Delitzsch
