Joel 3:6

Joe 3:6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

Ver. 6. The children also of Judah, and the children of Jerusalem] "The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold," Lam 4:2, with whom you were anciently confederate in the days of Solomon, 1Ki 4:25, and seemed to be then their prosperity proselytes.

Have ye sold unto the Grecians] That is, to the Gentiles in general, for so St Paul often useth the word Grecians, as contradistinct to Jews; who were barbarously sold, as if they had been brute beasts, and that into the farthest countries, that they might never ransom themselves, nor return to their native soil again. This was singular, yea, savage cruelty, which the merciful God cannot abide, but will severely punish, Jas 2:13-14 Isa 47:6, "Thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke." See the Babylonian cruelty graphically described, and accordingly recompensed, Jer 51:34-35, &c. The Spanish cruelty to the poor Indians is unspeakable. They have made away 50,000,000 of them in 42 years, as Acosta the Jesuit testieth, and that under pretence of converting them to the faith. They suppose they show the wretches great favour when they do not (for their pleasure) whip them with cords, and day by day drop their naked bodies with burning bacon: such a devil is one man to another, when set to work by the devil, and spurred on by him. But "shall they thus escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God," Psa 56:7. He will do it: for those words are not more a prayer than a prophecy.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joe 3:6. The children also of Judah, &c., have ye sold unto the Grecians — The descendants of Javan, Gen 10:2; Gen 10:5. They trafficked with Tyre, and traded in slaves, Eze 27:13. It was customary for the merchants of the neighbouring countries, particularly of Tyre and Sidon, to buy the children of Israel for slaves of their conquerors, in order to sell them again: see 1Ma 3:41. The histories which record the calamities of the Jews, speak of great numbers of them being made captives, and then sold and dispersed into foreign countries. Thus forty thousand were sold by Antiochus Epiphanes, 2Ma 5:14; and about ninety-seven thousand at the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Grecians--literally, "Javanites," that is, the Ionians, a Greek colony on the coast of Asia Minor who were the first Greeks known to the Jews. The Greeks themselves, however, in their original descent came from Javan (Gen 10:2, Gen 10:4). Probably the germ of Greek civilization in part came through the Jewish slaves imported into Greece from Phœnicia by traffickers. Eze 27:13 mentions Javan and Tyre as trading in the persons of men.

far from their border--far from Judea; so that the captive Jews were cut off from all hope of return.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. Sold unto the Grecians] These were the descendants of Javan, Ge 10:2-5. And with them the Tyrians trafficked, Eze 27:19.

That ye might remove them far from their border.] Intending to send them as far off as possible, that it might be impossible for them to get back to reclaim the land of which you had dispossessed them.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

It follows, And the children of Judah, and the children of Jerusalem, have ye sold to the children of the Grecians . There is here another complaint subjoined, — that the Syrians and Sidonians had been sacrilegious towards God, that they had cruelly treated God’s afflicted people. In the last verse, God inveighed against the Syrians, and Sidonians for having prostituted to their idols gold and silver stolen from him; he now again returns to the Jews themselves, who, he says, had been sold to the children of the Grecians; that is, to people beyond the sea: for as Javan passed into Europe, he includes under that name the nations beyond the sea. And he says, that they sold the Jews to the Greeks that they might drive them far from their own borders, so that there might be no hope of return. Here the cruelty of the Syrians and Sidonians becomes more evident; for they took care to drive those wretched men far away, that no return to their country might be open to them, but that they might be wholly expatriated.

We now perceive what the Prophet had in view: He intended that the faithful though trodden under foot by the nations, should yet have allayed their grief by some consolation, and know that they were not neglected by God; and that though he connived at their evils for a time, he would yet be their defender, and would contend for them as for his own heritage, because they had been so unjustly treated. He afterwards adds —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(6) Unto the Grecians.—Javan, the Hebrew name for Greece, is mentioned in Ezekiel as one of the representatives of the heathen nations who “traded (with Tyre) the persons of men and vessels in her market” (Eze_27:13). The Grecian traffic in slaves was enormous.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. The Phoenicians had further played the part of slave-dealers, and had sold Judahite captives into the hands of the Greeks. The slave-traffic of the Phoenicians is often mentioned; they sometimes kidnapped women and children themselves, sometimes obtained slaves by purchase from uncivilized tribes, or purchased captives taken in war: cf. Amo_1:9, Eze_27:13, 1Ma_3:41, 2Ma_8:11, and the stories in Hom. Od. xiv. 288 ff., xv. 402 ff., Hdt. i. 1, ii. 54. In the classical period, Syrians were very common as slaves in Greece, and the designation probably included Jews as well (cf. Movers, Die Phönizier ii. iii.75 ff.).

the Grecians] Heb. Yewânîm, elsewhere in the sing. (collectively) Yâwân (Gen_10:2; Gen_10:4; Eze_27:13; Eze_27:19 (?); Isa_66:19; Zec_9:13; Dan_8:21; Dan_10:20; Dan_11:2); i.e. the Ionians (Ἰάϝονες, in Homer constantly), the name by which the Greeks were regularly known among both the Hebrews, and other Eastern nations, on account, viz., of the fact that the Ionians (whose colonies extended over a large part of the W. coast of Asia Minor, and many of the Aegean islands) were most active commercially in ancient times, and hence were best known to other nations.

that ye might remove them far from their border] in order to minimize the chances of their return. The real motive of the Phoenician slave-dealers was, no doubt, simply their own gain: but Joel represents pointedly the result of their action as though it were their design.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem,.... Not children in age literally, as Kimchi, kidnapped or bought by the Tyrians; but the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem:

have ye sold unto the Grecians; or sons of Javan; it was one part of the merchandise of Tyre to trade in the persons of men; and Javan, or the Greeks, with others, were their merchants for them, Eze 27:13; and the souls of men are a part of the trade of the merchants of Rome, typified by the Tyrians, Rev 18:13;

that ye might remove them far from their border; from their own land, or place of dwelling, that so they might not be easily redeemed, and return to it any more. Rome, the antichristian Tyre, trading with the souls of men, is to their eternal damnation, as much as in them lies. Cocceius interprets this of the children of the church being trained up in the doctrine of Aristotle, in the times of the schoolmen.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The children also - Literally, “And the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem have ye sold to the sons of the Greeks.” This sin of the Tyrians was probably old and inveterate. The Tyrians, as they were the great carriers of the world’s traffic, so they were slave-dealers, and, in the earliest times, men-stealers. The Greek ante-historic tradition exhibits them, as trading and selling women, from both Greece and Egypt . As their trade became more fixed, they themselves stole no more, but, like Christian nations, sold those whom others stole or made captive. Ezekiel speaks of their trade in “the souls of men” Eze 27:13 with “Greece” on the one side, and “Tubal and Mesech” near the Black Sea on the other. The beautiful youth of Greece of both sexes were sold even into Persia .

In regard to the Moschi and Tibareni, it remains uncertain, whether they sold those whom they took in war (and, like the tribes of Africa in modern times, warred the more, because they had a market for their prisoners,) or whether, like the modern Cireassians, they sold their daughters. Ezekiel however, says “men,” so that he cannot mean, exclusively, women. From the times of the Judges, Israel was exposed in part both to the violence and fraud of Tyre and Sidon. The tribe of Asher seems to have lived in the open country among fortified towns of the Zidonians. For whereas of Benjamin, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zabulon, it is said that the old inhabitants of the land dwelt among them Jdg 1:21, Jdg 1:27, Jdg 1:29-30, of Asher it is said, that they “dwelt among the Canaanites,” the “inhabitants of the land” Jdg 1:31-32, as though these were the more numerous. And not only so, but since they did “not drive out the inhabitants” of seven cities, “Accho, Zidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphek, Rehob,” they must have been liable to incursions from them.

The Zidonians were among those who “oppressed Israel” (Jdg 5:30; see Jdg 4:3, Jdg 4:7, Jdg 4:13, Jdg 4:15-16). Sisera’s army came from their territory, (for Jabin was king of Hazor,) and Deborah speaks of “a damsel or two,” as the expected prey of each man in the whole multitude of his host. An old proverb, mentioned 427 b.c., implies that the Phoenicians sent circumcised slaves into the fields to reap their harvest . But there were no other circumcised there besides Israel.

But the Phoenician slave-trade was also probably, even in the time of the Judges, exercised against Israel. In Joel and Amos, the Philistines and Tyrians appear as combined in the traffic. In Amos, the Philistines are the robbers of men; the Phoenicians are the receivers and the sellers Amo 1:6, Amo 1:9. Pagan nations retain for centuries the same inherited character, the same natural nobleness, or, still more, the same natural vices. The Phoenicians, at the date of the Judges, are known as dishonest traders, and that, in slaves. The Philistines were then also inveterate oppressors. On one occasion “the captivity of the land” coincided with the great victory of the Philistines, when Eli died and the ark of God was taken. For these two dates are given in the same place as the close of the idolatry of Micah’s graven image. It endured “unto the captivity of the land” Jdg 18:30-31 and, “and all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh,” from where the ark was removed, never to return, in that battle when it was taken.

But “the captivity of the land” is not merely a subdual, whereby the inhabitants would remain tributary or even enslaved, yet still remain. A captivity implies a removal of the inhabitants; and such a removal could not have been the direct act of the Philistines. For dwelling themselves in the land only, they had no means of removing the inhabitants from it, except by selling them; and the only nation, who could export them in such numbers as would be expressed by the words “a captivity of the land,” were the Zidonians. Probably such acts were expressly prohibited “by the brotherly covenant” (see the note at Amo 1:9) or treaty between Solomon and Hiram King of Tyre. For Amos says that Tyre forgot that treaty, when she sold wholesale the captive Israelites whom the Philistines had carried off. Soon after Joel, Obadiah speaks of a captivity at “Sepharad,” or “Sardis” (see the note at Oba 1:20), the capital of the Lydian empire.

The Tyrian merchants were “the” connecting link between Palestine and the coasts of Asia Minor. The Israelites must have been sold there as slaves, and that by the Phoenicians. In yet later times the Tyrian merchants followed, like vultures, on the rear of armies to make a prey of the living, as the vultures of the dead. They hung on the march of Alexander as far as India . In the wars of the Maccabees, at Nicanor’s proclamation, a thousand (2 Macc. 8:34) merchants gathered to the camp of Gorgias “with silver and gold, very much, to buy the children of Israel as slaves” (1 Macc. 3:41), and with chains , wherewith to secure them. They assembled in the rear of the Roman armies , “seeking wealth amid the clash of arms, and slaughter, and fleeing poverty through peril.” Reckless of human life, the slave-merchants commonly, in their wholesale purchase of captives, abandoned the children as difficult of transport, whence the Spartan king was praised for providing for them .

The temptation to Tyrian covetousness was aggravated by the ease with which they could possess themselves of the Jews, the facility of transport, and, as it seems, their value. It is mentioned as the inducement to slave-piracy among the Cilicians. “The export of the slaves especially invited to misdeeds, being most gainful, for they were easily taken, and the market was not so very far off and was most wealthy .

The Jewish slaves appear also to have been valued, until those times after the taking of Jerusalem, when they had become demoralized, and there was a plethora of them, as God had predicted . The post occupied by the “little maid” who “waited on Naaman’s wife” 2Ki 5:2, was that of a favorite slave, as Greek tradition represented Grecian maidens to have been an object of coveting to the wife of the Persian Monarch . The “damsel or two” for the wives of each man in Jabin’s host appear as a valuable part of the spoil. The wholesale price at which Nicanor set the Jews his expected prisoners, and at which he hoped to sell some 180,000 , shows the extent of the then traffic and their relative value. 2 British pounds. 14 shillings, 9d. as the average price of each of 90 slaves in Judea, implies a retail-price at the place of sale, above the then ordinary price of man.

This wholesale price for what was expected to be a mixed multitude of nearly 200,000, (for “Nicanor undertook to make so much money of the captive Jews as should defray the tribute of 2000 talents which the king was to pay to the Romans” (2 Macc. 8:10)), was nearly 5 times as much as that at which Carthaginian soldiers were sold at the close of the first Punic war . It was two-thirds of the retail price of a good slave at Athens , or of that at which, about 340 b.c., the law of Greece prescribed that captives should be redeemed ; or of that, (which was nearly the same) at which the Mosaic law commanded compensation to be made for a slave accidentally killed Exo 21:30. The facility of transport increased the value. For, although Pontus supplied both the best and the most of the Roman slaves , yet in the war with Mithridates, amid a great abundance of all things, slaves were sold at 3 shillings 3d. .

The special favors also shown to the Jewish captives at Rome and Alexandria show the estimation in which they were held. At Rome, in the reign of Augustus , “the large section of Rome beyond the Tiber was possessed and inhabited by Jews, most of them Roman citizens, having been brought as captives into Italy and made freedmen by their owners.” On whatever ground Ptolemy Philadelphus redeemed 100,000 Jews whom his father had taken and sold , the fact can hardly be without foundation, or his enrolling them in his armies, or his employing them in public offices or about his own person.

Joel lived before the historic times of Greece. But there are early traces of slavetrade carried on by Greeks . According to Theopompus, the Chians, first among the Greeks, acquired barbarian slaves in the way of trade . The Ionian migration had tilled the islands and part of the coasts of Asia Minor with Greek traders about two centuries before Joel, 1069 b.c. . Greeks inhabited both the coasts and islands between Tyre and Sardis, where we know them to have been carried. Cyprus and Crete, both inhabited by Greeks and both in near contact with Phoenicia, were close at hand.

The demand for slaves must have been enormous. For wives were but seldom allowed them; and Athens, Aegina, Corinth alone had in the days of their prosperity 1,330,000 slaves . At the great slave-mart at Delos, 10,000 were brought, sold, removed in a single day .

That ye might remove them far from their border - The Philistines hoped thus to weaken the Jews, by selling their fighting men afar, from where they could no more return. There was doubtless also in this removal an anti-religious malice, in that the Jews clung to their land, as ““the Lord’s land,” the land given by Him to their fathers; so that they, at once, weakened their rivals, aggravated and enjoyed their distress, and seemed again to triumph over God. Tyre and Sidon took no active share in making the Jews prisoners, yet, partaking in the profit and aiding in the disposal of the captives, they became, according to that true proverb “the receiver is as bad as the thief,” equally guilty of the sin, in the sight of God.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Greeks: the Ionians carried on such a traffic, Ezechiel xxvii. 13. Tyre and the Philistines were ready to sell, Ezechiel xxvi. 2., and xxv. 15.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The children also of Judah, the Jews who dwelt in the land, and the children of Jerusalem, the citizens of Jerusalem; or perhaps the young ones, boys and girls, as Joe 3:3, both of city and country.

Ye; Tyrians, Zidonians, and Philistines, though neighbours, and oftentimes befriended by the Jews, yet you have done this.

Sold unto the Grecians; or sons of Grecians, who either employed them as slaves in Greece, or else sold them to other nations for slaves.

That ye might remove them far from their border; that there might be no hope to these poor captives ever to return to their country, nor fear to the Tyrians and Zidonians of being called to account for the injury by them it was done unto. Amo 1:6,9, mentions this sin of the Philistines, and God’s displeasure at it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Remove them - That there might be no hope of their return to their country.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.