Joel 1 – 3

Verse 1:17 talks about a devastating famine to spread over the land:

The seeds the farmers planted have shriveled beneath the ground;
    all the storehouses are empty; their supplies are gone.
The barns are breaking down
    because there is no more grain to fill them.

Joel is prophesizing a very grim time due to Israel’s drifting from God’s way. Unfortunately these writings are general enough they could be applies to many times over Israel’s history. Unfortunately it’s unclear if these may be events yet to happen or if they were events averted from Israel repenting much as Nineveh did during Jonah’s prophetic visions.

Verse 2:8 is another rewrite the Voice did I wish to explore:

Organized—no soldier crowds another.
    Independent—each man marches straight ahead.
Together—they are unstoppable as they break through the defenses
    and do not break off the attack.

Again this is a poetic license the Voice uses to expand a verse so we can gain understanding of the scripture. Fortunately unlike other versions that do this the Voice has appeared very true to the original meaning or intent. I cannot say this for 100% sure, but when compared to other versions, I gain clarity when reading the Voice.

Verse 3:10 makes me wonder about the former USSR and their hammer and sickle:

Hammer your sickles into swords.
    Forge your pruning shears into spears.
For this final battle, even the weakling must say, ‘I am a warrior!’

The famous symbol for communism does not have Biblical roots, but it sparked a synapse to explore this possibility. In the USSR the hammer represented the industrial working class while the sickle represented the peasant farming class. They may have tried to tie it to religious imagery via this verse, but I could not find any reference. Also, if the Soviets were trying to discredit religious beliefs, they would not have chosen such an obscure reference. In this case the hammers are used to transform the sickles into weapons.

Verse 3:17 makes me wonder if this has happened:

Eternal One: Then you will know that I am the Eternal, your God,
        and I live in Zion, My sacred mountain.
    Jerusalem will be My holy city;
        never again will foreign invaders infiltrate it.

As we know through history, Israel has been in turmoil since this was written. Only recently has the area seemed stable and I say that through the aspect of Israel being a nation again. In no way have they been secure and based on the number of non Jews in the country it appears to have been “infiltrated”. So I ask again, has this happened yet since this does not appear to have come to be true.