Biblion Bible Commentary
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A Fountain from the House of Yahweh
Joel 3:18-21
18 It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters; and a fountain will flow out from Yahweh’s house, and will water the valley of Shittim. · WEB
The book that began with drought and stripped vines ends with wine on the mountains and a spring running out of the temple.
In that day the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah will run with water. Every image answers chapter 1 directly. The wine was cut off Joel 1:5; the water brooks had dried up Joel 1:20; and the reversal is not a return to normal but an excess — hills do not normally flow with anything.
The last picture is the most striking. A fountain will flow out from Yahweh's house and water the valley of Shittim . The temple becomes a spring, and the water runs east toward dry country. Ezekiel sees the same river deepening as it goes Ezekiel 47:1, and Revelation ends with it flowing from the throne Revelation 22:1.
Verses 19 and 20 set two futures side by side: Egypt and Edom desolate for shedding innocent blood, Judah inhabited forever. And the final clause of the book returns to blood one last time — I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed — with the reason given as a residence rather than a verdict: for Yahweh dwells in Zion.
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