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Selected Verse: Joel 2:29 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Joe 2:29 |
King James |
And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
And also--"And even." The very slaves by becoming the Lord's servants are His freemen (Co1 7:22; Gal 3:28; Col 3:11; Plm 1:16). Therefore, in Act 2:18 it is quoted, "My servants" and "My handmaidens"; as it is only by becoming the Lord's servants they are spiritually free, and partake of the same spirit as the other members of the Church. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
And also upon the servants - God tells beforehand that he would be no respecter of persons. He had said, that He would endow every age and sex. He adds here, and every condition, even that of slaves, both male and female. He does not add here, that they shall prophesy. Under the law, God had provided for slaves, that, even if aliens, they should by circumcision be enrolled in His family and people; that they should have the rest and the devotion of the sabbath; and share the joy of their great festivals, going up with their masters and mistresses to the place which God appointed. They were included in one common ordinance of joy; "Ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, ye and your sons and your daughters, and (literally) your men slaves and your women slaves, and the Levite which is within your gates" Gen 17:23, Gen 17:27; Exo 20:10; Deu 12:12, Deu 12:18; Deu 16:11, Deu 16:14. In the times before the Gospel, they doubtless fell under the contempt in which the Pharisees held all the less educated class; "These people who knoweth not the law" (i. e., according to the explanation of their schools) "is cursed."
Whence it was a saying of theirs , "Prophecy doth not reside except on one wise and mighty and rich." As then elsewhere it was given as a mark of the Gospel, "the poor have the Gospel preached unto them," so here. It was not what the Jews of his day expected, for he says, "And on the servants too." But he tells beforehand, what was against the pride both of his own times and of the time of its fulfillment, that "God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence" Co1 1:27-30. The prophetic word circles round to that wherewith it began, the all-containing promise of the large out-pouring of the Spirit of God; and that, upon those whom the carnal Jews at all times would least expect to receive it. It began with including the pagan; "I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh;" it instances individual gifts; and then it ends by resting on the slaves; "and on these too in those days will I pour out My Spirit." The order of the words is significant. He begins, "I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh," and then, in order to leave the mind resting on these same great words, he inverts the order, and ends, "and upon the servants and upon the handmaidens I will pour out My Spirit." It leaves the thoughts resting on the great words, "I will pour out My Spirit."
The Church at Rome, whose "faith was spoken of throughout the whole world" Rom 1:8, was, as far as it consisted of converted Jews, made up of slaves, who had been set free by their masters. For such were most of the Roman Jews , "who occupied that large section of Rome beyond the Tiber." Most of these, Philo says, "having been made freemen, were Roman citizens. For having been brought as captives to Italy, set free by their purchasers, without being compelled to change any of their country's rites, they had their synagogues and assembled in them, especially on the sabbath."
Peter, in declaring that these words began to be fulfilled in the Day of Pentecost, quotes them with two lesser differences. "I will pour out of My Spirit, and upon My servants and My handmaidens." The words declare something in addition, but do not alter the meaning, and so Peter quotes them as they lay in the Greek, which probably was the language known by most of the mixed multitude, to whom he spake on the day of Pentecost. The words, "I will pour out My Spirit," express the largeness and the fullness of the gift of Him , "Who is Very God, Unchangeable and Infinite, who is given or poured out, not by change of place but by the largeness of His presence." The words, "I will pour out of My Spirit," express in part, that He who is Infinite cannot be contained by us who are finite; in part, they indicate, that there should be a distribution of gifts, although "worked by One and the Same Spirit," as the prophet also implies in what follows.
Again, the words, "the servants and the handmaidens," mark the outward condition; the words "My servants and My handmaidens," declare that there should be no difference between "bond and free." The servants and handmaidens should have that highest title of honor, that they should be the servants of God. For what more can the creature desire? The Psalmist says to God, "Lo I am Thy servant and the son of Thine handmaid" Psa 116:16; and God gives it as a title of honor to Abraham and Moses and Job and David and Isaiah (Gen 26:24; Num 12:7; Jos 1:2; Kg2 21:8; Job 1:8; Job 2:3; Job 42:7-8; Sa2 7:5, etc.; Isa 20:3), and Abraham and David call themselves the servants of God, Gen 19:19; Psa 86:2, Psa 86:4, and Paul, Peter, and Jude, "servants of Jesus Christ" Rom 1:1; Gal 1:10; Pe2 1:1; Jde 1:1, and James, "the servant of God" (Jam 1:1; also Tit 1:1); and the blessed Virgin, "the handmaid of the Lord Luk 1:38, Luk 1:48; yea, and our Lord Himself, in His Human Nature is spoken of in prophecy as (Isa 42:1; Isa 49:6; Isa 52:13; Zac 12:8; Eze 34:23-24; Eze 37:24-25) "the Servant of the Lord." |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
My spirit - Of adoption and sanctification. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids - The gifts of teaching and instructing men shall not be restricted to any one class or order of people. He shall call and qualify the men of his own choice; and shall take such out of all ranks, orders, degrees, and offices in society. And he will pour out his Spirit upon them; and they shall be endowed with all the gifts and graces necessary to convert sinners, and build up the Church of Christ on its most holy faith.
And this God has done, and is still doing. He left the line of Aaron, and took his apostles indiscriminately from any tribe. He passed by the regular order of the priesthood, and the public schools of the most celebrated doctors, and took his evangelists from among fishermen, tent-makers, and even the Roman tax-gatherers. And he, lastly, passed by the Jewish tribes, and took the Gentile converts, and made them preachers of righteousness to the inhabitants of the whole earth. The same practice he continues to the present day; yet he did not then pass by a man brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, no more than he would now a man brought up in a celebrated seminary of learning. He is ever free to use his own gifts, in his own way; and when learning is sanctified, by being devoted to the service of God, and the possessor is humble and pious, and has those natural gifts necessary for a public teacher, perhaps we might safely say, God would in many cases prefer such: but he will have others, as intimated in the prophecy, that we may see the conversion of men is not by human might, nor power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. The learned man can do nothing without his Spirit; the unlearned must have his gifts and graces, without which both their labors would be unprofitable; and thus the excellency of the power is of God, and no flesh can glory in his presence. See my sermon on this passage. |
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
16 Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
24 And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.
8 In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.
13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
2 Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
19 Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
3 And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia;
5 Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the LORD, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in?
7 And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.
8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.
3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.
8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
8 Neither will I make the feet of Israel move any more out of the land which I gave their fathers; only if they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them.
2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
24 And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.
16 O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.
8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
11 And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there.
18 But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.
12 And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
27 And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.
23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.