Dual fulfillment of Joel 3:8

​“I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation, for the Lord has spoken.”

‭‭Joel‬ ‭3:8‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/jol.3.8.HCSB

The people God is talking to are Tyre, Sidon, and all the territories of Philistia (vs4). The descendants of the people who caused all the trouble in King Sauls’ and King David‘s days. But why is God selling them? Verse 6 is our answer. 

“You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks to remove them far from their own territory.”

‭‭Joel‬ ‭3:6‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/jol.3.6.HCSB

So therefore God is paying back all the territories of Philistia for all they did to the sons and daughters of Judah. And they will sell them to the Sabeans. But who are the Sabeans? According to my commentary, they are a people group that lived in the current day Yemen and controlled the trade routes to the south. 

Have the sons and daughters of Philistia been routed south and pushed out of their country?

During the times of Alexander the Great, 30,000 of them were sold as slaves and some were given to the Jews who befriended Alexander. But that would not be the end of Philistia. There are still people who are living in Philistia which is causing problems for the people of Judah and Jerusalem. And they will or have sold the Israelites and God will bring down His judgement on those who will touch His anointed. 

“Do not touch My anointed ones or harm My prophets.”

‭‭1 Chronicles‬ ‭16:22‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/1ch.16.22.HCSB

So as with most prophecies, this one is also a two-times fulfilled prophecy. It was fulfilled in part and will be fulfilled in full. Just like Joel 2 was fulfilled in Acts 2 and will be fulfilled in the last days before the second return of Jesus. 

The reason why it has to be fulfilled twice is that God is limited to act in judgment within three to four generations. 

“maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭34:7‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/exo.34.7.HCSB

God does not hold the fifth and later generations guilty of their first generations' actions. But God does show His love for 1000 generations.

The original Tyre and Sidon that sold Judah away to the north got sold to the south within 300 to 400 years. A generation today is 20 to 30 years but I believe God counts generations as 70 to 100 years. Judah was taken captive around 586. And Alexander ruled from 336 to 323. Which was 263 years later. Which would be between 65 and 88 years per generation. And an average of 76 years per generation. 

“Our lives last seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years. Even the best of them are struggle and sorrow; indeed, they pass quickly and we fly away.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭90:10‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/72/psa.90.10.HCSB

We are living in the 74th year since the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the Last Generation of this current age. I will be looking to see when in the next two years God fulfills the prophecy of Joel 3:8.