vol. ii.
p. 310 ff.) The two theological names of the place, which arose only
from the event recorded in Num. xx., occur even as early as Gen. xiv.
7. The natural name of the valley of Jehoshaphat is, moreover, in all
likelihood, _King's Dale_; compare Gen. xiv. 17; 2 Sam. xviii. 18; and
_Thenius_ on this passage.

[Pg 302]

JOEL I.-II. 17.

We shall not dwell here for any length of time upon the history of the
expositions of this passage. It has been given with sufficient
minuteness by _Pococke_ and _Marckius_ among older writers, and by
_Credner_ among the more modern. We content ourselves with remarking
that the figurative exposition is the more ancient, having been adopted
by the Chaldee Paraphrast, and by the Jews mentioned by _Jerome_, and
that we cannot by any means, as _Credner_ does, derive it from
doctrinal considerations only; for many, with whom such considerations
weighed, as _Bochart_, _Pococke_, and _J. D. Michaelis_, do not approve
of it; whilst, on the other hand, there are among its defenders not a
few who were guided by just the opposite motives, such as _Grotius_,
_Eckermann_, _Berthold_ (Einl. S. 1607 ff.), and _Theiner_. Two
preliminary questions, however, require to be answered, before we can
proceed to the main investigation.

1. Does Joel here describe a present, or a future calamity? The former
has been asserted, in former times, by _Luther_ and _Calvin_ (compare,
especially, his commentary on chap. i. 4), and in more recent times,
with special confidence, by _Credner_. But there is nothing to favour
this view. The frequent use of the Preterites would prove something in
support of it, provided only we were not standing on prophetical
ground. They are, moreover, found quite in the same manner in chap.
iv.--in that portion which, by all interpreters unanimously, is
referred to the future. And yet, if this view were to be acknowledged
as sound, it ought to commend itself by stringent considerations,
inasmuch as the prophetic analogy is, _a priori_, against it. There
is not found anywhere in the prophets so long and so detailed a
description of the present or the past. But, moreover, if we once give
up the reference to the future, we could think of the past only; for in
chap; ii. 18, 19, the description of the salvation following upon the
misery, is connected with the preceding context by the Future with _vav
conversivum_. If, then, the scene of inward vision be