Joe 3:18 | JFB | STEP | 18. mountains ... drop ... wine-- figurative for abundance of vines, which were cultivated in terraces of earth between the rocks on the sides of the hills of Palestine ( ). hills ... flow with milk-- that is, they shall abound in flocks and herds yielding milk plentifully, through the richness of the pastures. waters-- the great desideratum for fertility in the parched East ( ). fountain ... of ... house of ... Lord ... water ... valley of Shittim-- The blessings, temporal and spiritual, issuing from Jehovah's house at Jerusalem, shall extend even to Shittim, on the border between Moab and Israel, beyond Jordan ( ; ; ; ). "Shittim" means "acacias," which grow only in arid regions: implying that even the arid desert shall be fertilized by the blessing from Jerusalem. So describes the waters issuing from the threshold of the house as flowing into the Dead Sea, and purifying it. Also in the waters flow on one side into the Mediterranean, on the other side into the Dead Sea, near which latter Shittim was situated (compare ; ).

‏ Joel 3:18

18. mountains ... drop ... wine--figurative for abundance of vines, which were cultivated in terraces of earth between the rocks on the sides of the hills of Palestine (Am 9:13).

hills ... flow with milk--that is, they shall abound in flocks and herds yielding milk plentifully, through the richness of the pastures.

waters--the great desideratum for fertility in the parched East (Is 30:25).

fountain ... of ... house of ... Lord ... water ... valley of Shittim--The blessings, temporal and spiritual, issuing from Jehovah's house at Jerusalem, shall extend even to Shittim, on the border between Moab and Israel, beyond Jordan (Nu 25:1; 33:49; Jos 2:1; Mi 6:5). "Shittim" means "acacias," which grow only in arid regions: implying that even the arid desert shall be fertilized by the blessing from Jerusalem. So Eze 47:1-12 describes the waters issuing from the threshold of the house as flowing into the Dead Sea, and purifying it. Also in Zec 14:8 the waters flow on one side into the Mediterranean, on the other side into the Dead Sea, near which latter Shittim was situated (compare Psa 46:4; Re 22:1).