Book of Joel Chapter 3 Vs. 3

 The Lord Judges the Nations

And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. Joel 3:3

they have cast... Seven reasons for judgments on Gentiles:

1. They have cast lots for My people (Joel 3:3).

2. They have given boys to be harlots.

3. They have sold daughters for wine.

4. They have lived in drunkenness.

5. They have taken My silver and gold (Joel 3:5).

6. They have taken My pleasant things into idol temples.

7. They have sold My people as slaves (Joel 3:6).

Not only parted their land, but cast lots for their persons, Or played at dice for them, how many captives each soldier should have, and which should be their share and property.

Ninety seven thousand Jews, Josephus says, were carried captive by the Romans, who very probably, cast lots for them, as was usual in such cases (see Nahum 3:10).

and have given... Either they gave a boy to be prostituted to natural lusts, in lieu of a whore; and a girl to be debauched for a bottle of wine: or they gave a boy for the price of a whore, as the Targum and Kimchi interpret it.

That is, they gave a boy, instead of money, to a whore, to lie with her, as the eunuch was given to Thais. And they gave a girl to the wine merchant for as much wine as they could drink at one sitting.

These phrases both express their uncleanness and intemperance, and also the low price and value they set upon their captives; and is applicable enough to the Papists, notorious for the same abominable lusts.

The people of Israel have been treated with very little respect, since the time of the prophets. They went into slavery, and were sold for a very small amount. The worst thing that happened to them, was possibly in Adolph Hitler’s time, when he killed so many Jews, and even made soap out of some of them.

The reason for God’s judgment is the nations’ treatment of His covenant people (My inheritance; cf. see Joel 2:17), My people. The nations had scattered the Lord’s people, sold them as slaves to distant lands, and divided up His land. “Scattered” (from pāzar, “to disperse”) seems to refer to the Babylonian Exile (cf. Jer. 50:17). Even though the Lord Himself assigned the land to Israel’s enemies (cf. Lam. 5:2; Mic. 2:4), He still held these nations guilty for their failure to recognize His sovereignty and for their cruel treatment of His people.