Valley of Decision, The [Heb. בְּעֵמֶק הֶחָרוּץ, “the Valley of
Decision/Concision/Jehoshaphat/Threshing”]. Scripture and Translations בְּעֵמֶק הֶחָרוּץ is twice used in Joel
3:14 and is translated differently by various translators: Valley of Decision
(NIV; ESV; NASB; KJV; JPS Tanakh 1917; KJV 2000; or Valley of Judgment
(Septuagint) or Valley of Destruction (Vulgate) or Valley of Jehoshaphat (ISV;
Good News; Contemporary English Bible); Valley of Threshing (see Keil). The
chapter does mention the Valley of Jehoshaphat עֵמֶק יְהוֹשָׁפָט (Joel 3:2; 12). The interplay between these two words
by the translators is not illusionary. The Vulgate used the words valle
concisionis “valley of cutting” or “valley of breaking up”. Jerome in 389 CE
may have had the closest proper understanding of the word than the other
translations. By the time the evil reach this point in the eschatological
history of the world, there is no longer a decision that will help them. The Door
of Mercy has closed. It is elimination time. Not related to any geological area in
Palestine/Israel With this context that Keil (1878) also
understood very well, it is important not to allocate to the words Valley of
Jehoshaphat or Valley of Decision a connotation that is geomorphologically
narrowed in and around Israel. John Gill (November 23, 1697-October 14, 1771) an
English Baptist, scholar, and a staunch Calvinist summarized it very well: “The
same with the valley of Jehoshaphat before mentioned; which shows that not any
valley of that name is intended, but a certain place so called from the
judgments of God in it; and here named "the valley of decision",
because here their judgment will be determined, as Kimchi and Jarchi; and at
this time the controversy between God, and his people's enemies, will be
decided, and at an end: or "the valley of concision", as the Vulgate
Latin version; because in this place, and at this time, the nations gathered
together in it will be cut to pieces: or, as others, "the valley of
threshing". Gill felt that it is either the Turks as Gog and Magog in
Ezekiel 39:11 in his own time [see Uriah Smith’s similar links in 1900 with the
contemporary history of the Turks for Daniel 11 in Adventism] or the future
armies at Armageddon referred to as “vast carnage of the antichristian kings
and their armies at Armageddon” following Revelation 16:14; Revelation 16:16; 19:18-21.
Targum Jonathan to the prophets read it
as “armies, armies, in the valley of the division of judgment: for the day of
the Lord [is] near in the valley of decision” and on this Gill reported “that
is, the great and terrible day of the Lord, to take vengeance on all the
antichristian powers, both eastern and western, is nigh at hand, which will be
done in this valley.” Analysis of the Valley of Decision or Valley of
Jehoshaphat or Armageddon addresses the same set of questions: Anyone, who considers the place of the Valley of
Decision or the Valley of Jehoshaphat, or the Valley of Threshing or Armeggedon
will have to ask the same questions Adventism asked about Armegeddon past and
present: Q Is Armageddon before the Coming of Christ or
After the Coming of Christ? Q Is it a climatic historical event or a final
eradication of evil for eternity event? Q Are there two "Days of the Lord"? Q Are there two "final battles"? Q Is Armageddon a war between nations or
"Axis and Allies" nations or spiritual "Axis and Allies"? Q Is Armageddon a mental attitude battle? Q Is Armageddon physical or spiritual? Q Should one connect Armageddon to the final
verses of Daniel 11 powers? Q Is Armageddon geomorphologically in Palestine
and the East, worldwide or is it in the brain? If the term is eschatological it is no longer
the literal area known to scholars By substituting Valley of Decision to these
questions, it is evident that the Valley of Decision cannot be the Kidron
Valley, nor the Jizreel Valley, nor the city of Megiddo, nor any valley close
to the present-day Jerusalem. Keil (1887: 220) is adamant and correctly so
that the Valley of Jehoshaphat is not the Valley in 2 Chronicles 20 [contra Ibn
Ezra, Hoffmann and Ewald]; not the Valley of Kidron [contra Bertheau]; the
Jezreel Plain [contra Kliefoth]. A valley/plain will be created for this purpose
for the Hell event in Zechariah 14 When the final eschatological battle starts
after the millennium, a valley will be created according to Zechariah 14 and
the New Jerusalem will come there with the saints safely inside and God will be
their tower and the Battle of the Warrior Messiah will be concluded against the
evil. Indeed a Valley of Concision and not Decision. As correct as Keil is so far, (1887: 220) he
claims the traditions of Eusebius and Jerome “correctly assigned it to the
valley of the Kidron”(?) which is a position he just dismantled before. The
paradox can be explained that maybe he and Delitzsch did not exactly agree on
the matter and he included also Delitzsches notes which is directly opposed to
his own? The remnant is not literal ethnic Israel only
but all nations Then follows this remarkable statement about the
“remnant of God” by Keil (1878: 222): “The people and inheritance of Jehovah
are not merely the Old Testament Israel as such, but the church of the Lord of both
the old and new covenants, upon which the Spirit of God is poured out ; and the
judgment which Jehovah will hold upon the nations, on account of the injuries
inflicted upon His people, is the last general judgment upon the nations, which
will embrace not merely the heathen Romans and other heathen nations by whom
the Jews have been oppressed, but all the enemies of the people of God, both
within and without the earthly limits of the church of the Lord, including even
carnally-minded Jews, Mohammedans, and nominal Christians, who are heathens in
heart.” Revelation 14 harvest motif as a key for the
understanding of Joel 3:13-14 The motif of the harvest in Revelation 14 is a
key to the two different sets of gatherings: the righteous in Jerusalem and the
evil outside in the Valley of Concision or [Decision?]. Keil (Vol. I. 1878: 229) aptly described the
Valley of Decision in the following way, which is probably the closest to
Adventism that one can find: “For Zion or Jerusalem is of course not the
Jerusalem of the earthly Palestine, but the sanctified and glorified city of
the living God, in which the Lord will be eternally united with His redeemed,
sanctified, and glorified church. We are forbidden to think of the earthly Jerusalem
or the earthly Mount Zion, not only by the circumstance that the gathering of
all the heathen nations takes place in the valley of Jehoshaphat, i.e. in a
portion of the valley of the Kidron, which is a pure impossibility, but also by
the description which follows of the glorification of Judah.” The other
remarkable Adventist Theological application by Keil is the bringing together
of Revelation 14:15, 18 of the two aspects of the harvest: reaping and treading
as two distinct processes, the one prior to the other, the one the salvation of
the blessed and the other the elimination of the evil (Keil, Vol. I 1878: 227) “But
we have a decisive proof in. the resumption of this passage in Rev. xiv. 15 and
18, where the two figures (of the corn-harvest and the gathering of the grapes)
are kept quite distinct.. . ” Adventist’s pillar of doctrine includes these two
phases of Judgment as Investigative Judgment prior to the Time of Trouble prior
to the Second Coming of Christ and Executive Judgment or Hell after the
Millennium with the saints already in the heavenly New Jerusalem. The harvest
of the good and press of the evil is in Joel 3:13 and links to Revelation
14:17-18. With the saints safely in the heavenly New Jerusalem and Valley of
Decision or Concision can only be a reference to the Hell event when all evil
will be eradicated bringing together the concepts of the prophets and many
other similar references as well as Zechariah 14. Spiritual application of the term Valley of
Decision as an expression of a chance to decide by Ellen White Ellen White used the term "valley of
decision" for an individual's time of decision making during difficult
circumstances: 1899 someone was for a time in the valley of decision [E. White
(Manuscript Releases, Vol. 11 [Nos. 851-920] p. 223.1; also The Review and
Herald, February 19, 1901 paragraph 2; also Ms 69a, 1896, par. 45]. Citing Joel
3:14 White indicated that when the moment is lost Protestants will find out too
late to escape the snare of the impending danger of the Roman Catholic church,
[which of course will be when they all burn in the Hell event finally, this
writer's interpretation]. The term is used by Ellen White not to interpret Joel
3:14 but because decision making is important for salvation and Satan wants to
prevent people from doing that. In Testimony to the Church at Battle Creek page
52.1 she said that "the souls that were in the valley of decision took
their position in the ranks of the enemy and became enemies of God and the
truth". It sounds like a finality statement. In Testimony Treasures, vol.
3 p. 156.1 she applies the phrase "Multitudes are in the valley of decision"
homiletically as a spiritual decision opportunity and people have a chance to
decide their eternal destiny. Although the phrase is used from Joel 3:14 the
intention of her writing here is not to explain Joel 3:14 but make an appeal
with their free choice for God. Ellen White do admit that people use to call
the Valley of Jehoshaphat the Kidron valley along the wall of the Temple [Ellen
White, 1884. The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4 page 33.2]. She is not making an
interpretation of the term in Joel 3 but wants to describe the geography of Jesus'
last days in conventional understanding of the areas of Jerusalem. For Ellen
White Valley of Decision is a mind-set and Valley of Jehoshaphat is the Kidron
part next to the temple but not with the intention of explaining or
interpreting Joel 3. Sources: Gill, J. (1747 [original date] 2016, March 29). John
Gill's Commentary on the Bible.doc. Downloaded
on the 18th of November 2018 from https://archive.org/download/JohnGillsCommentaryOnTheBible.
Gulley, N. (2018, June). Sabbath School
Quarterly on End Times 2018 June. Keil, C. F. [and Delitzsch, F.] (1878).
Commentary on the Old Testament: The Twelve Minor Prophets. Vol. I. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. Mansell, D. E. (1967)."What Adventists have
Taught on Armageddon" Review and Herald November 1967: 26-29. Mansell, D. E. (1967). "What Adventists
Have Taught on ARMAGEDDON and the KING
of the NORTH (Part II)" Review and Herald December 1967:30-32. Moore, M. (1992). The Crisis of the End Times
(Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing
Association, 1992) chapter 21 on The Battle of Armageddon, pp. 229-242.
White, E. ellenwhite.org at Seach All. Multiple
sources.