יואל, פרק ד׳, פסוק ז׳

A profound promise of historical justice unfolds through a complete reversal of fortunes. Those who were forcefully sold into slavery and banished to distant lands are destined to return home, and their very homecoming serves as the catalyst for punishing their captors.

God promises to stir the hearts of the captives, awakening within them a deep drive to leave their distant places of exile and journey back to their homeland [מצודת ציון, מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. While commentators agree that the purpose of this divine awakening is a return to the land, a question arises regarding exactly who will make this journey. One perspective suggests that the children of the original captives will be the ones to return to their ancestral home [מצודת דוד]. A broader view maintains that the return will include not only the descendants living at the time of salvation but also the original exiles themselves, who will be awakened to return during the resurrection of the dead [רד״ק].

Once the exiles return, the balance of power will completely flip [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. God ensures that the cruel deeds of the oppressors will fall back upon their own heads. The returning captives, or their descendants, will personally deliver justice and punish the enemies who originally sold them [אבן עזרא, מצודת דוד].

This principle of measure for measure justice played out in actual historical events. When the Greeks conquered and destroyed the cities of Tyre and Sidon, they took the inhabitants as captives back to Greece. The Jewish exiles already living in Greece purchased these newly enslaved captives. To ensure these historic enemies remained far from their borders, the Jews then sold them onward to the people of Sheba, a nation located at a great distance. In a perfect twist of historical irony, the very nations that had previously harmed and sold the Jewish people suffered the exact same fate, orchestrated by the hands of the Jews themselves [מלבי״ם].