Joel 1:13,14

Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar.

Ministerial duty in the time of dire national calamity

The prophet now directs his message to the priests of Judah, and intimates that the calamity which had befallen their nation had a deep moral significance to which they should give earnest heed, and which should awaken them to immediate activity.

I. That in times of national calamity the ministerial office becomes of the highest importance. It is evident that Joel regarded the office of the priest as of the highest importance in these times of dread calamity. He had called the drunkards from their slumber, but they could do nothing to avert the immediate danger. He had made known to the husbandmen the extent of their loss, but they could not render much aid in the terrible crisis; but now he turns to the priests, and urges upon them the duty of initiating and guiding the nation to a reformed life. He knew that they would be more likely than any other class of men to help him in this arduous work. And why?

1. Because the ministerial office wields a great social influence, and is therefore competent to initiate moral reformation.

2. Because the ministerial office is supposed to seek the general good of men, and will therefore be credited with lofty motive in seeking moral reformation.

3. Because the ministerial office touches the springs of the inner life of a nation, and can therefore infuse healing remedy.

II. That in time of national calamity the ministerial office should be repentant in its inmost soul. “Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God.”

1. Then the ministerial office should be characterised by quick energy. The priests of Judah were to gird themselves. They were to hasten at once to the duty required by the circumstances of the nation and by the retribution of God. This was no time for indifference or sloth; their best energies were required.

2. Then the ministerial office should be characterised by deep sorrow. The priests of Judah were to lament and put on tokens of deep grief; they were to robe themselves in sackcloth. Their outward attire was to be indicative of their inward feeling of repentance before God.

3. Then the ministerial office should be characterised by untiring watchfulness. The priests of Judah were to lie all night in sackcloth and give themselves to prayer; their tears of repentance were not to be wiped away by the gentle hand of sleep.

4. Then the ministerial office should be characterised by true humility. We can readily imagine that the priests of Judah would experience a sense of humiliation as they gazed upon the neglected temple worship, and they would bow in abasement before the Lord of the temple.

III. That in times of national calamity the ministerial office must endeavour to awaken the people to the initial acts of reformation. “Sanctify ye a fast,” etc.

1. They proclaim a fast. The priests of Judah were to proclaim a fast, and they were also to sanctify it. A mere abstinence from food is of little service before God unless it be accompanied by those thoughts and devotions of the soul which alone can hallow it.

2. They call an assembly. The prophet commands that all the nation should be called and gathered into the temple, that public prayer might be added to private abstinence. It appears that fasting was always connected with a solemn convocation; the confession and humiliation of men must be unanimous and open. Humiliation for sin must not be confined to secrecy and solitude, but must be made in the great congregation, that the law which has been openly broken may be openly honoured, and that the ways of God may be justified before men.

3. They urge to supplication. The putting on of sackcloth by the priests, the abstaining from food by the people, the coming into the temple, would avail nothing unless it all were joined with earnest supplication; hence the assembled worshippers are urged to cry unto the Lord.

Lessons:--

1. That the ministerial office should exert its best energy to prevent moral apostasy in the nation.

2. That in times of such apostasy it must give an example of true repentance.

3. That in such times it should initiate the necessary worship in order to avert the Divine displeasure. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)

Sanctify ye a fast.--

On fast day

Fasting has, in all ages and among all nations, been an exercise much in use in times of mourning and affliction. There is no example of fasting before the time of Moses. And he enjoins only one fast, on the solemn day of expiation. After the time of Moses examples of fasting were very common among the Jews. It does not appear from the practice of our Saviour and His disciples that He instituted any particular fast, or enjoined any to be kept out of pure devotion. Fasting has, in itself, this peculiar good, that it provokes attention, by interrupting ordinary habits; the flow of business and pleasure is on a sudden stopt; the world is thrown into gloom, and a certain solemnity of thought obtruded upon those whose outward senses must be influenced before their inward hearts can be moved. The object, then, of this day is to confess our sins, and to repent of them. The object of the ministers of the Gospel is, to state what those sins are, what are their consequences, and how they may be avoided. Sins may be considered under a twofold division. Those which individuals always commit, which are the consequence of our fallen state, and inseparable from our fallen nature. Those which are the result of any particular depravity, existing in a greater degree at this time than at any other, or in this country than among any other people. As to the first class of sins, it is right to remind mankind of those imperfections, inherent in their nature, lest they should relax from the exertions of which they are really capable. Coming to that part of our conduct which is variable, to that small and contracted sphere in which it is allotted to us to do better or to do worse, begin with the subject of religion. Here may be noticed that prodigious increase of sectaries, of all ranks and descriptions, which are daily springing up in this kingdom. These men seem to think that the spirit of religion consists in a certain fervid irritability of mind. They are always straining at gnats, always suspecting happiness, degrading the majesty of the Gospel. The moment fanatical men hear anything plain and practical introduced into religion, then they say this is secular, this is worldly, this is moral, this is not of Christ. But the only way to know Christ is not to make our notions His notions, or to substitute any conjectures of our own as to what religion ought to be for an humble and faithful inquiry of what it is. There is a contrary excess in matters of religion not less fatal than fanaticism, and still more common. That languor and indifference upon serious subjects which characterises so great a part of mankind; not speculative disbelief, not profligate scoffing against religion, not incompliance with the ceremonies it enjoins; but no penetration of Christianity into the real character, little influence of the Gospel upon the daily conduct; a cold, careless, unfruitful belief. Lot it be our care to steer between these opposite extremes; to be serious without being enthusiastic; to be reasonable without being cold. Alike to curb the excesses of those who have zeal without discretion, and to stimulate the feelings of others who have conformity without zeal; remembering always that every thing intended to endure must be regulated by moderation, discretion, and knowledge. (J. Smith, M. A.)

An extraordinary fast

It must have been in the kingdom of Judah what the drought of Ahab’s reign had been in the kingdom of Israel. It was a day of Divine judgment, a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. The harsh blast of the consecrated ram’s horn called an assembly for an extraordinary fast. Not a soul was to be absent. All were there stretched in front of the altar. The altar itself presented the dreariest of all sights, a hearth without its sacred fire, a table spread without its sacred feast. The priestly caste, instead of gathering as usual upon its steps and platform, were driven, as it were, to the farther space; they turned their backs to the dead altar, and lay prostrate, gazing towards the Invisible Presence within the sanctuary. Instead of the hymns and music, which, since the time of David, had entered into their prayers, there was nothing heard but the passionate sobs, and the loud dissonant howls such as only an eastern hierarchy could utter. Instead of the mass of white mantles, which they usually presented, they were wrapped in black goat’s hair sackcloth, twisted round them; not with the brilliant sashes of the priestly attire, but with a rough girdle of the same texture, which they never unbound night or day. What they wore of their common dress was rent asunder or cast off. With bare breasts they waved their black drapery towards the temple, and shrieked aloud, “Spare Thy people, O Lord!” (Dean Stanley.)

The duty, object, and method of keeping a public fast

Unusual duties require unusual preparation.

I. The duty of keeping a public fast. It is enjoined on due occasions by God Himself. In Joel’s time what was the occasion? It was a famine. How strikingly it is described. The Word of God repeatedly declares that such a calamity is sent on nations as a punishment for national sins. When God sends a famine in punishment for our sins He Himself calls for humiliation and fasting. This duty has been recognised from time to time. As in the days of Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, Jehoshaphat, Ezra, etc. There is nothing in the New Testament to set the duty aside. We have no instance of a Christian nation fasting, but we have no instance of a nation having become Christian.

II. The object of a fast day. Not to provide opportunity for seeking our own pleasure. Not substituting food equally or more pleasant, even by way of change. Some call it fasting to deny themselves food in one form, to take it in another, with equal or greater zest. Fasting is not an end in itself, but a means conducive to an end. The object is, humiliation for sin in order to pardon and justification. Therefore ministers must aim to arouse the national conscience. There must be humiliation in order to reflection; the deepest contrition of heart for sin, in order to turning wholly to God, with faith in the revelation of Himself in the Gospel and in all His grace, mercy, long-suffering, loving-kindness, and readiness to forgive and save, through Jesus Christ. And we must determine on reformation. A fast is worthless without that desirable end.

III. The method of keeping a public fast. No formal rules can be laid down. The rights of conscience and private judgment must be respected.

1. Sanctify the day. Set it apart from all common uses. And seek grace to sanctify it aright.

2. Attend in a right spirit on public worship, joining in public humiliation and united confession.

3. There should be special and appropriate prayer, both at home, and at church.

4. Make special gifts to the poor.

5. Specially honour Christ as Mediator. He can feel for the hungry, the famishing, the dying. He can pity poor perishing sinners. Let Him come between, and intercede with His own effectual intercession, and the famine shall cease. (John Hambleton, M. A.)

Public fasting

The priests are commanded to appoint a solemn and public fast, that so all ranks of persons, both rulers and people, being called to the Temple, may solemnly pour out their prayers before God.

1. Private mourning and humiliation is not enough under public calamities, but there ought also to be general humiliation, by the solemn convening of all ranks, to mourn in a public way.

2. Fasts and humiliations, especially such as are public, should not be rashly gone about, but with due preparation and upstirring for so solemn a service.

3. For the right discharge of such a duty it is requisite that men be sensible of their former abuse of mercies.

4. Exercises of humiliation will not be acceptable to God unless they be seasoned and managed with faith and affection to God. (George Hutcheson.)

The great fast

We have observed abundance of tears shed for the destruction of the fruits of the earth by the locusts, now here we have those tears turned into the right channel, that of repentance and humiliation before God. The judgment was very heavy, and here they are directed to own the hand of God in it, His mighty hand, and to humble themselves under it.

I. A proclamation issued out for a general fast. The priests are ordered to appoint one; they must not only mourn themselves, but they must call upon others to mourn too. Under public judgments there ought to be public humiliations. With all the marks of sorrow and shame sin must be confessed and bewailed, the righteousness of God must be acknowledged and His favour implored. Observe what is to be done by a nation at such a time.

1. A day is to be appointed for this purpose, a day of restraint (marg.), a day in which people must be restrained from their other ordinary business, and from all bodily refreshments.

2. It must be a fast, a religious abstaining from meat and drink, further than is of absolute necessity. Hereby we own ourselves unworthy of our necessary food, and that we have forfeited it, and deserve to be wholly deprived of it; we punish ourselves and mortify the body, which has been the occasion of sin; we keep it in a frame fit to serve the soul in serving God, and, by the appetite’s craving food, the desires of the soul towards that which is better than life, and all the supports of it, are excited.

3. There must be a solemn assembly. All had contributed to the national guilt, all shared in the national calamity, and therefore they must all join in the professions of repentance.

4. They must come together in the temple, because that was the house of prayer, and there they might hope to meet with God.

5. They must sanctify” this fast, must observe it, in a religious manner, with sincere devotion.

6. They must “cry unto the Lord.” To Him they must make their complaint and offer up their supplication.

II. Some considerations suggested to induce them to proclaim this fast, and to observe it strictly.

1. God was beginning a controversy with them. It is time to “cry unto the Lord,. for the day of the Lord is at hand.” Either they mean the continuance and consequences of this present judgment which they now saw but breaking in upon them, or some greater judgments which this was but a preface to. Therefore “cry to God,” for--

(1) The day of His judgment is very near.

(2). It will be very terrible.

2. They saw themselves already under the tokens of His dis: pleasure.

(1) Let them look into their own houses, and there was no plenty there, as there used to be.

(2) Let them look into God’s house, and see the effects of the judgment there.

3. The prophet returns to describe the grievousness of the calamity, in some particulars of it.

(1) The caterpillars have devoured the corn.

(2) The cattle, too, perish for want of grass.

III. The prophet stirs them up to cry to God, with the consideration of the examples given them for it.

1. His own example. “O Lord! to Thee will I cry.”

2. The example of the inferior creatures. When they groan by reason of their calamity, He is pleased to interpret it as if they cried to Him; much more will He put a favourable construction upon the groanings of His own children, though sometimes so feeble that they cannot be uttered. (Matthew Henry.)