Joel 1:12

is dried up Better, sheweth shame, as Joel 1:10.

the pomegranate Numbers 13:23; Numbers 20:5; Deuteronomy 8:8; 1 Samuel 14:2; Haggai 2:19; Song of Solomon 4:3; Song of Solomon 4:13; Song of Solomon 6:7; Song of Solomon 6:11; Song of Solomon 7:12; Song of Solomon 8:2. A tree abundant in Palestine, and highly prized on account of its fruit. The fruit when ripe is of a bright red colour, as large as an orange and crowned with the calyx. The name pomegranate is derived from the Latin, "grained apple," from the bright red pips contained in the fruit. The expressed juice of the fruit makes a cooling drink, and it is also sometimes fermented into a light wine (Song of Solomon 8:2).

the palm tree once, no doubt, with its tall, branchless stems and huge spreading leaves, the glory of most of the warmer parts of Palestine, the maritime plains, and the Jordan valley, but now comparatively rare. See Judges 4:5; Song of Solomon 7:7-8; Psalms 92:13. Pliny (H. N.xiii. 4) says, Judaea inclyta est palmis;and Tacitus (Hist. Joel 1:6), Palmetis(Judaeis) proceritas et decor. Jericho is called the "City of palm-trees," Deuteronomy 34:3; Judges 1:16; Judges 3:13; 2 Chronicles 28:15. Jericho was celebrated in antiquity for its palm-groves, the semi-tropical warmth of the Arábah here 600 feet below the level of the sea favouring their growth. A beautiful spring, called the -Ain es-Sultan, or Elisha's Spring, gushes forth in the plain, at about a mile from the foot of the hills which lead up into the high land of Judah: this must have been near the site of the ancient city, and Josephus (B. J.iv. 8, 3) speaks with admiration of the beautiful park of palms and other rare trees, which the stream watered. Comp. Herodis palmeta pinguia, Hor. Ep. ii. 2. 184. See an interesting collection of notices respecting the palm-groves of Jericho in Schürer, Hist. of N. T. Times, § 15. Palms also flourished at Engedi, on the W. shore of the Dead Sea (Sir 24:14).

the apple tree Song of Solomon 2:3; Song of Solomon 8:5; cf. applesSong of Solomon 2:5; Song of Solomon 7:8; Proverbs 25:11. It has been doubted whether tappûaḥis really the apple; and Tristram (N. H. B.p. 334 f.; D. B.2 s.v.) adduces grounds tending to shew that is was more probably the apricot. But the corresponding Arabic word (tuffâḥ) certainly means the apple; and though it is true that the Syrian apple is much inferior in flavour to the European apple, it has nevertheless been long esteemed in the East as a grateful and refreshing fruit, and valued in sickness on account of its restorative properties (W. R. Smith, in the Journ. of Phil. XV. 1885, p. 65 f., with quotations from Arabic authorities; and G. E. Post, in Clark's Bible Dictionary).

even all the trees of the field The trees most prized for their fruits are mentioned first; but in the end all alike are included as suffering in the visitation.

are dried up] The reference might be to the hard and dried appearance of the trees produced by the ravages of the locusts; but from Joel 1:17 it appears that the country was at the same time suffering from a protracted drought.

yea, joy is dried up better, with a pregnant construction, " sheweth shame (and is vanished) from the sons of men." The joy meant is that of which, directly or indirectly, the fruits of the earth, especially the harvest and the vintage, are the occasion: cf. Psalms 4:7; Psalms 104:15; Isaiah 9:3; Isaiah 16:10. The word rendered shew shamein Joel 1:10 and Joel 1:12 (twice) is exactly the same as that so rendered in Joel 1:11; and this is the more natural and obvious rendering of the word: it might, however, also just mean shew dryness(though elsewhere, where the same form is derived from the root to be dry, it has a causative force to make dry, and in Joel 1:12 this idea is expressed by the usual form for be dried up), and there may at least be a play upon this possible sense of the word.