_HE SHEWETH UNTO ZION THE TERRIBLENESS OF GOD'S JUDGMENT: HE EXHORTETH
TO REPENTANCE, PRESCRIBETH A FAST, AND PROMISETH A BLESSING THEREON:
HE COMFORTETH ZION WITH PRESENT AND FUTURE BLESSINGS._
_Before Christ 800._... [ Continue Reading ]
BLOW YE THE TRUMPET, &C.— The prophet in the preceding chapter
describes the locusts as the army of God; and now, in pursuance of the
same metaphor, exhorts the people to prepare to meet them, in the same
terms as if they were alarmed to oppose an enemy, which was always
done by the sound of the tru... [ Continue Reading ]
A DAY OF DARKNESS, &C.— We have in this and the following verses a
description of the locusts: their fierceness and speed, Joel 2:4.; the
noise and din of their approach, Joel 2:5.; the order and regularity
of their march, Joel 2:7.; their darkening the very lights of heaven
by their number and flig... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THEY LEAP, &C.— _Shall they make a sound; as the noise of a
flame of fire devouring the stubble._ Bochart has shewn abundantly how
this description agrees with the locusts. He tells us from several
authors, that they fly with a great noise, as St. John also describes
them, Revelation 9:9 that... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE THEIR FACE, &C.— _At their approach the people tremble: all
faces contract paleness._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL RUN, &C.— Bochart again shews how exactly this
description agrees with the locusts; first, _They shall run._ Now
their manner of fighting is thus described; they strike or wound, not
as they stand, but as they _run._ Secondly, _They run as mighty men:_
what are more innumerable or strong... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL RUN TO AND FRO— _Shall range about._ Bishop Warburton
observes, that the fine conversion of the subjects in Joel is
remarkable. The prophesy is delivered in the first chapter; _Awake, ye
drunkards,_ &c. and repeated in the second; _Blow, ye the trumpet,_
&c. In the first chapter the locus... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE HIS ARMY, &C.— _Before his army, that his camp may be very
great, that it be strong to execute his command for the day,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND REND YOUR HEART, &C.— The rending of garments was used by almost
all the ancients, as a token of deepest sorrow. The expression before
us is a proper Hebraism; and the truest sense of it is, _Rend your
hearts, and not your garments only._ The prophet does not forbid the
external appearances of g... [ Continue Reading ]
SANCTIFY THE CONGREGATION— We read in Exodus 19:10 of God's
commanding the people to sanctify themselves. This sanctification
consisted in their solemn preparation to come before God, by washing
themselves and their clothes, cleansing themselves from all legal
impurities, &c. as may be seen in Joel... [ Continue Reading ]
BETWEEN THE PORCH AND THE ALTAR— This porch seems to be the same
with that mentioned 1 Kings 6:3 which was twenty cubits long, and
overlaid within with pure gold, 2 Chronicles 3:4. This porch separated
the temple from the court of the priests; in which court was the altar
of burnt-offerings; and bet... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I WILL REMOVE, &C.— The locusts are here styled the _northern
army,_ because they entered the land at _Hamath,_ one of the northern
borders, and passed quite through it till they came to the southern
parts about the Dead Sea, which have been barren and desolate ever
since the overthrow of Sodom... [ Continue Reading ]
FEAR NOT, O LAND, &C.— In the former part of this prophesy the land
is elegantly represented as mourning, the beasts groaning, and the
herds of cattle as greatly distressed; the rivers of water as dried
up, and the pastures of the wilderness as all consumed. In the same
elegant strain the prophet ca... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FORMER RAIN MODERATELY— _The former rain in benignity:_ or, as
Houbigant renders it, _A teacher of righteousness._ See
_Observations,_ p. 22.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL RESTORE TO YOU THE YEARS, &C.— Concerning these _years,_
it said in chap. Joel 1:4 that _the locusts shall eat what the
palmer-worm hath left,_ &c. Chandler renders it, _I will recompense to
you the years,_ &c. God, says Houbigant, restored fertility to the
land, when he drove from Judaea... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE SHALL EAT IN PLENTY, &C.— _And ye shall certainly eat, and be
satisfied,_ &c. Dr. Sharpe observes, that these words cannot, with any
degree of sense, or propriety of language, be interpreted of any other
joyful event, than the return of captive Israel and Judah from
Babylon.... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTERWARD— Kimchi says, that this is the same as, _In the last
days,_ Isaiah 2:2 and it is explained by St. Peter, Acts 2:17 of the
times of the Gospel. The rabbies affirm, that wherever the words
occur, they denote the time of the Messiah; and therefore they refer
this prophesy expressly to his day... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL SHEW WONDERS, &C.— Whoever will be at the pains to
compare our Saviour's prophesy of the destruction of Jerusalem,
Matthew 24 with the present passage, will have no doubt concerning the
application of this part of Joel's prophesy.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL, &C.— This expression seems to have a double
meaning in the sacred writings. Sometimes it signifies to call oneself
by or to be called by the name of Jehovah: thus, Genesis 4:26. As it
is in the margin of our Bibles; _Then began men to call themselves by
the name of the Lord;_ t... [ Continue Reading ]