JOEL. — Compounded of Jehovah — El, the composite title of the God of Revelation and of Nature, which is the subject of Psalms 19. It was a favourite name among the Jews, and was borne by an ancestor of Samuel, who gave it to his elder son. There is nothing known of the personal history of Joel the... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH THIS BEEN IN YOUR DAYS. — The introduction points to the startling nature of the portent: it was unexampled; it was a cause of consternation to all who beheld it; it would be recollected as a subject of wondering comment among succeeding generations. The hand of God was evident, recalling the m... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WHICH THE PALMERWORM HATH LEFT. — The picture is introduced suddenly and graphically. “Behold the desolation!” “Note the cause.” The earth is bared by locusts beyond all previous experience. There were different sorts of locusts; as many as ninety have been reckoned. The four names, palmerworm,... [ Continue Reading ]
AWAKE, YE DRUNKARDS — _i.e.,_ awake from such an insensibility as wine causes. The people failed to see the hand of God in the terrible calamity, like an acted parable, of the locusts. Insensate, as the revellers in the halls of Belshazzar, they carried on their feasting even while the enemies were... [ Continue Reading ]
A NATION. — It was not uncommon with Hebrew writers to apply the name people or folk to animals, as, “The ants are a people not strong;” “The conies are but a feeble folk” (Proverbs 30:25); but the word used by Joel is different from that in the Proverbs. He selected a word indicative of _foreign_ n... [ Continue Reading ]
MY VINE. — This expression might well captivate the Jewish ear. God appropriates to Himself this land on which the trouble was, by His providence, to fall, and in wrath remembers mercy. It is “my vine,” “my fig-tree,” the people of God’s own choice, that were afflicted; and the affliction, however f... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE HUSBAND OF HER YOUTH. — The land is addressed as a virgin betrothed, but not yet married, and forfeiting her marriage by unworthy conduct. Such was the relation of Israel to the Lord: He was faithful, but Israel unfaithful. Now let her mourn the penalty.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MEAT OFFERING AND THE DRINK OFFERING — _i.e.,_ all the outward and visible signs of communion with God are cut off. The means are lost through this visitation. There is a total cessation of “the creatures of bread and wine.” The immediate significance of this fact is naturally appreciated first... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NEW WINE. — The necessaries and delights of life are all gone: “the wine that maketh glad the heart of man, the oil that makes his face to shine, the bread that strengthened man’s heart” (Psalms 104:15).... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VINE IS DRIED UP. — The ravages produced by the locusts and the drought are universal. There seems to be a method in the enumeration of the trees. The vine is the favourite term for the chosen people; the fig-tree has its life prolonged at the intercession of the “dresser of the vineyard,” in ou... [ Continue Reading ]
GIRD YOURSELVES, AND LAMENT. — The priests are exhorted to commence preparations for a national humiliation, beginning with themselves; for the visitation touches them in a vital part: they have no sacrifices to offer to the Lord.... [ Continue Reading ]
A SOLEMN ASSEMBLY. — The Hebrew word strictly means a festival day, on which the people gathered themselves together, being relieved from work. Here they are summoned for a fast. The word may also be translated, as in the margin, “a day of restraint,” its root signifying _to shut, to hold back. _... [ Continue Reading ]
ALAS. — The exclamation is repeated three times in the LXX. and Vulg., thus giving occasion to Jeremy Taylor’s comment: “When the prophet Joel was describing the formidable accidents in the day of the Lord’s judgment, and the fearful sentence of an angry judge, he was not able to express it, but sta... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CORN IS WITHERED. — The results of the terrible drought, coincident with the ravages of the locusts, are now described. The ancient versions present difficulty and variety in the exact rendering of this verse, owing to several words occurring in it being not found elsewhere in Holy Scripture. On... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW DO THE BEASTS GROAN. — All creation is represented as sharing in the dread perplexity; the beasts are involved in it, as also in Nineveh the animals were united in the proclamation of the general fast by the king’s decree, when he had heard of the preaching of Jonah.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FIRE HATH DEVOURED. — This may be explained as produced by the scorching heat bringing about spontaneous combustion, or by the efforts of the people to exterminate the locusts by burning the trees, or by the mark, as of fire, left upon all vegetation after the locusts had finished their work of... [ Continue Reading ]
THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD CRY ALSO UNTO THEE. — The prophet has cried to God; the very beasts echo that cry, “looking up” to Him. As yet, man seems dumb.... [ Continue Reading ]