Joel 1

Exposition of the Text“ The word of Jehovah, that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel” (Joe 1:11). In this introductory statement, the writer identifies himself and claims a divine origin for his message.

The Natural Calamity, Its Meaning and the Response Demanded (Joe 1:2 to Joe 2:27)The prophet, describes the devastation of the locusts and drought (Joe 1:2 to Joe 2:11). In the first twelve verses, Joel calls upon his hearers to contemplate the meaning of what had happened to them. “ Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation” (Joe 1:2-3). Joel appeals to the aged, whose experience was the largest and whose memory was the longest, if ever they had seen or heard of such a heavy judgment? Similar words were used to describe the locust plaque in Egypt when God delivered Israel (Exodus 10:4-6). He then charges them to be diligent in passing on the record of this judgment to generations yet to come. In the ancient world, their history was passed on orally by the older people who had learned from those who had gone before them. Moses urged the people of his day to take heed, lest they forget the things which their eyes saw, and “ make them known to their children” and their children’ s (Deuteronomy 4:9). So did the psalmist (Psalms 78:5-8). “ That which the palmerworm, hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten” (Joe 1:4). The terms palmer- worm, locust, cankerworm, and caterpillar in 1:4 refers to locust in their different stages of growth. They pass through five stages of development: egg, larva, pupae, young fliers and mature flies. Driver renders the words: shearer, swarmer, lapper, and finisher. Haupt translates the passage thusly: “ What the old locust left, the newly hatched hopper ate; what the hopper left, the (pupae) crawler ate, what the crawler left, the (mature) fliers ate.”Three views have been offered regarding the locust. Allegorical. This view sees them as figurative of hostile nations that invaded Israel. Apocalyptic. This sees them symbolizing the awful judgments of the end time. Natural or Historical. This understands the prophet to be recording an actual locust plague in the history of Israel. To this view this author subscribes. The locusts had stripped their land and left them helpless and starving in their wake. Today America and other prosperous nations would rush emergency food supplies to a nation in such circumstances. Great airplanes would fly in tons of food. In those distant times, a nation was left to struggle alone in their crisis. “ Awake, ye drunkards, and weep: and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth” (Joe 1:5). While drunkenness is condemned in other places (See Isaiah 5:11; Isaiah 28:13), in this passage Joel is calling them to soberness that they might fully realize the extent of their ruin. The locust had not only eaten the crops in the fields, they had also destroyed the vineyards and orchards (Joe 1:7). Those who abused wine and those who drank fresh grape juice would be deprived because of the locusts. Wine in its various forms was the principal beverage among the Hebrews. “ For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white” (Joe 1:6-7). The “ nation,” that had invaded them was the locusts. Because of their vast numbers, 100-200 million per square mile, and because of their destructive power, he described them as an invading army. In that day, they were invincible. See the introductory section for more information on locusts. Shifting metaphors, Joel likens the locusts to lions. Though a single locust is tiny and when alone no threat at all, in a great swarm such as the people faced, the mouths of the locusts were deadly and destructive as a lion. Remember that his words are figurative. Locusts have no teeth such as lions have. Having first cleaned the greenery of the land, the hungry insects ate the tender branches and stripped the bark off the vines and trees leaving the white inner flesh exposed. Thus barked, a tree or vine would soon dry up and die. We can imagine seeing the land barren or like a wilderness with the whiten poles of its dead trees standing as stark grave markers. He says to the priests: “ Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord; the priests, Jehovah’ s ministers, mourn”(Joe 1:8-9). To lament means to mourn bitterly. “ Like” tells, us the comparison is a simile. “ Sackcloth” was the coarse cloth worn in times of great sorrow, such as death of a family member. They should mourn like a virgin for the husband of her youth. In those days a young woman was considered the wife of a man from the time of her betrothal (Deuteronomy 22:22-29). Yet during the engagement period she lived with her relatives and did not have direct contact with her husband to be.

Her sorrow would he especially great if he died before they were privileged to share their lives together. So should the priests of Jehovah’ s temple mourn, because the famine was so severe that no meal offerings or drink offerings could be offered at God’ s house. The meal or meat offering consisted of flour, oil and frankincense (Leviticus 2:1­3). A portion was burned and the rest went to the priests. The drink offering was of wine (Leviticus 23:13). Without the flour, oil, and wine the priests could not offer the daily sacrifice of the temple (Exodus 29:38-42). God had promised to meet with Aaron’ s sons at the door of the tent of meeting each day when they offered the daily meal and drink offering. He then calls upon the husbandmen and vine dressers to consider their plight: “ The field is laid waste, the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be confounded, O ye husbandmen, wail, O ye vine dressers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is withered, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men” (Joe 1:10-12). Joel plays upon the sound of the words. In the original, verse 10a would be expressed as follows, “ the field fails,” “ the ground grieves” (J. J. Given). Having introduced the fact that the meat and drink offerings were cut off, he proceeds to note specifically that the grain, wine, and oil (ingredients of those offerings) are destroyed. “ Husbandmen” are tillers of the soil or farmers. They mourn because their entire crop is lost. Not only will it mean economic loss, but hunger as well.

The “ pomegranate tree” is indigenous to Palestine. It grows to a height of 20 feet and has spreading branches with beautiful red blossoms. Its fruit has an orange-brown color and pleasing to the taste. The “ palm tree” refers to the date palm which was important for its fruit production. It grows up to 100 ft. in height. The “ apple tree” is likely a generic term referring to an aromatic fruit and might include, either the apple, apricot, or quince (Laetsch). The Arabs include oranges, lemons, and peaches in the same genre (Henderson). “ The trees of the field” refers to other than fruit bearing trees. None had escaped the teeth of the locusts. “ Joy is withered away,” because of their devastating losses. No food, no provisions for worship, no harvest celebrations, only the cruel spectra of famine stalking their land. He next issues a charge to the priests: “ Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, ye priests; wail, ye ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering are withholden from the house of your God” (Joe 1:13). He uses a parallelism of three lines to emphasize his point. Three times he refers to the sons of Aaron in slightly different terms: “ Ye priests,” “ ye ministers of the altar,” “ ye ministers of my God.” His point is that they, the spiritual leaders of the nation, must lead the way in repentance and mourning. For before restoration of blessings and renewal can come, there must be repentance and reformation in the hearts and lives of the people. He continues his charge to the priests, saying, “ Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the old men and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto Jehovah” (Joe 1:14). The drastic situation demanded a drastic response. He calls for a national day of fasting and mourning. King Jehoshaphat called for such a fast when the nation was threatened by an invasion of the Moabites, Amorites, and Edomites (2 Chronicles 20:3). (See also Judges 20:26-27 and Jeremiah 36:9). There was to be a special assembly at the temple of God where they could petition the Lord for mercy. “ The old men” likely refers to the elders of the people who would lead the way in their appeal to God. Considering verses 13-14, we can determine the essential ingredients of such a solemn occasion; a gathering for divine worship, garments of mourning; abstinence from food, confession of sin and petitions for mercy and assistance. The words of mourning expressed by the prophet (1:15-20), were an example of the words and sentiments the people should lift up unto God. “ Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come” (Joe 1:15). “ Alas” is a term expressing unhappiness or misery. “ The day of Jehovah” in this text should not be understood as the day of final judgment. It was a term used for any intervention of divine judgment upon a people. All such days do foreshadow that last great day of judgment when the heavens and earth shall be destroyed (2 Peter 3:10; 2 Peter 3:12). “ The day of God” which they mourned was the one of locust plague and drought. The prophet stresses, that they should see the plague, not just as an unfortunate event in nature, but as “ destruction from the Almighty.”“ Is not the food cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? (Joe 1:16). In these words he describes the awful consequences of the locust.

The fruit of their trees and crops in the fields was devoured before their eyes. This was no hyperbole. Thompson, in his volume, The Land and the Book, writes, “ I saw under my own eyes not only a large vineyard loaded with young grapes, but whole fields of com disappear as if by magic; the crops of the husbandman vanish like smoke” (p. 418). By adding the ellipsis we can better understand the second point he makes. “ Joy and gladness (are cut oft) from the house of our God.” Because, the crops were destroyed, no grain for meal offerings and no wine for drink offerings would be brought to the temple. No rejoicing or celebration of worship and holy days would be experienced under those circumstances. Moses had taught them that when they brought their gifts to God’ s house “ there ye shall eat before Jehovah and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto….” (Deuteronomy 12:7). The word “ meat” in the KJV is confusing, the ASV translators correctly render it “ food.” Verses 17-20 of chapter one describe the result of the drought that had come along with the locusts. “ The seeds rot under their clods; the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down for the grain is withered” (Joe 1:17). The locusts devoured the standing crop. When they replanted, the seed did not germinate because of drought. That which did sprout withered. Store housed, granaries were neglected because there were no crops to store. “ How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea the flocks of sheep are made desolate. O Jehovah, o thee do I cry; for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field, yea, the beasts of the field pant unto thee; for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness” (Joe 1:18-20). He describes the domesticated animals as bewildered in their futile search for food, lowing and bleating in their hunger. The animals, although innocent of any crime, still suffered with the sinners. Nor could the creatures understand why such was happening. The prophet felt sympathy for the poor creatures. He knew God’ s concern for both men and beast. ( See Psalms 36:5-10).

“ The fire” that devoured the pastures and “ the flame” that burned the trees are metaphors to describe the searing heat of the drought which is as destructive to the vegetation as would be a fire. It might also refer to literal fire for when the land is tender dry from drought, fires easily break out and ravage the land. Also the ancients set fires before the oncoming locust hoping to destroy them or at least to turn them away from their crops.

Joel Chapter OneVerse 1 This whole chapter (Joe 1:1-20) relates to a terrible and destructive locust plague that came upon Israel, particularly Judah, a disaster so overwhelming that no escape was possible. The fact of it is dramatically stated (Joe 1:1-4); the prophet’s admonition to the people is given in three terse commandments: (1) “Awake …” (Joe 1:5-7), (2) “Lament” (Joe 1:8-12), and (3) “Gird yourselves with sackcloth …” (Joe 1:13-14). Despite the fact of these appeals being directed to three different classes, namely, the drunkards, the agricultural community, and the priests, they should be understood as applicable generally to all the people, and not merely to specific groups. As in many another human disaster resulting from natural causes, the prophets of God, and all persons with spiritual discernment, have invariable associated such things with the wrath of God, due to divine disapproval of human sin and wickedness. Joel at once concluded that the locust disaster was a harbinger of “the day of the Lord,” a truth that is not nullified by the fact that the Final Judgment was not to occur for at least 2,700 years! That disaster which so long ago brought fear and despair to a portion of the earth’s population was a type of the final and eternal judgment that shall overwhelm all men; and significantly, many other such natural disasters since that time (as well as before that time) should be understood in exactly the same way! We must therefore reject the superficial interpretation of the final paragraph of this chapter (Joe 1:15-20) which views it merely as Joel’s foolish fear that the end of time was at hand. Joe 1:1“The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.““The word of Jehovah …” This phrase identifies the content of this prophecy as the inviolate and eternal word of Almighty God, and so we receive and interpret it. It had an immediate and compelling relevance to the first generation that received it and is no less pertinent and relevant to our own times. Great natural disasters are still taking place on earth, in the face of which men are just as powerless and helpless as were the ancient Jews who struggled against an overwhelming invasion of devastating locusts. God wanted his people to see in that natural catastrophe something far more than merely an awesome natural phenomenon; and therefore God moved to reveal through his holy prophet what the genuine significance of such an event really is. This significance still should be recognized in all physical disasters that torment and destroy men upon earth, as was beautifully discerned by Boren: “It is my conviction that the eruption of Mount St. Helens is an awesome display of the omnipotent power of God, and one of the countless warnings of God to humankind of impending judgment! Certainly, God warns through his word; but he also warns through the observable cataclysmic happenings of the natural world."[1]One of the reasons, therefore, why God gave his word to Joel upon the occasion of a great natural disaster is that men of all subsequent centuries should know how to interpret such things. It is wrong to refer the judgments and conclusions that are set forth in Joel as merely the judgments and conclusions of the prophet himself. On the day of Pentecost, an inspired apostle of Christ said: “This is that which hath been spoken through the prophet Joel: And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour forth of my Spirit …. etc.” (Acts 2:16-17). Note particularly the words “spoken through the prophet Joel … saith God …” We may be certain therefore that no merely naturalistic origin of the great conclusions in Joel is possible. The words spoken and the conclusions given are of God Himself, and not merely based upon the prophet’s fears, interpretations and discernments. For this reason, such interpretations as the following should be rejected: “So terrible was the devastation that the prophet feared that Yahweh’s Day, the judgment of Yahweh’s people, was near at hand.[2] Joel regards the locust plague as comparable to any other mighty act of Israel’s history."[3]It was not merely Joel’s fears that connected the locust plague with the Day of the Lord; it was not merely Joel’s private conclusion that the locust plague was comparable to any other mighty act of God in the history of Israel. These conclusions were part of the “word of Jehovah” which came to Joel. “Joel the son of Pethuel …” Despite the fact of there being a dozen persons named “Joel” in the O.T., the name “Pethuel” is found nowhere else. It has the utility, thus, of dissociating Joel from others of the same name in Hebrew history. The use of expressions like, “son of … etc.” “was analogous to our use of second names."[4]Verse 2 “Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers?““Old men …” This is not a reference to some special class of leaders among the people, but merely an appeal to those of the most advanced age who could more readily confirm the uniqueness of the disaster that was upon them. “All ye inhabitants of the land …” The whole prophecy is addressed to all the people, and not merely, to special classes. “Hear this …” The prophet, having himself heard God’s Word is constrained to share it with others. God’s Word is never for our selfish enjoyment; it brings with it a responsibility for others. Perhaps that is why, in the N.T., so much stress is laid on oral confession of Jesus Christ (Romans 10:9)[5]The New English Bible is obviously correct in rendering “aged men” in this verse instead of “elders,” since it is not of “the rulers” of the people that the prophet speaks here, but merely of those of great age, who neither in their own lives or that of their ancestors as communicated to them had there ever occurred anything of the magnitude of that overwhelming infestation of locusts. Verse 3 “Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.“Locust plagues were ordinary experiences in that part of the world during the times of Joel, and for centuries prior to and subsequently to his times, as indeed they still are; but this was not an ordinary locust plague. The special significance of this one related not only to its severity, but also to the fact that it is seen as a prelude to the divine devastation the prophet envisions for the disobedient people of God, and those nations which have oppressed her.[6]“Tell ye your children … etc.” There is unmistakable allusion to Exodus 10:2, where the Lord charges Moses to tell Pharaoh that he will do signs,"[7] with similar instructions for Pharaoh to tell his sons, etc. This indicates that this mighty plague was comparable in gravity and origin to the plagues of Egypt and the deliverance of God’s people through the Red Sea. It must not be understood as merely an extraordinary natural phenomenon, but as a direct judgment of God upon wickedness. The reason why the details of this disaster were to be remembered and passed on to succeeding generations was rightly stated by Myers, “as a deterrent to sin."[8]The proper understanding and interpretation of such natural disasters as that recounted in Joel must always include the discernment of God’s hand in them. “God would ever have his children recognize his hand in all such visitations. For the believer, there are no second causes. The Lord has said, “I Jehovah create peace, and create evil.” And he asks the question, “Shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?” (Isaiah 45:7; Amos 3:6).[9]Verse 4 “That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.“The two great problems of interpretation encountered in this verse regard (1) the four different names applied to the destroying insects, and (2) the question of whether or not this was a literal infestation. As to the four different names, they have been supposed to refer to the locust at various stages of its development, but the most thorough studies of that insect do not reveal four different phases in its life cycle. As Keil said, “These words never appear in simple plain prose,"[10] and all of them may therefore be poetic references to the same insect. “The four names are not names applied in natural history to four distinct species."[11]The question about whether this was a literal disaster, or perhaps a symbolical depiction of some future event prophesied by Joel, is decided by Joe 1:3, where there is an undeniable reference to Exodus 10:2, with the mandatory deduction that this disaster was comparable to the Egyptian plagues, which, of course, were literal events. The allegorical interpretation of these locusts, however, has been very attractive to whole generations of interpreters. On the margin of the Greek Codex Marchalianus (Q) of the sixth century, the words for locusts in Joe 2:25 are identified with the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Greeks … According to Merx, Joel’s locusts are supernatural apocalyptic creatures in Joel 1, and symbols of the invading armies of the end times in Joel 2.[12]The denial that the locusts were a literal disaster is totally frustrated by “before our eyes” (Joe 1:16). That the recapitulation of the disaster in Joel 2 indeed has overtones of the end times can hardly be discounted, due principally to the manner of the apostle John’s treatment of the locusts in Revelation 9. The palmer-worm, locust, canker-worm, and caterpillar may therefore be understood in this chapter as saying that, “One swarm of locusts after another has invaded the land, and completely devoured its fruit."[13]The notion that plagues in successive years are meant is from the mention of “the years that the locust hath eaten” (Joe 2:25); but, again, from Keil: We cannot possibly think of the field and garden fruits of two successive years, because the fruits of the second year are not the leavings of the previous year, but have grown afresh in the year itself.[14]Before leaving this verse, it is of interest that Deere translated the four names as, “shearer, swarmer, lapper, and devourer, describing four of the eighty or ninety species of locusts in the East."[15] This understanding of the terms as different kinds of locusts is widely accepted; but the view preferred here is that the words are poetic descriptions of wave after wave of the devouring insects. Verse 5 “Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.“Joel viewed the locust plague as a manifestation of God’s displeasure due to the sins of his people; and, quite appropriately, he directed his first great admonition, “Awake,” to a prominent class of sinners always present in any wicked society, the drunkards. Naturally, the destruction of all vegetation, including the vineyards, would have interrupted and cut off the supply of intoxicants. Notably, Joel did not address this class as unfortunates overcome by some innocent disease. Ah no. The Biblical view of drinking intoxicants and wallowing in drunkenness relates such conditions to wickedness, and not to disease. Our own current society has repudiated this view; but it is nevertheless correct. As Shakespeare put it: O thou invisible spirit of wine, If thou hast no name to be known by, let Us call thee devil.[16]Thomas’ comment on this whole verse is pertinent: Awake, you are sleeping on the bosom of a volcanic hill about to burst and engulf you. And weep, because of the blessings you have abused, the injuries you have inflicted upon your own natures, and upon others; weep because of the sins you have committed against yourself, society, and God. Howl, all ye drinkers of wine… If you were aware of your true situation, you would howl indeed, howl out your soul in confession and prayer![17]Verse 6 “For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness.““For a nation …” This expression, of course, has been made a basis of advocating a symbolical interpretation of the locusts. Such a personification of locusts is in keeping with the Biblical description of ants and conies as “folk” and “people” (Proverbs 30:25-27), and it is interpreted here as metaphorical description of the locusts. However, there very well may be here an overtone of the wider application of the locust invasion that appears in Joel 2. As Kennedy said, “Viewed collectively, they were like an invading army. Such indeed is the suggestion of the phrase has come up against my land (cf. 2 Kings 18:13)."[18] Barnes was probably correct in his understanding that: Here it is used, in order to include at once, the irrational invader, guided by a Reason above his own, and the heathen conqueror. For this enemy is come up upon my land, the Lord’s land.[19]Verse 7 “He hath laid my vine waste, and hath barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.““Barked” may also be translated “splintered”; and some commentators have viewed this as hyperbole. “The locusts could not splinter the fig-tree”;[20] but such a view is due to a failure to take into consideration what would happen to a soft and brittle branch of a fig-tree when overloaded with an incredibly large swarm of locusts which would literally break it off. Certainly the devastation of locusts is too widely known in the East to make possible any claim of exaggeration on Joel’s part, even for the sake of emphasis. Verse 8 “Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.““Like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth …” This refers to the mourning of a virgin espoused to her husband whose life ended before the consummation of the marriage, a grief that was considered to be particularly anguished by the Hebrews. It is, of course, the Jewish ancient customs regarding marriage that appear in such a reference as this. It will be remembered that Joseph, the husband of Mary, was troubled by what he at first thought to be a reflection upon the chastity of his wife during their espousal, and before the marriage had really begun (Matthew 1:18-24). Also, there is a reminder here that the chosen people themselves, the nation of Israel, were frequently compared to a beautiful virgin. “The real subject here is the congregation or people of Judah, as suggested in the Chaldee."[21]Verse 9 “The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, Jehovah’s ministers, mourn.“Naturally, with the total destruction of all crops and vegetation, the usual sacrifices in the temple were curtailed and eliminated. Joel’s speaking of the priests here in the third person is taken to indicate that he was not of their number. It is incorrect to make Joel’s concern for this interruption of the sacrifices as the basis of postulating a late post-exilic date when the congregation in Judah was very small; because the total devastation inflicted by the locusts would have produced a similar effect whenever it might have occurred. The seriousness of this cessation of the daily offerings was inherent in the people’s conviction that by the means of those sacrifices their fellowship with God was perpetuated and maintained. “Without those offerings, the people felt loss of contact with the Lord; and the priests, who understood their significance, mourned."[22] In spite of the reluctance of the people to cut off the supplies necessary to the faithful observances of the sacrifices, however, “there was no food left for man or beast[23] No wonder that the priests mourned, for their very livelihood depended upon the offerings out of which they lived. Verse 10 “The field is laid waste, the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be confounded, O ye husbandmen. Wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is withered, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered: for joy is withered away from the sons of men.“This paragraph depicting the devastation of the locust scourge is as moving and dramatic a presentation as can be imagined. There is no need of help of any kind in understanding the full meaning of such a description; it is a classic. Something in it reminds us of that sorrowful and heart-moving speech delivered by Sir Winston Churchill at a low water mark of Great Britain’s struggle against Hitler in World War II: “Singapore has fallen.

The Prince of Wales is lost. The Repulse is at the bottom of the sea!” There is something of that same epic tragedy in Joel’s wonderful words here. As Deane commented: “The field is wasted; the ground mourns; the corn is wasted; the new wine is spoiled; the oil decays!” - What a scene of desolation! yet how briefly and forcibly depicted! We see it all; we want nothing more to present it to our eyes.Pictures taken after a locust plague in 1915 show branches of trees completely devoid of bark and glistening white in the heat of the sun.[25]A marvelous description of the locust plague is given in the National Geographic Magazine for August, 1969, under the title, “The Teeth of the Wind.” A heavy locust flight actually darkens the sun and brings utter devastation in its wake. Verse 13 “Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, ye priests; wail, ye ministers of’ the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meal-offering and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God. Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the old men and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovah your God, and cry unto Jehovah.“This appeal for the priests of God’s religion to bestir themselves upon behalf of arousing the nation to repentance, prayer, and fasting indicates that it had been the wickedness of the people which had precipitated the onset of the plague. This interpretation of great natural calamities and disasters is not superstitious, at all, but Biblical. God is still concerned with the behavior of his human creation; and, beginning with the primeval curse upon the ground for Adam’s sake (Genesis 3:17-19), the Lord has continually ordered the affairs of his world in such a manner as to prevent man’s becoming too complacent and comfortable in his earthly environment. It is this basic fact which underlies this appeal to the priests to stir up the people in the direction of righteousness and more whole-hearted observance of their religious duties. The calling of a solemn public assembly, the proclamation of a fast, and the public and private prayers offered to God for the alleviation of their distress were an entirely appropriate response to the threat of starvation and death which had come upon them in the locust plague. What other response should sinful, fallible and helpless men make to a situation which is totally beyond their control? It was a very similar thing which the Ninevites did under the threat of the preaching of Jonah. This is the way that Jehoshaphat responded to the impending attack by the allied armies of Moab, Ammon, and Edom; and this is exactly what Jehoiakim and Ezra did in the face of dangers which, without the help of God, they knew would destroy them. Modern men sometimes imagine that they are able to deal with everything that may happen, feeling no need for prayers and supplications to God; but this is an erroneous and short-sighted blindness, which, historically, God has repeatedly moved to correct; and one may feel sure that he will do so again. The priests and leaders of the people were called upon to lead the way in this national response to the threat of death and destruction; and this was probably done for two reasons. First, the priests and national leaders were sinners in exactly the same way as the rest of the nation; and secondly, their example was sorely needed in order to arouse as nearly unanimous response as possible. The reference to meal-offering and drink-offering in this verse has been alleged to indicate a post-exilic date; but one should be very wary of such allegations. Scholars, in their enthusiasm to maintain their postulations, sometimes go overboard in making deductions from totally insufficient premises. Regarding this, Robertson wrote: “The only ritual references (in Joel) are to the meal-offering and the drink-offering, and these were characteristically not post-exiUan. Indeed, they may be regarded as primitive forms of offerings!"[26]Verse 15 “Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.“In this verse, Joel went a step beyond the terrible visitation of the locusts threatening starvation and death to the whole nation; and he prophesied that “the day of Jehovah is at hand!” The Biblical use of this expression is enlightening; and we shall devote some space to a discussion of it. “The day of the Lord” has two meanings in the prophetic use of the expression: (1) It means any time of severe visitation inflicted upon either nations or upon all mankind by the judgment of God upon human sin and unrighteousness. In his famed Olivet discourse, the Lord Jesus clearly referred to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Jewish temple as his “coming” in judgment upon Israel, a summary judgment which followed as the direct result of their terminal rebellion against God in the rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah. From this, it is clearly seen that other great historical judgments upon such wicked cities as Tyre, Sidon, Nineveh, Babylon, Sodom, and Gomorrah were exactly the same type of visitation that fell upon Jerusalem. (2) The ultimate meaning of “day of the Lord” identifies it with the final and terminal destruction of the entire posterity of Adam and Eve upon the great occasion of the eternal Judgment Day, when the dead shall be raised, the righteous redeemed, and the wicked turned aside forever. These distinctively different meanings were not always clear to the prophets who used the phrase (which actually came from God); indeed, it is safe to assume that they might never have known the full meaning of what they prophesied, as detailed by the apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1:10-12. The holy prophets were not concerned with fully understanding what the message from God might have been, but with delivering it accurately to their fellow men. The nature of the “day of the Lord,” whatever the specific situation foretold, is clearly given in this verse. “As destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” From this it is plain that the “day of the Lord” never referred to a benign and peaceful event, but to “destruction.” This is what it meant for the antediluvian world which was destroyed from the face of the earth because of their wickedness; and that is what it invariably meant in all the other instances of it which have been cited. Furthermore, this is what it will ultimately mean at the Final Judgment at the Second Coming of Christ. That will be the occasion when the primeval sentence imposed upon the progenitors of the human race for their rebellion in the Garden of Eden will be finally and irrevocably executed upon them in the person of their total posterity, the unique exceptions to the universal destruction of that Day being only those who have been redeemed through the blood of Christ. Thus, when one of the ancient prophets referred to “the day of Jehovah,” it always referred, not merely to the Final Arraignment and Punishment of mankind, but to any lesser judgment that might be imposed upon specific sectors of humanity (or even upon all of it) in the period intervening before that Final Day. “For Joel, as for the other prophets, ’the day of the Lord’ is always at hand."[27] “Joel did not mean that the day of the Lord, in its full prophetic sense, of the revelation of Christ … was really to occur in their times."[28] However, Joel did see in that terrible locust plague “a warning of ’the day of Jehovah’ which was to come."[29]Furthermore, it was a warning that other occasions of ’the day of Jehovah’ were in store for Israel. Historically, it was only a little while before the Assyrians and the Babylonians would come and execute “the day of Jehovah,” not merely upon the northern kingdom, but upon the southern kingdom of Israel as well. Thus Joel very accurately foretold future judgments upon Israel, taking the locust disaster as an omen, or an earnest, of an even greater judgment (or judgments) yet to come. Deane correctly discerned this: “The day of the Lord,” first mentioned, it is said, by Joel, is the day when God inflicts punishment upon sinners, as in the present instances; it may be a presage of that judgment that brought ruin to their city, temple, and nation. It may be an emblem of that judgment that wound up their nation by the destruction of their capital, or even of the final judgment when God shall destroy the impenitent sinners and deliver his saints.[30]It is totally wrong to allege that Joel himself understood all that was indicated by his prophecy here of “the day of the Lord”; nor is it possible to suppose that even today students of the Holy Scriptures have any complete knowledge of all that is meant. In view of the unmistakable overtones associated with “the day of Jehovah,” full agreement is felt with Jamieson who noted that, “Here the transition begins from the plague of locusts to the worse calamities (Joel 2) from invading armies about to come on Judea, of which the locusts were the prelude."[31] As Barnes put it, “All judgment in time is an image of the judgment for eternity."[32]Verse 16 “Is not the food cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of God? The seeds rot under their clods; the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.“This is a further emphasis upon the severity of the plague; and it is evident that the scourge of the locusts has been compounded and multiplied by drought. The situation appeared to be utterly hopeless. Without food or pasture, the herds of sheep and cattle would soon die; a disaster of the greatest magnitude was upon them. What with the locusts devouring all that appeared above ground, and the drought destroying the seeds sown under the surface, the havoc was complete; famine and distress afflicted both man and beast.[33]Verse 19 “O Jehovah, to thee do I cry; for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. Yea, the beasts of the field pant unto thee; for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.“We do not see any need whatever to understand “fire” and “flame” in these verses as a metaphorical reference to the locusts and the drought; the danger of fire increases in direct proportion to the dryness of the vegetation and the atmosphere, as any forest ranger knows; and with the extended devastation and drought already described, the breakout of terribly destructive fires would have been certain. If nothing else was available to set them off, a stroke of lightning would have been sufficient. For that reason, we feel it necessary to disagree with Keil, who wrote: “Fire and flame are the terms used by the prophet to denote the burning heat of the drought, which consumes the meadows and even scorches the trees. This is very obvious from the drying up of the water brooks.[34]Summarizing what the chapter reveals about the cataclysmic disaster: it resulted from wave after wave of devouring locusts who ate up every green thing, and was made more complete by the ravages of a drought so severe that the very watercourses became dry, and then was climaxed by forest and dry-grass fires which raged out of control in the super-dry “trees of the field” and the “pastures of the wilderness.” No greater calamity could be imagined in a society predominantly agricultural and pastoral. “O Jehovah, to thee do I cry …” In the last analysis, there is none other, except God, to whom the helpless and the hopeless may appeal. Even the rabbit cries out in the clutches of the hawk! Man instinctively cries to his Creator in the face of death and destruction.

Joel 1:1

Joe 1:1. There were a great many men bearing the name of Joel in the Old Testament time, hence it was proper for the writer of our book to designate which one was meant. The statement that the word of the Lord came to Joel is equivalent to saying that the book is inspired of the Lord.

Joel 1:2

Joe 1:2. The idea of this verse is that the condition about to be de¬scribed was without a likeness, either in the present or the following days.

Joel 1:3

Joe 1:3. Tell ye your children is a general instruction to spread the information to ali generations both present and future.

Joel 1:4

Joe 1:4. The subject that is referred to in the foregoing verses is now introduced in this. I have consulted various books on the subject of these pests as to whether they were literal or figurative, and there is left still the uncertainty among them as to the true answer. However, the purposes of the lesson to be derived will be the same, whether the literal or figurative view be taken. We know from Deuteronomy 28:38-39; 1 Kings 8:37; Leviticus 26:16 and such other passages, that the Lord did afflict the land with lit¬eral pests at times as a chastisement of the people. And we also know that the country was short of being as true to God as it should have been when Joel lived, and was deserving of some kind of judgment from the Lord for the same, It was also true that God intended to punish his people by the hand of a foreign army, and the pests could have reference to that.

Or, the locusts and other insects could have been literal, and then used by the Lord as a type of the invading army that was to be let loose upon the land to take away all its wealth. I shad leave this question to the consideration of the reader, and proceed to comment on the several chapters and verses in their order, explaining the various terms as they are used.

Joel 1:5

Joe 1:5, The leaders of the nation were selfish and indulged themselves in the luxuries of the land to the detri¬ment of the people. Weep . . . because of the neto wine means for them to weep because It was to he cut off from their mouth. This would have been true whether literal pests were to de¬stroy the products of the land, or they were to be cut off by an invading army.

Joel 1:6

Joe 1:6, The language of this verse is a strong indication that the Lord means an army from a heathen country, for the descriptive terms certainly apply to such.

Joel 1:7

Joe 1:7. The grammatical form of this verse is in the past or present tense, but that is a common thing to find among prophetic writings. As the fruitbearing plants would be rendered barren by being treated as it is here described, so the invasion by a foreign army would destroy the products of the land as far as their moral and political usefulness was concerned.

Joel 1:8

Joe 1:8. The nation of Israel has always been compared to a companion in the marriage relation. The word virgin might seem to be contradictory of a woman who is supposed to be a wife. The word is from , which Strong defines, “ Feminine past participle of an unused root meaning to separate; a virgin (from her pri¬vacy); sometimes (by continuation) a bride.” The idea is to compare Israel to a woman who was put away from her husband in their early married life, and compelled to live alone as if she were a virgin. The fulfillment of it was to be when Israel was sent away from the husband’s home (Palestine) and made to live among Btrangers. A young woman in such a situation would follow the custom of the day and clothe herself with this coarse materia! which we know as common sacking.

Joel 1:9

Joe 1:9. It was true that the ser¬vices of the altar had been literally neglected and abused, but as a proph¬ecy the time was coming when such practices would be stopped altogether, for God would not permit his people to attempt them in a heathen country.

Joel 1:10

Joe 1:10, This verse is a prediction of the condition to come upon the land after the invasion of the Babylonian army.

Joel 1:11

Joe 1:11. The leaders of the nation are likened to husbandmen and vinedressers. But they had abused their position in the fjord’s vineyard and hence were destined Lo be deprived of all their privileges. Be ye ashamed is a prediction of the humiliation that was to be imposed upon them by the power of a foreign army.

Joel 1:12

Joe 1:12. There is nothing new in this verse, but it is a repetition of the devastation awaiting the unfaithful nation to be effected by the hand of Babylon.

Joel 1:13

Joe 1:13. Gird yourselves means for them to be prepared in mind for what was to come. It could not indicate that they were to prepare a defence against the enemy, for it had been declared many times that the invasion was bound to come, and that it would be according to the Lord’s decree. The rest of the verse is the same as several of the preceding ones as to the general devastation to come on the land.

Joel 1:14

Joe 1:14. The law of Moses did not require fasting as a regular practice, hut on special occasions the Lord called for it, and the present is one of them. Most of the gatherings had been turned into mere formalities that left no beneficial results upon the minds of the people. Now the Lord calls for them to sanctify a fast, which means to put on a season of fasting that, is holy because it is sincere and observed from respect for God, The leaders were to assemble the people in the temple because that was the lawful place for public worship and prayers to God, They were to cry unto the Lord because of the great, tniqutty of the land, and the distress that it was going to bring upon it as a punishment.

Joel 1:15

Verse 15. Bay of the Lord denotes that the calamity about to be inflicted upon the nation would be by the de¬cree Of Him.

Joel 1:16

Joe 1:16. The word for meat is defined in the lexicon as “ food’ ’ because it refers to anything that may be eaten, The prediction is that there was to be a shortage of necessary sup¬plies, Such a condition would render the exercises of God that were in His house a time of solemnity instead of joy and gladness.

Joel 1:17

Joe 1:17. These conditions are to he understood in the same light as such verses as Joe 1:9-12. Whether it was ail to come literally or figuratively, ihe cause of it was the evil conduct of the nation.

Joel 1:18

Joe 1:18. This is more along the same line as the preceding verse.

Joel 1:19

Joe 1:19, Hath ordinarily would denote a condition already present, but whether it was ail history or part prophecy, the point is that God was angry because of the iniquity of His people and determined to punish them.

Joel 1:20

Joe 1:20, The beast could not intelligently cry unto God, but their cry would be caused by His visitation of judgment upon the land as a chastisement for the unfaithfulness of its inhabitants