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Ask a QuestionJoel--meaning, "Jehovah is God." son of Pethuel--to distinguish Joel the prophet from others of the name. Persons of eminence also were noted by adding the father's name.
(See on Joe 2:10; Joe 2:30).
The effect of the seasonable rains shall be abundance of all articles of food.
dwell for ever--(Am 9:15), that is, be established as a flourishing state.
to thee will I cry--Joel here interposes, As this people is insensible to shame or fear and will not hear, I will leave them and address myself directly to Thee (compare Isa 15:5; Jer 23:9). fire...
Depicting the regular military order of their advance, "One locust not turning a nail's breadth out of his own place in the march" [Jerome]. Compare Pr 30:27, "The locusts have no king, yet go they...
A spirited introduction calling attention. old men--the best judges in question concerning the past (De 32:7; Job32:7). Hath this been, &c.--that is, Hath any so grievous a calamity as this ever...
Tell ye your children--in order that they may be admonished by the severity of the punishment to fear God (Ps 78:6-8; compare Ex 13:8; Jos4:7).
Blow...trumpet--to sound an alarm of coming war (Nu 10:1-10; Ho5:8; Am 3:6); the office of the priests. Joe 1:15 is an anticipation of the fuller prophecy in this chapter.
Let there be the inward sorrow of heart, and not the mere outward manifestation of it by "rending the garment" (Jos 7:6). the evil--the calamity which He had threatened against the impenitent.
(Zec 8:12). As before (Joe 1:18, 20) he represented the beasts as groaning and crying for want of food in the "pastures," so now he reassures them by the promise of springing pastures.
Blow the trumpet--to convene the people (Nu 10:3). Compare Joe1:14. The nation was guilty, and therefore there must be a national humiliation. Compare Hezekiah's proceedings before Sennacherib's...
raise them--that is, I will rouse them. Neither sea nor distance will prevent My bringing them back. Alexander, and his successors, restored to liberty many Jews in bondage in Greece [Josephus,...
And the Lord spake by his servants the prophets--These were Hosea, Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Isaiah. Their counsels, admonitions, and prophetic warnings, were put on record in the national...
rejoice in the Lord--not merely in the springing pastures, as the brute "beasts" which cannot raise their thoughts higher (Isa 61:10; Hab3:18). former rain...the rain...the former...the latter rain...
Assemble--"Hasten" [Maurer]. thither--to the valley of Jehoshaphat. thy mighty ones--the warriors who fancy themselves "mighty ones," but who are on that very spot to be overthrown by Jehovah...
Like the noise of chariots--referring to the loud sound caused by their wings in motion, or else the movement of their hind legs. on the tops of mountains--Maurer connects this with "they," that...
With such judgments impending over the Jews, Jehovah Himself urges them to repentance. also now--Even now, what none could have hoped or believed possible, God still invites you to the hope of...
In an ascending gradation, the land destroyed by the enemy, the beasts of the field, and the children of Zion, the land's inhabitants, are addressed, the former two by personification. Lord will do...
never be ashamed--shall no longer endure the "reproach of the heathen (Joe 2:17), [Maurer]; or rather, "shall not bear the shame of disappointed hopes," as the husbandmen had heretofore (Joe 1:11)....
cleanse...blood...not cleansed--I will purge away from Judah the extreme guilt (represented by "blood," the shedding of which was the climax of her sin, Isa 1:15) which was for long not purged...
Gird yourselves--namely, with sackcloth; as in Isa 32:11, the ellipsis is supplied (compare Jer 4:8). lament, ye priests--as it is your duty to set the example to others; also as the guilt was...
day of the Lord--(Joe 2:1, 11); that is, the day of His anger (Isa13:9; Ob 15; Zep 1:7, 15). It will be a foretaste of the coming day of the Lord as Judge of all men, whence it receives the same...
much pained--namely, with terror. The Arab proverb is, "More terrible than the locusts." faces shall gather blackness--(Isa 13:8; Jer 30:6; Na 2:10). Maurer translates, "withdraw their brightness,"...
Neither shall one thrust another--that is, press upon so as to thrust his next neighbor out of his place, as usually occurs in a large multitude. when they fall upon the sword--that is, among...
And also--"And even." The very slaves by becoming the Lord's servants are His freemen (1Co 7:22; Ga 3:28; Col 3:11; Phm 16). Therefore, in Ac 2:18 it is quoted, "My servants" and "My handmaidens";...