Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition) (continued)
Inl'i-oJutlion, JOEL. Inlroductiftn.
shadow (but who shall have been forced to leave itl, shall return, i. e., be restored (Ezekiel :i5. 9). Others take "Ifii shadow" to moan Jehovah's (cf. Psalm 17. 8; 91. 1; Isaiah 4.
He does not ask costly sacrifices, but words of heartfelt penitence, receive us graclonsly—Hi. (for) jootZ. calves of our lips—T. c, instead of sacrifices of calves, wliich we wnnot ofl'er to Thee in exile, we present the praises of our
6), which r. 1, 2, "return unto the ^rd," Ac, favours. Hut the " his" in v. 6 refers to Israel, and therefore must refer to the same here, revive as . . . com—as the corn long buried in the earth springs up, witli an abundant produce, so shall they revive from their calamities, with a great Increase of ofl>ipring (cf. John 12. 24). scent thereof—t. e., lips. Thus the exile, wherein the temple service ceased, prepared the way for the gospel time, wlien the types of Uie animal sacrifices of the Old Testament being realized
In Christ's perfect ssicriflce once for all, "the sacrifice of praise to God continually that, is the fruit of our lips" (Hebrews IS. 14) takes their place in the New Testament.
Isi-jLeVs fame, Cf. v. 6, "His smell as Lebanon;" Song of Solomon 1.3: "Thyname is as ointment poured forth." LXX. favour Margin, " memorial." as the wine of Lebanon—which was most celebrated for its aroma, flavour, and medicinal restorative properties. 8. Ephraiin nhall say—being brought to penitence by God's goodness, and confessing and al)horriiig his past madness. I have heard . . . and observed him— I .lehovah have answered and rci/arded him with favour ; the opposite of God's " hiding his face from" one (Deuteronomy 31. 17). It is the experience of God's favour, in contrast to God's wrath heretofore, that leads Ephraim toabhor his past idolatry. Jehovah heard and answered : whereas the idols, as Ephraim now sees, could not fteftr, much less answer. Iain
3. Three Ijesetting sins of Israel are here renounced, trust
In Assyria, application to Egypt for its cavalry (forbidden, Deuteronomy 17. Ifl ; of. ch. 7. 11 ; 11. 5 ; 12. 1 ; 2 Kings 17. i ; Psalm X",. 17; Isaiah 30. 2, 16; 31. I), and idolatry, fatherless—(ifscriptive of the destitute state of Israel, when severed from God, their true Father. We shall henceforth trust in none hut thee, the only Father of the fatherless, and Helper of the destitute (Psalm 10.14; 68.5); our nation has experienced Thee .such in our helpless state in Egj-pt, and now in a like state again our only hope is Thy goodness. 4. God's gracious reply to their self-condemning prayer. backalii Ung apostasy; not merely occasional backslidings. God can heal the most desperate sinfulness. [CaIjVik.] freely—with a gratuitous, unmerited, and abundant love (Ezekiel 16. 60-()3). So as to the spiritual Israel (.lohn 15. 16; Romans 3.2-1; 5. 8; 1 John 4. 10). 5. ag (I>e <leiv—wliich falls copiously in the East, supplying the place of the more frequent rains in other regions. God will not be " as the early dew that goeth away," L)ut constant (ch. 6. 3, 4; Job 20. 19; Proverbs 19. 12). the lUy —no plant is more productive than the lily, one root often producing fifty bulbs [Pliny, H. N. 21. 5]. The common lily is white, consisting of six leaves opening like liells. The ro.yal lily grows to the height of three or four feet; Matthew 6.29 alludes to the beauty of its flowers, roots as Lebanon i. e., as the trees of Lebanon (especially the cedars), which cast down their roots as deeply as is their height upwards; so that they are Immovable [Jerome], (Isaiah 10. 34). Spiritual growth consists most in the growth of the root which is out of sight. 6. branches—shoots, or suckers, beauty . . . •8 the olive—which never loses its verdure. One plant. . . a green fir—or cypress; ever gree'n, winter and summer alike; the leaves not falling of Tin winter. From me
Is thy fruit found— "From me," as the root. Thou needest go no lartlier than me for the supply of all thy wants; not merely the protection implied by the sfiadow of the cypress, but that wliich the cypress has not, viz., fruit, all spiritual and temporal blessings. It maybe also implied, that whatever spiritual graces Ephraim seeks for or may have, are not of themselves, but of God (Psalm
1. 3; John 15. 4, 5. 8; James 1. 17). God's promises to us are more our security for mortifyingsin than our promises to God (Isaiah 27. 9). 9. Epil,OGUE, summing up the whole previous teaching. Here alone Hosea uses the term " righteous," so rare were such characters in liis day. There is enough of saving truth clear in God's word to guide those humbly seeking salvation, and enough of difficulties to confound those who curiously seek them out, rather than practically seek salvation, fall—stumble and are oS'ended at difficulties opposed to their prejudices and lusts, or above their self-wise understanding (ct Proverbs 10.29; Micah 2.7; Alatthew 11.19; Luke 2.34; John 7. 17; 1 Peter 2. 7,8). To him who sincerely seeks the agenda, God will make plain the credenda. Christ is the foundation-stone to some: a stone of stumbling and rook of offence to others. The same sun softens wax and hardens clay. But their fall is the most fatal who fall in the waysof God, split on the Bock of ages, and suck poisou out of the Balm of Gilead.
Is not enough to express the graces of God's elect people. The iiV.!/ depicts its lovely growth ; but as it wants duration and firmness, the deeply-rooted cedars of Lebanon are added ; these, however, are fruitless, therefore the fiuitful, pea'ce-bearing, fragrant, ever-green olive is added, sntell as I>banon—which exhaled from it the fragrance of odoriferous trees and flowers. So Israel's name shall be in goolsavour with all (Genesis 27. 27; Song of Solomon 4. 11). 7. They that used to dwell under Israel's
JOEL. INTRODUCTION.
Joel (meaning " one to whom Jehovah is God," i. e., worshipper of Jehovah) seems to have belonged to Jixdah, as no reference occurs to Israel ; whereas he speaks of Jerusalem, the temple, the priests, and the ceremonies, as if he were Intimately familiar with them (of. ch. 1. 14; 2. 1, 15, 32; 3. 1, 2, 6, 16, 17, 20, 21). His predictions were probably delivered
In the early days of Joash, B. c. 870-865. For no reference is made in them to the Babylonian, Assyrian, or even the Syrian invasion ; and the only enemies mentioned are the Philistines, Phoenicians, Edomites, and Egyptians (ch. 3. 4,
19). Had he lived after Joash, he would doubtless have mentioned the Syrians among the enemies whom he enumerates, since they took Jerusalem, and carried ofl immense spoil to Damascus (2 Chronicles 24. '£\ 24). No idolatry is mentioned; and the temple services, the priesthood, and other institutions of the theocracy, are represented as flourishing. This all answers to the state of things under the high priesthood of Jehoiada, through whom Joash had been placed on tlie throne, and who lived in the early years of Joash (2 Kings H. 17, 18; 12. 2-16; 2 Chronicles 24. 4-14). H« was son of Petliuel.
The first chapter describes the desolation caused by an inroad of locusts—one of the instrumentsof Divine judgment mentioned by Moses (Deuteronomy 28. 38, 39) and by Solomon (1 Kings 8. 37). The second chapter («. 1-11), the appearance of them, under images of a hostile army suggesting that the locusts were symbols and forerunners of a mora terribia scourge, viz., foreign enemies who would consume all before them. (Tlie absence of mention of personal In-
Jnry to the inhabitants is not a just objection to the figurative interpretationfor the figure is cousi.-^U'nt tluoughoiit
Gtio
Jod Eihorteth to an Observance JOEL I. of Sundry JudymenU of God.
In attributing to the locusts only injury to vegetation, tliereby injuring indirectly man and beast.) Ch. 2. 12-17, exhortation to repentance, the result of which will be, God will deliver His people, the former and latter rains sliall return to fertilize their desolated lands, and sliall be the pledge of the spiritual outpouring of grace beginning with Judah, and thence extending to "all flesh." Ch. 2. 18-32; ch. 3., God's judgments on Judah's enemies, whereas Judah shall be established for ever.
Joel's style is pre-eminently pure. It is characterized by smoothness and fluency in the rhythms, roundness in the sentences, and regularity in the parallelisms. Witli the strength of Micah it combines the tenderness of Jeremiah, the vividness of Nahum, and the sublimity of Isaiah. As a specimen of liis style take ch. 2., wlierein the terrible aspect of the locusts, their rapidity, irresistible progress, noisy din, and instinct-taught power of marshalling their forces for their career of devastation, are painted with grapliic reality.
would have been so devastated were I not pleased to In-
CHAPTER I. Ver 1-20. The Desolate Aspect of the Country THIiOUGH THE PLARUK OF LOCUSTS ; THE PEOPLE ADMONl.SHED TO OFFER SOLEMN PRAYERS IN THE TEMPLE ; FOR THIS Calamity is the Earnest of a still heavier OvE. I.Joel meaning, Je/iovah is God. son of Pethuel —to distinguish Joel tlie prophet from others of the name. Persons of eminence also were noted i)y adding the father's name. 3, 3. Aspirited introduction calling attention, old men—the Ijest juctges in question concerning the past (Deuteronomy 32. 7; Job 32. 7). Hath this been, &c. i.e., Hath any so grievous a calamity as Ons ever been before? No such plague of locusts had been since the ones in flict punishment (ch. 2. 18; Isaiah 14. 25; Jeremiah 16. 18; Ezekiel 36. 5; 38. 16). strong— as irreslstiljly sweeping away before its compact body the fruits of man's industry, without nnmher—so Judges 6. 5 ; 7. 12, " like grasshoppers (or locusts) for multitude" (Jeremiah 46. 23; Nahum
3. 15). teeth . . . lion i. e., the locusts are as destructive as a lion ; there is no vegetation that can resist their bite
(cf. Revelation 9.8). Pliny says "they gnaw even the doors of houses." 7. barked—Bochart, with LXX. and
translates, from an Arabic root, "hatli broken," viz., the topmost shoots, which locusts most feed on. Calvin supports £'n<//i.»/i Version, my vine . . . my tig tree —being in "my hand," i.e., Jehovah's (v. 0). As to the vine-abounding nature of ancient Palestine see Itumliers
Eyi/pt. Exodus 10. H is not at variance with tliis verse, which refers to Jnclea, in which Joel says there had been no such devastation before. 3. tel! ye your chlltli-eit— in order that they may be admonished by the severity of tlie punisliment to fear God (Psalm 78.6-8; cf. Exodus 13. S ; Josliua 4. 7). 4-. This verse states the subject on which lie afterwards expands. Four species or stages of locusts, rather than four dif Terent insects, are meant (cf. Leviticrus 11.22X Lit., (I.) tlie gnawing locust; (2.) the DviarmingXncwsit; (.3.) Vae licking \oc\ifi\.\ (4.) the consuming locust; forming a climax to the most destructive kind. The last is often three inches long, and tlie two antennre,
13.23,24. cast it away—down to tlie ground, branches. . . white — botli from the bark being stripped oft" (Genesis .30. 37), and from the branches drying up through the trunk, botli bark and wood being eaten up below by the locusts. 8. Lament — O "my land" (v. 6; Isaiah 24.4). virgin . . . for the husband—A nVq'in betrothed was regarded as married (Deuteronomy 22. 23; Matthew 1. 19). The Hebrew for "husband" is lord or possessor, the husband being considered the master of the wife in the East, of her youth — when the aflfections are strongest, and when sorrow at bereavement is consequently keenest. Suggesting the thought of what Zion's grief ought to be for iier separation from Jehovah, the betrotlied husband of her early da.vs (.Teremiali 2. 2; Ezekiel 16. 8; Hosea 2.7; eacli an inch long. The two hinder of its six feet are larger than tlie rest, adapting it for leaping. The first "kind" is tliat of the locust, having just emerged from the egg in spring, and witliout wings. Tlie second is wlien at tlie end of spring, still in their first skin, tliey put forth of. Proverbs 2.17; Jeremiah 3.4). 9. The greatest sorrow to the mind of a religious Jew, and what ought to impress the wliole nation with a sense of God's displeasure, is the cess.xtion of the usual temple worship, meat offering— Hebrew, mincha; " meal" not in the English sense "flesh;" but the unblood.y offering made of flour, oil, and frankincense. As It and the drink oftering or libation poured out accompanied every sacrifleial ftkh offering, the latter little ones witliout legs or wings. Tlie third, when after their third casting of the old skin, tliey get small wings, which enable thorn to leap the better, but not to fly; being not able to go away till their wings are matured, they devour all before them, grass, shrubs, and bark of trees: translated "rough caterpillars" (Jeremiah 51. 27). The fourth kind, the matured winged locust (see JVo/e,Nahum is included, though not .specified, as l>eing also "cut ofl'," owing to there being no food left for man or beast, priests
3. 16). In ch. 2. 25 they are enumerated in the reverse order, where the restoration of the devastations caused by tliem is promised. The Hebrews make the first species refer to Assyria and Babylon ; tlie second species, to MedoPersia; tlie third, to GrecoMacedonia and Antiochus Epipllanes; the fourth, to the Romans. Though the prirnar.v reference be to literal locusts, the Holy Spirit doubtless had in view the successive empires whicli assailed Judea, each worse than its predecessor, Rome being the climax. 5. Awnkc—out of your ordinary state of drunken stupor, to realize the cutting off from you of your favour-. . . mourn—not for tlieirown loss of sacrificial perquisites (Numbers IS. 8-15\ but because they can no longer offer the appointed offerings to Jehovah, to whom they minister. 10. field . . . land—differing in that "field" means the open unenclosed country; "land," the rich red soil (from a root to be red) fit for cultivation. Thus, "a man of the field," in Hebrew, is a hunter ; a man of the ground or land, an agriculturist (Genesis 25.27). Field and land are here personified, new wine—from a Hebrew root implying that it fakes possession of the brain, so that a man ite drink. Even the drunkards (from a Jlehrew root, any strong drink) shall be forced to "howl," though usually laugliing in the midst of the greatest national calamities, so palpahl.y and universally shall the calamity afl'ect ail. wine . . . new wine 'fioo or fresh wine, in Hebren', is tlie unferniented, and therefore unintoxicating, suieet juice extra(ded liy pressure from grapes or other fruit, as pomegranates (Song of Solomon 8.2). Wine is the prot Uice of the grape alone, and is intoxicating (see Note, v. 10). 6. nn Uon — applied to the locusts, rather than " peoph^" is not master of himself. So the Arabic term is from a root to hold captive. It is already fermented, and so intoxicating, unlike the sweet fresh wine, In v. 5, called also "new wine," thongh a different Helrrew word. It and " tlie oil" stand for the vine and the olive tree, from which tlie " wine" and " oil" aro obtained (d. 12). drle<l up-- not "ashamed," ;is Margin, n?. is proved by the parallelism to " languishetli," i. e., droopeth. 11. Be ... ashamed i.e.. Ye shall have the shame of disappointment on account of the failure of "the wheat" and "barley" "harvest." liowl . . . vine-dressers—the semicolon should follow,
(I'niveriis 30. 26 1, to mark not oul.y their numbers, but also their s/iixige Jiostilily ; and also to prepare the mind of.IS it is the "husbandmen" who are to be " ashamed" " for the wheat," Ac. The cause of the "vine-dressers" being tlie hearer for the transition to the figurative locusts In called to "howl" does not come till v. 12, "The vine U dried up." I'Z. pomegranate—a tree straight In the siem ch. i., viz., tue notion" or Gentile foe coming against Judea (cf. ell. 2. 2). my land—i. e., Jehovah's ; wlilch never
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