The Prophet Joel

By Arno Clement Gaebelein

Chapter 1

The Word of the Lord which came to Joel, the son of Pethuel (Verse i).

This evidently is the superscription of the entire book. And a most significant one it is.

Even at that early date in which Joel lived and exercised his prophetic office the people disbelieved the messages God sent them. In this solemn beginning the Prophet makes known that he is only the mouthpiece of Jehovah and that the words he spoke are not his own, but it is the Word of the Lord. Such a positive statement that God spake by the Prophets (Hebrews i:1) and that their utterances are inspired is found at the beginning of nearly all the prophetic books and occurs over and over again in the course of their visions and utterances. In the following passages the same phrase is found: Hosea i:1; Micah i:1; Zephaniah i:1:Zechariah ix:1; xii:1; Mai. i:1 ; Jeremiah xi:i ; xliii:8 ; xlix 113, etc. Other Prophets begin with "the vision of the Lord" or the "burden" (utterance), while the sentence "thus saith the Lord" occurs hundreds of times. Yet in face of these positive statements men, who call themselves Christians and claim learning, can deny the inspiration of the Bible and teach that the visions and utterances of these holy men of God (2 Peter i:2i) as well as other books of the Old Testament, are not the Word of God. Such a denial is fearful indeed, for it stamps these instruments of Jehovah as impostors, who claimed that the Lord spoke to them and that they faithfully transmitted the message, when, according to them, He did not.

The Word of Jehovah we have here before us and it still is unchanged in our possession. It is the same as it came to Joel. The Word of Jehovah is imperishable ; it will exist forever.

But who was the instrument into whose pen the Spirit of God dictated these sublime words? As stated before in our brief introduction, we know next to nothing about the personality of Joel. In fact, all we know about him, which is reliable, is contained in this first verse. The name of Joel was not a rare one among the ancient Hebrews. Samuel had a son by that name (1 Sam. viii:2), he was his first born ; then there was a Levite by that name (2 Chronicles xxix:i2); the name is also found in nine other places in the Old Testament. However, the identity of any of these with the prophet Joel, the son of Pethuel, cannot be established. The brief but solemn beginning of the book fits perfectly to the solemn and brief messages the Lord committed to Joel.

"Hear this, ye aged men,

"And open the ear ye inhabitants of the land!

"Hath this happened in your days,

"Or even in the days of your fathers?

"Relate it to your children

"And your children to their children,

"And their children to another generation."

(Verses 2-3.)

These two verses must be looked upon as an introduction to the description of the great calamity which had befallen the land. It is in the form of an appeal to the people. The words indicate at once the greatness of the disaster. What happened to the land is of such a fearful character that it is unprecedented. He calls upon the aged men or elders among the people first of all to bear witness to this fact that never before has such a thing happened in the land of Judah. The memory of the old men reached the furthest back, therefore he mentions them first. A similar word is found in Moses' prophetic song. "Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations ; ask thy father, and he will shew thee ; thy elders and they will tell thee" (Deut. xxxii:7). Then he calls upon all the inhabitants of the land, if they ever witnessed such a terrible evil. It is likewise an appeal to them to listen and to heed the God-given message. Such appeals are found frequently in the prophetic Word (Deut. xxxii:1 ; Psl. xlix:2 ; Isaiah i:2 ; Jerm. ii:12 ; Hosea iv:1; Amos iii:1). The visitation of the locusts is to be related to the coming generations. They are to know of it and learn the lessons from the great calamity, which had come upon the land. The coming generations are mentioned because the prophetic vision sees not only the present calamity, but behind that affliction stand future great judgments for the land and the people. The Holy Spirit has put therefore in the beginning of this book an important hint. The future generations are to remember what God did in His punitive action and what He threatens to do, typically indicated by the locust plague. Higher critics have maintained that this appeal to tell the children is borrowed from Exodus x:2. "That thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how I am the Lord." The judgment by the locusts follows in that chapter in Exodus and in the sixth verse we read how severe that judgment was. "And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day." Joel did not borrow the language from Exodus, but the Spirit of God used through him similar language as He used in addressing Pharaoh when he was about to be humbled for his wicked pride and hard heartedness.

The fourth verse contains the description of the locusts. This fourth verse is a most important one. We shall examine it in detail and give some information about the locusts and their typical prophetic meaning.

"What the Gasam left, the Arbeh hath devoured

And what the Arbeh left, the Jelek hath devoured

And what the Jelek left, the Chasel hath devoured."

First of all a description of this insect. It is necessary to have some information on this subject in order to understand why they are used to typify so important a prophetic theme.¹

We left the Hebrew names untranslated because the translation makes it appear as if there were different insects like the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, which besides the locust spoiled the land. This however is not the case; it was one insect alone which did the damage. However these locusts appeared in a fourfold form. Considering these four words first etymologically there is no difficulty to give their meaning. Gazam means "to gnaw off," showing the destructiveness of the insect; this word is used only once more in the prophetic word outside of Joel (Amos iv:9).

Arbeh is derived from rabbah, which means "to be many." It is the common Hebrew name for "locusts" and may denote their migratory habits ; they appear in immense swarms of millions. Jelek has the meaning "to lick off"; it is used in Psalm cv:134. Chasel is "to devour or consume" ; it is frequently used in other passages. The use of these four different words is not for poetical reasons, as it has been so frequently stated by expositors. Nor are these four words simply used to show the destructive character of the insect. The locust has four stages; the most destructive is the fourth, the devouring locust. These four stages are possibly indicated in the book of Leviticus. "The locust after his kind, the bald locust after its kind, the beetle after its kind and the grasshopper after its kind." The locust passes through these stages in its development. The locust which gnaws, then they get wings and become the flying locust, the third the licking locust and the fourth, the devouring locust. These four kinds of the locust devastated the land. Why the number four is thus made prominent in this great calamity, which points forward to the day of Jehovah, what is its significant prophetic meaning, we shall show later. We must first give some more information about the locusts.

The origin of the locusts and where they come from is uncertain. In South Africa they are supposed to appear from the vast deserts of that continent; in South America from the waste lands in the west of Brazil and on our continent from the great southwestern deserts. Locusts have at one time or another devastated the largest part of the habitable world. History gives ample proof of it. The island of Cyprus was completely stripped by locust invasions for 250 years. Record upon record could be given for almost 2000 years in which locusts did their fearful work, so vividly portrayed in this chapter, in many countries. Says the authority from which we learn these facts, "Everyone who has carefully observed what occurs in a visitation of locusts must admit the literal accuracy of all that is said on the subject in the Bible. Their characteristics to-day exactly tally with the Bible accounts. I saw under my own eye not only a large vineyard loaded with young grapes, but whole fields of corn disappear as if by magic, and the hope of the husbandman vanish like smoke. There remained not any green thing in the trees or in the herbs of the field."

The locusts make their appearance in their temporary homes in large companies or swarms, composed of an innumerable number, as flying locusts; these may be termed "invading" or "wandering" companies. They are sometimes so numerous that when about seven to ten miles distant the swarm appears as a cloud in the atmosphere, and really forms one so black in the clear and rarefied air of the countries which they visit as to at once attract attention and wonder from its peculiarity. At first you are apt to imagine the cloud comes from the burning of a forest on account of its unusual darkened colour. By watching the cloud one will soon be undeceived, and the "vanguard" of the swarm will make their appearance around you.

It is impossible to estimate the number of locusts in these clouds, but some idea may be formed from the fact that when they are driven, as it is sometimes the case in storm, into the sea, so many are washed ashore that they lie on the beach as a bank from three to four feet thick for fifty to a hundred miles in length, and the stench from the decayed bodies, it is affirmed, is noticed for 150 miles inland, enough to generate disease. Please read at this point Joel ii:20.

In other cases when the cloud composes itself and spreads out, there is an unbroken area covered by them for several hundred miles in length and breadth. A careful investigator, Captain Beaufort, has recorded a cloud of locusts forty miles long by three hundred yards in depth, which he estimated must have contained 169 billions of locusts ; but really in face of these facts one loses all count of numbers, the crowd is so appalling. So enormous is the multitude that the sun can be looked at as if there was an eclipse, the sun is literally darkened, and shadows cannot then be cast from it. The reader is again referred to our prophet to see the description of the invading army under the imagery of the locusts in chapter ii:2 and 10.

The speed in which they fly varies. They can be often seen going at the rate of 12 miles an hour, and at other times they seem to hover about. Their movements are very orderly. They appear to act together in their movements by a common sort of instinct or impulse. See Joel ii:8, etc. Their flight makes a crackling noise, sufficient to stampede cattle. The locusts without wings in the previous stage are called "hoppers." When they are on the march they appear so determined and bent on the fearful execution of their work that they resemble in many aspects an army on the march (Joel ii:4-5). They move in open file, and carry themselves in a proud, haughty way, with heads high up and fixed. It is rather beautiful and interesting to see them on the march. It is in this marching stage that they do enormous damage, and eat every edible thing in their path. They leave nothing behind but desolation.

In our book we study, the locusts are used in the second chapter as types of an army. Eyewitnesses declare that these locusts marching along are indeed a miniature army. The whole of the company begin to walk at the same time, as if by order; the head is kept erect, and the neck is as if stiffened. They go straight on, irrespective of danger, and though they manifest a decided power sometimes to select a slightly different course, yet they are not easily turned from their course, and being so numerous and closely phalanxed nothing escapes them. The sight of this "army" is a very impressive one, and once seen will never be forgotten. They are divided into companies; these companies are not hindered or deterred from pursuing the course they have elected. The column follows the vanguard, and when the vanguard changes its course the change seems to be curiously communicated in wave-like fashion all along the company following. We find them jumping into the water of a river one after the other until they bridge it by their own bodies, and the rest of the army cross over in force to the other side, even though the expanse of water be a mile or more in breadth. The army carries out persistently the general direction as to the march.

It is impossible to stop the army of locusts. Trenches and ditches do not stop them. They crawl upon the houses and enter in at the windows. All this is most interesting as we read, especially the second chapter of Joel's vision.

To follow a description of the mode of development of the different locusts from the egg would lead us too far. It is, however, very instructive and interesting. The adult locust has the following very pronounced parts which may be observed a strong, wild looking head ; a string collar, inside which the neck moves. This collar is a kind of an armoured coat; powerful, peculiarly formed legs, attached to a short square trunk, four wings, two antennae and a long abdomen. The head resembles strongly that of the horse. This is why the German people call the locusts "Heupferde" (Hay horses). They look ferocious.

From these descriptions we have briefly given, we learn why the Lord selected the locusts as the instruments by which He brought disaster upon the land. They were indeed best fitted to lay the beautiful land bare, but besides this they were a lifelike picture of armies coming into the land. God had in the law threatened the land with this plague if the people were disobedient. "Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field and shall but gather little in it ; for the locust shall consume it" (Deut. xxviii:38). "All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume" (verse 42). The same judgment God had put upon Egypt He permitted to come upon His own land.

But these literal locusts were only the foreshadowings of more awful judgments which were in store for the land. Hostile armies', prefigured by the locusts, the armies of the Gentiles, were to come in and lay the land waste. And now we come to the significance of the number four. The Gazam, Arbeh, Jelek and Chasel, called later by the Lord "my great army" (ii:25) have a meaning, which is important. Elsewhere in the Word we read of four kinds of punishments. "And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the Lord:the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear ; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity" (Jeremiah xv:3). See also Ezekiel xlv:21. However, the number four is also found in connection with God's judgments upon the land of Israel. Twice we have it mentioned in the Book of Daniel and once in the prophet Zechariah.

The King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and the image which he saw was composed of four parts, each part being typical of a great world-power, Babylon, the Medo-Persian world-power, the Graeco-Macedonian and the Roman. The second chapter in Daniel gives us the full record of this. Then Daniel himself had a great vision and saw four beasts rising out of the sea. These beasts are the pictures of the same world-powers, predicted in the dream image of the King. The last, the Roman empire is to devour; the most fearful of all. The armies of all four have marched through Israel's land and laid it waste and the most fearful destruction was wrought by the fourth, the armies of the Roman empire. The prophet Zechariah in his second night vision beheld four horns and the Divine interpretation states that these horns have scattered Judah and Jerusalem. They are symbolical of the same four world-powers. The locusts mentioned by their four names are types of these four world-powers. We believe the Hebrew rabbis who explained the meaning of the locusts in precisely the same way as we do were correct.

But the end of this devastation is not yet. Once more the land will see an invasion and Jerusalem will be compassed by armies, the armies of nations. This will be in connection with the great coming day of the Lord.

The invasion of the locusts, the fearful results of that invasion and the call to the priests and to the people to lament are the contents of this chapter from verse 5-20. We must bear in mind the two facts we have previously stated. It was a literal locust plague which swept over the land in Joel's day. What he describes is that which took place; it was a divine judgment upon the land and the people. 2. This locust invasion has a deeper prophetic meaning. It is a divine foreshadowing of the judgments which were to pass over the land of Israel and the people on account of their disobedience. The locusts are fitting types of powerful nations, whom God permitted to enter the land and lay it waste. The four names of locusts are used, as we learned already, because four great world-powers were to dominate over Palestine during that prophetic period called in the Scripture "the times of the Gentiles." We behold, therefore, in this description, a prophetic picture of the condition of the land, which God gave to Abraham and his natural descendants up to the time when the day of the Lord dawns, when the deplorable condition of the land and the people will come to an end. These two facts we shall keep before us as we write briefly on these verses.

The division of the rest of chapter i:15-20 is easily made.

I. The call to the drunkards to lament (verses 5-7)

II. The call to the people and the priests to lament and to mourn (verses 8-12).

III. The call to the priests to lament and to cry to Jehovah (verses 13, 14).

IV. The approaching day and the condition of the land (verses 15-18).

V. The prayer of the Prophet (verses 19-20).

I. The call to the drunkards to lament (verses 5-7).

"Awake ye drunkards and weep,

And howl all ye drinkers of wine,

Because of the sweet wine

For it is taken away from your mouth." (Verse 5.)

The first swarm of the locust, the Gazam, had appeared at the close of the summer, when the fruits of the field had already been taken in. Only the vineyards had not been harvested. The locusts, therefore, attacked the vineyards and the fruits of the vine disappeared rapidly before the invading multitudes. The drinkers of wine were to suffer first of all the results of the judgment. In other passages of the prophets we read of the sin of drunkenness, which was prevalent among the Jewish people. This was the condition of many in the days of prosperity, when the herdsman of Tekoa, Amos, prophesied of the coming days of trouble; he pronounced his divine "woe" upon them (Amos vi:1-6). In two great judgment chapters of Isaiah this sin is mentioned. It is the second woe in chapter v; "Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them" (Is. v:11). In chapter xxiv, where the prophet beholds a desolate earth, the land utterly emptied and spoiled, we read likewise of the wine and the calamity which comes upon the drunkards. "The new wine mourneth, the wine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. The mirth of the tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it" (xxiv:7-9) . They were given to wine and mockery. "But they have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink; they are swallowed up of wine; they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision; they stumble in judgment" (Isaiah xxviii:7). But besides the literal drunkenness with wine we must also think of that which stood behind such a conduct. They forgot God and His Word, had given themselves up to pleasures and worldliness on account of which the judgment of God came upon them.² Out of this stupefied condition they were to awake and to weep, for there was no more wine. God's judgment had robbed them of the source of their pleasure.

"For a nation has come up upon my land

Mighty and without number

His teeth lion's teeth

The jaw teeth, that of a lioness." (Verse 6.)

This 1 verse gives us light on the prophetic meaning of the locusts. They are called a nation. The ants are likewise called a people. "The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer" (Prov. xxx:25). There is, however, a difference in the word "people" or "nation" in the Hebrew, as used in these passages. The locusts are called a "goi," which means a heathen nation, opposed to God's earthly people. The ants are termed "am," the Hebrew word for people generally applied to Israel. Occasionally God calls His earthly people a "goi," especially when they had sunk to the level of the Gentiles about them and had displeased Him by their disobedience. The Gentiles or nations, which are opposing Israel and are revealed as hating and despising them are called "gojim," the plural of the word used in this verse. The literal locusts came like a mighty nation without number and devoured everything. As those locusts had come, marching like an army, so an actual heathen nation, mighty and without number, was to fall into the land. The Gentiles are prefigured by the locusts. This comparison is made elsewhere in the Scriptures. See Numbers xiii:33; Isaiah xl:22; Jeremiah 11:14. Gentiles, like locusts, were to come upon the land, which Joel calls "my land." It is the land, which is called in Isaiah "thy land, O Immanuel" (Isa. viii:8). And so it came true. No land has seen such scenes of troubles as that land ; and the end is not yet. Once more the land will pass through great calamities and Gentiles mighty and without number will march through it and commit deeds of violence.

The metaphor "lion's teeth" and "jaw teeth of a lioness" must not be overlooked. Locusts, of course, have not lion's teeth nor such jaw teeth. It means that as destructive as the teeth of the lion are among the animals, so destructive are the teeth of the locusts to vegetation. But the use of the lion fully harmonizes with the prophetic meaning. In Daniel vii the Prophet to whom God revealed the history of the Gentile world-powers and their course, as well as that which will follow the times of the Gentiles, the coming of the Son of Man and the establishment of His kingdom, beholds the great "gojim," or nations, who are to have the rule. "In the first year of Belshazzar, King of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and vision of His head upon his bed; then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse from one another. The first was like a lion and had eagle's wings" (Dan. vii:1-4). This is the first great nation, which came like the locusts upon the land. That the lion is used as the figure of the Babylonian empire in its destructiveness, and that the locusts are described first of all as having lion's teeth, is indeed very striking.

The fourth great world-power, the Roman, with its future revival in the form of ten kingdoms and its little horn, is described by Daniel as follows: "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth, it devoured and brake in pieces and stamped the residue with the feet of it ; and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns" ( (Dan. vii:7). Here the teeth to devour are mentioned. These correspondencies with the first mention of the locusts as "a nation" compared to lions in their destructiveness and their strong teeth, devouring everything, with this vision of Daniel is, to our mind, sufficient to prove that God used the locusts to foreshadow the greater calamity for the land.

"He hath made my vine for a desolation

And my fig tree broken down;

Peeled off completely and cast it away;

His branches are made white." (Verse 7.)

The destructiveness of the insects is now still more described. They do not confine themselves to grass and leaves. "Neither herbs, nor shrubs, nor trees remain unhurt. Whatever is either grassy, or covered with leaves, is injured, as if it had been burned with fire. Even the bark of trees is nibbled with their teeth, so that the injury is not confined to one year alone."³

The vineyards had been attacked and soon all was desolation. The fig trees were broken down ; the bark had been peeled off and the branches, spoiled of its sapbearing covering, showed the white, lifeless wood. Devastation and death followed the locust invasion. Without following these descriptions in their literal meaning, we turn to that which is hidden under this great calamity which had visited the land. The vine and fig tree are prominently mentioned. The vine and fig tree suffered the most. It is incorrect, as some expositors state, that the reason for the prominence of the vine and fig tree is that the locusts mostly attack these two. It has been proven that it is not so. Others say, "in the description of the devastation caused by the army of locusts, the vine and fig tree are mentioned as the noblest productions of the land, which the Lord has given to His people for their inheritance" (Keil and Delitzsch). This may be so, but it does not take in consideration that it speaks of only one vine and one fig tree. Furthermore the personal suffix "my" is added ; my vine my fig tree. According to teachers who see in these words nothing else than a poetical description of a land which was spoiled by the locusts, it must mean that Joel possessed a vine and a fig tree, and that they were broken down and peeled off.

But the prophet does not lament the loss of any personal vine or fig tree. He speaks "The Word of Jehovah." It is Jehovah's vine and fig tree which are spoiled. Besides the olive tree, the type of God's ever green covenant with Israel, the Spirit of God has used the vine and the fig tree as types of the earthly people of God. Israel is God's vine and God's fig tree. This is clearly seen in God's holy Word. "Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt ; thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river. Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her ? The boar out of the wood does waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it. Return, we beseech Thee, O God of Hosts ; look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine, and the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that Thou madest strong for Thyself" (Ps. Ixxx:8-15). Here we learn Israel is the vine brought out of Egypt and how the Lord treated this vine in His goodness. We find here, also, a description of the waste condition of that vine. The boar of the wood (the Gentiles) has wasted it. The prayer "Return look down from heaven . visit Thy vine" is the prayer of the remnant of Israel during the time called in Scripture "the great tribulation Jacob's trouble." And why was the vine thus waste ? Isaiah v:2-6 gives us the answer: "He fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein; and He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up, and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste ; it shall not be pruned nor digged ; but there shall come up briers and thorns ; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it" (see Matt. xxi:33).

That Israel is typified by the fig tree is likewise learned from the Word of God. Read Luke xiii:69; Matthew xxi:17-21 ; xxix:32.

God's vine and fig tree, on which He spent so much labor looking for fruit, was laid bare and spoiled by the Gentiles, as the locusts spoiled the vine and the fig tree. And still it is so. But some day the vine will yield the fruit and the fig tree will put forth new leaves. And here we must likewise mention that sitting under the fig tree and the vine, fruitful once more, and its fruit enjoyed, is in Scripture a picture of millennial blessedness, when the enemies of Israel are no more wasting the land, when these enemies are destroyed. "And He shall judge among people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks ; nation shall not lift sword up against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken it" (Micah. iv:3-4). "In that day saith the Lord of Hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree' (Zech. iii:10).

In the second chapter, the chapter of the restoration and blessing for Israel's land, the fig tree and the vine are mentioned as yielding their fruit. All this shows the divine wisdom and harmony of God's Word and proves that the whole chapter is prophetic.

II. The call to the people and the priests to lament and to mourn (Verses 8-12).

"Lament like a virgin!

Girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth." (Verse 8.)

The call is now addressed to the whole congregation. The people are to lament like a virgin who has been bereft of the husband of her youth. This again is very significant. It reminds us at once of Isaiah liv:6. "For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God." Such is the relationship of Jehovah to His earthly people. But the sins of the people broke this relationship. The first part of Hosea shows all this fully. Here, too, we read of the time when Israel will call the Lord "Ishi," which means "my husband" (Hosea ii:i6). This corresponds with the vision of Isaiah concerning the great future of the people. "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed, desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah (My delight in her), and thy land Beulah (married) ; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee; and as a bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shalt thy God rejoice over thee" (Is. lxii:4, 5). "For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is His name." Is. Hv:5). This will all be fulfilled in the day of restoration and blessing for His earthly people, ushered in with the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This relationship of God to Israel under the type of marriage is typically seen in the Book of Ruth. Naomi (the pleasant one) is Israel. Her husband Elimelech (my God is King). He dies; the relationship of God with Israel became broken and Naomi becomes Mara, which means bitterness.

Joel called upon the people to lament with the lamentation of a virgin, who, girded in sackcloth, mourns for the husband of her youth. The calamity was so great as to call for such grief. But deeper we behold the prophetic indication of Jerusalem's forsaken condition, as Isaiah beheld it when he wrote: "And her gates shall lament and mourn and she, being desolate, shall sit on the ground" (Is. iii:26).

"Cut off is the meat and drink offering from the house of Jehovah.

The priests mourn, the servants of Jehovah:

Wasted is the field

Mourning is the land

For wasted is the corn

The new wine is dried up

The oil faileth." (Verses 9, 10.)

So great was the trouble which had come upon the land that the meat and drink offerings could no longer be brought in the temple. The temple worship ceased. Corn and wine and oil had completely failed. The judgment which had fallen upon the land had resulted in a suspension of the sacrifices. This meant in reality a suspension of the covenant relation. The people could no longer approach God in the manner as commanded through Moses. Josephus, the great Jewish historian, writes that even in the great siege of Jerusalem the offerings and sacrifices did not cease. When Jerusalem was besieged by the Romans the sacrificial worship was not suspended till there were no more people to bring these sacrifices. The priests suffered under this severely. Not alone was the temple service made impossible for them and they could no longer exercise their priestly functions, but they also lost their income because they received their portions from these offerings.

All this was certainly the condition of Judah in the days of Joel. It is a vivid and faithful description of the great calamity, which had come so suddenly upon the land. But what took place then was a foreshadowing of what should be the case during the times of the Gentiles, when Israel is scattered among the nations no longer in their homeland. All sacrifices and offerings connected with the temple were to cease. And all came true. This likewise was predicted. "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod and teraphim" (Hosea iii:4). The tenth verse contains the mournful complaint of the priests. All nature suffered. A great change had come over the fruitful land, flowing with milk and honey. In the place of the greatest fruitfulness had come the most awful desolation. The locusts had wasted the field so that the land mourned ; corn, wine and oil were gone. Such desolations are repeatedly described in connection with the judgments of God. "The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish" (Is. xxiv:4). "For thus has the Lord said, the whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black ; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it" (Jerem. iv:27, 28).

We see how all the descriptions of local disaster apply to the punishment which God threatened to His earthly people and their land on account of their disobedience. For many centuries all these predicted judgments have had their literal fulfilment.

"Be ashamed, husbandmen!

Howl vinedressers !

For the wheat and the barley,

Because the harvest of the field is lost.

The vine is dried up

And the fig tree faileth.

The pomegranate, also the palm and the apple tree,

All the trees of the field are withered.

Gone is joy from the children of men." (Verses 11, 12.)

After the description of the condition of the land comes the lament and grief of the husbandmen and the vinedressers. The words show still greater destruction. The whole harvest is gone and besides the failure of the vine and the fig tree other trees are mentioned. Indeed, all the trees are described as withered, and thus the desolation appears still greater. On account of the severity of this visitation joy had left the children of men. His people are stripped of their joy and mourning and sackcloth have taken the place of gladness and rejoicing.

III. The call to the priests to lament and to cry to Jehovah (verses 13-14).

"Gird yourselves and lament, O ye priests,

Howl, ministers of the altar;

Come, lie down in sackcloth all night

Ye ministers of my God.

For withholden from the house of your God

Are the meat offering and the drink offering.

 

Sanctify a fast.

Call a solemn gathering;

Bring together the Elders,

All the inhabitants of the land

In the house of Jehovah your God

And cry unto Jehovah." (Verses 13, 14.)

Up to this we had the call to the drunkards i& awake, to the nation as such to lament, to the husbandmen and the vinedressers ; we heard also the lamenting cry of the priests. The priests are now especially addressed by the prophet. They are called upon to acknowledge the visitation as a judgment from God and besides repenting themselves to call the people together for a solemn gathering and to cry to Jehovah for deliverance. They were to take off their priestly garments and instead of them put on the garments of mourning, that is sackcloth. On all these customs we shall say nothing further. The prophet gives as reason for calling on them to lament and to howl, to lie down in sackcloth all night because the meat offering and drink offering was withholden from the house of the Lord. The significant fact is that there is no response from the priests to this call. Not a word of repentance and prayer is heard from the side of the priests or the people in this chapter. At the close of the chapter the prophet alone is seen crying to Jehovah and we shall see later what that signifies. In the second chapter we find a great scene of repentance, though priests and people indeed rend more than their garments, that is, their hearts. Then Jehovah interferes in behalf of His suffering land and people. That response, however, comes after the last invasion of a people numerous and strong, coming from the North. Here in our chapter the absence of any repentance from the side of the people shows prophetically their hardness and blindness during this age. Though their temple is burned, no more sacrifices can be brought, no rest for the soles of their feet, no joy and peace for them ; they continue like their fathers in stiff-neckedness. But it is not always to be thus. A great affliction is coming upon them and during that time they will turn to the Lord and cry to Him for deliverance. All this will be brought to our view later in our studies.

IV. The approaching day and the condition of the land (verses 15-18).

"Woe! For the day!

Because near is the day of Jehovah.

Even like destruction from Shaddai it comes." (Verse 15)

We have followed up to this verse the description of the locust invasion as it happened in Joel's day and the terrible devastation which these powerful insects left behind. We likewise learned the prophetic application of every part of this inspired description. Our meditation on the different happenings and the comparison of Scripture with Scripture have shown that such a prophetic application is correct.

The verse we have now reached in which the prophet for the first time speaks of the Yom Jehovah, the day of the Lord, presents some difficulties. The question which arises first is the question of the connection with the preceding descriptions of the destruction wrought by the locusts. Is it a part of that which Joel describes, or must it be detached ? Has it reference to the day in which the locust swarms covered the land, or is it future? According to some of the older interpreters of this book the verse must be looked upon as 1 belonging to the preceding verses, so that the priests, who are called upon to lament would also have to utter these words. We do not agree with this but look upon the 1 5th verse as an independent exclamation of the Prophet. In the midst of the weird description of the then present calamity the Prophet beholds a greater judgment approaching. The vision he beholds makes him to break out in a lamentation. The word "Woe" is, as every searcher of God's Word knows, often connected with the great judgments of the day of Jehovah. We find it in both Testaments and refer the reader to the following passages: Isaiah v:8-23; xxix:1 Ezek. xxx:1-3; Amos vi:1; Hab. ii:6-19; Matthew xi:21; xxiv:19; Rev. viii:13; ix:12; xi:14; xii:12.

But what day is it which the Prophet beholds? Is it the day of the Lord which is so often mentioned by the other Prophets both before, during and after Babylonian captivity, of which the Lord and His Apostles speak in the New Testament? Or is it some other great judgment which Joel beheld, which he calls the day of the Lord and which has been fulfilled long ago? Or is it one of many judgments which have been going on till after many similar judgments the final great judgment is reached? A prominent expositor holds to the last view and says * * * "God makes the history of the world, through His rule over all creatures in heaven and earth, into a continuous judgment, which will conclude at the end of this course of the world with a great and universal act of judgment, through which everything that has been brought to eternity by the stream of time unjudged and unadjusted, will be judged and adjusted once for all, to bring to an end the whole development of the world in accordance with its divine appointments, and perfect the kingdom of God by the destruction of all his foes."⁴ According to this view the locust judgment forms one element of the day of the Lord. Now the above quoted words may sound well and the thought appear plausible, but the view is far from being the right one. The Yom Jehovah, the day of the Lord, which Joel announces in this brief exclamatory verse is the same day of which the other Prophets have so much to say. It is that great coming day with its attending events, which will bring the visible manifestation of Jehovah, preceded by tribulation and wrath, and followed by judgment as well as Righteousness, Peace and Glory for this earth.

That this is the true meaning of this phrase "the day of the Lord" is learned from the other passages in this book where Joel speaks again of that day. We give the other passages:

Chapter ii:1, 2. The description of the day of the Lord in these words corresponds to the descriptions of that day by the other prophets; for instance, Zeph. i:15.

Chapter ii:11. From these words it is still more evident that the great and terrible day in which the voice of Jehovah will be heard must be the great day in which the Lord appears in behalf of His people.

Chapter ii:31 ; iii:14-16. These last two passages establish the truth of our assertion beyond a doubt. The accompanying physical signs, the darkening of the sun, the blood-red moon, the shaking of the heavens and the earth, all these are the signs which precede the visible manifestation of the Lord in His day of power and glory. The Book of Joel, therefore, contains five passages in which the seer mentions the day of the Lord ; the first time in the verse in the first chapter, which we have under consideration. The description of the day of the Lord in these five passages is progressive. In the first passages before us now the fact that the day is coming is mentioned, and what that day is ; what events and signs come before and what follows after is revealed in the other passages.

The difficulty appears, however, in the statement that the day of Jehovah is near. From this some have concluded, inasmuch as that great day was not near in Joel's day, but still in the distant future, that Joel spoke of another day. The difficulty is completely overcome by remembering that his vision starting with the locust calamity in his own day, concerns the last days. Of his predictions it is true what the Lord said to another Prophet. "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and lie not; though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry" (Hab. ii:3). Joel giving by inspiration a description of what is to come upon Israel's land in the future when the day of the Lord is near speaks of that day as about to come. As already stated in the midst of the description of what the locusts had done to the land, the prophetic type of Gentile invasion and destruction, the day of the Lord looms up before the prophetic vision of the Prophet and with a Woe ! he announces the sure coming of that day, though it was yet afar off.

As this passage is one of the first in which God's Spirit announces the great day, it is in order to show how the prophets after Joel had visions which enlarge upon Joel's descriptions.⁵ This we may well do for these visions will soon be all fulfilled. God is going to do what He promised by the mouth of all His holy prophets. We see that long promised and predicted day approaching (Heb. x:25).

Isaiah. This great Prophet has much to say in his vision about the day of the Lord. He describes through the Spirit of God both the judgments which are connected with that day and the blessings which will come for Jerusalem and the nations as well as creation. The phrase "in that day" is often found in this Prophet. We recommend the reading and literal interpretations of a few passages in which Isaiah speaks of this day of the Lord. Chapters ii:2-5; ii:10-22; ii:16-26; iv; xi; xii; xiii:6-13; xxiv-xxvii ; xxxiv ; xxxv. The many predictions of Jerusalem's blessing and restoration of Israel as 1 found in chapters liv, lx, lxi, lxii and others stand all in relation to that day.

Jeremiah. He, too, speaks of that day and its related events though his great mission was in another direction. Read chapters xxv:30-33; xxx:1824.

Ezekiel. This great prophetic book has much to say about the day of the Lord. Chapters vii, xxiv, are especially pointed out. From chapters xxxvii-xlviii we have the record of great events both of judgment and of glorious blessings, which will be fulfilled immediately before and during the day of the Lord.

Daniel. While this Prophet does not use Joel's phrase "the day of the Lord" nearly all of his great prophecies are connected with that great day. The history of the times of the Gentiles is found here prewritten as well as their end, a great catastrophe, in the day when the stone cut out without hands falls from heaven and smites the image, the typical presentation of the times of the Gentiles. Chapter ii.

Hosea. Hosea's testimony is on the rejection of Israel and Judah. He announces also the day of the Lord. Chapter xi 19-11.

Amos. This Prophet prophesied a brief time after Joel, and he likewise gives witness of the coming day. Chapters i:2, vi:3, ix:11-15.

Obadiah. He lived about the time of Joel. In the short prophecy he wrote he speaks of the day. Read verse 15.

Micah. The fifth chapter refers in part to the future. Chapter v:15 is "that day."

Nahum. He prophesied about the wicked city Nineveh, a prediction of how God will deal with the wicked cities of the nations in a future day. Chapter i:1-9.

Habakkuk. The third chapter, that marvelous revelation, is a description of "that day."

Zephaniah. He speaks almost exclusively of the day and its attending manifestations. Chapters i:14-l8, ii and iii.

Haggai. His words, chapter ii:6, 7, concern that day. See Hebrews xii:26-29.

Zechariah. Here we find a very complete revelation of the great coming day. A careful reading of the last three chapters of this Prophet of glory will show the constant occurrence of these three significant words "in that day." It is most interesting and inspiring reading, a complete confirmation of all the preceding testimony beginning with Joel.

Malachi. The coming day in this last Old Testament prophetic book is revealed in chapters iii:1-3, iv:1-3.

We learn from all this what a prominent place the day of the Lord occupies in all these prophetic writings. Joel with the other Prophets beheld that day as coming from the Almighty. The Jehovah, who is to be manifested in that great day, is our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him and through Him all these judgments will be carried out in the day of His second coming. The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son (John v:22). That appointed day in which God will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained (the Lord Jesus Christ) is rapidly approaching (Acts xvii:3i). The same exalted Lord will also bring the promised blessing in that day. This day of the Lord of whom Joel speaks is repeatedly mentioned in the New Testament. It always concerns the earth, God's ancient people, the nations and never the true church. The day of Christ as exclusively revealed in the New Testament is the day which concerns the true church of God, the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Before the day of the Lord begins as well as before the great tribulation sets in, the church will go to her destined home in the presence of the Lord. All this we cannot follow here in its blessed details.

Is not the food cut off before our eyes?

From the house of our God joy and gladness. (Verse 16.)

These words revert to the calamity which had visited the land. The exclamation of the Prophet contained in the previous verse, in which he announced the coming of the day of the Lord, should be treated as a parenthesis. The description of the result of the locust invasion is taken up again and the prophet does not continue to speak of the great and terrible day of the Lord. This verse takes together in two sentences all which had been previously mentioned. The physical and spiritual want of the land and the people are here tersely pictured. There was no food. As we learned from the preceding verses the locusts had stripped the whole land. An awful famine was the result of the invasion. The different offerings and sacrifices and the joy and gladness connected with them (Deut. xii:7, xvi:10, 11) had come to an end. There was a great spiritual dearth. All this predicted the future condition of the land and the people as it has been and still is during the times of the Gentiles, so often announced by the Prophets of God.

The prophetic book which follows Joel, the Prophet Amos, announces such conditions of the people, conditions which Joel so vividly and briefly pictures as having come upon the land of Judah. "I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; and I will hang up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head ; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. Behold the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord ; and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the North even to the East, they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, and shall not find it" (Amos viii:10-12). But the same Prophet also announces that this sad condition of the people is to undergo a mighty change. "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed ; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. And I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God" (Amos ix:13-15). And Joel likewise at the close of his vision speaks of the future of blessing, which awaits Israel in the coming age when their land will be prosperous once more and joy and gladness, spiritual blessings will be restored to them.

The seeds have perished under their clods.

The garners become desolate.

The storehouses are broken down

For withered is the corn.

How the cattle groan!

The herds of oxen are bewildered,

For there is no feeding place for them,

Also the flocks of sheep are made to suffer. (Verses 17-18.)

This is a continued description of the great calamity. It seems a drought at the same time had been visited upon the land so that the seed which had been sown could not spring up, it perished under the clods. There was no prospect for a future harvest. In consequence of this the garners became desolate and the storehouses were broken down. All this shows the greatness of the trouble which had come upon the people, a prophetic type of what should be upon future generations of that nation on account of their unbelief and disobedience. Animal creation shared in this, as it has shared in the fall of man and suffers with man (Exodus xii:29, Jon. iii:7). The cattle groaned, which reminds us of the blessed words of hope for groaning creation as given in our great epistle to the Romans (Rom. viii 119-23). All this we need not to explain further. Two more verses and we have reached the end of the first part of the prophecy of Joel.

V. The prayer of the Prophet.

"To Thee, Jehovah, I cry;

For the fire hath consumed the goodly places of the desert

And a flame hath burned all the trees of the field.

Also the cattle of the field look up unto Thee,

For the streams of water are dried up,

And a fire hath consumed the goodly places of the desert." (Verses 19, 20.)

Besides the final description of the great distress, we have a word concerning Joel himself. He expresses his own feeling and attitude. It is but one sentence, but it tells us much'. "To thee, Jehovah, I cry." Joel was a man of prayer. No other mention is made by the Prophet of his own person, but this brief word is sufficient to give us a glimpse of his inner life and dependence on the Lord. In the midst of the distress, when misery and want held sway, when the cattle of the field, the oxen and sheep groaned, the Prophet cried unto Jehovah as His helper and knew Him as his refuge. Such a spirit of prayer and dependence characterized every one of these Prophets, the holy men of God. The Holy Spirit has marked this often. Habakkuk was a mighty man of prayer, full of faith and courage (Hab. i:2; iii:1, 16-19). Daniel prayed and his prayer and answer are recorded. Jonah prayed and praised in the belly of the great fish (Jonah ii). Micah cried out: "Therefore, I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me" (Micah vii:7). Joel cried to the Lord and appears as a kind of an intercessor in behalf of his stricken land. He is representing in this way the pious, God-fearing part of the nation. God always reserved for Himself a remnant in the midst of His earthly people, a remnant which still trusts in Him and in His Word. This is true of all periods of the great history of God's ancient people. In the times of Elijah when that prophet thought he was left alone, God had seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to Baal but worshipped Jehovah. The New Testament tells us that even at this time there is a remnant according to the election of Grace. In Malachi's day the corruption of the nation was great, yet there was a trusting and believing remnant. "Then they that feared the Lord spoke often one to another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon the Lord" (Mai. iii:17). It will be so in the future. The last days of dispersed Israel will be days of trouble. The great tribulation is called "the time of Jacob's trouble." Then when trouble is in the land, when once more the hand of the Lord will rest heavy upon them and mighty Gentile enemies and not locusts, as we shall find in the next chapter, shall invade the land, then a faithful remnant will like Joel cry unto Jehovah and He will answer them. Joel in his attitude of dependence on the Lord for deliverance represents this faithful remnant.

We sum up briefly the contents of this first chapter. Joel gives an inspired description of the locusts, which had in their four stages through which they passed, laid the land waste and changed the beautiful land into a desolate wilderness. The locusts were sent as a judgment from God and through their work even the sacrifices and offerings ceased, so that Israel was destitute of the appointed way to worship God. This locust invasion, though a literal one, has a prophetic meaning. It shows, as we have tried to explain, the times of the Gentiles during which Israel's land suffers in the same way and the judgment of God rests upon it.

With the next chapter we shall learn from the Prophet's vision the great day of the Lord, which he announced so briefly in the first part of his vision.

1. We spent considerable time in ascertaining these facts and to establish their reliability. The best work on the Locusts we have seen is by A. Munro, the locust plague and its suppression. We have also used Dr. K. A. Credner's work "Ueber die Heuschrecken," Halle,  

2. It is not different in the end of this present age. "Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God" is the prediction of the state of Christians in name in the last days. Statistics tell a horrible tale. According to the statistics, this "Christian (?) nation" expends yearly over a thousand million for strong drink and a few millions only for foreign missions. What an awakening is coming bye and bye for the lover* of pleasures!

3. Histor. Aethiop. by H. Ludolf.

4 Keil.

5. The statements of Higher Criticism that the later Prophets copied from Joel and added their conceptions, etc., must be dismissed as contrary to the inspiration of the Prophets. Each spoke and wrote independently of each other. They did not copy but gave revelations. The unity of their testimony is sufficient evidence of their inspiration. See "Harmony of the prophetic Word" by A. C. Gaebelein.