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Joel Chapter
One
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO JOEL 1
This
chapter describes a dreadful calamity upon the people of the Jews, by locusts
and, caterpillars, and drought. After the title of the book, Joel 1:1; old men
are called upon to observe this sore judgment to their children, that it might
be transmitted to the latest posterity, as that the like to which had not been
seen and heard of, Joel 1:2; and
drunkards to awake and weep, because the vines were destroyed, and no wine
could be made for them, Joel 1:5; and not
only husbandmen and vinedressers, but the priests of the Lord, are called to
mourn, because such destruction, was made in the fields and vineyards, that
there were no meat nor drink offering brought into the house of the Lord, Joel 1:8; wherefore
a general and solemn fast is required throughout the land, because of the
distress of man and beast, Joel 1:14; and the
chapter is concluded with the resolution of the prophet to cry unto the Lord,
on account of this calamity, Joel 1:19.
Joel 1:1 The word of the
Lord that came to
Joel the son of Pethuel.
YLT 1A word of Jehovah that hath
been unto Joel, son of Pethuel:
The word of the Lord that
came to Joel the son of Pethuel. Who this Pethuel was is
not known; Jarchi takes him to be the same with Samuel the prophet, who had a
son of this name, 1 Samuel 8:2; and
gives this reason for his being called Pethuel, because in his prayer he
persuaded God; but the long span of time will by no means admit of this, nor
the character of Samuel's son agree with Joel; and therefore is rightly denied
by Aben Ezra, who observes, however, that this man was an honourable man, and
therefore his name is mentioned; and gives this as a rule, that whenever any
prophet mentions the name of his father, he was honourable. Perhaps, it is here
observed, to distinguish him from another of the same name; and there was one
of this name, Joel, a high priest in the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham, according
to Seder Olam ZutaF9Fol. 104. and AbarbinelF11In Meyer.
Anotat. in ib. p, 626. ; in whose time Joel is by some thought to prophesy.
Joel 1:2 2 Hear
this, you elders, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything
like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers?
YLT 2Hear this, ye aged ones,
And give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land, Hath this been in your days? Or
in the days of your fathers?
Hear this, ye old men,.... What the
prophet was about to relate, concerning the consumption of the fruits of the
earth, by various sorts of creatures, and by a drought; and these are called
upon to declare if ever the like had been known or heard of by them; who by
reason of age had the greatest opportunities of knowledge of this sort, and
could remember what they had heard or seen, and would faithfully relate it:
this maybe understood of elders in office, as well as in age;
and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land; or
"earth", not of the whole earth; but of the land of Judea; who were
more particularly concerned in this affair, and therefore are required to
listen attentively to it:
hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? that is, not
the selfsame thing, but anything equal to it; a judgment of the same kind and
nature, and of the same degree. By this question it seems the like had never
been in the memory of any man living; nor in former times, in the days of their
ancestors, as could be averted upon report; or attested on the credit of
annals, chronicles, or other methods of conveying the history of ages past. As
for the plague of locusts in Egypt, though they were such as; never find been,
nor would be there any more; yet such or greater, and more in number than
those, might be in Judea; besides, they continued but a few, lays at most,
these four years successively, as Kimchi observes; and who thinks that in Egypt
there was but one sort of locusts, here four; but the passage he quotes in Psalm 78:46;
contradicts him; to which may be added Psalm 105:34.
Joel 1:3 3 Tell
your children about it, Let your children tell their children, And
their children another generation.
YLT 3Concerning it to your sons
talk ye, And your sons to their sons, And their sons to another generation.
Tell ye your children of
it,.... Give them a particular account of it; describe the creatures
and their number as near as you can; say when they begun and how long they
continued, and what devastations they made, and what was the cause and reason
of such a judgment, your sins and transgressions:
and let your children tell their children, and their
children other generation; or, "to the generation following"F12לדור אחר "posteritati
sequenti", Vatablus; "generationi posterae", Junius &
Tremellius, Piscator, Tarnovius. ; let it be handed down from one generation to
another that it may be a caution to future posterity how they behave and lest
they bring down the like awful judgments on them. What this referred to was as
follows:
Joel 1:4 4 What
the chewing locust[a] left, the
swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust
has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.
YLT 4What is left of the
palmer-worm, eaten hath the locust, And what is left of the locust, Eaten hath
the cankerworm, And what is left of the cankerworm, Eaten hath the caterpillar.
That which the palmer worm
hath left hath the locust eaten,.... These, with the two following, are four
kinds of, locusts as Jarchi observes; though it is difficult to fix the
particular species designed; they seem to have their names from some peculiar
properties belonging to them; as the first of these from their sheering or
cropping off the fruits and leaves of trees; and the second from the vast
increase of them, the multitude they bring forth and the large numbers they
appear in:
and that which the locust hath left hath the canker worm eaten; which in the
Hebrew language is called from its licking up the fruits of the earth, by which
it becomes barren:
and that which the canker worm hath left hath the caterpillar
eaten; which has its name from wasting and consuming all that comes in
its way: now these came not together, but followed one another; not one one
year, and another the second, and so on throughout four years, as Kimchi
thinks; for though the calamity lasted some years as is manifest from Joel 2:25; yet it
is not reasonable, that, for instance what the palmer worm left the first year
should remain in the fields and vineyards, on the fig trees and vines till the
next year for the locust to consume and is on:, but rather these all appeared
in succession in one and the same year; and so what the palmer worm left having
eaten up what was most agreeable to them, the locust came and devoured what
they had left; and then what they left was destroyed by the canker worm, which
fed on that which was most grateful to them; and last of all came the
caterpillar, and consumed all the others had left; and this might be continued
for years successively: when this calamity was, we have no account in sacred
history; whether it was in the seven years' famine in the days of Elisha, or
the same with what Amos speaks of, Amos 4:6; is not
easy to say: and though it seems to be literally understood, as the drought
later mentioned, yet might be typical of the enemies of the Jews succeeding one
another in the destruction of them. Not of the four monarchies, the
Babylonians, Persians, Grecians, and Romans, as Lyra and Abarbinel; since the
Persians particularly never entered into the land of Judea and wasted it;
though this is the sense of the ancient Jews, as Jerom relates; for he says the
Hebrews interpret the "palmer worm" of the Assyrians, Babylonians,
and Chaldeans, who, coming from one climate of the world, destroyed both the ten
and the two tribes, that is, all the people of Israel: the locust they
interpret of the Medes and Persians, who, having overturned the Chaldean
empire, carried the Jews captive: the "canker worm" is the
Macedonians, and all the successors of Alexander; especially King Antiochus,
surnamed Epiphanes, who like a canker worm sat in Judea, and devoured all the
remains of the former kings, under whom were the wars of the Maccabees: the
"caterpillar" they refer to the Roman empire, the fourth and last
that oppressed the Jews, and drove them out of their borders. Nor of the
several kings of Assyria and Babylon, who followed one another, and wasted
first the ten tribes, and then the other two, as Tiglathpileser, Shalmaneser,
Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar, so Theodoret; since this prophecy only relates
to the two tribes. Rather therefore this may point at the several invasions and
incursions of the Chaldean army into Judea, under Nebuchadnezzar and his
generals; first, when he came up against Jerusalem, and made Jehoiakim
tributary to him; a second time, when he carried Jehoiachin and his family into
Babylon, with a multitude of the Jews, and their wealth; a third time, when he
besieged Jerusalem, and took it, and Zedekiah the king, and carried him
captive; and a fourth time, when Nebuzaradan came and burnt the temple, and the
houses of Jerusalem, and broke down the walls of it, and cleared the land of
its inhabitants and riches; see 2 Kings 24:1.
Joel 1:5 5 Awake,
you drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because of the new
wine, For it has been cut off from your mouth.
YLT 5Awake, ye drunkards, and
weep, And howl all drinking wine, because of the juice, For it hath been cut
off from your mouth.
Awake, ye drunkards, and
weep: and howl, all ye drinkers of wine,.... Who are used to
neither, either to awake or to howl, being very prone to drowsiness upon their
drinking bouts, and to mirth and jollity in them; but now should be awake, and
sober enough, not as being a virtue in them, but through want of wine; and for
the same reason should howl, as follows:
because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth; the locusts
having spoiled the vines and eaten the grapes, no new wine could be made, and
so none could be brought in cups to their mouths; nor they drink it in bowls,
as they had used to do; and which, being sweet and grateful to their taste,
they were wont to drink in great abundance, till they were inebriated with it;
but now there was a scarcity, their lips were dry, but not their eyes. The
word, Kimchi says, signifies all liquor which is squeezed by bruising or
treading.
Joel 1:6 6 For
a nation has come up against My land, Strong, and without number;
His teeth are the teeth of a lion, And he has the fangs
of a fierce lion.
YLT 6For a nation hath come up
on my land, Strong, and there is no number, Its teeth [are] the teeth of a
lion, And it hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness.
For a nation is come up
upon my land,.... A nation of locusts, so called from their great numbers, and
coming from foreign parts; just as the ants are called a "people",
and the conies a "folk", Proverbs 30:25; and
which were an emblem of the nation of the Chaldeans, which came up from
Babylon, and invaded the land of Judea; called by the Lord "my land",
because he had chosen it for the habitation of his people; here he himself had
long dwelt, and had been served and worshipped in it: though Kimchi thinks
these are the words of the inhabitants of the land, or of the prophet; but if
it can be thought they are any other than the words of God, they rather seem to
be expressed by the drunkards in particular, howling for want of wine, and
observing the reason of it:
strong, and without number; this description seems
better to agree with the Assyrians or Chaldeans, who were a mighty and powerful
people, as well as numerous; though locusts, notwithstanding they are weak,
singly taken, yet, coming in large bodies, carry all before them, and there is
no stopping them:
whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek
teeth of a great lion; or "the grinders"F13מתלעות
"molares", Pagninus, Mercerus, Burkius. of such an one; being hard,
strong, and sharp, to bite off the tops, boughs, and branches of trees: PlinyF14Nat.
Hist. l. 11. c. 29. says, locusts will gnaw with their teeth the doors of
houses; so the teeth of locusts are described in Revelation 9:8;
this may denote the strength, cruelty, and voraciousness of the Chaldean army.
Joel 1:7 7 He
has laid waste My vine, And ruined My fig tree; He has stripped it bare and
thrown it away; Its branches are made white.
YLT 7It hath made my vine become
a desolation, And my fig-tree become a chip, It hath made it thoroughly bare,
and hath cast down, Made white have been its branches.
He hath laid my vine waste,.... That is,
the locust, which spoiled the vines in Judea, the singular being put for the
plural, by gnawing the branches, biting the tops of them, and devouring the
leaves and the fruit; and so not only left them bare and barren, but destroyed
them: this may emblematically represent the Assyrians or Babylonians wasting
the land of Judea, the vine and vineyard of the Lord of hosts; see Isaiah 5:1;
and barked my fig tree; gnawed off the bark of
them; locusts are not only harmful to vines, as is hinted by TheocritusF15Idyll.
5. , but to fig trees also: PlinyF16Nat. Hist. l. 17. c. 25. speaks
of fig trees in Boeotia gnawn by locusts, which budded again; and mentions it
as something wonderful and miraculous that they should: and yet Sanctius
observes, that these words cannot be understood properly of the locusts, since
fig trees cannot be harmed by the bite or touch of them; which, besides their
roughness, have an insipid bitter juice, which preserves them from being gnawn
by such creatures; and the like is observed of the cypress by VitruviusF17De
Architectura, l. 2. c. 9. p. 70. ; but the passage out of Pliny shows the
contrary. Some interpret it of a from or scum they left upon the fig tree when
they gnawed it, such as Aben Ezra says is upon the face of the water; and
something like this is left by caterpillars on the leaves of trees, which
destroy them;
he hath made it clean bare; stripped it of its
leaves and fruit, and bark also:
and cast it away; having got out all the
juice they could:
the branches thereof are made white; the bark being gnawed
off, and all the greenness and verdure of them dried up; so trees look, when
this is their case: and thus the Jews were stripped by the Chaldeans of all
their wealth and treasure, and were left bare and naked, and as the scum and
offscouring of all things.
Joel 1:8 8 Lament
like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth.
YLT 8Wail, as a virgin girdeth
with sackcloth, For the husband of her youth.
Lament like a virgin,.... This is
not the continuation of the prophet's speech to the drunkards; but, as Aben
Ezra observes, he either speaks to himself, or to the land the Targum supplies
it, O congregation of Israel; the more religious and godly part of the people
are here addressed; who were concerned for the pure worship of God, and were as
a chaste virgin espoused to Christ, though not yet come, and for whom they were
waiting; these are called upon to lament the calamities of the times in doleful
strains, like a virgin:
girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth; either as one
that had been betrothed to a young man, but not married, he dying after the
espousals, and before marriage; which must be greatly distressing to one that
passionately loved him; and therefore, instead of her nuptial robes, prepared
to meet him and be married in, girds herself with sackcloth; a coarse hairy
sort of cloth, as was usual, in the eastern countries, to put on in token of
mourning: or as one lately married to a young man she dearly loved, and was
excessively fond of, and lived extremely happy with; but, being suddenly
snatched away from her by death, puts on her widow's garments, and mourns not
in show only, but in reality; having lost in her youth her young husband, she
had the strongest affection for: this is used to express the great lamentation
the people are called unto in this time of their distress.
Joel 1:9 9 The
grain offering and the drink offering Have been cut off from the house of the Lord; The priests
mourn, who minister to the Lord.
YLT 9Cut off hath been present
and libation from the house of Jehovah, Mourned have the priests, ministrants
of Jehovah.
The meat offering and the
drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord,.... The meat
offering was made of fine flour, oil, and frankincense; and the drink offering
was of wine; and, because of the want of corn and wine, these were not brought
to the temple as usual; and which was matter of great grief to religious
persons, and especially to the priests, as follows:
the priests, the Lord's ministers, mourn; partly
because they had no work to do, and could not answer to their character, the
ministers of the Lord, in ministering about holy things, and bringing the
sacrifices and offerings of the people to him; and partly because of their want
of food, their livelihood greatly depending on the offerings brought, part of
which belonged to them, and on which they and their families lived.
Joel 1:10 10 The
field is wasted, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine is
dried up, The oil fails.
YLT 10Spoiled is the field,
mourned hath the ground, For spoiled is the corn, Dried up hath been new wine,
languish doth oil.
The field is wasted,.... By the
locust, that eat up all green things, the grass and herbs, the fruit and leaves
of trees; and also by the Chaldeans trampling on it with their horses, and the
increase of which became fodder for them:
the land mourneth; being destitute, nothing growing upon it,
and so looked dismally, and of a horrid aspect; or the inhabitants of it, for
want of provision:
for the corn is wasted; by the locusts, and so
by the Assyrian or Chaldean army, before it came to perfection:
the new wine is dried up: in the grape, through
the drought after mentioned: or, "is ashamed"F18הוביש "erubuit", Tigurine version, Mercer,
Liveleus; "puduit", Drusius, Tarnovius; "pudefit",
Cocceius. ; not answering the expectations of men, who saw it in the cluster,
promising much, but failed:
the oil languisheth; or "sickens"F19אמלל "infirmatum est", Montanus. So some in
Vatablus. ; the olive trees withered; the olives fell off, as the Targum, and
so the oil failed: the corn, wine, and oil, are particularly mentioned, not
only as being the chief support of human life, as Kimchi observes, and so the
loss of them must be matter of lamentation to the people in general; but
because of these the meat and drink offerings were, and therefore the priests
in particular had reason to mourn.
Joel 1:11 11 Be
ashamed, you farmers, Wail, you vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because
the harvest of the field has perished.
YLT 11Be ashamed, ye husbandmen,
Howl, vine-dressers, for wheat and for barley, For perished hath the harvest of
the field.
Be ye ashamed, O ye
husbandmen,.... Tillers of the land, who have took a great deal of pains in
cultivating the earth, dunging, ploughing, and sowing it; confusion may cover
you, because of your disappointment, the increase not answering to your
expectations and labours:
howl, O ye vinedressers; that worked in the
vineyards, set the vines, watered and pruned them, and, when they had done all
they could to them, were dried up with the drought, or devoured by the locusts,
as they were destroyed by the Assyrians or Chaldeans; and therefore had reason
to howl and lament, all their labour being lost:
for the wheat and for the barley: because the harvest of the field
is perished; this belongs to the husbandmen, is a reason for their shame and
blushing, because the wheat and barley were destroyed before they were ripe;
and so they had neither wheat nor barley harvest. The words, by a
transposition, would read better, and the sense be clearer, "thus, be ye
ashamed, O ye husbandmen, for the wheat and for the barley: because the
harvest", &c. "howl, O ye vine dressers"; for what follows:
Joel 1:12 12 The
vine has dried up, And the fig tree has withered; The pomegranate tree, The
palm tree also, And the apple tree— All the trees of the field are withered; Surely
joy has withered away from the sons of men.
YLT 12The vine hath been dried
up, And the fig-tree doth languish, Pomegranate, also palm, and apple-tree, All
trees of the field have withered, For dried up hath been joy from the sons of
men.
The vine is dried up,.... Withered
away, stripped of its leaves and fruits, and its sap and moisture gone: or,
"is ashamed"F20הובישה
"confusa est", V. L. "pudefacta est", Cocceius;
"pudet", Drusius. ; to see itself in this condition, and not answer
the expectation of its proprietor and dresser:
and the fig tree languisheth; sickens and dies,
through the bite of the locusts:
the pomegranate tree: whose fruit is
delicious, and of which wine was made: the palm tree also; which bears dates:
and the apple tree; that looks so beautiful, when either in
bloom, or laden with fruit, and whose fruit is very grateful to the palate; so
that both what were for common use and necessary food, and what were for
delight and pleasure, were destroyed by these noisome creatures:
even all the trees
of the field are withered; for locusts not only devour the leaves and
fruits of trees, but hurt the trees themselves; burn them up by touching them,
and cause them to wither away and die, both by the saliva and dung, which they
leave upon them, as Bochart, from various authors, has proved:
because joy is withered away from the sons of men; this is not
given as a reason of the above trees dried up and withered, but of the
lamentation of the vinedressers and husbandmen: or else the particle כי is merely expletive, or may be rendered,
"therefore", or "truly", or "surely"F21כי "ideo", Grotius; "imo", Piscator;
"sane", Mercer. , "joy is withered", or
"ashamed"; it blushes to appear, as it used to do at the time of
harvest; but now there was no harvest, and so no joy expressed, as usually was
at such times; see Isaiah 9:3.
Joel 1:13 13 Gird
yourselves and lament, you priests; Wail, you who minister before the altar; Come,
lie all night in sackcloth, You who minister to my God; For the grain offering
and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God.
YLT 13Gird, and lament, ye
priests, Howl, ye ministrants of the altar, Come in, lodge in sackcloth,
ministrants of my God, For withheld from the house of your God hath been
present and libation.
Gird yourselves, and
lament, ye priests,.... Prepare and be ready to raise up lamentation and mourning;
or gird yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn in that, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi
supply the words; see Jeremiah 4:8;
howl, ye ministers of the altar; who served there, by
laying on and burning the sacrifices, or offering incense:
come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God; that is, come
into the house of the Lord, as Kimchi; into the court of the priests, and there
lie all night, in the sackcloth girded with; putting up prayers to God, with
weeping and lamentations, that he would avert the judgments that were come or
were coming upon theme:
for the meat offering and the drink offering are withholden from
the house of your God; See Gill on Joel 1:9.
Joel 1:14 14 Consecrate
a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the elders And all the
inhabitants of the land Into the house of the Lord your God, And
cry out to the Lord.
YLT 14Sanctify a fast, proclaim a
restraint, Gather the elders -- all the inhabitants of the land, [Into] the
house of Jehovah your God,
Sanctify yea a fast,.... This is
spoken to the priests, whose business it was to appoint a fast, as the Targum
renders it; or to set apart a time for such religious service, as the word
signifies; and to keep it holy themselves, and see that it was so kept by
others: Kimchi interprets it, prepare the people for a fast; give them notice
of it, that they may be prepared for it:
call a solemn assembly; of all the people of the
land later mentioned: or, "proclaim a restraint"F23קראו עצרה "vocate
retentionem", Montanus; "proclamate diem interdicti", Junius
& Tremellius, Heb. "interdictum", Piscator; "edicite coetum
cum cessatione", Cocceius. ; a time of ceasing, as a fast day should be
from all servile work, that attendance may be given to the duties of it, prayer
and humiliation:
gather the elders: meaning not those in age, but in office:
and all the inhabitants of
the land; not the magistrates only, though first and principally, as
examples, who had been deeply concerned in guilt; but the common people also,
even all of them:
into the house of
the Lord your God; the temple, the court of the Israelites, where they were to go
and supplicate the Lord, when such a calamity as this of locusts and
caterpillars were upon them; and where they might hope the Lord would hear
them, and remove his judgments from them, 1 Kings 8:37;
and cry unto the Lord; in prayer, with
vehemence and earnestness of soul.
Joel 1:15 15 Alas
for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand; It
shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
YLT 15And cry unto Jehovah, `Alas
for the day! For near [is] a day of Jehovah, And as destruction from the mighty
it cometh.
Alas for the day! for the
day of the Lord is at hand,.... A time of severer
and heavier judgments than these of the locusts, caterpillars, &c. which
were a presage and emblem of greater ones, even of the total destruction of
their city, temple, and nation, either by the Chaldeans, or by the Romans, or
both:
and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come; unawares,
suddenly, and irresistibly: there is in the Hebrew text an elegant play on
words, which may be rendered, as "wasting from the waster", or "destruction
from the destroyer, shall it come"F24כשד
משדי "uti vastitas a Deo vastatore",
Drusius. ; even from the almighty God, who is able to save and destroy, and
none can deliver out of his hands; see Isaiah 13:6; the
word signifies one powerful and victorious, as Aben Ezra observes; and so it
does in the Arabic language.
Joel 1:16 16 Is
not the food cut off before our eyes, Joy and gladness from the house of our
God?
YLT 16Is not before our eyes food
cut off? From the house of our God joy and rejoicing?
Is not the meat cut off
before our eyes?.... Such an interrogation most strongly affirms; it was a matter
out of all question, they could not but see it with their eyes; it was a plain
case, and not to be denied, that every eatable thing, or that of which food was
wont to be made, was cut off by the locusts, or the drought, or by the Assyrian
or Chaldean army:
yea, joy and gladness from
the house of our God; the harvest being perished, there were no firstfruits brought to
the temple, which used to be attended with great joy; and the corn and vines
being wasted, no meat offerings made of fine flour, nor drink offerings of
wine, were offered, which used to make glad God and man; nor any other
sacrifices, on which the priests and their families lived, and were matter of
joy to them; and these they ate of in the temple, or in courts adjoining to it.
So PhiloF25De Plantatione Noe, p. 237. the Jew says of the ancient
Jews, that
"having
prayed and offered sacrifices, and appeased the Deity, they washed their bodies
and souls; the one in lavers, the other in the streams of the laws, and right
instruction; and being cheerful, turned themselves to their food, not going
home oftentimes, but remaining in the holy places where they sacrificed; and as
mindful of the sacrifices, and reverencing the place, they kept a feast truly
holy, not shining either in word or deed.'
Joel 1:17 17 The
seed shrivels under the clods, Storehouses are in shambles; Barns are broken
down, For the grain has withered.
YLT 17Rotted have scattered
things under their clods, Desolated have been storehouses, Broken down have
been granaries, For withered hath the corn.
The seed is rotten under
their clods,.... Or "grains"F26פרדות
"grana", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Tarnovius, Cocceius,
Bochartus. So Ben Melech, who observes they are so called, because they are
separated and scattered under the earth. of wheat or barley, which had been
sown, and, for want of rain, putrefied and wasted away under the clods of
earth, through the great drought; so that what with locusts, which cropped that
that did bud forth, and with the drought, by reason of which much of the seed
sown came to nothing, an extreme famine ensued: the Targum is,
"casks
of wine rotted under their coverings:'
the garners are desolate; the
"treasuries"F1אצרות
"thesauri", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Vatablus, Piscator. , or
storehouses, having nothing in them, and there being nothing to put into them;
Jarchi makes these to be peculiar for wine and oil, both which failed, Joel 1:10;
the barns are broken down; in which the wheat and
barley had used to be laid up; but this judgment of the locusts and drought
continuing year after year, the walls fell down, and, no care was taken to
repair them, there being no, use for them; these were the granaries, and, as
Jarchi, for wheat particularly:
for the corn is withered; that which sprung up
withered and dried away, through the heat and drought: or was
"ashamed"F2הוביש "confusum
est", V. L. "puduit", Drusius; "pudore afficit",
Cocceius. ; not answering the expectation of the sower.
Joel 1:18 18 How
the animals groan! The herds of cattle are restless, Because they have no
pasture; Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment.[b]
YLT 18How have cattle sighed!
Perplexed have been droves of oxen, For there is no pasture for them, Also
droves of sheep have been desolated.
How do the beasts groan?.... For want
of fodder, all green grass and herbs being eaten up by the locusts; or
devoured, or trampled upon, and destroyed, by the Chaldeans; and also for want
of water to quench their thirst:
the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; the larger
cattle, as oxen; these were in the utmost perplexity, not knowing where to go
for food or drink:
yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate; which have
shepherds to lead and direct them to pastures, and can feed on commons, where
the grass is short, which other cattle cannot; yet even these were in great
distress, and wasted away, and were consumed for want of nourishment.
Joel 1:19 19 O
Lord, to You I cry
out; For fire has devoured the open pastures, And a flame has burned all the
trees of the field.
YLT 19Unto Thee, O Jehovah, I do
call, For fire hath consumed comely places of a wilderness, And a flame hath
set on fire all trees of the field.
O Lord, to thee will I cry,.... Or pray, as
the Targum; with great vehemency and earnestness, commiserating the case of man
and beast: these are the words of the prophet, resolving to use his interest at
the through of grace in this time of distress, whatever others did:
for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness; or, "of
the plain"F3מדבר "non tantum
desertum significat sed et campum sativum", Oecolampadius. "A place
of pasture for cattle", Ben Melech. though in the wildernesses of Judea,
there were pastures for cattle: Kimchi interprets them of the shepherds' tents
or cotes, as the wordF4נאות
"caulas", Piscator. So Ben Melech. is sometimes used; which were will
not to be pitched where there were pastures for their flocks: and so the Targum
renders it, "the habitations of the wilderness"; these, whether
pastures or habitations, or both, were destroyed by fire, the pastures by the
locusts, as Kimchi; which, as PlinyF5Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 29. says,
by touching burn the trees, herbs, and fruits of the earth; see Joel 2:3; or by the
Assyrians or Chaldeans, who by fire and sword consumed all in their way; or by
a dry burning blasting wind, as Lyra; and so the Targum interprets it of a
strong east wind like fire: it seems rather to design extreme heat and
excessive drought, which burn up all the produce of the earth:
and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the field; which may be
understood of flashes of lightning, which are common in times of great heat and
drought; see Psalm 83:14.
Joel 1:20 20 The
beasts of the field also cry out to You, For the water brooks are dried up, And
fire has devoured the open pastures.
YLT 20Also the cattle of the
field long for Thee, For dried up have been streams of water, And fire hath
consumed comely places of a wilderness!'
The beasts of the field
cry also unto thee,.... As well as the prophet, in their way; which may be
mentioned, both as a rebuke to such who had no sense of the judgments upon
them, and called not on the Lord; and to express the greatness of the calamity,
of which the brute creatures were sensible, and made piteous moans, as for
food, so for drink; panting thorough excessive heat and vehement thirst, as the
hart, after the water brooks, of which this word is only used, Psalm 42:1; but in
vain:
for the rivers of waters are dried up; not only
springs, and rivulets and brooks of water, but rivers, places where were large
deep waters, as Aben Ezra explains it; either by the Assyrian army, the like
Sennacherib boasts Isaiah 37:25; and
is said to be done by the army of Xerxes, wherever it came; or rather by the
excessive heat and scorching beams of the sun, by which such effects are
produced:
and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness; See Gill on Joel 1:19; and
whereas the word rendered pastures signifies both "them" and
"habitations" also; and, being repeated, it may be taken in one of
the senses in Joel 1:19; and in
the other here: and so Kimchi who interprets it before of "tents",
here explains it of grassy places in the wilderness, dried up, as if the sun
had consumed them.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)