Joel 1:13-20

THE EXTENT. VIVID, ARRESTING (cont-'d)

TEXT: Joel 1:13-20

13

Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, ye priests; wail, ye ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meal-offering and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God.

14

Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the old men and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovah your God, and cry unto Jehovah.

15

Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

16

Is not the food cut off before our eyes, yet, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

17

The seeds rot under their clods; the gardens are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is withered.

18

How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

19

O Jehovah, to thee do I cry; for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.

20

Yea, the beasts of the field pant unto thee; for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

QUERIES

a.

What is sackcloth and why put it on to mourn?

b.

Why sanctify a fast?

c.

What is the day of Jehovah and how was it at hand?

PARAPHRASE

You priests, servants at God's altar, put on mourning clothing, even that which is made from hair, and mourn. And not only in the daytime are you to mourn but even while you are performing the services in the temple at night you are to lie before the altar weeping and lamenting, Be sorrowful and pray because there is no grain or wine for this has caused the offerings in the house of God to cease. Declare a period of fasting and call a solemn meeting of the elders and all the people of the land. Call everyone to the temple of God and there let the priests pray with supplications, crying unto the Lord, for this is a woeful day! The day of the Lord is upon us and it is destruction from the Almighty! The cutting off of all food and the cessation of joyful offerings in the house of God proves to our very eyes that the day of the Lord is destruction upon us for we have been unfaithful. Indeed, the drought is so terrible the seed just lately sown rots in the plowed earth for lack of moisture; the granaries are empty and are rotting away; the barns are falling to pieces from disuse. Even the dumb animals groan because of their suffering. The cattle and sheep are bewildered with fear and hunger because they have no pasture. To Thee, O Lord, I Joel, cry for help for both man and beast. The burning heat of the drought has consumed the meadows of the wilderness and has even burned up all the trees. The animals, in their panting, are crying for help from Thee, O Lord, because they have no water to drinkthe drought has dried up all the brooks and burned up all the pastures.

SUMMARY

The extremity of the people of Judah, in both locust plague and drought, is so severe that even the dumb beasts are groaning and pant under the Lord!

COMMENT

Joel 1:13 GIRD YOURSELVES. LIE ALL NIGHT IN SACKCLOTH. MEAL-OFFERING WITHHOLDEN FROM THE HOUSE OF YOUR GOD; Again Joel takes up that which was so impressive to him in Joel 1:9the cessation of the offerings due to the complete absence of materials with which to make the offerings. It would not have been so calamitous that the people had suffered the loss of physical necessities, but when they were forced to stop presenting their intercessory offerings it indicated that their access to Jehovah, their covenant God, had been interrupted. It would be as disastrous as telling a Christian he could no longer pray or sing praises or in any manner worship the Lord. So the priests are instructed to put on the customary clothing for mourning and penitence called sackcloth in our translation. It was a coarse material woven from goats-' and camel's hair and thus of dark color. Sacks were also made from this coarse material and thus it is called sackcloth. It was not a full garment but more probably a cloth just large enough to wrap around the loins and tie in the front in a knot. They are told they must make their penitent supplications to the Lord day and night without ceasing. The text indicates they should, in some way, prostrate themselves before the great altar in the temple. They are to pray with loud crying (wailinglamenting) unto God,

Joel 1:14 SANCTIFY A FAST. CALL ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE LAND. AND CRY UNTO JEHOVAH; The prophet now instructs the priests to officially consecrate a specific period of fasting. Fasting is a religious exercise whereby the demands of the flesh are subordinated to a concentration upon the spiritual. A fast was a time dedicated to afflicting the soulappetites (Leviticus 16:29-31; Leviticus 23:27-29). A solemn assembly is also to be gathered. There was no occasion for festive mood now! The elders were undoubtedly called to testify that no such calamity had ever before happened and that this surely must be from God. All the people are instructed to make supplication to the Lord. This statement presupposes, of course, that they will do so in an attitude of repentance.

Joel 1:15 ALAS FOR THE DAY! FOR THE DAY OF JEHOVAH IS AT HAND, AND AS DESTRUCTION FROM THE ALMIGHTY SHALL IT COME. In prophetic literature, the Day of Jehovah generally denotes my great manifestation of God's power in judgment or redemption. Sometimes, as here in Joel, the prophet denoted a great, calamitous judgment as the Day of Jehovah which had the purpose of calling the covenant people to repentance and purity. Sometimes, and more often than most realize, the prophet, as in Malachi 3:1-6, speaks of the ultimate crisis in the history of God's kingdom which is to involve the overthrow of all opposition and the complete triumph of righteousness (cf. Isaiah 2:2-5; Joel 2:28, Joel 3:21; Amos 9:11 ff; Zechariah 14, etc.) which refers to the culminating work of Christ the Redeemer in His atoning death, justifying resurrection and His establishment of the church. This was THE DAY OF JEHOVAH when Jehovah brought all men under judgment and at the same time provided for all men redemption. This awaits only the consummation at the Lord's second coming. The absence of perspective is very conspicuous when the prophets write of The Day of Jehovah. Chronology is largely disregarded and the Day of Jehovah is seen looming up as the immediate background of every great crisis in which the covenant nation may, be involved. The great Day of Jehovah when the Messiah shall appear in judgment and redemption (Malachi 3, etc.) is definitely bereft of chronological perspective as far as the prophets are concerned. They did not know what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory. And, in fact, God did not tell them exactly when these things were to be fulfilled. There are inspired guidelines, however, (already referred to more than once, especially in our introductory Interpreting The Prophets), statements of Jesus and the apostles as to the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies. One thing is certain in prophetic literaturethe Day of Jehovah is surely coming! The steps by which the goal is to be reached are only gradually revealed in the actual march of God's providential works of redemption and judgment. The Day of Jehovah is a day of judgment and redemptionprimarily a day of judgment. Not only upon the heathen nations, but, due to the absolute righteousness of God, includes judgment upon all sin. God judges even the children of favor and privilege when they sin (Amos 5:18). His judgment is a purifying, refining instrument in order that a remnant might be saved (cf. Isaiah 6:13; Amos 9:9; Zephaniah 3:13-20). Gentile nations are used by God as instruments on His Day of Judgment, yet they too shall be judged by Him. And, consequently, even a remnant of the Gentiles will turn to Jehovah as a result of the Day of Jehovah. For further comment on the Day of Jehovah see comments on Obadiah 1:15 in this volume. What Joel here wants the people of Judah to understand is that the Day of Jehovah is as destruction from the Almighty. The Jews were persuaded, because of their special relation to Jehovah, that the Day of Jehovah was intended to be judgment and destruction upon the Gentiles but victory and conquest and world dominion for the Israelites. They refused to accept the preaching of the prophets that God was holding them responsible for their sins (cf. Zephaniah 1:12; Malachi 2:17; Amos 6; Ezekiel 8:12).

Joel 1:16 IS NOT THE FOOD CUT OFF. JOY AND GLADNESS FROM THE HOUSE OF OUR GOD? Joel, in asking these questions, is actually interpreting for the people the meaning of the calamities that have come upon them. He asks rhetorically, Can you not see, even from the fact that contact with God has been cut off, that God is visiting us with judgment? It was no longer possible to offer even the least offering to God in the templethere simply was no produce from field or vineyard by which man could commune with His God.

Joel 1:17 THE SEEDS ROT.; THE GARNERS. DESOLATE, THE BARNS. BROKEN; The grain seed shrivels up and crumbles into dust for lack of rain. The granaries, storehouses where the people stored their grain, stood deserted and unused. The barns, another type of storage place, also used to house animals sometimes, were actually falling apart from disuse. Even the grain that might have been saved and not sown was withering and becoming unusable because of the extreme drought.

Joel 1:18-20. THE BEASTS GROAN. ARE PERPLEXED. MADE DESOLATE. PANT UNTO THEE; FOR THE WATER BROOKS ARE DRIED UP. FIRE HATH DEVOURED THE PASTURES OF THE WILDERNESS. The cattle and sheep are dumbfounded (perplexed) and bewildered. They are dying of starvation and thirst. Hunger and fear grips them but being dumb animals they can only groan. The prophet personally implores the Lord on behalf of these suffering beasts.

Lange says, That this latter event (locust plague and drought) should be made the theme of a prophetic discourse, is no way surprising, because Holy Scripture teaches us that all public calamities are divine dispensations designed to awaken men to a sense of their sins, and to bring them to repentance. But as terrible as this plague and drought is and as devastating upon the material means of subsistence as it is, Joel's main concern is that it has caused a cessation of all sacrifices and offerings in the Temple of God. These services and the Temple were visible signs and pledges of God's dwelling in the midst of Israel as His people. When these services ceased it was a sign that God had withdrawn His covenant pledge and presence. In Ezekiel 11:22-25 the glory of the Lord departed from Jerusalem until after the captivity of the Jews. So here, the absence of worship signifies the absence of covenant relation with God. And now, in chapter two, Joel entreats the people and the priests to repent and call upon God for forgiveness and restoration of covenant relationship. Joel, in striking figures, describes the activities by which the people should make their repentance known to God.

First, he reiterates the announcement that Jehovah God is the Executor of this call to repentance. God, using natural agents (secondary causes), is the First Cause behind their extremities. In the first part of chapter two (Joel 2:1-11) the prophet creates a literary masterpiece. A vivid, moving picture of words is painted describing God's armythe locusts.