_HE SHEWETH UNTO ZION THE TERRIBLENESS OF GOD'S JUDGMENT: HE EXHORTETH TO REPENTANCE, PRESCRIBETH A FAST, AND PROMISETH A BLESSING THEREON: HE COMFORTETH ZION WITH PRESENT AND FUTURE BLESSINGS._ _Before Christ 800._... [ Continue Reading ]
BLOW YE THE TRUMPET, &C.— The prophet in the preceding chapter describes the locusts as the army of God; and now, in pursuance of the same metaphor, exhorts the people to prepare to meet them, in the same terms as if they were alarmed to oppose an enemy, which was always done by the sound of the tru... [ Continue Reading ]
A DAY OF DARKNESS, &C.— We have in this and the following verses a description of the locusts: their fierceness and speed, Joel 2:4.; the noise and din of their approach, Joel 2:5.; the order and regularity of their march, Joel 2:7.; their darkening the very lights of heaven by their number and flig... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THEY LEAP, &C.— _Shall they make a sound; as the noise of a flame of fire devouring the stubble._ Bochart has shewn abundantly how this description agrees with the locusts. He tells us from several authors, that they fly with a great noise, as St. John also describes them, Revelation 9:9 that... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE THEIR FACE, &C.— _At their approach the people tremble: all faces contract paleness._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL RUN, &C.— Bochart again shews how exactly this description agrees with the locusts; first, _They shall run._ Now their manner of fighting is thus described; they strike or wound, not as they stand, but as they _run._ Secondly, _They run as mighty men:_ what are more innumerable or strong... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL RUN TO AND FRO— _Shall range about._ Bishop Warburton observes, that the fine conversion of the subjects in Joel is remarkable. The prophesy is delivered in the first chapter; _Awake, ye drunkards,_ &c. and repeated in the second; _Blow, ye the trumpet,_ &c. In the first chapter the locus... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE HIS ARMY, &C.— _Before his army, that his camp may be very great, that it be strong to execute his command for the day,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND REND YOUR HEART, &C.— The rending of garments was used by almost all the ancients, as a token of deepest sorrow. The expression before us is a proper Hebraism; and the truest sense of it is, _Rend your hearts, and not your garments only._ The prophet does not forbid the external appearances of g... [ Continue Reading ]
SANCTIFY THE CONGREGATION— We read in Exodus 19:10 of God's commanding the people to sanctify themselves. This sanctification consisted in their solemn preparation to come before God, by washing themselves and their clothes, cleansing themselves from all legal impurities, &c. as may be seen in Joel... [ Continue Reading ]
BETWEEN THE PORCH AND THE ALTAR— This porch seems to be the same with that mentioned 1 Kings 6:3 which was twenty cubits long, and overlaid within with pure gold, 2 Chronicles 3:4. This porch separated the temple from the court of the priests; in which court was the altar of burnt-offerings; and bet... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I WILL REMOVE, &C.— The locusts are here styled the _northern army,_ because they entered the land at _Hamath,_ one of the northern borders, and passed quite through it till they came to the southern parts about the Dead Sea, which have been barren and desolate ever since the overthrow of Sodom... [ Continue Reading ]
FEAR NOT, O LAND, &C.— In the former part of this prophesy the land is elegantly represented as mourning, the beasts groaning, and the herds of cattle as greatly distressed; the rivers of water as dried up, and the pastures of the wilderness as all consumed. In the same elegant strain the prophet ca... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FORMER RAIN MODERATELY— _The former rain in benignity:_ or, as Houbigant renders it, _A teacher of righteousness._ See _Observations,_ p. 22.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL RESTORE TO YOU THE YEARS, &C.— Concerning these _years,_ it said in chap. Joel 1:4 that _the locusts shall eat what the palmer-worm hath left,_ &c. Chandler renders it, _I will recompense to you the years,_ &c. God, says Houbigant, restored fertility to the land, when he drove from Judaea... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE SHALL EAT IN PLENTY, &C.— _And ye shall certainly eat, and be satisfied,_ &c. Dr. Sharpe observes, that these words cannot, with any degree of sense, or propriety of language, be interpreted of any other joyful event, than the return of captive Israel and Judah from Babylon.... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTERWARD— Kimchi says, that this is the same as, _In the last days,_ Isaiah 2:2 and it is explained by St. Peter, Acts 2:17 of the times of the Gospel. The rabbies affirm, that wherever the words occur, they denote the time of the Messiah; and therefore they refer this prophesy expressly to his day... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL SHEW WONDERS, &C.— Whoever will be at the pains to compare our Saviour's prophesy of the destruction of Jerusalem, Matthew 24 with the present passage, will have no doubt concerning the application of this part of Joel's prophesy.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL, &C.— This expression seems to have a double meaning in the sacred writings. Sometimes it signifies to call oneself by or to be called by the name of Jehovah: thus, Genesis 4:26. As it is in the margin of our Bibles; _Then began men to call themselves by the name of the Lord;_ t... [ Continue Reading ]