II. (1) BLOW YE THE TRUMPET. — The preaching of the prophet increases in its intensity. Behind the locusts, exemplified by them, there is a still more terrible visitation. He sees on the horizon a mustering of the nations hostile to his people, bent on destroying them. Let the priests stir up the p... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MORNING SPREAD UPON THE MOUNTAINS. — The Hebrew word here used for morning is derived from a verb, _Shachar,_ which has for one meaning “to be or become black,” for the second “to break forth” as light. From this latter signification is derived the word for morning — dawn; from the former comes... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE THEM... BEHIND THEM. — As with the locusts, so with the invading hosts of enemies: the country is found a paradise, and left a desert.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE APPEARANCE OF HORSES. — So also are locusts described in the Revelation: “And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle” (from this likeness the Italians call a locust cavalletta)... “and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses running... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL FACES SHALL GATHER BLACKNESS. — There are different explanations of this Hebrew phrase, which expresses the result of terror. Some translate it “withdraw their ruddiness,” _i.e.,_ grow pale; others, “draw into themselves their colour;” others, “contract a livid character.” The alternative render... [ Continue Reading ]
(7-9) THEY SHALL RUN LITE MIGHTY MEN. — The onward irresistible march of the invaders is graphically described by the illustration of the advance of locusts. They appear on the mountains which environ the city, they mount the walls, they rush through the streets, they enter the houses, they are in p... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EARTH SHALL QUAKE BEFORE THEM. — Some commentators call this description “a specimen of the highly-wrought hyperbolical features of Hebrew poetry,” but it is the presence and judgment, the voice of the Lord in the thunder, which causes this trepidation. The signs in the heavens will be manifeste... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS ARMY. — “In every stage of their existence these locusts give a most impressive view of the power of God to punish a wicked world” (_The Land and the Book,_ p. 417).... [ Continue Reading ]
SAITH THE LORD. — The word _saith_ is here no common word in the Hebrew. It implies an authoritative and most weighty utterance, as in Psalms 110:1, “The Lord _said_ unto my Lord.” “The word is used in almost every instance of the immediate utterance of God Himself; more rarely of that of the prophe... [ Continue Reading ]
REPENTETH HIM OF THE EVIL — _i.e.,_ in the sense that of His own will He would not the death of a sinner. The judgments of God, like His mercies, are conditional. As the “Lord repented (_i.e.,_ grieved) that He had made Saul king over Israel,” and revoked the appointment, so now He repenteth Him of... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN A MEAT OFFERING. — The returning favour of the Lord will enable the daily sacrifices to be restored, which had failed through the visitation (Joel 1:9).... [ Continue Reading ]
SANCTIFY A FAST. — The prophet renews, therefore, his summons to the priests to proclaim a day of humiliation, on which all, without distinction of age or circumstances, are to be required to present themselves before the Lord. There was no room for the plea, “I have married a wife, and therefore I... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THE HEATHEN SHOULD RULE OVER THEM. — All mention of the locusts is dropped. The lesser calamity is swallowed up in the apprehension of the greater.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL NO MORE MAKE YOU. — The reply of the Lord is directed to remove the fear that by reason of the destruction of the fruits of the land the people would be at the mercy of the invading nations.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NORTHERN ARMY. — Literally, _him of the north._ “This is an exception to the usual direction of the flight of locusts” (Stanley, _Jewish Church_)_,_ but it may be literally applied to the Assyrian hordes, whom the Jews generally spoke of as dwelling in the north. In Jeremiah 1:13 the symbolical... [ Continue Reading ]
FEAR NOT, O LAND... — The sentence of the reversal of judgment has gone forth, and all nature — animate and inanimate, rational and irrational — which had been included in the curse is summoned to rejoice in the blessing vouchsafed by the Lord.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE CHILDREN OF ZION — _i.e.,_ they were called upon to manifest their rejoicings in the place where the trumpet had been sounded for the proclamation of the fast. THE FORMER RAIN MODERATELY. — St. Paul adduces the gift of the rain as a witness to the people of Lystra of the existence and beneficenc... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL RESTORE TO YOU THE YEARS — _i.e.,_ the years which would have been necessary in the ordinary course of nature for the land to recover from the ravages of the “great army.”... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM IN THE MIDST OF ISRAEL. — This Divine assurance, similar to that with which the book ends, prepares the way for the spiritual blessings about to be announced.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT UPON ALL FLESH. — Holy Scripture is itself the interpreter of this most weighty promise. St. Peter’s quotation and application of it in the Acts is its commentary. “Afterward “ — LXX., after these things becomes in the apostle’s mouth — “in the last days” — _i.e.,_ in the C... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALSO (better, _even_) UPON THE SERVANTS.... — The result of which promise, according to St. Peter’s interpretation, is “They shall prophesy.” “The promise is to you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” (Acts 2:39).... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SUN... AND THE MOON. — These words, recalling some of the portents in the ancient history of the Jews (especially as instanced in some of the plagues of Egypt) are taken up by our Lord Himself, as ushering in the great day of judgment; and they are echoed again by St. John in the vision of the o... [ Continue Reading ]
DELIVERANCE. — Or, perhaps better, _those that escape._ St. Paul quotes from this verse (Romans 10:13), transferring the reference to the Messianic advent, to prove the universality of the deliverance effected by our Lord, who abolished the difference between Jew and Greek. In His Church, the heaven... [ Continue Reading ]