Joel 2:10

The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: THE EARTH SHALL QUAKE BEFORE THEM - i:e., the inhabitants of the earth quake with fear of them. THE HEAVENS SHALL TREMBLE - i:e., "the powers of the heavens shall be shaken" (); its illumining powers are disturbed by the locusts, which intercept the sunlight with their dense flying swarm. These, however, are but the images of revolutions of states causal by such foes as were to invade Judea....

Then he adds, _Before their face shall the earth tremble, and in anguish shall be the heavens; the sun and the moon shall become dark, and the stars shall withdraw their brightness. _The Prophet speaks here more hyperbolically; but we must ever remember that he addressed men extremely stupid: it then behaved him to speak in an unusual manner, that he might touch their feelings; for it avails nothing to speak in all ordinary way to perverse men, especially to those who have divested themselves of all shame, and whom Satan has fascinated, so that they fear nothing and grieve at nothing. When therefore each stupidity lays hold on the minds of men, God must thunder that his word may be heard. As then the listlessness of the people was monstrous, so it was necessary, so to speak, for the Prophet to utter monstrous words. This is the reason why he now says, _Before their face _(namely, that of...

1-14 The priests were to alarm the people with the near approach of the Divine judgments. It is the work of ministers to warn of the fatal consequences of sin, and to reveal the wrath from heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The striking description which follows, shows what would attend the devastations of locusts, but may also describe the effects from the ravaging of the land by the Chaldeans. If the alarm of temporal judgments is given to offending nations, how much more should sinners be warned to seek deliverance from the wrath to come! Our business therefore on earth must especially be, to secure an interest in our Lord Jesus Christ; and we should seek to be weaned from objects which will soon be torn from all who now make idols of them. There must be outward expressions of sorrow and shame, fasting, weeping, and mourning; tears for trouble must be turned i...

Verse 10. _THE EARTH SHALL QUAKE - THE HEAVENS SHALL TREMBLE_] Poetical expressions, to point out _universal consternation_ and _distress_. The _earth quaked_ to see itself deprived of its _verdure_; the _heavens trembled_ to find themselves deprived of their _light_. _THE SUN AND THE MOON SHALL BE DARK_] _Bochart_ relates that "their multitude is sometimes so immense as to obscure the heavens for the space of _twelve miles_!" - _Ibid_. p. 479....

THE EARTH SHALL QUAKE BEFORE THEM - “Not,” says Jerome, “as though locusts or enemies had power to move the heavens or to shake the earth; but because, to those under trouble, for their exceeding terror, the heaven seems to fall and the earth to reel. But indeed, for the multitude of the locusts which cover the heavens, sun and moon shall be turned into darkness, and the stars shall withdraw their shining, while the cloud of locusts interrupts the light, and allows it not to reach the earth.” Yet the mention of moon and stars rather suggests that something more is meant than the locusts, who, not flying by night except when they cross the sea, do not obscure either. Rather, as the next verse speaks of God’s immediate, sensible, presence, this verse seems to pass from the image of the locusts to the full reality, and to say that heaven and earth should shake at the judgments of God, befor...

EXPOSITION JOEL 2:1 These verses contain a further description of the calamity occasioned by the locusts and the appearance presented by them; the calling of a congregational meeting for penitence and prayer; the reason assigned in the coming of the day of the Lord. JOEL 2:1 BLOW YE THE TRUMPET (margin, cornet) in Zion, AND SOUND AN ALARM (or, cause it to sound) IN MY HOLY MOUNTAIN. The _shophar_, or far-sounding horn, and probably the _chatsoterah_,_ _the _hazar_ or silver trumpet, were called into requisition. The priests are urged with great vehemence, as _tiqu shophar _and _hariu _imply, to apprise the people that the day of Jehovah's terrible judgment was near

THE EARTH SHALL QUAKE BEFORE THEM,.... The inhabitants of it, because of the desolating judgments they bring with them, and those enemies that are signified by them: THE HEAVENS SHALL TREMBLE; being obscured by them: THE SUN AND MOON SHALL BE DARK; the locusts sometimes come in such large numbers as to intercept the rays of the sun. Pliny t says they sometimes darken it; and though some thought they did not fly in the night, because of the cold; this he observes is owing to their ignorance, not considering that they pass over wide seas to distant countries; and this will account for it how the moon also may be darkened by them, and the stars, as follows: AND THE STARS SHALL WITHDRAW THEIR SHINING; though all this may be understood in a figurative sense of the great consternation that all sorts of persons should be in at such calamities coming upon the land, either by locusts, or by en...

II. THE COMING DAY OF THE LORD: THE REPENTANCE AND RESTORATION OF ISRAEL CHAPTER 2 _ 1. The alarm sounded and the day at hand (Joel 2:1) _ 2. The invading army from the north (Joel 2:3) 3. The repentance of the people and cry for help (Joel 2:12) 4. “Then.” The great change (Joel 2:18) 5. Promises of restoration, and the early and latter rain (Joel 2:19) 6. The outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28) 7. Deliverance in Mount Zion

LET THE ALARM BE SOUNDED, FOR THE LOCUSTS ARE PRECURSORS OF THE DAY OF YAHWEH. Speaking in Yahweh's name the prophet bids the priests sound the alarm from Mt. Zion, that all the community may realise that the dreaded Day of Yahweh is approaching. All the mountains, which dawn covers with light, are covered with blackness by the unprecedented hordes of locusts (Exodus 10:1 *). The land they have traversed is left bare as though fire had scorched it, a dreary waste; and so fast do they eat into the fertile country before them that it seems as though they were a flame licking up what comes in its way. Like horses in appearance (Revelation 9:7) the resemblance about the head and mouth has often been remarked they are like them too in the speed of their onrush. The rustling of their wings as they fly over the m

THE SUN AND THE MOON SHALL BE DARK. Another proof of what is signified; and that this prophecy concerns what is future. Compare Joel 3:15. See Matthew 24:29. Compare Isaiah 13:10; Ezekiel 32:7; Ezekiel 32:8; Acts 2:20; Revelation 6:12....