Joel 2:11

And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? AND THE LORD SHALL UTTER HIS VOICE BEFORE HIS ARMY - so among Mohammedans, 'Lord of the locusts' is a title of God. HIS VOICE - His word of command to the locusts, and to the antitypical human foes of Judea, as "His army." HE IS STRONG THAT EXECUTETH HIS WORD - ( "Strong is the Lord God who judgeth her"); language evidently taken from Joel, so entirely at unity are the prophets....

He at last adds, _And Jehovah will utter his voice before his army. _The Prophet seems in this verse to anticipate whatever objection men might adduce. “O! thou denounces on us great terrors, and as if the Assyrians were not to be counted as men, as if no other people were in the world, as if there was no other army, as if there were no other forces, as if none else had courage; but if the Assyrians are at this day formidable, they have yet neighbors who can gather a force sufficient easily to oppose them ” And Egypt was then a populous country, and well fortified; and who would not have said that the Egyptians were equal to the Assyrians? and the Jews also thought themselves safe through a treaty with them. And then there was Syria; and there were many kingdoms, with which the Jews might have boasted that they were surrounded, so that no access to them was open to the Assyrians; for how...

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 11. _THE LORD SHALL UTTER HIS VOICE_] Such a _mighty force_ seems as if summoned by the Almighty, and the noise they make in coming announces their approach, while yet afar off....

AND THE LORD SHALL UTTER HIS VOICE - The prophet had described at length the coming of God’s judgments, as a mighty army. But lest amid the judgments, people should, (as they often do) forget the Judge, he represents God, as commanding this His army, gathering, ordering, marshalling, directing them, giving them the word, when and upon whom they should pour themselves. Their presence was a token of His. They should neither anticipate that command, nor linger. But as an army awaits the command to move, and then, the word being given, rolls on instantly, so God’s judgments await the precise moment of His Will, and then fall. “The voice of the Lord” is elsewhere used for the thunder; because in it He seems to speak in majesty and terror to the guilty soul. But here the voice refers, not to us, but to the army, which He is imaged as marshalling; as Isaiah, referring perhaps to this place, say...

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

AND THE LORD SHALL UTTER HIS VOICE BEFORE HIS ARMY,.... Either the army of the locusts, whom Pliny u calls "pestis deorum", "the plague of the gods"; and the Arabians frequently style them the army of God. It is a tradition of theirs that locusts fell into the hands of Mahomet, with this inscription on their backs and wings, "we are the army of the most high God;'' and because they were, for that reason Mahomet made a law that none should kill them; Revelation 9:3. These creatures are certainly at his beck and command; he can "command the locust to devour the land", 2 Chronicles 7:13; which may be meant by his uttering his voice here; though Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it of the Lord's giving notice of this judgment by his prophets before it fame: or this may design the

HIS ARMY To verse 10 (Joel 2:10) inclusive the invading army is described; at verse 11 (Joel 2:11) Jehovah's army. This "army" is described, (Revelation 19:11). The call to repentance is based upon the Lord's promise of deliverance, (Joel 2:12). At verses (Joel 2:18), we have the deliverance (Joel 2:20); see "Armageddon," (_ See Scofield) - (Revelation 16:14), _

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