Joel 2:21

Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things. FEAR NOT, O LAND ... BE NOT AFRAID, YE BEASTS OF THE FIELD ... BE GLAD THEN, YE CHILDREN OF ZION. In an ascending gradation, the land destroyed by the enemy, the beasts of the field, and the children of Zion, the land's inhabitants, are addressed, the former two by personification. BE GLAD AND REJOICE: FOR THE LORD WILL DO GREAT THINGS. In contrast to the "great things" done by the haughty foe (Joel 2:20) to the hurt of Judah, stand the "great things" to be done by Yahweh for her benefit (cf. Psalms 126:2). Verse 22. BE NOT AFRAID, YE BEASTS OF THE FIELD: FOR THE PASTURES OF THE WILDERNESS DO SPRING, FOR THE TREE BEARETH HER FRUIT -...

Here he shows that God would have his turn to exalt himself, which the Assyrian presumptuously attempted to do. For God seems for a time to lie still, when he withholds himself, when he puts not forth his power, but waits to see the tendency of the insane conspiracies and the Satanic madness of those who rise up against him and his Church. But having for a time thus restrained himself, he at length comes forth; and this is what the Prophet means when he says, _God has highly exalted himself to do _his purpose. The Assyrian first attempted this; but now the Lord in his turn will raise up himself. God indeed could have done this before, but he would not; and we see this to be his usual mode of proceeding, to connive at the presumption of men, till the ripened time comes which he has predetermined; and then he dissipates in a moment their enterprises. God, then, has now nobly exalted himsel...

15-27 The priests and rulers are to appoint a solemn fast. The sinner's supplication is, Spare us, good Lord. God is ready to succour his people; and he waits to be gracious. They prayed that God would spare them, and he answered them. His promises are real answers to the prayers of faith; with him saying and doing are not two things. Some understand these promises figuratively, as pointing to gospel grace, and as fulfilled in the abundant comforts treasured up for believers in the covenant of grace....

Verse 21. _FEAR NOT - FOR THE LORD WILL DO GREAT THINGS._] The words are _repeated_ from the preceding verse; Jehovah will do great things in _driving them away_, and supernaturally restoring the land to fertility....

FEAR NOT, O LAND - Before, they were bidden to tremble Joel 2:1, now they are bidden, “fear not;” before, “to turn in weeping, fasting and mourning;” now, “to bound for joy and rejoice;” before, “the land mourned;” now, “the land is bidden to rejoice.” The enemy had “done great things;” now the cause of joy is that God had “done great things;” the Almightiness of God overwhelming and sweeping over the might put forth to destroy. It is better rendered, “the Lord hath done great things.” If Joel includes herein God’s great doings yet to come, he speaks of them as, in the purpose of God, already in being; or he may, in this verse, presuppose that this new order of God’s mercies has begun, in the destruction of the Pagan foe....

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

FEAR NOT, O LAND,.... O land of Israel, as the Targum, and the inhabitants of it; neither of the locusts, who had so terrified them, and had done so much mischief, and threatened more; nor of their enemies, the Assyrians or Chaldeans, and their powerful armies, or any other; but, on the contrary, BE GLAD, AND REJOICE; at the removal of the locusts, and at the destruction of their enemies: FOR THE LORD WILL DO GREAT THINGS; good things, in opposition to the evil things done by the locusts, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech observe; or by the destroying army of the king of Assyria, by delivering the Jews out of the Babylonish captivity; and in the times of the Maccabees, and especially in the times of Christ, which are quickly prophesied of in this chapter; and which prophecies some interpreters begin here, it not being unusual for the prophets to pass directly from things temporal to...

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

JOEL 2:18 Joel 3:21. YAHWEH'S GRACIOUS RESPONSE TO THE PRAYER OF INTERCESSION. Joel 2:18. The Locusts shall be Destroyed and the Inhabitants of the Land Rejoice in Renewed Prosperity. Joel 2:21, which seems to interrupt the speech of Yahweh, may be misplaced. Certainly Joel 2:25 would follow well on Joel 2:20, and the change to the third person for Yahweh is striking. But in prophecy the interchange between the words of Yahweh and the words of the prophet regarded as one and the same t

FEAR NOT. Figure of speech _Apostrophe._ App-6. LAND. soil. Hebrew. _'adamah. See_ note on Joel 1:10. WILL DO GREAT THINGS. Greater than the foe himself (Joel 2:20)....