Joel 2:6

Before their face the people shall be much pained,.... Or, "at their presence"; at the sight of them they shall be in pain, as a woman in travail; into such distress an army of locusts would throw

Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. Before their face the people shall be much pained - namely, with terror.

Before their face, at the sight of these locusts, both literally and figuratively considered, the people of the land shall be much pained; as a woman in travail is in pain, their fears shall be very great, lest these devouring creatures should seize and destroy whatever was for support of their life, and life of their families. All faces shall gather blackness; such as is the colour of dead men, or as is the dark paleness of men frighted into fits and swoons.

Joe 2:6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.Ver. 6. Before their face the people shall be much pained] This is a confirmation of the former assertion. The people when they shall see those swarms of locusts, &c., mustering and marching in the air, they shall be much pained, as a travailing woman is, "pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them, their faces shall be as flames," Isaiah 13:8, for fear lest they should light on their country and lay all waste. All faces shall gather blackness] Pallorem, paleness, so Castalio rendereth it; a blackish lead-like paleness, such as on sooty pots. The original here is, "hath gathered a pot," that is, by a metonymy, a pot-like blackness, Nigricantern colorem significat (Mercer). See Nahum 3:10 Jeremiah 30:6 Psalms 68:13, where, by blackness (such as slaves and scullions contract by lying among the pots, and smokey and sooty chimney corners), is set forth the exceeding great fear and affliction that God’ s people are often in and from whence he graciously promiseth to deliver them that trust in him. Such shall not "be afraid whose heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord." It was fear that now caused (the natural heat and the blood retiring to the heart to receive it, as, in a sudden surprise, the soldiers run to the castle) paleness and blackness of face. It was hunger afterwards that burnt them, Deuteronomy 32:24, and made their visages blacker than a coal, as Lamentations 4:8, or, "darker than blackness," as the original hath it.

(6) 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 rendering in the margin, “pot,” which is that of the LXX., the Vulg., and of Luther’s translation, is obtained from the similarity of the Hebrew words for “ruddiness” and “pot.” The comparison is in this case between the faces growing black under the influence of fear, and of pots under the action of fire. The prophet Nahum uses the same expression (Joe 2:10).

Verse 6. All faces shall gather blackness.] Universal mourning shall take place, because they know that such a plague is irresistible.

6. The alarm to be caused by their approach, like that occasioned by the advance of some vast horde of invaders. At their presence peoples are in anguish] not people, but peoples, i.e. whole nations. For the verb, comp. Deuteronomy 2:25, R.V.; Ezekiel 30:16, R.V.: it is a strong word, applied often, and specifically, to the anguish of a woman in travail (see e.g. Isaiah 13:8, where be in pain should rather be, as here, be in anguish). The ‘panic terror’ (Redtenbacher, p. 4) produced by an invasion of locusts on a large scale, can be readily imagined, if we remember not only the immense loss of property, of which they are the cause, but also the terrible destitution, which often follows in their train. In Algiers, after an invasion of locusts in 1866, 200,000 persons are said to have perished from famine. The destruction wrought frequently by the Rocky Mountain locust, over a large area of the United States, is almost incalculable (C. V. Riley, The Rocky Mountain Locust, chaps. Joe 2:5). Cf. Pliny’s words, below, p. 87. all faces shall gather blackness] This rendering is not defensible[37]; but the meaning of the phrase (which recurs Nahum 2:10) cannot be said to be certain. Modern scholars, following Ibn Ezra and Abul-walid, generally render gather in beauty, i.e. withdraw colour and freshness (paraphrased in R.V. by are waxed pale); but it is some objection to this rendering that it gives to ḳ ?ibbηtz a sense which is otherwise only known to be associated with the synonym βsaph (see Joe 2:10). [37] τΰψεψ for τψεψ would indeed not be impossible; but to suppose that “gather a boiling-pot” could be said for “gather blackness like that of a boiling-pot” is beyond the limits of credibility. Yet several of the ancient versions and mediaeval Rabbis express this sense.

Before their face the people shall be much pained - The locust being such a scourge of God, good reason have men to be terrified at their approach; and those are most terrified who have most felt the affliction.