Joel 1

— the branches thereof are made white.] By reason of the bark being eaten from the boughs. Bp. Hall.

— there hath not been ever the like, &c.] See Exod. x. 14. In both places we are to take it for a proverbial expression, to set forth the extraordinary greatness of the judgment. Compare 2 Kings xviii. 5; xxiii. 25. W. Lowth.

Joel 1:2

2. A day of darkness] A very calamitous day, bringing with it much mischief and distress, which are figuratively set forth by darkness, as a state of prosperity is by light. See Amos v. 18, &c. By some interpreters “darkness” here is understood properly for darkness in the air, caused by what should then befall them in their land. Compare Exod. x. 15. Dr. Pocock. See on that passage the note from Dr. Shaw, whose testimony concerning locusts “darkening the sun” is confirmed by various authors, ancient and modern. — as the morning spread upon the mountains:] As a morning cloud spread upon the mountains, which hides the sun and the heavens, and threatens the certain coming of showers. Dr. Pocock. — a great people and a strong.] The Prophet speaks of the locusts in such military terms, and represents them like such a formidable army, that it has induced several the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

Joel 1:3

3. A fire devoureth before them; &c.] They consume like a general conflagration, as Pliny says, “burning things up by their touch.” Sir Hans Sloane, in his Natural History of Jamaica, says, “They destroy the ground not only for the time, but burn trees for two years after:” and Ludolphus, in the History of Ethiopia, “Wherssoever they feed, their leavings seem as it were parched with fire.” Abp. Newcome. — as the garden of Eden] A proverbial expression for a place of pleasure and fruitfulness, as we commonly use the word paradise. See Gen. xiii. 10; Isa. li. 3. W. Lowth. — nothing shall escape them.] That is, nothing which the ground produces. Abp. Newcome. Different authors give accounts similar to Dr. Shaw’s in the note on Exod. x. 15, concerning the devastation occasioned by locusts among all sorts of vegetable productions, not only herbage, corn, pulse, the fruits and leaves, the buds and very bark of trees, but even the hemp, notwithstanding its great bitterness, and the reeds with which the African huts are thatched.

Joel 1:5

5. Awake, ye drunkards.] It may seem probable, that the sin of drunkenness was then among others much indulged in, and rendered the people sottish and stupid, as drunkards usually are, so that they regarded neither the work of the Lord, nor their own good. To them therefore He appears more particularly to address Himself, as having by that odious sin drawn down the present judgment on themselves and their country. The word “awake” is used to denote the drunkard’s insensibility to his danger, in Prov. xxii. 35; and elsewhere it signifies a man’s recovery from security in other sins: Rom. xiii. 11; Eph. v. 14. Dr. Pocock.

6. Like the noise of chariots &c.] See Rev. ix. 9; Nahum iii. 2. Bochart says, that a swarm of locusts make so loud a noise, when they move, that they may be heard six miles off. Abp. Newcome. — like the noise of a flame of fire &c.] The noise in the former comparison seems to be made by their motion; this is probably meant of the noise made by their chewing or eating. Dr. Pocock. Cyril, quoted by Bochart, says of them, that while they are breaking their food with their teeth, the noise is like that of flame driven about by the wind. Abp. Newcome. Before CHRIST about 800. generation and generation.

Joel 1:6

6. — a nation] Locusts, poetically so called. Abp. Newcome. As the Prophet applies the term, “a nation,” to the locusts, and Solomon calls the ants “a people,” Prov. xxx. 25, so Homer has “the nations of swarming bees,” and “the numerous nations of swarming flies;” and Orpheus expressly mentions “an innumerable nation of locusts.” Parkhurst. — is come up] A future event, which might be averted by repentance, chap. ii. 12, &c. is spoken of as having already taken place, to enliven the description by setting the images before the eyes of the reader. Abp. Newcome. — whose teeth are the teeth of a lion.] The same comparison is used in Rev. ix. 8; and denotes the great power of doing mischief possessed by these little vermin. Elsewhere, things which have great force to do hurt, are compared to the teeth of a lion, Ecclus. xxi. 2; Ps. lviii. 6. Dr. Pocock.

Joel 1:7

7. He hath laid my vine waste, &c.] See the notes on Exod. x. 4. 15.

Joel 1:8

8. Lament like a virgin &c.] The words are an apostrophe to the land of Judea: the Prophet puts her in mind that she ought to be deeply affected with the sore strokes of the Divine vengeance, and express her inward sense of those calamities with the same outward expressions of mourning, as a young virgin that was betrothed to an husband would lament his untimely loss. “The husband of her youth,” is a woman’s first husband; as the “wife of his youth,” Mul. ii. 15, is a husband’s first wife. W. Lowth.

Joel 1:9

9. The meat offering &c.] The earth yieldeth not so much as wherewith to make a meat offering or drink offering unto the Lord; the corn and the wine and the oil are utterly consumed; so that the priests, the Lord’s ministers, have just cause to mourn. So also verses 10—13. Bp. Hall.

Joel 1:14

14. Sanctify ye a fast, &c.] In order to deprecate God’s wrath, and avert his judgments. See chap. ii. 15, 16. W. Lowth. The word “sanctify” seems to require, how the people were to prepare themselves for the enjoined fast, and to behave themselves in it; namely, with more than ordinary sanctity and holiness, not thinking it sufficient only to abstain from meat and drink, which is sufficient to denominate a man to fast, but withal to abstain from sin and wickedness, which is requisite to a holy and religious fast, such as is the duty and sign of an humble penitent, and is alone acceptable to God. Dr. Pocock. — into the house of the Lord your God.] See 1 Kings viii. 37. W. Lowth.

Joel 1:17

17. — the barns are broken down;] The receptacles for the fruits of the earth are not repaired, because

Joel 1:19

19. — for the fire hath devoured the pastures &c.] For the scorching drought hath devoured all the herbage of the wilderness, and the fiery beams have burnt up all the trees of the field. Bp. Holl. The wilderness is sometimes opposed to the hills or mountains, and then it signifies the plains and places for pasture. See Isa. lxiii. 13; Jer. ix. 10. W. Lowth. Chap. II. ver. 1. Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, &c.] The Prophet describes the locusts and caterpillars as God’s “army,” ver. 11; in pursuance of which metaphor he exhorts the people to prepare to meet them, in the same terms as if they were alarmed to encounter an enemy, which was by sounding a trumpet. See Jer. iv. 5, 6. 19. This ceremony was not only used to give notice of an approaching enemy, but likewise to publish the times of the solemn assemblies for the worship of God: see Numb. x. 3. 9, 10. And this is the chief use they were to make of it upon this occasion; see ver. 15. For there was no other way to avert the impending judgment, but humbling themselves before God with fasting and prayer. W. Lowth. — the day of the Lord] A day, in which He will send very terrible judgments on the land, and take vengeance on them for their sins. Dr. Pocock.