Joel 2

The Locusts Pictured as Jehovah’s Army (Joe 2:1-11). Borrowing the metaphor of war, Joel calls for the watchmen to sound the trumpet of alarm to awaken the people to the imminent danger of invasion. “ Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand” (Joe 2:1). He interprets the disaster as a “ day of Jehovah” that has come upon them because of their sin. All the inhabitants are urged to “ tremble” before their offended God that they may find mercy. (Compare Philippians 2:12). That he speaks of Zion is an indication that the prophet was a man of the Southern Kingdom. The day of Jehovah he proceeds to describe. It is “ a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be anymore after them, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth: the land as the garden of Eden before them and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and none hath escaped them” (Joe 2:2-3). With two dramatic pictures, he describes the day of the Lord that had overtaken them. First the immense swarm of locusts is like a huge black cloud that hides the sun. When in flight, a large swarm of these creatures is frequently said to darken the sun. The word rendered “ dawn” is shachar which the RSV correctly renders “ like blackness there is spread upon the mountains…” That which causes the darkness, the clouds, the blackness is the locust which he calls “ a great people and a strong (people).” Similar language is used by Moses to describe the plaque of locusts that struck Egypt. “ For they covered the face of the whole earth so that the land was darkened…” (Exodus 10:15).

The second comparison of the devastation of the locusts is that of a fire. Before they come, the land was a lush and green as the Garden of Eden. After they left it looked like a burnt, desolate wilderness. The expression “ Garden of Eden” may be translated “ Garden of Delight” (F. C. Cook).

The student should consult E. B. Pusey’ s Commentary on the Minor Prophets for a lengthy and detailed historical description of locust plaques in the Middle East. Joel’ s words are not the least exaggerated. The severity of the locust infestations is expressed in the phrase “ there hath not ever been the like, neither shall be any more after them.”Joel adds a third description of the locusts. He likens them to an army of attacking soldiers. “ The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen so do they run.

Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains do they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as strong people set in battle array” (Joe 2:4-5). Like other poets, Joel uses bold and expressive metaphors to describe the invading horde. In their swift advance they remind him of a huge calvary assault. They mow down the vegetation just as military chariots mowed down opposing soldiers. To appreciate this figure, you must understand that the wheels of their war chariots were fitted with heavy cutting blades that rotated as the wheels turned. Drawn by powerful horses, they would shear the legs of any foot soldier they encountered.

The noise generated by the locusts devouring the plants he likens to the crackling of vegetation being consumed by fire. As a whole they were like a huge army advancing across the earth. “ At their presence the people are in anguish; all faces are waxed pale” (Joe 2:6). In this verse, he paints a vivid picture of the victims of the invading locusts. It was what you would see if the invasion was an army of cruel men. People saw their livelihood destroyed before their eyes. Their crops were destroyed, but they could be replanted. But locusts also ate the bark off of trees and vines. Thus stripped, the plants died. It would take several years to bring new plants to maturity. The poor farmers were terrified, the blood drained from their faces as they watched the destruction. Remember in those days there were no pesticides. There were no airplanes to dust their crops and save them. To fight them off was impossible. They were helpless before the devouring army.

“ They run like a mighty men; they climb the wall like men of war; and they march every one on his ways, and they break not their ranks. Neither doth one thrust another; and they burst through the weapons, and break not off their course. They leap upon the city; they run upon the wall; they climb up into the houses, they enter in at the windows like a thief’ (Joe 2:7-9). Still using metaphors of an invading army, he depicts them as invincible. Nothing can deter them. Walls cannot stop the locusts.

Just as soldiers scale the walls of a fortress city, so the locust go over the walls of houses or gardens, to reach the food they seek. Like victorious soldiers set on looting their victims, the locusts, seeking anything edible, swarmed through the open or latticed windows into the very houses of the people. “ The earth quaketh before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining” (Joe 2:10). The earth quaking, is not to be taken literally. It describes the impact of the locust plague on society. With their means of livelihood destroyed, families were penniless. Taxes could not be paid. Business had no paying customers. The entire social structure, from the peasant to the rulers, was brought to its knees. Neither did the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, stars, literally tremble. The following line tells us what he saw in the heavens. The heavens were darkened when the swarms of locust took flight in search of more food. Imagine swarms numbering 100-200 million per square acre taking flight. There might be a secondary meaning to his mention of sun, moon and stars being darkened. The Hebrew prophets frequently used this imagery to describe the collapse and overthrow of government. (See Isaiah 13:10; 34:40; Ezekiel 32:7­8; Joe 2:28-32; Revelation 6:12-17). The key to interpreting these descriptions is found in Genesis 37:9-10. There Joseph dreamed that the sun, moon and eleven stars made obeisance to him. His father understood, the sun to refer to himself, the ruler of the family clan, the moon to Joseph’ s mother and the stars to his brothers. Joseph was one of the youngest of the brothers, how could this be? Where this imagery is used, the prophet is saying that kings, queens, and secondary rulers would all be overthrown and lose their power. “ And Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word; for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?” (Joe 2:11). Just as armies of nations have a general who sets their objective, plans their strategy and orders their advance, Joel sees his God as the one directing the great army of locusts. God has a purpose in allowing this judgment on his people. He has an objective and no one can keep Him from attaining it. He is invincible. Ezekiel tells us that among the weapons in God’ s arsenal are “ the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast” (Ezekiel 14:21).

The Hebrews were experiencing the pain of his punishment by the locust plague. Their only hope was that God would have mercy and call off his invading army. “ The day of Jehovah” and similar expressions are found throughout God’ s Word. The most common usage in the Old Testament is a judgement in time against one or more nations, after which events will move onward. In the New Testament, the meaning most often speaks of the great and final day of the Lord that will bring to an end our material world (2 Peter 3:7-13), and leave us to stand before Christ our Judge (2 Corinthians 10). We must always let the context determine which of these meanings apply in a particular text. In every case the “ day of the Lord” is “ great and very terrible” and no man can escape its consequences.

His Call to Repentance (Joe 2:12-17). “ Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repenteth him of the evil” (Joe 2:12-13). The righteous God who judges and punishes the wicked is also the God of mercy and forgiveness. Then as now, “ God is not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). He makes it clear that it is not enough to simply say, “ I am sorry.” No, He demands genuine repentance. He wants more than an outward token such as rending or tearing one’ s garment. He wants a heart broken with shame and sorrow for ones sins and a resolution to change ones life.

David says, “ Jehovah is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as are of a contrite spirit” (Psalms 34:18). True repentance affects personal sin in the same way that an antiboitic affects an infection. Repentance cannot take away the guilt of sin, but it creates a situation where God can cleanse and forgive the sinner. The church of our age needs to hear lessons on “ rend your heart and not your garments.” Although God’ s mercy is magnified in Christ (Titus 2:11), passages like this reminded the Hebrews that Jehovah was “ gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness” (Joe 2:13). Those who preach need to remember when warning sinners of God’ s judgment to temper it with his marvelous grace. It has always intrigued man that God could “ repent” of anything. After all, Samuel told Saul that “ the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man that he should repent” (1 Samuel 15:29). Enemies of God are quick to pounce on words like Joel’ s, thinking to prove a contradiction in the Sacred Word. It is obvious to the unprejudiced student that the word “ repentance” has two meanings. For man to receive forgiveness of sins there must be godly sorrow that leads him to change his conduct from disobedience to obedience toward God (2 Corinthians 7:10). Since God does not sin, he cannot repent in this sense of the word.

But to repent also means to change ones mind. That is the meaning of all the passages cited that say that God repented of his intention to punish wicked men. (See Exodus 32:14; Jeremiah 18:8, etc.). In this sense, rather than suggesting some weakness or failure in God, it reflects his love, mercy and justice for men who are truly sorry for their sins. “ The evil” God repents of in 2:13, is the judgements that their sins had incurred. If they would repent, he would remove his hand of judgement. “ Who knoweth whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal-offering and a drink-offering unto Jehovah your God” (Joe 2:14). If they would do their part and truly repent, they could count on their merciful God to lift his judgments and restore to them their prosperity. Their crops would flourish and there would soon be sufficient harvest that they could bring to the temple their meal-offering and drink-offering which came from the first fruits of harvest (Leviticus 2:14-16). “ Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; gather the people, sanctify the assembly, assemble the old men, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet” (Joe 2:15-16). God instructs the priests to call for a solemn assembly at the temple in Jerusalem. The trumpets were used to summon the people for the service were made of silver (Numbers 10:1-2). Earlier they had been used for removal of the camp while they were in the wilderness. Now the were used for calling sacred meetings of the people. Every one in the nation was called to stand before God. Normally the very young, those who were too old to make the journey and the newly wed were excused from such pilgrimages to Jerusalem. But now, the extremities of their sin and punishment made it necessary for all to stand before God with penitent hearts and seek his mercy. “ Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar and let them say, Spare thy people O Jehovah, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?” (Joe 2:17). This was the purpose of the solemn assembly of Joe 2:15. It was a day of national mourning. The nation was so weakened by the devastating locust plague, thatthey were in imminent danger of being overrun by their stronger enemies. They had neither strength nor resources to defend themselves. Their only hope for deliverance was their God.

Among the ancient peoples, a nation and its God were inextricably united. Thus if the Hebrews failed, their heathen neighbors would concluded that their God had proven incapable of saving them. They would taunt they Hebrews asking, Where is your God? “ Then was Jehovah jealous for his land, and had pity on his people. And Jehovah answered and said unto his people, Behold I will send you grain, and new wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations;” (Joe 2:19). This verse suggests to us that the people did truly repent, rending their hearts and not just their garments. They engaged in the prescribed national day of mourning. God heard and accepted their cries for forgiveness and restoration and granted the blessing. Through his spokesman, Joel, he promised to send them crops that would relieve their suffering. The reproach of which they had spoken would be lifted. “ But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive it into a land barren and desolate, its forepart into the eastern sea; and it hinder part into the western sea; and its stench shall come up and its ill savor shall come up, because it hath done great things” (Joe 2:20). “ The northern army” refers to the invading locust horde. Most of the military invasions of Israel had come from the North. With the Mediterranean on the West, and a vast desert to the East, most of their attackers had come from the north. He likens the locusts to those armies. When locusts invade a region their movement is unpredictable. For reasons unknown to us they might take flight and travel for miles before landing again.

God promises to “ drive” the locusts, some into the desert, some into the “ western sea, i.e., the Mediterranean, and some to the “ eastern sea,” i.e., the Dead Sea, where they would perish. The vast numbers of the decaying locusts would foul the air. “ Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice; for Jehovah hath done great things. Be not afraid ye beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength” (Joe 2:21-22). In addressing the “ land” and promising renewal after the locust invasion, the author uses a metonymy making the land stand for the inhabitants thereof. In addressing the beasts of the field and pastures, he uses a figure call an “ apostrophe” whereby one addresses inanimate objects. Notice that Joel attributes the sending of the locusts, their removal and the return of prosperity to Jehovah. People educated in secular schools tend to think of the world’ s events in a mechanical sense.

Christians should always see God’ s hand of providence in all that is transpiring. Because they had repented and turned back to God, he would reward them with abundant crops.

“ Be glad then, ye children of Zion and rejoice in Jehovah your God; for he giveth you the former rain in just measure, and he causeth to come down for you the latter rain, in the first month” (Joe 2:23). Mt. Zion is the elevation in Jerusalem whereon the temple stood. Children of Zion were God’ s faithful worshipers. They could rejoice because their God not only drove the locusts away, but He caused the drought to cease by sending their normal seasonal rains. In Palestine they have two rainy seasons per year.

Early or former rains are those of the autumn months (mid-October to mid-December). With sufficient rain, the newly planted seed would sprout and begin its development. With the latter rains, which came in March and April, the crops would mature, producing a good yield. Notice that he promises God would send the rain “ in just measure,” i.e, just the right amount; not torrents that would destroy the crops. In the law, God promised them that he would reward their faithfulness with “ rains in their seasons” (Leviticus 26:3-4). The “ first month” is the month Nisan, which falls in the same period as our March and April. “ And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of Jehovah your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you; and my people shall never be put to shame. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Jehovah your God, and there is none else; and my people shall never be put to shame” (Joe 2:24-27). “ The floors” full of wheat refers to their threshing floors. The “ vats” their vats for crushing grapes and olives from which they derived their prized olive oil.The NIV greatly improves the rendering of Joe 2:25. “ I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten-the great locust and the young locusts, the other locusts, and the locust swarm” Thus He reminds them that the same God who sent the plague would send then prosperity and abundance. The purpose of all of this is seen in Joe 2:26 “ And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel.” God was and is immanent with his people. The church is his kingdom and the Holy Spirit dwells therein (1 Corinthians 3:16). So long as they were faithful and obedient to God they would never be ashamed. Blessings were conditioned on faithfulness. Such is still true today (1 Corinthians 4:2; Revelation 2:10).

THINGS YET TO COME (Joe 2:28 to Joe 3:21). “ And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit” (Joe 2:28-29). In the Hebrew text, Joe 2:28 is the beginning of the third chapter. With these words, the prophet looks far into the future to that day when God’ s Holy Spirit will be poured out upon all nations. These words would seem strange to the average Hebrew who, from his earliest years, was taught that Jehovah’ s blessings were reserved for them alone. The rabbis could say it meant all Hebrews of every age and social group, but it seemed never to dawn on them that Joel foresaw a day when Gentiles would received that great gift. The fulfillment was in two steps.

For the Hebrews it came to pass on the Day of Pentecost following the resurrection of Christ. Of this we can be confident because Peter said, “ this is that which hath been spoken through the prophet Joel.” It has well been said that “ when an inspired teacher says “ this is that,” then, “ that’ s that!” There can be no further arguing of the point. We know that God’ s Spirit was poured out upon the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius, as Peter was declaring unto them the gospel of Christ (Acts 10:44-45). When Peter was called by the other Apostles to explain his actions with the Gentiles he said, “ If then God gave unto them the like gift as he did also unto us, when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:17). Prophecies and visions stand as a synecdoche for all the miraculous gifts that would accompany the coming of the Holy Spirit. In addition to these, Paul lists many others in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. In reading in the book of Acts, the record of the early church, we see these several miraculous gifts displayed. From the fulfillment in Acts 2, we see two categories of receiving the Holy Spirit. The Apostles were “ baptized in the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). That empowered them to be Christ’ s witnesses to sinners of all nations (Acts 1:8). It enabled them to speak in foreign languages they had not learned by study (Acts 2:4-8). They received supernatural guidance in speaking “ the mighty works of God” (Acts 2:11). They were enabled to perform remarkable miracles to confirm that God was indeed working in and through them (Mark 16:16-20). The people who heard and believed the Apostles’ message, repented and were baptized in the name of Jesus received remission of sins and the “ gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). This gift of the Spirit endowed them with many rich blessings but it did not empower them to speak in tongues and work miracles.

This is clearly noted in Acts 8. Philip the evangelist taught and baptized believers in Samaria (Acts 8:12). This would have brought them the same gifts as Peter promised on Pentecost. Those believers who repented and were baptized…unto (for KJV) the remission of their sins would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). Philip evidently could not bestowe on them any supernatural gifts. The Apostles, Peter and John, went to Samaria and laid their hands on them and they “ received the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:17). Those receiving that special blessing were given supernatural powers that could be seen (Acts 8:18). The pouring out of the Spirit was not to be limited to prophets or priests, but all saved people were to receive the blessing. Thus he mentions, men and women, young and old and servants as well as their masters. The recipients would be those who were obedient children of God (Acts 5:32). The pouring out of the Holy Spirit was to be accompanied by many spectacular signs. Joel speaks of dreams, visions and prophesy. Looking again at Acts chapter two, we see that fulfilled at the instant the Spirit came upon the twelve Apostles (Compare Acts 1:26 with 2:1). This makes it clear that only the Apostles were baptized in the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. There was the sound of a rushing, mighty wind such as a tornado produces. There were what appeared to be tongues of fire upon the heads of each of them (Acts 2:3). They spoke in languages they had not previously known. Joel continues, “ And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke” (Joe 2:30). Taken with vs. 31, this could be figurative language describing the desolation of war: great bloodshed and the smoke of burning cities. Some take the words in a literal sense understanding them to refer to things transpiring at the temple at the time of the Spirit’ s coming. In his sermon on that occasion, Peter tells us it was “ the third hour of the day (Acts 2:15). That would be 9:00 a.m., the time when the priests would be offering the morning sacrifice. With the slain sacrificial animals there would be blood.

On the great altar, the fire would be kindled to consume the offering and the smoke would be wafting upwards to heaven. While either of these are reasonable explanations of the text, this author prefers the latter meaning. “ The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Jehovah cometh” (Joe 2:30-31). Many teachers have wearied themselves trying to explain how, on that day, the sun and moon were literally changed. The fact is, the prophet clothes his prediction with symbolic language commonly used among the Hebrews. Isaiah described the coming overthrow of Babylon with similar language (Isaiah 13:9-10) and the same of Edom (Isaiah 34:4). Jeremiah used it of Judah (Jeremiah 4:23-25). Ezekiel used similar imagery to describe the punishment of Egypt (Ezekiel 32:1-8). Amos described the coming judgement on the Northern Kingdom in similar language (Amos 8:1­9). Jesus described the destruction of Jerusalem with the same illustration (Matthew 24:29).

John used the same in predicting the destruction of Rome (Revelation 6:12-13). The meaning is found in Genesis 37:9. Joseph dreamed the sun, moon and eleven stars made obeisance to him. His father interpreted it to mean that his father, mother and brethren would bow down to him. (Genesis 37:10). Thus the heavenly lights being darkened predicted a violent overthrow of government. The sun represented the highest authority, the moon the second tier of dignitaries and the stars, lesser authorities. The establishment of Christ’ s church was the beginning of the end of the Jewish state. The new kingdom of heaven would replace the earthly kingdom of Israel.

That occurred in 70 A. D. when the legions of Rome defeated the Jewish rebels, burned the Holy City and temple and scattered the surviving Jews throughout the world. “ The great and terrible day of Jehovah,” in this context, almost certainly refers to the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the dissolution of the Jewish state. Without question, each day of the Lord that occurs in human history foreshadows the uniquely great and terrible day when God will destroy the material world by fire (2 Peter 3:10), and all who have lived upon the earth will stand before Christ and receive the things done in their lives (2 Corinthians 5:10).

“ And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as Jehovah hath said, and among the remnant those whom Jehovah doth call” (Joe 2:32). As the prophet contemplated the fiery destruction of Jerusalem, in the great day of Jehovah, he saw hope amidst the destruction. “ Whosoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be delivered” and some who dwelt in Jerusalem would escape. In his Olivet Discourse, Jesus warned his disciples of the coming invasion of the Roman armies. He told them, “ When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation… standing in the holy place…then let them that are in Judea flee unto the mountains…” (Matthew 24:15-16). We know that when the Romans approached the city, the Christians, one and all, abandoned the city and fled to Pella east of the Jordan River. There they were safe while Jerusalem was being sieged and finally taken and burned. Eusebius, the father of church history, records their escape to safety. When Peter cited this passage, in his great sermon on the Day of Pentecost, he found a spiritual application in Joel’ s promise and offered salvation from sin to all who called upon the name of the Lord. He told those who asked, what must they do? to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins and at that point they would receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:28). He went on to say, “ Save yourselves from this crooked generation” (Acts 2:40). Three thousand souls claimed the promise.

Joel Chapter TwoVerse 1 This chapter begins with the announcement that “the day of Jehovah cometh,” and the summons of all of the people to a solemn convocation in the presence of God (Joe 2:1-3). There is a strong eschatological overtone in Joe 2:1, a note which is echoed again and again in the chapter. “The eschatological warning already sounded in Joe 1:15 is several times repeated (Joe 2:1-2; Joe 2:10-11)."[1] “A more terrific judgment than that of the locusts is foretold, under imagery drawn from that of the calamity then engrossing the afflicted nation."[2] Next comes a description of the threatened judgment, “in metaphors more distinctly military in nature,"[3](Joe 2:4-11). A solemn appeal for genuine heart-felt repentance is then made, based upon the premise that, “Who knoweth whether he (God) will repent, and leave a blessing behind him?” (Joe 2:12-14). The call for a solemn assembly is repeated (Joe 2:15-17); a reaffirmation of God’s care for his people and a promise of his blessing are given (Joe 2:15-20); a continued affirmation of the favored status of Israel as God’s chosen people appears (Joe 2:21-27); and, finally, the chapter has, “a promise of the Holy Spirit in the last days under the Messiah, and the deliverance of all believers in Him,"[4] (Joe 2:28-32). This last paragraph is written as a separate chapter in the Hebrew Bible, giving four chapters instead of three in that version of Joel. Joe 2:1“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand.“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion …” This verse interprets the awful calamity that had come upon the people, “as a warning of the day of Jehovah' which was to come, the dawn of which was already breaking."[5] The blowing of the trumpet was used in the early history of Israel to call the people to the door of the tent of meeting (the tabernacle) during the wilderness wanderings, as a signal to start their journey from one station to another, or as means of calling the people together for a great assembly. This "horn blowing" therefore became a symbol connected with such occasions in all the subsequent history of Israel, and at times long after there was any possibility that "all the inhabitants of the land" would actually be able literally to hear the sound of a trumpet blown in Jerusalem. The N.T. writers extended the imagery of this "blowing of the trumpet" in a number of references to the final judgment, a usage that goes back to Christ himself who said, "And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (<a href="/bible/parallel/MAT/24/31" class="green-link">Matthew 24:31</a>). (See <a href="/bible/parallel/1CO/15/52" class="green-link">1 Corinthians 15:52</a>; <a href="/bible/parallel/1TH/4/16" class="green-link">1 Thessalonians 4:16</a>; and <a href="/bible/parallel/HEB/12/19" class="green-link">Hebrews 12:19</a>). In the light of this, how unreasonable are the interpretations which insist that because of Joel's using this figure, the entire nation of the Jews was only a small community when he wrote, and actually living within earshot of Jerusalem! This is one of those "interpretations" relied upon heavily as evidence of a late post-exilic date. "Sound an alarm in my holy mountain ..." The holy mountain here is the same as Zion, both being poetic references to the high hill (2,539 feet above sea level)[6] in Jerusalem upon which the temple was built. It was also called Mount Moriah and is the same as the mountain where Abraham offered up Isaac, and where David returned the ark of the covenant from Obed-Edom, and where the cross of the Son of God was lifted up. As Deane said, "This mountain was the visible symbol of the divine presence";[7] and therefore the spiritual impact of this blowing of the trumpet (or ram's horn) had the effect of a summons for the people to stand in the presence of the Lord. "Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble ..." Perhaps those whose place of residence made it possible for them would also have actually assembled in the city of Jerusalem. "For the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand ..." (For discussion of "the day of Jehovah," see under <a href="/bible/parallel/JOL/1/15" class="green-link">Joe 1:15</a>.) To the prophets of the O.T., and even the N.T. for that matter, "the day of the Lord" is always "at hand," the same being profoundly true, if the expression be understood as signaling the impending judgment of God upon the grossly wicked, or if it is taken as a reference to that great and final day, when Almighty God shall rise in righteous wrath and throw evil out of his universe. The first is always an earnest of the second. No greater misunderstanding of the Sacred Scriptures is current in the world today than the notion that Christ himself, and all of his apostles, thought that "the end of the world" was just around the corner. Christ indeed mentioned "the end of the world" in <a href="/bible/parallel/MAT/28/10" class="green-link">Matthew 28:10</a>, but he certainly did not indicate that that event was impending or immediate. The "day of the Lord" and the "day of judgment," in its last and final manifestation will indeed evidently occur at the end of the world; but the widespread assumption that every N.T. reference to such things as "the day of the Lord," "the day of judgment, or the coming of Christ (in judgment) is a certain reference to the end of time is absolutely incorrect. Many cities, nations and peoples have already experienced "the day of the Lord," as did Tyre, Sidon, Sodom, Gomorrah, Nineveh, Babylon, Jerusalem and Rome; and doubtless many others will also yet pass through similar "judgments" before the actual "end of time" is reached. Verse 2 "A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as a dawn spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any after them, even to the years of many generations.It would appear that far more than any locust plague is in view here. "The locusts are now pictured on a scale larger than life, and many commentators have understood them here as prefiguring some invading army from the north."[8] We do not hesitate to interpret this as a prophecy of the invasion of Israel by the Assyrians, who usually entered Palestine from the north. Some commentators, of course, hesitate to accept this, due to their erroneous decision that Joel was written at a time when the Assyrian scourge had already disappeared from the earth. "There hath not been ever the like ..." The unique terror of the Assyrians is a historical phenomenon; even the friezes that decorated the palaces of Ashurbanipal, and Ashurnasipal depicted the slaves and captives without skin, exposing the muscles and tendons as articulating with the bones in such a manner as to indicate that the Assyrians were more familiar with the human anatomy without skin, than they were with the normal body.[9] They customarily flayed their victims, and often did this while the unfortunates were still alive! As has been repeatedly stressed in this series, the prophetic description of "the day of the Lord" invariably appears in the very darkest colors. Another example is <a href="/bible/parallel/AMO/5/18" class="green-link">Amos 5:18</a> ff, where the impact of that day upon men will be like that of one who flees from a lion, but who meets a bear, and then, finally reaching what might have been supposed as the safety of his house, he went in and leaned against the wall; and a serpent bit him! The seven parallel presentations of the Judgment Day in the Book of Revelation all follow this tragic and exceedingly distressing pattern. Verse 3 "A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and none hath escaped them."None hath escaped them ..." This is the key that unlocks the extended meaning of the locusts in this passage. The locusts never hurt people; and clearly the disaster threatened here is against the population itself. The probability of this view being correct is greatly enhanced by the dual presentation of the locusts inRevelation 9. In phase I, there was no loss of human life; but in phase II, the "locusts" became a murdering army of 200,000,000 with a commission to destroy a third of the human race! The genius of the inspired writers in discerning these two phases in the life-cycle of the actual locust is certainly reflected in both Joel and the Book of Revelation. This two-phase phenomenon in the life of the locust was not known to the scientific community for generations; because it was not until 1921 that, "The centuries-old question posed by a locust swarm was answered (in 1921) by Sir Boris Uvarov."[10] The revelation of this "Secret of the Locust" was elaborately discussed by Robert A.M. Conley in 1969 thus: "He discovered that one of the familiar green grasshoppers of the African and Asian bush is really the ravenous locust in another guise. When repeated rains dampen desert sands, thousands of eggs hatch. The hoppers constantly touch one another, triggering a change of behavior and color; they seek each other's company and turn yellow, black, and red."[11]Quite evidently the peculiar use of the locust as a "type" by both Joel and the apostle John resulted from their inspiration in knowing what would remain unknown about the locusts until long millenniums afterward! The connection that this portion of the Bible has with the Book of Revelation is further pointed up by the mention here of the garden of Eden, that being the place where human rebellion against God began, where the sentence of death was imposed (and never repealed), and where God uttered his curse upon the ground "for Adam's sake." That ancient paradise (Eden) is also repeatedly mentioned in Revelation, and for exactly the same reasons as here. This reference by the prophet to the garden of Eden is laden with great significance. "Fire devoureth before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness..." There is no need whatever to see this as any kind of metaphor. An invading army always burns everything in its path, leaving nothing behind except desolation. Verse 4 "The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so do they run.<a href="/bible/parallel/REV/9/7" class="green-link">Revelation 9:7-12</a> has a remarkable elaboration of this same comparison of the locusts to "many horses rushing to war," even the sound of the locust's wings being compared to the noise of a cavalry charge. The impossibility of understanding John's words in Revelation as a reference to any literal locusts greatly enhances the probability that the true interpretation of them in this chapter is that they represent an impending military disaster coming soon to Israel in the invasion of the Assyrians. These verses (<a href="/bible/parallel/JOL/2/4" class="green-link">Joe 2:4-11</a>) describe disaster which Joel prophesied in much of the imagery of the locust plague, but there are the strongest military overtones throughout. "He must be speaking of real warriors under the figure of real locusts."[12]To be sure, there were characteristics and appearances of the locusts which suggest horses rushing to war, but it is our conviction that it was God's Word regarding this which was delivered by the prophet; he was not merely describing the way the locusts seemed to him. This does not deny the appropriateness of the comparison. As Jamieson said, "The locust's head is so like that of a horse that the Italians call it (the locust) cavalette."[13] It is also said that, "The amazing noise of the locusts can be heard six miles off!"[14]Verse 5 "Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.This is a continuation of the prophecy of a military invasion, presented in the strongest military imagery. Horses were, above all other animals, the instruments of war, as were also the chariots. The passage inRevelation 9:7-12 should be consulted in connection with what is said here. Verse 6 "At their presence the people are in anguish; all faces are waxed pale.It is clearly not the destruction of vegetation that is indicated here; it is a prophecy of the appearance of "the breakers," the ruthless and savage army of Assyria that was capable of striking the fear of death into every heart and blanching the faces of all the people with paleness. As Keil said, "Joel is no doubt depicting something more here than the devastation caused by the locusts in his own day."[15]Verse 7 "They run like mighty men; they climb the wall like men of war; and they march every one on his own ways, and they break not their ranks.The mention of "ranks" again suggests the military, not a swarm of insects; and, although it is true enough that the locusts move in a straight trajectory, turning aside neither to the right or the left, and even scaling walls and houses in their procedure, it has never been alleged by anyone that the locusts were definitely arrayed in "ranks" and "echelons." The prophecy throughout this section (<a href="/bible/parallel/JOL/2/4" class="green-link">Joe 2:4-11</a>) moves beyond the locust plague to something more terrible. However, the locust plague was also terrible in its own right: When a wall or a house lies in their way, they climb straight up, going over the roof. When they come to water, whether a puddle, river, lake, or the open sea, they never attempt to go around it, but unhesitatingly leap in and are drowned; and their dead bodies floating on the surface make a bridge (over lesser bodies of water) for their companions to pass over. Thus the scourge often ends, causing a stench which sometimes produces a fearful plague. Verse 8 "Neither doth one thrust another, they march every one in his path; and they burst through the weapons, and break not off their course. They leap upon the city; they run upon the wall; they climb up into the houses; they enter in at the windows like a thief."Burst through the weapons ..." is another stern military term, the weapons in view being the defensive weapons employed in warfare, not any kind of clubs used against locusts. The people visited by a locust plague already know the hopelessness of attacking the swarms with any type of "weapons," such things as fire, smoke, poisons, insecticides, and trenches filled with water being the usual defenses. The imagery here is that of a city's defenses being overwhelmed with military force. Verse 10 "The earth quaketh before them; the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.This terminology is invariably associated with the coming of Christ, or God, in judgment upon mankind. Jesus said, "The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven" (<a href="/bible/parallel/MAT/24/20" class="green-link">Matthew 24:20</a>; <a href="/bible/parallel/MAT/24/30" class="green-link">Matthew 24:30</a>). Fanciful illustrations of how a great swarm of locusts may cut off the light of sun, moon and stars, together with the denomination of this passage as hyperbole, fail to fill the bill here. The whole passage must be applied to "the day of Jehovah." Furthermore, as Hailey said, such a description as this verse, "became the prophetic description of Jehovah's judgments by the prophets that followed Joel,"[17] and was also adopted by the sacred writers of the N.T. as a description of the final judgment day, as seen repeatedly in Revelation (cf. <a href="/bible/parallel/REV/6/12" class="green-link">Revelation 6:12-14</a>). This verse is a picture of the dreadful consequences of the present and temporary locust plague; but it is also a picture of the future judgment of God upon Israel, being also, even a type of the final judgment of all humanity on the Last Day. Verse 11 "And Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word; for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?<a href="/bible/parallel/REV/6/17" class="green-link">Revelation 6:17</a> has this: "For the day of their wrath (that of God and the Lamb) is come, and who shall be able to stand?" The passage there is a reference to the eternal judgment. As Keil observed: "That these words affirm something infinitely greater than the darkening of the lights of heaven by storm-clouds is evident from the predictions of the wrath of the Lord ... at which the whole fabric of the universe trembles and nature clothes itself in mourning."[18] "These words give a theological and eschatological interpretation of the locust invasion."[19]Verse 12 "Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.The contingency of all God's warnings of impending judgments is seen in this. No matter how closely a rebellious people might have moved toward that hidden boundary between God's mercy and God's wrath, the Father will even then be deterred from the execution of his wrath, if only the people will truly repent and turn to him with all their hearts. Contrary to the widely advocated notion that it is merely the inward response alone that is important, this passage shows that a genuine turning to God with all the heart was an absolute essential; but so also was an acceptable outward manifestation of it, "fasting, weeping and mourning." "Genuine sorrow and shame for sin were to be accompanied by fasting, tears of penitence, and other indications of mourning."[20]We should not leave this verse without noting that, "When the Bible says heart it means man's thinking powers, not his emotions."[21] Jesus once asked the Pharisees, "Why think ye evil in your hearts?" indicating clearly enough, that in the Bible, the heart is actually the mind. Emotions are always exposed in the sacred text as very unreliable. Verse 13 "And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repenteth him of the evil."And not your garments ..." The prohibition in this is not directed against the demonstration of adequate external signs of repentance, for such indications of the inward condition of penitence had just been commanded in the preceding verse; what is forbidden, therefore, is the reliance upon such outward things in the absence of the truly penitent condition they were designed to demonstrate. Joel here spoke of the same qualities of God's infinite graciousness, mercy, and lovingkindness that were known to Jonah (<a href="/bible/parallel/JON/4/2" class="green-link">Jonah 4:2</a>), but it is very unlikely that either writer had received much information from the other, the same being a part of the heritage of Israel, and fully known to long generations prior to either Joel or Jonah. "And repenteth him of evil ..." Such an expression as this is a source of question to some; but the meaning is quite simple, beautifully stated thus by Hailey: "God's repentance is a change of his will toward the people and is the result of a change of will and conduct on their part. Their repentance would cause God to pour out a blessing instead of judgment."[22]Coupled with such terrible judgments as Joel had been proclaiming, was the possibility that the people might become overly discouraged and think that all was lost, no matter what they did; but in this great verse, Joel showed himself ready to, "claim the covenant promise and hold it out as a lifeline to the people of his day."[23]The tremendously beautiful message of this wonderful verse is given a musical treatment in Elijah, by Felix Mendelssohn. Thompson also observed that the expression "and not your garments .... does not absolutely forbid this common sign of grief."[24] However, it is not forbidden at all, being one of the things commanded in the immediately preceding verse. What is meant by this passage is that no reliance should be placed in either the heart-felt repentance, or the outward observance of the actions indicating it, in the absence of the other. The genuine repentance without any outward tokens of it would fail as an example to others, for they would not be aware of it; and the outward tokens of it without the true repentance itself, would likewise fall utterly short of God's approval. Verse 14 "Who knoweth whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal-offering and a drink-offering unto Jehovah your God?"Who knoweth ..." This was exactly the response of the people of Nineveh to the preaching of Jonah. They said: "Who knoweth whether God will not turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" (<a href="/bible/parallel/JON/3/9" class="green-link">Jonah 3:9</a>). This very likely indicates knowledge on the part of the Ninevites of this very passage in Joel; because all of the ancient Gentile nations were fully aware of God's special dealings with Israel, of his bringing them up out of Egypt; and they had, perhaps, also a knowledge of what their prophets had said. It is very difficult to believe that the Ninevites would have made exactly this response without a prior knowledge of Joel; a fact that advocates of a post-exilic date of Joel cannot explain at all. Verse 15 "Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; gather the people, sanctify the assembly, assemble the old men, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?This passage is an elaboration of <a href="/bible/parallel/JOL/2/1" class="green-link">Joe 2:1</a> and indicates that the utmost participation in the solemn assembly must be achieved, even bridegrooms who by Jewish custom were exempted from all public duties during the first year of marriage (even war), as well as brides and infant children were required to attend. (SeeDeuteronomy 24:5.) The duties of priests, even including the exact prayer they were to pray, were included. Significantly, that prayer was not for the alleviation of the locust plague, but that God should avert the delivery of Israel into the hands of "the nations that they should rule over them." If proof were needed that this 2chapter deals with a great judgment symbolized by the locust plague, and not merely with such a plague itself, it surely appears here. "Between the porch and the altar ..." This and other related expressions in these verses have been made the basis of postulating a late post-exilic date; but as Robertson said: "Too much is made of the references to ritual, as if they necessarily implied a post-exilic date. It is not legitimate here .... The meaning of "old men" or "elders" is no such indication. The expression everywhere in Joel means nothing more than "old men"; and, even if it had an official connotation, the official elders are an old tribal institution in Israel."[25]"Give not thy heritage to reproach ... Wherefore should they say, Where is their God? ..." Such expressions as this "are all anterior to the earliest possible date of Joel, and prove that at an early time there was a consciousness in Israel that the fortunes of the people were bound up with the honor of God."[26]Such an idea was certainly very much older than the times of the exile. As a matter of fact, this particular idea goes back to Moses himself who used exactly this same appeal in his plea to God to avert the threatened destruction of the nation upon the occasion of their worshipping the golden calf. He said: "Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying, For evil did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce anger, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants" (<a href="/bible/parallel/EXO/32/12" class="green-link">Exodus 32:12-13</a>). Also, the Book of Deuteronomy casts a great deal of light on this prophecy. Moses specifically warned the people of their becoming a "byword" among all nations, and that locusts would destroy their harvests (<a href="/bible/parallel/DEU/28/36" class="green-link">Deuteronomy 28:36-46</a>); and, in the light of Moses' warning, it was actually no difficult thing to connect the present locust plague with the ultimate dispersion of Israel as a reproach among all nations as foretold by Moses. Verse 18 "Then was Jehovah jealous for his land, and had pity on his people.Whether viewed as a prophecy of Joel of relief for the penitent people or as an exclamation of praise after the event of his mercy, this section (<a href="/bible/parallel/JOL/2/15" class="green-link">Joe 2:15-17</a>) is rich with a portrayal of God's abundant blessings upon the covenant nation (not the secular state, as such, but the spiritual remnant who, in scripture, were always equated with the "true Israel"). "Apparently Joel had been successful in inspiring the people of Judah to repent sincerely, for here we are told that, The Lord became jealous for his land.’"[27] Two motives may be assigned to God as reasons for his “repentance” of the threatened disaster: “The first is jealousy, the dishonor done to his name must be forever removed; the second, his pity, which has been stirred by the penitence of his afflicted people."[28]It should be observed that none of this could be applied to the locust plague, a disaster which was already present; but it indicates that the ultimate destruction of Israel and their removal to other nations as captives, the more terrible judgment of which the locust plague was a symbol - that disaster was indeed averted for the time. The failure to see this second chapter as the prophecy of a far greater judgment than that of the locusts results in the interpretation of these verses (Joe 2:18-27) as a statement of God’s promise to remove the terrible scourge of the locusts, or to bring about the cessation of it. Deere commented thus: “Evidently the people responded to the prophet’s invitation. The solemn convocation was convened; the people repented; and the Lord forgave them. Consequently, he now promises to remove the locusts and restore the prosperity of the land. Now all will know that God Himself dwells with his people."[29]This is, of course, correct as far as it goes; but the great damage of the locust plague still remained; and it is better to view the removal of the locusts as a symbol of a lifting of that greater doom impending, which eventually came, in the invasion of Assyrians and Babylonians. Verse 19 “And Jehovah answered and said unto his people, Behold, I will send you grain, and new wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations; but I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive it into a land barren and desolate, its forepart into the eastern sea, and its hinder part into the western sea; and its stench shall come up, and its savor shall come up, because it hath done great things.“I will remove far off from you the northern army …“This is a prophetic double entendre, rather than a problem."[30] Not only did the worst locust plagues usually descend on Jerusalem from the north,[31] but, “It was also true that Israel’s main invaders: Aram, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome all attacked from the north."[32] What is evidently in view in this passage is that the summary end of the locust plague which resulted from their being carried by strong winds into the seas, is cited as a pledge that the greater judgment of invasion has also been averted. The use of the military words “the northern army” precludes the limitation of this to the locust scourge. Even the expressions “forepart” and “hinder part” are “more applicable to a human army’s van and rear, than to locusts."[33]“Stench shall come up … savor …” “One of the most refreshing things about the Bible is its frankness; a bad smell is still a bad smell, even in scripture."[34] As in other things in these verses, the words here have a double meaning, applying first to the bad odor resulting from the drowning death of millions of locusts, and secondly to the terrible odor of a battlefield with its unburied corpses of men and horses. It should be pointed out that many eminent Biblical commentators insist on seeing nothing in these verses ofJoel 2, except a recapitulation of the prophet’s very thorough description of the locusts in Joel 1. Deane, for example, said, “The army of this verse we still hold to be the tribes of locusts”;[35] but even he admitted that, “The Assyrian enemies of Judah who advanced from the north are in a subsidiary sense represented."[36]Despite the disagreement of many, however, it seems to us that the quality of the language in this chapter, coupled with the fact that there was no necessity whatever for any re-hash of the very adequate depiction of the locusts in chapter 1, compels the view which has been adopted here. Verse 21 “Fear not, O land, be glad and rejoice; for Jehovah hath done great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth its fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength.These verses are a beautiful description of the physical blessings which followed the removal of the locusts; and the mention that “Jehovah hath done great things” shows that the continuing act of God’s provision for mankind through the abundance of his creation is no less a “great thing,” than any of his more spectacular judgments against Israel’s enemies. Just as the swarms of locusts were said to have “done great things” inJoel 2:20, the actions of God’s benefits are no less so. Verse 23 “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God; for he giveth you the former rain in just measure, and he causeth to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain, in the first month.These verses, continuing the theme of the whole section (Joe 2:18-27), are the praise of God for the temporal and physical blessings which were given to mankind, and to Israel in particular, because they were the covenant people. Modern man supposes that he is above attributing any such physical benefits as rain and sunshine to God; and, as the mayor of a north New Jersey township objected to a public prayer meeting “for rain,” brought about by a six-year drought which had threatened the water supply of the whole section, “The water supply is too important to be left up to God!” there are many in the current culture who do not believe that God has anything to do with such things; but this is a frightfully short-sighted and inaccurate notion. In the last analysis, everything depends upon the Father’s will. The great climatic changes which can change a rain forest into a petrified forest, or through drought destroy the civilization of Frijoles Canyon are finally and absolutely of God Himself. His will is back of everything. Verse 25 “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and shall praise the name of Jehovah your God, that hath dwelt wondrously with you; and my people shall never be put to shame.It is of interest that the four names of locusts appearing here are the reverse order of their use in Joe 1:4. God promised the complete recovery of all the losses incurred from the terrible visitation. “My great army which I sent among you …” This is a reference to the locusts, since that is the subject being discussed; but this isolated use of the expression here is not sufficient to deny its symbolical and figurative use earlier. It is rather a reminder of the greater disaster symbolized by the locusts. In fact, even this description of the temporal benefits of God’s blessings upon Israel is freighted with intimations of the spiritual benefits accruing to God’s people in all ages to come. Paul so interpreted this very verse in Romans 10:11-12, where he spoke of the blessings of believing in Christ, saying, “For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame; for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.” One great fact regarding such precious promises was that in the ultimate and final sense, they were contingent upon Israel’s continued penitence and obedience. One may be very sure that the first generation to receive these words failed to get that condition. “My people shall never be put to shame” was a promise which secular Israel mistakenly assumed to be their unique heritage, overlooking the truth that in every age, God’s people are those who do his will. These promises then, both here and in the succeeding verse, did not promise unlimited security and blessing for secular Israel, but to God’s true people, the spiritual seed of Abraham. Verse 27 “And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Jehovah your God, and there is none else; and my people shall never be put to shame.As Cole said, the expression “and there is none else … is as strong a statement of monotheism as anything in the second half of Isaiah, or anywhere else in the O.T."[37]The ends-of-the-earth implication of these last verses in this section is further emphasized by the switch immediately afterward to the glorious promises of the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit during the times of the Messiah and his kingdom. Verse 28 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.“And it shall come to pass afterward …” The specific fulfillment of this passage occurred on the day of Pentecost, upon which occasion the apostle Peter referred to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the twelve apostles as “this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:17 f). To be sure, as Harley said, “Only the apostles received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on that occasion”;[38] but the infusion of the Holy Spirit that became available to mankind on that day was a much more extensive thing than his miraculous demonstration upon the Twelve. Peter on that same occasion promised that all who would repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, “shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”; and this also is included in the prophecy. It is in this extended sense that it is “upon all flesh.” Furthermore, there were many isolated examples as seen in the virgin daughters of Philip (Acts 21:9) in which “sons and daughters” alike received great measures of the Holy Spirit. It was Moses who first expressed the hope that God’s Spirit would be upon all the people, saying, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them” (Numbers 11:29). The fulfillment of this desire is seen in the truth that every Christian is endowed with an “earnest” of the Holy Spirit. Verse 29 “And also upon the servants and upon the handmaidens in those days will I pour out of my Spirit.It should be noted that beginning with the previous Joe 2:28, this portion of Joel (to the end of the chapter) forms a separate chapter in the Hebrew version of the Bible, giving four chapters instead of three in that version. This refers to the universality of membership in the Lord’s church and the consequent reception of a measure of God’s Spirit in the hearts of all believers during the times of the Messiah. Many of the Christians to whom Colossians and Ephesians were originally addressed were slaves; and in that is a most accurate and extensive fulfillment of these very words. Of course, it is not necessary to suppose that even Joel fully understood the import of this prophetic word, as noted above. As Robinson said: “Joel probably had but a vague appreciation of what these words really meant in the great program of God."[39] Of course, there has never been any need to understand Joel’s prophecy here as a promise that “all of God’s people” will be supernaturally endowed with the Holy Spirit. It was not so in the days of the apostles, nor is it true now. “Old men shall dream dreams … young men shall see visions …” The place of dreams in the new covenant is greatly downgraded by a number of considerations: “No other dream is mentioned in the N.T. save those given to Joseph in the very beginning of the N.T., before the full Gospel had come, and to the wife of Pilate, a Gentile."[40]There is absolutely nothing in the N.T. to indicate that any Christian or any other person (exceptions noted above) ever relied upon a dream for anything whatsoever. Christians of all ages have refused to trust dreams. Verse 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke.Myers’ observation that the portents in the heavens “are frequently associated with the coming of great events”[41] is correct. There was also a moral implication. Such omens as are mentioned in these verses “are omens of the Day of Judgment, the day of the destruction of evil in order that good may survive and flourish."[42]On the day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter quoted this very passage as having already been fulfilled as a prelude to “the great and notable Day of the Lord,” the day upon which salvation would be given to all who should “call on the name of the Lord.” Since the day on which Peter said that was only fifty three days after the crucifixion of Christ, it is appropriate to look to that event as the time of the portents mentioned here. “Wonders in the heavens …” The sun’s light failed for a period of three hours, the most remarkable “portent” ever seen in the heavens by any generation. “And in the earth …” These would surely have included a number of wonders such as the rending of the veil of the temple, the earthquake that opened the graves of the righteous, the saints who came out of their graves after Jesus’ resurrection, and the undisturbed grave clothes of Jesus. All of these things were surely among the wonders on earth beneath. “Blood and fire and vapor of smoke …” These expressions almost certainly indicate one of the great Jewish national festivals as the occasion when God’s wonders would be done. The sacrifice of many thousands of animals, the roaring fires of the sacrifices, and the “vapor of smoke” inevitably associated with those great occasions would appear to be adequate identification. Christ was crucified at the Passover festival, and the Holy Spirit came upon Pentecost, some seven complete weeks later; and thus the “blood, fire, vapor of smoke” reference was fully applicable to both occasions. (See CA, pp. 44-48.) The crucifixion of Christ was a day when evil was destroyed (Satan was destroyed through the death of Christ, Hebrews 2:14), and was therefore an occasion fully important enough to be heralded by the portents mentioned here. The echoes of the final judgment are also in these verses, but this should not be surprising. The Final Day actually began with the crucifixion of Christ and will be consummated at his Second Coming. “The last days” began with Christ’s first advent and will end with the second advent. They are the days during which the age to come overlaps the present age; hence the assurance with which Peter quoted Joel’s words and declared, “This is that."[43]Peter’s use of this passage is most significant. “He equated the gift of the Spirit with the dawning of the Messianic age, which was to usher in the final judgment."[44] It is very likely that Peter and all of the apostles regarded the final judgment as an event to occur in their own times, or shortly thereafter; although, in all fairness, it must be pointed out that no sacred writer ever said so! What the apostolic group “thought” is therefore a very poor basis for interpreting their words, which were not of themselves, but of God. The fact that the Final Judgment is still future, after nearly two thousand years, is no grounds whatever for supposing that the prophets were mistaken. Indeed no! The great and terrible judgment of all mankind will yet occur, as Jesus Christ and all of the apostles and prophets have warned. What appears to be “the delay” is merely the mercy and forbearance of God, “who is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” The Judgment Day will finally occur, and it will, in all probability, be ushered in by these same portents, on a cosmic scale, of which the occurrences known to Peter and the people who heard him were only the dim and feeble types. Verse 31 “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh.The N.T. does not mention the light of the moon having failed during the wonders that attended the crucifixion; but Luke’s assertion that “the sun’s light failed” would necessarily also have involved the moon. Pagan testimony to the fact of both having occurred was cited in N.T. Apocrypha. Pontius Pilate wrote to the Emperor Tiberius that: “And when he had been crucified, there was darkness over the whole earth … so that the stars appeared… as I suppose your reverence is not ignorant of, because in all the world they lighted lamps from the sixth hour until evening. And the moon, being like blood, did not shine the whole night, and yet she happened to be in the full."[45]Similar words are likewise used to describe the final judgment day in Revelation 6:12-17; and therefore, the events connected with the Passion of Christ are most likely symbols of even more terrifying wonders that shall mark the arrival of the Final Assize itself. That those events, foretold by Joel, and mentioned as having already occurred by the apostle Peter, were generally known throughout the Roman empire would seem to be indisputable. Tertullian, in his Apology directed to the “Rulers of the Roman Empire,” in paragraph 21, has this: “In the same hour, too, the light of the day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted of Christ, no doubt thought it was an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives."[46]That Tertullian appealed to the rulers of the empire as having a record of the very things prophesied by Joel and fulfilled at the Passion of Jesus Christ would appear to be of the very greatest significance. Tertullian would not have dared to make such an appeal unless it had been generally known and recognized as the truth. A very excellent statement of the full meaning of this passage was given thus by R. J. Knowling: “Peter saw in the outpouring of the Spirit the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy (Joe 2:28-32) and the dawn of the period preceding the return of Christ in glory."[47]“The last days …” A misunderstanding of this phrase clouds many of the interpretations. Ironside thought that, “all this can never be fulfilled till the people of Israel are restored to their land."[48] Others are querulous about how it could have been “the last days” so long ago; but, of course, Peter meant the dispensation of the last days; and besides that, in a very dramatic and genuine sense it was the “last days” for Israel. Their long occupancy of a favored role as God’s chosen people ended with what was prophesied here. It was the end of their whole religious system, which, within forty years would be wiped off the face of the earth, never more to appear again. It was the “last days” of their secular state which soon would perish and never rise again until millenniums afterward; it was “the last days” of the High Priesthood of Aaron and the Levites; it was “the last days” of the daily sacrifices, of the temple, and of the state and nation of Israel. The ultimate fulfillment in the great and final Day of the Lord cannot, therefore, be in any way contingent upon secular Israel getting possession of “their land.” Their status as “God’s chosen people” ended forever when they crucified Christ; and there are no promises whatever regarding Israel in the N.T., except as they may be realized by some of their number accepting Christ and thus establishing themselves as “seed of Abraham.” The proximity of the “great and terrible day of the Lord” was real enough for the generation to whom Peter applied these words. Christ had foretold the doom of Jerusalem, and from his understanding of Joel, Peter knew that the judgment against Jerusalem could not be long delayed, nor was it. It was executed by the armies of Vespasian and Titus who besieged and ravished the city of Jerusalem in August, A.D. 70. “That destruction, which fulfilled the prophecy, in turn became a prophetic type of the ultimate end of the world and of the judgment of God on the world of the ungodly."[49]Thus, in the instance of “that great and notable day of the Lord,” as in many of God’s prophecies, there were two fulfillments, an immediate, and a remote fulfillment. The immediate fulfilment was the destruction of Jerusalem, and the remote fulfillment (yet to be) will appear at the end of the world, the Second Coming of Christ, and the final judgment. Verse 32 “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call upon the name of Jehovah shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as Jehovah hath said, and among the remnants those whom Jehovah doth call.In the light of Peter’s use of this passage, the primary meaning of it is applicable to salvation from sin, with the attendant indication that just a few, a “remnant” will actually participate in this salvation. In the extended meaning of the prophecy, “mount Zion and Jerusalem” stand for the church or kingdom of Jesus Christ which began there. In the spiritual sense, it is still true that “the word of the Lord goeth forth from mount Zion and Jerusalem.” This verse has been cited as “the clearest example in the whole book of one author quoting another”;[50] but it should be particularly noted that Joel did not say, “Obadiah saith,” but that “Jehovah saith.” Joel says that he was giving God’s Word; and it is not necessary at all to make a portion of this passage a “quote” fromObadiah 1:1:17. As Cole freely admitted, “It is, however, possible that both Joel and Obadiah are quoting some earlier anonymous prophetic saying."[51] Of course, such a thing is easily possible; but there is yet another possibility that should never be ruled out by one who actually believes that the prophets were writing what they said they were writing, the “word of Jehovah”; and that is the possibility that Jehovah himself gave identical words to different authors. Why should such a possibility as this be ruled out? Certainly, any adequate theory of “inspiration” must always include it! One familiar with the Bible knows that the standard formula for one sacred author’s quoting another is that of giving the quoted prophet’s name, as Peter did when he quoted this passage. In the light of this, many so-called “quotes” cited by commentators are no such thing at all. “This prophecy looks beyond the time of restoration and rehabilitation of Joel’s day, even beyond Pentecost which marked the inception of the new age, to a time of the final consummation of things visualized by the author of Revelation in his announcement of a new heaven and a new earth."[52]The events of any prophetic fulfillment should be carefully studied for clues to possibilities in the ultimate fulfillment. Just as the Christians were warned prophetically of the destruction of Jerusalem, and all of them escaped it by retiring to Pella,[53] all who truly believe in Christ and obey him will escape the ultimate general destruction at the last day. In view of the N.T. usage of this prophecy, it must be considered one of the most important sections of the O.T.

Joel 2:1

Joe 2:1. The blowing of the trumpet is figurative and expressed in view of the calamity that was to come upon the country. (See Numbers 10:1-10 for the significance of trumpets.) In actual practice the people of Israel were to blow the trumpet in alarm when they were to go into battle against another nation. It does not have that meaning in this case because the passage is a prediction of the invasion of the Babylonian army. That event was to occur by the Lord’ s decree, and the people of Israel were not to resist that attack. Instead, they were advised to submit peacefully to the king of Babylon and thereby lessen their suffering. (See Jeremiah 38:17, IS.) The thought in the passage here is that the alarm should be to summon the people to a sense of their undone condition, so that they will make what restitution they can for their own personal benefit.

Joel 2:2

Joe 2:2. The gloomy picture that is painted is to be the result of the invasion of the foreign nation. A great people and a strong refers to the Baby-lonians who were to be brought against Jerusalem and the people of Israel.

Joel 2:3

Joe 2:3. Garden of Eden before , . . behind a wilderness. This Is a picture of the sad changes that were destined to come into the land of Palestine after the inroads made by the Babylonian army. It was to be a complete overthrow of the great country of Israel, inflicted upon it as a punishment for the evil conduct of the inhabitants in taking up with the idolatrous ways of the heathen.

Joel 2:4

Joe 2:4. Appearance of horses is lit-eral, for the army of Babylon used that noble animal in its triumphant march through the country.

Joel 2:5

Joe 2:5. The horses were used to carry riders in battle array, and they were likewise used to draw the chariots of war which are mentioned in this verse.

Joel 2:6

Joe 2:6. Faces be pained will be on account of the dreadful appearance of the military forces of the Babylonian Empire. It was one of the most for-midable armies ever sent against the Israelites, and well might their faces be drawn in alarm at the approach of such a foe.

Joel 2:7

Joe 2:7. Not break their ranks de-notes the orderly conduct of the sol-diers of the king of Bablyon, Shall climb the wall refers to the ability of the soldiers to mount over the walls that were erected as a barrier against an attacking foe. These barricades were to be no effective hindrance to the success of the invading army.

Joel 2:8

Joe 2:8. Sometimes the soldiers of an army became confused and attacked each other, and at other times they would interfere with each other’ s posi-tion in the battle formation; the Baby-lonians were not to do this. And even when they came in contact with a sword it would not injure them seriously, because the Lord will be using them as His agents to chastise t.he people of Israel.

Joel 2:9

Joe 2:9. The prevalence and success of the Babylonians is meant here.

Joel 2:10

Joe 2:10. This is a figurative description of the depression that will settle down upon Jerusalem and the inhabitants of Judah when the army of Nebuchadnezzar takes up the siege. The king of Israel and his leading men will be debased, which is likened to the dimming of the sun and other heavenly bodies.

Joel 2:11

Joe 2:11. The army of Babylon is called the Lord’ s because He will use it to carry out the purposes against the unfaithful people of Israel, He is strong that executeth his word. Since the king of Babylon will be executing the decree of the Lord, He will make that king strong enough to accomplish the task set before him. Without the Lord’ s support the Babylonian army could never have succeeded as it did; for later, when it was God’ s will that the same nation should be overthrown, it was accomplished by the Persians who were said to be “inferior to thee” (Daniel 2; 39).

Joel 2:12

Joe 2:12. In view of the coming dis-aster, the people of Israel were exhorted to repent and manifest a proper attitude toward God. We are again reminded of an apparent disagreement in the declarations of the Lord as to the fate of his people. At one time they are exhorted to repent and seek the favor of the Lord, and at another they are told that nothing could be done to prevent the downfall of the kingdom and the captivity of its people. The reader should see the long note on this subject in the comments for 2 Kings 22; 2 Kings 17, volume 3 of this .

Joel 2:13

Joe 2:13. Rend your heart and not your garments. It was a customary action in times of great distress or anxiety for a person to grasp his gar-ment and tear it. This performance was acceptable to God when it was done with sincerity of heart. But since it was purely a physical or mechanical movement, a man conld perform it as successfully while his heart was cor-rupt, as he could when be was pure in heart. Hence the exhortation of the words Italicized, which means to correct the heart before going through the outward motion of rending the garment.

Joel 2:14

Joe 2:14. This verse is explained at verse 12 and the note cited there.

Joel 2:15

Joe 2:15. This verse is virtually the same as verse 1.

Joel 2:16

Joe 2:16. For comments on this verse, see those on Chapter 1; 14, also the note cited at verse 12 of the present chapter.

Joel 2:17

Joe 2:17. The outstanding corrup-tion of the nation of Israel was idolatry. In Ezekiel 8:16 the sun worshipers are shown as standing “between the porch and the altar,” and thus were showing disrespect for the true God. Now the prophet Joel bids them go to that place to lament over the situation that their iniquity had created. And Instead of serving a false god, they were to appeal to the true God on behalf of the people whom their corrupt leadership had betrayed. Of course we understand this to be a prophetic picture of the state of mind that would be experienced after they got down in the land of captivity. This is described in strong terms in Psalms 137 where It Is prophecy, and in Ezekiel 37:11 where it is history.

Joel 2:18

Joe 2:18. From this verse through 27 the passage is a prediction of the return from Babylonian captivity. The sending of Israel Into a foreign country was not from an outburst of ill feeling for His people, but because their own good as well as the honor of the holy name of God demanded the chastisement. That is why it Is said that He will be jealous for the land, because the Babylonians took too much personal satisfaction out of the distress of the people whom they had brought under their domination.

Joel 2:19

Joe 2:19. The Lord was to make these provisions for his people by re-luming them from the captivity so they could reap the products of the home land. It was a great reproach upon the nation of Israel to be held captive in a heathen land, but that was to be reversed and never again be repeated.

Joel 2:20

Joe 2:20. The northern army was the Babylonian army that had taken the people of Israel into captivity. At the time the captivity was to be ended, the Babylonian army would be in their own country. But it. had come down from the north in order to take its inhabitants into captivity; and reversing the condition of bondage would be equivalent to removing the northern army from the land. And in making such a forced retreat toward his own country, the Babylonian king would be heading toward the desert of Arabia, and his back would be toward the utmost sea which means the Mediter-ranean.

Joel 2:21

Joe 2:21. Such inanimate things as land cannot literally rejoice, yet the language is directly addressed to it. In that respect it is like the passage in Ezekiel 36:6-15. The thought is to be transferred to the people who are to inhabit and enjoy the land, and who will be able to rejoice because of the benefits that the Lord promises to be-stow upon It.

Joel 2:22

Joe 2:22. The beasts of the field are animate creatures, yet they cannot in-telligently respond to the Lord’s promise of blessings upon the fields. However, they can enjoy those blessings and thrive upon them, which would enable them to yield benefits for the enjoyment of their owners.

Joel 2:23

Joe 2:23. The foregoing comments are verified by the first sentence of this verse: it is the children of Zion who are actually to rejoice. And the reasoning is made still clearer by the rest of the verse, for it specifies the favors that were promised to be shed upon the land that would enable it to produce the things necessary for man’s enjoyment. Moderately is an unusual word as it is used in this place, and it is derived from an original that Strong defines as “righteous.” The simple meaning is that God was to bestow the right seasons upon the land so that it could produce the crops for its citizens.

Joel 2:24

Joe 2:24. Floors refers to the places where the grain was beaten out of the husk and the chaff separated from the kernel by the wind. The fats means the vats or large tubB into which grapes were placed so that the juice could be pressed out.

Joel 2:25

Joe 2:25. I have commented at length on the subject of this verse, in chapter 1: 4, which the reader should see now before going further in the study of this passage. With those comments in mind, he may think of this verse as a part of the prediction of the return from the Babylonian captivity. We know that when that event occurred, the effects of former misfortunes (whether literal armies of locusts or that of the Babylonians), were to be reversed by the returning productiveness of the land.

Joel 2:26

Joe 2:26. This is more along the line of the blessings promised to come to the people after being brought back to their own land. My people shall never he ashamed applies only to the Idea of a national and bodily removal into a foreign country; it was never to happen again.

Joel 2:27

Joe 2:27. Shall know . . . Lord your God, and none else. This is very sig-nificant, for the main iniquity of Israel was their worship of false gods. But the captivity was destined to cure them permanently of that spiritual disease as predicted here. The historical quotation that shows the fulfillment of this prediction is given at Isaiah 1:25 in volume 3 of this .

Joel 2:28

Joe 2:28. This verse begins a noted prophecy which includes the rest of the chapter. It was quoted by the apostle Peter as recorded in Acts 2:17-21, where he replies to the false statements of the Jews in his audience. Afterward is a somewhat indefinite term as to time, merely meaning “ at some time later.*’ Peter makes it more definite by saying “in the last days” meaning the last days of the Jewish Dispensation. It is not uncommon for ail Old Testament prophet to pass immediately from some good event concerning fleshly Israel to one pertaining to spiritual Israel. So in the present case, Joel goes from the return from captivity to the starting of the church that was lo embrace all nations in spiritual Israel.

The meaning of all flesh is that the spirit, of God was to bring blessings upon all, whether they were Jew or Gentile. These bless-ings would need to be introduced into the world in a miraculous manner, and it was to be accomplished by the gifts of the Holy Spirit, using various ranks of society for instruments, hence the mention of sons and daughters, old and young men upon whom the outpouring was to come.

Joel 2:29

Joe 2:29. Servants and handmaids are named to show that the blessings of the Gospel will be for all classes of mankind, whether high or low, rich or poor.

Joel 2:30

Joe 2:30. Blood, fire, etc., is figurative and refers to the disturbances that were to occur in close connection (as to time) with the outpouring of the Spirit.

Joel 2:31

Joe 2:31. This verse is still figurative but is more specific than the preceding one. It was fulfilled when Jeeus was on the cross and the sun was prevented from showing its light for three hours (Matthew 27:45), This was only 50 days before the giving of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, which would give to the language here the cleaning as if it said the event would occur “ just before” the day of the Lord. Terrible is from the Hebrew word ya.be, one of whose meanings is “ to be reverenced” ; and certainly that can truly be said of the day when the Lord gave to the world the kingdom that was to “ stand for ever.”

Joel 2:32

Joe 2:32. Shall he delivered is ex-pressed by “ shall be saved” in Acts 2; Acts 21, which shows that the two ex-pressions mean the same. To call on the name of the Lord, means to look to Him for the means of salvation. (See Acts 22:16; Romans 10:13.) Mount Zion and Jerusalem are named together because the former was a special spot in the latter city. Deliverance means the same as “ be saved” in Acts 2:21. Remnant is from sariyd, which Strong defines “ a survivor.” It is said with reference to the Jews who were to be still serving God at the time the Spirit was to be given. It is true that the benefits of the Gospel were for all nations, but the Jews were given the first opportunity of receiving them. (See Acts 13:46; Romans 1:16; Romans 2:10.)