Joel 1 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Joel 1

1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

An Invasion of Locusts

2   Hear this, you elders;
    give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
  Has such a thing happened in your days,
    or in the days of your fathers?
3   Tell your children of it,
    and let your children tell their children,
    and their children to another generation.
4   What the cutting locust left,
    the swarming locust has eaten.
  What the swarming locust left,
    the hopping locust has eaten,
  and what the hopping locust left,
    the destroying locust has eaten.
5   Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
    and wail, all you drinkers of wine,
  because of the sweet wine,
    for it is cut off from your mouth.
6   For a nation has come up against my land,
    powerful and beyond number;
  its teeth are lions’ teeth,
    and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7   It has laid waste my vine
    and splintered my fig tree;
  it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
    their branches are made white.
8   Lament like a virgin¹ wearing sackcloth
    for the bridegroom of her youth.
9   The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
    from the house of the LORD.
  The priests mourn,
    the ministers of the LORD.
10   The fields are destroyed,
    the ground mourns,
  because the grain is destroyed,
    the wine dries up,
    the oil languishes.
11   Be ashamed,² O tillers of the soil;
    wail, O vinedressers,
  for the wheat and the barley,
    because the harvest of the field has perished.
12   The vine dries up;
    the fig tree languishes.
  Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
    all the trees of the field are dried up,
  and gladness dries up
    from the children of man.

A Call to Repentance

13   Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests;
    wail, O ministers of the altar.
  Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,
    O ministers of my God!
  Because grain offering and drink offering
    are withheld from the house of your God.
14   Consecrate a fast;
    call a solemn assembly.
  Gather the elders
    and all the inhabitants of the land
  to the house of the LORD your God,
    and cry out to the LORD.
15   Alas for the day!
  For the day of the LORD is near,
    and as destruction from the Almighty³ it comes.
16   Is not the food cut off
    before our eyes,
  joy and gladness
    from the house of our God?
17   The seed shrivels under the clods;⁴
    the storehouses are desolate;
  the granaries are torn down
    because the grain has dried up.
18   How the beasts groan!
    The herds of cattle are perplexed
  because there is no pasture for them;
    even the flocks of sheep suffer.⁵
19   To you, O LORD, I call.
  For fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness,
  and flame has burned
    all the trees of the field.
20   Even the beasts of the field pant for you
    because the water brooks are dried up,
  and fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness.

Footnotes

[1] 1:8 Or young woman
[2] 1:11 The Hebrew words for dry up and be ashamed in verses 10–12, 17 sound alike
[3] 1:15 Destruction sounds like the Hebrew for Almighty
[4] 1:17 The meaning of the Hebrew line is uncertain
[5] 1:18 Or are made desolate

Commentary

v1: We know very little about Joel; there is no reference to the kings who ruled during his ministry. Perhaps our approach to this book should be to see the longer term fulfilment of his words.

v2-12: The descriptions of the plagues of locusts.

v2-3: "Hear this," for it is urgent; see v5, 8, 11, 13; 2.1,15; since something serious is about to happen, it is essential that the people take notice, and seek the Lord (v13-14).

v4-6: The repeated invasions of locusts may refer to the powerful nations, as foreign armies came time and again into Israel and Judah.

v7-11: There is devastation; first "my vines...my fig-trees," referring to God's people; laid waste, ruined, stripped off, thrown away; such is the effect of the attacks. The illustrations are mixed with the observations; grain offerings and drink offerings are stopped, priests mourn; the fields are ruined, the farmers and vine growers impoverished.

v12: Back to the vine and fig-tree, this time in the singular; and with other fruit trees. This is a reference to godly believers (Ps 1.3; Is 61.3), who have become fewer, see Ps 12.1. The godly could hardly be found amongst the people of God; no wonder the people's joy has been lost.

v13-20: The call to repentance.

v13-14: Genuine repentance; a change of heart and deep felt sorrow. A reminder that tears are part of our life and ministry; Jer 9.1; Luke 19.41.

The priests and elders, leaders in the land, have to take the lead in repenting.

v15: The day of the Lord, destruction from the Almighty. This is described both by Joel and Zephaniah;

a day of darkness and gloom, clouds and blackness, 2.2; Zeph 1.15-16;
it is great and terrible, or dreadful, 2.11, 31;
the day of the Lord's sacrifice, His wrath, His fierce anger, Zeph 1.7-8, 18; 2.2-3;
"the day I rise up for plunder," Zeph 3.8.

The day of the Lord is followed by the restoration of the children of Judah, 2.30-32, Zeph 3.9-20. The gathering up of the church appears to precede the day of the Lord, 1 Thess 5.2-4; 2 Thess 2.1-4. Acts 2 presents a partial fulfilment of these events, but clearly that was not the day of the Lord as described here. When Joel speaks to Judah, the experience of that day is merely a foretaste of what is to come later.

v16-18: The people have already endured some suffering, a foretaste of the day of the Lord. These things are no accident or coincidence. It is striking that Joel mentions food frequently in this chapter. Here, the absence of food is equated to the loss of joy and gladness. Later, when God restores His people, food becomes plentiful again. Food is not merely metaphor - it is significant in the dealings of God with His people.

v19-20: As the people depart from the Lord, Joel himself prays for them; here is his godly concern and example. He has seen that whatever has already happened, worse is to follow. His prayer is therefore informed and passionate.