Joel 2 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Joel 2

The Day of the Lord

2:1   Blow a trumpet in Zion;
    sound an alarm on my holy mountain!
  Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
    for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near,
2   a day of darkness and gloom,
    a day of clouds and thick darkness!
  Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
    a great and powerful people;
  their like has never been before,
    nor will be again after them
    through the years of all generations.
3   Fire devours before them,
    and behind them a flame burns.
  The land is like the garden of Eden before them,
    but behind them a desolate wilderness,
    and nothing escapes them.
4   Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,
    and like war horses they run.
5   As with the rumbling of chariots,
    they leap on the tops of the mountains,
  like the crackling of a flame of fire
    devouring the stubble,
  like a powerful army
    drawn up for battle.
6   Before them peoples are in anguish;
    all faces grow pale.
7   Like warriors they charge;
    like soldiers they scale the wall.
  They march each on his way;
    they do not swerve from their paths.
8   They do not jostle one another;
    each marches in his path;
  they burst through the weapons
    and are not halted.
9   They leap upon the city,
    they run upon the walls,
  they climb up into the houses,
    they enter through the windows like a thief.
10   The earth quakes before them;
    the heavens tremble.
  The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.
11   The LORD utters his voice
    before his army,
  for his camp is exceedingly great;
    he who executes his word is powerful.
  For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome;
    who can endure it?

Return to the Lord

12   “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
    “return to me with all your heart,
  with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13     and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
  Return to the LORD your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
  slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    and he relents over disaster.
14   Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
    and leave a blessing behind him,
  a grain offering and a drink offering
    for the LORD your God?
15   Blow the trumpet in Zion;
    consecrate a fast;
  call a solemn assembly;
16     gather the people.
  Consecrate the congregation;
    assemble the elders;
  gather the children,
    even nursing infants.
  Let the bridegroom leave his room,
    and the bride her chamber.
17   Between the vestibule and the altar
    let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep
  and say, “Spare your people, O LORD,
    and make not your heritage a reproach,
    a byword among the nations.¹
  Why should they say among the peoples,
    ‘Where is their God?’”

The Lord Had Pity

18   Then the LORD became jealous for his land
    and had pity on his people.
19   The LORD answered and said to his people,
  “Behold, I am sending to you
    grain, wine, and oil,
    and you will be satisfied;
  and I will no more make you
    a reproach among the nations.
20   “I will remove the northerner far from you,
    and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
  his vanguard² into the eastern sea,
    and his rear guard³ into the western sea;
  the stench and foul smell of him will rise,
    for he has done great things.
21   “Fear not, O land;
    be glad and rejoice,
    for the LORD has done great things!
22   Fear not, you beasts of the field,
    for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
  the tree bears its fruit;
    the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
23   “Be glad, O children of Zion,
    and rejoice in the LORD your God,
  for he has given the early rain for your vindication;
    he has poured down for you abundant rain,
    the early and the latter rain, as before.
24   “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
    the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25   I will restore⁴ to you the years
    that the swarming locust has eaten,
  the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
    my great army, which I sent among you.
26   “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
    and praise the name of the LORD your God,
    who has dealt wondrously with you.
  And my people shall never again be put to shame.
27   You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
    and that I am the LORD your God and there is none else.
  And my people shall never again be put to shame.

The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit

28   ⁵ “And it shall come to pass afterward,
    that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
  your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    your old men shall dream dreams,
    and your young men shall see visions.
29   Even on the male and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit.

30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

Footnotes

[1] 2:17 Or reproach, that the nations should rule over them
[2] 2:20 Hebrew face
[3] 2:20 Hebrew his end
[4] 2:25 Or pay back
[5] 2:28 Ch 3:1 in Hebrew

Commentary

v1-11: The devastation of God's judgment.

v1: Zion, in Jerusalem, is at the centre of events, God's "holy hill." In Amos 7.7-8, God set His plumbline in the midst of His people.

v2-5: The effects of the locust-like army, as in 1.4. The apparent organisation is part of the terror.

v6-9: They keep formation; for those in the line of their attack, this is quite terrifying. They pour into the city, allowing no escape for its occupants.

v10-11: The army is identified as the Lord's. This is not because they are faithful believers, or even angels, but simply because all nations are subject to His control; Is 8.5-8; 37.26-27; Jer 32.28; the Assyrian and Babylonian armies were both subject to Him.

v12-17: The call to repentance.

v12: "With all your heart," for any repentance must be true repentance. Part of the problem with Israel was their superficial faith.

v13-14: The call to return to the Lord, depending on His mercy. The prophet declares that God is gracious and compassionate.

v15-17: Another trumpet call, see v1, this time to call the people to repent.

The prophet even suggests a prayer for those responding; a prayer about God's own testimony through His people. "Spare Your people, O Lord." "Why should they say among the peoples,' Where is their God?'"

v18-27: The Lord's faithfulness, promising marvellous things ahead.

v18-20: The Lord honours their repentance; He will be zealous; He will answer. Grain, new wine, and oil restored; matching 1.10. He will take away the shame they endured as the "object of scorn," see v17. The mighty army will be driven far away, the threat finished.

v21-24: Widespread restoration; open pastures and trees (1.19); beasts of the field (1.20); fig tree and vine (1.7); joy (1.12); threshing floors, with wheat and barley (1.11); the Lord has restored His land, through autumn and spring rains, promising and delivering great fruitfulness.

v25-27: Answering the devastation of 1.4; the thoroughness of the devastation is matched by the thoroughness of the restoration. The people will never again be put to shame, never again need to be restored.

v28-32: The promise of the Spirit on the children of Judah and Israel. This appears not to be dependent upon repentance, but rather presents unconditional promises. The blessing of the Spirit is not the restoration following previous judgments, but something new for the people of God.

Acts 2.16 suggests a partial fulfilment, and a fuller blessing is yet to be. The language of, for example, Matt 2.15 is more specific concerning fulfilled prophecy.

v28-29: "All people" refers, in context, to Judah and Israel; your sons and daughters, your old men and your young men, my servant, men and women. See 3.1, where the prophet refers to the restoration of Judah and Jerusalem.

v30-31: Signs before the day of the Lord, as in Matt 24.29-30. Here is warning of coming events.

v32: Salvation through calling on the name of the Lord. Irrespective of our understanding of the way this prophecy will be fulfilled, the glorious truth is that salvation is in 'the name of the Lord.'