CRITICAL NOTES.] The prophecy opens with lamentation over the land, made desolate by successive swarms of locusts. Joel 1:2-4 contain the spirited introduction. Old men] are called upon to note the unusual course of nature. Inhabitants] of Judah, whatever part they occupy, and whatever calamities they have witnessed, are asked to say if in their own, or in the days of their fathers, there had ever been a calamity so sweeping and so terrible. Children] must be impressed with a sense of national disaster, and admonished by the providence of God (Exodus 13:8; Joshua 4:6-7; Psalms 78:6; Psalms 78:8; Joel 1:4). The four names of the locusts have been thought to be four different species indicated by the etymology of the words, the gnawer (gâzâm); the multiplier (‘arbeh); the licker (yeleq); the devourer (châzîl). Some critics say that four is the symbol of universality.
Joel 1:5. Drunkards] An appeal to different classes. Wine-bibbers indulging in their favourite liquor must be roused from stupor to “weep and howl,” though usually jolly in national calamity.
Joel 1:6. A nation] Lit. some; four successive empires; symbolically others. The epithets describe their number and savage hostility.
Joel 1:7. Vine] and fig-trees, common and greatly valued in the days of Solomon (1 Kings 4:25), now destroyed.
HOMILETICS
GOD’S MESSAGE DEMANDS EARNEST ATTENTION.—Joel 1:1-4
Since the establishment of the kingdom Judah had seen partial and temporary judgments, but none that threatened such destruction as this fearful plague of locusts. Hence the prophet calls attention to it, and urges them to consider its design and transmit its record to posterity. Generations to come must know the judgments of God.
I. The message. “Hear this,” recorded in Joel 1:4. The visitation is unparalleled and never to be forgotten in history.
1. It was terrible. Not a mere visit of flying insects, but a succession, plague was to succeed plague, each more destructive than its predecessor. In ordinary providences God testifies against sin. But some ages and churches are made warnings to all generations by the justice of God. God’s penal resources are unlimited, and great as afflictions may have been in the past, the future may bring upon guilty sinners greater still. “Why should ye be stricken any more?”
2. It was unprecedented. “Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?” Old men who could remember events years ago, accustomed to extraordinary things in nature, had never seen anything like this Even in the days of their fathers, in the records of the nation, was there any judgment so terrible in its consequences. Neither the present nor the past generations had known such a calamity. The plague of Egypt lasted only a few days and consisted of few insects; but for multitude and mischief, this was unprecedented. “Very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.”
3. It was ever to be remembered. “Tell ye your children of it,” &c. Four generations were to note it. “This shall be written for the generation to come.” National disasters live in the records of the past, and present calamities are to be fixed in the memories of the future. Greece and Rome, France and England, have each their record written in bitter experience. Woe is pronounced upon those who “regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands” (Isaiah 5:12).
II. The hearers. This calamity was so striking that the attention of the present and all future generations is directed to it.
1. Old men. “Hear this, ye old man.” “Days should speak and multitude of years should teach wisdom,” and none are too old to learn. Men of the greatest age and ripest experience have more to learn in life, especially if their lot has fallen in grievous times. If our stock of knowledge be not increasing it is wasting. All should hear the voice of judgments. “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels.”
2. All the inhabitants of the land. Lest any should escape, all the people are urged to give earnest attention. What concerns one concerns all. None like to hear evil tidings, but they must be pressed upon men sometimes. When God speaks, when vital interests are at stake, all should hear. “Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world.”
3. Children of another generation. God’s dealings with the present age have a relation to the future. The events of one nation are lessons to all nations. Whatever concerns humanity concerns all men. Generation must declare to generation the wonders of God’s love and the might of his judgments. Our woes must be warnings to posterity, and our corrections their instructions (1 Corinthians 10:6). If the memory of God’s love does not stir up to gratitude, the memory of woe must entreat them to repentance. “Take heed to thyself, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen; but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons” (Deuteronomy 4:9; Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Deuteronomy 11:19).
III. The purpose. The present generation must hear and the future be taught for a wise purpose. People are negligent, persist in sin, and bring punishment upon themselves. Hence they must be taught,—
1. That God watches over men’s conduct. This fact is constantly impressed upon our minds by God’s ways in providence and in creation. Men cannot sin and defy the visitations of God with impunity. Our children may learn this lesson, future generations may read it in our history without our experience.
2. That God directs the events of history. All events are under his control and are overruled for the fulfilment of his will. Yet men “regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands” (Psalms 28:5). Israel forgot God in his dealings with them. Even at the Red Sea, amid the greatest displays of mercy and judgment, they could not discern him (Psalms 88:11; Psalms 106:13).
3. That God warns men of their danger. Those who forget God’s works are in great danger, and have need of Divine teaching. Israel was a favoured nation, a standing testimony of God’s truth and existence to idolatrous peoples. Israel’s sufferings were a warning to all nations to avoid Israel’s guilt. God designs to educate the world in the knowledge of his love and power. The lessons are given to one man to relate to another, written in the experience of one age that another may be impressed; “that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Joel 1:1. It is a mercy that God reveals his word to the Church, when he is about to inflict punishment upon it. This word is not to be sought in wild fanatic spirits, but in chosen servants of God. The word of the Lord that came to Joel.
Individuality merged in Divine commission. Little known of the birth, life, and deeds of Joel. Some known by personal service rather than personal history—David’s mighty men. Others content to live and act in obscurity, and wish to be known only by efforts to save the souls of men.
Joel 1:2. Hear God’s word addressed to all classes.
1. The common dangers of men.
2. The common needs of men.
3. The common privileges of men. Take heed how ye hear.
Joel 1:3. Tell your children. Parental duty.
1. A necessary duty.
2. A personal duty.
3. A solemn duty.
4. A duty commanded by God (Deuteronomy 6:7). As far as life and means permit we must prepare for the instruction of the future youth, and transmit the doings of God by succeeding families. The word of God is for this and every age. The doctrines of that word are not effete, but adapted to our wants, and will exert an influence as long as the race shall last.
1. God’s word explains God’s providence, that we may know the author, cause, and design of our affliction.
2. What we learn in the school of providence we should transmit to posterity. “That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children” (Psalms 68:6).
I. What is to be told? This, i.e. the judgments of God upon Israel. II. To whom are they to be made known? (a) Your children. (b) Their children, and (c) Another generation. Four generations are to keep up the remembrance. III. How are they to be known? “Tell, Heb. Cipher them up diligently, after the manner of arithmeticians; reckon up the several years with the several calamities thereof to your children and nephews, that they may hear and fear, and do no more so” (Deuteronomy 19:20).
Family Religion. I. The fathers’ knowledge the children’s heritage. II. The fathers’ fall the children’s preservation [Treasury of David].
HOMILETICS
NATIONAL CALAMITIES.—Joel 1:4; Joel 1:6-7
These verses set forth that terrible calamity which was coming upon a land which God once protected and blessed, but which was devastated by a nation of savage and innumerable hosts.
I. Calamities by diminutive creatures. In one sense nothing is insignificant in the hands of God. “A fly with God’s message could choke a king,” says Jeremy Taylor. Armed with his vengeance, the meanest creatures become the mightiest. In the East so proverbial is the power of the locusts, that the insects are made to say to Mahomet, “We are the army of the great God; we produce ninety-nine eggs; if the hundred were completed we should consume the whole earth and all that is in it.” “In every stage of their existence,” says Dr Thompson, “these locusts give a most impressive view of the power of God to punish a wicked world.” All creatures are under God’s control. The lion from the forest and the wind from heaven do his bidding. Hosts of angels and swarms of insects can punish a guilty people.
II. Calamities in dreadful succession. Whatever time intervened, calamity followed calamity, each destructive, but all together most terrible in their consequences. Travellers tell us that swarm succeeds swarm, darken the sun, extend hundreds of miles, and devour every green thing. Volney says that “the quantity of these insects is a thing incredible to any one who has not seen it himself.” The judgments of God are often linked together like a chain, each one drawing on the other. Yet, says one, “at each link of the lengthening chain, allowing space and time for repentance to break it through.” If men like Pharaoh harden their hearts they will be destroyed. “By executing thy judgments upon them by little and little thou gavest them place of repentance, not being ignorant that they were a naughty generation” (Wis. 12:10).
III. Calamities most destructive.
1. Fierce as a lion. “Whose teeth are the teeth of a lion,” &c. Nothing can resist their bite. “They gnaw even the doors of houses,” says Pliny. The sharp and prominent eye-teeth of the lion and lioness are ascribed to them. “They appear to be created for a scourge,” says a traveller, “since to strength incredible for so small a creature they add saw-like teeth, admirably calculated to eat up all the herbs in the land.”
2. Destructive to all vegetation. One feature is presented after another in a way to rouse attention. (a) All tender herbs were destroyed. What was left by the palmer-worm was eaten by the locust; “and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.” (b) Choice fruit trees, such as vines and fig-trees, were destroyed. The vine is most prominent as the more noble and valuable tree. It flourished from time immemorial, was most fruitful, and a source of wealth to the people. These were the trees of Judea, and to have them destroyed was a calamity not common to a people whose common drink was wine. (c) Desolation was extreme. Young shoots and even the bark of trees were not spared. Drooping vines and injured fig-trees, with their leafless branches and peeled bark, were effects of wasting plagues for many years. This picture is not exaggerated in the least. It is fearfully accurate, and an awful symbol of the desolation of churches and nations caused by sin. The Christian Church is God’s vineyard. If it yields not fruit, it may be laid waste. Prevailing sins will be visited by corresponding judgments. How great must be that guilt which leads God to punish his own land! “I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briars and thorns.”
A SOLEMN WARNING TO DRUNKARDS.—Joel 1:5
All classes are called upon to repent. The wine-bibbers are to wake up to a recognition of the hand of God, to “weep and wail,” for the judgment has touched what they most love. Drunkenness is the greatest curse of this land, and the greatest hindrance to the gospel. In a community educated, wise, and pious, it is a source of powerful mischief; but among the masses of mankind, governed by appetite and not intelligence, it has been terribly destructive.
I. Drunkards frustrate the design of nature. Whatever produce of the earth is fit for food is placed at man’s disposal. He should co-operate with God in the laws of providence, for the growth and increase of this food. All waste in nature is condemnable. Yet the sole end for which some cultivate the fig-tree and the vine, the garden and the farm, is selfish indulgence. Nature’s gifts are abused, and the benevolent design of God is nullified and reversed. Drunkards virtually say concerning fruit and grain, “To me they shall not be for meat.”
II. Drunkards render themselves insensible to danger. “Awake, ye drunkards.” All sin stupefies; but drunkenness intoxicates the mind, lulls the conscience, hardens the heart, and turns into society a sordid, selfish animal. This delirium is the most solemn feature of the case. The victim having lost all sensibility and will, has no power to awake, and sleeps quietly like one “lying down in the midst of the sea, or upon the top of the mast.” The senses even seem stupefied. He may be “stricken and beaten,” but he feels it not (Proverbs 23:35), more senseless than the brute who satisfies nature, not lust; he is lost to shame, enslaved by appetite, and seeks relief from temporary awakening, by yielding himself again to his ruinous sin. “When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.”—
With ceaseless, ravenous, and remorseless rage,
By day and night—on Sabbath and on work day,
The monster feeds and feasts and fattens on its prey.
III. Drunkards will be roused from sottish slumber. “For it is cut off from your mouth.” Locusts were to destroy the vines, the grapes would cease to grow, and the sweetness and strength “of the new wine” would be taken from them. “Take away my wine, you take away my life,” said one. God will deprive men of idolized indulgence, and force them to “weep and howl” by his judgments. The more inordinately they lust, the more pinching will be their distress. “A wilful waste will bring a woeful want.” If temporal sufferings do not rouse the drunkard, the epicure, and the sensualist to a sense of their sin and danger, what must be their feelings when weeping and howling will be without hope and intermission? Let weeping for things temporal beget care not to lose things eternal. “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red: it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.”
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Joel 1:1-4. The Jewish theocracy is passed away, but God is still the moral governor of the world; and in perfect harmony with the principles of the New Testament, which teach us not to pronounce a man to be a sinner above other men, because on him the tower of Siloam falls, we may interpret the prevalence of natural evils in any country as meant by God to call the attention of the people to those moral evils which abound amongst them. So that if untimely weather come, or malignant diseases come, or any form of calamity come;—if people ask one another, “Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Did you ever know such a season, such weather, such sickness, or such death?”—it is only the province of religious duty to look on such things as the working out of great laws, of moral righteousness;—to recognize man’s sin as the awful fact lying under what man calls his misfortunes, and by timely repentance to secure forgiveness; and thus turn the visitation into a blessed chastisement [Stoughton].
Joel 1:4; Joel 1:6-7. Locusts. The insect that destroyed all the peach-trees in St. Helena was imported from the Cape, says Kirby and Spence. “We know,” says Burke, “that a swarm of locusts, however individually despicable, can render a country more desolate than Gengis Khan or Tamerlane. When God Almighty chose to humble the pride and presumption of Pharaoh and bring him to shame, he did not effect his purpose with tigers and lions. He sent lice, mice, frogs, and everything loathsome and contemptible, to pollute and destroy the country.”
Joel 1:5. Drunkards. Be sober in diet. Nature is content with a little; but where sobriety wanteth, nothing is enough. The body must have sufficient lest it faint in necessary duties; but beware of gluttony and drunkenness. Christ saith, “Take heed, overload not your hearts with these burdens of excess.” “Be not drunken with wine.” These lessons are fit for England, where ancient sobriety hath given place to superfluity, where many such men are as fare daintily day by day. God grant their end be not like his, who riotously wasting here the creatures of God, wanted afterwards a drop of water when he would gladly have had it [Sandys].