CRITICAL NOTES.] This chapter still urges repentance, directs for a meeting of the people, and assures that God will have compassion.
Joel 2:1. Blow] Priests must sound an alarm, as if foreign invasion nigh.
Joel 2:2. Darkness] Four terms used to indicate the intense calamity (Exodus 10:22; Isaiah 8:22). Swarms of locusts literally obscure the sun. People] numerous and most formidable. Like] Expressive of extraordinary judgments (cf. 2 Kings 18:5; 2 Kings 23:5).
Joel 2:3. Fire] They consume. Eden] Fruitfulness. Nothing] No herb, plant, nor tree, shall escape. “The word used elsewhere of persons who escape, suggests that we should not linger by the type of locusts only, but think of enemies more terrible, who destroy not harvests only, but men, bodies and souls.”
Joel 2:4. Appearance] like horses prepared for battle (Job 39:20; Revelation 9:7); swiftness and sound like chariots on rough mountain-tops.
Joel 2:6. Pained] with terror. “More terrible than the locusts,” says an Arab proverb. Blackness] from anxiety and fear (Lamentations 4:8). Heb. flames (Isaiah 13:8), to glow with heat: some to lose colour, to grow pale (Jeremiah 30:6). 7–9] depict their military order and discipline; it is vain to resist (Exodus 10:6). A picture perfectly true to nature, says Jerome and others.
Joel 2:10.] Heaven and earth feel their presence like a tempest-cloud of Divine wrath, covering all in darkness (Matthew 24:29),
Joel 2:11.] “Lord of the locusts,” say Mohammedans, commands and makes the meanest the instruments of vengeance (Revelation 18:8).
HOMILETICS
THE ALARM IN ZION.—Joel 2:1
In the dreadful calamities described what must be done? Jehovah shows that the danger can only be averted by repentance, humiliation, and reformation of conduct. In this verse the prophet interprets present chastisements, and lays a foundation for intimations which follow. Alarm must be given, the people roused, and called to solemn assembly.
I. The place of alarm. “In Zion.” Zion was once the seat of Divine government and consecrated by God’s presence. The Church of Christ is now the holy mount, the city of the living God, and the school of instruction to the universe. It is the spiritual palace of the Great King, who rules his people by his Spirit, and governs the world by his providence. Here he displays tokens of love and judgment. Great everywhere, his judgments are specially great here. It is a solemn thing when judgment begins in the house of God. But he will not permit sin in his own residence. The Church must be conspicuous in its elevation, adorned with holiness, and loyal in obedience. “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of God from Jerusalem.”
II. The means of the alarm. In times of old it was the duty of the priests to warn the people and blow the trumpet (Numbers 10:8). Ministers now must sound the alarm and declare the wrath of God against the unrighteousness of men. The watchmen of Zion must be awake, sound and “take the alarm they give.” They must be “sons of thunder.” They must not hesitate nor seek to hide the truth. The blast must wax louder and louder to startle thoughtless men. Ministers must never grow cold, careless of their own, and pitiless of the danger of others. When Perkins of Cambridge uttered the word damned, a solemn awe struck his hearers and the echo of it lasted many days. Whitfield brought tears in the eyes of old people, when he cried in the spirit of his Master, “O Glasgow, Glasgow!” “Blow the trumpet, and warn the people; then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning, if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.”
III. The reasons for alarm. “For the day of the Lord cometh.”
1. The danger is near. “The day cometh.” Many ridicule and call earnest men enthusiasts. Others cry, “Be calm, there is no need for that ado;” but the prophet of God sees the danger and urges swift escape. The day “is nigh at hand,” and not afar off; seen in present judgments and will come in sudden terror. Men are warned now of judgment to come and of enemies gathering together for fearful destruction. “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord; the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.”
2. The people are careless. “Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble.” Though danger is nigh yet men neglect or despise it. They should tremble, start up from apathy and sullen indifference, and haste to the refuge. How stupid for persons in face of impending ruin to sit in ease! They provide in summer for winter, in youth and health for age and sickness, but strive not to escape spiritual death. They seek to ward off temporal evils, but eternal destruction is not foreseen and prepared for. Few hear the distant thunder which betokens the coming storm. In their fancied security they laugh at those who prepare for the evil day, laugh on the brink of that day which, unless sovereign grace intervene, will make them wise too late. “Lord, when thy hand is lifted up they will not see, but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.”
THE DARK DAY.—Joel 2:2; Joel 2:11
With four terms the day of Jehovah is described as a day of judgment. “A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.” Darkness fell upon Egypt (Exodus 10:22), and enveloped Sinai at the giving of the law (Deuteronomy 4:11). This typical of the mysteries of God and the miseries of men.
I. The profound mystery of the day. As clouds of locusts darken the sky, so obscurity hangs over all Divine proceedings. We know that all calamities are judgments of some sort; that we are tried and judged now, “already made manifest to God,” and that a day is nigh when all must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. But when and how the day will come no man knoweth. God veils his purpose and splendour. “Clouds and darkness are round about him.” Wisdom prepares for events, folly rushes on and falls into the confusion. Walk by faith, do present duty, and cease to speculate. “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
II. The great misery of the day. As clouds indicate obscurity, so darkness denotes misery. The darkness of the locusts would be unparalleled. “There hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it.” Present punishments are only the beginning, the foretastes of eternal. If justice and judgment distress men now, what will they be at the day of final accounts? The destruction of the temple, and the rejection of the Jews, signal visitations upon churches and nations, are faint symbols of the terror of that day. “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.”
III. The overwhelming destruction of the day. So great and terrible is the day, that the words are wrung from the prophet, “Who can abide it?” The displays of power will be omnipotent. “Who knoweth the power of thine anger?” It consumes like a fire and none escape or resist it. God has not diminished in majesty and might. As he discomfited Egyptians, so will he overcome his enemies at last. “He ruleth by his power for ever.” “Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?” There is only one way of escape. Repent and believe in Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved.
Bold shall I stand in that great day,
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully absolved through Christ I am,
From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.
THE ARMY OF THE LORD.—Joel 2:4-11
The locusts are led by Jehovah, under his command, and sent to execute his will. “Lord of the Locusts” is one of the names of God in Mohammedan writings.
I. Numerous and strong. “A great people and strong” (Joel 2:2). “What more countless or mightier than the locusts?” asks Jerome. Each small and contemptible in itself, is made powerful by the strength of God. All agencies, human and Divine, are pliable to his hand, when he wants instruments of displeasure.
II. Courageous and swift. “As the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.” Their heads are exceedingly like that of a horse. In flying they make a noise like rushing wind, and loud “as dashing waters,” says a traveller. Like war-chariots rattling on rough mountain-tops, they speed to do their work. “The shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle” (Revelation 9:7). “And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle” (Joel 2:9).
III. Universal and ill-omened. As “a morning spread upon the mountains,” like dawn ushering in a day of darkness and gloom. Or with yellow lustre on their wings, produced by the rays of the sun, they sweep down the mountains and announce the advent of terrible calamity. Travellers have noticed this feature. “The day before the arrival of the locusts,” says one, “we could infer that they were coming, from a yellow reflection in the sky, proceeding from their yellow wings. As soon as this light appeared no one had the slightest doubt that an enormous swarm of locusts was approaching.”
IV. Orderly and well-equipped. “Neither shall one thrust another.” All keep their rank, march in ease and battle-array. “They charge like heroes,” mount the walls and assail fortified cities with dauntless might. Like David’s army, “they know how to keep rank,” and diverge not to the left or right. They close up as comrades fall, and keep unbroken in military array (Joel 2:7-8). Having surmounted the walls, they storm and sack, “and rush through the city” in fearful speed. “The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands.”
V. Terrible and destructive.
1. The land is desolated. Like a devouring fire, they consume every green thing on the earth. “Yea, and nothing shall escape them.” “Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned; for they laid the pleasant land desolate.”
2. The inhabitants are alarmed. They inspire terror, as universal and abject as that caused by an invading army. “Before their face the people shall be much pained, all faces shall gather blackness.” In the agony of despair Eastern nations wait their approach to-day. “They shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.”
3. Portentous signs in heaven and earth appear. “The earth shall quake and the heavens shall tremble” (Joel 2:10). Take this in connection with the next, and we see the terrible day, the dissolution of the social fabric, symbolized by signs. Sun and moon grow dark and stars withdraw their light, because Jehovah comes to judge (Isaiah 13:13; Jeremiah 10:10; Nahum 1:5-6). Nature is clothed in mourning, the universe trembles from predictions of judgment to come. Three sentences give the reason, for God does this—(a) Because his army “is very great.” (b) Because this powerful army “executeth his word.” (c) Because the day of judgment is so great and terrible that no one can stand before the wrath of the Judge.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Joel 2:7. They are on God’s message and they linger not, but rejoice to run their course (Psalms 19:6). Men can mount a wall few at a time, the locusts scale much more steadily, more compactly, more determinately and irresistibly. The picture unites the countless multitude, condensed march, and entire security of the locusts with the might of warriors [Pusey].
On his ways. So each Divine judgment is directed, not by chance; adapted and weighed by infinite skill; and reaches in time and method just that person for whom it is intended. Nothing is lost, nothing escapes.
The judgments of God. I. The nature of the judgments. A day of darkness and gloom, none like them before or since. Most awful and extraordinary. II. The executors of the judgments. Not lions and beasts of savage name, but small and insignificant creatures, united, ranked, and commanded by the Divine leader; swift, furious, and irresistible in attack. III. The effects of the judgments. The execution most terrible—
1. In the country. The garden of Eden was turned into a desolate wilderness. In front and rear the army was like a devouring fire. No green thing escaped.
2. In the city. They climbed the wall, and, as a thief, entered the windows and ransacked the place. No fortifications nor force can resist the commissions of God (Jeremiah 9:21). If the weakest creatures cannot be turned aside, and the smallest judgments cannot be resisted, what of the greatest? what of the last of all?
They shall not break their ranks. Joel 2:7. Unity is strength. The weakest efforts and agencies combined are powerful for good or evil. Rank and order are necessary to accomplish any victory. Confusion and disorder weaken; but when each goes on his way, patiently and perseveringly does his duty, success will be gained. Small armies, well disciplined and marshalled for battle, have vanquished and scattered hosts of disorderly foes.
The least confusion but in one, not all
That system only, but the whole must fall.
Learn—
1. The resources of God to punish are abundant.
2. The power of God to punish is—(a) omnipotent, and (b) irresistible.
3. The times of God to punish are ominous.
Joel 2:11. The camp of God.
1. Birds and beasts of prey. The meanest and mightiest creature. The lion in the forest and the moth in the sun.
2. The elements of nature. Winds and tempests, thunder and lightning, obey his will. Sun, moon, and stars cease to shine, and darkness covers the earth.
3. The hosts of heaven. Angels, armed with vengeance, destroy the first-born of Egypt and the army of Sennacherib. The resources of the universe are under his command to bless or to destroy.
What is creation less
Than a capacious reservoir of means,
Formed for his use, and ready at his will?
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Joel 2:1-3. Alarm. We might reasonably expect that the world would gather round the feet of the teacher. There is need for alarm, for men are indifferent. There is a way of escape, but men know or heed it not. Multitudes pass on and perish in the evil day. Noah regarded the signs of the times, and “moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house.” “He that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.”
Be wise to-day; ’tis madness to defer:
Next day the fatal precedent will plead;
Thus on, till wisdom is pushed out of life. [Young.]
Joel 2:4-11. Locusts. The head is exceedingly like that of a horse [Theodoret]. Their noise is like the rushing of a wind [Forbes]. When they alight and feed, the plains are all covered. They make a murmuring noise as they eat, and they devour herbs, trees, and forage without restraint. “They overshadow the sun,” says Pliny, “the nations looking up with anxiety, lest they should cover their lands.” “The height of walls cannot hinder the charge of the mighty; they enter not by the gates, but over the walls. They fly, by the disposal of God ordaining, in such order, as to hold each his place, like the minute pieces of mosaic, fixed in the pavement by the artist’s hands, so as not to incline to one another a hair’s breadth” [Jerome]. Nothing in their habits is more striking than the pertinacity with which they all pursue the same line of march, like a disciplined army [Thompson]. They teach us the necessity of unity, steadfastness, and order. Many prefer an individual course instead of going by bands. They belong to no cohort, and are under no discipline. The strength of the Church lies in united, concentrated action. Every soldier well-disciplined and in his ranks; every officer at his post, and ready for the contest; each under rule, helpful to each other and to the common cause.
Joel 2:11. Voice. Lest God should be forgotten, he is represented as commanding a mighty army in the midst of judgments. Their presence indicates his presence and power. “The Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle” (Isaiah 13:4). He called the Medes and Persians to execute judgments upon Babylon. “He sent forth his armies and destroyed” Jerusalem, “and burnt up their city” (Matthew 22:7). Hence the threefold ground of terror.
1. His camp is very great.
2. He has strength to accomplish his purpose by the weakest instruments.
3. When this purpose is accomplished, it will be a terrible day to the enemies.