B. A call to mourn 1:5-13Joel called on four different entities to mourn the results of the locust invasion: drunkards (Joel 1:5-7), Jerusalemites (Joel 1:8-10), farmers (Joel 1:11-12), and priests (Joel 1:13). In each section there is a call to mourn followed by reasons to mourn. read more
Joel next turned from city-dwellers to country folk. He called the farmers and vine growers, those most directly affected by the locust invasion, to despair because the fruits of their labors had perished. These fruits included wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, dates, and apples: all the fruits of trees. These Israelites would not be able to rejoice in an abundant harvest, which every farmer and viticulturist anticipated (cf. Psalms 4:7). Not only the symbols of divine blessing but... read more
The Coming of the Locusts a Harbinger of the Day of the LordAfter the title (Joel 1:1), the prophet announces an unheard of and long to be remembered ruin, wrought by locusts (Joel 1:2-4), and summons the users of wine to bewail the destruction of vineyards (Joel 1:5-7). He calls for lamentation, like that of a widowed bride, over the loss of sacrificial offerings, and wasted fields and orchards (Joel 1:8-12). He commands the priests to lament and to appoint a fast and a meeting for prayer... read more
The Message of the Book of Joel Joel 1:1 The book of Joel, as we have it, consists of two parts. I. A violent plague of locusts had visited the land, and from this destruction the Prophet saw nothing to save the people but repentance. In his call to repentance we notice four suggestions. a. He discovers to the people the condition of affairs. He challenges them to say whether, in the memory of anyone living, a crisis of such importance had arisen. b. He bids them wait for the desolation that... read more
THE LOCUSTS AND THE DAY OF THE LORDJoel 1:2-20; Joel 2:1-17JOEL, as we have seen, found the motive of his prophecy in a recent plague of locusts, the appearance of which and the havoc they worked are described by him in full detail. Writing not only as a poet but as a seer, who reads in the locusts signs of the great Day of the Lord, Joel has necessarily put into his picture several features which carry the imagination beyond the limits of experience. And yet, if we ourselves had lived through... read more
Analysis and Annotations I. THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS II. THE COMING DAY OF THE LORD: THE RUIN, THE REPENTANCE AND THE RESTORATION III. THE EVENTS OF THE DAY OF THE LORD: ISRAEL’S ENEMIES JUDGED AND THE KINGDOM ESTABLISHED I. THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS CHAPTER 1 1. The prophet’s appeal (Joel 1:1-4 ) 2. The call to the drunkards (Joel 1:5-7 ) 3. The call to the people and the priests (Joel 1:8-14 ) 4. The day of the Lord and the suffering land (Joel 1:15-18 ) 5. The prayer of the prophet... read more
JOEL GENERAL OVE RV IEW OF THE BOOK Joel was probably the earliest of the prophets whose writings have descended to us. His personal history is unknown further than the bare statement (1:1). His field of labor was presumably Judah rather than Israel, the southern rather than the northern kingdom, because of allusions to the center of public worship which was at Jerusalem (1:9, 13-14; 2:15), and because of non-allusions to Israel distinctively. Such places as 2:27, and 3:16 are thought to... read more
Prophet of Judgment Joel 1:0 Joel wrote his prophecy eight hundred years before Jesus Christ came into the world. It is a prophecy of judgment. If we liken ourselves to travellers through this Bible land we shall feel that we have come suddenly upon a volcano. "Joel" is a word which means, The Lord is God; "Pethuel" is a word which means, Persuaded of God. Names were characters in the olden time; now they are mere lines in a directory. Men were souls in Bible times; to-day they are "hands." We... read more
Under the figure of a swarm of insects destroying the fruits of the earth, is represented the judgment of the Lord upon a guilty land. It is blessed to observe, how the Lord pleads with his people by those striking visitations in the various periods of his Church; and with what gentleness in the midst of correction, the Lord manifests the cause for which he thus deals with them. read more
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Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Joel 1:2-20
II. A PAST DAY OF THE LORD: A LOCUST INVASION 1:2-20The rest of chapter 1 describes the effects of a severe locust plague that had recently destroyed the agriculture of the land. read more