Joel 2:17-18

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joel 2:12-17

We have here an earnest exhortation to repentance, inferred from that desolating judgment described and threatened in the Joel 2:1-11: Therefore now turn you to the Lord. 1. ?Thus you must answer the end and intention of the judgment; for it was sent for this end, to convince you of your sins, to humble you for them, to reduce you to your right minds and to your allegiance.? God brings us into straits, that he may bring us to repentance and so bring us to himself. 2. ?Thus you may stay the... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joel 2:18-27

See how ready God is to succour and relieve his people, how he waits to be gracious; as soon as ever they humble themselves under this hand, and pray, and seek his face, he immediately meets them with his favours. They prayed that God would spare them, and see here with what good words and comfortable words he answered them; for God's promises are real answers to the prayers of faith, because with him saying and doing are not two things. Now observe, I. Whence this mercy promised shall take... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joel 2:17

Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar ,.... Not the altar of incense which stood in the holy place; but the altar of burnt offering, where the priests used to stand and do service; but now having nothing to do of that kind, they are called upon to weep and pray between that and the porch of the temple; where they might be seen and heard by the people in the outward court which the porch led into: this is thought by some to be the same situation with... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joel 2:18

Then will the Lord be jealous for his land ,.... Or "zealous" for it; for the honour of it, and the good of its inhabitants, and for the glory of his own name, it being the chief place in the world for his worship and service; and his indignation will be moved against those who have brought desolation on it: and pity his people ; as a father his children, who had suffered much, and had been reduced to great distress by the locusts, or by their enemies: this the prophet foretells would be... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:17

Let the priests - weep between the porch and the altar - The altar of burnt-offerings stood before the porch of the temple, 2 Chronicles 8:12 , and between them there was an open space of fifteen or twenty cubits. It was there that the priests prostrated themselves on such occasions. It was into this place that the priests brought the sacrifice or victim of atonement; and where the high priest laid his hands on the head of the victim confessing his sins. Let them say - The following... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:17

Verse 17 Then it follows, Between the court and the altar let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep. It was the priests’ office, we know, to pray in the name of the whole people; and now the Prophet follows this order. It was not, indeed, peculiar to the priests to pray and to ask pardon of God; but they prayed in the name of all the people. The reason must be well known to us; for God intended by these legal types to remind the Jews, that they could not offer prayers to him, except... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:18

Verse 18 The Prophet here again repeats, that prayers would not be in vain, provided the Jews truly humbled themselves before God. Then God, he says, will be jealous for his land and spare his people. He confirms what I have already said that God would deal mercifully with his people, because they were his heritage, that is because he had chosen them for himself. For the title of heritage, whence does it proceed except from the gratuitous covenant of God? for the Jews were not more excellent... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joel 2:12-17

These verses summon the people To humiliation for sin, and thanksgiving for mercy. God, by his prophet, does not forbid the outward sign of sorrow, so customary among Orientals and common among the Jews; he rather insists upon the presence of the thing signified, without which the sign was more a mockery than a reality. I. THE OCCASION OF THE HUMILIATION . It Was an earnest time with the people of the southern kingdom. Terrible desolation had been made in the land of Judah.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joel 2:15-17

"The harsh blast of the consecrated ram's horn called an assembly for an extraordinary fast. Not a soul was to be absent. Like the fiery cross, it convened old and young, men and women, mothers with infants at their breasts, the bridegroom and the bride on their bridal day. All were there stretched in front of the altar. The altar itself presented the dreariest of all sights—a hearth without its sacred fire, a table spread without its sacred feast. The priestly caste, instead of gathering as... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joel 2:15-17

An urgently demanded meeting. "Blow the trumpet in Zion," etc. Men are constantly assembling themselves together for one purpose or another—political, commercial, scientific, entertaining. But of all the meetings, none are so urgent as the one indicated in the text. I. IT IS A MEETING CALLED ON ACCOUNT OF COMMON SIN . All the people of Judah had sinned grievously, and they were now summoned together on that account. No subject is of such urgent importance as this.... read more

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