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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Joel 2:28-32

The promises of corn, and wine, and oil, in the Joel 2:12-27, would be very acceptable to a wasted country; but here we are taught that we must not rest in those things. God has reserved some better things for us, and these verses have reference to those better things, both the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory, with the happiness of true believers in both. We are here told, I. How the kingdom of grace shall be introduced by a plentiful effusion of the Spirit, (Joel 2:28, 29). We are... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joel 2:30

And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth ,.... This, and what follow, refer to the prodigies seen in the air, and done in the earth, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem F18 Vid. Joseph. De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 5. sect. 3. ; when in the air were seen comets and blazing stars, particularly one in the form of a sword, hanging over Jerusalem, and appearances of armies engaged in battle; and, on the earth, a flame was seen in the temple, and a voice heard in it,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joel 2:31

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood ,.... Not by eclipses, as Aben Ezra; but by the clouds of smoke arising from the burning of towns and cities, which would be so great as to obscure the sun, and through which the moon would look like blood: or all, this may be understood in a figurative sense of the change that should be made in the ecclesiastic and civil state of the Jewish nation, signified by the "heavens" and "earth"; and particularly that their king or... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joel 2:32

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered ,.... Or "saved", as in Acts 2:21 ; from those miseries and calamities before described, from the impending ruin and destruction of the city; and so it was, that those that believed in Christ, that were in the city, had an intimation of it beforehand, and removed from thence to a place called Pella F23 Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 5. p. 75. , and so escaped being involved in the common... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:30

Wonders in the heavens and in the earth - This refers to those dreadful sights, dreadful portents, and destructive commotion, by which the Jewish polity was finally overthrown, and the Christian religion established in the Roman empire. See how our Lord applies this prophecy, Matthew 24:29 ; (note), and the parallel texts. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:31

The sun shall be turned into darkness - The Jewish polity, civil and ecclesiastical, shall be entirely destroyed. Before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come - In the taking and sacking of Jerusalem, and burning of the temple, by the Romans, under Titus, the son of Vespasian. This was, perhaps, the greatest and most terrible day of God's vengeance ever shown to the world, or that ever will be shown, till the great day of the general judgment. For a full view of this subject, I... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:32

Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord - יהוה בשם יקרא אשר כל col asher yikra beshem Yehovah , "All who shall invoke in the name of Jehovah." That Christ is the Jehovah here mentioned appears plain from Romans 10:15 , where the reader had better consult the notes. "This refers," says Bp. Newcome, "to the safety of the Christians during the Jewish and the Roman war." It may: but it has a much more extensive meaning, as the use of it by St. Paul, as above, evidently shows. Every... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:30

Verse 30 The Prophet seems here to contradict himself; for he had hitherto promised that God would deal kindly and bountifully with his people; and every thing he has said tended to elevate the spirits of the people and fill them with joy: but now he seems again to threaten them with God’s wrath and to strike miserable men with fear; who had not as yet a breathing time; for at the time the Prophet spoke, the Jews, we know, were in the greatest sorrow. What then is his purpose in adding a new... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:31

Verse 31 We now see why the Prophet adds here this sad catalogue, and how well these things harmonize together, — that God would testify his paternal love by the manifestation of Christ, — and that he would exhibit tokens of his wrath, which would fill the whole world with anxiety and fear. What he says of blood and darkness is, no doubt, to be taken metaphorically for a disordered state of things; for we know that calamities are often compared to obscurity and darkness. It is the same as... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:32

Verse 32 We said yesterday that the Prophet denounced future calamities, that he might thus stimulate men, distressed by many evils, to seek God: we indeed know how tardy we are by nature, except the Lord goads us continually. The subject, then, on which we discoursed yesterday tended to show, that as so many and so grievous calamities would press on the Jews, all would be miserable who fled not to God, and that this consolation only would remain to them in their extreme evils: but now the... read more

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