Joel 2:21-23

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 2:21

Fear not, O land ,.... O land of Israel, as the Targum, and the inhabitants of it; neither of the locusts, who had so terrified them, and had done so much mischief, and threatened more; nor of their enemies, the Assyrians or Chaldeans, and their powerful armies, or any other; but, on the contrary, be glad, and rejoice ; at the removal of the locusts, and at the destruction of their enemies: for the Lord will do great things ; good things, in opposition to the evil things done by the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joel 2:22

Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field ,.... Which before groaned, and were perplexed for want of pasture, and cried because of the drought, Joel 1:18 ; perhaps the Gentiles may be here designed, in the mystic and spiritual sense, in distinction from the Jews, the children of Zion, in Joel 2:23 ; for the pastures of the wilderness do spring ; grass in abundance springs up in them, and covers them, so that there was plenty of food for the beasts of the field: for the tree beareth... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Joel 2:23

Be glad then, ye children of Zion ,.... The people of the Jews, and especially the spiritual and believing part of them; such as were born again, that were born of Zion, and born in Zion, and brought up by her, and in her; the children of that Zion or Jerusalem that is the mother of us all; and who were looking for the Messiah, and to whom it would be good news and glad tidings to hear of his coming, Zechariah 9:9 ; and rejoice in the Lord your God ; not in any creature or creature... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:21

Fear not - for the Lord will do great things - The words are repeated from the preceding verse; Jehovah will do great things in driving them away, and supernaturally restoring the land to fertility. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:23

The former rain moderately - לצדקה המורה hammoreh litsedakah , "the former rain in righteousness," that is, in due time and in just proportion. This rain fell after autumn, the other in spring. See Hosea 6:3 . In the first month - בראשון barishon , "as aforetime." So Bp. Newcome. In the month Nisan. - Syriac. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:21

Verse 21 Here he shows that God would have his turn to exalt himself, which the Assyrian presumptuously attempted to do. For God seems for a time to lie still, when he withholds himself, when he puts not forth his power, but waits to see the tendency of the insane conspiracies and the Satanic madness of those who rise up against him and his Church. But having for a time thus restrained himself, he at length comes forth; and this is what the Prophet means when he says, God has highly exalted... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:22

Verse 22 Here the Prophet turns his address to the beasts; not that his instruction suited them; but it was a more efficacious mode of speaking, when he invited the very beasts to a participation of the people’s joy; for except the Jews had been made to know that God’s wrath was now nigh at hand, no consolation which the Prophet has hitherto applied would have been of any weight with them. But now since they perceived that God’s wrath did not only suspend over them, but extended much farther,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Joel 2:23

Verse 23 He now exhorts the Jews also to rejoice, but in a way different from that of the land and of the beasts. Rejoice, he says, in your God. For the beasts and the sheep, while rejoicing, cannot raise their thoughts higher than to their food: hence, the joy of brute animals, as they say, terminates in its object. But the Prophet sets forth God before the Jews as the ground of their joy. We then see how he distinguishes them from brute animals from the land and other elements; for he not... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Joel 2:18-24

Interaction of the Divine and human. "Then will the Lord be jealous," etc. These verses refer to the removal both of the actual calamity under which the nation were suffering, namely, the plague of locusts, and also to the removal of that calamity which was to come upon them by the invasion of a foreign foe, namely, the Assyrians. The latter is evidently referred to in Joel 2:20 : "I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with... read more

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