Joel 1:9-13 - Homiletics

The calamity has fallen upon all, and therefore the wail of woe proceeds from all.

All classes are summoned to this sorrowful work; no office in the state is exempt; things animate and inanimate; priests and people—the Lord's priests who ministered at the altar, and the people to whom they ministered; the whole land and the fields into which it was partitioned; the tillers of the soil and the dressers of the vine.

I. POVERTY TENDS TO THE DECAY OF PIETY . As a rule neither the depth of penury nor the height of prosperity is favourable to religion; in the one case corroding cares, in the other worldly pleasures, interpose between the soul and God.

II. THE BLIGHT IS BROUGHT BY SIN . The blessing of God makes rich, the smile of God makes all things joyful.

III. THE UNCERTAINTY OF WORLDLY PLEASURES SHOULD LEAD MEN TO SEEK SPIRITUAL ENJOYMENT . On the kindly fruits of the earth rich and poor were, as they still are, alike dependent. While the rich could afford the finest of the wheat, and the poor had to content themselves with such bread as barley yielded, both alike derived their support from the bounteous earth. They had looked forward for their supply from the harvest of the earth as usual without any dread or apprehension.

1 . The pleasantest period of the year became the most painful.

2 . The joy of harvest may be withheld, and all joy of an earthly kind or from an earthly source may be withered from the sons of men; but there are spiritual joys which no accidents, as men call them, can touch.

3 . The children of God are independent of worldly pleasures.

IV. DUTIES ENJOINED . In times of emergency the duties of humiliation, fasting, and prayer are properly enjoined, and should be rightly observed.

1 . The persons that are called on to lead the way in discharging such duties are the ministers of religion; as sharers in the common calamity, as having had a share in the sins that occasioned it, above all because of their prominent position as teachers and guides of the people in sacred things, they are bound to take a principal and prominent part in public humiliation, penitence, and prayer.

2 . The first duty at such times is confession of sin; to this duty they are to address themselves at once, girding themselves for it.

3 . With this full confession of sin with the lips, there must be real contrition of heart; of this the outward sign and symbol, as usual, in the East was clothing the body in sackcloth. While contrition without confession is defective, confession without contrition is hypocritical.

4 . Nor is this grief for sin confined to the daytime; it extends into the night-watches.