Joel 1:5-12

5-12. The prophet calls upon all to lament, because all luxuries are cut off (Joel 1:5-7); the worship of Jehovah has suffered through the interruption, or at least threatened interruption, of the meal offerings and the drink offerings (8-10); and the means for the sustenance of life are destroyed and cut off by the locusts (Joel 1:11-12). Joel 1:5.

Wine Frequently spoken of as a blessing from God (Hosea 2:8, etc.), which was often abused. One of the results of abuse is the blinding of the spiritual faculties. One of the six woes in Isaiah 5:8 ff., is against the dissipating nobles who, as a result of their revelries, “regard not the work of Jehovah, neither have they considered the operation of his hand.” Though the judgment has fallen, the stupefied drunkards are not yet aware of it.

Awake It is high time to awake from the sleep of intoxication (Genesis 9:24; Proverbs 23:35).

Weep If no other and higher motives appeal to them, at least the loss of the wine should arouse them; the supply will soon be exhausted, the luxurious living, the revelries, must cease.

New [“sweet”] wine Hebrews ‘asis, “that which is pressed out”; therefore, “the newly pressed wine,” “sweet wine,” “must.” In Joel 3:18, it is regarded as a blessing from God (Amos 9:13). In Isaiah 49:26, it is referred to in a way that would indicate its intoxicating character (compare Song of Solomon 8:2). The exhortation was very appropriate if the vintage was near at hand when the locusts appeared and laid waste the vineyards (Joel 1:7; Joel 1:12).

The drunkards, startled from their slumber, might inquire for the cause of it all. Joel 1:6-7 furnish the answer. First the prophet calls attention to the immense numbers of the enemies, then to their terrible weapons, finally to the awful results of their attack.

Nation Hebrews goy. The locusts devastate the land like a hostile army. The use of goy furnishes no support to the allegorical view; it is synonymous with ‘am (Joel 2:27), which is used of animals (Proverbs 30:25-26; Zephaniah 2:14); here specially appropriate, because the figure of a hostile army is continued.

Come up upon A military term used of the approach of an enemy (1 Kings 20:22; Isaiah 21:2; Nahum 2:2).

My land A comparison with Joel 2:1, “my holy mountain,” might justify the explanation that the prophet means Jehovah’s land (Pusey, Von Orelli, and others), but it is better to interpret the pronoun as referring to the prophet, who identifies himself with and speaks in the name of the people (Joel 1:7; Joel 1:13; Joel 1:19, etc.).

Strong Not easily tired, able to take a long journey, and to persevere until the destruction is complete.

Without number No exaggeration, if we accept the testimony of those who have experienced calamities of this sort. “Myriads upon myriads of locusts were about us, covering the ground and shutting out the view in all directions.”

Teeth These are the weapons of the enemy. “The locusts’ teeth are edged like a saw and very powerful; hence, though infinitely smaller, they may for destructiveness be compared with those of a lion.” It is said by Morier that the teeth of the locust “appear to have been created for a scourge; since to strength incredible for so small a creature they add saw-like teeth admirably calculated to eat up all the herbs in the land.” An interesting parallel to “a lion’s teeth” is Sir 21:2 , where the teeth of sin are likened to the “teeth of a lion slaying the souls of men.”

Cheek teeth Better, jaw teeth the sharp and prominent eyeteeth.

Lion,… great lion Or, lioness The second line is not a useless repetition, but an advance over the first. It is generally thought that the lioness is even fiercer than the lion in attack, especially when she tries to defend her whelps (see on Hosea 13:8). An early writer, AElianus ( Historia, 12: 39), says, “Not only among the Greeks, but also among the barbarians, the lioness is thought to be the strongest animal and the one hardest to be fought.”

Joel 1:7 deals with the destruction wrought. Literally, He has made my vine to waste, and my fig tree to splinter. The Hebrew for the last word occurs only here; its meaning is, therefore, somewhat uncertain. The same word in its masculine form is found in Hosea 10:7, where it is translated (in R.V. margin) “twigs,” so here, “twigs” or “splinters.” The interpretation implied in the rendering of A.V. is undoubtedly correct, for the prophet has in mind the “gnawing and eating away” of the bark. The vine and the fig tree are the principal fruit trees of Palestine, the pride of the land; their destruction would be the greatest possible calamity.

Clean bare Literally, making bare he has made it bare. Through constant gnawing the locust has made the tree entirely bare; the blossoms, the foliage, the bark, everything that can be gnawed off he has taken away. “It is sufficient if these terrible columns stop half an hour on a spot for everything growing on it, vines, olive trees, corn, to be entirely destroyed. After they have passed nothing remains but the large branches and the roots, which, being underground, have escaped their voracity.” (From an account of the devastation caused by locusts, in Spain in 1841.) “The bushes were eaten quite bare, though the animals could not have been long on the spot.… They sat by hundreds on a bush gnawing the rind and the woody fibers” (Lichtenstein, Travels in South Africa, p. 251).

And cast it away R.V. margin, “down” to the ground. As the italics indicate, there is in the original no pronominal suffix to indicate what is cast down. Hardly the trees themselves (Keil); more probably, that “which is not green and contains no sap, that which is uneatable”; it the locust flings away with anger and contempt. And the branches thereof are made white Literally, they make white, show whiteness. Branches, as the etymology of the word, something intertwined, indicates, are the branches of the vine only; through the gnawing off of the bark the white of the vine becomes visible. “The country did not seem to be burned, but to be covered with snow on account of the whiteness of the trees” (Fr. Alvarez, das Indias, quoted by Pusey in loco). H. Ludolf, in History of AEthiopia, speaking of locusts, says: “Neither herbs, nor shrubs, nor trees remain unhurt. Whatever is either grassy or covered with leaves is injured as if it had been burned with fire; even the bark of the trees is nibbled with their teeth, so that the injury is not confined to one year alone” (Joel 2:25).

With Joel 1:8 begins a new paragraph. The prophet turns from the winebibbers to the entire community (Joel 1:8-10), urging it to bewail the devastation of the land, as a virgin would mourn the death of the beloved of her youth. All prospects for the future are blighted; want stares them in the face. The most serious aspect of the calamity, however, is the fact that the means to maintain the legal worship have become or are about to become exhausted.