Joel 2:19-20

19. The jealousy and pity bring about a change in the purpose of God, which change is indicated in the reply to the petitions. The things needed immediately will be restored at once.

I will send Heb, hinneh with the participle, “I am about to send” (G.-K., 116p.).

Corn [“grain”]… [“new”] wine… oil The very things that the locusts had destroyed (Joel 1:10); they were needed for the daily sacrifice (Joel 1:9), and for daily life (Joel 1:11-12). These products will be given not in a scant measure but in abundance, so that the people will be satisfied. The new prosperity will remove the reproach (Joel 2:17) that Israel is a poor people whose God is unable or unwilling to assist it; the surrounding nations will recognize once more the presence of Jehovah. The very fact that the removal of the reproach is connected with the new fertility makes it probable that the danger of becoming a reproach was due to the absence of fertility, not to the invasion of a foreign foe.

The contents of the promise do not seem to be enumerated in the chronological order in which they will actually be realized. The blessings of Joel 2:19 follow, they do not precede, the destruction of the locusts announced in Joel 2:20.

From you Literally, from upon you. Two prepositions in Hebrew; the locusts had been resting upon the land as a burden (Amos 5:23; Exodus 10:17).

The northern army Literally, the northern one (see above, p. 144). The context requires that we regard the expression as an epithet of the swarm of locusts. True, ordinarily they do not come from the north, but it cannot be proved that they never come from there. All that Jerome was willing to say is that “the swarms of locusts are more generally brought by the south wind than by the north.” Niebuhr tells of a tract of land, on the road from Nisibis to Mosul, completely covered with young locusts. Locusts are also found in the Syrian and Palmyrene desert, whence they might easily be carried by a northeast wind into Palestine toward Jerusalem; in such case the designation “the northern” would be perfectly appropriate. While this is a legitimate interpretation, it is more likely (see above, p. 145) that the term is used here not in a literal but in an apocalyptic sense, derived from passages such as Jeremiah 1:14; Ezekiel 38:6; Ezekiel 38:15. A similar change from an historical to an apocalyptic conception may be seen in the corresponding Arabic word (Wellhausen). The army which came from the north will be carried away by a north wind into a land barren and desolate Not only the desert shores of the Dead Sea (Credner), but the great Arabian Desert south and southeast of Palestine. There the main body will go. The following clause would better be rendered, with R.V., “its forepart into the eastern sea, and its hinder part into the western sea.”

Face R.V., “forepart”; that which is in front, the van.

East sea Literally, front sea. The Hebrews and other Oriental nations, in fixing the points of the compass, faced eastward; hence front east, behind west.

The “East Sea” is the Dead Sea, which is eastward from Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:8; Ezekiel 47:18).

Hinder part Literally, end, the rear; Hebrews soph, an Aramaic word (Daniel 4:8; Daniel 4:29) found only in late Hebrew writings.

Utmost sea Literally, hinder sea; R.V., “western sea,” the Mediterranean (Deuteronomy 11:24; Numbers 34:6-7; Zechariah 14:8). The expressions are not to be understood as signifying that three winds would blow at one and the same time, one from the north, one from the east or northeast, the third from the west or northwest; they present a rhetorical picture of rapid and total destruction “which is founded upon the idea that the wind rises in the northwest, then turns to the north, and finally to the northeast, so that the van of the swarm is driven into the Dead Sea, the great mass into the southern desert, and the rear into the Mediterranean.” The dead locusts will soon decay, their stench will rise (Isaiah 34:3; Amos 4:10).

Ill savor The Hebrew word is found only here, but its meaning is determined by the cognate languages and is correctly reproduced by the ancient versions. The Hebrew construction is peculiar. Hence, many commentators think that the two clauses, “and his stink shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up,” are an expansion of one clause. “And his ill savor shall come up” they regard as the original of the two, while they consider the other, “and his stink shall come up,” a later gloss intended to explain the rare word translated “ill savor.” “Even in our own times,” says Jerome, “we have seen the land of Judah covered by swarms of locusts, which as soon as the wind arose were precipitated into the first and the hindermost (Dead and Mediterranean) seas. And when the shores of both seas were filled with heaps of dead locusts, which the waters had thrown up, their corruption and stench became so noxious that even the atmosphere was corrupted, and both man and beast suffered from consequent pestilence.”

Because he hath done great things Literally, he hath shown greatness to do. Affirmed of Jehovah in Joel 2:21. When used of men or other creatures the idea of haughtiness is implied; they have gone beyond their proper bounds (Lamentations 1:9; Psalms 35:26); like the German “grossthun,” to brag, to glory in one’s strength and success. Here, not only “it has accomplished a great devastation,” but, “it has accomplished it and brags about it.” In a strictly literal sense the expression is inapplicable to irrational creatures, but this does by no means prove that the locusts symbolize hostile armies. The prophet is at liberty, in a poetic description, to endow even irrational creatures with rational and moral powers (Isaiah 44:23). It is interesting to note that Hebrew legislation holds even animals accountable for acts of violence (Genesis 9:5; Exodus 21:28-32).

Joel 2:19-20 are placed in the mouth of Jehovah; in 21 the prophet steps in once more as the speaker. In the presence of calamity, joy had vanished from the sons of men (Joel 1:12); the promises of 19, 20 mean a complete transformation. In view of the new prospects he calls upon the land (21), the beasts (22), and the children of Zion (23) to be glad and rejoice.