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James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Joel 1:3

"Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation."Locust plagues were ordinary experiences in that part of the world during the times of Joel, and for centuries prior to and subsequently to his times, as indeed they still are; but this was not an ordinary locust plague.The special significance of this one related not only to its severity, but also to the fact that it is seen as a prelude to the divine devastation the prophet... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Joel 1:4

"That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten."The two great problems of interpretation encountered in this verse regard (1) the four different names applied to the destroying insects, and (2) the question of whether or not this was a literal infestation.As to the four different names, they have been supposed to refer to the locust at various stages... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Joel 1:5

"Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth."Joel viewed the locust plague as a manifestation of God's displeasure due to the sins of his people; and, quite appropriately, he directed his first great admonition, "Awake," to a prominent class of sinners always present in any wicked society, the drunkards. Naturally, the destruction of all vegetation, including the vineyards, would have interrupted and cut off the... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Joel 1:6

"For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness.""For a nation ..." This expression, of course, has been made a basis of advocating a symbolical interpretation of the locusts. Such a personification of locusts is in keeping with the Biblical description of ants and conies as "folk" and "people" (Proverbs 30:25-27), and it is interpreted here as metaphorical description of the locusts. However, there... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Joel 1:7

"He hath laid my vine waste, and hath barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.""Barked" may also be translated "splintered"; and some commentators have viewed this as hyperbole. "The locusts could not splinter the fig-tree";[20] but such a view is due to a failure to take into consideration what would happen to a soft and brittle branch of a fig-tree when overloaded with an incredibly large swarm of locusts which would literally... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Joel 1:8

"Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.""Like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth ..." This refers to the mourning of a virgin espoused to her husband whose life ended before the consummation of the marriage, a grief that was considered to be particularly anguished by the Hebrews. It is, of course, the Jewish ancient customs regarding marriage that appear in such a reference as this. It will be remembered that Joseph, the husband of... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Joel 1:9

"The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, Jehovah's ministers, mourn."Naturally, with the total destruction of all crops and vegetation, the usual sacrifices in the temple were curtailed and eliminated. Joel's speaking of the priests here in the third person is taken to indicate that he was not of their number. It is incorrect to make Joel's concern for this interruption of the sacrifices as the basis of postulating a late post-exilic date... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Joel 1:10

"The field is laid waste, the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be confounded, O ye husbandmen. Wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is withered, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered: for joy is withered away from the sons of men."This paragraph depicting the... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Joel 1:13

"Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, ye priests; wail, ye ministers of' the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meal-offering and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God. Sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the old men and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of Jehovah your God, and cry unto Jehovah."This appeal for the priests of God's religion to bestir themselves upon behalf of arousing the nation to... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Joel 1:2

Joel 1:2. Hear this, ye old men— This prophesy begins with threatening the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the land of Judah, with such desolation of their country, by swarms of locusts, as had never happened to them before in the memory of the oldest inhabitants of the land, and as should occasion the utmost distress to all sorts of persons among them. The havock that should be made by these creatures is described in a lively manner. Their corn of all sorts should be devoured, and all their... read more

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