1 He shows unto Zion the terribleness of God’s judgment. 12 He exhorted to repentance, 15 prescribes fast, 18 promises a blessing thereon. 21 He comforts Zion with present, 28 and future blessings.
Joe 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, for it is at hand:
Verses 1–11 give a further description of the disaster caused by the “locusts” (see on ch. 1:4), and of the appearance of them” (ch. 2:4).
Trumpet. Heb. shophar, an instrument made of a ram’s horn, used for signalling.
Zion. The name was applied both to Jerusalem and to the mountain upon which Jerusalem was situated (see on Ps. 48:2).
Day of the Lord. See on ch. 1:15. Since the great day of the Lord is hastening on apace and, but few precious moments of probation remain, it behoves the church of God to rouse from its spiritual lethargy and seek repentance and humiliation. There are many in Zion who are satisfied with their spiritual attainments.
They feel “rich, and increased with goods,” and in “need of nothing” (Rev. 3:17). Others who feel a need are either too lethargic to effect a change or else expect that the lack will be supplied in the time of the latter rain.
All such need to be aroused by the trumpet blast from Zion’s watchman. Now, while the day of grace lingers, is the time to make thorough work of repentance, to cleanse the soul of every defilement, and to permit the full work of grace upon the heart. See further on v. 14.
Joe 2:2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was in ancient times nor ever will be in ages to come.
A day of darkness.
The language may be understood either figuratively, of adversity and despair, or literally, of the darkness caused by the plague of locusts, such as had come upon Egypt (Ex. 10:15).
An actual darkening of the sun is mentioned in Joel 2:31.
Morning. Heb. shachar, “the reddish light preceding the dawn.”
Either figure appropriately describes the invading “locust” army spreading itself over the countryside.
Mighty army. Such as never was. See on ch. 1:2.
Joe 2:3 Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste— nothing escapes them.
A fire. A locust invasion leaves the ground appearing as though it has been burned over.
Garden of Eden. A symbol of fruitfulness (Gen. 2:8).
Joe 2:4 They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry.
Horses. Locusts resemble horses in the shape of the head. See Rev. 9:7, where onrushing cavalry are described under the figure of locusts.
Horsemen. Heb. parashim, a word also designating riding horses (“war horses,”).
In rapidity of motion, locusts are like running horses. See on Ex. 10:4–15.
Joe 2:5 With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle.
Chariots. See on v. 4. Compare Rev. 9:9. The sound of the advancing locust horde is described under the figure of the noise of moving chariots.
Fire conssuming. This was the noise made when the locusts alighted and devoured every green thing.
Joe 2:6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale.
The terror caused by the locusts withdraws the glow from the face, leaving paleness there.
Joe 2:7 They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course.
The locusts are compared to a well-disciplined army overcoming all obstacles (see Prov. 30:27).
Joe 2:8 They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defences without breaking ranks.
It is impossible to stay their progress.
Joe 2:9 They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows.
The windows of ancient houses were unglazed and hence presented no impediment to the invading locusts.
Joe 2:10 Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.
The earth shakes. This verse should be understood in connection with v. 11. It describes the physical phenomena accompanying the day of the Lord. The conditions here portrayed could not have been produced by the locust army unless the language was intended to be highly hyperbolic.
The vivid description of the insect invasion served only as an illustration of the judgments to come upon Judah in the day of the Lord (see on ch. 1:4, 15).
The sun and the moon are darkened.
Compare Isa. 13:9–11; Amos 8:9. Jesus showed how these physical phenomena would be displayed in connection with the final day of the Lord (Matt. 24:29, 30).
Joel was focusing on the great day of the Lord as it might have been fulfilled with respect to the nation of Israel (see on Joel 1:4). Jesus was showing how the great day of the Lord will come, now that the purpose of God are being accomplished through the church (see pp. 35, 36).
Joe 2:11 The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?
The interpretation of the “locust” plague depends in part upon the date that is assigned to the book of Joel (see p. 937). If it is assumed that the book was written in the time of Josiah (2 Kings 22; 23:1–30), it is possible to see in the vivid description of the plague a forecast of the Babylonian invasion, of which Hezekiah had already been warned (2 Kings 20:16–18).
Joel would then be contemporaneous with Habakkuk and Zephaniah, who also warned of the threatened invasion (Hab. 1:6; Zeph. 1). Zephaniah’s description of the day of the Lord and his call to repentance closely parallel those of Joel (Zeph. 1:14, 15; 2:1–3).
The phrase “the army” may be compared with Jeremiah’s statement concerning Babylon,
“Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms” (Jer. 51:20).
Return to the Lord
Joe 2:12 “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
return. Heb. shub, better, “turn back,” or “return.”
All your heart. Compare Deut. 4:29; Jer. 29:11–14. Only genuine repentance could avert the threatened judgments.
Joe 2:13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
Rend your heart. For a Jew to rend his garment was a sign of great grief. It signified that he had encountered some terrible calamity (Gen. 37:34; Lev. 13:45; 2 Chron. 34:27; Jer. 36:24).
Since, however, it was possible to exhibit such external signs of grief without any real inward feeling of sorrow, the people were commanded to avoid such pretence by rending, instead, their hearts.
Gracious and compassionate. See Ex. 34:6, 7; Neh. 9:17. Repenteth him. On God’s repenting see on Gen. 6:6; 1 Sam. 15:11. The discipline of the judgments would be unnecessary if the requisite change in character were wrought (see Jer. 26:3; Jonah 4:2). Prayer does not change the mind of God. With Him there is “no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
But prayer changes the petitioner (see on Dan. 10:13). When the conditions of answered prayer are met, God can bestow rich blessings.
Joe 2:14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.
Who knows? It is God who determines whether discipline is necessary. The penitent may rest assured that if, despite his change of heart, discipline follows, the chastisement will work for his good (see Heb. 12:5–11).
In view of the great and terrible day of the Lord now soon to burst upon a doomed world, Joel’s call to repentance has not diminished its force.
The call has a twofold application: for the worldling it is an appeal to forsake folly and sin and to accept the Lord Jesus Christ, the only means of salvation offered to men (Acts 4:12); for the lukewarm professor of religion (Rev. 3:16) it is an appeal to awake from spiritual lethargy and to make certain of salvation. ee further on v. 1.
Joe 2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.
Trumpet. See on v. 1.
Joe 2:16 Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.
People. These various classes are enumerated to show the universality of the appeal.
Joe 2:17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?'”
The portico. The vestibule at the entrance of the Temple (see on 1 Kings 6:3).
The altar for burnt offerings stood in the court in front of the porch (see 2 Chron. 8:12; see on 1 Kings 8:64).
The place of meeting was thus directly at the entrance to the Temple. Thine heritage. Compare the appeal in Ex. 32:12; Deut. 9:26, 29; also, Eze. 36:20–23. 18.
The Lord Had Pity
Joe 2:18 Then the LORD was jealous for his land and took pity on his people.
It is assumed that the repentance enjoined had taken place.
Verses 18–32 constitute God’s merciful response to the urgent appeal of the priests in the preceding verse. The promises were conditional, and because the Israelites never wholeheartedly responded to Joel’s appeal, those promises were never fulfilled for them.
However, certain features of the promises will be fulfilled in principle in connection with the Christian church.
Joe 2:19 The LORD replied to them: “I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. Literally, “Yahweh answered” (see on v. 18). Corn, and wine, and oil. That which the locusts had destroyed would be restored (see ch. 1:10).
Joe 2:20 “I will drive the northern horde far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land; its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things!
Locusts have been reported occasionally entering Palestine from the northeast, though more generally they come from the arid regions to the south of Judah. Here the north is obviously selected because many of Judah’s enemies entered Palestine from the north.
The locust invasion, though probably real, was presumably also a figure of the invasion of hostile armies (see on ch. 1:4). Some who hold to an early date for Joel see a reference here to the Assyrians.
Those who hold to a date in the time of Josiah see a reference to the Babylonians (see Jer. 1:14; 4:6). The devastation caused by the Babylonians might have been averted by sincere repentance and reform.
Joe 2:21 Do not be afraid, land of Judah; be glad and rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great things!
Fear not. Previously the land had mourned (ch. 1:10).
Great things. The locusts had done great things in destruction; God would do great things in deliverance.
Joe 2:22 Do not be afraid, you wild animals, for the pastures in the wilderness are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.
The animals that had endured great distress for lack of food are now called upon to rejoice, for the pastures, and with them the trees, yield a plentiful sustenance.
Joe 2:23 Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
Be glad. In its primary application this verse refers to the restoration of adequate rainfall. The former rain fell in the autumn and promoted germination; the latter rain fell in the spring and helped to bring the grain crops to maturity.
In their application to the Christian church the rains represent the work of the Holy Spirit.
Former rain. Heb. moreh, literally, “teacher,” and so translated in Prov. 5:13; Isa. 30:20. Moreh comes from the root yarah, which means “to direct,” “to teach,” “to instruct.” Yarah is also the root of torah, the word commonly translated “law” in the OT (see on Prov. 3:1).
“The message of Christ’s righteousness is to sound from one end of the earth to the other to prepare the way of the Lord. This is the glory of God, which closes the work of the third angel”.
The rain. Heb. geshem, frequently denoting a violent shower, or a downpour. The former rain, and the latter rain. The word here translated “former rain” is moreh, as above.
However, 34 Hebrew manuscripts here read yoreh, the common word for “former rain.” It is evident that the literal “former rain,” or “early rain,” is here intended. In its figurative application to the Christian church the early rain represents the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, whereas the latter rain represents the final outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which produces “the ripening of the harvest”.
“The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its opening” (GC 611). The figures of the early and latter rains have reference also to individual Christian experience.
“The Holy Spirit is given to carry forward, from one stage to another, the process of spiritual growth. The ripening of the grain represents the completion of the work of God’s grace in the soul” (TM 506). Unless the early rain has done its work the latter rain will prove ineffective. Those who wish to share in the “refreshing” must “obtain the victory over every besetment” (EW 71).
The latter rain gives “power to the loud voice of the third angel” (EW 86) and prepares “the church for the coming of the Son of man” (AA 55). It prepares “the saints to stand in the period when the seven last plagues shall be poured out” (EW 86).
It emboldens the honest hearted to accept the truth (EW 271).
Joe 2:24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
Verses 24–27 portray the wholesome effects of the abundant rain on the parched and barren ground. Verse 24 affords a striking contrast to ch. 1:10–12.
Fats. Heb. yeqabim, “wine presses.”
Joe 2:25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm— my great army that I sent among you.
Repay … the years. Compare ch. 1:4. In like manner the future rewards will amply compensate for all earth’s sorrows and trials (see Rom. 8:18; EW 17).
Joe 2:26 You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.
Plenty to eat. A striking contrast to the earlier conditions (ch. 1:16, 17).
Praise. A spirit of praise and gratitude would characterize those privileged to share in the restoration, a praise, not of themselves, but of God, who had wrought such marvelous deliverance.
The anthems of heaven resound with praise and gratitude to God (see Rev. 7:11, 12; cf. Rev. 5:13).
Joe 2:27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed.
Then you will know.
The wondrous workings of God in the restoration of Israel would give evidence to those who had been tempted to believe that God had forsaken His people, that God was indeed working for their good. Even in the plague God had overruled for purposes of mercy to bring about a much-needed repentance and reform.
Some had interpreted the successes of the enemy as evidence that the gods of the heathen were more powerful than God.
With Israel victorious over her foes, all would know that He was indeed God and “none else.”
The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit
Joe 2:28 “And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Afterward. Heb. ’achare–ken, “after this.” The phrase is indefinite as to time. It was God’s plan to bestow upon the restored state of Israel the spiritual blessings here described (see on Eze. 39:29). Because of the failure of the people, and the consequent rejection of the Jewish nation, the promises were not fulfilled to literal Israel. These promises were transferred to spiritual Israel.
Peter identified the events on the day of Pentecost as a partial fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy (Acts 2:16–21). Instead of “afterward” Peter used the phrase “in the last days” (v. 17).
All people. This though is further emphasized by the enumeration of the various age groups that would share the spiritual blessings; further, by the fact that bond and free alike would receive the Spirit.
The context makes clear that more than the reception of the Spirit, such as accompanies conversion and works transformation of life, is here spoken of. This special pouring out of the Spirit results in the display of supernatural gifts, such as prophesying.
On the day of Pentecost, when the apostles “were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues” (Acts 2:4), Peter asserted that “this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel” (v. 16). In the early church “the manifestation of the Spirit” was given “to every man to profit withal” (1 Cor. 12:7).
Various gifts were in evidence, such as “the word of wisdom,” “the word of knowledge,” “faith,” “healing,” “working of miracles,” “prophecy,” “discerning of spirits,” “divers kinds of tongues,” and “the interpretation of tongues” (vs. 8–10).
The events of Pentecost were but a partial fulfillment of Joel’s prediction. The prophecy is to “reach its full accomplishment in the manifestation of divine grace which will attend the closing work of the gospel” (GC ix).
In the Hebrew Bible vs. 28–32 constitute ch. 3, and what is ch. 3 in the English Bible is ch. 4 in the Hebrew Bible.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Dream dreams. For a discussion of “dreams” and “visions” see on 1 Sam. 3:1; cf. Num. 12:6. 30.
Joe 2:29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
Joe 2:30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke.
Joe 2:31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
Into darkness. On the fulfillment of this prediction before the second coming of Christ see on Matt. 24:29.
Day of the Lord. See on ch. 1:15.
Joe 2:32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors (remnant) whom the LORD calls.
Everyone who calls. It was God’s plan that by extensive missionary activities the remnant of Israel would carry a knowledge of the true God and of His salvation to the nations who knew Him not.
Their failure transferred the task to the Christian church.
Remnant. Heb. śeridim, from the root ṣarad, “to run away,” hence “escapees,” “survivors.”
The word is translated “remnant” only here and in Isa. 1:9.
The more common OT word for remnant is from the root sha’ar, “to be left over,” “to remain.” The last clause may be translated, “and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls” (RSV).