Joel 1:11-20
Joel 1:11
Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers,
for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
Then Joel tells the husbandmen to be ashamed which
carries the meaning of “disappointment.”
Because of their sins God did not bless the land to produce a great
harvest and that is why the husbandmen are to be ashamed since it is their sins
which has bought the disfavor of God upon them.
The vinedressers were the gardeners who would plant, water, and prune the
crops to make them produce greater crops.
They were to howl which carries with it the meaning of “wailing.”
They would do this because they would see that all the crops which they
planted have perished because of the locust invasion which decimated all the
crops on the land.
Joel 1:12
The vine is dried up, 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: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
The physical devastation of the land had resulted in the
emotional devastation of the people and that is why they are ashamed and
howling. The vines have completely
dried up and the fig trees languishes which carries with it the meaning of
“feeble or withered” which means the crops are either completely gone or what
was left was totally too weak to support processing.
All the other trees of the fields have also withered away since the
locust even stripped the bark off the trees which may have caused the trees to
die completely and new ones would have to be planted.
The same withering has happened to those in Israel as their joy has been
turned into sorrow and shame because of their disobedience to God.
Joel 1:13
Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye
ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my
God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house
of your God.
The priests would have been in mourning for two reasons.
They could not perform their required duties in the temple and that would
also mean they would not eat very well.
This was because there was no way the people would have anything to bring
to the temple since all the crops were destroyed.
The priests would no longer be able to offer the proper sacrifices in the
temple which means they could not approach the LORD the way they were supposed
to. By putting on sackcloth they
would be going into a state of repentance for their sins and the sins of the
people. Those who ministered in the
temple would be lamenting over the conditions in Israel which caused this
problem and hopefully all these things would lead them into national repentance.
Joel 1:14
Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the
elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God,
and cry unto the LORD,
Now they are told to forsake all their worldly pursuits
and are to sanctify a fast which would have been a holy fast.
Then they were to call a solemn assembly which would include all the
religious leaders as well as the political leaders and the entire population of
the land. They were to gather at
the temple and the spiritual leaders were to go into the temple itself but the
main population would have to remain outside by the temple.
Then when all were assembled they would begin to cry out to the LORD in
true sorrow. They were to cry out
as one cries out in distress, persecution, or hard times.”
They were to seek the LORD with great intensity.
Joel 1:15
Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and
as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
The day of the LORD can be a time of intervention by the
LORD whether it is for blessing or discipline.
Now they have reached a point where they must make a choice because the
day of decision is now at hand.
They must decide whether they are going to be obedient to the LORD or continue
in the same path and face the destructive hand of God.
The Hebrew word behind “Almighty” is shaddai.”
It means just that, Almighty.
It was the name that God used when he appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob.
And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac,
and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not
known to them. (Exodus 6:3)
Now he appears under the same name to these recalcitrant Israelites.
Joel 1:16
Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and
gladness from the house of our God?
The term “meat” means food or sustenance of any kind
which supports both human and animal life.
All they know is sorrow and there is no more joy or gladness in the
nation since their sins have brought them into a place where all they live in
now is a barren land made bare by the locust which was a judgment from God on
their disobedience. Widespread
famine can also bring civil unrest as we see in many countries today bringing
with it disease and high crime.
Joel 1:17
The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are
laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
The result of continued disobedience in the day of the
LORD yields seed becoming rotten when planted instead of germinating in the
soil. The garners are the places
where they stored the crops after they were harvested.
The barns were where they placed their unthrashed corn or grains.
It would have been the place where they did the winnowing to separate the
wheat from the chaff. All the corn,
which was a term to describe the grains, were all withered or dried up.
There is always a ripple effect for disobedience, that is, the
consequences of disobedience always reach farther than what we expect.
Joel 1:18
How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are
perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made
desolate.
The beasts of the field were also affected by the drought
and the locust plague which meant that they did not have any food to eat.
This is also known as the ripple effect where the effects of sin continue
to permeate the land even affecting the livestock.
Even the cattle are confused because the fields where they normally graze
has been removed by the judgment of locusts and there is only barren fields.
The sheep are the same way in that they normally have pasture to graze in
but now they have nothing to graze on and that means they will pine away until
dead. There is nothing that the
shepherds can do to help except repent of their sinful ways.
Joel 1:19
O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured
the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the
field.
The prophet now cries out to the LORD because of the
major devastation which has consumed the land.
What the locust left behind has now been consumed by fire which
devastated the land even further.
Not only the grazing grass was destroyed, but all the trees of the field which
bring shade for the shepherds and the grazing animals plus bearing fruit.
The desolation had spread from the humans to all the animals and their
living quarters.
Joel 1:20
The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the
rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the
wilderness.