Albert Barnes Commentary Joel 1:12

"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." — Joel 1:12 (ASV)

Because joy is withered away -: “There are four sorts of joy: a joy in iniquity, a joy in vanity, a joy of charity, and a joy of felicity.

1. Of the first we read, Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked (Proverbs 2:14).
2. Of the second, They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ (Job 21:12).
3. Of the third, Let the saints be joyful in glory (Psalms 149:5).
4. Of the fourth, Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will be still praising Thee (Psalms 84:4).

The joy of charity and the joy of felicity wither from the sons of men when the previously mentioned virtues fail. When there is neither knowledge of the truth nor love of virtue, no reward follows, either in this life or in the life to come.”

Having thus pictured the coming woe, he calls all to repentance and mourning, and those first, who were to call others. God Himself appointed these afflictive means, and here He “gives to the priest a model for penitence and a way of entreating mercy.”: “He invites the priests first to repentance, through whose negligence chiefly the practice of holiness, the strictness of discipline, the form of doctrine, and the whole aspect of the Church was sunk in irreverence.

For this reason Jeremiah says, The kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem. For the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her, they have wandered as blind men in the streets, they have polluted themselves with blood (Lamentations 4:13–14).