Albert Barnes Commentary Joel 1:14

"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." — Joel 1:14 (ASV)

Sanctify you a fast - He does not say only, “proclaim,” or “appoint a fast,” but “sanctify it.” Hallow the act of abstinence, seasoning it with devotion and with acts fitting for repentance. For fasting is not accepted by God, unless done in charity and obedience to His commands: “Sanctify” it, that is, make it an offering to God, and, so to speak, a sacrifice, a holy and blameless fast. “To sanctify a fast is to exhibit abstinence of the flesh, fitting toward God, along with other good actions.

Let anger cease, let strife be lulled. For the flesh is worn out in vain if the mind is not restrained from evil passions, inasmuch as the Lord says by the prophet, Lo! in the day of your fast you find your pleasures (Isaiah 58:3). The fast which the Lord approves is that which lifts up to Him hands full of almsdeeds, which is passed with brotherly love, which is seasoned by piety. “What you subtract from yourself, give to another, that your needy neighbor’s body may be refreshed by means of that which you deny to your own.”

Call a solemn assembly - Fasting without devotion is an image of famine. At other times “the solemn assembly” was for festival-joy. Such was the last day of the feast of the Passover (Deuteronomy 16:8) and of tabernacles (Leviticus 23:36; Numbers 29:35; 2 Chronicles 7:9; Nehemiah 8:18). No servile work was to be done on that day. It was then to be consecrated to thanksgiving, but now to sorrow and supplication: “The prophet commands that all should be called and gathered into the Temple, so that the prayer might be more readily heard, the more people there were who offered it. Therefore the Apostle implored his disciples to pray for him, so that what was asked might be obtained more readily through the intercession of many.”

Gather the elders - Age was, by God’s appointment (Leviticus 19:32), held in great reverence among the Hebrews.

When God first sent Moses and Aaron to His people in Egypt, He commanded them to gather the elders of the people (Exodus 3:16; Exodus 4:29) to declare to them their own mission from God.

Through these elders, He conveyed the ordinance of the Passover to the whole congregation (Exodus 12:3; Exodus 12:21). In their presence, the first miracle of bringing water from the rock was performed (Exodus 17:5).

Later, He commanded Moses to choose seventy of them to appear before Him before He gave the law (Exodus 24:1; Exodus 24:9). He then appointed them to bear Moses’ own burden in hearing the cases of the people, bestowing His Spirit upon them (Numbers 11:16 and following).

The elders of each city were clothed with judicial authority (Deuteronomy 19:12; Deuteronomy 22:15; Deuteronomy 25:7). In the expiation of an uncertain murder, the elders of the city represented the whole city (Deuteronomy 21:3–6). In the offerings for the congregation, the elders of the congregation represented the whole assembly (Leviticus 4:15; Leviticus 9:1).

So then, here also, they are summoned, chief of all, so that “the authority and example of their gray hairs might move the young to repentance.” “Their age, near to death and ripened in grace, makes them more suited for the fear and worship of God.”

All, however—“priests, elders,” and the “inhabitants,” or “people of the land” (Jeremiah 1:18)—were to form one group and were, with one heart and voice, to cry to God, and to do so “in the house of God.”

For Solomon had prayed that God would “in heaven His dwelling place, hear whatever prayer and supplication” might there be “made by any man or by all His people Israel” (1 Kings 8:39). And God had promised in turn, “I have hallowed this house which thou hast built, to put My name there for ever, and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually” (1 Kings 9:3).

God has given to united prayer a power over Himself, for “prayer overcomes God.”

The prophet calls God “your” God, showing how ready He was to hear; but he adds, “cry to the Lord”; for it is not a listless prayer, but a loud, earnest cry, which reaches to the throne of God.