Albert Barnes Commentary Joel 2:17

"Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?" — Joel 2:17 (ASV)

Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar - The porch in this, Solomon’s temple, was in fact a tower, in front of the holy of holies, of the same breadth as the temple, namely, 20 cubits, and its depth half its breadth, namely, 10 cubits (1 Kings 6:3), and its height 120 cubits, the whole overlaid within with pure gold (2 Chronicles 3:4). The brass altar for burnt offerings stood in front of it (2 Chronicles 8:12). The altar was of brass, twenty cubits square, and so, equal in breadth to the temple itself, and ten cubits high (2 Chronicles 4:1). The space then between the porch and the altar was enclosed on those two sides (2 Chronicles 7:7); it became an inner part of the court of the priests.

Through it the priests or the high priest passed whenever they went to sprinkle the blood, typifying the atonement, before the veil of the tabernacle, or for any other office of the tabernacle. It seems to have been a place of prayer for the priests. It is spoken of as an aggravation of the sins of those 25 idolatrous priests, that here, where they ought to worship God, they turned their backs toward the Temple of the Lord to worship the sun (Ezekiel 8:16). Here, in the exercise of his office, Zechariah was standing (2 Chronicles 24:20–21; Matthew 23:35) when the Spirit of God came upon him, and he rebuked the people, and they stoned him. Here the priests, with their faces toward the holy of holies and the temple which He had filled with His Glory, were to weep. Tears are a gift of God.

In holier times, priests also wept at the holy eucharist in thought of the Passion and Precious Death of our Lord Jesus, which we then plead to God; indeed, they carried with them, as part of their dress, linen with which to dry their tears.

And let them say - A form of prayer is provided for them. From this the words, “Spare us, good Lord, spare your people,” enter into the litanies of the Christian Church.

And give not your heritage to reproach - The enmity of the pagan against the Jews was an enmity against God. God had declared them as His people and His property. Their land was a heritage from God. God, in that He had separated them from the pagan and revealed Himself to them, had made them His special heritage.

Moses (Exodus 32:12; Numbers 14:13–16; Deuteronomy 9:28, 9:9), then Joshua (Joshua 7:9), and the Psalmists (Psalms 74; Psalms 79:1–13; Psalms 115), plead with God that His own power or will to save His people would be called into question if He should destroy them or give them up. God, on the other hand, tells them that not for any deserts of theirs, but for His own Name’s sake, He delivered them, lest the pagan should be the more confirmed in their errors as to Himself (Ezekiel 20:5; Ezekiel 36:21–23). It is part of true penitence to plead to God to pardon us, not for anything in ourselves (for we have nothing of our own but our sins), but because we are the work of His hands, created in His image, the prince of the Blood of Jesus, called by His Name.

That the pagan should rule over them - This, and not the rendering in the margin, “use a byword against them,” is the uniform meaning of the Hebrew phrase. It is not to be supposed that the prophet Joel would use it in a sense contrary to the uniform usage of all the writers before him. Nor is there any instance of any other usage of the idiom in any later writer.

“The enigma which was closed,” says Jerome, “is now opened. For who that people is, manifold and strong, described above under the name of the “palmerworm, the locust, the cankerworm” and “the caterpillar,” is now explained more clearly, “lest the pagan rule over them.” For the heritage of the Lord is given to reproach when they serve their enemies, and the nations say, “Where is their God,” whom they boasted to be their Sovereign and their Protector?”

Such is the reproach ever made against God’s people when He does not visibly protect them, which the Psalmist says was as a sword in his bones (Psalms 42:3, 10; Psalms 115:2; Micah 7:16); his tears were his food day and night while they said it.

The Chief priests and scribes and elders fulfilled a prophecy by venturing so to blaspheme our Lord, “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him” (Matthew 27:43, from Psalm 22:8).