John Calvin Commentary Joel 2:23

"Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God; for he giveth you the former rain in just measure, and he causeth to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain, in the first [month]." — Joel 2:23 (ASV)

He now also exhorts the Jews to rejoice, but in a way different from that of the land and of the beasts. Rejoice, he says, in your God. For the beasts and the sheep, while rejoicing, cannot raise their thoughts higher than to their food; therefore, the joy of brute animals, as they say, terminates in its object.

But the Prophet presents God to the Jews as the foundation of their joy. We then see how he distinguishes them from brute animals, from the land, and from other elements; for he not only bids them rejoice in food and drink, in the abundance of provisions, but he also bids them rejoice in the Lord their God. He no longer says, “The land will yield its strength, or the vines and fig-trees, or the trees, will produce their fruit, and the pastures will grow.” No, he does not speak now in this manner, but he says, “God himself will give you rain.” For he was dealing with men, endowed with understanding, indeed, with those very Jews who had been taught in the law of God from their childhood. He speaks not only of the land, not only of bread and wine, but of the Giver himself.

He then reminds them of God’s blessing and declares that God would be so gracious to them as to pour down His grace upon them and act as a father and a guardian towards them. God then, he says, will bring forth or give you rain according to what is necessary.

Some translate המורה emure as “a teacher,” and the meaning of the word, we know, is doubtful. At the same time, מורה mure is very often taken for rain—sometimes generally, and sometimes for a particular kind of rain, as we will soon see. Although מורה mure signifies a teacher, the context here does not seem to allow that meaning.

Those who have interpreted it this way seem to have been led by this one reason: that it is absurd to place first, and as it were, on a higher level, those transient blessings that belong only to the support and nourishment of the body. But this reasoning is very foolish, for the Prophets, we know, lead people as if they were children, by initial principles to a higher doctrine. It is no wonder then that the Prophet here gives them a taste of God’s favor in blessings belonging to the body; he afterwards ascends higher, as we will see. This view is certainly what the context demands, for the Prophet says at last, “I will hereafter pour my Spirit on all flesh,” etc. In these words, the Prophet commends the favor of God, which should be regarded as the most valuable. But he begins now with temporal benefits, so that he might lead by degrees, and by various steps, a people unrefined and weak, to something higher.

Therefore, the word “teacher” by no means suits this passage, and we must also note what immediately follows. He introduces a word derived from מורה mure; he afterwards adds מורה mure a second time, which, no doubt, means rain. All confess this and confess it to be taken for rain in the same verse.

Since all agree then on this point, it seems somewhat strained to translate it in the same verse as a teacher and also as rain, especially since we find that the Prophet’s objective is this: to make the people recognize God’s blessing in outward things. There is also another thing that has led these interpreters astray.

Immediately following is the word לצדקה latsadke, meaning, “according to what is just.” When they join together these words, המורה לצדקה emure latsadke, they ask, “What is the rain of righteousness?” They have therefore thought that a teacher is meant here. But we know that משפט and צדקה, meshapheth and tsadke, are often taken in Scripture for a just measure, for equity.

“God then will not deal with you unequally as until now; but having been reconciled to you, He will reassume the role of a father and will also observe a proper order towards you. For things have been in confusion on both sides, inasmuch as you have been carrying on war against God, and your wickedness has subverted the whole order of nature.

But now, with God pacified towards you, there will be a balanced state of things on both sides; everything will be in a proper condition. He will no longer deal with you in an irregular manner.” We now then perceive the real meaning of the Prophet and see how frivolous are the reasons that influenced these interpreters, who have translated the words as “Teacher of righteousness.” I do not like strained expositions.

Let us now return to the words of the Prophet: He will give to you, he says, rain according to what is fit. Then he adds, He will make to descend on you showering rain (using another word). And he adds again the word מורה mure, which, no doubt, means rain, and no one denies this.

But it seems that the word גשם geshem has a specific meaning here; some think it to be a violent shower caused by a storm or tempest. Yet, we may gather from many parts of Scripture that the word means rain in general. Now, מורה mure seems here to be taken for the September rain, which the Greeks call πρωιμον, προιμον; and so they call מלקוש melkush, οψιμον, opsimon, or the latter rain, as a common interpreter has translated it.

And the cultivated land, we know, needs these two rains: that is, after sowing, and when the fruit is ripening. After sowing, the ground, by receiving moisture, enables the seed to grow, for it then needs moisture to nourish the roots. Therefore, the rain of September or October, which is after sowing, is rightly called seasonable rain.

The Greeks, as I have already said, call it πρωιμον proimon. James, following them, so calls it in James 5 when he says, ‘He will give you rain, both of the first time and the late rain,’ that is, of the month of March.

For in those warm climates, the harvest, we know, is earlier than with us. We here gather the grain in July, but they gather it there in May. The fruit then ripens with them in March, when they need the late rain.

And in Jeremiah 5 it appears quite evident that מורה mure, as in this place, is called the rain which comes down after sowing. For God says there, ‘I will give you,’ etc., and first He uses the general word גשם geshem, and then He adds the two kinds of rain, which are also mentioned here. Afterwards He adds, ‘In their time,’ that is, each rain in its time and season. Therefore, מורה mure has its time, and מלקוש melkush also has its time; otherwise, the words of the prophet would not be consistent.

We now see what the Prophet means. Of the word מלקוש melkush we have said something in Hosea. Then the Prophet says now that God would be so gracious to the Jews as to neglect no means of showing His favor towards them, for He would give them rain in the month of October and in the month of March, to fertilize the ground after sowing and before the harvest or before the fruit came to maturity. Here then it is promised to the Jews that the land would be made fertile by natural means.