Matthew Henry Commentary Joel 1
Matthew Henry Commentary
Joel 1
Matthew Henry Commentary
Joel 1
"The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and [let] your children [tell] their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth. For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white." — Joel 1:1-7 (ASV)
The oldest people could not remember such calamities as were about to take place. Armies of insects were coming upon the land to eat its fruits. This description also applies to the destruction of the country by a foreign enemy and seems to refer to the devastations of the Chaldeans.
God is Lord of hosts, has every creature at his command, and, when he pleases, can humble and mortify a proud, rebellious people by the weakest and most contemptible creatures.
It is just for God to take away the comforts that are abused for luxury and excess; and the more people place their happiness in the gratifications of sense, the more severe temporal afflictions are upon them. The more we make earthly delights necessary to satisfy us, the more we expose ourselves to trouble.
"Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, Jehovah`s ministers, mourn. The field is laid waste, the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be confounded, O ye husbandmen, wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished. 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. Gird yourselves [with sackcloth], and lament, ye priests; wail, ye ministers of the altar; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meal-offering and the drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God." — Joel 1:8-13 (ASV)
All who labour only for the meat that perishes will, sooner or later, be ashamed of their labour. Those that place their happiness in the delights of sense, when deprived of them or disturbed in their enjoyment, lose their joy; whereas spiritual joy then flourishes more than ever.
See what perishing, uncertain things our creature-comforts are. See how we need to live in continual dependence upon God and his providence. See what ruinous work sin makes.
As far as poverty occasions the decay of piety and starves the cause of religion among a people, it is a very severe judgment. But how blessed are the awakening judgments of God, in rousing his people and calling home the heart to Christ and his salvation!
"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. Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Is not the food cut off before our eyes, [yea], joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seeds rot under their clods; the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the grain is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. O Jehovah, to thee do I cry; for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field. Yea, the beasts of the field pant unto thee; for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness." — Joel 1:14-20 (ASV)
The sorrow of the people is turned into repentance and humiliation before God. With all the marks of sorrow and shame, sin must be confessed and lamented. A day is to be appointed for this purpose; a day in which people must be kept from their common work, so that they may more closely attend God's services; and there is to be abstaining from food and drink.
Everyone had added to the national guilt, and all shared in the national calamity; therefore, everyone must join in repentance. When joy and gladness are cut off from God's house, when serious godliness decays, and love grows cold, then it is time to cry to the Lord. The prophet describes how grievous the calamity.
See even the animals suffering for our transgression. And how are they any better than animals, those who never cry to God except for corn and wine, and complain of the lack of the pleasures of the senses? Yet their crying to God in those cases shames the foolishness of those who do not cry to God in any case. Whatever may become of the nations and churches that persist in ungodliness, believers will find the comfort of acceptance with God, when the wicked shall be burned up with his indignation.
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