Exposition on Joel -21- Verse 12

     In the next verse Joel goes in to the reason why these farmers should be ashamed in the first place. Their efforts were fruitless because an army of invaders had destroyed their crops. The invaders were sent by God because of the nation’s disobedience. So, to the lamentation of that situation, even the obedient farmer was called. He was called in the same way that Dietrich Bonhoeffer was called to lament the Nazi movement in his day, and the same way all believers should lament the sins of their countries. Lest the confusion of current nations and the eschatological events yet future are unwarrantedly mixed, no one in any nation can equate the relationship of God to their nation with that relationship He convened with the nation of Israel. So a more important comparison arises out of the “meta-narrative” of Scripture. Just like the Israelite of Joel’s day that was called to mourn the sin of the visible nation of Israel, all those believers after the cross are called to mourn the sins of the visible Church. Here in verse 12 Joel called the farmers to do this directly through his call for them to mourn the loss of their material goods. Just like Bonhoeffer, if he had lived to see the day, would have mourned the loss of his nation through world-wide ridicule and sanctions, the farmer who loved God and his neighbor would have mourned the loss of Judah’s former blessings. Lest we get the wrong idea here, we must remember that the nation of Jews, which included everyone who was circumcised, was guilty as a whole. So, essentially and from a legal standpoint, no one was innocent, no matter their faithfulness. It was not as though God had set up the Kingdom of David on Earth to perpetuate in proposed obedience for ever, no more than God had intended Adam and Eve to populate Eden in that first state. No, the cross was always planned. So going back to v. 12, the prophet mentions here several types of produce in addition to the grape. In this context the fig, pomegranate, palm and apple don’t have special significance by themselves, but their mention in a group is employed by Joel to indicate the totality of this calamity, as they are routinely mentioned together (Num. and Deut.). And he ends this verse with an astonishing logical conclusion that along with the fruits of the vine and trees, the gladness of the people will dry up. A process that began with shame would end with sorrow. They were called to be ashamed for the lack of their produce but that lack was ultimately the result of the lack of their obedience. It was not just their lack of harvest that caused them to be ashamed. They ought to have known that it was God who brought the growth and plenty. Their shame was finally caused by their sin which in turned caused the loss of their produce. So Joel makes a direct connection between the removal of their gladness, which was due to their loss of material goods, with the fact that they had disobeyed God’s Covenant Laws. “Shame on you” he says, “…for your sin has resulted in the sorrow you now endure because you have nothing left to be glad about!” This last part is a metaphor of sorts. Joel had already described the totality of the devastation by mentioning the fruits that were withered, and at last he claimed that the fruit of their joy would wither off the tree that was Judah. That was the picture that his words created.