Exposition on Joel -22- Verse 13

     In v. 13 we hear the prophet directly address the priests he mentioned as a part of the whole back in v. 9. He is expounding his call to corporate lamentation. He calls them to put on sackcloth, or a hair-shirt as we would refer to it in modern terms. The first time in Scripture it is worn for the purpose of pleading for mercy for some offense is in 1 Kings 20. It is recorded a couple times before that as being used in mourning. Here in v. 13 it is used ascetically to promote and maybe even prolong the wearer’s focus on their lamentation. It was used to cause physical pain that would augment mourning that was already there or as an outward sign to incite the true emotional and heart-felt pain that their sin should have provoked. Joel calls the priests the ministers of his God. And like in v. 9 he provokes them to lamentation because they’ve lost their sense of worth and their purpose—the grain and drink offerings had been withheld from the House of ministry, the temple where the priest had mediated the people’s worship and God’s forgiving grace through the ritual sacrifices prescribed in the Covenant God made with Moses. Their shame would come from not being able to make amends they thought. Surely, when the last offering was made and the store of grain and drink for the sacrifices was finally depleted, they feared for themselves and the people all the more because God’s wrath could no longer be appeased through the sacrifices they had been instructed to offer up.

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.

Exposition on Joel -20- Verse 11

     Verse 11 seems similar to the parallel statement in v. 5 regarding the drunkards and drinkers of wine, here in v. 11 Joel calls out a group of Judeans which includes tillers of soil and vine-dressers. The dissimilarity with v. 5 is that there is a difference in classification. Although both of these workers are farmers of sorts, the tillers bring to mind more of the growers of grain and the vine-dressers are those who tend to the grape  and other vines. One way of distinguishing the two would be that the vine-dressers are tending to and cultivating those types of plants that live longer than two years—perennials of a sort. Their activities consist of pruning dressing and harvest. The "dirt farmer" on the other hand, is likely tending to those annual plants like vegetables and grains. His yearly tasks would include tilling the ground and preparing it for the seeds he will plant, caring for the seedlings and harvesting the mature fruit those plants produce. Together, the two designations form one group that is intended to encompass all the agricultural workers in Judah. A group that immediately brings to my mind the image of Hobbits, lovers of good tilled earth and all things that grow. This phrase “Be ashamed” in the ESV can more literally be rendered “wilt” and is regularly applied to the condition of plants withered in drought conditions. Joel called to mourning even the godly Jewish farmer who was sufficiently thankful for their growth, and who gladly gave up his first fruits for the sacrifice in the temple, the farmer who had resisted the temptation to love and embrace the bounty of his labors more than the God of Heaven. The removal even of his produce as a result of invasion, destruction and desolation would have crushed his spirit. The godly farmer was no less tempted to idolize the fruits of his labor, but who by God’s grace, had resisted it, he would have mourned the loss because all good farmers and tillers of soil love to see the thriving life of beautiful green plants and enjoy in thankfulness, the time of harvest when they can pull that first ripe, red tomato from the vine. But we know that they would also eventually have mourned their own hungry stomachs because the invaders destruction, trampling, and thievery of the crops would later lead to the lack of food. The idolatrous farmer’s spirit also would have been crushed by the loss, but for different reason. In addition to their suffering through starvation, he would have grieved over the loss of that in which they found their worth and their security. Instead of worshiping God for His bountiful harvests every year, they raised their own green-thumbed hands in a celebration of their talent and their produce which they had raised. Instead of resting securely in the arms of the faithful God who had brought their fathers out of Egypt, they sought their security in the talents and hard work for which they thought themselves responsible. Whereas the tiller of soil who was humbled by the knowledge of his brokenness before his God, who honored God with thanksgiving in obedience to the temple laws of sacrifice, giving up the first and best, and keeping the Sabbath holy so to honor the bodies God had endowed with His image, he likely would have suffered the loss of the comfort of a full stomach for himself and his family much sooner than the farmer who held back his food. But the farmer whose faith was largely in his own capability, he would have kept back that which the Lord demanded. Being a workaholic he would have worked his employees as many days of the week he could manage. So Joel calls them both as a group, to a feeling of shame.

Exposition on Joel -19 - Verses 9-10

     The awkward structure of verse 9 presents the ending clause, “…the ministers of the Lord…” is easily overcome by looking at a similar usage later on. In 2:17b where Joel says, “…let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.” In this verse the ending clause refers to the noun priests. We are given further description of their function. Likewise, in v. 9b we can affirm the same intent out of this structure that in the English appears to be clumsy. These priests in v. 9 are in fact, like those in 2:17, the ministers of the Lord. The Contemporary English Version, The KJV, and the ASV all place this modifying clause after the noun clause and before the action verb. So it sounds like this, “…the priests, the Lord’s ministers, mourn.” And with this rendering we can gain a clearer idea of the prophet’s intent—that the invader has destroyed the source of their offerings causing the priests to mourn. Not just because they could no longer offer up these things to God, but that leftover was a source of food for them (Lev. 2). So they so were suffering the pain of starvation.

In verse 10 the fields have been destroyed and the very ground of God’s Land mourns the effects caused by the people’s unrepentant sin. In this verse we have a sort of summation of the preceding physical curses. In 10b we are told that the reason the ground mourns is because the grain is destroyed, the lack of which is lamented by the priests, and the wine has dried up, whose dearth is especially noticed by the drunkard, and lastly, the oil has been removed and the sorrow caused by that lack would be felt far and wide. The lack of oil symbolized the lack of God’s presence and favor, and the lamps would have none to burn, bringing no light into darkness. But this lack represents a state much like that of a famine. But the prophet’s persistence through these exhortations indicates that even the state of starvation has only driven the people to mourn, as Calvin says, for their stomachs and not yet for their hearts.

Exposition on Joel - 18 - Verse 8

     In the three verse section, 8-10, Joel begins the response demanded by the prophet in the content of the preceding 2 verses. if we take verses 8-10 as a small section and interpret them in light of one another: in v. 8 Joel described what the lamentation should look like; he gave the example of the young widow who was likely childless, and in v. 9 we have been given one of the effects of the army, the instrument of God’s judgment, and we are told that the priests who are directly affected by the loss and thus become the direct object of the prophet’s call to mourning, and at last, in v. 10 we see the destruction of the fields and their very mourning.

In verse 8 in particular Joel tells them to mourn. How? He actually prescribes a quality to the lamentation he’s calling them to. Like a virgin who has lost her husband or likely her betrothed. This was a call to extraordinary mourning, mourning even in a hair-shirt. Certainly, any wife would mourn her husband’s death but the young woman scheduled to be married or recently married, the one who has not been made to bear children, that woman would lament the death of her husband to an obviously greater degree than the woman married for years who has offspring to give her societal worth. This is an obvious generalization. I’m certain Joel knew that some time in history an old woman mourning the death of her husband of 50 years may have out mourned a young maiden, but the point is that Joel is calling the people to grieve the loss of their material possessions with great intensity. Even so, they are ultimately called to lament the sin and lack of repentance which will result in this wrathful event; to don sackcloth like this virgin who has lost her husband of her youth. God uses means such as the removal of temporal comforts, pleasures and conveniences to cause people to repent, and He used His prophets as a means to point those judgments out and call the people to repent because of them. So it often sounds as though Joel and other prophets are calling the people to repent just because of the temporal judgments, but in fact, they are ultimately calling the people to repent because of their sin. Their sin has invited God’s wrath and that wrath comes in two ways: primarily as the destruction and removal of covenantal blessings because of the nation’s disobedience, and secondarily as destruction and removal of the resources the people used to sin. You could call this the ironic curse. It is as though God has equipped Joel with an environment of or the threat of loss and suffering so he can then effectively preach God’s mercy for those who turn to Him because God’s chastening. I can think of two examples that might illustrate this: the good news of Christ’s righteous life, His death, and His resurrection haven’t nearly the impact on the mind and heart of an individual as when they are first brought to recognize the sorry state of their affairs through the application of the Law and the despair that is wrought on the soul by trying to keep it. The environment of suffering which was produced by God’s temporal judge, His army, would make the prospect of His mercy all the more sweet, and thus drive some to repentance. It is also much like those of us who spank our children. We do not call them to repent just so they can avoid the pain of being spanked, which would just be manipulation. Certainly, we can point to that pain like Joel points out the loss of temporal goods, but ultimately, we actually call them to repent of the sin that has lead to the judgment represented in the pain of the spanking. So too, Joel ultimately calls the people to repent of their sin that lead to the judgment represented in the pain of invasion, destruction and exile.

Exposition on Joel - 17- Verse 7

     Here again, in verse 7 specifically, the verb usage is past tense which seems to indicate that this tragedy has happened or is ongoing. Again, there is the possibility that this verb tense is “prophetic perfect” like in the oracles of other prophets. In that case, these events are yet future, but Joel uses this emphatic literary devise to promote the certainty of these future actions if the people do not repent; in other words, they are so certain to happen that he speaks of them as though they have already happened. The invasion of an army would likely be an extended event. As mentioned before, this invasion of Judah could have been on any one of three historical occasions. Whatever the case, whether this invasion has happened or whether it will happen, the army destroyed the vine and fig tree, causing the people to mourn the loss of their substances, which would hopefully cause them to lament their sin and cry to God for mercy like Joel does in verses 19-20.

Verse 7b—“…their branches are made white.” In this portion of the passage, though I believe here the prophet is speaking specifically about the invasion of an army of men, Joel seems to allude to the type of destruction inflicted by locusts. Locusts would literally have ravaged the land and a swarm of them would strip all the bark off the limbs of fig, olive and grape vines, exposing the raw, white limb under the bark; the nakedness of the half eaten trees signifies the terrible state in which the land would be left. But an army of men would be no less devastating on the crops in the land and this description dovetails nicely with the army being figuratively described as a swarm of locusts.

Exposition on Joel - 16- Verse 6

     V. 6a, “⁶For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number” introduces the army, noting its strength and size. The bitter irony here is that, in Gen. 12:2, 15:5, and 17:2-6, God had promised Abraham that He would make from His Seed a powerful nation, great in number. But here in v. 6a we see that God nurtured another nation, powerful and numerous so to exact His justice on the nation He called His own. Verses 6b and 7 provide us with a more direct description of this terrible foe. Verse 6 answers the “why” question that we might ask at the end of verse 5. In other words, “Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.”, why is the wine cut off? Verse 6 tells us that the invading nation is strong and innumerable, and its teeth are like lion’s teeth. Now we see the destruction that was first blamed on the swarm of locusts is now being attributed to an army of men from a foreign nation. Joel draws on a second animal description. The people would have feared lions, being aware of the destruction they were capable of inflicting with their teeth. So Joel paints a picture in their minds of Judah’s people being torn apart by the jaws of a lion. Helpless as a lamb, they fall victim to the fierce army whose weapons cut through the nation like a lion’s teeth cut through flesh. Consequently, verses 7-13 could appear to be a set of some sort because Joel described the effects that the enemy had on the people and the Land, and called for them to lament those effects, and he does this in a “back and forth” manner—describing the situation then calling for lamentation, then describing another situation and calling another group to lament.