Exposition on Joel -29- 2:1-5

In this first phrase we see represented the common custom of the trumpet sound before an event. And we are aware of the voice that John heard sounded like a trumpet, and the trumpet of the angel sounded before pouring out God’s wrath. Just as in 1:2, the people are here called to attention. This time they were called to war. And the battle was to take place at Jerusalem; as the term, Holy Mt. Zion would have undoubtedly referred. At this point I think we can begin to develop a cumulative understanding of the term, The DotL. We can take 1:15, 2:1, and 2:11 and start this process. Combining the data we get from those 3 verses I think this can be said: all the inhabitants of the land should tremble because the great DotL is coming. That Day is near at hand and it is an awesome thing like the Almighty from whom mighty ruin comes. In verse 2, the army camped round about Jerusalem is described as a black gloom and darkness. It may have looked like an approaching swarm of locusts. Joel reiterates here what he had said about this invader back in 1:2, it was a tragedy the likes of which, they had never seen before and never would again. Joel’s intention was to impress upon them the sheer magnitude of the event. In typical prophetic fashion, fire in verse 3 kindles thoughts of God’s wrath; it is characteristic God’s wrath. The army signified destruction of massive proportion, and what image more quickly and completely, as though it has a mind of its own, destroys the surroundings and instills abject fear than the force of fire? It is difficult to control and unrelenting as it causes pain beyond belief. This image of Eden and fire are not unacquainted. In the progress of Scripture we see other places compared to Eden. Before the invader came in the land was something to be desired but afterward the army left it a scorched wilderness. It’s like Joel is using the images of Heaven and Hell to describe the complete difference in the before and after landscapes. As we look at verses 4-5 we see that great and powerful people spread upon the mountains was like a company of horses pulled chariots behind them. They generated a great deal of noise and barreled down off the mountains surrounding Jerusalem with such dexterity and speed that Joel described them as leaping; they leapt from hilltop to hilltop until they ascended the hill to the city and entered as quickly as they began. Israel never employed the use of horses in battle as frequently and effectively as other nations did. Thus this image of an army of men mounted on horseback should have easily stricken them with fear.