34 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Joel 2 In this chapter a further account is given of the judgment of the locusts and caterpillars, or of those who are designed by them, Joe 2:1; the people of the Jews are called to repentance, humiliation, and fasting, urged from the grace and goodness of God, his jealousy and pity for his people, and the answer of prayer that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain,.... This is spoken to the priests, whose business it was to blow the trumpets for calling solemn assemblies to meet in Zion, the temple built there, called from thence the holy mountain of God. Here the trumpet is ordered to be blown with a broken quivering voice, a tarantantara,...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
In this chapter we have, I. A further description of that terrible desolation which should be made in the land of Judah by the locusts and caterpillars, ver. 1-11. II. A serious call to the people, when they are under this sore judgment, to return and repent, to fast and pray, and to seek unto God for mercy, with directions how to do this aright,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness,.... Alluding to the gloomy and thick darkness caused by the locusts, which sometimes come in prodigious numbers, like thick clouds, and darken the air; so the land of Egypt was darkened by them, Exodus 10:15; historians and travellers relate, as Bochart (f) has shown, that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
A fire devoureth before them, and behind them aflame burneth,.... This is not to be understood of the heat of the sun, or of the great drought that went before and continued after the locusts; but of them themselves, which were like a consuming fire; wherever they came, they devoured all green grass, herbs, and leaves of trees, as fire does...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The appearance of them [is] as the appearance of horses,.... in their running, as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; they came with, as much swiftness and eagerness, with as much fierceness and courage, as horses rush into the battle. Bochart (h) has shown, from various writers, that the head of a locust is in shape like that of a horse; and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Like the noise of chariots on the tops of that mountains shall they leap,.... The motion of the locusts is leaping from place to place; for which the locusts have legs peculiarly made, their hindermost being the longest; wherefore Pliny (i) observes, that insects which have their hindermost legs long leap locusts; to which agrees the Scripture...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Before their face the people shall be much pained,.... Or, "at their presence"; at the sight of them they shall be in pain, as a woman in travail; into such distress an army of locusts would throw them, since they might justly fear all the fruits of the earth would be devoured by them, and they should have nothing left to live upon; and a like...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They shall run like mighty men,.... Like men of war, in a hostile way, as soldiers run upon their enemy with undaunted courage and bravery. Bochart from Pisidas describes the locusts' manner of fighting, who says, they strike not standing, but running: they shall climb the wall like men of war; scale the walls of cities as besiegers do; walls and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Neither shall one thrust another,.... Press upon another, thrust him out of his place, or push him forward, or any ways straiten and distress him, or in the least hinder him in his progress: they shall walk everyone in his path; or "highway" (o); everyone should have his path, and keep in it, and it should be as roomy to him as if he had a highway...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They shall run to and fro in the city,.... Leap about from place to place, as locusts do; see Isaiah 33:4; and as the Chaldeans did when they became masters of the city of Jerusalem; they ran about from place to place to seize upon their spoil and plunder: they shall run upon the wall; which before they climbed, now they shall run upon, and go...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The earth shall quake before them,.... The inhabitants of it, because of the desolating judgments they bring with them, and those enemies that are signified by them: the heavens shall tremble; being obscured by them: the sun and moon shall be dark; the locusts sometimes come in such large numbers as to intercept the rays of the sun. Pliny (t) says...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army,.... Either the army of the locusts, whom Pliny (u) calls "pestis deorum", "the plague of the gods"; and the Arabians frequently style them the army of God. It is a tradition of theirs that locusts fell into the hands of Mahomet, with this inscription on their backs and wings, "we are the army of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore also now, saith the Lord,.... Before this terrible and intolerable day, which is near at hand, comes; before these judgments and calamities threatened take place, though just at hand; serious repentance is never too late, now is the accepted time; see Lu 19:42; turn ye [even] to me with all your heart; against whom they had sinned, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And rend your heart, and not your garments,.... Which latter used to be done in times of distress, either private or public, and as a token of grief and sorrow, Genesis 37:34; nor was it criminal or unlawful, the apostles themselves used it, Acts 14:14; nor is it absolutely forbidden here, only comparatively, that they should rend their hearts...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Who knoweth [if] he will return and repent,.... Which some understand of man, and of his returning and repentance; either thus whosoever he be that knows the ways of repentance, he will return, and God will repent of this evil: which sense is mentioned by Kimchi and Ben Melech: or he that knoweth that iniquity is on him will return and repent; so...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Blow the trumpet in Zion,.... For the calling of the people together to religious duties, which was one use of the silver trumpets made for and blows by the priests, Numbers 10:2; sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; [See comments on Joe 1:14].
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Gather the people,.... The common people, all the inhabitants of the land, Joe 1:14; summon them to meet together in the temple, in order to humble themselves before God for their sins, and implore his mercy, and seek his face to remove his judgments, or avert them: sanctify the congregation; see that they are sanctified and prepared for a fast,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar,.... Not the altar of incense which stood in the holy place; but the altar of burnt offering, where the priests used to stand and do service; but now having nothing to do of that kind, they are called upon to weep and pray between that and the porch of the temple;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then will the Lord be jealous for his land,.... Or "zealous" for it; for the honour of it, and the good of its inhabitants, and for the glory of his own name, it being the chief place in the world for his worship and service; and his indignation will be moved against those who have brought desolation on it: and pity his people; as a father his...