Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joel 1:10
The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
10. the ground mourneth ] the country being personified, as Isa 33:9; Jer 12:4; Jer 12:11; Jer 23:10; cf. on Amo 1:2. Conversely, at harvest time, when the fruits of the earth are abundant, “the vales shout for joy, and sing” (Psa 65:13).
the corn the new wine (or must) the fresh oil ] The three principal products of the soil of Palestine, often mentioned together as a triad of blessings (Deu 7:13; Deu 11:14; Deu 28:51; Hos 2:8), bestowed by Jehovah upon His people, or, it may be, withheld, in the event of their unfaithfulness. The words, though they may be used with reference to the corn in the ears, and the juice in the grapes and the olives, denote more particularly these products after they have been adapted partially for the food, or use, of man. Corn ( dgn) is thus the grain of wheat after it has been threshed and freed from the husk (“from the threshing-floor,” Num 18:27); new wine, or must ( trsh), is the freshly-expressed juice of the grape, sometimes, at any rate, if not always, slightly fermented (Hos 4:11), and described as a sustaining (Gen 27:37), invigorating (Zec 9:17), and exhilarating (Jdg 9:13) beverage; fresh oil ( yitzhr) is similarly the freshly-expressed juice of the olive. On trsh, see more fully the Additional Note at the end of the Book (p. 79). The oil which, when pressed, the fruit of the olive yields, is almost a necessary of life in Palestine: it is used in cooking and for food, where we should employ butter; it is burnt in lamps; it is in habitual use for anointing the person (see on Amo 6:6); it has medicinal virtues (Isa 1:6; Luk 10:34); it was used in ancient times in sacrifice (Lev 2:1; Lev 2:6, &c.), and it was prized as a gift (1Ki 5:11; Hos 12:1; Isa 57:9). Being a valuable commodity, it was subject to tithe (Deu 14:23; Neh 13:5). See further Tristram, N. H. B. p. 373 ff.; Van Lennep, Bible Lands, p. 124 ff.; Whitehouse, Primer of Heb. Antiquities, pp. 104 110.
is dried up ] Better, sheweth shame (cf. R.V. marg.), the ‘new wine’ being personified (cf. Isa 24:7, where it is said to ‘mourn’), just as the ‘ground’ is in the first part of the verse. Comp. of Lebanon (though the Heb. word used is a different one), Isa 33:9.
languisheth ] The same word, said of trees of which the foliage has been stripped off, or is withering, Joe 1:12; Isa 16:8; Isa 24:7; Nah 1:4.
Additional Note on Chap. Joe 1:10 ( trsh)
Trsh occurs thirty-eight times in the O.T. It is mentioned generally as a valued product of the soil, by the side of corn in Gen 27:28; Gen 27:37; Deu 33:28 ; 2Ki 18:32 (= Isa 36:17); Isa 62:8; Hos 2:9; Hos 7:14; Hos 9:2 (implicitly); Zec 9:17; Psa 4:7; Pro 3:10 (implicitly); and by the side of corn and “fresh oil” ( yitzhr) together in Deu 7:13; Deu 11:14; Deu 28:51; Jer 31:12; Hos 2:8; Hos 2:22; Joe 1:10; Joe 2:19; Joe 2:24; Hag 1:11 ; 2Ch 32:28; Neh 5:11; cf. Mic 6:15; and as the highly prized product of the vine, “gladdening God (or gods) and men” (i.e. offered to the former in libations and welcome to the latter at feasts) in Jdg 9:13, and bringing a blessing in Isa 65:8; cf. Isa 24:7. It is mentioned further, also with corn and “fresh oil,” as subject to tithe (Deu 12:17; Deu 14:23; Neh 13:5; Neh 13:12), and the payment of firstfruits (Deu 18:4; Num 18:12 ; 2Ch 31:5; Neh 10:37; cf. Neh 10:39). Lastly, it is mentioned in Hos 4:11, in company with “whoredom and wine,” as “taking away the heart” (i.e. the understanding). From these passages it appears that trsh was a beverage (Isa 62:8), prepared from the fruit of the vine (Isa 65:8; Mic 6:15), and possessed of sustaining (Gen 27:37) and invigorating (Zec 9:17) properties. Hos 4:11 shews further that it was, at least in some cases, fermented; and “gladdening,” in Jdg 9:13, which would naturally, in this connexion, have the force of “exhilarating” (cf. the same word of yayin “wine,” in Psa 104:15), suggests the same inference. Whether, however, trsh denoted always a fermented liquid, is more than we can say. Isa 65:8, “as the trsh is found in the cluster,” might indeed be a poetical expression, not intended to be interpreted literally; but in Joe 2:24, Pro 3:10 it appears to be described as filling the “wine-vat” (see on Joe 2:24) so that (unless it were the custom to leave the grape-juice in this vat for the purpose of fermentation), it would seem to have denoted the unfermented juice of the grape as well. In our ignorance of the precise methods employed by the ancient Hebrews in the manufacture of wine, it is impossible to speak with entire definiteness: but with our present knowledge, it is most just, probably, to the various passages in which trsh occurs, to suppose that it was a comprehensive term, applied both to the freshly-expressed, unfermented juice of the grape (or “must”) [53] , and also to a light kind of wine such as we know, from the classical writers, that the ancients were in the habit of making by checking the fermentation of the grape juice before it had run its full course [54] .
[53] Mrth, which corresponds etymologically in Syriac, is defined by the native lexicographers as “new wine, or must, as it comes forth from the wine-press” (Payne Smith, Thes. Syr. col. 1635).
[54] See the Dict. of Classical Antiquities, s.v. Vinum. Must was sometimes used at once, being drunk fresh after it had been clarified by vinegar. When it was desired to preserve a quantity in a sweet state, it was placed carefully in an air-tight amphora, and deposited in a cool place: it would then keep for a year or more, and was called or semper mustum. It was also preserved by being boiled down to two-thirds or less of its original volume, in which case it became a kind of jelly. Must intended for wine was allowed to ferment, by being exposed to the open air, in large earthenware vessels ( dolia), for nine days; but fight wines were manufactured by the dolia being closed and fermentation checked after five or seven days. In warm countries fermentation begins in the grape-juice a few hours after it has been expressed (Anderlind, Z.D.P.V. xi. 1888, p. 168). On modern Syrian wines, see ib. p. 170 ff.
It has sometimes been supposed [55] that trsh denoted the produce of the vine in general, and it has been rendered for example vine-fruit. But this view is certainly untenable. (1) It is spoken of distinctly as something that is ‘drunk’ (Isa 62:8); and surely the analogy of drinking a ‘cup’ (for the contents of a cup) could not be applied to a mass of ‘vine-fruit.’ (2) It is spoken of as filling the yeeb, or ‘wine-vat’ (Joe 2:24; Pro 3:10): the yeeb, however (see the note on Joe 2:24), was the receiver into which the juice trodden out in the gath ran down: it would contain consequently, not a crushed mass of grapes, or ‘vine-fruit,’ but the expressed juice. (3) Tithe was levied on trsh (Deu 12:17; Deu 14:23); but tithe, as follows from Num 18:27 (cf. Num 18:30), was levied not on the raw produce, but on what came “ from the yeeb,” or wine-vat, which it is evident can have been only the expressed juice. Trsh was in fact the juice, especially the expressed juice, of the grape, just as dgn and yitzhr, with which it is so often conjoined, though they may be used, respectively, with reference to the corn in the ears, and the juice in the olives, denoted more particularly the threshed corn (Num 18:27, “from the threshing-floor”), and oil freshly expressed from the olive-berry.
[55] Especially in the Temperance Bible Commentary.
The clear evidence of these passages cannot be neutralized by the two, which, though they seem at first sight to imply that trsh was a solid, can be readily explained in conformity with the others. The first is Deu 12:17, “Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy trsh, or of thy fresh oil.” The word eat may, however, be used, as a general term, of a liquid ( Deu 12:16 ; Deu 12:23; Deu 14:26, of ‘wine’ and ‘strong drink’); and this usage is the easier in Deu 12:17, as the object joined immediately to eat is corn, and trsh is only attached to it in the second place. The other passage is Mic 6:15, where trsh is the object of drakh, “to tread,” and might consequently be supposed to be a solid. In Isa 16:10, however, drakh has for its object yyin (“wine”), which no one can pretend to be a solid, the reference being to the expressed juice flowing out from under the treader’s feet; and Mic 6:15 may be understood quite naturally in the same sense [56] .
[56] The fullest and most instructive discussion of trsh will be found in A. M. Wilson, The Wines of the Bible (1877), pp. 301 339.
The all but uniform rendering of trsh in the ancient Versions is wine [57] ; and either must or new wine is the rendering adopted by all the principal Hebraists of modern times (Gesenius, Ewald, Hitzig, Delitzsch, Keil, Dillmann, &c.), without exception.
[57] In Hos 4:11, LXX, Pesh., Targ., Symm., Vulg. all have “drunkenness.” Otherwise wine is the uniform rendering of LXX, except Isa 65:8 ( , “grape-stone”), of Pesh. (except 5 times), of Targ. (except 4 times, two being paraphrases). Aq., in accordance with his peculiar principles of translation, rendered (see Field’s Hexapla, on Hos 2:22; also , see ib.), whence Jerome has vindemia, Deu 7:13, Isa 24:7, Neh 10:37; elsewhere always vinum, except Isa 65:8 ( granum).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The field is wasted, the land mourneth – As, when God pours out His blessings of nature, all nature seems to smile and be glad, and as the Psalmist says, to shout for joy and sing Psa 65:13, so when He withholds them, it seems to mourn, and, by its mourning, to reproach the insensibility of man. Oil is the emblem of the abundant graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit, and of the light and devotion of soul given by Him, and spiritual gladness, and overflowing, all-mantling charity.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The field is wasted; the soil that was wont to be fat and fruitful, and did shout with fruits, now lieth waste, horrid to look upon, and such as promises no fruit; the famine in their houses, and the ceasing of the sacrifices in the house of God, is like to be perpetuated.
The land mourneth; the inhabitants of the land, by a usual figure, here called the land.
The corn is wasted; the wheat and barley, their bread corn, is eaten up in its greenness by these devouring locusts, whether in the letter by vermin, or in the figure by the Babylonians.
The new wine is dried up; the word may as well be rendered is ashamed, or confounded; it is then a figurative expression, which this prophet useth, Joe 1:12,17, in the last of which it is rendered withered; if you retain, as well you may, our version, it plainly tells us the heats and drought with them were so great, that the vines were withered, and all their hopes of new wine by this means cut off.
The oil; the olive trees, as the vines, fade too, and promise very little oil.
Languisheth; neither able to send sap from the root to maintain its verdure, nor to put forth berries, or to bring them to maturity. Now as these words declare what barrenness was now upon the land, so it is a plain account of the reason why the priests are called to mourn, and why the meat-offering and drink-offering are cut off; these must cease when that ceaseth which made them up corn, wine, and oil.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. field . . . landdifferingin that “field” means the open, unenclosed country; “land,”the rich red soil (from a root “to be red”) fit forcultivation. Thus, “a man of the field,” in Hebrew,is a “hunter”; a “man of the ground” or “land,”an “agriculturist” (Ge25:27). “Field” and “land” are herepersonified.
new winefrom a Hebrewroot implying that it takes possession of the brain, so that aman is not master of himself. So the Arabic term is from aroot “to hold captive.” It is already fermented, and sointoxicating, unlike the sweet fresh wine, in Joe1:5, called also “new wine,” though a different Hebrewword. It and “the oil” stand for the vine and the olivetree, from which the “wine” and “oil” areobtained (Joe 1:12).
dried upnot “ashamed,”as Margin, as is proved by the parallelism to “languisheth,”that is, droopeth.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The field is wasted,…. By the locust, that eat up all green things, the grass and herbs, the fruit and leaves of trees; and also by the Chaldeans trampling on it with their horses, and the increase of which became fodder for them:
the land mourneth; being destitute, nothing growing upon it, and so looked dismally, and of a horrid aspect; or the inhabitants of it, for want of provision:
for the corn is wasted; by the locusts, and so by the Assyrian or Chaldean army, before it came to perfection:
the new wine is dried up: in the grape, through the drought after mentioned: or, “is ashamed” r; not answering the expectations of men, who saw it in the cluster, promising much, but failed:
the oil languisheth; or “sickens” s; the olive trees withered; the olives fell off, as the Targum, and so the oil failed: the corn, wine, and oil, are particularly mentioned, not only as being the chief support of human life, as Kimchi observes, and so the loss of them must be matter of lamentation to the people in general; but because of these the meat and drink offerings were, and therefore the priests in particular had reason to mourn.
r “erubuit”, Tigurine version, Mercer, Liveleus; “puduit”, Drusius, Tarnovius; “pudefit”, Cocceius. s “infirmatum est”, Montanus. So some in Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet goes on here with the same subject, and uses these many words to give more effect to what he said; for he knew that he addressed the deaf, who, by long habit, had so hardened themselves that God could effect nothing, at least very little, by his word. This is the reason why the Prophet so earnestly presses a subject so evident. Should any one ask what need there was of so many expressions, as it seems to be a needless use of words; I do indeed allow that all that the Prophet wished to say might have been expressed in one sentence, as there is here nothing intricate: but it was not enough that what he said should be understood, except the Jews applied it to themselves, and perceived that they had to do with God; and to make this application they were not disposed. It is not then without reason that the Prophet labors here, and enforces the same thing in many words.
Hence he says, The field is wasted, and the land mourns; for the corn has perished, for dried up has the wine, for destroyed has been the oil. And by these words he intimates that they seeing saw nothing; as though he said, “Let necessity extort mourning from you; ye are indeed starving, all complain of want, all deplore the need of bread and wine; and yet no one of you thinks whence this want is, that it is from the hand of God. Ye feel it in your mouth, ye feel it in your palate, ye feel it in your throat, ye feel it in your stomach; but ye feel it not in your heart.” In short, the Prophet intimates that the Jews were void of right understanding; they indeed deplored their famine, but they were like brute beasts, who, when hungry, show signs of impatience. So the Jews mourned, because their stomach disquieted them; but they knew not that the cause of their want and famine was their sins. It afterwards follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) The new wine.The necessaries and delights of life are all gone: the wine that maketh glad the heart of man, the oil that makes his face to shine, the bread that strengthened mans heart (Psa. 104:15).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Joe 1:10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
Ver. 10. The field is wasted, the land mourneth ] The sacrifices are not only cut off for present, but little hopes left for the future; for the field, that common storehouse, that horreum unde hauriatur, is wasted: Shuddad Sadeh, there is an elegant allusion in the original: as in the following words a personification not inferior to those of the poets, as Luther and Vatablus here note.
The land mourneth
The new wine is dried up
The oil languisheth
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
field: Joe 1:17-20, Lev 26:20, Isa 24:3, Isa 24:4, Jer 12:4, Jer 12:11, Jer 14:2-6, Hos 4:3
the new: Joe 1:5, Joe 1:12, Isa 24:11, Jer 48:33, Hos 9:2, Hag 1:11
dried up: or, ashamed
Reciprocal: Gen 47:13 – fainted Rth 1:1 – a famine Psa 107:37 – which may Isa 15:6 – the grass Isa 24:7 – General Jer 4:28 – the earth Jer 8:13 – there Jer 9:10 – because Jer 23:10 – the land Joe 2:19 – I will send Amo 4:7 – and the Mic 6:15 – General Hab 3:17 – the fig tree Hag 1:6 – have
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Joe 1:10, This verse is a prediction of the condition to come upon the land after the invasion of the Babylonian army.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1:10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: {g} the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
(g) All comfort and substance for nourishment is taken away.