Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joel 1:16
Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, [yea], joy and gladness from the house of our God?
16. the meat ] food, the reference being in particular to the products of the soil mentioned in Joe 1:10. Meat in the A.V., and sometimes (as here) in the R.V. as well, is not restricted, as in modern English, to the flesh of animals (comp. on Amo 5:22).
before our eyes ] The position of these words shews that they are the emphatic words in the sentence. The fact which they emphasize is the helplessness of those who witness the process going on, and their inability to stay it. This is the regular force of this, or similar expressions, in Hebrew: comp. Isa 1:7 (“your land, strangers are devouring it in your presence ”); Deu 28:31 (“Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof”); Psa 23:5 (“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies,” who experience the mortification of being unable to overthrow it).
joy and gladness from the house of our God ] There would be no first-fruits, for instance, to be presented in the Temple with gladness (Deu 26:1-2; Deu 26:10-11). The feasts of Weeks and of Ingathering, which marked respectively the completion of wheat-harvest, and of vintage, could no longer be observed with the rejoicings which naturally accompanied them (Deu 16:10 f., 13 15); and the number of persons offering peace-offerings, with the sacred meals which formed their distinctive concomitant (cf. Deu 12:6-7), would naturally be much fewer than usual.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
16 20. In justification of the alarm just expressed, the prophet points again to the terrible condition to which the country has been reduced: anything which the locusts may have spared has been parched by the drought: the water brooks are dried up; cattle and human beings alike are perishing from thirst.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Is not the meat cut off before our eyes? – The prophet exhibits the immediate judgment, as if it were already fullilled in act. He sets it in detail before their eyes. When the fruits of the earth were now ripe, the grain now calling for the reaper, and the grapes fully ripe and desiring to be pressed out, they were taken away, when set before their eyes for them to enjoy. Yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God. The joy in the abundance of the harvest was expressed in one universal thanksgiving to God, by fathers of families, sons, daughters, menservants, maidservants, with the priest and Levite. All this was to be cut off together. The courts of Gods house were to be desolate and silent, or joy and gladness were to be turned into sorrow and wailing.
: So it befell those who rejected and insulted Christ. The Bread of life Which came down from heaven and gave life to the world Joh 6:48, Joh 6:51, the grain of wheat, which fell into the ground and died, and brought forth much fruit Joh 12:24, that spiritual wine which knoweth how to gladden the heart of man, was already in a manner before their eyes. But when they ceased not to insult Him in unbelief, He, as it were, disappeared from their eyes, and they lost all spiritual sustenance. All share in all good is gone from them. Joy and gladness have also gone from the House which they had. For they are given up to desolation, and abide without king or prince or sacrifice Hos 3:4. Again, the Lord said, Man, shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which cometh forth out of the Mouth of God Mat 4:4. The word of God then is food. This hath been taken away from the Jews, for they understood not the writings of Moses, but to this day the veil is upon their heart 2Co 3:15. For they hate the oracles of Christ. All spiritual food is perished, not in itself but to them. To them, it is as though it were not. But the Lord Himself imparts to these who believe in Him a right to all exuberance of joy in the good tilings from above. For it is written, The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish; but He thrusts away the desire of the wicked Pro 10:3.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joe 1:16; Joe 1:18
Is not the meat cut off before our eyes.
Sin a great deprivation
I. That sin deprives man of his cherished hope. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes?
1. This deprivation was unexpected. The ripe crops were seen by the people of Judah, who were rejoicing in the prospect of a safe harvest, when to their astonishment all was destroyed. And sin deprives sinners of their expected pleasures just when they are within sure reach, and turns in an unexpected moment the fairest prospects into barren wastes, it is the way of God to disappoint the evil-doer of his cherished anticipations.
2. This deprivation was calamitous. The people of Judah were dependent upon the ripe crops for the supply of their temporal wants, and would not be able to provide anything as a substitute for them. And sin does not merely deprive man of those things which are for his luxury, but even those things which are essential to his bare comfort.
3. This deprivation was righteous. The people of Judah might imagine that it was very unjust thus to deprive them of the harvest for which they had laboured, and that too at the very moment they were expecting to gather it in for use. They would be unable to understand the equity and meaning of such a visitation. But it is a righteous thing that sin should be punished, and in the manner most likely to restrain it, and this is often done by the destruction of a cherished hope.
II. That sin deprives the sanctuary of its appropriate joy. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our Lord?
1. That joy should ever be associated with the service of the sanctuary. Joy and gladness always belonged to the ancient temple; thither the Jews went to give thanks, and to acknowledge themselves the blessed of the Lord. But now they could not rejoice in the presence of God, because of the calamities which were upon them.
2. That sin deprives the sanctuary of the joy which should ever be associated with it. The sins of the people of Judah rendered it impossible for them to participate in their usual harvest festivals, and divested the Divine presence of its accustomed joy. And sin will extinguish the bright lights of the sanctuary; it will hush its sweet music, and stay the spring of joy which God has destined should flow from the temple into human souls.
III. That sin deprives the seed of its necessary vitality. The seed is rotten under the clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. Thus we see that sin perverts the natural order of Gods universe, it renders the seed which is full of life destitute of all vitality. The seed is precious; mans sin makes it useless. God can plague mans mercies in the germ or in the barn, it is impossible to escape His retribution.
IV. That sin deprives the brute of its refreshing pasture. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture, yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. All the life and interests of the universe arc one, and one part of it cannot suffer without involving the rest; hence the sin of man affects the whole. Lessons–
1. That men who imagine that they gain anything by sin are deceived.
2. That sin divests the most sacred places of their destined gladness.
3. That sin brings famine where God intended there should be plenty. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The seed is rotten under their clods.
National calamities
The Supreme Ruler of the world is righteous and beneficent. What, then, is the cause of national calamities? It is sin.
I. Some of the prevailing sins which have brought us into our present situation. The vices which, on account of their enormity and uncommon spread, may be considered as, in a certain degree, peculiar to the present age.
1. Ingratitude. No nation ever experienced more of the kindness of heaven. Our climate is desirable; our minerals are varied and abundant; our situation favours our independence; our form of government is just and efficient. Internal peace is a blessing we have long enjoyed, Has our gratitude increased in proportion as our blessings have been multiplied? Consider, too, our religious privileges. What returns have we made to God for these mercies?
2. Pride. This has been called the universal passion. It is by no means peculiar to our country and times. Yet it may be called one of the peculiar sins of our age. Would to God that pride were confined to the State! Alas! its ravages have extended to the Church.
3. Infidelity has of late been greatly increasing. There is public avowed scepticism, by which revelation in general is censured and rejected.
4. Luxury and licentiousness of manners prevail to a most alarming degree. Was there ever a period, not excepting the age of the second Charles, when profanity, intemperance, seduction, and other vices were so common? Lewdness and intemperance are not confined to the more wealthy. Our prosperity, it may be said, is the cause of all these disorders. But shall we dare to palliate our vices by that which aggravates them in an inconceivable degree?
5. The prevailing influence of a worldly spirit.
6. The spirit of irreligion. As seen in the practice of profane swearing, in the omission of family duties, and in the neglect of Divinely instituted ordinances.
II. The means of deliverance. Consider those important duties without which there is neither safety nor hope.
1. We must return to God in the exercise of faith.
2. The review of our sins ought to fill us with grief.
3. Our faith and contrition must be accompanied with a universal reformation of our hearts and conduct. Exercise faith in God. Present to Him the sacrifices of a broken spirit. Be concerned to mortify the whole body of sin. These are duties beyond the strength of fallen humanity. The Spirit alone can enable us to perform them. To Unwearied diligence let us add fervent supplication to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He would have mercy upon us, and cause His Spirit to descend as a spirit of faith, of contrition, and of holiness. (Alex. Black.)
Potting seeds
This is the first new stroke of pathos which the poet adds to his previous description; but mark how he multiplies stroke on stroke. As though it were not enough to lose all mirth in the passing day, the heart of the people is torn with apprehension for the future. The very grain in the earth has rotted under the clods, so that there is no prospect of a crop in the coming year to compensate for the loss of this years harvest. Smitten by the burning rays of the sun, denied the vivifying touch of dew or rain, the germ has withered in the seed. The husbandmen, hopeless of any reward for their toils, fold their hands in indolent despair; they suffer their garners to moulder away, their barns to fall. Why should they repair barn and storehouse when the corn is withered, even the seed-corn? (Samel Cox, D. D.)
Gods voice in things terrible
How does God utter His voice? In things terrible by terror, so that the feeling He inspires finds utterance in voice of man. In nature, by objects which He creates. In history, by results which He brings about. In calls to repentance, by the concurrence of calamity with our sense of sin, whether an instinct trained or rather a sentiment inbreathed by Divine communion. When such sentiments run through a people, kindled by prophets or organised by priests, the national temples echo with them; public religion embodies them; signs of joy are suspended, and prayers go up to the unsearchable Dweller of eternity in words which are the words of men, seeking to move the mind of God, yet breathing a life which Gods breath implanted. (Rowland Williams, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Is not the meat? the question does most vehemently affirm, our food, what we should eat, i.e. all provision we should live upon.
Cut off; devoured by locusts, or withered with drought, it is perished.
Before our eyes; we see it, it is not so far off as what is foretold, it is under our eye.
Yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God: sacrifices fail much, and priests have scarce enough to live upon, while free-will offerings, first-fruits, and tithes amount to very little, not sufficient to feast the sacrificers and offerers, who on such occasion did use to rejoice in the house of God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. Compare Joe1:9, and latter part of Joe1:12.
joywhich prevailed atthe annual feasts, as also in the ordinary sacrificial offerings, ofwhich the offerers ate before the Lord with gladness andthanksgivings (Deu 12:6; Deu 12:7;Deu 12:12; Deu 16:11;Deu 16:14; Deu 16:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Is not the meat cut off before our eyes?…. Such an interrogation most strongly affirms; it was a matter out of all question, they could not but see it with their eyes; it was a plain case, and not to be denied, that every eatable thing, or that of which food was wont to be made, was cut off by the locusts, or the drought, or by the Assyrian or Chaldean army:
[yea], joy and gladness from the house of our God; the harvest being perished, there were no firstfruits brought to the temple, which used to be attended with great joy; and the corn and vines being wasted, no meat offerings made of fine flour, nor drink offerings of wine, were offered, which used to make glad God and man; nor any other sacrifices, on which the priests and their families lived, and were matter of joy to them; and these they ate of in the temple, or in courts adjoining to it. So Philo y the Jew says of the ancient Jews, that
“having prayed and offered sacrifices, and appeased the Deity, they washed their bodies and souls; the one in lavers, the other in the streams of the laws, and right instruction; and being cheerful, turned themselves to their food, not going home oftentimes, but remaining in the holy places where they sacrificed; and as mindful of the sacrifices, and reverencing the place, they kept a feast truly holy, not shining either in word or deed.”
y De Plantatione Noe, p. 237.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“Is not the food destroyed before our eyes, joy and exulting from the house of our God? Joe 1:17. The grains have mouldered under their clods, the storehouses are desolate, the barns have fallen down; because the corn is destroyed. Joe 1:18. How the cattle groan! the herds of oxen are bewildered, for no pasture was left for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer.” As a proof that the day of the Lord is coming like a devastation from the Almighty, the prophet points in Joe 1:16 to the fact that the food is taken away before their eyes, and therewith all joy and exulting from the house of God. “The food of the sinners perishes before their eyes, since the crops they looked for are snatched away from their hands, and the locust anticipates the reaper” (Jerome). , food as the means of sustenance; according to Joe 1:19, corn, new wine, and oil. The joy is thereby taken from the house of Jehovah, inasmuch as, when the crops are destroyed, neither first-fruits nor thank-offerings can be brought to the sanctuary to be eaten there at joyful meals (Deu 12:6-7; Deu 16:10-11). And the calamity became all the more lamentable, from the fact that, in consequence of a terrible drought, the seed perished in the earth, and consequently the prospect of a crop the following year entirely disappeared. The prophet refers to this in Joe 1:17, which has been rendered in extremely different ways by the lxx, Chald., and Vulg., on account of the . . , , and (compare Pococke, ad h. l.). signifies to moulder away, or, as the injury was caused by dryness and heat, to dry up; it is used here of grains of corn which lose their germinating power, from the Arabic bs , to become dry or withered, and the Chaldee , to get mouldy. P e rudoth , in Syriac, grains of corn sowed broadcast, probably from parad , to scatter about. Megraphoth , according to Ab. Esr., clods of earth (compare Arab. jurf , gleba terrai ), from garaph , to wash away (Jdg 5:21) a detached piece of earth. If the seed-corn loses its germinating power beneath the clod, no corn-harvest can be looked for. The storehouses ( ‘otsaroth ; cf. 2Ch 32:27) moulder away, and the barns ( mamm e gurah with dag. dirim. = m e gurah in Hag 2:19) fall, tumble to pieces, because being useless they are not kept in proper condition. The drought also deprives the cattle of their pasture, so that the herds of oxen and flocks of sheep groan and suffer with the rest from the calamity. , niphal, to be bewildered with fear. ‘Ashem , to expiate, to suffer the consequences of men’s sin.
The fact, that even irrational creatures suffer along with men, impels the prophet to pray for help to the Lord, who helps both man and beast (Psa 36:7). Joe 1:19. “To Thee, O Jehovah, do I cry: for fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has consumed all the trees of the field. Joe 1:20. Even the beasts of the field cry unto Thee; for the water-brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.” Fire and flame are the terms used by the prophet to denote the burning heat of the drought, which consumes the meadows, and even scorches up the trees. This is very obvious from the drying up of the water-brooks (in Joe 1:20). For Joe 1:20, compare Jer 14:5-6. In Jer 14:20 the address is rhetorically rounded off by the repetition of from Jer 14:19.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
He repeats the same thing as before, for he reproaches the Jews for being so slow to consider that the hand of God was against them. Has not the meat, he says, been cut off before our eyes? joy and exultation from the house of our God? Here he chides the madness of the Jews, that they perceived not things set before their eyes. He therefore says that they were blind in the midst of light, and that their sight was such, that seeing they saw nothing: they surely ought to have felt distressed, when want reached the temple. For since God had commanded the first-fruits to be offered to him, the temple ought not by any means to have been without its sacrifices; and though mortals perish a hundred times through famine and want, yet God ought not to be defrauded of his right. When, therefore, there was now no offering nor libation, how great was the stupidity of the people not to feel this curse, which ought to have wounded them more than if they had been consumed a hundred times by famine? We see then the design of the Prophet’s words, that is, to condemn the Jews for their stupidity; for they considered not that a most grievous judgment was brought on them, when the temple was deprived of its usual sacrifices.
He afterwards adds, that joy and gladness were taken away: for God commanded the Jews to come to the temple to give thanks and to acknowledge themselves blessed, because he had chosen his habitation among them. Hence this expression is so often repeated by Moses, ‘Thou shalt rejoice before thy God;’ for by saying this, God intended to encourage the people the more to come cheerfully to the temple; as though he said, “I certainly want not your presence, but I wish by my presence to make you glad.” But now when the worship of God ceased, the Prophet says, that joy had been also abolished; for the Jews could not cheerfully give thanks to God when his curse was before their eyes, when they saw that he was their adversary, and also when they were deprived of the ordinances of religion. We now then perceive why the Prophet joins joy and gladness with oblations: they were the symbols of thanksgiving.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Joe. 1:16.] Food cut off, the joy of festivals and sacrifices banished.
Joe. 1:17. Seed] decayed under the clods. Garners] Storehouses went to ruin and prospects of future harvest were blighted.
Joe. 1:18.] From the homestead attention is directed to the fields. Cattle] bewildered because the plains often cropped yield no pasture. Sheep] seem to mourn the guilt of man.
GREAT NATIONAL CALAMITIES.Joe. 1:16-18
As a proof that the day of the Lord is approaching the prophet sets in detail the judgments that were upon the land. Present prospects were cut off, all future hope frustrated, rotten seed, withered fruits, and desolate land, cause man and beast to mourn.
I. Human sustenance taken away. Is not the meat cut off before your eyes? When the fruits were ripe, the corn ready for the reaper, and the grapes longing to be pressed; when everything was set before their eyes for their enjoyment, they were taken away. God can easily disappoint our expectations. Meat is often cut off from our eyes by sin. True sustenance is in God and in his word. Mans life, even his physical life, is not dependent for its continuance upon bread alone. God has but to will to the subject elements, material and spiritual, and any other means will suffice, as well as bread, to sustain life. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
II. Festive joy cut off. Joy and gladness from the house of our God. Pinched by famine, the offerings for the priest and the temple had perished. Annual feasts and national thanksgivings had departed. The joy, all the deeper because it was the joy of the Lord, the gladness, all the more pure and sweet because it was gladness in the house of their God, had ceased perforce. How sad to be deprived of necessary food and the ordinances of Gods house! When the body is not fed the mind will starve, the morals will suffer. As the brain depends upon the blood for its nourishment, so the soul depends upon God for its health. He imparts to those who love him a joy of exuberance in all the good things of life. None are poor but those who sin and despise the warnings of Gods providence. The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish; but he casteth away the substance of the wicked.
III. National drought prevailed. The land greatly suffered, cattle and herds were distressed, and groaned out their life through want of pasture.
1. The cattle suffered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed. Touch after touch is given. Not only do men suffer, but innocent cattle groan who depend upon their care. The herds of oxen find the oft-cropped plains destitute of pasture. The sheep, which can feed where herds cannot, wander in their pitiful distress and bleat in vain. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
2. The homesteads were destroyed. The barns are broken down. It is not enough to lose joy and mirth. The very seed is rotten under the clods. The prospects of the harvest are destroyed. Vegetation and grass, smitten by the burning sun, have withered. The husbandmen despair, and suffer their barns to break down, and their garners to become heaps of ruins. Thus one mischief is heaped upon another. All nature is touched in sympathy and robed in mourning for mans guilt. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven (Hos. 4:3).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
The husbandman was called to mourning for a threefold calamity that lay upon his tillage (Amo. 5:16). First, immoderate rain in or about seeding; secondly, locusts and other vermin at spring; thirdly, extreme drought after all (Joe. 1:19-20). Thus God followeth sinners with one plague in the neck of another (as he did Pharaoh, that sturdy rebel), till he has made his foes his footstools. To multiply sin is to multiply sorrow (Psa. 16:4); to heap up wickedness is to heap up wrath (Rom. 2:5) [Trapp].
Let us here recall the fact, that it is the Spirit of God who speaks by the mouth of his prophet; for it is to be feared that we do not make enough of the humanity of God, of his intense delight in trees and flowers, in herds and flocks; of his humane care for them, of his tender sympathy with them. The Psalms and Prophecies are full of this Divine humanity, no Prophecy fuller, perhaps, than that of Joel; and in no passage of Joels is that tender, intense humanity more beautifully and pathetically expressed than in the verses (1820) we have just considered [Cox].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Joe. 1:16-18. Nature presents two aspects towards us. If we sin and oppose her, she is stern, implacable, and destructive, charged with storms and thunder, famine and pestilence; if we yield and obey, we secure her blessings, co-operate with her laws, and command her forces. Love and serve God, and nature shall be at peace with thee.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Joe 1:16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, [yea], joy and gladness from the house of our God?
Ver. 16. Is not the meat cut off before your eyes ] Heb. before your eyes: and so it appeareth to be the prophet’s speech, and not a form prescribed by him to the people, by adding the word (saying) to the end of the fourteenth verse, “Cry to the Lord, saying, Alas, for the day,” &c. And it is as if the prophet should say; Do ye not yet see what case you are in? Are ye so stupid and so stout or sturdy, as not to stoop, though starved almost? should not vexation give understanding? are not the fiercest creatures tamed with hard hunger? Will not men in such case buy or beg food of their deadly enemies? O brawny breasts! O horny heart strings!
Yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Is not . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6.
joy and gladness. Ref to Pentateuch (Deu 12:6, Deu 12:7; Deu 16:11, Deu 16:14, Deu 16:15).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the meat: Joe 1:5-9, Joe 1:13, Amo 4:6, Amo 4:7
joy: Deu 12:6, Deu 12:7, Deu 12:11, Deu 12:12, Deu 16:10-15, Psa 43:4, Psa 105:3, Isa 62:8, Isa 62:9
Reciprocal: Rth 1:1 – a famine 1Ki 17:12 – that we may eat it Jer 3:3 – the showers Jer 48:33 – joy Joe 1:9 – meat Joe 1:12 – joy Joe 2:14 – even Amo 1:2 – the habitations Hab 3:17 – the fig tree
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Joe 1:16. The word for meat is defined in the lexicon as food’ because it refers to anything that may be eaten, The prediction is that there was to be a shortage of necessary supplies, Such a condition would render the exercises of God that were in His house a time of solemnity instead of joy and gladness.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joel described the effects of the recent locust plague to encourage his hearers to gather for prayer and fasting. He suggested that similar conditions would accompany the day of the Lord that he had just predicted. The people’s food supply and, therefore, their occasion for rejoicing, had disappeared (cf. Deu 12:7). Drought had followed the denuding of the land by the locusts. Seeds were not germinating due to the lack of moisture. Barns and silos had become empty and had fallen into disrepair, and domesticated animals were starving. Grazing cattle wandered aimlessly looking for vegetation, and even the sheep, which require less grass, were going hungry.