Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joel 1:17
The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
17. The grains shrivel (R.V. marg.) under their shovels (or hoes)] unable to withstand the scorching heat. This is the only rendering which the existing text will permit [32] ; but the last word especially is not satisfactory. Merx (p. 100 f.) examines the passage at some length; but his restoration is not convincing.
[32] Grains, lit. things parted (cf. Syr. perd). A.V. is rotten follows Ibn Ezra and Kimchi in explaining the Heb. ‘bhsh from the Aram, ‘aphash, to rot; but the meaning is unsuitable (for rotting is not an effect of drought), and the Arab. ‘abisa, to be dried up (esp. of dirt) both agrees better phonetically and yields a preferable sense. is derived obviously from to sweep away (Jdg 5:21, of a torrent; so also in Arab. and Syr.): in Arab. the corresponding word means a broom for sweeping away mud &c., also (now) a shovel, and in Palestine ( PEFQSt., 1891, p. III), a hoe, and in Aram. a shovel for removing ashes (Num 4:14, &c.). The Arab. gurf does not mean gleba terrae (Keil), but (Lane, Arab. Lex. p. 411) the water-worn bank of a stream. Clod (Heb. , Job 21:33; Job 38:38) would not be a probable generalization even of a word signifying properly masses of earth swept away by a stream.
garners ] lit. treasuries, store-houses, a word, in itself, of wider meaning than “garner”: cf. 1Ch 27:27-28 (for wine and oil); 2Ch 32:27 (for money and other valuables); Neh 13:12, &c.
are laid desolate broken down ] being empty, and falling into disrepair through disuse.
barns ] not the usual word (Deu 28:8, &c.), but another, not found elsewhere, though nearly resembling the word found in Hag 2:19.
is withered ] sheweth shame, fig. for fails, as Joe 1:10 ; Joe 1:12.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The seed is rotten under the clods – Not only was all to be cut off for the present, but, with it, all hope for the future. The scattered seed, as it lay, each under its clod known to God, was dried up, and so decayed. The garners lay desolate, nay, were allowed to go to ruin, in hopelessness of any future harvest.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. The seed is rotten under their clods] When the sprout was cut off as low as possible by the locusts, there was no farther germination. The seed rotted away.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The seed; called so from the seedsmans scattering it abroad when he soweth it, and in this place only so used, for aught I can observe, and yet this use of it here is justified by all the following words; the grain which is sown for the seed against next spring.
Is rotten; is putrefied, grown musty and fruitless; nor is this word any where else used in Scripture. Under their clods, and earth, from under which the seed covered should spring up, but now, as unsound, rotten, and fruitless seed, is lost under it.
The garners, or storehouses, treasuries of corn, in which it was kept for future use,
are laid desolate; either run to ruin, because the owners, discouraged with the barrenness of the seasons, would not repair them; this will intimate that this judgment lasted some years, and is better ground for it than the four sorts of vermin repeated one after another, in Joe 1:4; or else desolate, being pulled down, and the materials employed for other uses, till they may have corn to keep in them.
The barns, in which they lodged their unthrashed corn,
are broken down; neglected, and without repair;
for the corn is withered; there was no use of them, no corn to be laid up, all withered, and therefore the barns were not regarded.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. is rotten“is driedup,” “vanishes away,” from an Arabic root[MAURER]. “Seed,”literally, “grains.” The drought causes the seeds to loseall their vitality and moisture.
garnersgranaries;generally underground, and divided into separate receptacles for thedifferent kinds of grain.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The seed is rotten under their clods,…. Or “grains” z of wheat or barley, which had been sown, and, for want of rain, putrefied and wasted away under the clods of earth, through the great drought; so that what with locusts, which cropped that that did bud forth, and with the drought, by reason of which much of the seed sown came to nothing, an extreme famine ensued: the Targum is,
“casks of wine rotted under their coverings:”
the garners are desolate; the “treasuries” a, or storehouses, having nothing in them, and there being nothing to put into them; Jarchi makes these to be peculiar for wine and oil, both which failed, Joe 1:10;
the barns are broken down; in which the wheat and barley had used to be laid up; but this judgment of the locusts and drought continuing year after year, the walls fell down, and, no care was taken to repair them, there being no, use for them; these were the granaries, and, as Jarchi, for wheat particularly:
for the corn is withered; that which sprung up withered and dried away, through the heat and drought: or was “ashamed” b; not answering the expectation of the sower.
z “grana”, Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Tarnovius, Cocceius, Bochartus. So Ben Melech, who observes they are so called, because they are separated and scattered under the earth. a “thesauri”, Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Vatablus, Piscator. b “confusum est”, V. L. “puduit”, Drusius; “pudore afficit”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He shows the cause of the evil, Rotted have the grains in the very furrows. For they call seeds פרדות peredut from the act of scattering. He then calls grains by this name, because they are scattered; and he says that they rotted in the fields when they ought to have germinated. He then adds, The granaries halve become desolated and the barns have been pulled down; for there was no use for them. Hence we conclude, that sterility had become most grievousand perpetual; for if the people had been only afflicted by famine for a few harvests or for one year, the Prophet would not have spoken thus. The famine must then have been, as it has been already stated for a long time. Let us now proceed —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) The corn is withered.The results of the terrible drought, coincident with the ravages of the locusts, are now described. The ancient versions present difficulty and variety in the exact rendering of this verse, owing to several words occurring in it being not found elsewhere in Holy Scripture. On the whole the English text seems correct and satisfactory.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Joe 1:17. The seed is rotten, &c. Rotted. Whoever considers the authentic accounts given of the depredations of locusts in the year 1748 in our own country, wherein they were found burrowing under ground, and consequently destroyed the seeds under the clods, thereby rendering the gardens desolate, must own that this part of the description is applicable to the locusts: though Dr. Sharpe observes, “that these calamities are the natural consequence of war, and not the work of locusts; and that the whole is a picture of a country, not only pillaged and laid waste, but also deprived of its inhabitants; which was the truth of the case, they having been carried into captivity.” See his Second Argument, p. 333.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joe 1:17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
Ver. 17. The seed is rotten under their clods ] It lieth buried or drowned with excessive rain and moisture, corrupting the seed soon after it was sown: and that which was not so marred was afterwards, when it came to be grain, dried up with excessive heat.
The corn is withered
“ Si queries peccent homines sua fulmina mittat
Iupiter, exiguo tempore inermis erit. ”
The seed, &c. Note the Figure of speech Anabasis (App-6) in this verse.
seed: Heb. grains, Gen 23:16
Reciprocal: Gen 7:21 – General Isa 5:10 – one Isa 19:7 – every Jer 14:4 – the plowmen Joe 1:10 – field Mal 2:3 – I will
Joe 1:17. These conditions are to he understood in the same light as such verses as Joe 1:9-12. Whether it was ail to come literally or figuratively, ihe cause of it was the evil conduct of the nation.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary