5 12<\/strong>. All classes are to unite in lamenting this calamity, which has not only (1) deprived them of some of their most valued luxuries, Joe 1:5-7<\/em><\/span>, but also (2) interrupted the public worship of God, Joe 1:8-10<\/em><\/span>, and (3) even left them destitute of the means of subsistence, Joe 1:11-12<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n Awake, ye drunkards<\/em> ] viz. from the sleep of intoxication (Gen 9:24<\/span>; Pro 23:35<\/span>), which the ruin of the vintage will soon render impossible.<\/p>\n howl<\/em> ] in wild and desperate grief: so Joe 1:11<\/em><\/span> ; Joe 1:13<\/em><\/span><\/em>. Comp. on Amo 8:3<\/span>.<\/p>\n because of the<\/em> sweet wine<\/strong> ] Heb. ‘ss<\/em>: see on Amo 9:13<\/span>.<\/p>\n from your mouth<\/em> ] where it is a source to you of gratification.<\/p>\n Awake, ye drunkards, and weep – <\/B>All sin stupefies the sinner. All intoxicate the mind, bribe and pervert the judgment, dull the conscience, blind the soul and make it insensible to its own ills. All the passions, anger, vain glory, ambition, avarice and the rest are a spiritual drunkenness, inebriating the soul, as strong drink doth the body. : They are called drunkards, who, confused with the love of this world, feel not the ills which they suffer. What then is meant by, Awake, ye drunkards and weep, but, shake off the sleep of your insensibility, and oppose by watchful lamentations the many plagues of sins, which succeed one to the other in the devastation of your hearts? God arouse those who will be aroused, by withdrawing from them the pleasures wherein they offended Him. Awake, the prophet cries, from the sottish slumber of your drunkenness; awake to weep and howl, at least when your feverish enjoyments are dashed from your lips. Weeping for things temporal may awaken to the fear of losing things eternal.<\/P><\/p>\n Joe 1:5-9<\/span><\/p>\n Awake, ye drunkards, and weep.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The insensibility and misery of the drunkard<\/strong><\/p>\n The prophet now endeavours to awaken certain characters in the nation to an earnest sense of the woe that has overtaken them, and to deep repentance, that it may be averted. His first warning cry is to the drunkard. The evils of intoxication are often intimately connected with national plagues, and require that earnest ministries should be directed against them.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Intoxicating drink has a tendency to darken the intelligence of man.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Intoxicating drink has a tendency to deaden the moral susceptibilities of man. These drunkards of Judah were not merely mentally blind to the calamities which had come upon their country, but were morally incapable of estimating their due social effect.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Intoxicating drink has a tendency to destroy the conscience of man. These drunkards of Judah probably did not consider that they were working their own moral degradation, and that they were inviting the retribution of heaven. They imagined that they were enjoying the plenty they possessed, and that they were the happiest of men. The prosperity of fools shall slay them.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>He is liable to the misery of self-loathing. We can readily imagine that these drunkards of Judah would now and then awake from their sottish slumber, and that in the moment of bodily pain they would be seized with sad thoughts of their own degradation.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>He is liable to the misery of social contempt. Drunkards are the object of social scorn, they are incapable of industrious work, they are injurious to the common good. They prostitute great abilities. They misuse golden opportunities. They place manhood on a level with the brute.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>They are liable to the misery of unsatisfied appetite. The drunkards of Judah would howl because the new wine was cut off from their mouth. They had abused the gifts of providence, and now they are no longer allowed to enjoy them. Sin brings the wealthiest of sinners to want. Plenty at one time is no guarantee against penury at another. In the next life the appetite which sin has created will be for ever unsatisfied; then the wine will indeed be cut off from the mouth.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>That the drunkard is incapable of the qualities necessary for true citizenship.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>That many national calamities are occasioned by the drunkard.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>That the most effective ministries of the Church should be directed against this, terrible evil. (J. S. Exell, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Judgments adapted to sins<\/strong><\/p>\n Prevailing Sins are often visited with corresponding judgments. The Lord in His righteous dealings withholds those gifts of His providence which have been abused. He takes from an ungodly people the means of gratifying their lusts, and leads them to repentance by afflictions which are not capriciously ordered, but with exactest wisdom suited to their character. Thus, to check a thoughtless indifference to religion, He sends forth pestilences which strike down thousands and spread universal dismay. To restrain from habits of self-indulgence and extravagance, He causes a blight to fall upon the earth, bringing on scarceness and want. To put a rein upon the unsatiated pursuit of wealth, He allows a panic on the Stock Exchange. So here the prophet denounces no other woe against the drunkards than the deprivation of the wine they had abused. It is not unlikely that this part of the prophecy has a literal as well as symbolical aspect, that it inveighs against intemperance as well as idolatry. It was sensuality that first led the Israelites into idolatry. Persistence in indulgences so debilitated their minds and blinded their understandings as to cause them to apostatise from Jehovah, and fall down before images of wood and stone. On no class of persons do Gods judgments fall more heavily than on those who embrute their souls with the intoxicating delights of idolatrous worship. (C. Robinson, LL. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Woe to drunkards<\/strong><\/p>\n Satan has three or four grades down which he takes men to destruction. One man he takes up, and through one spree pitches him into eternal darkness. That is a rare case. Very seldom, indeed, can you find a man who will be such a fool as that. Satan will take another man to a grade, to a descent at an angle about like that of the Pennsylvania coal-shute or the Mount Washington rail-track, and shove him off. But that is very rare. When a man goes down to destruction Satan brings him to a plane. It is almost a level. The depression is so slight that you can hardly see it. The man does not actually know that he is on the down grade and it tips only a little towards darkness–just a little. And the first mile it is claret, and the second mile it is sherry, and the third mile it is punch,, and the fourth mile it is ale, and the fifth mile it is porter, and the sixth mile it is brandy, and then it gets steeper and steeper and steeper and the man gets frightened and says, Oh, let me get off! No, says the conductor, this is an express train, and it does not stop until it gets to the Grand Central Depot at Smashupton. (T. De Witt Talmage.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number<\/strong>. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The agencies of Divine retribution<\/strong><\/p>\n It is generally the way of God to meet sin by appropriate retribution; hence He destroys the vines of the drunkard. Some men are only reached through the lowest propensities of their nature, and are only conscious of penalty when their carnal wants are unsupplied.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>These agencies are numerous; The locusts did not come in a single flight, but in incredible and successive swarms, Heaven has an infinite resource of retributive messengers waiting its behest, It can soon darken our lives by a throng of hostile energies.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>These agencies are strong. True, these locusts were in themselves weak and diminutive creatures, They were not like the proud monarch of the forest, and had not the majestic appearance or strength of the lion or the bear. They were insects. And so the most trivial agencies of the universe, when sent by God to punish sin, become mighty and resistless. Then the superior intelligence of man will avail nothing against them. Then the pride of the mighty will be brought to the dust.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>These agencies are united, The locusts came upon the land of Judah as though they were animated by one national policy. The ants and conies are designated a people (Pro 30:25-26<\/span>), indicative of the wisdom by which they are Divinely taught to act. Hence the term nation gives no favour to the view that the locusts are symbolical era foreign invasion. And so the retributive agencies of heaven often come upon the wicked in terrible combination. The agencies of Eternal Justice are unconsciously in sympathy with each other, and advance in one vast army to execute the penalty of sin.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Their equipment is appropriate. The teeth of the locust are said to be harder than stone. They appear to be created for a scourge; since to strength incredible for so small a creature, they add saw-like teeth admirably calculated to eat up all the herbs in the land. The providence of God in executing the penalty of sin generally employs those agencies whose natural constitution the best fit them for the end contemplated. Heaven knows the most appropriate instrumentalities by which to punish the sinner.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Their equipment is fierce. These locusts were armed as with the cheek-teeth of a great lion. Thus they would be able to bite off the top, branches, and boughs of trees. And truly there are times when the judgments of heaven come fiercely upon the wicked, and destroy all that is precious to them.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>They desolate things of the greatest value. These locusts laid waste the noblest and most valuable fruit-trees of the land, which the Lord had given to His people for their inheritance. The messengers of Eternal Justice will not spare the vines and fig-trees of a sinful life. They strike at the root of all secular prosperity.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>They desolate things to the utmost extent. These locusts attacked the herbage, fruit, leaves of trees, the young shoots, and their bark. Everything in the country was devoured and made clean bare. And so the agencies of Divine retribution sometimes spread their desolation over a vast area, over the entire history of a nation, throughout the entire circumstances of a family, or of an individual. They leave no token of former splendour.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>They desolate things to the remotest period. The agencies of Divine retribution often achieve a destruction which is felt to the end of life.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>That the retributive agencies of heaven are countless in number.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>That the retributive agencies of heaven are effective in equipment.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>That the retributive agencies of heaven spare not the most sacred possessions. (J. S. Exell, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n And<\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>barked my fig-tree<\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong>—<\/em><\/p>\n The fig-tree barked<\/strong><\/p>\n We all have our fig-trees, and very early we become proprietors. Do these fig-trees continue to live and to thrive? Experience and observation furnish a prompt and sufficient reply. To bark a tree is to destroy it. To bark our fig-tree is to remove that in which we have found chief pleasure and advantage.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>When God renders that which has been useful to us useless, and that which has been pleasant, obnoxious; and that which has been helpful, injurious.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>When God removes something from us which He has given to us, and which we have taken to our hearts as all-important, and as supremely precious.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>By breaking up some work of ours in which we have found much pleasure; or by rooting up something which we have planted, it may be with tears, it may be with joy.<\/p>\n Barked fig-trees<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Does He do it unkindly? No! He is too good to be unkind.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Does He do it unwisely? No! He is too wise to err.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>God barks our fig-trees in mercy, and not in wrath. We are prone to think too much of those trees; to bestow too much thought and affection upon them, and to expect too much happiness from them.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>Barked fig-trees destroy worldliness. Thomas Erskine used to say: Education would cease <\/strong>if we and our circumstances fitted each other. If our position in this world were always one of unmixed comfort, Im afraid we should never stretch our desires for a better. It is often said that the world satisfies no one; but, as a matter of fact, most men are so satisfied with it that they feel no concern for a better country, that is, a heavenly. Now, what is God to do with such people if their souls are not to be lost, but saved? They must be rendered dissatisfied with their earthly condition, and be made to welcome the hope of a happier state beyond the grave. And what is so likely to do this as some dispensation which snatches from them the objects of their inordinate affection?<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>Barked fig-trees help to mature Christian character. In the midst of our heaviest trials and deepest woes we can sing of mercy as well as of judgment.<\/p>\n (1<\/strong>) Jobs fig-tree was barked (Jam 5:11<\/span>).<\/p>\n (2<\/strong>) Jacobs fig-tree was barked. The loss of Joseph was regarded by his family as a great domestic calamity.<\/p>\n (3<\/strong>) Pauls fig-tree was barked. He suffered imprisonment at Rome; some false brethren created division and strife in the Church.<\/p>\n (4<\/strong>) Barked fig-trees help to develop latent qualities. It was when Paul Gerdhart was banished from his church and manse, for preaching unpalatable truth, that he wrote that inspiring hymn, Give to the winds thy fears, etc.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Recognise the providence of God in all the events of life.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Moral goodness is the aim of all Gods dispensations.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Trust Gods providence. (H<\/em>. Woodcock.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 5. Awake, ye drunkards<\/B><\/I>] The general destruction of vegetation by these devouring creatures has totally prevented both harvest<\/I> and vintage<\/I>; so that there shall not be wine<\/I> even for necessary<\/I> uses, much less for the purposes of debauchery<\/I>. It is well known that the ruin among the vines by locusts prevents the vintage for several years after.<\/P> <\/p>\n Awake:<\/B> great drinkers of intoxicating liquors are apt to sleep and be secure, the prophet doth therefore here call to them, as to sleepers, and by one apt word expresseth a double duty, vigilance of mind as well as of the body; so may this be paralleled with Rom 13:11<\/span>; 1Th 5:6<\/span>; 1Pe 5:8<\/span>, or Eph 5:14<\/span>. <\/P> Ye drunkards; <\/B>riotous livers, such as Pro 23:30-32<\/span>; Isa 5:11<\/span>,12<\/span>, whose life is nothing but a continued feasting with choicest wines, and in excess, such as Amo 6:4-6<\/span>, describeth. <\/P> Weep and howl; <\/B>lament your condition with sober tears, for the sorrows coming upon you are just matter of weeping; nor will an ordinary degree of weeping suffice, cry out and howl, like men surprised with insupportable miseries, Isa 13:6<\/span>; 14:31<\/span>; 15:2<\/span>. <\/P> All ye drinkers of wine, <\/B>who offend by an inordinate use of wine, for it is not to be understood of every one that drinketh wine, but of such as before are called drunkards, who are in love with wine. <\/P> Because of the new wine, <\/B>which is sweet and pleasing to the taste, and no doubt drank without stint or measure by men of that age, against which Joel prophesieth. <\/P> For it is cut off from your mouth; <\/B>suddenly cut off, even when you are ready to drink it, and totally, all cut off by these devouring vermin; which as it was a narrative of what was already done, refers to that waste and famine by the locusts; as it is allegorical and predictive, it will be more dreadfully fulfilled when the enemies of Judah shall destroy all. <\/P> <\/p>\n 5. Awake<\/B>out of your ordinarystate of drunken stupor, to realize the cutting off from you of yourfavorite drink. Even the drunkards (from a Hebrew<\/I> root, “anystrong drink”) shall be forced to “howl,” thoughusually laughing in the midst of the greatest national calamities, sopalpably and universally shall the calamity affect all. <\/P> wine . . . new wine<\/B>“New”or “fresh wine,” in Hebrew,<\/I> is the unfermented, andtherefore unintoxicating, sweet juice<\/I> extracted by pressurefrom grapes or other fruit, as pomegranates<\/I> (So8:2<\/span>). “Wine” is the produce of the grape alone, and isintoxicating (see on Joe 1:10<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n Awake, ye drunkards, and weep: and howl, all ye drinkers of wine<\/strong>,…. Who are used to neither, either to awake or to howl, being very prone to drowsiness upon their drinking bouts, and to mirth and jollity in them; but now should be awake, and sober enough, not as being a virtue in them, but through want of wine; and for the same reason should howl, as follows:<\/p>\n because of the new wine, for it is cut off from your mouth<\/strong>; the locusts having spoiled the vines and eaten the grapes, no new wine could be made, and so none could be brought in cups to their mouths; nor they drink it in bowls, as they had used to do; and which, being sweet and grateful to their taste, they were wont to drink in great abundance, till they were inebriated with it; but now there was a scarcity, their lips were dry, but not their eyes. The word, Kimchi says, signifies all liquor which is squeezed by bruising or treading.<\/p>\n In order that Judah may discern in this unparalleled calamity a judgment of God, and the warning voice of God calling to repentance, the prophet first of all summons the wine-bibbers to sober themselves, and observe the visitation of God. Joe 1:5<\/span>. “Awake, ye drunken ones, and weep! and howl, all ye drinkers of wine! at the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.<\/em> Joe 1:6<\/span>. For a people has come up over my land, a strong one, and innumerable: its teeth are lion’s teeth, and it has the bite of a lioness.<\/em> Joe 1:7<\/span>. It has made my vine a wilderness, and my fig-tree into sticks. Peeling, it has peeled it off, and cast it away: its shoots have grown white.” <\/em> to awake out of the reeling of intoxication, as in Pro 23:35<\/span>. They are to howl for the new wine, the fresh sweet juice of the grape, because with the destruction of the vines it is taken away and destroyed from their mouth. Joe 1:6<\/span> and Joe 1:7<\/span> announce through whom. In the expression goi alah <\/em> (a people has come up) the locusts are represented as a warlike people, because they devastate the land like a hostile army. Goi <\/em> furnishes no support to the allegorical view. In Pro 30:25-26<\/span>, not only are the ants described as a people ( am <\/em>), but the locusts also; although it is said of them that they have no king. And am <\/em> is synonymous with goi <\/em>, which has indeed very frequently the idea of that which is hostile, and even here is used in this sense; though it by no means signifies a heathen nation, but occurs in Zep 2:9<\/span> by the side of am <\/em>, as an epithet applied to the people of Jehovah (i.e., Israel: see also Gen 12:2<\/span>). The weapons of this army consist in its teeth, its “bite,” which grinds in pieces as effectually as the teeth of the lion or the bite of the lioness ( ; see at Job 29:17<\/span>). The suffix attached to does not refer to Jehovah, but to the prophet, who speaks in the name of the people, so that it is the land of the people of God. And this also applies to the suffixes in and in Joe 1:7<\/span>. In the description of the devastation caused by the army of locusts, the vine and fig-tree are mentioned as the noblest productions of the land, which the Lord has given to His people for their inheritance (see at Hos 2:14<\/span>). , , literally, for crushing. The suffix in chasaphah <\/em> refers, no doubt, simply to the vine as the principal object, the fig-tree being mentioned casually in connection with it. Chasaph <\/em>, to strip, might be understood as referring simply to the leaves of the vine (cf. Psa 29:9<\/span>); but what follows shows that the gnawing or eating away of the bark is also included. Hishlkh <\/em>, to throw away not merely what is uneatable, “that which is not green and contains no sap” (Hitzig), but the vine itself, which the locusts have broken when eating off its leaves and bark. The branches of the vine have become white through the eating off of the bark ( sargm <\/em>, Gen 40:10<\/span>).<\/p>\n (Note: H. Ludolf, in his Histor. Aethiop.<\/em> i. c. 13, 16, speaking of the locusts, says: “Neither herbs, nor shrubs, nor trees remain unhurt. Whatever is either grassy or covered with leaves, is injured, as if it had been burnt with fire. Even the bark of trees is nibbled with their teeth, so that the injury is not confined to one year alone.”)<\/p>\n The Prophet adds this verse for the sake of amplifying; for when God sees men either contemptuously laughing at or disregarding his judgments, he derides them; and this mode the Prophet now adopts. ‘Ye drunkards,’ he says, ‘awake, and weep and howl.’ In these words he addresses, on the subject in hand, those who had willfully closed their eyes to judgments so manifest. The Jews had become torpid, and had covered themselves over as it were with hardness; it was then necessary to draw them forth as by force into the light. But the Prophet accosts the drunkards by name; and it is probable that this vice was then very common among the people. However that might be, the Prophet by mentioning this instance shows more convincingly, that there was no pretense for passing by things, and that the Jews could not excuse their indifference if they took no notice; for the very drunkards, who had degenerated from the state of men, did themselves feel the calamity, for the wine had been cut off from their mouth. And this expression of the Prophet, “ Awake ”, ought to be noticed; for the drunkards, even while awake, are asleep, and also spend a great portion of time in sleep. The Prophet had this in view, that men, though not endued with great knowledge, but even void of common sense, could no longer flatter themselves; for the very drunkards, who had wholly suffocated their senses, and had become thus estranged in their minds, did yet perceive the judgment of God; though drowsiness held them bound, they were yet constrained to awake at such a manifest punishment. What then does this ignorance mean, when ye see not that you are smitten by God’s hand? <\/p>\n To the same purpose are the words, Weep and howl. Drunkards, on the contrary, give themselves up to mirth, and intemperately indulge themselves; and there is nothing more difficult than to make them to feel sorrow; for wine so infatuates their senses, that they continue to laugh in the greatest calamities. But the Prophet says, Weep and howl, ye drunkards! What then ought sober men to do? He then adds, Cut off is the wine from your mouth. He says not, “ The use of wine is taken away from you; ” but he says, from your mouth. Though no one should think of vineyards or of winecellars or of cups, yet they shall be forced, willing or unwilling, to feel the judgment of God in their mouth and in their lips. This is what the Prophet means. We then see how much he aggravates what he had said before: and we must remember that his object was to strike shame into the people, who had become thus torpid with regard to God’s judgments. <\/p>\n As to the word עסיס osis, some render it new wine. עסס osas is to press; and hence עסיס osis is properly the wine that is pressed in the wine-vat. New wine is not what is drawn out of the bottle, but what is pressed out as it were by force. But the Prophet, I have no doubt, includes here under one kind every sort of wine. Let us go on. <\/p>\n (5) Awake, ye drunkards<\/strong>i.e.,<\/em> awake from such an insensibility as wine causes. The people failed to see the hand of God in the terrible calamity, like an acted parable, of the locusts. Insensate, as the revellers in the halls of Belshazzar, they carried on their feasting even while the enemies were at the city gates.<\/p>\n It is cut off from your mouth.<\/strong>Either joy and gladness, as given in the LXX., or the means of indulgence have been suddenly taken away.<\/p>\n 5-12<\/strong>. <\/strong> The prophet calls upon all to lament, because all luxuries are cut off (Joe 1:5-7<\/span>); the worship of Jehovah has suffered through the interruption, or at least threatened interruption, of the meal offerings and the drink offerings (8-10); and the means for the sustenance of life are destroyed and cut off by the locusts (Joe 1:11-12<\/span>). Joe 1:5<\/span>. <\/p>\n Wine <\/strong> Frequently spoken of as a blessing from God (Hos 2:8<\/span>, etc.), which was often abused. One of the results of abuse is the blinding of the spiritual faculties. One of the six woes in Isa 5:8<\/span> ff., is against the dissipating nobles who, as a result of their revelries, “regard not the work of Jehovah, neither have they considered the operation of his hand.” Though the judgment has fallen, the stupefied drunkards are not yet aware of it. <\/p>\n Awake <\/strong> It is high time to awake from the sleep of intoxication (Gen 9:24<\/span>; Pro 23:35<\/span>). <\/p>\n Weep <\/strong> If no other and higher motives appeal to them, at least the loss of the wine should arouse them; the supply will soon be exhausted, the luxurious living, the revelries, must cease. <\/p>\n New <\/strong> [“sweet”] wine <\/strong> Hebrews ‘asis, <\/em> “that which is pressed out”; therefore, “the newly pressed wine,” “sweet wine,” “must.” In Joe 3:18<\/span>, it is regarded as a blessing from God (Amo 9:13<\/span>). In Isa 49:26<\/span>, it is referred to in a way that would indicate its intoxicating character (compare Son 8:2<\/span>). The exhortation was very appropriate if the vintage was near at hand when the locusts appeared and laid waste the vineyards (Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>that the drunkard is insensible to the most important concerns of life, Awake. The prophet knew that it was the tendency of intoxicating drink to cast men into an unholy slumber, and to render them dangerously insensible to the most important things around them.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>That the drunkard is exposed to the most abject misery. And howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>that the drunkard is in immediate need of the most earnest ministry which can be addressed to him. We cannot but see in this verse that the prophet addressed the drunkards of Judah in earnest and faithful speech. He called them by their right name. He urged them to thoughtfulness and repentance. There is need that the pulpit of our age should take up his cry. Lessons–<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>That the agencies of divine retribution are great in their number, For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>That the agencies of divine retribution are well equipped for their work. Whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek-teeth of a great lion.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>That the agencies of divine retribution are desolating in their effect. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree: he hath made it Clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>That the agencies of Divine retribution are productive of sad contemplation in the mind of the truly patriotic. For a nation is come up upon my land. The prophet here speaks in his character of representative of the people of God, and sees in the desolation of his country an occasion for sorrow. Hence the prophet, regarding the land as a Christian patriot, was pained by its desolation, and sought to remove the cause of the Divine anger. Piety makes men truly patriotic. Lessons–<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>When may God be said to bark our fig-tree?<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>By what means does god bark our fig-trees? God uses various means. He may permit some devil, commission some angel, allow or employ a fellow-man to bark our tree. He may use some inanimate and unconscious agent. Or He may effect the destructive work by some influence upon our minds and hearts.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>With what intent is this done? What is the end of the Lord? Does He do this wantonly, cruelly, ignorantly, or unwisely? Nay, His object is either correction or prevention.<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>How should a man of god demean himself when God barks his fig-tree? Submit quietly. Reverently ask, Why has God done this? Learn to use all temporal things without abusing thorn. (Samuel Martin.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>Look at some of these barked fig-trees. High hopes are often changed into cruel disappointments. Bright prospects of coming happiness are turned, like fairy gold, into withered leaves. A young mans fig-tree is a healthy body and high spirits, and that tree is barked when affliction seizes him, and bodily weakness and mental depression make him as pale and helpless as a downright old man. A workmans fig-tree is regular work and a living wage; that tree is barked when work is scarce and wages low. The tradesmans fig-tree is a prosperous business; providence smiles upon him, friends multiply, and everything promises a golden harvest, when suddenly he meets with disappointment, his schemes are thwarted, the bank fails, and he is doomed to spend a helpless and penniless old age. A familys fig-tree is the father and husband; and it is barked when he is smitten down by death. The old mans fig-tree is a gladsome old age, which he hopes to spend with his wife and children about him; and that tree is barked when he suddenly dies before he has realised a thousandth part of his anticipated enjoyment. The invalids fig-tree is some glimmering hope of returning health; and it is barked when the doctor tells him that his disease is incurable, and that he must die.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Who barks our fig-trees? The prophet, looking up to God, said, Thou hast barked my fig-tree. The affairs of men, and especially of good men, are under Gods wise, omniscient, benevolent, and almighty control. Were there no particular, there could be no general providence, for it seems quite impossible to take care of the whole ii the separate and dependent parts be neglected. He holds the helm of the universe, and He will bring us into the desired haven.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>Why does God bark our fig-trees?<\/p>\n
IV. <\/strong>What are the lessons that this subject suggests?<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n