“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” 2 Peter 1:20 – 2:1
Verses 1-2 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. 2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
Note: This writer believes the book of Joel, as applied in the natural physical world, concerns the people of the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, and any remnant of people from the ten northern tribes or Israel that was taken into captivity by the nation of Assyria. However, this writer throughout this study refers to “the nation Israel” due to the land mass of Palestine. After all, when Babylon conquered Assyria, the captive northern tribes were again captives of another foreign nation.
This writer also believes the book of Joel, as applied in the spiritual sense of the Kingdom of God, concerns the coming of the LORD Jesus Christ to the people of Israel.
The writings of Joel, like other prophets, contain word pictures or metaphor. The words create a picture of something that can be applied to the actual thing being written about. And the picture can often be applied to something else later in history which is called a “similitude of prophecy”. So a prophecy may have been fulfilled, but that fulfillment may happen again at a later time under different circumstances.
The name, Joel, means “Jehovah is God”. The name, Pethuel, means “vision of God”. So since it was the custom of the Jews to name their children with names that had significance to the parents and the family, it would appear that both Joel and his father had a knowledge and reverence for the things of God. The name, Pethuel, only occurs this one time in Scripture, so it would also appear that this name was not a common name like Joshua or Mary or Simeon. Since nothing is coincidence in Scripture, this writer believes that God raised up Pethuel for the purpose of producing and raising a Godly son that would be His prophet to the nation Israel.
To “hear this” and to “give ear” means to pay attention. Joel first addresses the “old men” because old men have a memory of the past. Therefore they would be able to answer his question regarding the situation of which he was prophesying at the time of his writing: had anything like what was going to happen ever been experienced in the old men’s days or the days of their fathers?
Verse 3 Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
The Word that God gave Joel to bring forth or to prophesy was for all people including the children. Joel wanted the information to be passed down to future generations and so he commanded the people to tell it to their children and to command their children to tell it to their children and so forth. This would keep the Word of God in the remembrance of the people from generation to generation. Why? Because the prophesy Joel was presenting had not happened yet but was/is future.
Verse 4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
A palmerworm is a type of caterpillar that feeds on the leaves of fruit trees, whereas a locust is a type of grasshopper that eats all kinds of vegetation. The cankerworm may have been a locust in the early stage of development, or a type of inchworm or caterpillar. All of these insects eat vegetation and can cause starvation in areas where the crops are devastated by their invasion. This verse is a picture of complete devastation. In the natural, all vegetation is gone. In the spiritual, the world, the flesh and the Devil take away that which God has given.
Verse 5 Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
In the natural, an invasion of these insects would wipe out all vineyards and therefore the crop of grapes that would produce the new wine. This would lead to a shortage in wine for those who drink it for pleasure or for forgetting due to intoxication. Since wine was not all alcoholic but often pressed out juice which was not fermented, it was often used in place of water under certain circumstances, so this would be a hardship.
Application: Spiritually, what is the significance of the new wine in the verse above? It represents the blood of the LORD Jesus Christ and the New Testament. “And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him. And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” Luke 22:14-20
Verse 6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
The beast system represented by a Lion was the one world government of Babylon in which the prophet Daniel lived and worked and wrote the prophetic book of Daniel. It is believed that the prophet Joel wrote this book between 835 and 800 B.C. which would have been before the captivity and exile of the Jewish people to Babylon around 600 B.C.. So the nation referred to in the verse above would have been Babylon under the leadership of King Nebuchadnezzar.
Verse 7 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.
When a conquering army went through the land of a nation, they would take what crops or agricultural stores were available to feed their army and they would destroy the rest to create starvation in that nation. The vine and fig tree is metaphor for the nation Israel. The Hebrew word translated as “waste” is “shammah” and it means waste, horror, or that which is appalling. The Hebrew word translated as “barked” is “qatsaphah” and it means snapping or splintering, or something that is fragmented. From an agricultural perspective, to bark a tree is to remove a portion of bark extending completely around the trunk which will cause the tree to die because the protective covering between the tree and the world is removed. So the picture here is of the nation Israel being cast away or made captive by the nation compared to a lion which was Babylon.
Application: The nation Israel allowed the world, the flesh, and the Devil into their lives, rejected their God, and so lost His protection, making them ripe for being conquered by a more powerful nation. Likewise, if Christian believers allow the world, the flesh and the Devil into their lives, they are exposed like the barked fig tree and can die spiritually leading to rejection of the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Verse 8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
This is a picture of a woman who never marries and raises a family. In days of old it was a stigma for a woman to not marry and she would have been ridiculed by the other women and, if not supported by her father, she may have been financially in distress as well. Without marriage there would be no children to continue the blood line which could be the end of that genetic line. So the picture here is of the nation Israel destroyed by a future conquering nation which happened when taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar. However, the similitude of this prophecy was fulfilled when the nation Israel in 70 A.D. was destroyed by the Romans and the Jews were scattered abroad. This was the end of their genetic bloodline as all records kept in the Temple were destroyed and no Jew today can prove that they are descendants from Abraham, Issac and Jacob without DNA studies. And the DNA studies that have been done have shown the present day Jews to be descendants from the ancient nation of Khazaria. So the prophet Joel is seeing and writing about future events which he knows will bring grief and sorrow and regret to the people of Israel.
Verse 9 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’S ministers, mourn.
All Temple sacrifices ended when Babylon captured Jerusalem and took the people into captivity. But they were re-instituted when some of the Jews returned to their land during the reign of King Cyrus, only to cease forever in 70 A.D. when the Temple was destroyed as predicted by the LORD Jesus Christ. “And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Mark 13:2
Verse 10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
The Hebrew word translated as “wasted” is “shadad” and it means to deal violently with, devastate, ruin, destroy or spoil. The Hebrew word translated as “languisheth” is “amal” and it means to be weak, to droop, to be exhausted or to grow feeble. Metaphorically, this verse continues the picture of complete devastation. The land is not being worked, the field is not being harvested or cared for, the corn is not being eaten, the new wine is drying up, and the oil is spoiling as the people are not there to work the land or to use the crops.
Verse 11 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
In the natural, an invading army eats of and tramples the fields and the farmers are unable to farm so there is no commerce or money being made. Wheat and barley were very important grains in Israel’s agricultural economy. They provided bread for food, but they were also sacrificed at the Temple unto the LORD and were used as barter or payment for other goods. So wheat was a measure of an individual’s or a nation’s wealth. In the New Testament, wheat is metaphor for Christian believers or the children of God. The parable of the wheat and the tares can be found in Matthew chapter 13. In the Gospel of Luke wheat is again metaphor for the people of God and chaff is metaphor for the ungodly who will be consigned to the fires of Hell. “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.” Luke 3:17
Verse 12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
Again Joel presents a picture of complete devastation. Fruit trees, like the field crops, no longer produce fruit and die, and unlike crops that can be sowed each year, fruit trees take years to mature and yield fruit. These trees mirror the emotions of the people. Like the fruit trees, it would take years for their situation to improve if it was going to. They are hungry and poor and conquered so there is no joy, and any hope of returning to a productive land and happy life is not in their immediate future.
Application: The nation Israel rejected the LORD, and as a result their joy is pictured as withering away like the life of the fruit trees. Spiritually, joy comes from knowing, loving and obeying the LORD. There is no other remedy.
Verse 13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
The Hebrew word translated as “gird” is “chagar” and it means to put on a belt or to bind on. Because of the long robes worn by the men in Bible times, in order to travel quickly or to work, a belt was put on that would hike up the robe so that movement was easier. So the picture here could be that the priests were to get ready to travel into captivity and therefore there was to be lamenting and sorrow, and it could be that the priest were getting ready to work but could not as Temple sacrifice had ceased and so there was to be lamenting and sorrow. Sackcloth was worn as a demonstration of mourning or humiliation. This verse was a call to the religious leaders to repent. The prophetic events had not happened yet so there was time for the religious leaders to heed Joel’s warning from God, to repent, and to lead the people of the nation into repentance and righteousness. Of course, this did not happen.
Verse 14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
Now God, through the prophet Joel, is calling for national repentance.
Application: Rejection of God by an individual or a nation removes His protection and then devils move in and cause pain, suffering and sorrow. But if an individual or a nation will repent and be obedient to God, He will replace His hedge of protection. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
Verse 15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
“The day of the LORD” is a reference to judgement and punishment from Almighty God. In this prophecy, the judgement and punishment was going to be for the nation Israel and this was going to be accomplished by war and captivity by another nation. In other prophecies, “the day of the LORD” is referring to the end of time and the ushering in of eternity. It is very clear that God is allowing the destruction as the prophet Joel states that a destruction shall come from the Almighty.
Application: Throughout the history of Israel and of other nations, God has used one nation to punish another. However today evil men, with no particular allegiance to a country, plot and carry out wars for the purpose of killing people, breaking things, stealing resources and wealth, and gaining power. But God allows it. Ultimately, He is in charge of all things, and evil men and devils can only go as far as He will allow them to go for the fulfillment of His purpose and prophecy. As long as you, the Christian believer, are serving and loving Him with your whole heart, He will hedge you in with His protection so that the journey through life in this fallen world will safely lead to Heaven and life eternal.
Verse 16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
The prophet Joel is foretelling that the day would come when there would be an inability to perform rituals in the Temple. The Jews believed that if the Temple was destroyed, the world would come to an end. So this statement should have caused the people to worry if they had had ears to hear and had understanding and believing hearts. But the words of the prophet Joel were not heeded.
Verse 17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
God’s blessing is gone. The seed does not even sprout but rots in the ground. Therefore the garners or storehouses are empty and the barns break down from lack of use and care and/or because of destruction by the invading army. This leads to forced starvation and death. This is a picture of desolation that is lengthy. All of this calamity does not happen quickly, but over time which makes it even more painful for the people of Israel.
Application: Seed in the natural brings new life. Spiritually, when the seed of the Gospel is sown and people repent, there is new life spiritually. But just as the physical nation Israel reached a point that their seed would not grow and they faced starvation and death, so a believer can let that seed of the Gospel die which results in no spiritual growth, spiritual starvation, and spiritual death. The parable of the sower teaches this clearly. See Matthew chapter 13 for the full discourse by the LORD Jesus Christ. “But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.” Matthew 13:20-22
Verse 18 How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
The prophet Joel covers all aspects of this coming desolation and includes the animals which would suffer because of the judgement and punishment of a wicked people who rejected their God. As a result of the animals being hungry due to the devastation of the fields, crops and trees, they become barren and do not reproduce and they die from starvation. For a nation that is based on agriculture, the picture being shown by the prophet Joel is dismal and one of hopelessness.
Application: When Christian believers allow themselves to become spiritually hungry (no time with the LORD in prayer and Bible study) they do not reproduce fruit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.” Galatians 5:22 “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;” Ephesians 5:9 Believers can “die” to the things of God and face eternity in Hell.
Verse 19 O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field.
The picture of devastation and ruin continues, but there is also a picture of a cleansing by fire of the land which God saw as defiled by mankind’s sin and mankind’s shedding of blood. Armies often burned the land and villages to prevent the people from inhabiting them. As travelers from other nations passed through the burned land, it would be clear that judgement had occurred in the nation Israel.
Application: “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. Numbers 11:1 “And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense. Numbers 16:35 “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” Deuteronomy 4:24 “For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:29 Scripture says that the final judgement of the Earth will be by fire. The final judgement for unrepentant sinners is eternal fire in the Lake of Fire. Heat is used to sterilize and remove pathogens, to remove debris, and to remove garbage. Verse 19 above is a picture of the judgement that is to come to all the world to remove mankind’s sin and the debris and garbage that accompanies the sin.
Verse 20 The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness. (Joel 1)
Animals know their Creator and He knows them and their needs. “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?” Luke 12:6 When judgment and punishment comes to a people or nation, the entire creation is negatively impacted and adversely affected. Sin hurts all living creatures.
Application: Looking at the verses in this chapter from the prophetic view of the coming of Jesus Christ, the prophet Joel is saying the following as paraphrased by this writer. Listen to me, everyone young and old. Have you seen or heard of this in the past or has your ancestors? Tell your children and the succeeding generations what I am going to say, the Word from the LORD. A swarm of evil spirits lead by Satan has destroyed my people. They are like devouring insects or a great army of a foreign nation. But you have been blinded by your lusts. These evil spirits are like lions seeking who they can devour. They have ruined the fruit my people were supposed to produce. They have taken away the joy my people had when serving me. They have polluted the priests and the religious system I put in place to remind you of me and of my future plan to come to you. Because of the rebellion and sin in my people, the land and all that is in it suffers. My fig tree and vine, natural Israel, is spiritually feeble and weak. No good things are produced. Call a nation wide assembly and repent of your sin and rebellion and cry out to me. For a day is coming that will bring judgement and destruction where your religious system will be cut off and your nation will be destroyed. (70 A.D.) My Spirit, as the rivers of waters, will dry up, and my provision and protection will I remove.