(Calvin, Commentary on Joel, Part 2)
Lecture Thirty-ninth.
"Hear this, ye old men; and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the
land: has this been in your days, and in the days of your fathers?
This declare to your children and your children to their children,
and their children to the next generation: the residue of the locust
has the chafer eaten, and the residue of the chafer has the
cankerworm eaten, and the residue of the cankerworm has the
caterpillar eaten." I have in the last Lecture already mentioned
what I think of this passage of the Prophet. Some think that a
future punishment is denounced; but the context sufficiently proves
that they mistake and pervert the real meaning of the Prophet; for,
on the contrary, he reproves here the hardness of the people, - that
they fell not their plagues. And as men are not easily moved by
God's judgments, the Prophet here declares that God had executed
such a vengeance as could not be regarded otherwise than miraculous;
as though he said, "God often punishes men, and it behaves them to
be attentive as soon as he raises up his finger. But common
punishments are wont to be unheeded; men soon forget those
punishments to which they have been accustomed. God has, however,
treated you in an unusual manner, having openly as it were put forth
his hand from heaven, and brought on you punishments nothing less
than miraculous. Ye must then be more than stupid, if ye perceive
not that you are smitten by God's hand." This is the true meaning of
the Prophet, and may be easily gathered from the words.
"Hear, ye old men", he says. He expressly addresses the old,
because experience teaches men much; and the old, when they see any
thing new or unusual, must know, that it is not according to the
ordinary course of things. He who has past his fiftieth or sixtieth
year, and sees something new happening which he had never thought
of, doubtless acknowledges it as the unusual work of God. This is
the reason why the Prophet directs here his discourse to the old; as
though he said, "I will not terrify you about nothing; but let the
old hear, who have been accustomed for many years to many
revolutions; let them now answer me, whether in their whole life,
which has been an age on the earth, have they seen any such thing."
We now perceive the design of the Prophet; for he intended to awaken
the Jews that they might understand that God had put forth his hand
from heaven, and that it was impossible to ascribe what they had
seen with their eyes to chance or to earthly causes, but that it was
a miracle. And his object was to make the Jews at length ashamed of
their folly in not having hitherto been attentive to God's
punishments, and in having always flattered themselves, as though
God slept in heaven, when yet he so violently thundered against
them, and intended by an extraordinary course to move them, that
they might at last perceive that they were summoned to judgment.
He afterwards adds, "And an ye inhabitants of the land". Had
the Prophet addressed only the old, some might seize on some pretext
for their ignorance; hence he addressed and from the least to the
greatest; and this he did, that the young might not exempt
themselves from blame in proceeding in their obstinacy and in thus
mocking God, when he called them to repentance. "Hear, he says, all
ye inhabitants of the land; has this been in your days or in the
days of your fathers?" He says first, has such a thing been in your
days, for doubtless what happens rarely deserves a greater
consideration. It is indeed true that foolish men are blind to the
daily works of God; as the favor of God in making his sun to rise
daily is but little thought of by us. This happens through our
ingratitude; but our ingratitude is doubled, and is much more base
and less excusable, when the Lord works in an unwonted manner, and
we yet with closed eves overlook what ought to be deemed a miracle.
This dullness the Prophet now reproves, "Has such a thing," he says,
"happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Ye can
recall to mind what your fathers have told you. It is certain that
for two ages no such thing has happened. Your torpidity then is
extreme, since ye neglect this judgment of God, which from its very
rareness ought to have awakened your minds."
He then adds, "Tell it to your children, your children to their
children, their children to the next generation". In this verse the
Prophet shows that the matter deserved to be remembered, and was not
to be despised by posterity, even for many generations. It appears
now quite clear that the Prophet threatens not what was to be, as
some interpreters think; it would have been puerile: but, on the
contrary, he expostulates here with the Jews, because they were so
slothful and tardy in considering God's judgments; and especially as
it was a remarkable instance, when God employed not usual means, but
roused, and, as it were, terrified men by prodigies. Of this then
tell: for "'aleyha" means no other thing than 'tell or declare this
thing to your children;' and further, your children to their
children. When any thing new happens, it may be, that we are at
first moved with some wonder; but our feeling soon vanishes with the
novelty, and we disregard what at first caused great astonishment.
But the Prophet here showed, that such was the judgment of God of
which he speaks, that it ought not to have been overlooked, no, not
even by posterity. Let your children, he says, declare it to those
after them, and their children to the fourth generation: it was to
be always remembered.
He adds what that judgment was, - that the hope of food had for
many years disappointed them. It often happened, we know, that
locusts devoured the standing corn; and then the chafers and the
palmer worms did the same: these were ordinary events. But when one
devastation happened, and another followed, and there was no end;
when there had been four barren years, suddenly produced by insects,
which devoured the growth of the earth; - this was certainly
unusual. Hence the Prophet says, that this could not have been
chance; for God intended to show to the Jews some extraordinary
portent, that even against their will they might observe his hand.
When any thing trifling happens, if it be rare, it will strike the
attention of men; for we often see that the world makes a great
noise about frivolous things. "But this wonder," says the Prophet,
"ought to have produced effect on you. What then will ye do, since
ye are starving, and the causes are evident; for God has cursed your
land, and brought these insects, which have consumed your food
before your eyes. Since it is so, it is surely the time for you to
repent; and you have been hitherto very regardless having overlooked
God's judgments, which have been so remarkable and so memorable."
Let us now proceed.
Joel 1:5
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.
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 pretence 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?"
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 frown 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. As to the word "'asis", some render it new wine. "'asas"
is to press; and hence "'asis" 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.
Joel 1:6,7
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.
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.
Of what some think, that punishment, not yet inflicted, is
denounced here on the people, I again repeat, I do not approve; but,
on the contrary, the Prophet, according to my view, records another
judgment of God, in order to show that God had not only in one way
warned the Jews of their sins, that he might restore them to a right
mind; but that he had tried all means to bring them to the right
way, though they proved to have been irreclaimable. After having
then spoke of the sterility of the fields and of other calamities,
he now adds that the Jews had been visited with war. Surely famine
ought to have touched them, especially when they saw that evils,
succeeding evils, had happened for several years contrary to the
usual course of things, so that they could not be imputed to chance.
But when God brought war upon them, when they were already worn out
with famine, must they not have been more than insane in mind, to
have continued astonied at God's judgments and not to repent? Then
the meaning of the Prophet is, that God had tried, by every means
possible, to find out whether the Jews were healable, and had given
them every opportunity to repent, but that they were wholly perverse
and untamable.
Then he says, "Verily a nation came up". The particle "ki" is
not to be taken as a causative, but only as explanatory, "Verily, or
surely, he says, a nation came up"; though an inference also is not
amiss, if it be drawn from the beginning of the verse: 'Hear, ye old
men, and tell your children;' what shall we tell? even this, that a
nation, &c. But in this form also "ki" would be exegetical, and the
sense would be the same. This much as to the meaning of the passage.
"A nation, then, came up over my land". God here justly claims
the land of Canaan as his own heritage, and does so designedly, that
the Jews might more clearly know that he was angry with them; for
their condition would not have been worse than that of other
nations, had not God resolved to punish them for their sins. There
is here then an implied comparison between Judea and other
countries, as though the Prophet said, "How comes it, that your land
is wasted by wars and many other calamities, while other countries
are at rest? This land is no doubt sacred to God, for he has chosen
it for himself, that he might rule in it; he has here his own
habitation: it then must be that there is some cause for God's
wrath, as your land is so miserably wasted, when other lands enjoy
tranquillity." We now perceive what the Prophet means. A nation, he
says, came up upon my land, and what then? God could surely have
prevented this; he could have defended his own land, of which he was
the keeper, and which was under his protection: how then had it
happened that enemies with impunity inundated this land, having
marched into it and utterly laid it waste, except that it had been
forsaken by the Lord himself?
"A nation, he says, came up upon my land, strong and without
number"; and further, "who had the teeth of a lion, the jaw-bones of
a young lion". The nations had no strength which God could not in an
instant have broken down, nor had he need of mighty auxiliaries, for
he could by a nod only have reduced to nothing whatever men might
have attempted: when, therefore, the Assyrians so impetuously
assailed the Jews they were necessarily exposed to the wantonness of
their enemies, for they were unworthy of being protected, as
hitherto, by the hand of God.
He afterwards adds, that "his vine had been exposed to
desolation and waste, his fig-tree to the stripping of the bark".
God speaks not here of his own vine, as in some other places, in
which he designates his Church by this term; but he calls everything
on earth his own, as he calls the whole race of Abraham his
children: and he thus reproaches the Jews for having reduced
themselves to such wretchedness through their own fault; for they
would have never been spoiled by their enemies, had not God, who was
wont to defend then, previously rejected them; for there was nothing
in their land which he did not claim as his own; as he had chosen
the people, so he had consecrated the land to himself. Whatsoever,
then, enlisted in Judea, was, as it were, sacred to God. Now when
both the vines and the fig-trees were exposed to the depredations of
the unbelieving, it was certain that God no longer ruled there. How
so? Even because the Jews had expelled him. He afterwards enlarges
on the same subject; for what follows, "By denuding he has denuded
it and cast it away", is not a mere narrative; the Prophet here
declares not simply what had taken place; but as we have already
said, adduces more proof, and tries to awaken the drowsy senses of
the people, yea, to arouse them from that lethargy by which the
minds of all had been seized; hence it is that he uses in his
teaching so many expressions. This is the reason why he says that
the vine and the fig-tree had been denuded, and also that the leaves
had been taken away, that the branches had been made bare and white;
so that there remained neither produce nor growth.
Many interpreters join these three verses with the former, as
if the Prophet now expressed what he had said before of the palmer
worm, the chafer, and the locust; for they think that he spake
allegorically when he said that all the fruits of the land had been
consumed by the locusts and the chafers. They therefore add, that
these locusts, or chafers, or the palmer worms, were the Assyrians,
as well as the Persian and the Greeks, that is, Alexander of Macedon
and the Romans: but this is wholly a strained views so that there is
no need of a long argument; for any one may easily perceive that the
Prophet mentions another kind of punishments that he might in every
way render the Jews inexcusable who were not roused by judgments so
multiplied, but remained still obstinate in their vices. Let us now
proceed.
Joel 1:8
Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her
youth.
The Prophet now addresses the whole land. "Lament", he says;
not in an ordinary way, but like a widow, whose husband is dead,
whom she had married when young. The love, we know, of a young man
towards a young woman, and so of a young woman towards a young man,
is more tender than when a person in years marries an elderly woman.
This is the reason that the Prophet here mentions the husband of her
youth; he wished to set forth the heaviest lamentation, and hence he
says "The Jews ought not surely to be otherwise affected by so many
calamities, than a widow who has lost her husband while young, and
not arrived at maturity, but in the flower of his age." As then such
widows feel bitterly their loss, so the Prophet has adduced their
case.
The Hebrews often call a husband "ba'al", because he is the
lord of his wife and has her under his protection. Literally it is,
"For the lord of her youth;" and hence it is, that they also called
their idols "ba'alim", as though they were as we have often said in
our comment on the Prophet Hosea, their patrons.
The sum of the whole is, That the Jews could not have continued
in an unconcerned state, without being void of all reason and
discernment; for they were forced, willing or unwilling, to feel a
most grievous calamity. It is a monstrous thing, when a widow,
losing her husband when yet young, refrains from mourning. Now then,
since God had afflicted his land with so many evils, he wished to
bring on them, as it were, the grief of widowhood. It follows -
Joel 1:9
The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house
of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn.
Here, in other words, the Prophet paints the calamity; for, as
it has been said, we see how great is the slowness of men to discern
God's judgments; and the Jews, we know, were not more attentive to
them than we are now. It was, therefore, needful to prick them with
various goads, as the Prophet now does, as though he said, "If ye
are not now concerned for want of food, if ye consider not even what
the very drunkards are constrained to feel, who perceive not the
evil at a distance, but taste it in their lips - if all these things
are of no account with you, do at least look on the temple of God,
which is now destitute of its ordinary services; for through the
sterility of your fields, through so great a scarcity, neither bread
nor wine is offered. Since then ye see that the worship of God has
ceased, how is it ye yourselves still remain? Why is it that ye
perceive not that God's fury is kindled against you? For surely
except God had been most grievously offended, he would at least have
had some regard for his own worship; he would not have suffered his
temple to remain without sacrifices."
The Jews, we know, daily poured their libations, and offered
meat-offerings. When, therefore, Joel mentions "minchah" and
libation, he doubtless meant to show that the worship of God was
nearly abolished. But God would have never permitted such a thing,
had he not been grievously offended by the sins of men. Hence the
indifference, or rather the stupidity of the people, is more clearly
proved, inasmuch as they perceived not the signs of God's wrath made
evident even in the very temple. It follows -
Joel 1:10
The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the
new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
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 -
Joel 1:11
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.
The Prophet says nothing new here, but only strengthens what he
had said before, and is not wordy without reason; for he intends
here not merely to teach, but also to produce an effect: And this is
the design of heavenly teaching; for God not only wishes that what
he says may be understood, but intends also to penetrate into our
hearts: and the word of God, we know, consists not of doctrine only,
but also of exhortations, and threatenings, and reproofs. This plan
then the Prophet now pursues: "Ye husband men, he says, be ashamed,
and ye vinedressers, howl; for perished has the harvest of the
field". The sum of the whole is, that the Jews, as we have already
said, could by no excuse cover their indifference; for their clamour
was everywhere heard, their complaints everywhere resounded, that
the land had become a waste, that they were themselves famished that
they were afflicted with many calamities; and yet no one
acknowledged that God, who visited them for their sins, was the
author. But what remains I shall put off until to-morrow.
Prayer.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou invites us daily by various means
to repentance, and continues also to urge us, because thou sees our
extreme tardiness, - O grant that we may at length be awakened from
our indifference, and suffer us not to be inebriated by the charms
of Satan and the world; but by thy Spirit rouse us to real groaning,
that, being ashamed of ourselves, we may flee to thy mercy, and
doubt not but that thou wilt be propitious to us, provided with a
sincere heart we call on thee, and seek that reconciliation which
thou daily offerest to us by thy Gospel in the name of thy only
begotten Son. Amen.
Calvin, Commentary on Joel
(Continued in part 3...)
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