Joel 2: 12-17

¹²"Yet even now," declares the LORD, "Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping and mourning;
¹³And rend your heart and not your garments "
Now return to the LORD your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger,
abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil.
¹⁴Who knows whether He will not turn
and relent and leave a blessing behind Him,
Even a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?
¹⁵Blow a trumpet in Zion! Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly,
¹⁶Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders,
Gather the children and the nursing infants
Let the bridegroom come out of his room
and the bride out of her bridal chamber.
¹⁷Let the priests, the LORD'S ministers,
weep between the porch and the altar,
And let them say, "Spare Your people, O LORD,
And do not make Your inheritance a reproach, a byword among the nations
Why should they among the peoples say, 'Where is their God?'"

'Yet'....

There it is, friends--the word which changes everything. After a chapter and 11 verses of devastation and destruction, there is something new to come.

"Return to Me...." declares the Lord.

Must stop right there and say what an incredible blessing that is! Not just for Judah, but for all of us, no matter where we are or what we have done. "Yet, even now...return." We've read through so many difficult times in these passages, taking deep drinks of the cup Judah was holding. How amazing to come to this place--God audibly speaking--and to have Him utter these words of hope!

This is not to say that we can just "come back" without any action on our part. God is specific about what is needed. Come with "fasting, weeping, mourning...rendering your heart." The Amplified Bible adds the note on mourning "until every hindrance is removed and the broken fellowship is restored." 'Rend' means to rip, tear, split or, where the heart is concerned, to cause distress or pain. In the Bible, we read of those so convicted over their sin that they ripped their garments and put on sackcloth in their mourning and repentance. God says, not your garments--your hearts! Your hearts need to be broken over your sin.

If there was doubt that God is a God of second chances, embrace verse 13b. "Slow to anger...relenting of evil." I like the English roots of 'relent'; it means to bend. Again, I'm looking at the Amplified Bible's phrasing on verse 14: "Who knows but what He will turn, revoke your sentence [of evil], and leave a blessing behind Him [giving you the means with which to serve Him]...." Not only is God capable of turning over your guilty verdict, He has the capacity to bestow a blessing upon you, that you might continue to serve Him. How about that kind of justice? Can you explain it??

The last three verses of today's passage echo the beginning of Joel 2. Lest the people forget that quickly how their saving needs to happen, Joel reiterates the call for the nation to come together for united repentance, the "solemn assembly."

"Do not make Your inheritance a reproach, a byword...." This is strong wording here, "Your inheritance"--or "heritage, possession, property" [Strong's]. But it needs to be. It speaks to relationship and the authority in the relationship. We are God's people. We belong to Him. The plea of the people: May we not be a disgrace to Your name, a "byword"--an epithet or object of scorn--that other nations ["heathen nations," says the KJV and other translations] should say, 'Where is their God?"

Doesn't that just get to the crux of things? Up until this point, could we not read this account of Judah and say, "Where is their God? Who is their God??"

When we choose to go our own way, where is our God? Who is our God?? Will we recognize when our gracious, compassionate God--who could bring forth His full wrath through a day of the Lord--is saying, "Yet, even now...return"? And will we render our very hearts? Will Judah??

More encouragement from the Lord.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: http://cindyapy.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/heart8xl.jpg

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Next week: Joel 2: 18-22

Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.

I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Joel 2: 6-11

⁶Before them the people are in anguish; all faces turn pale.
⁷They run like mighty men, They climb the wall like soldiers;
And they each march in line, nor do they deviate from their paths.
⁸They do not crowd each other, They march everyone in his path;
When they burst through the defenses, they do not break ranks.
⁹They rush on the city, They run on the wall;
They climb into the houses, They enter through the windows like a thief.
¹⁰Before them the earth quakes, the heavens tremble,
The sun and the moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness.
¹¹The LORD utters His voice before His army;
Surely His camp is very great,
For strong is he who carries out His word
The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome,
And who can endure it?

We begin this next section of Joel 2 with the need to look back on last week's passage. Who are "them"/"they"? The locusts--representing the famine and devastation of Judah--which Joel compared with mighty war horses. In today's passage, he continues with his comparisons, describing in painful detail how destruction will come.

The people are anguished at the coming; their faces "pale" which my study Bible says means "become flushed." That would seem to mean the opposite of pale. As I look at the King James, verse 6 says, "all faces shall gather blackness." Wow! What color are we talking about here? I'm joking a bit. The Hebrew for 'blackness' means "Properly illuminated...a glow, a flush (of anxiety)." [Strong's] I would suggest that 'flushed' has more to do with the onset of the emotion than it does color of face, and that 'pale' suggests more of a dimness of the face of the people in light of the great scene to come in which "the Lord utters His voice." (vs. 11)

We alluded to 'blackness' in last week's post. Again, not just the literal loss of color and light, but the onset of, what Strong's calls "...picturing the fearful gloom and blackness of moral darkness and calamity."

Reading on, Joel provides phrase after phrase of military-like comparisons, with the locusts now resembling an army. They run, they climb, they march, they are unified, they are seemingly unstoppable. Liking the King James, once again, with its translation of verse 8: "...And when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded." Orkin is not your savior.

They are missional! Even though each has his own way, they swarm together in a common attack, like thieves. Remember what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians? "For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night." (I Thess. 5:2) How about Jesus in Revelation? "I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you," (Rev. 3:3) referring to "His sudden and unexpected coming to His unrepentant, dead church to inflict harm and destruction." [S.B.]

Verse 10 illustrates the appearance of physical, tangible signs accompanying the day of the Lord in the form of earthquakes and other changes in the universe. Not uncommon in Scripture to see such references.

"Then the earth shook and quaked; and the foundations of the mountains were trembling and were shaken, because He was angry."

--Psalm 18:7 (emphasis mine)

"For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs."

--Matthew 24:7-8

I can't help but think about our recent days, with earthquakes in Haiti, Chili and China, widespread famine worldwide, a volcano that continues to erupt, and wars and violence--however you wish to define 'nation' vs. 'nation'. Jesus tells us, this is the beginning of the time preceding His second coming, and the Day of the Lord. Powerful prophecy!

[OK, I've just caught a headline that gave me more to say: "Volcanic ash chaos 'a lesson for Europe'" The text of the BBC News article from yesterday goes on to say, "Europe's ash cloud has triggered a flurry of ANGUISHED calls for the EU to improve its CRISIS RESPONSE and co-ordination, as countries STRUGGLE to help thousands of stranded passengers....(emphasis mine) [Quote from aviation specialist David Learmount] "The tactic for dealing with ash clouds, until now, has been to fly around them," he writes [on his blog]. ...Eurocontrol must make better use of the available technology, Philip Bradbourn, a UK Conservative MEP, argued on Tuesday. It is time to move on from 'licking your finger and sticking it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing,' he said. (!!!!!, emphasis mine)

I'm sure I'm extending myself beyond the boundaries a bit, but does anyone else see a metaphor for Judah's problems here?]

Finally, verse 11, "the Lord utters His voice...." and "strong is he who carries out His word." All too casually, we might say, "The Lord spoke to me about this...." We generally mean that through the Holy Spirit or through God's Word, the Lord spoke to me. This is not what verse 11 means. Uttering is the production of sound, which comes with the audible recognition of a voice--God's voice! And God is saying that He's ready to "carry out His Word," which, as Joel has related so far, is not very encouraging.

The day is coming, He says. "...Who can endure it?"

"Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong in the days that I will deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken and will act."

--Ezekiel 22:14

Next week, yet an opportunity for repentance! 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Radio_waves_hazard_symbol.svg/600px-Radio_waves_hazard_symbol.svg.png

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Next week: Joel 2: 12-17

Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.

I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Joel 2: 1-5

The Terrible Visitation

¹Blow a trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
For the day of the LORD is coming; surely it is near,
²A day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness
As the dawn is spread over the mountains, so there is a great and mighty people;
There has never been anything like it, nor will there be again after it
To the years of many generations.
³A fire consumes before them and behind them a flame burns
The land is like the garden of Eden before them
But a desolate wilderness behind them, and nothing at all escapes them.
⁴Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like war horses, so they run.
⁵With a noise as of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains,
Like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble,
Like a mighty people arranged for battle.

Joel kicks up his description of the “day of the LORD”, making it perfectly clear that this is a day unlike any other.

Our passage starts with “Blow the trumpet” which is always a signal that something significant is coming. [Remember Joshua?] The Hebrew for the verb blow implies a mighty explosion of air with the intent to “clatter” [Strong’s], not simply to make an announcement or to proclaim. This is “an alarm.” Perhaps the ultimate Emergency Broadcast System test, except it isn’t a test.

“Let all the inhabitants…tremble.” I just spent two weeks as a substitute music teacher in a Christian school. What a wonderful experience! The two weeks in and around Holy Week is a great time to share some particularly moving spiritual music. I taught them Were you there? Do you remember the chant in the middle? “Sometimes, it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble….” It’s difficult to define, but what an opportunity to share about the pairing of fear and awe, and that’s what we’re reading here. We’re shaking at the sight, but we’re in awe at the One who is bringing about that which the people are experiencing.

Verse 2 contains much visual description and contrasts. “A day of darkness”—not just dark but, in the Hebrew, “gloom, as if a lowering sky.” [Strong’s] [Was Chicken Little that far off?] But, there’s more. “Gloominess” meaning misfortune, concealment, and “clouds and of thick darkness” which is more than just the state of being dark, like black, but, figuratively, to all things bad—“misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness.” [Strong’s] The day of the Lord will not come as something welcomed but as something that will truly bring fear to the forefront.

I like how Joel says that this darkness will come “as the morning.” When I think about darkness rising like morning, I get very concerned. Whereas morning is the breaking forth of light, this day will come as the breaking forth of darkness. Just look out your nearest easterly window and think about what that might look like. It humbles me when I realize that our God gives us a new day every day in which to make the choice to follow Him, to follow the Light, to know that Light breaks forth—piercing the darkness of every day. Do we see it? I want to swallow in the Light, that I may not see such a day as the Day of the Lord.

"So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts."

--II Peter 1:19

What a horrible scene Joel describes in verse 3! Fire before them and fire behind them. Their locust-devastated land behind them and an Eden before them devoured in flames. It would seem a preview of the "lake of fire" as seen in Revelation. To know no deliverance....

My study Bible makes the point that the horses of verses 4 and 5 are comparable to the locusts. In fact, the explanation of these verses notes the remarkable sameness of the head of a locust and the head of a horse!

In the day, horses were "the most feared military equipment," [S.B.] which would explain the numerous mentions in the Bible of horses and chariots and armies, and the association with fear and dread upon that sight. Locusts came with a horrid noise, like the rush of a chariot; like the "noise of a flame" [KJV]--'flame' in the Hebrew not only meaning a gleam or a flash, but also a sharply polished blade or point of a weapon [Strong's]--polishing off what was left of the food supply; as a battle army, poised to conquer.

"...Like war horses, so they run...."

'Til next Wednesday (and more military references)....

[And, please forgive me for adjusting the calendar! Next time I have a vacation scheduled, I should just take the vacation; Internet is unpredictable!!]




Photo: http://7art-screensavers.com/screenshots/Graceful_Horses/running-horses.jpg; http://fineartamerica.com/images-medium/1-head-of-dressage-horse-j-and-o-art-studio-cologne.jpg; https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZUKsZiBKH8uczV-mQ7CC44FEFgbx9LRuxEeRaGOFy9vXnhWAFXocoW7NjiUbHrHrApRhGflcpHwsVTgNmyQtvXPXOnz0UXh9sYnVwRjgZCuG25vSLVonV1ac01e0UqYfDC7y4jfotDY2Q/s400/giant_locust_3.jpg

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Next week: Joel 2: 6-11

Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.

I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).