Joel 1: 18-20

¹⁸How the beasts groan!
The herds of cattle wander aimlessly
Because there is no pasture for them;
Even the flocks of sheep suffer.
¹⁹To You, O LORD, I cry;
For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness
And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.
²⁰Even the beasts of the field pant for You;
For the water brooks are dried up
And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Yes, even the animals are suffering! The beasts groan, which, to me says "cry out," just as the entire nation of Judah is doing in response to the famine. The herds wander "aimlessly"--literally, with no aim, no direction. Strong's definition of the Hebrew word also suggests "confused or entangled." (By their sin, perhaps?) No pasture. There is nothing to eat. No purpose.

"Even the flocks of sheep suffer." You can easily see how flocks of sheep can be a metaphor for the people. The KJV uses "are desolate" instead of suffer, and Strong's has some vibrant definitions attached to that phrasing--"to be guilty...by implication, to be punished or perish." That's clear enough!

Verse 19, "To you, O Lord, I cry." We need to remember who is speaking here. It's Joel, the prophet. This is a current event, and Joel is among the people. Not only did the priests need to take the lead, but for Joel to be faithful to God in representing His Word, he also needed to take the lead in seeking repentance. Not as a matter of lip service before the people--'cause I'm guessing prophets may have been looked at in that way by some--but as a true devoted follower of the Lord! Think of the overwhelming number of spokespeople we do not care for because they are not genuine to their cause.

The passage closes with the comparison between fire and water. The fire has devoured, the flame burned up.... Reminds me of this:

"Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you.... For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."

--Deuteronomy 4:23-24

What happens when Judah falls away and forgets who the Lord is? He consumes.

"The water brooks are dried up." Didn't think that there was much to explore here, but I'm glad I looked through some of the Hebrew wording. The KJV says "the rivers of waters are dried up." The Hebrew for 'rivers' more specifically refers to the channel or conduit that brings the water, or a "strong thing or hero." [Strong's] And though I thought "dried up" was to be only a literal translation, Strong's offers another interpretation--"to be ashamed, confused or disappointed." Could He who brings forth the water be ashamed, confused or disappointed in those who would receive it? He who had been a "hero" to the people had a withering reputation and place in their hearts.

The water is gone and the beasts not only groan, but pant. The famine has surely left them weakened. But, let's look at 'pant' in another sense, that of intense longing and an eagerness. They pant for water, yes, but the verse says "pant for You." The nation hugely needed restoration of their relationship with God.

"The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands. Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name."

--Psalm 119:130-132 (NIV)

I love how verse 132 closes, "as you always do to those who love your name." If they would only turn and recognize the God that they loved once more. "To You, O Lord, I cry out!" He is waiting to offer His people mercy and forgiveness, even as He has brought wrath. Joel starts the cry. The priests lament and prepare for prayerful, repentant fasting. A nation is called together.

Current event in the time of Joel? Yes. Are we, in 2010, not called to remember with our entire being Who we worship? Who brings us life?

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire.'"

--Hebrews 12:28-29

A blessed Easter to you all as we celebrate the saving work of Jesus Christ
in securing for those who believe a kingdom that cannot be shaken!

'Til next Wednesday!




Photo: http://www.colorado-video.com/observerapps_files/cattle-herd.jpg

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Next week: Joel 2: 1-5

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 1: 14-17

Starvation and Drought

¹⁴Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly;
Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land
To the house of the LORD your God,
And cry out to the LORD.
¹⁵Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near,
And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
¹⁶Has not food been cut off before our eyes,
Gladness and joy from the house of our God?
¹⁷The seeds shrivel under their clods;
The storehouses are desolate, the barns are torn down,
For the grain is dried up.

We begin a new header today, but, as you can guess, it's still not a pretty picture--starvation and drought.

Last week, we read how the priests were called to dress in sackcloth and to lead the call to repent. To consecrate means to "declare sacred" or to "set apart." If you take the parts apart--'con' and 'secrate'--you get "together, dedicate." This was not a call for the priests alone to ask for atonement on behalf of the people. No, all were to gather together--a nationwide fast. Another definition for consecrate is "to be clean." This was a people that needed to come before a holy God with repentant hearts that needed to be made right, forgiven, clean.

How were they to come? Verse 14: "and cry to the Lord [in penitent pleadings]." (Amplified Bible) The word used for 'cry' in the Hebrew means "to shriek from anguish or danger" [Strong's] Obviously, this was a people facing a literal starvation, a perilous situation. But they were surely in a worse state of anguish being apart from their God. This coming forward in fasting and assembly would not be a simple request, but a true petition, that the Lord would forgive their hearts and heal their land. (II Chronicles 7:14) Looking at where our word petition comes from, you'll find roots meaning "to require, seek, go forward, to rush at, attack." It all implies a constancy, a perseverance, an active posture. God was looking for forward movement, in the direction of Himself.

Do you find it interesting that there is a call for a fast in a time when there is no food? Talk about having faith and trust in God! But, consecrating a fast as part of repentance and revival was an expectation, regardless of the supply.

"For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the LORD; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work."

--Leviticus 23:36

Obedience to God's Word requires nothing less than obeying, no matter what. Do you believe in me? Do you trust in My provision, even as you have nothing? Do you understand that without me, you can do nothing?! (John 15:5)

Joel 1:15 is the first time 'the day of the Lord' appears in the text. Although we have discussed here already that what Joel has been describing is a contemporary day of wrath for God's people, in this verse, he is alluding to the ultimate Day of the Lord, in which final judgment will be brought. Joel urges the taking of these steps of fasting and lamentation toward repentance in light of what the future judgment holds for those who do not repent.

^"Now I will shortly pour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you; judge you according to your ways and bring on you all your abominations."

--Ezekiel 7:8

[It is so easy to make light of a line like "judge you according to your ways," but do we understand just how bad that is? I read Scripture about judgment these days with such scrutiny, because it's so easy to have a plank, you know what I mean?]

As if to remind the people of the signs they have seen thus far, Joel says the food is gone--not just taken but "cut off." And not just food, but gladness and joy, "cut off." Verse 17 begins, "The seeds shrivel under their clods." Remember last week's picture of the dried up soil in China? Even the seeds underneath the dried-up earth shrivel! God has made it so that there will be no growth. There will be no life. "The storehouses are desolate", in the Hebrew meaning stunned, numb, stupefied. [Strong's]

Look at this rich cross-reference passage from Isaiah 17 (vss. 10&11):

^"For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
And have not remembered the rock of your refuge.
Therefore you plant delightful plants
And set them with vine slips of a strange god.
In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in,
And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom;
But the harvest will be a heap
In a day of sickliness and incurable pain."

When I think of the disbelief the inhabitants of Judah must have had in that time, it is no wonder the language used in the beginning of chapter 1--"Has anything like this happened in your days or in your fathers' days? Tell your sons about it, and let your sons tell their sons, and their sons the next generation." (Vss. 2&3) What they planted reaped them a harvest of "sickliness and incurable pain" unlike they had experienced before.

Yet, what may be the most difficult verse to embrace is this truth at the end of Joel 1:15--

"And it will come as destruction from the Almighty."

Our God is definitely capable of bringing destruction. His Word tells us how this can be so. Accepting this as part of God's character is what folks can be lost over. This is not to say that God isn't a loving, merciful, patient God--"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." (II Peter 3:9)

How were they to come? How are we to come? "...And cry to the Lord [in penitent pleadings]."

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

--Philippians 4:6 (NIV)

'Til next Wednesday!




Photo: http://lifespotlight.com/images/2008/03/plate.jpg

* * *

Next week: Joel 1: 18-20

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 1: 10-13

¹⁰The field is ruined, the land mourns;
For the grain is ruined, the new wine dries up, fresh oil fails.
¹¹Be ashamed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
¹²The vine dries up and the fig tree fails;
The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree,
All the trees of the field dry up
Indeed, rejoicing dries up from the sons of men.



¹³Gird yourselves with sackcloth and lament, O priests;
Wail, O ministers of the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God,
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.

Our verses this week conclude this section of Joel's prophecy dealing with the devastation of the land of Judah by locusts.

We have some deeper description in these verses of the state of the land. It is ruined, dried up, wasted away. Not only is there no crop, but the land itself is of no use. "The land mourns" (vs. 10) over its own state. The picture up top that I found through Google is what the land in China looked like last year. Rice fields had once flourished in the land. A brief glance at the text of the accompanying article said that it yielded worms, not rice. In Judah, locusts not only devoured the crops, but the land itself was lost.

Last week's verses spoke of the loss of the grapevine (hence, the wine) and the loss of the grain offering (thus, grain crop). Verse 10 also highlights the loss of fresh oil, which had multiple uses in the day, from medicinal to illumination purposes. Caught some further meaning of oil in looking at the Hebrew--"figuratively, anointing." [Strong's] Fresh anointing wastes away. If anointing means to dedicate oneself to serving God, this was obviously a time in which that kind of consecration was absent. When God is not present in the land, God does not anoint the land with blessing either.

More on lost crops, verse 12 leads us to the loss of the pomegranate, palm and apple tree--"all the trees." Why these specific trees? First, obviously, they are all fruit-bearing trees. Fruit was widely grown, so the loss of the fruit crop would be especially detrimental to the food supply. Pomegranates, particularly, are mentioned as "promised land" fruit.

"...A land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey."

--Deuteronomy 8:8

Projecting forward to Paul's letter to the Galatians and the fruit of the spirit, the loss of the fruit--the characteristics of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, etc.)--would be reflected in the loss of the Spirit-filled nature of the land. Also noteworthy, when looking at the Hebrew roots (no pun, here) regarding these trees is the emphasis on straight growth--the pomegranate "from its upright growth" and the palm "from a root meaning erect." [Strong's] Again, the condition of the land--the people--was such as to suggest there was no uprightness.

The gravity of the situation in this day of the Lord had an immediate and profound effect--famine on many levels. The farmers and the vinedressers were terribly lost, as their livelihood affected an entire nation. Verse 13 elaborates further on the loss experienced by the priests, and, thus, the nation, as regular offerings and sacrifices could not be made. No worship! "Gird yourselves with sackcloth." Material used for making the bags to hold the harvests of grain became the priestly garments of lamentation and mourning. Look at 1:12 in the King James--"Joy is withered away from the sons of men."

As horrible and painful as it is to lose your joy, the verse that grabbed me most was the end of verse 11:

"Because the harvest of the field is destroyed."

A farmer, or husbandman in the King James, is a tiller of the soil. There is a careful planting of seeds and monitoring of crops until the time of harvest, in which there is great joy at sharing the bounty of provision--that which is "severed" or "reaped" from the planting [Strong's definitions of the Hebrew word for harvest]. Interesting to see that the Church is referred to in the King James Version of I Corinthians 3:9 as "God's husbandry" or the "tilled land."

There are many Scriptures that parallel the farmer's harvest with the heavenly harvest of God's chosen--His children who received His Son, Jesus, and who will receive the gift of eternal life. God's favor rests with the harvested. But, what of the context here? Should the farmers and vinedressers "be ashamed" because they didn't use proper means of protection upon their crops? (vs. 11)

Look at a cross-reference verse, one which we will visit down the line in these pages:

"Who is the wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?

The LORD said, "Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it...."

--Jeremiah 9:12-13

As surely as the planting of seeds in the heart is carried out by our God, He, too, is the Lord of the harvest. As Joel speaks through this contemporary day of the Lord to describe Judah's future without repentance, will God have mercy on His harvest?

'Til next Wednesday!




Photo: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/images/stories/large/2009/11/06/drysoil-2361375.jpg; http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/sackcloth.jpg

* * *

Next week: Joel 1: 14-17

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 1: 5-9

⁵Awake, drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you wine drinkers,
on account of the sweet wine that is cut off from your mouth.
⁶For a nation has invaded my land, mighty and without number;
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the fangs of a lioness.
⁷It has made my vine a waste and my fig tree splinters.
It has stripped them bare and cast them away;
their branches have become white.
⁸Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth.
⁹The grain offering and the drink offering
are cut off from the house of the LORD.
The priests mourn, the ministers of the LORD.

Last week, we learned of the physical devastation of Judah at the "teeth" (vs 6) of locusts. This was a life-threatening condition to the physical bodies of the people as well as to the spiritual nature of the people. This week's verses continue to demonstrate how Joel uses this contemporary day of the Lord to speak forth God's Word.

We learn that the grape vines have been laid waste (vs 7). Why would Joel focus on a single crop in the midst of such vast devastation? Look at the audiences addressed within today's passage--drunkards and wine drinkers (vs 5) and the priests (vs 9). Commonality? They all would miss the wine, but for different reasons.

Those drunk on wine would no longer have wine upon which to get drunk. What would that scene be like (not that I'm encouraging drunkenness by any means)? Long-term health benefits; short-term withdrawal crisis! The social drinker would not have wine either, which would put a damper on celebratory festivities, weddings and the like. [I know, who is celebrating at this time?] "Priests mourn...." This was still in the time when drink offerings were made to God as part of the worship of the people. Without wine--without grain, too--how could they make offerings? How could they be in relationship to God?? And, for the priests, my study Bible notes that they would have been personally affected by no offerings in that they received a portion of that offering for their own sustenance. The health of the priests was at risk!

'Vine' and 'fig tree' are mentioned often in tandem throughout Scripture. Strong's elaborates: "Plenitude of fruitful vines and fig-trees, specially individual ownership, thus came to be emblematical of long-continued peace and prosperity. In the days of Solomon, 'Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree.” (1 Kings 4:25). But we are now talking about the days post-Solomon in which the kingdoms of Judah and Israel are divided. For both vine and fig tree to have been so widely destroyed was a sign of concern for safety and future growth.

But, more so, this was a sign of God's wrath, God's temporal judgment. "A nation has invaded my land," says the Lord (vs 6). The people of God were facing earthly judgment for their disobedience. And what is the people's response? Catch these verbs: "Awake...weep and wail...Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth...mourn." When we are called on the carpet before a holy omnipotent God, we are called to repent!

In Luke 13, Jesus is talking about news stories of the day with the crowds. Some have brought to Him questions about why certain folks suffered extreme deaths, like being sacrificed at the same time as drink offerings were being made or having a tower collapse upon them. The crowds wondered if those who had perished were "greater sinners." (13:2) Not once, but twice, Jesus responds, "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." And with that introduction, He tells the parable of the fig tree:

"And He began telling this parable: 'A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?' And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'"

--Luke 13: 6-9

Why was it so important that what was happening in Judah be passed down from fathers to sons, to their sons and to the next generation? Because if Judah didn't bear fruit, the Lord could "cut it down." If the bride, God's chosen, did not repent, her relationship with the bridegroom, the Lord, would be severely hampered. Look at the vicious circle created: Sins of disobedience and forsaking their true love led to God's wrath and the destruction of their land. Through the destruction of the land, the basics for sustenance and the elements used in worship were also destroyed. Without re-establishment of a relationship with God, their Father, Judah faced sure death. Joel's message was a cry to repent so they might live!

One last thought on these verses today. I can't read 'vine' without recalling Jesus' teaching in John 15:

"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."

--John 15:5

God saw the fruitlessness in the life of the people of Judah. Had they not seen His power and presence in the days in which they had rested so comfortably under their vines and fig trees? "Apart from Me you can do nothing." Surely, they had tried to go forward without God, forsaking His ways. Now they sat in the middle of their calamity with the option to repent or die. Which would they choose?

A look from the farmers' perspective in a week. 'Til next Wednesday!




Photo: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2201/2043285042_ff7c6a8f85.jpg

* * *

Next week: Joel 1: 10-13

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 1: 1-4

The Devastation of Locusts

¹The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
²Hear this, O elders, and listen, all inhabitants of the land
Has anything like this happened in your days or in your fathers' days?
³Tell your sons about it,
And let your sons tell their sons,
And their sons the next generation.
⁴What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;
And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.

The setting for the opening chapter of Joel reads as something from a horror movie. Locusts! Locusts! Locusts!! Joel lives at a time in which drought has plagued the southern kingdom of Judah, and what was still viable for consumption was eaten by locusts (vs 4).

What is significant about locusts? Without turning this into a lecture on entomology, locusts are not just like grasshoppers. They eat their weight in plants every day, which doesn't seem like a big deal, until you multiply that tens of millions of times.

"...Locusts have another behavioral phase called the gregarious phase. When environmental conditions produce many green plants and promote breeding, locusts can congregate into thick, mobile, ravenous swarms."

--http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/locust.html

What had once been a land of sustenance had been decimated by insects.

Interesting note that the King James Version does not use 'locusts' through this passage. It also references the palmer worm, the canker worm and caterpillars. It is possible that the reference to 'locusts' in the NASB and other translations refers to different stages in the life-cycle of locusts. Regardless, the end result is complete devastation over a period of time.

As horrible as such a plague in and of itself would be upon a country, Joel's cry to the elders and the people of Judah in verse 2 is not solely to address the locust invasion. He is describing a current "day of the Lord." God had much more to say than just "Locusts!"

'Hear' and 'Listen' are the opening verbs in verse 2. My study Bible has notes about the phrasing of the passage, which is seen in other places in the Bible. "The terminology was commonly used in 'lawsuit' passages, intimating that Israel was found guilty and that the present judgment was her 'sentence'." Here's a cross-reference for verse 2 from Hosea 4:1,

"Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land."

What can happen at the hands of an angry God? Plenty, not the least of which is an invasion of locusts. So, it would appear that God used the circumstances of the times--the consequences of a lack of faithfulness--to speak to His people through His chosen messenger, Joel. In the next couple weeks, as we read further, there will be more and more parallels drawn. [I'm excited and awed at the same time, as there are paragraphs of notes in my S.B. related to single verses. This is why I feared looking at the prophets for so long. No longer!]

Concluding today, looking at verse 3, God says that this is not a message only for Judah in this time, but it is a message for generations to come. This is part of the character of God, that He relies upon His people to talk about who He is and that this message not be lost. He expects--commands--that it be carried on forever.

"Remember the days of old, consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, your elders, and they will tell you."

--Deuteronomy 32:7

"For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments...."

--Psalm 78:5-7 (emphasis mine)

It's easy for us to say that we serve an unchanging God who is the same yesterday, today and forever, but do we truly understand that His Word is the same, and has been passed down through generations that we would continue to relay the Truth to the next generations? This is one of those places in which prophecy for a different time speaks mightily to us today.

'Til next Wednesday!




Photo: http://austinist.com/attachments/mdewitt/locust.jpg

* * *

Next week: Joel 1: 5-9

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).