The Pulpit Commentary — Joel — Section 9

"miUon" thus llpplled enpport the Bllegorica.l weight had broken off tho hra.ncheA. The Bense nny more th11.n the Homerio- • n<-xt cla.uee, which spooks of 1ru1,Mm'J it cka,n. 1 ' Even as go tho sw1uma (1itorally nationB] bare, ia explained by the Chaldee nf peeling of closely thronging bees.' 1 otf the bark, but that, IJCOOl'ding oo the firRt !endering, has been already expms!Jfld. It This army of loc1JBta le charaoterized by the 1a rather more tha~ this-it is stripping r,IY two qualitie1 of etrength Bnd number, The the leaves and frmte r,r flowers; the barked preterite n7v,, though pBst, really referw to r,r broken br1111ches and twigs of vine and fig the future, to exprcis tho certain occurrence tree 1ue then cast away or down t;o the ground. of what, is predicted: eo with c~ in the fol- And all that is left a.re the whitened branches lowing• verse, of which Kimchi BBY■, "The from which the bark ha,,i been stripped off'. past is in phwe of the future;'' and Aben 'fhe casting away or dr,wn to the earth may Ezra more fully, '' A thing that ie decreed refer to the be.rk: thus Kimchi: " He re- to take plo.oo ie spoken of in the past." Thi11 move& the bark: and 80 Jonathan explains, army hae peculiar weapons, yet nothing the 'He quite removes the be.rk an<l ca•tH it Ieee powerful. Whose teeth are the teeth of away:' and the explanation is that he casts B lion, and he bath the cheek-teeth o! a the bark to the earth when he eat>< the juicy great lion; or, lioneBB. Different descriptive parts between the bark and the wood; or the terms o.re npplied to lions-the lion's whelp explanation may be that he eats the rind is ,u; the young lion, which, though young, and caats the vine blossom to the earth, and, is no longer a whelp, ie 1'f:l?: also the lion, Jo, it le bared." Some, again, understand it from its hoaraeneaa at a certain age, ie C/1,llcd of what is uneatable, and otherB of the vin0 itself. s~I? ; the lion, from ite cry, is called by ono- matopaiia, tt•.;i7 ; the lion, from its t1trength, Vere. 8-13.-The consequence of such ie called llf:'?_; while the common name of a ruin and havoc ie great and general lamen- lion, derived probably from· ;r;11;1, to pluek or tation. The drunkards were first called on tear, ie i'!'.)!:I· Having compared the invad- in the preceding verses t:o mourn, for tho i.ng locuete to an army powerful an:d count- dietre98 come first and nearest to them. less, the prophet proceeds to epeok of the But now the priests, the Lord's ministers, weapons wielded by these wi,.~like o.nd hoe tile mourn: things inanimate, by a. touching invaders. They 11,re thej:r teeth. While the personification, join in the lamentation-the common name for locust respects their mul- titude, the othe~ no.mes o.re of the nature. of land mourneth ; the h1JBbandmen that till epithets, and all, as we have seen, derived the ground mourn. from the vigour .and voracity, with which: Ver. 8.-Lament like e. virgin girded with they use their teeth, ~hoso teeth, so de~ se.okcloth for the h1111band. of her youth. 1. etructi ve, aro compared to those of n. lion o.ud Tho verb here, which is an /i,rcz{ Jo.eyo/J,<11011, the molars or griwlers of a. great, stout, old is (1) imperative feminine:~ subject must, lion or lioness, for the word ha.a been traoo- of course, correspond. That subject has been le.ted in ea.eh of these ways. variously supplied: (a) the ground, acconl- Ver. 7.-He :bath laid my vine waste, a.nd ing to Aben Ezra; (b) naphiilii, my soul, barked my fig tree (margin, laid 'l!IY fig tree i.e. the prophet's address to himself; (c) for a barking); h1;1 bath ~ e it olean be.re, the daughter of Zion, or virgin daughter of and oast it away; the branohes thereof e.re Zion; but (cl) the congregation or people of made white. We hll,ve here 11, de.tailed de, Judah, as suggested in the Chaldco, is the scription of the deatruction. and devastation real subject. (2) The LXX. hll,S 9p,f,v"uov caus~d by this locust-army in its invasion of ,rpo, /J,<, evidently combini11g two readings, the land of Judah. Tho most valua.blo aud or ri,.ther two punctuo.tioo.s,. of the same most valued prod~ction of that la.,nd, tho vine 11nd fig tree, are ruined. Tho vino is word, viz; '~t:!, to me, and •7~, lament. 2. The mourning is of the deepest, bitterest laid waste, 80 that the vineyard becomos a kind, like that of a virgin for the husbuud wilderness : (I) " 4e h11s. barked the fig tre!I " of her youth. It ie either the case of u. (eo Jerome," Ficum meam rlecorticavit "); or maiden betrothed to a. youthful bridegroom, rather, (2) "he hae broken the brunches." whom she sincerely loves, but be die~ The word 119,R denotes a fragment or 80mo- before they a.re married, o.nd thus, insteud thing broken, branches broken oft', and so the of the wedding drees, she puts on the gar- LXX., ·"bath· utterly ·broken ( Ei, uvy,cA.au- ment of mourning, the sackcloth of rough. µ,6 11):" while (3) Aoon Ezra. explains it, hair : or she ha.e been married, and her "Like foam on the· face of the water, in husband, still in youth, ie snatched away which there Is nothing;" i.e. e. thing of from her by death, and she is clothed in nought The loouste, by gnawing, had widow's weed&---in her case real weeds of ~tripped oft' the bark, or by their excessive woe, .a.nd outwarcl tokens of aiuc.ire, uot 4 THE BOOK OF JOEL. [cm. 1, 1-20.