The Pulpit Commentary — Joel — Section 13

nld of seeda thnt lol!O their germinating ing to 111'D)I, for the b-,th e.nd the p~ belong power. Megrap/wth are clods of ell,l'th, the to the same organ." In his note on P'1'1VUJth root being garwph, to wash away (Judg, v. he saye, "'l'hey are the graine of eeed tho.t 21); the noun, tharefore, denotes a clod of 1110 under the ernth; and be se.ys another earth rolled togother by water o.nd swept curse will be that the eeed will be destroyed a.wa.y. Ot,aroth wcro the storehouses, hut 11,nd rotten under the earth, and ehe.11 not these were a11owed to moulder &way, aa bud ; 11nd what shall burl, the locu..ts ahe.ll thoro waa no rellBOno.ble prospect of 11 harvest eat it. Or the gra.ins of eeed shall rot or of ,:;-rain to store in thorn. 'fhe mam- beoouee or the rains which do not desoond m'ourah or m'gura1', viz. the be.ma, had now upon them, for there ahe.11 all!O be in like become 11 useless appendage of the farm- manner 11 ~eat droughtQiterally, 'restraint stead. How do the bea1t1 groan! the herds of r11in '] in tho~e yeara." On the garnera of oattle are perple:a:ed, beoau ■e they have no (otsaroth) being laid deROlate, and the hams pasture ; yea, the :8ook1 of aheep are made (mamm•quroth) broken down, he observe~ on deaolate. The drought that preceded and the former, "The ·gamers for the produoo accompanied the plague of locusts destroyed 11re laid desolate, for there was nothin" tn the pasture-grounds, and thus the berds of bring into them, and, lo I they are laid cattle were bewildered, being deprived of desolate. In reference to the latter he pasture and water ; they, :were perplexed to says, "He (the prophets) repeata the matter know whore to find food to satiefy the crav- in different words; for mamm,guroth is the ings of hunger, and water to quench their same as otsarofh, and so ' is the seed yet in thirst; in their perplexity they sought both, the be.m, m•gurah ' (Hos. ii. 20), gives pl'Oof but found neither. The fiocks of sheep, too. of this." And he BCCOunts for their being that are more eaeily satisfied and accustomed broken down either "(I) beca.Uile they to browse on grass shorter and spa.raer, were brought nothing into them, or (2) they were desolate for want of nourishment, or, se the broken down bec&use they had no caretaker word aBhem may be translated," expiate the to rep&ir them 11fter the cuetom from year to sin of man," inasmuch as they suffered from year, and so they fell 11nd were destroyed." its ooneequences. This also was true to the Of the perplexity of the herds he gi vea the life, as Thomson assures JlS., After quoting following explanation: " He spe11ka collec- ,this verse (I 8) he adds, " This is poetic, but tively (i,e. the verb is llingular, agreeing true. A field over which this fiood of deeo- with the n01ID), Bnd afterwards individually ·1ation [the locusts] ha.s rolled shows not (the verb being plrrra.l); perplned hns the a blade for even a goat to nip." What with meaning of confnsion, 11s 11 man who is con- the locusts devouring what appeared above fused in his knowledge, 11nd does not know ground, 11nd the drought destroying the seeds what to do, 11nd so they (the herds) are con- sown under the surface, the havoc was fused in the land," in other words, they complete; famine 11nd distress 11fflicted both wandered up and down, and knew not where man 11nd beast. In the progress of this to go for drink or paetm:e. He (Kimchi) adds, visitation the cereals-corn, and wheat, and in his further explanation, " that the flocks barley, 11nd other gmins---were ruined ; the of aheep sometimes find pBBture where the frui~ trees-vine, and olive, and fig, and oxen do not find it, bec11we that they (sheep) ;eomegranate, and 11pple, 11nd palm-were go np upon the mountBin.i and upon the destroyed. B.ut not only were the herbs for hills-a thing which. the oxen do not in the service of man eaten up, but the gro.ss general do." for the cattle perished. Stanley refer, to it Vere. 19, 20.-0 Lord, to thee will I ary. in the following eloquent words : "The In considemtion of mnn e.nd beBSt~atures purple vine, the green fig tree, the ,:;-roy rational 11nd irrational being snbject to so olive, the sc11rlet pomegranate, the golden much hardahip and auffering-the. prophet corn, the waving p11lm, the fragrant citron, appeals in intense eamestuess of spirit to vanished beforo them; and the trunks 11nd God, and e.11 the more eo because of tlie en- branches were left bare o.nd white by their coura.gement of his own Wor<l, BB it is wriUen, devouring teeth. Wh11t had been but 11 few "Lord, thou preserrest man BDd beast." For moments before like the go.rdcn of Eden was the lire bath devoured the pastures of the turned into a desolate wil<lei;.ness. The herds wilderness, BIid the ll&me bath burned e.11 the of co.ttle o.nd, fiocks of sheep so de11r to the trees of the field. The fire e.nd !lame here shepherds of Jud11h, the hnsbe.ndmen so referred to denote the fiery heat of thE. donr to King Uzzi11h, were reduced to st11r- drought which bomt up the meadows 11nd vation, The fiour 11nd oil for the 'me11t soorcbed the trees. Some seem to under- offerings' failed; even tho temple lost its stand the terms Jitere.lly, 1111 11pplied to accustomed so.orifices." The rem11rke of setting on fire the heath, or even the trees, Kimchi on some of the difficult or unusual in order to check the progreas of the locuats worcls of this verso deserve attention. On or tum them &side by smoke and flame. 11:'J)I ho obsczvcs, "It ia equivalent in meo.n- This, however, is refuted by the fullowing  8 THE BOOK OF JOEL. [oR, I, 1-20, --------------------- Ve!'l!e, which mentions the rlv(l?'II of water there waA no grae11-" 'l'he Vl\rlou1 anhnal1 being rlrled up : The beut1 of the flel4 ory 1111ff'erlng from hunger aud thlrAt expre111 al■o unto thee , for the riven of waten are their diAtrosa tu lon'1 and IAmentable, though dried up, aud ~he fire bath devoured the pa1- inartioulato, orioe, Tho Hebrew worde which tuM111 of the wilderDeR. In like manner we respectively denote the oriea of tho rlifl'oront ~ in Jor. xiv. -l-6, "Beoan11e tbe ground anlmala arc, QOOOrdlng to Raehl, tbo follow- 1• ohapt, for there waa no nin in the earth, ing: lip oxpre&l!CB tho ory of doer; c;,i (alBO thc_ploughmen -:,vere aehamed, they covered lNe'), to roar liko lions: MIil, to low ae oxen; thmr hofl.ds. 1 ea., the hind alllO oalved in 'm:r, to neigh like horses ; ")1H':t (re.ther the field, and foJ'IIOOk it, beott.use there wae no gr&M. And the wild asses did stand in "l~Pll, fulfil), to twitter or chirp aa blrde. 1.)ie high placee, they l!Ilnft'ed up the wind Further, tho aubjcct Is plural, but the verb hkc dn.gon1; their cyce did fail, because is aingular, for the purpose of individualizing.