The Pulpit Commentary — Joel — Section 28

hie ohilllrcn, so the Lord pitieth them thnt alive to rcoovery from a dlst1'€'1!Bfnl sb1to or fear him." e.ny kind than to the remedy which effects It, Yer. l!l.-Yea, the Lord will a111wer and The " e.rmy " of this verse we still hold to 1&y unto hil people, Behol4, I will ■end yon be the trihoe of locuet.s, which, like o.n invad- oorn, and wine, and oD., and ye 1hall be ing army, with its numeroua reglmentnl ntia1led therewith. The Lord's answer divisions, had overrun the land, sce.ttoring comes in the shape of a promise of relief of dismay i<nd distress whorover It e.d vnnced ; which man and bee.at. were so sorely in need. yet from this very vorse, e.nd the expression The promise, with deliverance from distross, ''northern" in particulo.r, it hos been nrgned oouples ample e.bnndanoe. The oorn e.nd the.t it ce.nnot refer to looust.s, but to human the v.ine and the oil-the three great tcm- invaders symbolized by loouste o.nd the he.voo pori<l blessings, eqnivalent to food, refresh- wrought by them. (1) The north is not the ment, and ornament-which the looust.s he.d native land of loouets; it is rother the south destroyed, as we read in ver. 10, God here -the Arabian, Lybinn, or Egyptian desert. promiscs to restore, and to restore not merely But (2) "northern" may denote the quarter to the extent that was barely neoeeee.ry, but from which the locusts o.ppee.red to the pro- in full and abundant measnre, so that they phet in vision to enter the land; or, driven would be sntisfied therewith. (1) The verbs upwe.rd by e. south wind which regularly of f ulne,u; or tDant, clothing e.nd t//llClotking, blows, e.s we ore informed, in those regions goi11g or coming e.nd dwelling, govern an during spring, and then to the north of accusative; hence p:::iti, has the e.ccueative Palestine by e.n ee.st wind which blows with Aere; sometimes it i.e OOil8tructed with :::i or simile.rregularity in summer, o.nd again into tl- (2) There a.re two construotions of e. e.nd ultimately out of Palestine by the north participle v.ith a pronoun a.s subjeot-the.t wind blowing in the autumn. ''In this case," in which the pronoun i.e writt.en in it.a sepa- says e. writer in the' Speaker's Commentary,' rate form in immediate connection with the •• the northern plague would have been e. pnrtieiple, and that in which it is appended nature.I expression for an inhe.bite.ntof Jeru- a.s a suffix. (3) The words dagan from salem to use in speaking of the locusts ; e.s dagal., to multiply; yiuhar from uahar, natural e.s it would be for e. Londoner to to shine ; and tirosh from yarash, to take speak or e. pestilence that he.d commenced its possession of the brain, have each the ravages in Great Britain at Edinburgh, as article /refixed, to emphll.Bml the products coming to him from the north, though it were restore by the Divine mercy. The article, originally imported from France or Spain." no doubt, is prefixed to the names of classes The word (3) may symbolically denote of objects generally known. And I will no " calamitous," e.ccording to the explanation more make you a reproach among the of some, since calamity is so frequently heathen. No more would they be a re- represented e.s coming from the north, so proach or byword among the heathen, that the north is more or less identified sneered at, as though God he.d abandoned with diase.ster; thus we read in Jer. iv. 6, them in h.is sore displeasure, or through " I will bring evil from the north, and a sheer impotence had been llil&ble to help great destruction." It may, however, be them. All this God promised to do in safely admitted the.t, by the locust, the answer to the prayers of his people. Such northern or Assyrian enemies of Judah, who we.a the result of penitence, e.nd such the advanced from the north as the most ac- power of prayer. Oherpath is e. seoond e.c- eessible quarter for attack, e.re in a sub- cuso.tive, or, more correctly, e.n appositional sidiary seD86 represented. The expulsion accusative to ethkem. The construction with of these enemies brings relief; they are Z• frequently takes the place of the seoond driven into o. parched, e.nd so desert e.nd e.ccusative, e.s in the se'\"enteenth verse of desolate, land; "e.nd there,'' e.s Kimchi ob- the eame chapter. serves, "they shall die because they shall Ver. 20.-But I will remove fe.r off from find nothing to eat." That land may be you the northern army, e.nd will drive him either the Idumman desert south of Judah into e. land barren e.nd de1ole.te, with his or Arabie. Deserte.. 'fhus the me.in body te.oe toward the ee.st see., e.nd hil hinder part of the great locust-army perishes in the toward the utmolt sea. This verse promises southern desert; while the ve.n of the army the destruction of the deve.ste.tor. The pro- is driven into the Dead See., and the rear phet here specifies the means b_y which the of it into the Meiliterre.nee.n Bee.. Or, more Et<:rne.l was going to restore the blessings literally, the fe.ce of thie locust-host we.e of barrt,jjt. The order of sequence is inverted towards the east, or front sea, that is, as -the effect preceding the cauoe ; thus, re- alrce.dy intimated, the Dead Sea eastward; storation of prosperity and plenty goes be- his hinder part toward the west, or hinder fore, e.nd the cause thereof, being relief from sea, that is, the Mediterranean westward. invasion e.nd lose, follows after. Nor is there Thus they were driveu in every other direc a11ytl.ii1Jg singular in thi.!, ne 1nen are more tion than that by which they co.me, namely,  OJt. u. 1-82.] 'l'HEl BOOK OF' JOEL. 26