The Pulpit Commentary — Joel — Section 37

the prophet profixea to all the other promises that firet all-containing promise of th 8 coming of Christ. Buch is the wont of the pr0phets, to go on from past judgments nnd deliv:eran~cs to him who is th? Centre of a.II this cycle of ~od'e diepensa.tionH, the Bon manifest m tho flesh . . . . Him Joel speaks of 1111 the SubJect of rejoicin": 'Exult and joy in the Lord thy God; for he giveth [or,' will give'] thee the Tea~her unto righteousnesH,' i.e. the reeult and object of whoee corning is righteoueneee." He further adds, "'fhe ee.rly and latter re.in, coming respectively at the seed-time and the harvest refreeent the beginning and the completion; and eo, by the analogy of earthly and ep1r~tual. eo,~ing, growth, and ripene11e, they _represent preventing and perfecting grar,e; the mepiration of good purposes and the gift of final perseverance, which brinus the juet to glory consummated ; the principles of the doctrine of Christ, and the going on unto perfection." III. REPABATION FOB YEABB OF LOSS. 1. Bin had been the ea.nee of Israel's calamity; the instruments that brought about the calamity were commissioned by God, an<l therefore called hie great army. Small and insignificant as the individuals composing that army were, by their multitude they became great, and by the Divine commission they became mighty. The loee inflicted was consequently great. It had contini1e<l for several successive years, the change in the order of these instruments of destruction implying, according to some, not the order of attack, but the snccessiveness of the inroads made, and that for year after year. 2. The loese11 sustained are now to be repaired, such is the graciousness of God's dealings with his people when penitent. Years of plenty are to succeed the years of famine, and the losses of the latter are to be counterbalanced by the abundance of the former. It is no unusual thing with God to restore double, even as he promi888, saying, "Even to-day do I declare that I will render double unto· thee." Thus lie did with Job; the Lord gave the patriarch twic1c1 as much as he had before, and blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning. Men's sins deserve all the chastisement that comes upon them; it is not because of man's merit, but in virtue of God's great goodness, that any compensation whatever is made them. 3. Thus it is with afflictions in general when we have the sanctified use of them. In such a case we are gainers, not losers, by affliction. When we return to him by means of repentance, he returns to us in the way of restitntion. He repents him concerning his servants; he makes them glad according to the days wherein be has afflicted them, and the years wherein they have seen evil. IV. RETURN OF ~RAIBZ TO GOD FOB BIB GOODNEBB. 1. God's goodness takes visible shape when he bestows the great abundance of good things promised to his people ; that goodness is greatly enhanced when the sufficiency of food and of temporal good things is accompanied with satisfaction. Men sometimes have a sufficiency and eat, but a.re not satisfied; again they eat, and are satisfied, but forget their Benefactor, and fail to thank him for his bounties. 2. The return which God expects, and man is bound to make, is praise to the Name of the Lord. This return of praise includes several items here clearly expressed or implied. There is (1) an acknowledgment of the privilege of having the Lord for our God in covenant-a covenant well ordered in all things and sure; there is (2) an acknowledgment of his providence in so won- drously dealing with us; there must be (3) an acknowledgment of the performance of his promises, so his people who trust in him have no reason to be ashamed, and are never put to shame; there must be, moreover, (4) an acknowledgment of his presence in the midst of his people, to provide for, protect, and preserve his people ; there must, in addition to all this, be (5) an acknowledgment of the peculiarity of his relation to us-the Lord our God, and none else, so that we have reason to rejoice, not only in the good things he gives us, but in the good hand that gives them, even the hand of a father who corrects us when we offend, and comforts us when we repent, and who intertwines our good, temporal and spiritual, with his own glory. Vere. 28-32.-The dispensation of the gospel. The prophet had exhibited the wisdorr. and mercy of the Divine dispensations-God's pity for penitents, and the happiness of all who seek and serve him. "He will be jealous for them, and have compassion on them; he will plead their cause, avert his judgments, drive a.way their enemies, answer their prayers, and supply their wants; and the greatness of those things that have been done against them shall only enhance their gratitude for the still greater ~hing,i .1011,IM D 34 THE DOOK OF JOEL. [en, n. 1-82,