2

3

THE BOOK OF

JOE L.

CHAP. 1.

THE Word of Jehovah which came to Joel the

son of Pethuel.

Hear this, ye old men;

And give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.
Hath this happened in your days:

Or even in the days of your fathers?

Tell ye your children of it; and let your children tell their children;

And their children tell another generation.

*Or, such an event.

1. Joel] Joel prophesied while the kingdom of Judah subsisted: c. ii. 1, 15: but, I think, not long before its subversion; as his words. c. iii. 1, seem to imply that its captivity was approaching. See 2 Kings xxi. 10-15. I am therefore disposed to favour the conjecture of Drusius, that he lived un-. der the long reign of Manasseh, and before his conversion: 2 Chron. xxxiii. 13: that is, some time from before Christ 697 to (suppose) 660.

The very able author of the Hebrew prelections thus characterises him. Imprimis est elegans, clarus, fusus, fluensque; valde etiam sublimis, acer, fervidus. Ostendit Capite primo et secundo quid valeat in descriptionibus poesis prophetica; quantum amat metaphoras, comparationes, allegorias. Nec minus clara est rerum connexio, quam dictionis color: malorum amplificatio; hortatio ad pœnitentiam; pœnitentibus promissio bonorum cum terrenorum tum cælestium; rerum Israeliticarum instauratio; de adversariis sumpta supplicia. Verum et hic et alibi elocutionis perspicuitatem et compositionis nitorem laudantes, non negamus magnam interdum esse rerum obscuritatem; quod in hujusce vaticinii fine subinde notari potest Præl. xxi. 2. this] 7 is understood. See on Amos vii. 3. 3. -your children] Quod poetæ verbis dixeris, Et nati natorum, et qui nascentur ab illis. Eu. iii. See Bochart p. ii. L. iv. c. iv. Hieroz. where the reader will find many curious remarks on this prophet.

4

5

6

77

That which the grasshopper † left hath the locust eaten;

And that which the locust † left hath the devouring-locust eaten ;

And that which the devouring-locust † left hath the consuming-locust eaten.

Awake, ye drunkards, and weep,

And howl, all ye drinkers of wine,

For the sweet wine; because it is cut off from your

mouth.

For a nation hath gone up on my land,
Who are strong and without number:
Their teeth are as the teeth of a lion,
And they have the jaw-teeth of a lioness.

Hebr. the residue of.

Hebr. devouring lion.

4. grasshopper] Different species of locusts are here recounted., in Syr. th. Ar. signifies incidere, resecare: and.

in Chald. is locus ubi ramus est abscissus. See Cast. lex. may be derived from the Hebrew root which signifies lambere. Or, it may come from from the Arab. p albus. White locusts abound in Morocco. ib. and Boch. ib. c. 1. Wings are attributed to p, Nah. iii. 16. Ray says that there is a Spanish locust three inches long; and an African, four. On Insects: p. 63.

5. Awake] From the long sleep occasioned by your intoxication. That the depredations of locusts injured the quality of wines for many years, see Harmer i. 388.

ó. Ar. and two MSS. omit the in.

6. a nation] Locusts, poetically so called. See Prov. xxx. 25, 6. See many instances of the same language in the best poets, quoted by Bochart: where we find from Orpheus

Ακρίδος άπλετον εθνος.

and from Virgil, in his Georgic on bees:

Totiusque ordine gentis

Mores, et studia, et populos, et prælia dicam. G. iv. 4, 5. -hath gone up] A future event, which might be averted by repentance, c. ii, 12, &c. is spoken of as having already taken place; to enliven the description by setting the images before the eye of the reader. See Pral. Hebr. xv. 184.

7. have destroyed] Here, and v. 10, 15, instances of the paranomasia occur.

8

9

10

They have destroyed my vine, and have made my figtree a broken branch.

They have made it | quite bare, and cast it away:
the branches thereof are made white.

Lament, as a bride, girded with sackcloth,
For the husband of her youth.

The offering of flour is cut off, and the drink offer-
ing, from the house of Jehovah.

Mourn, O ye priests, ye ministers of Jehovah.
The field is laid waste, the ground mourneth:
For the corn is laid waste, the choice wine is *
dried up, the oil languisheth.

Hebr. They have set my vine for a desolation, and my figtree for a broken branch. Hebr. In making bare have they made it bare. *Or, withered. -a broken branch] Vulg. has decorticavit. But ó. have 25 μ, Syr. ad divulsionem, Ar. ad discerptionem: and the Arabic root signifies to break, whence a broken branch of a tree. Boch. and Cast. lex. "And thy figtree a foam, or swelling. Meaning either the viscous matter that appears on the leaves of trees where caterpillars or other insects have laid their eggs, or the swelling of the leaves which they sometimes occasion." Dr. Forsayeth.

-cast it away] Sc. the smaller branches; which they gnaw off. -are made white] ó. and Syr. read a dealbavit. But the present reading may be justified by Ps. li. 7. Isai. i. 18.

8. Lament] must have, O earth, or, O daughter of Sion, or, O congregation of Israel, as Chald. understood before it, and its root must be , in the Chaid. and Syr. signification of ejulavit. One MS. reads N. Perhaps we should read Lament ye; the and being often confounded. 6. repeat

.

-as a bride] The commentators say, that the original word is ætatis non integritatis nomen. See Gen. xxiv. 16. Judg. xxi. 12. Its root may be from the Arab. separavit, segregavit: because marriageable women were secluded in the east. Or, the word may be used largely; as virgo in Virg. Ecl. vi. 47, 52. Georg. iii. 263.

6. Ar. read hinana, or nina by “more than a bride."
9. is cut off] In the masculine.

So v. 13.

Mourn-] 6. Ar. render imperatively agreeably to the form

of the verbs, v. 5, 8, 13.

10. The field] 6. supply 2. For the field, &c.

-is dried up] Sce v. 12, and Zech. x. 11, for the force of the verb in this form.

11

12

13

14

Be ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vine dressers;

For the wheat and for the barley;

Because the harvest of the field is perished:

The vine is withered, and the figtree languisheth; The pomegranate, the palmtree also, and the quince:

All the trees of the field are withered.

Surely joy is withered from among the sons of men. Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and mourn, O ye priests:

Howl, O ye ministers of the altar :

Come, lie all night in sackcloth, O ye ministers of my God.

For the offering of flour, and the drink-offering, is withholden from the house of your God.

Appoint † ye a fast, proclaim a solemn day: Gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land, To the house of Jehovah your God;

And cry unto Jehovah.

15

Alas, [alas,] for the day!

Because the day of Jehovah is near,

And as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

+ Hebr. sanctify.

a day of restraint.

12. The vine] We have here a reason why the vinedressers should mourn as in v. 11, why the husbandman should be confounded. Bochart, ubi supra, observes, that it is a transposition; like what occurs Cantic. i. 5: where the sense is, "I am black as the tents of Kedar; but comely as the curtains of Solomon."

13. Gird yourselves] Syr. and one MS. add with sackcloth. -of my God] ó. Ar. read of God: and perhaps was written contractedly. Four MSS. read m

15. Alas] Syr. repeats the interjection twice; and V. ó. Arab. thrice. The measure is incomplete without a repetition. -the day of Jehovah] Of divine vengeance.

"Not

-as destruction] The same words occur Isai. xiii. 6. like an ordinary calamity; but like destruction inflicted by the Almighty."" Perhaps, as a destruction from him who is able to destroy' This would in some measure preserve the paronomasia; but would be too great a liberty." Secker.

16

17

18

19

20

Is not our food cut off before our eyes?

Yea, joy and gladness, from the house of our God?
The seeds have perished under their clods:

The store-houses are laid desolate, the garners are

destroyed:

For the corn is withered.

How do the cattle groan,

How are the herds of oxen perplexed,
Because they have no pasture!

The flocks of sheep also are destroyed.
Unto thee, O Jehovah, do I call:

For a fire hath devoured the pastures of the desert,
And a flame hath burnt all the trees of the field.
Moreover the cattle of the field cry unto thee:
For the streams of waters are dried
up;
And a fire hath devoured the pastures of the desert.

Syr. adds and say to the end of v. 14. But I rather attribute .15 to the prophet Joel.

16. Yea-] Kan. 6. MS. Pachom.

17. -have perished] The word seems best derived from the Arab. siccum evasit. Gol. lex. 1513. Pocock. A drought is foretold, as well as a plague of locusts: see v. 19, 20: and Chandler in loc. observes from Bochart, and this writer from Pliny, that a great increase of locusts is occasioned by heat. See Bochart, Pocock, and Pol. Syn. on the three anava which occur in this line. I shall only observe further, that a kindred word to what we translate seeds has the same signification in Chald. and Syr: see Cast. lex: and that the word translated clods may as easily signify massa terræ convoluta as a signifies manus convoluta.

The store-houses] Perhaps subterraneous repositories. Jer. xli. 8. Bochart p. ii. iv. xxi. p. 595. See on Amos ix. 6. Neither these nor other receptacles for the fruits of the earth were repaired, because there was nothing to treasure up in them. 18. destroyed] The Hebrew word imports destruction, or punishment, in consequence of guilt.

19. do I call] The prophet carries on the beautiful hypotyposis, by representing himself as a sharer in the calamity. -pastures] There were spots in the desert, where flocks and herds might feed. Ps. lxv. 12. c. ii. 22.

20. desert] Eight MSS. and two ed. read 72, as v. 19.

H h