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This chapter is the description of a lamentable devastation made of the country of Judah by locusts and caterpillars. Some think that the prophet speaks of it as a thing to come and gives warning of it beforehand, as usually the prophets did of judgments coming. Others think that it was now present, and that his business was to affect the people with it and awaken them by it to repentance. I. It is spoken of as a judgment which there was no precedent of in former ages (Joe 1:1-7). II. All sorts of people sharing in the calamity are called upon to lament it (Joe 1:8-13). III. They are directed to look up to God in their lamentations, and to humble themselves before him (Joe 1:14-20).

This chapter describes a dreadful calamity upon the people of the Jews, by locusts and, caterpillars, and drought. After the title of the book, Joe 1:1; old men are called upon to observe this sore judgment to their children, that it might be transmitted to the latest posterity, as that the like to which had not been seen and heard of, Joe 1:2; and drunkards to awake and weep, because the vines were destroyed, and no wine could be made for them, Joe 1:5; and not only husbandmen and vinedressers, but the priests of the Lord, are called to mourn, because such destruction, was made in the fields and vineyards, that there were no meat nor drink offering brought into the house of the Lord, Joe 1:8; wherefore a general and solemn fast is required throughout the land, because of the distress of man and beast, Joe 1:14; and the chapter is concluded with the resolution of the prophet to cry unto the Lord, on account of this calamity, Joe 1:19.

The beasts of the field cry also unto thee,.... As well as the prophet, in their way; which may be mentioned, both as a rebuke to such who had no sense of the judgments upon them, and called not on the Lord; and to express the greatness of the calamity, of which the brute creatures were sensible, and made piteous moans, as for food, so for drink; panting thorough excessive heat and vehement thirst, as the hart, after the water brooks, of which this word is only used, Psa 42:1; but in vain: for the rivers of waters are dried up; not only springs, and rivulets and brooks of water, but rivers, places where were large deep waters, as Aben Ezra explains it; either by the Assyrian army, the like Sennacherib boasts Isa 37:25; and is said to be done by the army of Xerxes, wherever it came; or rather by the excessive heat and scorching beams of the sun, by which such effects are produced: and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness; See Gill on Joe 1:19; and whereas the word rendered pastures signifies both "them" and "habitations" also; and, being repeated, it may be taken in one of the senses in Joe 1:19; and in the other here: and so Kimchi who interprets it before of "tents", here explains it of grassy places in the wilderness, dried up, as if the sun had consumed them. Next: Joel Chapter 2

(Verse 19, 20.) I will cry out to you, Lord, for the fire has consumed the beautiful things of the desert, and the flame has set all the wood of the region ablaze; even the beasts of the field, like a parched land thirsting for rain, have looked up to you; for the springs of water have dried up, and the fire has devoured the beautiful things of the desert. LXX: I will cry out to you, Lord, for the fire has consumed the beautiful things of the desert, and the flame has set all the wood of the field ablaze, and the animals of the field have looked up to you, for the streams of water have dried up, and the fire has devoured the beautiful things of the desert. The prophet cries out to the Lord, or to the people through the prophet: for the fire has consumed the beautiful things of the desert, and the flame has set ablaze all the wood of the region, the beasts and the farm animals, or the fields, look to the Lord, like a little field thirsty for rain. This, in one word, is signified by the Eagle saying, 'it has been desolated'; and they look to him, because the fountains, or the outlets of water, have dried up, and the fire has devoured the beautiful things of the desert, because indeed the caterpillar, and the locust, and the devourer have done so, and the rust, because the fire is in the straw, and the flame in the bushes. However, the beautiful places of the desert, which are called Naoth in Hebrew (), let us understand either the flat plains, or the flourishing meadows, or the green places with herbs, which provided pastures for animals. But when the prophet cried out to the Lord, fire caused the animals to look towards him, which devoured the beautiful places of the desert, and the flame that ignited all the wood of the region, so that the crops and fruits were destroyed together, and because the water sources dried up, and whatever could be found in the desert, the voracious flame consumed. At the same time, let us consider that unless because of narrowness and the taking away of pleasures, neither the prophet nor the beasts would cry out to the Lord, or look up to the Lord, which indeed can be referred to a righteous man once, who when he turns away and does evil, his former virtues will by no means benefit him; but the Lord will judge him in whatever he finds. We can call them the beautiful things of the desert, about which it is written: 'More are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband.' (Isaiah 54:1). However, the flame that sets fire to all the wood in the region is to be believed to be the one that is sent by the burning arrows of the devil, so that nothing of good fruit remains in us; but everything is consumed by fire. For all adulterers, like a furnace, their hearts; and not only the prophet, or the people through the prophet, who is a rational being (Hosea VII), but also the animals, of which it is said: You will save both humans and animals, Lord (Psalm XXXV, VII). And elsewhere: I have become like a beast before you (Psalms VII, 23). And again: I will sow them with the seed of humans and beasts (Jeremiah XXXI, 27). They looked up to the Lord and begged for the dew of His mercy; for the springs of water had dried up, which the deer desires. And of whom the Lord speaks through Jeremiah: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water (Jeremiah II, 13). But when the springs of water, which irrigate and refresh all that is dry, are dried up, whatever was beautiful in us is consumed by the heat of fire, of which the Lord speaks in the Gospel: I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven (Luke X, 18).

THE DESOLATE ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY THROUGH THE PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS; THE PEOPLE ADMONISHED TO OFFER SOLEMN PRAYERS IN THE TEMPLE; FOR THIS CALAMITY IS THE EARNEST OF A STILL HEAVIER ONE. (Joel 1:1-20) Joel--meaning, "Jehovah is God." son of Pethuel--to distinguish Joel the prophet from others of the name. Persons of eminence also were noted by adding the father's name.

beasts . . . cry . . . unto thee--that is, look up to heaven with heads lifted up, as if their only expectation was from God (Job 38:41; Psa 104:21; Psa 145:15; Psa 147:9; compare Psa 42:1). They tacitly reprove the deadness of the Jews for not even now invoking God. Next: Joel Chapter 2

I. The Judgment of God, and the Prophet's Call to Repentance - Joel 1:2-2:17 An unparalleled devastation of the land of Judah by several successive swarms of locusts, which destroyed all the seedlings, all field and garden fruits, all plants and trees, and which was accompanied by scorching heat, induced the prophet to utter a loud lamentation at this unparalleled judgment of God, and an earnest call to all classes of the nation to offer prayer to the Lord in the temple, together with fasting, mourning, and weeping, that He might avert the judgment. In the first chapter, the lamentation has reference chiefly to the ruin of the land (Joel 1:2-20); in the second, the judgment is depicted as a foretype and harbinger of the approaching day of the Lord, which the congregation is to anticipate by a day of public fasting, repentance, and prayer (Joel 2:1-17); so that ch. 1 describes rather the magnitude of the judgment, and ch. 2:1-17 its significance in relation to the covenant nation. Lamentation over the Devastation of Judah by Locusts and Drought - Joel 1 After an appeal to lay to heart the devastation by swarms of locusts, which has fallen upon the land (Joe 1:2-4), the prophet summons the following to utter lamentation over this calamity: first the drunkards, who are to awake (Joe 1:5-7); then the congregation generally, which is to mourn with penitence (Joe 1:8-12); and then the priests, who are to appoint a service of repentance (Joe 1:13-18). For each of these appeals he gives, as a reason, a further description of the horrible calamity, corresponding to the particular appeal; and finally, he sums up his lamentation in a prayer for the deliverance of the land from destruction (Joe 1:19, Joe 1:20).