Joel 1:14 - Meaning and Application

We have already seen many tears over the destruction of the earth’s crops by locusts. Now those tears are turned to the right purpose, repentance and humbling themselves before God. The judgment was very severe, and they are now told to acknowledge God’s hand in it, his mighty hand, and to submit to it.

A public fast is ordered. The priests are told to appoint it. They must not only mourn themselves, but also call the people to mourn. “Sanctify a fast” means set apart time from ordinary work to focus on God, repent, and show unusual devotion. Under public judgments, there should be public humbling, because the Lord calls his people to weeping and mourning.

The nation is to gather in a day set apart for this purpose, a day of restraint, as the margin reads it. People are to be held back from their normal work so they can attend to God’s service more fully. It is also to be a fast, a religious refusal of food and drink except what is truly necessary. The people of Nineveh appointed such a fast, where they were not even to taste anything (Jonah 3:7).

By fasting, people admit that they do not deserve their daily food and have brought loss upon themselves. It is a way of punishing the body and bringing it under control, since the body has often been an occasion of sin. It also helps keep the body fit to serve the soul in serving God. And when the stomach cries out for food, it can stir the soul to long for better things, things greater than life itself and all its support.

This was especially fitting now, because God was taking away their food and drink. Their outward loss should be matched by outward sorrow. When God says, “You shall fast,” it is time to answer, “We will fast.”

There must also be a solemn meeting. The elders and the people, rulers and subjects, all the inhabitants of the land, must come together. God is honored when the nation humbles itself openly. They are also brought to greater shame for their sin, and they can encourage one another in the duties of the day. Since all had helped bring on the nation’s guilt, and all shared in the nation’s misery, all must join in repentance.

They are to meet in the temple, the house of the Lord their God. It was the house of prayer, and there they might hope to meet with God. It was also the place he had chosen for his name, and they could expect mercy there because it pointed forward to Christ and his mediation, that is, his work of bringing God and sinners together. They were therefore taking hold of Solomon’s prayer for the acceptance of requests made in or toward that house, especially in a case like theirs, where locusts and caterpillars were named among the possible calamities (1 Kings 7:37).

The fast must be sanctified, that is, kept in a holy and sincere way. A fast is worth little if it is not truly devoted to God. They must also cry to the Lord. Their complaint and their plea must go to him. In affliction, we must cry to the Lord, and that is the true fasting God desires (Zechariah 7:5).

They are urged to do this because God was already entering into a dispute with them. It is time to cry to the Lord, because the day of the Lord is near (Joel 1:15). This may mean the present judgment, which they could already see starting, or it may point to greater judgments that this one only began. Either way, they are taught to make this the matter of their sorrow: “Alas for the day, for the day of the Lord is near.” So they must cry to God.

That day is near, and it will not wait long. Therefore they should not delay in fasting and praying, because they have only a little time left to turn back. It will also be a dreadful day. There is no escaping it and no resisting it. It will come as destruction from the Almighty (Isaiah 13:6). This is not a light correction, but destruction. It comes from the hand of the Almighty, not from a weak creature, and who does not know the power of his anger? We can flee from him only by fleeing to him. We escape destruction from the Almighty only by submitting to him and pleading with him for peace (Isaiah 27:5).

They already saw signs of his displeasure, so it was time to fast and pray. Their distress was very great (Joel 1:16). They should look into their own houses and see how much plenty was gone. Those who once kept full tables now had to cut back. Their food was cut off before their eyes. If people will not notice God’s hand when it is lifted up, they will notice it when it falls. Since earthly food can be taken away so easily, they should labor for the spiritual food that is not before their eyes and cannot be cut off.

They should also look into God’s house and see what the judgment had done there. Joy and gladness had been cut off from the house of God. The house of our God should be a place of joy. David called God himself his exceeding joy when he came to the altar. But when joy is removed from God’s house, whether by corrupting holy things or by persecution of holy people, and when serious godliness declines and love grows cold, then it is time to cry to the Lord and say, “Alas.”

The prophet then returns to the weight of the calamity. Corn and cattle were the farmer’s main sources of support, and now both were being lost. The caterpillars had eaten the grain (Joel 1:17). The storehouses that used to be filled with grain are left empty, and the barns are broken down, because the grain has dried up. The owners do not think it worth repairing them, since they have nothing to put inside and no hope of getting anything soon.

The seed itself is ruined under the clods, either because of too much rain, or, as was more common in Canaan, because of drought. It may even be that insects under the ground ate it. When one crop fails, a farmer hopes the next will make up for it. Here, even the seed is as bad as the harvest, so there is no comfort left.

The cattle also perish for lack of grass (Joel 1:18). The prophet notices this so that the people will feel the weight of it and think seriously about the judgment. Even the groaning of the animals should soften hard and unrepentant hearts.

The cattle are confused, and the sheep are desolate. The large cattle, the kind we call black cattle, are in distress. Even the sheep, which can live on common ground and short grass, are laid waste. Here we see lower creatures suffering because of our sin, and also bearing the curse that came with it. “Cursed is the ground because of you.”

The prophet then urges the people to cry out to God, and he does this by example. He begins with his own example: “O Lord, to you I will cry” (Joel 1:19). He would not press others to do what he himself would not do. In fact, whether they followed him or not, he was resolved to pray. If God’s ministers cannot move others by speaking of God’s judgment, they should at least be deeply moved themselves. If they cannot bring others to cry out to God, they should be much in prayer themselves.

In times of trouble, we must not only pray, but cry out. Our prayers should be earnest and urgent. And our cry should always be directed to God, because both destruction and rescue come from him. What moved the prophet here was not mainly his own suffering, but the nation’s disaster. “The fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,” which likely means a scorching heat from the sun, like fire to the crops of the earth. It consumed everything. When God calls for a judgment by fire, those who have any hope in heaven should cry out to him for help (Numbers 11:2; Amos 7:4-5).

The prophet also points to the example of the animals. “The beasts of the field do not only groan, but cry to you” (Joel 1:20). They appeal to God’s pity in a way that fits their nature. They cannot know rational faith or revealed religion, yet by instinct they still depend on God. At the very least, when they groan because of their trouble, God is pleased to count it as a cry to him. How much more will he receive the groanings of his own children, even when those groanings are too weak to be spoken aloud (Romans 8:26).

The beasts are said to cry to God because the rivers are dried up by the great heat, and because the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness. The lions seek their food from him, and the young ravens do the same (Psalm 104:21; Job 38:41). Yet what are people like if they never cry to God except for food and drink, and complain only when pleasure is missing? Still, even that kind of crying by the animals puts to shame the dullness of people who do not cry to God at all.