From Lament to Praise

Notes for message

1. The Call to Corporate, Public Lamenting, 2:15-17.

15 - trumpet = shofar, this time calling for a public assembly.

fast = to sacrificially go without food in order to devote oneself to a higher spiritual purpose.

proclaim a solemn assembly = a call to consecrate themselves as a people united in purpose, seeking God’s forgiveness and restoration.

16 - The call to sanctify the congregation called for pure ritual purification were to be carefully followed. This generally involved bathing, washing clothing, dressing with clean clothes, and abstaining from conjugal activity.

Everyone shall participate w/o exception from the oldest to the youngest.

Even the bridegroom and the bride are called out of the bridal chambers to participate, ct. Deut. 24:5

Deuteronomy 24:5 NASB95

“When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out with the army nor be charged with any duty; he shall be free at home one year and shall give happiness to his wife whom he has taken.

But this is far more important… All are to assemble in a show of repentant solidarity. Each person had been called to repent in verse 12-14; now the whole nation without exception. That invitation to genuine repentance opened the door to the possibility of restored blessing with the assembly of all the people demonstrating the contrition and repentance of the nation.

17 - Those who stand between God and man, the priests are not to bring an offering, but to weep between the porch and the altar. This position, 30 feet wide and 15 feet deep, also known as the ‘court of the priests’, is a position where they represent the people who, although in failure, are yet the redeemed of the LORD. Solomon, in his prayer of dedication of the Temple, knelt down and prayed to the LORD in the presence of the people —those days a solemn sight; after all the king bowed to no one, all bowed before him in the culture of that day.

From the context, this weeping is a weeping of repentance, a bitter sense of sorrow over having offended Yahweh

The content of their lament: Spare Your people. This was a prayer for deliverance. They are the LORD’s special inheritance; “Spare them for the glory of Your name.” It includes the concept of pity toward another, to look on them with compassion.

They pray that the LORD will not make them a reproach, a byword among the nations. The basis of the appeal is that they belong to Yahweh, as your people and your inheritance denotes. The nations would then question, “Where is their God?” They would believe God is not table to, or unwilling to, defend His people, even if He is the one who allowed the invader to succeed.

This prayer of the priests ends with a plea for Yahweh to intervene for the purpose of protecting His honor. It is one thing for His possession to be scorned and taunted, but for His honor to be attacked is another. Yahweh’s reputation is at stake, which provides the strongest reason why He should act to avert the judgment, and thereby vindicate both Himself and His people.

The hope and prayer of the priests is that the LORD’s mercy will restore them soon.

The response of the people in genuine lament and sorrow over sin transitions from Israel being the object of God’s judgment to Israel being the object of God’s blessing, see Deut 30:1-9

Deuteronomy 30:1–9 NASB95

“So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the Lord your God has banished you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. “If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. “The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. “The Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. “And you shall again obey the Lord, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. “Then the Lord your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers;

2. Yahweh’s Gracious Response, 2:18.

The transition here turns to assurances of a welcomed response and a divine blessing. Verse 18 is the thesis statement on which the remainder of Joel hinges.

18 - The LORD will be zealous for His land, to protect it. The term zealous depicts someone who becomes red or flushed with passion or deep emotion. The land concept is more than territory; it is the place of God’s revelation and His special influence.

He will have pity on His people, His choice ones out of all the nations of the world, to whom He has given His land. The verb here has the idea of sparing one from difficulty, generally motivated out of a heart of compassion or emotion.

Together, these two verbs depict Yahweh’s intensely passive actions which will lead to the promise of blessing as the people renew their covenant faithfulness.

3. Yahweh’s Promise of Material Restoration, 2:19-27.

A. The Promises of Yahweh, 2:19-20.

19 - The LORD now will answer, giving them instructions as well as the promise of blessing. He is the source, the fountainhead of unprecedented prosperity, blessing, and security.

His first promise: “I am going to send you...” (1st person, emphasizing His actions) promises the restoration of all that was eaten by the locusts.

“You will be satisfied in full with them” is a promise of not just subsistence living but satiated living, contentment, fullness.

His second promise: “I will never again make you a reproach among the nations.” This is a promise still to come, since over the years they have been looked down at by others because God has judged their rejection of Him and His covenant with His people. This statement would be true, conditioned upon their never apostatizing again, but will be true at the restoration following Christ’s return.

20 - His third promise: The LORD says, “I will remove the northern army.” Locusts come from the east or south, so something more is meant by emphasizing where this army is coming from. This is the strongest verse supporting the view a literal army is in view through Joel 2.

The LORD “will drive it into a parched and desolate land.” Instead of Israel, into Arabia, maybe? The LORD who led the army here has now turned against them; He scatters them rather than uniting them. The eastern sea refers to the Dead Sea; the western sea is the Mediterranean.

The foul smell comes from the dead carcasses. The destruction of this army comes because “it has done great things.” This is a picture of the arrogant invasion of the Holy Land, which was unprovoked and causing vast destruction and death of the invaders. This is a very similar picture to the Red Sea drownings, caused by Pharaoh trying to overthrow God’s people and return them to slavery. As a matter of interest, it is reported that masses of dead locusts also smell terrible, especially after dying at sea and then being washed ashore.

B. The Commands through Yahweh’s prophet, 2:21-23

21 - Joel resumes the role of spokesman here. The land is personified as people here, and is commanded to rejoice and be glad for the LORD has done great things. In contrast to verse 20, the LORD is seen having delivered His people from a larger, more powerful enemy invasion. No longer would the invading force be allowed to tread His land underfoot.

22 - The beasts of the field are commanded: “Do not fear...” because the LORD’s blessing has returned to the land. The proof is the pastures of the wilderness have turned green from brown, having sprouted new, tender shoots of grass, and the tree has borne its fruit, becoming fruitful once more. The fig tree and the vine have yielded in full: they are bountiful in their harvest. Historically, these two are symbolic of prosperity, peace, and security in Israel, see 1 Kings 4:25

1 Kings 4:25 NASB95

So Judah and Israel lived in safety, every man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

23 - The people of the land, all Israel (Zion is used here as representative of the whole nation) is to rejoice and be glad, a commend to be obeyed. The object of their rejoicing is the LORD your God, emphasizing the recognition of His grace given to them, the restoration of the covenant between the LORD and His people. They will recognize Him through His giving them the early and later rain again, signs of divine blessing, Deut. 11:14

Deuteronomy 11:14 NASB95

that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil.

C. The Gracious Restorations of Yahweh, 2:24-27.

24 - The results are an abundance of grain, new wine and oil.

The threshing floor:

The wine vats:

25 - The LORD Himself promises: “I will make up to you for the years ...” The yield or produce that was lost to locusts and drought will be restored; not just enough but in abundance. The LORD will do this even though the people had sinned against Him.

Sin resulted in covenant curses.

Now having acknowledged their sin and need for Him, the LORD’s graciousness is revealed.

Repentance would result in covenant blessings.

Just as the LORD had sent the locusts and the famine through drought, now He provides in abundance.

26 - here will be the continual abundance for eating until the people are satisfied. With food in abundance, their lamentation has turned into praise to the Giver, praising the name of the LORD your God, placing special emphasis here on the character and reputation of Yahweh. He has dealt wondrously, the adverb underscoring the greatness of all His actions, Exodus 15:11

Exodus 15:11 NASB95

“Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?

Psalm 77:14 NASB95

You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples.

His actions in judgment and now even more in His complete deliverance and restoration.

27 - God does not relinquish His claim to His people to any other god, nor does He allow them to look to any other. God can have no rival in His people’s loyalty.

Other nations may have mocked Judah in their judgment and disparaged Yahweh as being less powerful than their gods, but Israel would learn from her rescue the lesson of a convinced faith in her God, which none could shatter. For Yahweh to dwell in their midst and for the absence of being put to shame, they were to be obedient and faithful to the covenant and the one true God of that covenant, Yahweh. if they did this, they would never be put to shame.