John Calvin, Commentary on Joel



Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets by John Calvin.

Now first translated from the original Latin, by the Rev. John Owen,
vicar of Thrussington, Leicestershire.

Volume Second. Joel, Amos, Obadiah

W. M. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 1950, Michigan.
Printed in the United States of America.


Table of Contents
Translator's Preface
The Commentaries of John Calvin on the Prophet Joel
Calvin's Preface to Joel
Commentaries on the Prophet Joel




Translator's Preface

This volume contains the Writings of three Prophets. Joel exercised
his office among the Jews; Amos, though a native of Judea, was yet
appointed a Prophet of The Ten Tribes; and Obadia's prophecy refers
only to Edom.
    
    The great master of Hebrew criticism, Bishop Lowth, speaking,
in his twenty-first Prelection, of Joel, says, that though he
differs much in style from Hosea, he is yet "equally poetical." He
represents him as "elegant, clear, diffuse, and flowing, and also
very sublime, severe, and fervid." Admitting the perspicuity of his
diction, and the clearness of his arrangements, he yet confesses
that the matter which he handles is sometimes obscure, especially
towards the end of his Prophecy.
    
    With regard to the style of Amos, the Bishop differs widely
from Jerome, who has characterized the Prophet as "unskilful in
speech, but not in knowledge," (imperitum sermone, set non in
scientia.) Lowth, on the contrary, regarded him as "not a whit
behind the very chiefest Prophets, being in elevation of sentiment
and nobleness of mind almost equal to the very firsts and hardly
inferior to any of them in splendor of diction and elegance of
composition."
    
    Of Obadia, nothing more is said by the Bishop than that he left
but a small monument of his genius, and that a considerable portion
of that is contained in the prophecy of Jeremiah. Of his composition
Dr Henderson says, "Its principal features are animation,
regularity, and perspicuity."
    
    There is especially one subject in connection with the present
Volume, which seems to require particular notice - The
interpretation of those prophecies which speak of the future
restoration of the Jews to their own land. Calvin viewed some
passages, as having been already accomplished in their return from
Babylon, which in the estimation of others are yet to be fulfilled;
while he interpreted those which evidently refer to what is future,
in such a way as clearly shows that he did not consider that the
Jews are to be restored again to their own country. That justice may
be done to him, we must know and bear in mind the principles by
which he was guided: for it is not to be supposed, that one so
versed in Scripture, who had studied it with so much labour, and
manifested, as it is commonly admitted, so much penetration and
discernment as an expounder, would have taken such a view of this
subject on slight grounds, without adopting a rule of
interpretation, which, according to what he thought, was
countenanced by Scriptural examples.
    
    It must first be observed, that Calvin, in common with others,
regarded the history as well erg the institutions of the people of
Israel, as in great measure typical of things under the Gospel.
Their temporal evils and blessings, their temporal oppressions and
deliverances, were intended to set forth the spiritual state and
condition of the Christian Church. The free choice of the people by
God, their Egyptian bondage, their passage through the wilderness
and their possession of the land of Canaan, were events symbolical
of things connected with that spiritual community afterwards formed
by the preaching of the Gospel; and of the same character was the
subsequent captivity of that people in Babylon, and their
restoration afterwards to their own land.
    
    The next thing to be noticed is, that Promises of Blessings
made to the people of Israel had in some instances a twofold
meaning, and had reference to two things - the one temporal and the
other spiritual. The restoration, for instance, from Babylon, was a
prelude of the restoration or redemption by Christ. It was not only
typical, but a kind of an initiative process, which was to be
completed, though in a sublimer sense, by the Savior of man. The
first was a restoration from temporal evils; the second was still a
restoration, but from evils of a spiritual kind. The performance of
the promise, in one case, was the commencement of a restorative
work, which was to be completed in the other: the temporal
restoration was eventually succeeded by that which is spiritual.
    
    But the most material point in interpreting the Prophecies is
The Language which is Used: rightly to understand this language
forms the main difficulty. There are Promises which, as admitted by
Calvin, look beyond the restoration from Babylon; and they are
couched in terms, which, if taken literally, most evidently show
that there is to be a second restoration. What is there, it may be
asked, which can justify a departure from the letter of the
promises? This is the chief question, on which the whole matter
depends. Calvin evidently thought that the literal sense cannot be
taken, as that would be inconsistent with the general character of
the ancient prophecies; for he considered that many of the
prophecies, which relate to the Church of the New Testament, were
conveyed in a language suitable to the institutions then existing,
and in consistency with the notions which then prevailed, as to
religion and divine worship. Hence the Temple, Mount Sion,
sacrifices, offerings, the priests, as well as the restoration of
the people to their own land, and their perpetual establishment in
it, are often spoken of in those very promises which incontestably
refer to the Gospel dispensation. Now, if in some cases, as
confessed by most, if not by all, the language is not to be taken
literally, but as representing the success, the extension and the
blessings of the Gospel, why should it be taken literally in other
similar cases? The possession of the land of Canaan was to the
people of Israel one of their chief blessings, and was a signal
token of the divine favor. Banishment from it was not only a
temporal loss, but involved also the loss of all their religious
privileges. Nothing, therefore, could have conveyed to their minds a
higher idea of redemption than the promise of restoration to their
own land, and a perpetual possession of it.
    
    The foregoing seem to have been the views by which Calvin was
guided in his interpretation: and the Editor must be allowed to
express his concurrence, though he is fully aware, that there have
been, and that there are still, many celebrated men of a contrary
opinion.
    
    There is another idea which Calvin suggests, in connection with
this subject. He regarded The Promises made in some instances by the
Prophets as to the future prosperity of the people of Israel, and
the perpetuity of their institutions and privileges, as Conditional,
even when no condition is expressed. Instances of the same kind are
to be found in the writings of Moses and of the earlier Prophets.
Promises of perpetuity are made, (as for instance, respecting the
priesthood,) and often unaccompanied by any conditions; and yet they
were conditional, as the event proved, and in accordance with the
tenor of the covenant under which the Israelites lived. The same
view may also be taken of such promises as are found in the later
Prophets, that is, such as bear on them a national stamp: they were
announced unconditionally; but as they included blessings which
belonged to the people as subjects of the Mosaic covenant, they were
necessarily conditional, dependent as to their accomplishment on
their obedience. Hence Jeremiah, who had himself announced promises
of this kind, says, that the time would come when God would
establish another covenant; and for this reason, because the people
of Israel had broken the former covenant.
    
    The Editor feels it to be his duty to say generally of Calvin's
Expositions that the more maturely he considers them, after having
compared them with those of others, both modern and ancient, the
more satisfied he is with them, and the more he admires the
acuteness and solid judgment they display. Perhaps no individual,
possessing his high qualifications, natural, acquired, and
spiritual, has ever, either in ancient or modern times, exercised
himself so much in the study of the Holy Scriptures, and produced
Comments so original and so valuable.
    
    What is remarkable in Calvin as an Expositor is his unvarying
attention to the context. This was his polar star, which enabled him
to steer clear and safe through many intricacies and ambiguities no
to the meaning of particular words, and even of sentences. His first
object seems to have been to ascertain the general drift of a
passage or of a chapter; and his next, to harmonize its several
parts. There are many words which have various meanings, and the
surest way of ascertaining their meaning in any given sentence, is
to inquire what comports with the context. There is indeed no other
way by which we can make a choice, when a word admits of different
senses. Probably no Commentator has ever paid so much attention to
this canon of interpretation as Calvin did. The ground on which he
almost at all times rejects a sense given by others to words or to
sentences is, that it does not suit the place, or, to adopt an
expression he frequently uses, that it does not square (non Quadrat)
with the passage.
    
    It has been often thought that more difficulty attends the
Hebrew language than other languages, owing to the variety of
meaning which belongs to some of its words. But this variety exists
quite as much, and indeed much more, in many other languages, and
even in our own. What enables us in numberless instances to
ascertain the meaning of a word, and even often of a sentence, is
what stands connected with it, that is, the context. It is what goes
before and comes after, not only in a sentence, but often in a long
passage, that explains the precise meaning of many words. To
transfer the meaning of a word from one passage to another, and to
say that because it has a certain meaning in one place, it must have
the same in another, (except the word has but one meaning,) is
certainly not the way to explain Scripture or any other writing. The
best expositor in this respect is no doubt the context.
    
    It is well known that these Lectures were delivered extempore,
and were taken down by some of those who heard them; and we have
them now as thus taken down, and afterwards corrected by Calvin.
This circumstance accounts for the occasional defect of order and
for occasional repetitions. But these drawbacks seem to have been
more than compensated by the freshness and vigor, the life and
animation which these spontaneous effusion of his mind exhibit. In
none of his other writings, as it appears to the Editor, has Calvin
shone forth with so much lustre as an able, clear, plain, and
animated an Expounder, as in these Lectures. There is a flow and
energy to be found in them not equaled in those productions which he
composed in private, and finished with more careful attention to
order and style. When the mind is well stored and the memory
retentive, as was the case in no ordinary degree with Calvin, a
public auditory has usually the effect of calling into action all
the powers of the mind; and, as frequently in the present instance,
the consequence is, that the finest and the most striking thoughts
are elicited, and are expressed in a language the most energetic,
calculated to produce the deepest impressions.

                                J.O.

Thrussington
November, 1846.









The Commentaries of John Calvin on the Prophet Joel






Calvin's Preface to Joel


I proceed now to explain The Prophet Joel. The time in which he
prophesied is uncertain. Some of the Jews imagine that he exercised
his office in the time of Joram, king of Israel, because a dreadful
famine then prevailed through the whole land, as it appears evident
from sacred history; and as the Prophet record a famine, they
suppose that his ministry must be referred to that time. Some think,
that he taught under Manasseh, but they bring no reason for this
opinion; it is, therefore, a mere conjecture. Others think that he
performed his office as a teacher not only under one king, but that
he taught, at the same time with Isaiah, under several kings.
    But as there is no certainty, it is better to leave the time in
which he taught undecided; and, as we shall see, this is of no great
importance. Not to know the time of Hosea would be to readers a
great loss for there are many parts which could not be explained
without a knowledge of history; but as to Joel there is, as I have
said, less need of this; for the import of his doctrine is evident,
though his time be obscure and uncertain. But we may conclude that
he taught at Jerusalem, or at least in the kingdom of Judah. As
Hosea was appointed a Prophet to the kingdom of Israel, so Joel had
another appointment; for he was to labour especially among the Jews
and not among the Ten Tribes: this deserves to be particularly
noticed.
    Now the sum of the Book is this: At the beginning, he reproves
the stupidity of the people, who, when severely smitten by God, did
not feel their evils, but on the contrary grew hardened under them:
this is one thing. Then he threatens far more grievous evils; as the
people became so insensible under all their punishments, that they
were not humbled, the Prophet declares that there were evils at hand
much worse than those they had hitherto experienced: this is the
second thing. Thirdly, he exhorts the people to repentance, and
shows that there was required no common evidence of repentance; for
they had not lightly offended God, but by their perverseness
provoked him to bring on them utter ruin: since, then, their
obstinacy had been so great, he bids them to come as suppliants with
tears, with sackcloth, with mourning, with ashes, that they might
obtain mercy; for they were unworthy of being regarded by the Lord,
except they thus submissively humbled themselves: this is the third
subject. The fourth part of the Book is taken up with promises; for
he prophesies of the Kingdom of Christ, and shows, that though now
all things seemed full of despair, yet God had not forgotten the
covenant he made with the fathers; and that therefore Christ would
come to gather the scattered remnants, yea, and to restore to life
his people, though they were now lost and dead.
    This is the sum and substance. But we shall see, as we proceed,
that the chapters have been absurdly and foolishly divided. He thus
begins -








Commentaries on the Prophet Joel




Chapter 1.

Lecture Thirty-eighth.

Joel 1:1-4
1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
2 Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the
land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your
fathers?
3 Tell ye your children of it, and [let] your children [tell] their
children, and their children another generation.
4  That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and
that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that
which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.

    "The word of Jehovah which came to Joel, the son of Pethuel".
He names here his father; it is hence probable that he was a man
well known and of some celebrity. But who this Pethuel was, a11 now
are ignorant. And what the Hebrews hold as a general rule, that a
prophet is designated, whenever his father's name is added, appears
to me frivolous; and we see how bold they are in devising such
comments. When no reason for any thing appears to them, they invent
some fable, and allege it as a divine truth. When, therefore, they
are wont thus to trifle, I have no regard for what is held by them
as a rule. But yet it is probable, that when the Prophets are
mentioned as having sprung from this or that father, their fathers
were men of some note.
    Now what he declared by saying, that he delivered the word of
the Lord, is worthy of being observed; for he shows that he claimed
nothing for himself, as an individual, as though he wished to rule
by his own judgment, and to subject others to his own fancies; but
that he relates only what he had received from the Lord. And since
the Prophets claimed no authority for themselves, except as far as
they faithfully executed the office divinely committed to them, and
delivered, as it were from hand to hand, what the Lord commanded, we
may hence feel assured that no human doctrines ought to be admitted
into the Church. Why? Because as much as men trust in themselves, so
much they take away from the authority of God. This preface then
ought to be noticed, which almost all the Prophets use, namely, that
they brought nothing of their own or according to their own
judgment, but that they were faithful dispensers of the truth
intrusted to them by God.
    And the word is said to have been to Joel; not that God
intended that he alone should be his disciple, but because he
deposited this treasure with him, that he might be his minister to
the whole people. Paul also says the same thing, - that to the
ministers of the Gospel was committed a message for Christ, or in
Christ's name, to reconcile men to God, (2 Cor. 5: 20;) and in
another place he says, 'He has deposited with us this treasure as in
earthen vessels,' (2 Cor. 4: 7.) We now understand why Joel says,
that the word of the Lord was delivered to him, it was not that he
might be the only disciple; but as some teacher was necessary, Joel
was chosen to whom the Lord committed this office. Then the word of
God belongs indeed indiscriminately to all; and yet it is committed
to Prophets and other teachers; for they are, so to speak, as it
were trustees (depositarii - depositories.)
    As to the verb "hayah", there is no need of philosophizing so
acutely as Jerome does: "How was the word of the Lord made?" For he
feared lest Christ should be said to be made, as he is the word of
the Lord. These are trifles, the most puerile. He could not,
however, in any other way get rid of the difficulty but by saying
that the word is said to be made with respect to man whom God
addresses, and not with respect to God himself. All this, as ye must
see, is childish; for the Prophet says here only, that the word of
the Lord was sent to him, that is, that the Lord employed him as his
messenger to the whole people. But after having shown that he was a
fit minister of God, being furnished with his word, he speaks
authoritatively, for he represented the person of God.
    We now see what is the lawful authority which ought to be in
force in the Church, and which we ought to obey without dispute, and
to which all ought to submit. It is then only that this authority
exists, when God himself speaks by men, and the Holy Spirit employs
them as his instruments. For the Prophet brings not forward any
empty title; he does not say that he is a high priest of the tribe
of Levi, or of the first order, or of the family of Aaron. He
alleges no such thing, but says that the word of God was deposited
with him. Whosoever then demands to be heard in the Church, must of
necessity really prove that he is a preacher of God's word; and he
must not bring his own devices, nor blend with the word any thing
that proceeds from the judgment of his own flesh.
    But first the Prophet reproves the Jews for being so stupid as
not to consider that they were chastised by the hand of God, though
this was quite evident. Hence they pervert, in my judgment, the
meaning of the Prophet, who think that punishments are here
denounced which were as yet suspended; for they transfer all these
things to a future time. But I distinguish between this reproof and
the denunciations which afterwards follow. Here then the Prophet
reproaches the Jews, that having been so severely smitten, they did
not gain wisdom; and yet even fools, when the rod is applied to
their backs, know that they are punished. Since then the Jews were
so stupid, that when even chastised they did not understand that
they had to do with God, the Prophet justly reproves this madness.
"Hear", he says, "ye old men; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the
land, and declare this to your children". But the consideration of
this passage I shall put off till tomorrow.
    
Prayer.
    
Grant, Almighty God that as almost the whole world give such loose
reins to their licentiousness, that they hesitate not either to
despise or to regard as of no value thy sacred word - Grant, O Lord
that we may always retain such reverence as is justly due to it and
to thy holy oracles and be so moved whenever thou deignest to
address us that being truly humbled, we may be raised up by faith to
heaven, and by hope gradually attain that glory which is as yet hid
from us. And may we at the same time so submissively restrain
ourselves, as to make it our whole wisdom to obey thee and to do
thee service, until thou gatherest us into thy kingdom, where we
shall be partakers of thy glory, through Christ our Lord. Amen.


Lecture Thirty-ninth.

    "Hear this, ye old men; and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the
land: has this been in your days, and in the days of your fathers?
This declare to your children and your children to their children,
and their children to the next generation: the residue of the locust
has the chafer eaten, and the residue of the chafer has the
cankerworm eaten, and the residue of the cankerworm has the
caterpillar eaten." I have in the last Lecture already mentioned
what I think of this passage of the Prophet. Some think that a
future punishment is denounced; but the context sufficiently proves
that they mistake and pervert the real meaning of the Prophet; for,
on the contrary, he reproves here the hardness of the people, - that
they fell not their plagues. And as men are not easily moved by
God's judgments, the Prophet here declares that God had executed
such a vengeance as could not be regarded otherwise than miraculous;
as though he said, "God often punishes men, and it behaves them to
be attentive as soon as he raises up his finger. But common
punishments are wont to be unheeded; men soon forget those
punishments to which they have been accustomed. God has, however,
treated you in an unusual manner, having openly as it were put forth
his hand from heaven, and brought on you punishments nothing less
than miraculous. Ye must then be more than stupid, if ye perceive
not that you are smitten by God's hand." This is the true meaning of
the Prophet, and may be easily gathered from the words.
    "Hear, ye old men", he says. He expressly addresses the old,
because experience teaches men much; and the old, when they see any
thing new or unusual, must know, that it is not according to the
ordinary course of things. He who has past his fiftieth or sixtieth
year, and sees something new happening which he had never thought
of, doubtless acknowledges it as the unusual work of God. This is
the reason why the Prophet directs here his discourse to the old; as
though he said, "I will not terrify you about nothing; but let the
old hear, who have been accustomed for many years to many
revolutions; let them now answer me, whether in their whole life,
which has been an age on the earth, have they seen any such thing."
We now perceive the design of the Prophet; for he intended to awaken
the Jews that they might understand that God had put forth his hand
from heaven, and that it was impossible to ascribe what they had
seen with their eyes to chance or to earthly causes, but that it was
a miracle. And his object was to make the Jews at length ashamed of
their folly in not having hitherto been attentive to God's
punishments, and in having always flattered themselves, as though
God slept in heaven, when yet he so violently thundered against
them, and intended by an extraordinary course to move them, that
they might at last perceive that they were summoned to judgment.
    He afterwards adds, "And an ye inhabitants of the land". Had
the Prophet addressed only the old, some might seize on some pretext
for their ignorance; hence he addressed and from the least to the
greatest; and this he did, that the young might not exempt
themselves from blame in proceeding in their obstinacy and in thus
mocking God, when he called them to repentance. "Hear, he says, all
ye inhabitants of the land; has this been in your days or in the
days of your fathers?" He says first, has such a thing been in your
days, for doubtless what happens rarely deserves a greater
consideration. It is indeed true that foolish men are blind to the
daily works of God; as the favor of God in making his sun to rise
daily is but little thought of by us. This happens through our
ingratitude; but our ingratitude is doubled, and is much more base
and less excusable, when the Lord works in an unwonted manner, and
we yet with closed eves overlook what ought to be deemed a miracle.
This dullness the Prophet now reproves, "Has such a thing," he says,
"happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Ye can
recall to mind what your fathers have told you. It is certain that
for two ages no such thing has happened. Your torpidity then is
extreme, since ye neglect this judgment of God, which from its very
rareness ought to have awakened your minds."
    He then adds, "Tell it to your children, your children to their
children, their children to the next generation". In this verse the
Prophet shows that the matter deserved to be remembered, and was not
to be despised by posterity, even for many generations. It appears
now quite clear that the Prophet threatens not what was to be, as
some interpreters think; it would have been puerile: but, on the
contrary, he expostulates here with the Jews, because they were so
slothful and tardy in considering God's judgments; and especially as
it was a remarkable instance, when God employed not usual means, but
roused, and, as it were, terrified men by prodigies. Of this then
tell: for "'aleyha" means no other thing than 'tell or declare this
thing to your children;' and further, your children to their
children. When any thing new happens, it may be, that we are at
first moved with some wonder; but our feeling soon vanishes with the
novelty, and we disregard what at first caused great astonishment.
But the Prophet here showed, that such was the judgment of God of
which he speaks, that it ought not to have been overlooked, no, not
even by posterity. Let your children, he says, declare it to those
after them, and their children to the fourth generation: it was to
be always remembered.
    He adds what that judgment was, - that the hope of food had for
many years disappointed them. It often happened, we know, that
locusts devoured the standing corn; and then the chafers and the
palmer worms did the same: these were ordinary events. But when one
devastation happened, and another followed, and there was no end;
when there had been four barren years, suddenly produced by insects,
which devoured the growth of the earth; - this was certainly
unusual. Hence the Prophet says, that this could not have been
chance; for God intended to show to the Jews some extraordinary
portent, that even against their will they might observe his hand.
When any thing trifling happens, if it be rare, it will strike the
attention of men; for we often see that the world makes a great
noise about frivolous things. "But this wonder," says the Prophet,
"ought to have produced effect on you. What then will ye do, since
ye are starving, and the causes are evident; for God has cursed your
land, and brought these insects, which have consumed your food
before your eyes. Since it is so, it is surely the time for you to
repent; and you have been hitherto very regardless having overlooked
God's judgments, which have been so remarkable and so memorable."
Let us now proceed.

Joel 1:5
Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine,
because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

    The Prophet adds this verse for the sake of amplifying; for
when God sees men either contemptuously laughing at or disregarding
his judgments, he derides them; and this mode the Prophet now
adopts. 'Ye drunkards,' he says, 'awake, and weep and howl.' In
these words he addresses, on the subject in hand, those who had
willfully closed their eyes to judgments so manifest. The Jews had
become torpid, and had covered themselves over as it were with
hardness; it was then necessary to draw them forth as by force into
the light. But the Prophet accosts the drunkards by name; and it is
probable that this vice was then very common among the people.
However that might be, the Prophet by mentioning this instance shows
more convincingly, that there was no pretence for passing by things,
and that the Jews could not excuse their indifference if they took
no notice; for the very drunkards, who had degenerated from the
state of men, did themselves feel the calamity, for the wine had
been cut off from their mouth. And this expression of the Prophet,
"Awake", ought to be noticed; for the drunkards, even while awake,
are asleep, and also spend a great portion of time in sleep. The
Prophet had this in view, that men, though not endued with great
knowledge, but even void of common sense, could no longer flatter
themselves; for the very drunkards, who had wholly suffocated their
senses, and had become thus estranged in their minds, did yet
perceive the judgment of God; though drowsiness held them bound,
they were yet constrained to awake at such a manifest punishment.
"What then does this ignorance mean, when ye see not that you are
smitten by God's hand?"
    To the same purpose are the words, "Weep and howl". Drunkards,
on the contrary, give themselves up to mirth, and intemperately
indulge themselves; and there is nothing more difficult than to make
them to feel sorrow; for wine so infatuates their senses, that they
continue to laugh in the greatest calamities. But the Prophet says,
Weep and howl, ye drunkards! What then ought sober men to do? He
then adds, "Cut off is the wine from your mouth". He says not, "The
use of wine is taken away frown you;" but he says, "from your
mouth". Though no one should think of vineyards or of winecellars or
of cups, yet they shall be forced, willing or unwilling, to feel the
judgment of God in their mouth and in their lips. This is what the
Prophet means. We then see how much he aggravates what he had said
before: and we must remember that his object was to strike shame
into the people, who had become thus torpid with regard to God's
judgments. As to the word "'asis", some render it new wine. "'asas"
is to press; and hence "'asis" is properly the wine that is pressed
in the wine-vat. New wine is not what is drawn out of the bottle,
but what is pressed out as it were by force. But the Prophet, I have
no doubt, includes here under one kind every sort of wine. Let us go
on.

Joel 1:6,7
For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number,
whose teeth [are] the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth
of a great lion.
He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it
clean bare, and cast [it] away; the branches thereof are made white.
    
    Of what some think, that punishment, not yet inflicted, is
denounced here on the people, I again repeat, I do not approve; but,
on the contrary, the Prophet, according to my view, records another
judgment of God, in order to show that God had not only in one way
warned the Jews of their sins, that he might restore them to a right
mind; but that he had tried all means to bring them to the right
way, though they proved to have been irreclaimable. After having
then spoke of the sterility of the fields and of other calamities,
he now adds that the Jews had been visited with war. Surely famine
ought to have touched them, especially when they saw that evils,
succeeding evils, had happened for several years contrary to the
usual course of things, so that they could not be imputed to chance.
But when God brought war upon them, when they were already worn out
with famine, must they not have been more than insane in mind, to
have continued astonied at God's judgments and not to repent? Then
the meaning of the Prophet is, that God had tried, by every means
possible, to find out whether the Jews were healable, and had given
them every opportunity to repent, but that they were wholly perverse
and untamable.
    Then he says, "Verily a nation came up". The particle "ki" is
not to be taken as a causative, but only as explanatory, "Verily, or
surely, he says, a nation came up"; though an inference also is not
amiss, if it be drawn from the beginning of the verse: 'Hear, ye old
men, and tell your children;' what shall we tell? even this, that a
nation, &c. But in this form also "ki" would be exegetical, and the
sense would be the same. This much as to the meaning of the passage.
    "A nation, then, came up over my land". God here justly claims
the land of Canaan as his own heritage, and does so designedly, that
the Jews might more clearly know that he was angry with them; for
their condition would not have been worse than that of other
nations, had not God resolved to punish them for their sins. There
is here then an implied comparison between Judea and other
countries, as though the Prophet said, "How comes it, that your land
is wasted by wars and many other calamities, while other countries
are at rest? This land is no doubt sacred to God, for he has chosen
it for himself, that he might rule in it; he has here his own
habitation: it then must be that there is some cause for God's
wrath, as your land is so miserably wasted, when other lands enjoy
tranquillity." We now perceive what the Prophet means. A nation, he
says, came up upon my land, and what then? God could surely have
prevented this; he could have defended his own land, of which he was
the keeper, and which was under his protection: how then had it
happened that enemies with impunity inundated this land, having
marched into it and utterly laid it waste, except that it had been
forsaken by the Lord himself?
    "A nation, he says, came up upon my land, strong and without
number"; and further, "who had the teeth of a lion, the jaw-bones of
a young lion". The nations had no strength which God could not in an
instant have broken down, nor had he need of mighty auxiliaries, for
he could by a nod only have reduced to nothing whatever men might
have attempted: when, therefore, the Assyrians so impetuously
assailed the Jews they were necessarily exposed to the wantonness of
their enemies, for they were unworthy of being protected, as
hitherto, by the hand of God.
    He afterwards adds, that "his vine had been exposed to
desolation and waste, his fig-tree to the stripping of the bark".
God speaks not here of his own vine, as in some other places, in
which he designates his Church by this term; but he calls everything
on earth his own, as he calls the whole race of Abraham his
children: and he thus reproaches the Jews for having reduced
themselves to such wretchedness through their own fault; for they
would have never been spoiled by their enemies, had not God, who was
wont to defend then, previously rejected them; for there was nothing
in their land which he did not claim as his own; as he had chosen
the people, so he had consecrated the land to himself. Whatsoever,
then, enlisted in Judea, was, as it were, sacred to God. Now when
both the vines and the fig-trees were exposed to the depredations of
the unbelieving, it was certain that God no longer ruled there. How
so? Even because the Jews had expelled him. He afterwards enlarges
on the same subject; for what follows, "By denuding he has denuded
it and cast it away", is not a mere narrative; the Prophet here
declares not simply what had taken place; but as we have already
said, adduces more proof, and tries to awaken the drowsy senses of
the people, yea, to arouse them from that lethargy by which the
minds of all had been seized; hence it is that he uses in his
teaching so many expressions. This is the reason why he says that
the vine and the fig-tree had been denuded, and also that the leaves
had been taken away, that the branches had been made bare and white;
so that there remained neither produce nor growth.
    Many interpreters join these three verses with the former, as
if the Prophet now expressed what he had said before of the palmer
worm, the chafer, and the locust; for they think that he spake
allegorically when he said that all the fruits of the land had been
consumed by the locusts and the chafers. They therefore add, that
these locusts, or chafers, or the palmer worms, were the Assyrians,
as well as the Persian and the Greeks, that is, Alexander of Macedon
and the Romans: but this is wholly a strained views so that there is
no need of a long argument; for any one may easily perceive that the
Prophet mentions another kind of punishments that he might in every
way render the Jews inexcusable who were not roused by judgments so
multiplied, but remained still obstinate in their vices. Let us now
proceed.

Joel 1:8
Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her
youth.
    
    The Prophet now addresses the whole land. "Lament", he says;
not in an ordinary way, but like a widow, whose husband is dead,
whom she had married when young. The love, we know, of a young man
towards a young woman, and so of a young woman towards a young man,
is more tender than when a person in years marries an elderly woman.
This is the reason that the Prophet here mentions the husband of her
youth; he wished to set forth the heaviest lamentation, and hence he
says "The Jews ought not surely to be otherwise affected by so many
calamities, than a widow who has lost her husband while young, and
not arrived at maturity, but in the flower of his age." As then such
widows feel bitterly their loss, so the Prophet has adduced their
case.
    The Hebrews often call a husband "ba'al", because he is the
lord of his wife and has her under his protection. Literally it is,
"For the lord of her youth;" and hence it is, that they also called
their idols "ba'alim", as though they were as we have often said in
our comment on the Prophet Hosea, their patrons.
    The sum of the whole is, That the Jews could not have continued
in an unconcerned state, without being void of all reason and
discernment; for they were forced, willing or unwilling, to feel a
most grievous calamity. It is a monstrous thing, when a widow,
losing her husband when yet young, refrains from mourning. Now then,
since God had afflicted his land with so many evils, he wished to
bring on them, as it were, the grief of widowhood. It follows -

Joel 1:9
The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house
of the LORD; the priests, the LORD's ministers, mourn.
    
    Here, in other words, the Prophet paints the calamity; for, as
it has been said, we see how great is the slowness of men to discern
God's judgments; and the Jews, we know, were not more attentive to
them than we are now. It was, therefore, needful to prick them with
various goads, as the Prophet now does, as though he said, "If ye
are not now concerned for want of food, if ye consider not even what
the very drunkards are constrained to feel, who perceive not the
evil at a distance, but taste it in their lips - if all these things
are of no account with you, do at least look on the temple of God,
which is now destitute of its ordinary services; for through the
sterility of your fields, through so great a scarcity, neither bread
nor wine is offered. Since then ye see that the worship of God has
ceased, how is it ye yourselves still remain? Why is it that ye
perceive not that God's fury is kindled against you? For surely
except God had been most grievously offended, he would at least have
had some regard for his own worship; he would not have suffered his
temple to remain without sacrifices."
    The Jews, we know, daily poured their libations, and offered
meat-offerings. When, therefore, Joel mentions "minchah" and
libation, he doubtless meant to show that the worship of God was
nearly abolished. But God would have never permitted such a thing,
had he not been grievously offended by the sins of men. Hence the
indifference, or rather the stupidity of the people, is more clearly
proved, inasmuch as they perceived not the signs of God's wrath made
evident even in the very temple. It follows -

Joel 1:10
The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the
new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
    
    The Prophet goes on here with the same subject, and uses these
many words to give more effect to what he said; for he knew that he
addressed the deaf, who, by long habit, had so hardened themselves
that God could effect nothing, at least very little, by his word.
This is the reason why the Prophet so earnestly presses a subject so
evident. Should any one ask what need there was of so many
expressions, as it seems to be a needless use of words; I do indeed
allow that all that the Prophet wished to say might have been
expressed in one sentence, as there is here nothing intricate: but
it was not enough that what he said should be understood, except the
Jews applied it to themselves, and perceived that they had to do
with God; and to make this application they were not disposed. It is
not then without reason that the Prophet labors here, and enforces
the same thing in many words.
    Hence he says, "The field is wasted, and the land mourns; for
the corn has perished, for dried up has the wine, for destroyed has
been the oil". And by these words he intimates that they seeing saw
nothing; as though he said, "Let necessity extort mourning from you;
ye are indeed starving, all complain of want, all deplore the need
of bread and wine; and yet no one of you thinks whence this want is,
that it is from the hand of God. Ye feel it in your mouth, ye feel
it in your palate, ye feel it in your throat, ye feel it in your
stomach; but ye feel it not in your heart." In short, the Prophet
intimates that the Jews were void of right understanding; they
indeed deplored their famine, but they were like brute beasts, who,
when hungry, show signs of impatience. So the Jews mourned, because
their stomach disquieted them; but they knew not that the cause of
their want and famine was their sins. It afterwards follows -

Joel 1:11
Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the
wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is
perished.
    
    The Prophet says nothing new here, but only strengthens what he
had said before, and is not wordy without reason; for he intends
here not merely to teach, but also to produce an effect: And this is
the design of heavenly teaching; for God not only wishes that what
he says may be understood, but intends also to penetrate into our
hearts: and the word of God, we know, consists not of doctrine only,
but also of exhortations, and threatenings, and reproofs. This plan
then the Prophet now pursues: "Ye husband men, he says, be ashamed,
and ye vinedressers, howl; for perished has the harvest of the
field". The sum of the whole is, that the Jews, as we have already
said, could by no excuse cover their indifference; for their clamour
was everywhere heard, their complaints everywhere resounded, that
the land had become a waste, that they were themselves famished that
they were afflicted with many calamities; and yet no one
acknowledged that God, who visited them for their sins, was the
author. But what remains I shall put off until to-morrow.
    
Prayer.
    
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou invites us daily by various means
to repentance, and continues also to urge us, because thou sees our
extreme tardiness, - O grant that we may at length be awakened from
our indifference, and suffer us not to be inebriated by the charms
of Satan and the world; but by thy Spirit rouse us to real groaning,
that, being ashamed of ourselves, we may flee to thy mercy, and
doubt not but that thou wilt be propitious to us, provided with a
sincere heart we call on thee, and seek that reconciliation which
thou daily offerest to us by thy Gospel in the name of thy only
begotten Son. Amen.


Lecture Fortieth.

Joel 1:12
The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate
tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, [even] all the trees
of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the
sons of men.
    
    The Prophet now concludes his subjects which was, that as God
executed judgments so severe on the people, it was a wonder that
they remained stupefied, when thus reduces to extremities. "The
vine, he says, has dried up", and every kind of fruit; he adds the
fig-tree, afterwards the "romon", the pomegranate, (for so they
render it,) the palm, the apple-tree, and all trees. And this
sterility was a clear sign of God's wrath; and it would have been so
regarded, had not men either wholly deceived themselves, or had
become hardened against all punishments. Now this "anaistesia"
(insensibility) is as it were the very summit of evils; that is,
when men feel not their own calamities, or at least understand not
that they are inflicted by the hand of God. Let us now proceed -

Joel 1:13-15
13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of
the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God:
for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the
house of your God.
14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders
[and] all the inhabitants of the land [into] the house of the LORD
your God, and cry unto the LORD,
15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD [is] at hand, and as a
destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

    Now the Prophet begins to exhort the people to repentance.
Having represented them as grievously afflicted by the hand of God,
he now adds that a remedy was at hand, provided they solicited the
favor of God; and at the same tine he denounces a more grievous
punishment in future; for it would not have been enough that they
had been reminded of their calamities and evils, except they also
feared in time to come. Hence the Prophet, that he might the more
move them, says, that the hand of God was still stretched out, and
that there was something worse nigh at hand, except they of
themselves anticipated it. This is the purport of the whole. I now
come to the words.
    "Be girded, lament and howl, he says, ye priests, the ministers
of the altar". The verb "chigru" may be explained in two ways. Some
understand it thus "Gird yourselves with sackcloth;" for shortly
after he says "with sackcloth", or "in sackcloth". But we may take
it as simply meaning, gird yourselves, that is, Hasten; for this
metaphorical expression often occurs. As to the drift of the
passage, there is but little difference, whether we read, "Gird
yourselves with sackcloth," or, "Hasten." And he addresses the
priests, though a common and general exhortation to the whole people
afterwards follows. But as God made them the leaders of his people,
it behaved them to afford others an example. It is the common duty
of all the godly to pray for and to further the salvation of their
brethren; but it is a duty especially enjoined on the ministers of
the word and on pastors. So also, when God calls those to repentance
who preside over others, they ought to lead the way, and for two
reasons; - first, because they have not been in vain chosen by the
Lord for this end, that they might outshine others, and be as
luminaries; - secondly, because they who bear any public office
ought to feel a double guilty when the Lord visits public sins with
judgment. Private men indeed sin; but in pastors there is the blame
of negligence, and still more, When they deviate even the least from
the right way, a greater offense is given. Rightly then does the
Prophet begin with the priests, when he bids the whole people to
repent. And he not only bids them to put on sackcloth, but commands
them also, as we shall see, to proclaim a fast, and then to call an
assembly: "ye priests, he says, be girded, and put on sackcloth,
wail, howl, and pass the night in sackcloth"; and then he calls them
the ministers of the altar and the ministers of God, but in a
different sense; for the Prophet does not substitute the altar for
God, as he would thus have formed an idol; but they are called the
ministers of the altar, because they offered there sacrifices to
God. They are indeed with strict propriety the ministers of God; but
as the priests, when they sacrificed, stood in the presence of God,
and as the altar was to them as it were the way of access to him,
they are called the ministers of the altar. He calls them, at the
same time, the ministers of God, and, as it has been stated, they
are properly so called.
    But he says here "'elohai" (my God.) The "yod", my, is by some
omitted, as if it were a servile letter, but redundant. I, however,
doubt not but that the Prophet here mentions Him as his God; for he
thus intended to claim more authority for his doctrine. His concern
or his contest was with the whole people; and they, no doubt, in
their usual ways proudly opposed against him the name of God as
their shield. "What! are we not the very people of God?" Hence the
Prophet, in order to prove this presumption false, sets forth God as
being on his side. He therefore says, 'The ministers of my God.' Had
any one objected and said, that he was in common the God of the
whole people, the Prophet had a ready answer, - "I am specially sent
by Him, and sustain his person, and plead the cause which he has
committed to me: He is then my God and not yours." We now then see
the Prophet's meaning in this expression. He now adds, "for cut off
is offering and libation from the house of our God". He confesses
Him at the same time to be their God with reference to the
priesthood; for nothing, we know, was presumptuously invented by the
Jews, as the temple was built by Godly command, and sacrifices were
offered according to the rule of the law. He then ascribes to the
priesthood this honor, that God ruled in the temple; for God, as we
have already said, approved of that worship as having proceeded from
his word: and to this purpose is that saying of Christ, 'We know
what we worship.' But yet the priests did not rightly worship God;
for though their external rites were according to the command of
God, yet as their hearts were polluted, it is certain that whatever
they did was repudiated by God, until, being touched with the fear
of his judgment, they fled to his mercy, as the Prophet now exhorts
them to do.
    He afterwards adds, "sanctify a fast, call an assembly, gather
the old, all the inhabitants of the land". "Kadash" means to
sanctify and to prepare; but I have retained its proper meaning,
sanctify a fast; for the command had regard to the end, that is,
sanctification. Then "a fast proclaim" - for what purpose? That the
people might purge themselves from all their pollutions, and present
themselves pure and clean before God. "Call an assembly". It appears
that there was a solemn convocation whenever a fast was proclaimed
among the people: for it was not enough for each one privately at
home to abstain from food, except all confessed openly, with one
mouth and one consent, that they were guilty before God. Hence with
a fast was connected a solemn profession of repentance. The uses and
ends of a fast, we know, are various: but when the Prophet here
speaks of a solemn fast, he doubtless bids the people to come to it
suppliantly, as the guilty are wont to do, who would deprecate
punishment before a judge, that they may obtain mercy from him. In
the second chapter there will be much to say on fasting: I only wish
now briefly to touch on the subject.
    He afterwards bids "the old to be gathered", and then adds,
"All the inhabitants of the land". But he begins with the old, and
justly so, for the guilt of the old is always the heaviest. But this
word relates not to age as in a former instance. When he said
yesterday, 'Hear ye, the aged,' he addressed those who by long
experience had learnt in the world many things unknown to the young
or to men of middle age. But now the Prophet means by the old those
to whom was intrusted the public government; and as through their
slothfulness they had suffered the worship of God and all integrity
to fall into decay, rightly does the Prophet wish them to be leaders
and precursors to the people in their confession of repentance; and
further, it behaved them, on account of their office, as we have
said of the priests, to lead the way. Joel at the same time shows
that the whole people were implicated in guilt, so that none could
be excepted, for he bids them all to come with the elders.
    "Call" them, he says, "to the house of Jehovah your God, and
cry ye to Jehovah". We hence learn why he had spoken of fasting and
of sackcloth, even that they might humbly deprecate God's wrath; for
fasting of itself would have been useless, and to put on sackcloth,
we know, is in itself but an empty sign: but prayer is what the
Prophet sets here in the highest rank, and fasting is only an
appendage, and so is sackcloth. Whosoever then puts on sackcloth and
withholds prayer, is guilty of mockery; and no one can derive any
good from mere fasting; but when fasting and sackcloth are added to
prayer, and are as it were handmaids, then they are not uselessly
practiced. We may then observe, that the end of fasting and
sackcloth was no other, than that the priests together with the
whole people, might present themselves suppliantly before God, and
confess themselves worthy of destruction, and that they had no hope
except from his gratuitous mercy. This is the meaning.
    It now follows, "Alas the day! for nigh is the day of Jehovah".
Here the Prophet, as it was at first stated, threatens something
worse in future than what they had experienced. He has hitherto been
showing their torpidity; now he declares that they had not yet
suffered all their punishments, but that there was something worse
to be feared, except they turned seasonably to God. And he now
exclaims, as though the day of Jehovah was before his eyes, and he
calls it the day of Jehovah, because in that day God would
stretch-forth his hand to execute judgment; for while he tolerates
men or bears with their sins, he seems not to rule in the world. And
though this mode of speaking is common enough in Scripture, it ought
yet to be carefully noticed; for all seem not to understand that God
calls that his own day, when he will openly shine forth and appear
as the judge of the world: but as long as he spares us, his face
seems to be hidden from us; yea, he seems not to govern the world.
The Prophet therefore declares here that the day of the Lord was at
hand; for it cannot be, but that the Lord must at length rise up and
ascend his throne to punish men, though for a time he may connive at
them. But the interjection, expressive of grief, intimates that the
judgment, of which the Prophet speaks, was not to be despised, for
it would be dreadful; and he wished to strike terror into the Jews,
for they were too secure. And he says, "The day is nigh", that they
might not procrastinate, as they were wont to do, from day to day:
for though men be touched by God's judgments they yet even desire
time to be prolonged to them, and they come very tardily to God.
Hence the Prophet, that he might correct this their great
slothfulness, says that the day was nigh.
    He adds, "kashod mishadday yavo'" 'as a desolation from the
Almighty will it come.' The word "shadday" signifies a conqueror;
but it proceeds from the verb "shadad"; and this in Hebrew means "to
desolate," or "to destroy." The powerful and the conqueror is called
"shadday"; and hence they call God "shadday", on account of his
power. Some derive it from udder: then they call God "shadday" as
though Scripture gave him this name, because from him flows all
abundance of good things as from a fountain. But I rather refer this
name to his strength and power, for the Jews, we know, gloried in
the name of God as one armed to defend their safety. Whenever then
the Prophets said that God was "shadday", the people laid hold on
this as a ground for false confidence, "God is almighty, we are then
secure from all evils." But yet this confidence was not founded on
the promises: and it was, we know, an absurd and profane presumption
to have thus abused the name of God. Since then the Jews foolishly
pricked themselves on this, that God had adopted them for his
people, the prophet says here, "There will come a desolation from
the Almighty;" that is, "God is Almighty, but ye are greatly
deceived in thinking that your safety is secured by his power; for
he will, on the contrary, be opposed to you, inasmuch as ye have
provoked his wrath." It follows -

Joel 1:16,17
Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, [yea], joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate,
the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
    
    He repeats the same thing as before, for he reproaches the Jews
for being so slow to consider that the hand of God was against them.
"Has not the meat, he says, been cut off before our eyes? joy and
exultation from the house of our God?" Here he chides the madness of
the Jews, that they perceived not things set before their eyes. He
therefore says that they were blind in the midst of light, and that
their sight was such, that seeing they saw nothing: they surely
ought to have felt distressed, when want reached the temple. For
since God had commanded the first-fruits to be offered to him, the
temple ought not by any means to have been without its sacrifices;
and though mortals perish a hundred times through famine and want,
yet God ought not to be defrauded of his right. When, therefore,
there was now no offering nor libation, how great was the stupidity
of the people not to feel this curse, which ought to have wounded
them more than if they had been consumed a hundred times by famine?
We see then the design of the Prophet's words, that is, to condemn
the Jews for their stupidity; for they considered not that a most
grievous judgment was brought on them, when the temple was deprived
of its usual sacrifices.
    He afterwards adds, that "joy and gladness" were taken away:
for God commanded the Jews to come to the temple to give thanks and
to acknowledge themselves blessed, because he had chosen his
habitation among them. Hence this expression is so often repeated by
Moses, 'Thou shalt rejoice before thy God;' for by saying this, God
intended to encourage the people the more to come cheerfully to the
temple; as though he said, "I certainly want not your presence, but
I wish by my presence to make you glad." But now when the worship of
God ceased, the Prophet says, that joy had been also abolished; for
the Jews could not cheerfully give thanks to God when his curse was
before their eyes, when they saw that he was their adversary, and
also when they were deprived of the ordinances of religion. We now
then perceive why the Prophet joins joy and gladness with oblations:
they were the symbols of thanksgiving.
    He shows the cause of the evil, "Rotted have the grains in the
very furrows". For they call seeds "perudot" from the act of
scattering. He then calls grains by this name, because they are
scattered; and he says that they rotted in the fields when they
ought to have germinated. He then adds, "The granaries halve become
desolated and the barns have been pulled down"; for there was no use
for them. Hence we conclude, that sterility had become most grievous
and perpetual; for if the people had been only afflicted by famine
for a few harvests or for one year, the Prophet would not have
spoken thus. The famine must then have been, as it has been already
stated for a long time. Let us now proceed -

Joel 1:18
How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because
they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
    
    The Prophet amplifies his reproof, that even oxen as well as
other animals felt the judgment of God. There is then here an
implied comparison between the feeling of brute animals and the
insensibility of the people, as though he said, "There is certainly
more intelligence and reason in oxen and other brute animals than in
you; for the herds groan, the flocks groan, but ye remain stupid and
confounded. What does this mean?" We then see that the Prophet here
compares the stupidity of the people with the feeling of animals, to
make them more ashamed.
    "How, he says, has the beast groaned?" The question serves to
show vehemence; for if he had said in the form of a narrative, that
the animals groaned, that the cattle were confounded, and that the
flocks perished, the Jews would have been less affected; but when he
exclaims and, moved with astonishment, speaks interrogatively, How
does the beast groan? he, no doubt, wished to produce an effect on
the Jews, that they might perceive the judgment of God, which they
had before passed by with their eyes closed, though it was quite
manifest. It follows -

Joel 1:19,20
O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures
of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the
field.
The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters
are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the
wilderness.
    
    When the Prophet saw that he succeeded less than he expected,
leaving the people, he speaks of what he would do himself, "I will
cry to thee, Jehovah". He had before bidden others to cry, and why
does he not now press the same thing? Because he saw that the Jews
were so deaf and listless as to make no account of all his
exhortations: he therefore says, "I will cry to thee, Jehovah; for
they are touched neither by shame nor by fear. Since they throw
aside every regard for their own safety, since they account as
nothing my exhortations I will leave them, and will cry to thee;"
which means this, - "I see, Lord, that all these calamities proceed
from thy hand; I will not howl as profane men do, but I will ascribe
them to thee; for I perceive thee to be acting as a judge in all the
evils which we suffer." Having then before declared that the Jews
were more tardy than brute animals and having reproached them for
feeling less acutely than oxen and sheep, the Prophet now says, that
though they all remained obstinate, he would yet do what a pious man
and a worshipper of God ought to do, I will cry to thee - Why?
Because the "fire has consumed the pastures, or the dwellings, of
the wilderness".
    He here again gives an awful record of God's judgments. Though
the heat may burn up whole regions, yet we know that pasture-lands
do not soon wither, especially on mountains; and of such cold
pastures he speaks here. We know that however great may be the
fertility of mountains, yet coolness prevails there, and that, in
the greatest drought, the mountainous regions are ever green. But
the Prophet tells us here of an unusual thing, that the dwellings of
the wilderness were burnt up. Some render "ne'ot" pastures; others,
dwellings: but as to the meaning, we may read either; for the
Prophet refers here to cold and humid regions, which never want
moisture in the greatest heats. Some render the word, the beautiful
or fair spots of the wilderness, but improperly. He doubtless means
pastures, or dwellings, or folds. "The fire then has consumed the
dwellings, or pastures of the wilderness". This was not usual; it
did not happen according to the ordinary course of nature: it then
follows that it was a miracle. This is the reason why the Prophet
says, that it was now time to cry to God; for it did not appear to
be fortuitous, that the heat had burnt up regions which were moist
and well watered. "The flame, he says hath burnt up all the trees of
the field".
    He afterwards adds "The beasts of the field will also cry" (for
the verb is in the plural number;) the beasts then will cry. The
Prophet expresses here more clearly what he had said before that
though the brute animals were void of reasons they yet felt God's
judgment, so that they constrained men by their example to feel
ashamed, for they cried to God: the beasts then of the field cry. He
ascribes crying to them, as it is elsewhere ascribed to the young
ravens. The young ravens, properly speaking, do not indeed call on
God; and yet the Psalmist says so, and that, because they confess,
by raising up their bills, that there is no supply for their want
except God supports them. So also the Prophet mentions here the
beasts as crying to God. It is indeed a figure of speech, called
personification; for this could not be properly said of beasts. But
when the beasts made a noise under the pressure of famine, was it
not such a calling on God as their nature admitted? As much then as
the nature of brute animals allows, they may be said to seek their
food from the Lord, when they send forth lamentable cries and
noises, and show that they are oppressed with famine and want. When,
therefore, the Prophet attributes crying to beasts, he at the same
time reproaches the Jews with their stupidity, that they did not
call on God. "What do you mean," he says. "See the brute animals;
they show to you what ought to be done; it is at least a teaching
that ought to have effect on you. If I and the other prophets have
lost all our labour, if God has in vain performed the office of a
teacher among you, let the very oxen at least be your teachers; to
whom indeed it is a shame to be disciples, but it is a greater shame
not to attend to what they teach you; for the oxen by their example
lead you to God."
    We now perceive how much vehemence there is in the Prophet's
words, when he says, Even the beasts of the field will cry to God;
"for the streams of waters have dried up, and the fire has consumed
the dwellings, or the pastures of the wilderness". He again teaches
what I have lately stated, that sterility proceeded from the evident
judgment of God, and that it ought to have struck dread into men,
for it was a sort of miracle. When, therefore the courses of waters
dried up on the mountains, how could it be deemed natural? "'Afikim"
mean courses of waters or valleys through which the waters run. The
Prophet here refers, no doubt, to those regions which, through the
abundance of water, always retain their fertility. When, therefore,
the very valleys were burnt up, they ought surely to own that
something wonderful had happened. On this account, he ascribes
crying to herds and brute animals, and not any sort of crying, but
that by which they called on God. What remains we shall defer till
to-morrow.
    
Prayer.
    
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou sees us to be surrounded with the
infirmity of our flesh, and so held by, and, as it were, overwhelmed
with, earthly cares, that we can hardly raise up our hearts and
minds to thee, - O grant, that being awaked by thy word and daily
warnings, we may at length feel our evils, and that we may not only
learn by the stripes thou inflictest on us, but also of our own
accord, summon ourselves to judgment, and examine our hearts, and
thus come to thy presence, being our own judges; so that we may
anticipate thy displeasure, and thus obtain that mercy which thou
best promised to all, who, turning only to thee, deprecate thy
wrath, and also hope for thy favour, through the name of one Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.


Lecture Forty-first.

Chapter 2.

Joel 2:1-11
1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day
of the LORD cometh, for [it is] nigh at hand;
2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick
darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people
and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be
any more after it, [even] to the years of many generations.
3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the
land [is] as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a
desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
4 The appearance of them [is] as the appearance of horses; and as
horsemen, so shall they run.
5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they
leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble,
as a strong people set in battle array.
6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall
gather blackness.
7 They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men
of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall
not break their ranks:
8 Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his
path: and [when] they fall upon the sword, they shall not be
wounded.
9 They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the
wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at
the windows like a thief.
10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the
sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their
shining:
11 And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp
[is] very great: for [he is] strong that executeth his word: for the
day of the LORD [is] great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
    
    This chapter contains serious exhortations, mixed with
threatening; but the Prophet threatens for the purpose of correcting
the indifference of the people, whom we have seen to have been very
tardy to consider God's judgments. Now the reason why I wished to
join together these eleven verses was, because the design of the
Prophet in them is no other than to stir up by fear the minds of the
people. The object of the narrative then is, to make the people
sensible, that it was now no time for taking rest; for the Lord,
having long tolerated their wickedness, was now resolved to pour
upon them in full torrent his whole fiery. This is the sum of the
whole. Let us now come to the words.
    "Sound the trumpet, he says, in Zion; cry out in my holy
mountain; let all the inhabitants of the earth tremble". The Prophet
begins with an exhortation. We know, indeed that he alludes to the
usual custom sanctioned by the law; for as on festivals trumpets
were sounded to call the people, so also it was done when anything
extraordinary happened. Hence the Prophet addresses not each
individually; but as all had done wickedly, from the least to the
greatest, he bids the whole assembly to be called, that they might
in common own themselves to be guilty before God, and deprecate his
vengeance. It is the same as though the Prophet had said that there
was no one among the people who could exempt himself from blame, for
iniquity had prevailed through the whole body. But this passage
shows that when any judgment of God is impending, and tokens of it
appear, this remedy ought to be used, namely, that all must publicly
assemble and confess themselves worthy of punishments and at the
same time flee to the mercy of God. This, we know, was, as I have
already said, formerly enjoined on the people; and this practice has
not been abolished by the gospel. And it hence appears how much we
have departed from the right and lawful order of things; for at this
day it would be new and unusual to proclaim a fast. How so? Because
the greater part are become hardened; and as they know not commonly
what repentance is, so they understand not what the profession of
repentance means; for they understand not what sin is, what the
wrath of God is, what grace is. It is then no wonder that they are
so secure, and that when praying for pardon is mentioned, it is a
thing wholly unknown at this day. But though people in general are
thus stupid, it is yet our duty to learn from the Prophets what has
always been the actual mode of proceeding among the people of God,
and to labour as much as we can, that this may be known, so that
when there shall come an occasion for a public repentance, even the
most ignorant may understand that this practice has ever prevailed
in the Church of God, and that it did not prevail through
inconsiderate zeal of men, but through the will of God himself.
    But he bids "the inhabitants of the land to tremble". By these
words he intimates, that we are not to trifle with God by vain
ceremonies but to deal with him in earnest. When therefore, the
trumpets sound, our hearts ought to tremble; and thus the reality is
to be connected with the outward signs. And this ought to be
carefully noticed; for the world is ever disposed to have an eye to
some outward service, and thinks that a satisfaction is given to
God, when some external rite is observed. But we do nothing but mock
God, when we present him with ceremonies, while there is no
corresponding sincere feeling in the heart; and this is what we
shall find handled in another place.
    The Prophet now adds threatening, that he might stir up the
minds of the people: "For coming, he says, is the day of Jehovah for
nigh it is". By these words he first intimates that we are not to
wait until God strikes us, but that as soon as he shows signs of his
wrath, we ought to anticipate his judgment. When God then warns us
of his displeasure, we ought instantly to solicit pardon: nigh, he
says, is the day of Jehovah. What follows has a regard to the end
which we have mentioned; for the Prophet paints the terrible
judgment of God with the view of rousing minds wholly stupid and
indifferent.
    And then he says, "A day of darkness and of thick darkness, a
day of clouds and of obscurity, as the dawn which expands over the
mountains". By calling it a dark and gloomy day, he wished to show
that there would be no hope of deliverance; for, according to the
common usage of Scripture, we know that by light is designated a
cheerful and happy state, or the hope of deliverance from any
affliction: but the Prophet now extinguishes, as it were, every hope
in this world, when he declares that the day of Jehovah would be
dark, that is, without hope of restoration. This is his meaning.
When he says afterwards, "As the dawn which expands", &c., he
mentions this to signify the celerity with which it would come; for
we know how sudden is the rising of the dawn on the mountains: the
dawn spreads in a moment on the mountains, where darkness was
before. For the light penetrates not immediately either into valleys
or even into plains; but if any one looks at the summits of
mountains, he will see that the dawn rises quickly. It is then the
settle as though the Prophet said, "The day of the Lord is nigh, for
the Lord can suddenly stretch forth his hand, as the dawn spreads
over the mountains."
    He then mentions its character, "A people great and strong to
whom there has not been the like from the beginning, or from ages
and after whom there will be no more the like, to the years of a
generation and a generation. Here the Prophet specifies the kind of
judgment that would be, of which he had generally spoken before; and
he shows that what he had hitherto recorded of God's vengeance ought
not to be so understood as that God would descend openly and visibly
from heaven, but that the Assyrians would be the ministers and
executioners of his vengeance. In short, the Prophet shows here that
the coming of that people ought to have been as much dreaded as if
God had put forth his hand and executed on his people the vengeance
deserved by their sins. And by these words he teaches us, that men
gain nothing by being blind to the judgments of God; for God will
notwithstanding execute his works and use the instrumentality of
men; for men are the scourges by which he chastises his own people.
The Chaldeans and the Assyrians were unbelievers; yet God used them
for the purpose of correcting the Jews. this the Prophet now shows,
that is, that God was the avenger in these very Assyrians, for he
employed them as the ministers and executioners of his judgment. We
see at the same time that the Prophet describes here the terrible
wrath of God to shake off from the Jews their tardiness; for he saw
that they were not moved by all his threatening, and ever laid hold
on some new flattering pretenses. This is the reason why he gives
such a long description.
    "Before them", he says, "the fire will devour, and after them
the flame will burn". He means that the vengeance of God would be
such as would consume the whole people: for God has in various ways
begun to chastise the people, but, as we have seen, without any
advantage. The Prophet then says here that the last stroke remained,
and that the Lord would wholly destroy men so refractory, and whom
he could not hitherto restore to a sound mind by moderate
punishments. For he had in a measure spared them, though he had
treated them sharply and severely, and given them time to repent.
Hence, when the Prophet saw that they were wholly irreclaimable, he
says, that it now only remained that the Lord should at once utterly
consume them.
    He adds, "As the garden of Eden the land is before them, and
after them it is the land of solitude; and so (and also) there will
be no escape from them". Here the Prophet warns the Jews, that
though they inhabited a most pleasant country and one especially
fruitful, there was no reason for them to flatter themselves, for
God could convert the fairest lands into a waste. He therefore
compares Judea to the garden of Eden or to Paradise. But such also
was the state of Sodom, as Moses shows. What did it avail the
Sodomites that they dwelt as in Paradise, that they inhabited a rich
and fertile land, and thought themselves to be nourished as in the
bosom of God? So also now the Prophet says, "Though the land is like
Paradise, yet when the enemy shall march through it, a universal
waste shall follow, a scattering shall everywhere follow, there
shall be no cultivation, no pleasantness, no appearance of inhabited
land, for the enemy will destroy every thing." His purpose was to
prevent the Jews, by confiding in God's blessing, which they had
hitherto experienced, from heedlessly disregarding in future his
vengeance; for his wrath would in a moment consume and devour
whatever fruitfulness the land had hitherto possessed. This is the
meaning. He therefore concludes that there would be no escape from
these enemies, the Assyrians, because they would come armed with a
command to reduce to nothing the whole land.
    He afterwards adds many similitudes, which any one of himself
can sufficiently understand: "I shall not therefore be long in
explaining them, and many words would be superfluous. "As the
appearance of horses their appearance, and as horsemen, so will they
run". This verse sets forth again the suddenness of vengeance, as
though the Prophet had said, that long distance would be no
obstacle, for the Assyrians would quickly move and occupy Judea; for
distance deceived the Jews, and they thought that there would be a
long respite to them. Hence the Prophet here removes this vain
confidence, when he says that they would be like horses and
horsemen. He then adds, "Like the sound of chariots". They expound
"markavot", chariots, though the Hebrews rather think them to be
harnesses or saddles as we call them; but yet I prefer to view them
as chariots; for what the Prophet says, that they "shall leap on the
tops of mountains" like the sound of chariots, would not be suitably
applied to the trappings of horses. They then shall leap on tops of
mountains - but how? as chariots, that is, they shall come with
great force, or make a great and terrible noise. And he speaks of
the tops of mountains for there we know the noise is greater when
there is any commotion. The Prophet, therefore, does in every way
amplify God's vengeance, that he might awaken the Jews, who by their
indifference had too long provoked the Lord's wrath.
    "Like the sound, he says, of the flame of fire", or of a fiery
flame, "devouring the stubble". He compares the Assyrians to a
flame, which consumes all things; and he compares the Jews to
stubble, though they thought themselves fortified by many forces and
strongholds.
    At length he adds, "As a strong people, prepared for battle;
their face the people will dread, and all faces shall gather
blackness". By these words the Prophet intimates that the Assyrians
at their coming would be supplied with such power as would, by
report only, lay prostrate all people. But if the Assyrians should
be so formidable to all people, what could the Jews do? In short,
the Prophet here shows that the Jews would by no means be able to
resist enemies so powerful; for they would by their fame alone so
lay prostrate all people, that none would dare to rise up against
them. He then compares them to giants. "As giants, he says, they
will run here and there; as men of war they will climb the wall, and
man (that is, every one) in his ways shall walk". The Prophet heaps
together these various expressions, that the Jews might know that
they had to do with the irresistible hand of God, and that they
would in vain implore assistance here and there; for they could find
no relief in the whole world, when God executed his vengeance in so
formidable a manner. He says further, "they shall not stop their
goings", though some render the words, "They shall not inquire
respecting their ways;" for he had said before, "They shall proceed
in their ways:" then the meaning is, They shall not come like
strangers, who, when they journey through unknown regions, make
anxious inquiries, whether any be lying in wait, whether there be
any turnings in the road, whether the ways be difficult and
perplexed: "They shall not inquire", he says; they shall securely
proceed, as though the road was open to them, as though the whole
country was known to them. This part also serves to show celerity,
that the Jews might dread the vengeance of God the same as if it was
quite nigh them.
    He then adds, "A man shall not push his brother". By this mode
of speaking the Prophet means that they would come in perfect order,
so that the multitude would create no confusion, as it is mostly the
case: for it is very difficult for an army to march in regular order
without tumult, like two or three men walking together. For when a
hundred horsemen march together some commonly hinder others. When
therefore so large a number assemble together, it can hardly be
possible for them not to retard and impede one another. But the
Prophet declares that this would not be the case with the Assyrians,
for the Lord would direct their goings. Though then the Lord would
bring so large a multitude, it would yet be so well arranged and in
such order, that no one would push his companion, or be any
hindrance to him. A man, he says, shall in his way proceed, even
without any impediment.
    "And on swords they shall fall, and shall not be wounded": that
is, they shall not only be strong men of war, so that they shall
intrepidly face every kind of danger; but they shall also escape
unhurt from all weapons; though they may rush on swords like madmen
and show no care for themselves, they shall not yet be wounded. But
this may be taken in a still simpler way, "They shall not be
wounded" that is, as if they could not be wounded. And it seems to
me to be the genuine sense of the Prophet, that they would not
entertain any fear of death, so as cautiously to attack their
enemies, but would with impunity provoke death itself by casting
themselves on the very swords: they would not then fear any wound,
but dare to face swords as if they were wholly harmless to them.
Some render the word, "they shall not covet;" and then the word
means as if the Prophet had said, that they would not be covetous of
money. But this meaning can hardly suit this place; and we see that
the best sense seems to be, that they would heedlessly rush on
swords, as though they could not be wounded.
    It afterwards follows, "Through the city shall they march; over
the wall shall they run here and there; into houses shall they
climb; through the windows shall they enter like a thief". The
Prophet here shows that the Jews in vain trusted in their fortified
cities, for the enemies would easily penetrate into them. They shall
march, he says, through the city, that is, as though there were no
gates to it. The meaning then is, that though Judea abounded in
cities, which seemed impregnable and appeared sufficient to arrest
the course of enemies, as it had happened almost always, so that
great armies were forced to desist when any strong fortified city
stood in their way; yet the Prophet says that cities would be no
impediment to the Assyrians at their coming to Judea, for they would
march through the city, as along a plain road, where no gates are
closed against them. They shall then march through the midst of
cities as through a plain or open fields. To the same purpose is
what follows, They shall run here and there over the wall, he says.
These are indeed hyperbolical words; yet, when we consider how slow
men are to fear punishment, we must allow that the Prophet in these
expressions does not exceed moderation. They shall then run up and
down through the city; that is, "In vain you expect that there will
be to you any rest or quietness, for ye think that you sill be able
for a time to sustain the onsets of your enemies: This," he says,
"will by no means be the case, for they shall run here and there
over the wall, as though it were a plain. Besides, they shall climb
into the houses, and enter in through the windows, and do this as a
thief; that is, though there should be no hostile attack, yet they
shall stealthily and secretly penetrate into your houses: when there
will be a great tumult, when the whole regions shall meet in arms,
and when ye will think yourselves able to resist, they will then as
thieves quietly enter into your houses and come in through the
windows, and ye shall not be able to close up the passage against
them."
    Then he adds, "Before their face shall the earth tremble, and
in anguish shall be the heavens; the sun and the moon shall become
dark, and the stars shall withdraw their brightness". The Prophet
speaks here more hyperbolically; but we must ever remember that he
addressed men extremely stupid: it then behaved him to speak in an
unusual manner, that he might touch their feelings; for it avails
nothing to speak in all ordinary way to perverse men, especially to
those who have divested themselves of all shame, and whom Satan has
fascinated, so that they fear nothing and grieve at nothing. When
therefore each stupidity lays hold on the minds of men, God must
thunder that his word may be heard. As then the listlessness of the
people was monstrous, so it was necessary, so to speak, for the
Prophet to utter monstrous words. This is the reason why he now
says, "Before their face (namely, that of the enemies) shall the
land tremble"; and then he adds, "The heavens also shall be in
anguish"; not that the heavens would fear the Assyrians; but the
Prophet intimates that such would be the vengeance, that it would
terrify the whole world; and this he intimates, that the Jews might
cease to expect any subterfuges, for they flattered themselves, as
though they could fly on the clouds, or could find for themselves
some hiding-places or some corners at a distance. The Prophet gives
them to understand that the whole world would be full of horror,
when the Lord would come furnished with his army. He speaks also of
the sum and the moon; as though he said, "There will be no more any
hope of aid from created things; for the vital light itself shall
fail, when the Lord shall pour forth the flood of his fury: The sun
and the moon, he says, shall become dark; and the stars shall
withhold their brightness. Though then ye lift up your eyes, not
even a spark of light will there be to comfort you, for darkness on
every side will cover you; and ye shall know by heaven as well as by
earth that God is angry with you." Here, in short, he shuts up
against the Jews every avenue to hope; for not only the Assyrian
will rage on earth, but God will also give signs of vengeance from
heaven, so that the sun will be constrained to show such a sign, as
well as the moon and all the stars.
    He at last adds, "And Jehovah will utter his voice before his
army". The Prophet seems in this verse to anticipate whatever
objection men might adduce. "O! thou denounces on us great terrors,
and as if the Assyrians were not to be counted as men, as if no
other people were in the world, as if there was no other army, as if
there were no other forces, as if none else had courage; but if the
Assyrians are at this day formidable, they have yet neighbors who
can gather a force sufficient easily to oppose them." And Egypt was
then a populous country, and well fortified; and who would not have
said that the Egyptians were equal to the Assyrians? and the Jews
also thought themselves safe through a treaty with them. And then
there was Syria; and there were many kingdoms, with which the Jews
might have boasted that they were surrounded, so that no access to
them was open to the Assyrians; for however insufficient were the
people of Moab or the people of Amman, yet they were all joined
together, even Edom, and Ammon, and Moab: and then Tyrus and Sidon,
and the many neighboring kingdoms, might certainly have been
sufficient to resist the Assyrians. Now, that no one might object
all this, the Prophet shortly anticipates it by saying, that God
would be the leader of his army; as though he had said, "I have
already declared this to be the hand of God: for the Assyrians will
not come here of their own accord; that is, without being stirred up
by God: but as this truth has not as yet sufficiently moved your
feelings, know that God will be the leader of this army: God will
send forth his voice before his army." Here he distinctly calls the
Assyrians the attendants of God; they shall not then come as
soldiers hired by their own king, they shall not come as carrying on
war for an earthly king, but the Lord himself shall guide them, and
by his voice encourage them. By this expression the Prophet shows
that the Jews would not have a contest with one nation only, but
also with God himself and with all his celestial power.
    He therefore says, "God will utter his voice before his army;
for leery great will be his camp". He again repeats that the
multitude which was to execute the biddings of God would be so
great, that the Jews would seek forces in vain to resist it.
"Strong, he says, is he who executes his word". He expresses more
clearly what I have stated already, that though cupidity impelled
the Assyrians, that though they were intent on rapine and plunder,
yet they would not come merely through an impulse of their own, but
that the Lord would prepare them and use them as his instruments:
"Powerful, then, is he who does the word of God"; that is, who
executes his command; not that the Assyrians designed to show regard
to God or to offer to him their service, as the faithful do, who
willingly devote themselves to Him; but that the Lord by his secret
providence guided them and employed them to punish his own people.
    He afterwards adds in the last place, "For great will be the
day of Jehovah and terrible, and who will endure it?" In this clause
he shows that the vengeance would be such as would reduce the Jews
to nothing, and that it was now time to repent, and that if they
still turned a deaf ear to what the Prophet denounces, God would
punish their perverseness.
    Now with regard to what he says, that "strong" is he who does
the word of God, we have elsewhere reminded you that men serve God
in two ways, - they either execute his commands willingly, or are
led to do so by a blind impulse. The angels and the faithful perform
God's commands, because they are guided by the spirit of obedience;
but the wicked also, and the devil who is their head, fulfill God's
biddings; this, however, is not to be imputed to them as obedience,
for they are only led by their own wicked purposes, and seek to
destroy, as far as they can, the whole government of God; but they
are constrained, willing or unwilling, to obey God, not of their own
accord or willingly, as I have said, but the Lord turns all their
efforts to answer the end which he has decreed. Whatever, then,
Satan and the wicked attempt to do, they at the same time serve God
and obey his commands; and though they rage against God, he yet
holds them in by his bridle, and also so guides their attempts and
their purposes as to answer his own ends. In this sense, then, it
is, that Joel says, that the Assyrians would do the word of God; not
that it was their purpose to obey God, not that God had commanded
them anything, but he puts the word of the Lord here for his secret
purpose. As, then, the wicked perform no voluntary obedience to God,
but constrained, when they execute God's commands; so there is a
twofold command or word of God: there is the command by which he
teaches his own children and leads them to obey him; and there is
another, a hidden command, when he deigns not to address men, and
shows not what pleases him or what he means to do, but suffers them
to be led by their own sinful desires; in the meantime, he has his
own secret purpose, which by them he executes though without their
intention.
    
Prayer.
    
Grant, almighty God, that as thou invites us daily with so much
kindness and love, and makes known to us thy paternal goodwill,
which thou didst once show to us in Christ thy Son, - O grant, that,
being allured by thy goodness, we may surrender ourselves wholly to
thee, and become so teachable and submissive, that wherever thou
guidest us by thy Spirit thou mayest follow us with every blessing:
let us not, in the meantime, be deaf to thy warnings; and whenever
we deviate from the right way, grant that we may immediately awake
when thou warnest us, and return to the right path, and deign thou
also to embrace us and reconcile us to thyself through Christ our
Lord. Amen.


Lecture Forty-second.

Joel 2:12,13
Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye [even] to me with all
your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD
your God: for he [is] gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of
great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

    The Prophet, having proclaimed the dreadful judgment which we
have noticed, now shows that he did not intend to terrify the people
without reason, but, on the contrary, to encourage them to
repentance; which he could not do without offering to them the hope
of pardon; for as we have said before, and as it may be collected
from the whole of Scripture, men cannot be restored to the right
ways except they entertain a hope of God's mercy inasmuch as he who
has been ungodly, when he despairs, wholly disregards himself,
observing no restraint. Hence the Prophet now represents God as
propitious and merciful, that he might thus kindly allure the people
to repentance.
    He says first, "And even now the Lord says, Turn ye to me." The
Prophet exhorts the people, not in his own name, but speaks in the
person of God himself. He might indeed have borne witness to the
favor which he proclaimed; but the discourse becomes more striking
by introducing God as the speaker. And there is a great importance
in the words, even now; for when one considers what we have noticed
in the beginning of the chapter, a prospect of relief could hardly
have been deemed possible. God had, indeed, in various ways, tried
to restore the people to the right way; but, as we have seen, the
greater part had become so void of feeling, that the scourges of God
were wholly ineffectual; there remained, then, nothing but the utter
destruction which the Prophet threatened them with at the beginning
of the second chapter. Yet, in this state of despair, he still sets
forth some hope of mercy, provided they turned to him; even now, he
says. The particles "wegam" are full of emphasis, "even now" that
is, "Though ye have too long abused God's forbearance, and with
regard to you, the opportunity is past, for ye have closed the door
against yourselves; yet even now, - which no one could have
expected, and indeed what ought to be thought incredible by
yourselves, - even now God waits for you, and invites you to
entertain hope of salvation." But it was necessary that these two
particles, even now, should be added; for it is not in the power of
men to fix for themselves, as they please, the season for mercy. God
here shows the acceptable time, as Isaiah says (Isa. 49: 8) to be,
when he has not yet rejected men, but when he offers to be
propitious. We must then remember that the Prophet gives not here
liberty to men to delay the time, as the profane and scorners are
wont to do, who trifle with God from day to day; but the Prophet
here shows that we must obey the voice of God, when he invites us,
as also Isaiah says, 'Behold now the time accepted, behold the day
of salvation: seek God now, for he is near; call on him while he may
be found.' So then, as I have reminded you, these two particles,
even now, are added, that men may be made attentive to the voice of
God when he invites them, that they may not delay till tomorrow, for
the Lord may then close the door, and repentance may be too late. We
at the same time see how indulgently God bears with men, since he
left a hope of pardon to a people so obstinate and almost past
recovery.
    "Even now, he says, turn ye to me with your whole heart". The
Prophet here reminds us that we must not act feignedly with God; for
men are ever disposed to trifle with him. We indeed see what almost
the whole world is wont to do. God graciously meets us and is ready
to receive us unto favor, though we have a hundred times alienated
ourselves from him; but we bring nothing but hypocrisy and disguise:
hence the Prophet declares here distinctly, that this dissimulation
does not please God, and that they can hide nothing, who only
pretend some sort of repentance by external signs, and that what is
required is the serious and sincere feeling of the heart. This is
what he means by the whole heart; not that perfect repentance can be
formed in men, but the whole or complete heart is opposed to a
divided heart: for men well understand that God is not ignorant; yet
they divide their heart, and when they bestow some portion on God,
they think that he is satisfied; and in the meantime there remains
an interior and some hidden perverseness, which separates them far
from God. This vice the Prophet now condemns, when he says, Turn
with the whole heart. He then shows that it is an hypocrisy
abominable to God, when men keep the greater part of their heart, as
it were, closed up, and think it enough, if only they bring, so to
speak, some volatile feeling.
    He afterwards adds, "fasting, and weeping, and mourning"; and
by these words he shows how grievously they had sinned; as though he
said, that they deserved not only one kind of destruction, but were
worthy of hundred deaths; that God therefore would not now be
content with any common repentance, and except they came suppliantly
and deeply felt their own guilt. It is indeed true, that we ought
daily and even constantly to sigh, because we continue almost every
hour to provoke God's wrath against us; but the Prophet here speaks
of solemn fasting, because the people had so grievously offended God
that there was required some extraordinary confession, such as he
here describes. "Come then to me with fasting, and weeping, and
wailing": that is "Show at length that you are guilty and
submissively deprecate the vengeance which ye have through your
wickedness deserved." He speaks like a judge, when he tells the
criminal, not to act dissemblingly, but simply to confess his fault.
The guilty are indeed wont to weave many excuses to avoid
punishment; but when the judge deems a man guilty, and he is
abundantly proved to be so, he says, "What good can you do? for
these your shuffling and subterfuges make your case worse: for now I
hold you bound, and you cannot escape by these shifts, and will only
the more provoke my displeasure. If then you wish me to show you
favor, own how grievously you have offended, and without any
coloring; confess now that you are worthy of death, and that nothing
else remains for you, except I mercifully pardon you: for if you try
to extenuate your crime, if you attempt by some excuse to seek
reprief, you will gain nothing." So now does the Lord deal with this
people: Turn to me, he says; first, sincerely; then with fasting,
with weeping, and with wailing; that is, "Let it appear that you
suppliantly deprecate the destruction which ye have deserved, for
moderate repentance will not do, inasmuch as ye are guilty before me
of so many crimes." We now apprehend the Prophet's meaning.
    He then subjoins, "Rend your heart, and not your garments, and
turn to Jehovah your God". The Prophet again repeats that we ought
to deal sincerely with God; for all those ceremonies, by which men
imagine that they discharge their duties, are mere mockeries, when
they are not preceded by a pure and sincere heart. But as they were
wont under mournful circumstances to rend their garments, he
therefore says, "God has become now insensible to these customs; for
with regard to men, ye are ceremonious enough, and more than enough:
ye indeed rend your garments, and thus draw pity from men, and yet
your heart remains whole, there is no rending, no opening; Rend then
your heart," that is, "Leave off thus to mock God, as ye have been
wont to do, and begin with your heart." It is indeed certain that
the orientals were given to many ceremonies; but the vice the
Prophet here condemns in the Jews is natural as it were to all men;
so that every one of us is inclined to hypocrisy, and has need of
having his attention drawn to the sincerity of the heart. We must
then remember that this truth is to be set forth at all times and to
all nations. Let any one search himself and he will find that he
labors under this evil, - that he would rather reed his garment than
his heart. And since the Jews usually observed this custom, the
Prophet does not without reason deride it, and say, that it was of
no account with God except they rent their hearts. But when he bids
them to rend their hearts and not their garments, though he seems to
repudiate that external practice, he does not yet distinctly condemn
it, but intimates that it was a lawful thing, provided the heart was
rent. Now this expression, Rend the heart, ought not to be deemed
harsh, for it is to be referred to the external practice: when they
rent the garments, they made themselves naked before God and put off
all ornaments; but he wished them to be displeased with themselves,
and rather to make bare the heart itself. The heart of hypocrites,
we know, is wrapped up, and they ever have recourse to hiding
places, that they may avoid the presence of God. Then the similitude
is most suitable, when the Prophet bids them to rend the heart.
Besides, the passage is clear enough, and needs not many remarks; it
means, that God regards the real feeling of the heart, as it is said
in Jer. 5; he is not content with ocular obedience, such as men
exhibit, but he would have us to deal with him in sincerity and
truth.
    Hence he repeats again, "Turn to Jehovah your God". Here the
Prophet shows, from what God is, that men foolishly and grossly
deceive themselves when they would please God with their ceremonies:
"What!", he says, "have you to do with a child?" For the import of
the words is this, - "When an offense against man is to be removed,
ye anxiously come to him: now when ye perceive that God is angry
with you, ye think that he will be propitious to you, if ye only
trifle with him; can God bear such a reproach?" We hence see what
the Prophet means when he says, Turn to Jehovah your God; that is,
"Remember that you have not to do with a block of wood or with a
stone, but with your God, who searches hearts, and whom mortals can
by no crafts deceive." The same is said by Jeremiah, 'Israel, if
thou turnest, turn to me,' (Jer. 4: 1;) that is, "Pretend not to
turn by circuitous courses and windings, but come in a direct way,
and with a real feeling of heart, for I am he who calls thee." So
also now the Prophet says, Turn to Jehovah your God.
    Then follows the promise of pardon, "For he is propitious and
merciful". We have already said that repentance is preached in vain,
except men entertain a hope of salvation; for they can never be
brought to fear God truly, unless they trust in him as their Father,
as it is stated in Ps. 130: 4, 'With thee is propitiation that thou
mayest be feared.' Hence, whenever the Prophets were anxious to
effect anything by their doctrine, while exhorting the people to
repentance, they joined to the invitation "Come," the second part,
"Ye shall not come in vain." This "Come," comprehends all
exhortations to repentance; "Ye shall not come in vain," includes
this testimony respecting God's grace, that He will never reject
miserable sinners, provided they return to him with the heart. The
Prophet then now engaged on this second head; God, he says, is
propitious and merciful. And this connection is to be observed by
us; for as Satan fills us with insensibility when God invites us, so
also he draws us away into despair when God denounces judgment, when
he shows that it is not time for sleep. "What good will you gain?"
Thus Satan by his craft disheartens us, that we may labour in vain,
when we seek to be reconciled to God. Hence, whenever Scripture
exhorts us to repentance, let us learn to join this second part,
"God invites us not in vain." If then we return to him, he will be
instantly inclined to grant forgiveness; for he wills not that
miserable men should labour in vain or be tormented. This is the
benefit of which the Prophet speaks when he says that God is
propitious and merciful.
    He afterwards adds, that "he is slow to wraths and abundant in
goodness". These testimonies respecting God occur often in other
places; and all the Prophets, as well as David, have borrowed these
declarations from Exod. 34; where the nature of God is described;
and He is said there to be propitious and merciful, slow to wrath,
and abundant in goodness. Though there is no need of dwelling longer
on these words, as we perceive the Prophet's design; yet more
extended remarks will not be superfluous since the Prophet so much
at large recommends the mercy of God. Though men too much indulge
themselves in security, yet when God calls them to himself, they are
not able to receive his favor; though he may testify twice or thrice
that he will be propitious to them, yet he cannot persuade them but
with great difficulty. This is the reason why the Prophet, after
having said that God is propitious and merciful, adds, that he is
slow to wrath, and abundant in goodness; it was, that the Jews might
overcome their distrust, and that however much despair might keep
them back, they might not yet hesitate to come to God, seeing that
he declares himself to be so merciful.
    He at last adds, "He will repent of the evil". The Prophet here
not only describes the nature of God, but goes further and says,
that God, who is by nature placable, will not remain fixed in his
purpose, when he sees people returning to him in sincerity; but that
he suffers himself to be turned to show favor, so as to remit the
punishment which he had previously denounced. And it is a mode of
speaking which often occurs in Scripture, that God repents of evil;
not that he really changes his purpose, but this is said according
to the apprehensions of men: for God is in himself immutable, and is
said to turn from his, purpose, when he remits to man the punishment
he has previously threatened. Whatever proceeds from God's mouth
ought to be regarded as an inviolable decree; and yet God often
threatens us conditionally, and though the condition be not
expressed it is nevertheless to be understood: but when he is
pacified to us and relaxes the punishment, which was in a manner
already decreed according to the external word, he is then said to
repent. And we know, that as we do not apprehend God such as he is,
he is therefore described to us in such a way as we can comprehend,
according to the measure of our infirmity. Hence God often puts on
the character of men, as though he were like them; and as this mode
of speaking is common, and we have spoken of it elsewhere, I now
pass it by more briefly. It follows -

Joel 2:14
Who knoweth [if] he will return and repent, and leave a blessing
behind him; [even] a meat offering and a drink offering unto the
LORD your God?
    
    The Prophet seems at first sight to leave men here perplexed
and doubtful; and yet in the last verse, as we have seen, he had
Offered a hope of favor, provided they sincerely repented. Hence the
Prophet seems not to pursue the same subject, but rather to vary it:
and we have already said, that all exhortations would be frigid,
nay, useless, by which God stirs us up to repentance, except he were
to testify that he is ready to be reconciled. Seeing then that the
Prophet here leaves the minds of men in suspense, he seems to
rescind what he has before alleged respecting God's mercy. But we
must understand that this is a mode of speaking which often occurs
in Scripture. For wherever God is set forth to us as one hardly
willing to pardon, it is done to rouse our slothfulness, and also to
shake off our negligence. We are at first torpid when God invites
us, except he applies his many goads; and then we act formally in
coming to him: it is hence needful that both these vices should be
corrected in us, - our torpor must be roused, - and those
self-complacences, in which we too much indulge ourselves, must be
shaken off. And this is the object of the Prophet; for he addresses,
as we have seen, men almost past recovery. If he had only said, God
is ready to pardon, if he had used this way of speaking, they would
have come negligently, and would not have been sufficiently touched
by the fear of God: hence the Prophet here, as it were, debates the
matter with them, "Even though we ought justly to despair of pardon,
(for we are unworthy of being received by God,) yet there is no
reason why we should despair; for who knows" which means "God is
placable and we must not despair."
    The Prophet then sets forth here the difficulty of obtaining
pardon, not to leave men in suspense, for this would be contrary to
his former doctrine; but to create in them a desire for the grace of
God, that they might by degrees gather courage, and yet not
immediately rise to confidence, but that they might come anxiously
to God, and with much deliberation, duly considering their offenses.
We now understand the purpose of the Prophet.
    But this will be easier understood by supposing two gradations
in repentance. Then the first step is, when men feel how grievously
they have offended. Here sorrow is not to be immediately removed
after the manner of impostors, who cajole the consciences of men, so
that they indulge themselves, and deceive themselves, with empty
self-flatteries. For the physician does not immediately ease pain,
but considers what is more necessary: it may be he will increase it,
for a thorough clearing may be needful. So also do the Prophets of
God, when they observe trembling consciences, they do not
immediately apply soothing consolations, but on the contrary show
that they ought not, as we have already said, to trifle with God,
and exhort them while willingly running to God, to set before them
his terrible judgment, that they may be more and more humbled. The
second step is, when the Prophets cheer the minds of men, and show
that God now willingly meets them, and desires nothing more than to
see men willing to be reconciled to him.
    The Prophet is now urging them to take the first step, when he
says, "Who knows whether the Lord will turn?" But some may object
and say, "Then the Prophet has spoken inconsistently; for first he
has described God as merciful, and has spoken of his goodness
without any reserve; and then he throws in a doubt: he seems here to
observe no consistency." I answer, that the Prophets of God do not
always very anxiously hold to what seems consistent in their
discourses; and farther, that the Prophet has not spoken here in
vain or inconsiderately; for he, in the first place, generally sets
forth God as merciful, and afterwards addresses particularly a
people who were almost past recovery, and says, "Though ye think
that it is all over with you as to your salvation, and ye deserve to
be rejected by God, yet ye ought not to continue in this state;
rather entertain a hope of pardon." This is what the Prophet had in
view; he throws in no doubt, so as to make the sinner uncertain,
whether or not he could obtain pardons; but as I have said, he
wished only to rouse torpidity, and also to shake off vain
self-flatteries.
    He then adds, "And leave after him a blessing". We here see
more clearly what I have already said, that the Prophet, considering
the state of those whom he addressed, states a difficulty; for the
Jews were not to escape temporary punishment, and the Prophet did
not intend to dismiss them in a secure state, as though God would
inflict on them no punishment; nay, he wished to bend their necks
that they might receive the strokes of God, and calmly submit to his
correction. But all hope might have been lost, when the Jews saw,
that though the Prophet had declared that God would be propitious,
they were yet not spared, but suffered severe punishment for their
sins, - "What does this mean? Has God then disappointed us? We hoped
that he would be propitious, and yet he ceases not to be angry with
us." Hence the Prophet now subjoins, "Who knows whether he will
leave behind him a blessing?"
    What is this - "behind him"? What does it mean? Even this, that
as God was to be a severe judge to punish the people's wickedness,
the Prophet now says, "Though God beats you with his rods, he can
yet relieve you by administering comfort. Ye indeed think that you
are beaten almost to death; but the Lord will temperate his wrath,
so that a blessing will follow these most grievous punishments." We
now, then, understand the purpose of the Prophet: for he does not
simply promise pardon to the Jews, but mitigates the dread of
punishment, that is, that though God would chastise them, he would
yet give place to mercy. Then God will leave behind him a blessing;
that is "These strokes shall not be incurable." And this admonition
is very necessary, whenever God deals severely with us; for when we
feel his wrath, we then think that there is no grace remaining. It
is then not without reason that the Prophet says, that God leaves
behind him a blessing; which means, that when he shall pass by us
with his rod, he will yet restrain his severity, so that some
blessing will remain.
    He afterwards adds, "minchah wasesech laYehovah Elohim", "an
offering and a libation, he says, to Jehovah your God". This has
been designedly added, that the Jews might entertain more hope. For
with regard to them, they had deserved to be wholly exterminated a
hundred times; yea, they deserved to pine away utterly through
famine: but the Prophet intimates here, that God would have a regard
for his own glory and his worship. "Though," he says, "we have
deserved to perish by famine, yet God will be moved by another
consideration, even this, - that there may be some offering, that
there may be some libation in the temple: since then God has chosen
us a people to himself, and has required the first-fruits to be
offered to him, and has consecrated for himself all our provision
and all our produce in the first-fruits, and also in the daily
offerings, though he has now resolved to consume us with famine and
want, yet that his worship may continue, he will make the land
fruitful to us, corn and wine will yet be produced for us," But the
Prophet does not mean that there would only be so much corn as would
be enough for offerings, or only so much wine as would be sufficient
for libations; but he means, as I have already said, that though God
would not provide for the safety of the people, he would yet have a
regard for his own glory. God required the corn and the wine to be
offered to him, not that he needed them, but because he consecrated
to himself our provision. As then he would have the food and
provisions, on which we live, to be sacred to him, he will not allow
them wholly to fail. "God will yet surely pity us, and he will pity
us, because he has deigned to choose us a people to himself, and so
to join us with himself, that he wishes to eat, as it were, with
us." For God seemed then to partake, as it were, of the same table
with his people; for the law required bread or the ears of corn, and
also wine, to be offered to God: not that he, as I have said, needed
such supports; but that he might show that he had all things in
common with his people. This communion then, or fellow-participation
of God with his chosen people, gave them more hope; and this is what
the Prophet had in view.
    
Prayer.
    
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou seest us so foolish in nourishing
our vices, and also so ensnared by the gratifications of the flesh,
that without being constrained we hardly return to thee, - O grant,
that we may feel the weight of thy wrath, and be so touched with the
dread of it, as to return gladly to thee, laying aside every
dissimulation, and devote ourselves so entirely to thy service, that
it may appear that we have from the heart repented, and that We have
not trifled with thee by an empty pretence, but have offered to thee
our hearts as a sacrifice, so that we and all our works might be
sacred offerings to thee through our whole life, that thy name may
be glorified in us through Christ our Lord. Amen.


Lecture Forty-third.

Joel 2:15-17
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn
assembly:
16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the
elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let
the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her
closet.
17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the
porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and
give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule
over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where [is]
their God?
    
    Here again the Prophet reminds them that there was need of deep
repentance; for not only individuals had transgressed, but the whole
people had become guilty before God; and we also know how many and
grievous their sins had been. There is no wonder then that the
Prophet requires a public profession of repentance.
    He bids them first to sound the trumpet in Zion. This custom,
as we have seen at the beginning of the chapter, was in common use
under the Law; they summoned their meetings by the sound of
trumpets. There is then no doubt but that the Prophet here refers to
an extraordinary meeting. They sounded the trumpets whenever they
called the people to the festivals. But it must have been unusual
for the Jews to proclaim a fast on account of God's heavy judgment,
which was to come on them unless it was prevented. He then shows the
purpose of this, bidding them to sanctify a fast. By this word
"kadash", he means a proclamation for a holy purpose. "Sanctify,
then a fast", that is, Proclaim a fast in the name of God.
    We slightly touched on the subject of fasting in the first
chapter, but deferred a fuller discussion to this place. Fasting, we
know, is not of itself a meritorious work, as the Papists imagine it
to be: there is, indeed, strictly speaking, no work meritorious. But
the Papists dream that fasting, in addition to its merit and worth,
is also by itself of much avail in the worship of God; and yet
fasting, when regarded in itself is an indifferent work. It is not
then approved by God, except for its end; it must be connected with
something else, otherwise it is a vain thing. Men, by private
fastings prepare themselves for the exercise of prayer, or they
mortify their own flesh, or seek a remedy for some hidden vices. Now
I do not call fasting temperance; for the children of God, we know,
ought through their whole life to be sober and temperate in their
habits; but fasting, I regard that to be, when something is
abstracted from our moderate allowance: and such a fast, when
practiced privately, is, as I have said, either a preparation for
the exercise of prayer, or a means to mortify the flesh, or a remedy
for some vices.
    But as to a public fast, it is a solemn confession of guilt,
when men suppliantly approach the throne of God, acknowledge
themselves worthy of death, and yet ask pardon for their sins.
Fasting then, with regard to God, is similar to black and mean
garments and a long beard before earthly judges. The criminal goes
not before the judge in a splendid dress, with all his fine things,
but casts away every thing that was before elegant in his
appearance, and by his uncombed hair and long beard he tries to
excite the compassion of his judge. There is, at the same time,
another reason for fasting; for when we have to do with men, we wish
to please their eyes and conciliate their favor; and he who fasts,
not only testifies openly that he is guilty, but he also reminds
himself of his guilt; for as we are not sufficiently touched by the
sense of God's wrath, those aids are useful which help to excite and
affect us. He then who fasts, excites himself the more to penitence.
    We now perceive the right use of fasting. But it is of public
fasting that the Prophet speaks here. For what purpose? That the
Jews, whom he had before summoned, might present themselves before
God's tribunal, and that they might come there, not with vain
excuses, but with humble prayer. This is the design of fasting. We
now see how foolishly the Papists have abused fasting; for they
think it to be a meritorious work; they imagine that God is honored
by abstinence from meat; they also mention those benefits of fasting
to which I have referred; but they join fasts with festivals, as if
there was some religion in abstaining from flesh or certain meats.
We now then perceive by what gross puerilities the Papists trifle
with God. We must then carefully notice the end in view, whenever
the Scripture speaks of fasting; for all things will be confounded,
except we lay hold on the principle which I have stated - that
fasting ought ever to be connected with its end. We shall now
proceed.
    "Proclaim, he says, a meeting". "'Atsarah" is not properly an
assembly, but the deed itself: hence also the word is transferred to
festivals. "Proclaim, then, a meeting, call the people, sanctify the
assembly". The word, sanctify, seems to be taken here in a sense
different from what it had been before. The people, in order to
engage in holy services, performed those rites, as it is well known,
by which they cleansed themselves from their pollutions. No one
entered the temple without washing; and no one offered a sacrifice
without abstaining from an intercourse with his wife. The Prophet
then alludes to these legal purgations when he says "Sanctify the
assembly".
    He afterwards adds, "Bring together the old, gather the young
sucking the breasts". With regard to the old, we have said before
that they are separately named, because they ought to have taken the
lead by their example; and further a greater guilt belonged to them,
for we know that it is a duty incumbent on the old to govern others,
and, as it were, to hold the reins. But when the old themselves
become dissolute, and restrain not the lusts of the young, they are
doubly culpable before God. It is no wonder then that the Prophet
bids here the old to be called; for it became them to be the leaders
of others in confessing their repentance. But what follows seems
strange. He would have the young, sucking the breasts, to be
assembled. Why are these brought in as involved in guilt? Besides,
the people were to own their repentance; and yet infants are without
understanding and knowledge; so that they could not humble
themselves before God. It must, then, have been a mockery and a vain
show; nay, the Prophet seems to encourage the people in hypocrisy by
bidding young infants to assemble together with men and women. To
this I answer, that children ought to have been brought together,
that those grown up and advanced in years might through them
perceive what they deserved; for the wrath of God, we know, reached
to the very infants, yea, and to brute animals: when God puts forth
his hand to punish any people, neither asses nor oxen are exempt
from the common scourge. Since, then, God's wrath comes upon brute
animals and upon young infants, it is no wonder that the Lord bids
all to come forth publicly and to make a confession of repentance;
and we see the same to have been the case with brute animals; and
when, if the Lord grants, we shall come to the Prophet Jonah, we
shall then speak on this subject. The Ninevites, when they
proclaimed a fast, not only abstained themselves from meat and
drink, but constrained also their oxen and horses to do the same.
Why? Because the very elements were involved, as it were, with them
in the same guilt: "Lord, we have polluted the earth; whatever we
possess we have also polluted by our sins; the oxen the horses, and
the asses, are in themselves innocent, but they have contracted
contagion from our vices: that we may therefore obtain mercy, we not
only offer ourselves suppliantly before thy face, but we bring also
our oxen and horses; for if thou exercises the fullest severity
against us, thou wilt destroy whatever is in our possession." So
also now, when the Prophet bids infants to be brought before God, it
is done on account of their parents. Infants were in themselves
innocent with regard to the crimes of which he speaks; but yet the
Lord could have justly destroyed the infants together with those of
advanced age. It is then no wonder that in order to pacify God's
wrath the very infants are summoned with the rest: but as I have
already said, the reason is on account of their parents, that the
parents themselves might perceive what they deserved before God, and
that they might the more abhor their sins by observing that God
would take vengeance on their children, except he was pacified. For
they ought to have reasoned from the less to the greater: "See, if
God exercises his own right towards us, there is destruction not
only hanging over us, but also over our children; if they are guilty
through our crimes, what can we say of ourselves, who are the
authors of these evils? The whole blame belongs to us; then severe
and dreadful will be God's vengeance on us, except we be reconciled
to him."
    We now then perceive why infants were called, together with
their parents; not that they might confess their penitence, as that
was not compatible with their age, but that their parents might be
more moved, and that such a sight might touch their feelings, and
that dread might also seize them on seeing that their children were
doomed to die with them for no other reason, but that by their
contagion and wickedness they had infected the whole land and
everything that the Lord had bestowed on them.
    He afterwards subjoins, "Let the bridegroom go from his closet,
or recess, and the bride from her chamber". It is the same as though
the Prophet had bidden every joy to cease among the people; for it
was of itself no evil to celebrate nuptials; but it behooved the
people to abstain from every rejoicing on seeing the wrath of God
now suspended over them. Hence, things in themselves lawful ought
for a time to be laid aside when God appears angry with us; for it
is no season for nuptials or for joyful feasts, when God's wrath is
kindled, when the darkness of death spreads all around. No wonder,
then, that the Prophet bids the bridegroom and the bride to come
forth from their chamber, that is, to cast aside every joy, and to
defer their nuptials to a more suitable time, and now to undergo
their delights, for the Lord appeared armed against all. It would
have been then to provoke, as it were, His wrath, to indulge
heedlessly in pleasures, when he wished not only to terrify, but
almost to frighten to death those who had sinned; for when the Lord
threatens vengeance, what else is indifference but a mockery of his
power? "I have called you to weeping and wailing; but ye have said,
'We will feast:' as I live, saith the Lord, this iniquity shall
never be blotted out." We see how extremely displeased the Lord
appears there to be with those who, having been called to weeping
and fasting, did yet indulge themselves in their pleasures; for
such, as I have said, altogether laugh to scorn the power of God.
The Prophet's exhortation ought then to be noticed, when he bids the
bridegroom and the bride to leave their nuptials, and to put on the
same mournful appearance as the rest of the people. He thus shook
off heedlessness from all, since God had appeared with tokens of his
wrath. This is the sum of the whole.
    Then it follows, "Between the court and the altar let the
priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep". It was the priests'
office, we know, to pray in the name of the whole people; and now
the Prophet follows this order. It was not, indeed, peculiar to the
priests to pray and to ask pardon of God; but they prayed in the
name of all the people. The reason must be well known to us; for God
intended by these legal types to remind the Jews, that they could
not offer prayers to him, except through some mediator; the people
were unworthy to offer prayers by themselves. Hence the priest was,
as it were, the middle person. The whole of this is to be referred
to Christ; for by him we now pray; he is the Mediator who intercedes
for us. The people stood then afar off, we now dare to come nigh to
God; for the vail is