Nevertheless, the promise of the removal of the locusts had to be
added, esp. also because Yahweh wants to assure the people that
the locust visitation shall not come again to cause them all this
distress and shame, v. ^®^. So he says, And as for the northerner
I will remove him far away from you. The Heb. expresses the
burdensome character of the plague, the locusts had settled upon
them and they will be removed far away /row upon them. And I
will drive him, i. e., the main body of the swarm, into a dry land
and a waste, the desert S. and SE. of Judah, where they will perish.
The two ends of the army will be carried out into the sea, its van into
the Dead Sea, lit. the front or eastern sea, cf. Ez. 47^^ Zc. 14^ and
its rear into the Mediterranean, lit. the hinder or western sea. This
idiomatic way of expressing E. and W. is due to the habit of facing
eastward in fixing the points of the compass. What was in front
was E., what was behind was W. The swarm lies on the whole
land from E. to W. and each part is to be removed in the quickest
possible way. Usually this is done by a wind, probably in this case
also, though this is not mentioned. "There is no reason to sup-
pose that the prophet has abandoned the realism which has hitherto
distinguished his treatment of the locusts. The plague covered
the whole land, on whose high watershed the winds suddenly veer
and change. The dispersion of the locusts upon the deserts and
the opposite seas was therefore possible at one and the same time.
Jerome vouches for an instance in his ovm day" (GASm., p. 420).*
"A wind rising first in the NW., and afterward gradually veering
round to NE., would produce approximately the effects indicated"
(Dr.). Cf. the description by Home, /. c., "The wind was blowing
from the north-east, and they were borne along upon it. After-
ward the wind veered round, and the locusts turned with it,"
(Dr.). In the desert and the sea the locust swarm will be com-
pletely destroyed, that his stench ajtdfoul smell, due to the decaying
carcasses, may come up. The mention of this feature is another
touch of realism. The awful odour cannot have been pleasant to
* Jer. wrote, " In our times also we have seen hosts of locusts over Judea, which afterward, by
the mercy of God, ... a wind arising were carried headlong into the eastern and the western
seas."
2^o. ^o 113
the Jews, it was added to assure them of the total destruction of the
locusts. Observers have noticed this feature.* V.^° is so true to life,
and fits so exactly the fate of locust swarms, cj. also Ex. 10^®, that
it cannot well be regarded as an insertion. It concludes with /or
/ will do great things. Yahweh is still speaking, He will show His
greatness by restoring fertility and by destroying the locusts, m's
reading for he has done great things, i. e., the locusts have acted
overweeningly, is so improbable that many have preferred to omit
the whole clause as secondary, but it is due to the editor.
The composition of w. =l-=^ The poetical insertion of w. ^'^ inter-
rupts the speech of Yahweh in a way that can hardly have been intended
by Joel. Style and phraseology are, however, so distinctly those of
Joel that the verses cannot be regarded as a later insertion. But that
Joel himself should have placed them here is improbable. They stood
most likely at first directly after w. ^s. 20 aa where they concluded very
beautifully chs. i, 2. Since the displacement was hardly accidental, we
may assume that the editor intended ch. 3 (Engl. 228-32) as the continua-
tion of the promise of Yahweh and so placed the poem after v. ^o^ which
the phrase /(TT / will do great things suggested as a suitable place for its
insertion. But while it follows well enough upon v. ^, w. «• ^ea are
torn apart by it from w. "• 2" to which they inseparably belong. An-
other argument for v. ^e as the original place of the poem is found in v. ^e
itself. The sentence and you shall praise the name of Yahweh your God
who has dealt wondrously with you, is not a part of Yahweh's own words
which are given in the ist pers., cf. v. ". This difficulty disappears as
soon as it is taken as a part of the poem, vv. ^'-^^ The poem, it will be
noticed, is not rounded out to a conclusion in v. ". This is supplied by
our sentence which is admirably suited to bring the poem to a satisfying
close. Joel composed this poem some time after the promise of w. "•
so. 26. 26 aa^ for it expresses joy not over the promise but over the restora-
tion of fertility which has already been experienced at least to some ex-
tent by the people, w. ^- '3, who are looking forward to a rich harvest,
v. 24. The poem formed originally the conclusion of the locust passages.
* Jer., " And when the shores of both seas (the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea) were filled with
heaps of dead locusts which the waters had cast up, their stench and putrefaction was so noxious
as to corrupt the air, so that a pestilence was produced among both beasts and men." Augustine,
De Civ. Dei, III, 71, quotes from Julius Obsequens, De prodig., ch. xc, that the carcasses of a
vast locust swarm which had been driven into the African sea were "cast back on the shores, and
the air being infected thereby, such a pestilence arose that in the realm of Masinissa alone 800,000
men perished, and many more in the lands on the coasts. Then at Utica, out of 30,000 men in the
prime of life, who were there, they assert that only ten remained." Cp. also Orosius, Historiarum,
lib. V, II, on this catastrophe at Utica, quoted by Pu. Similar observations of the awful odour
produced by the decaying mass of locusts are given by modern writers. See Pu. and Dr.
114 JOEL
This implies that vv. ^sb. 27 are additions. V. " is composed of stereo-
typed phrases which have vital meaning in Deutero-Isaiah, Ezekiel and
the Holiness Code, but are without real significance here where they are
purely liturgical. Of course, even though Joel does not use hackneyed
phrases, we should not necessarily assert that he was not the author were
it not that the phrase and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God,
followed by who dwells in My holy mountain Zion, recurs in 4", where
it is quite in place. It would seem, therefore, that the editor was also
responsible for 2". That several Gk. mss. omit v. " cannot be used as
an argument in favour of the secondariness of v. ", because it was prob-
ably due to homoioteleuton, v. ^'b = y. 2^". One might question whether
V. ^^i" is also secondary, if v. ^^ is an addition. If genuine, Yahweh would
probably have proceeded in the direct address and ye shall never be
ashamed and not as here and My people shall never be ashamed. In v.
2'b this fits, but not in v. '^^^. This stylistic hint, slight as it is, indicates
that V. =6b is a doublet of v. 27 b. For the rounding out of the thought
it is not needed since the same promise had been given in v. ''>'.
In accordance with our results we take up first w. 2'- ^^'"i which form
the direct continuation of vv. i^- ="", then vv. "'-2^- ^sa^ which form the
poetical comment on the restoration of fertility and finally vv. ^^^- *'
which are later additions.
25. Continuing his promises Yahweh assures the people of full
compensation for the deprivations which the successive swarms of
locusts had caused. And I will restore to you the rich fruits which
the swarmer has devoured, the lap per, the finislier and the shearer.
M. has the years which the swarmer has devoured, but this is most
probably due to a slight corruption of the text. On the names of
the locust, cf. i^. My great army appears to be due to the inter-
polator who used this phrase in 2". — 26^". And you shall eat in
plenty, and be satisfied because of the great abundance which Yah-
weh will give.
SONG OF JOY OVER THE BEGINNINGS OF THE
RESTORATION (2^'-'*- ^^a^).
In this lyrical outburst of joy the prophet calls upon the land,
V. ^^, the animals, v. ^", and the inhabitants of Jerusalejn to rejoice
over the restoration of fertility by Yahweh.
In vv. ^^- 20. 25. 26aa Yahweh promised deliverance, the prophet
in this song speaks of the deliverance as past, the promise as
fulfilled. He breaks forth into jubilant strains of deep joy, and an
exquisitely rhythmic lyrical poem expresses his delight. It is one
of the passages that has made students of Joel admire the beauty
of his style. It reminds one of the lyrical passages with which
Deutero-Isaiah interspersed his book.
a- Fear not, O ground, exult and rejoice,
for Yahweh has done great things!
«■Fear not, O beasts of the field,
for the pastures of the steppe are covered with new grass.
For the trees bear their fruit,
fig tree and grape-vine yield their produce.
«• And ye children of Zion, exult
and rejoice in Yahweh your God!
For He has given you food as (a token of your) justification,
and He has poured down for you rain [fall rain and spring rain],
as before.
«■And the threshing-floors shall be full of wheat,
and the vats shall overflow with new wine and fresh oil.
26- And ye shall praise the name of Yahweh, your God,
who has dealt so wondrously with you.
Four strs., (i) consists of a tetrameter -f a trimeter, (2) of two hexameters, (3)
of a pentameter -j- a hexameter, which is to be read rapidly. The metre argues
against the originality oifall rain and spring rain. (4) consists of two heptameters.
21. Fear not, O ground, exult and rejoice, it had "mourned" be-
fore, i'^°,for Yahweh has done great things, as He had promised in
V. ^'*- — 22. Fear not, ye wild beasts, lit. beasts of the field, who had
to suffer so much, i^",/or the pastures of the steppe are covered with,
lit. have, fresh, young grass, those same pastures that were burnt,
i'^ and the trees, which had failed and were languishing, i^- ^^
have borne their fruit, the fig trees and the grape-vines, coll. sg.,
have yielded as much as they can bear, lit. their strength. All this
is spoken with strict antithetical reference to the description of
ch. I. It is due to his poetic impulse that Joel joined the refer-
ence to the bearing of the fruit trees, which of course is not strictly
a cause of rejoicing for the wild animals.— 23. Now he calls upon
the children of Zion, strictly the inhabitants of Jerusalem only, but
it would seem that he meant all who belong to Zion as children, who
worship Yahweh there, cf. Ps. 87. Exult and rejoice in Yahweh
Ii6 JOEL
your God. Contrast i^" where joy and rejoicing had gone away
from the children of men. Their joy is to be full of gratitude for
Yahweh, for He has given you, note the past tense, nourishment
{(&) for (a token of) justification, showing that the right relation
between Himself and His people has been re-established. And in-
stead of the long drought He lias poured down, lit. caused to come
down, abundant rain, the early rain as well as the latter rain, cf. Je.
5^^ which come in October to November and in March to April
respectively, the fall and spring rains, and which are indispensable
for the fertility of the land. The early rain prepares the land for
seed sowing, the latter is needed to nourish and ripen the growing
crops. Joel looks back over some months. Yahweh had fulfilled
His promise — the fall rains had come and the spring rains also
as aforetime, in the years before the visitation. — 24. And now he
looks forward to a plentiful harvest when the threshing-floors shall
be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and fresh
oil. The threshing-floors were in the open air, when possible on
or near the top of the hill where the wind would blow. They were
quite primitive, consisting of a round piece of ground firmly
stamped by the feet. On this the sheaves were spread out to be
threshed. See an illustration of a modern threshing-floor in EB.,
I, 83, BD., I, 50. The grapes were trodden out by the feet in wine-
presses which were hewed out in the rock. They consisted usually
of two vats, a larger one, eight or more feet square, which was on
the upper side of a ledge of rock and rather shallow, and a smaller
one, not quite half as large, which was sometimes two feet lower
and three or more feet deep. This was connected by a large groove
through which the juice flowed from the upper to the lower vat.
This lower vat is meant in our text. Sometimes there were two or
even three of them in connection with a press. The must was then
passed from one to the other to clarify it. See an illustration in
Benzinger, Hebrdische Archdologie,- 1907, p. 143. Olives were
also pressed in these presses, cf. Gethsemane = oil-press. See
illustration in Benzinger, /. c, p. 144. — 26''^. Full of joy over the
prospect of such harvests Joel closes his poem, calling on the
people to show their gratitude and ye shall praise the name of
Yahweh, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you.
117
EDITORIAL LINK (2"^ ")
[And My people shall nevermore be put to shame.}
Ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and {that) I Yahweh am your God and none else;
And My people shall nevermore be put to shame.
Trimeter or tetrameter lines.
26'', 27. V. ^^^ = V. "''. This renewed material prosperity, so
the editor adds, in well-known, common terms, will assure the
people of Yahweh 's protecting and helping presence among them.
"Rain and harvest are not merely physical benefits, but religious
sacraments: signs that God has returned to His people, and that
His zeal is again stirred on their behalf " (GASm.) . A nd you shall
know (by this wonderful fertility) that I am in the midst of Israel,
cf. Ex. if Nu. 11^" 14" Dt. f^ Is. I2^ etc. This is the first oc-
currence of Israel in the book, it is used as the postexilic name for
Judah. And (further ye shall know that) / Yahweh am your God
and {that there is) none else. These two phrases express profound
convictions which thrilled the hearts of exilic and postexilic proph-
ets: the blending together of the two elements of Yahweh 's unity,
monotheism, and of His particularly intimate relationship to Is-
rael, as in a special manner Israel's God. For this blending and
fusing into a higher unity Deutero-Isaiah is responsible. It belongs
to the core of his teaching. Here in Joel the phrases do not have
that real, vital significance, but sound purely liturgical. No trace
of idolatry appears in the book. Joel's answer to the taimt of the
heathen is given in v. ^^. The editor connects, of course, his state-
ment with this, as the following shows, and My people shall never
more he put to shame. Note the emphasis on the pronouns My
people, your God.
15-17. The tenses are to be changed to the narrative tense, because
these verses do not contain an exhortation but a description of the result
of the sermon. — 16. Siev. om., perhaps rightly, the second idds mtr. cs.
— -nn here parall. and synonymous with nan bridal-chamber, cf. Ju.
I5» i/' 196. Some mss. point mnn. — 17. For i33' one Heb. codex reads
TO5\ If the impf. is taken as expressing inchoative or continued action
in the past, id2^ need not be changed to 13a. But, if necessary, it is not
Il8 JOEL
difficult to assume that the editor changed 132 to 1331 in conformity with
his interpretation of vv. '5-". noin with S;', cj. Ne. 13" Jon. 4". For
D1U D3 ^vch read d;'ij3 h'^"(p_ a by-word among the nations. Jfl which
means that the nations should rule over them, AV., RV., is excluded by
the context. No foreign nations have been mentioned as ruling over
Judah. Not a devastation by enemies but by the locust plague has been
the theme. The parall. nsinS inVnj jnn Sni and dmjo nann nij? jpn nSi
in V. ", cf. also v. 27, show that the nations taunt, but do not rule over,
Judah. The vb. '^ro, to make proverbs of, using their name as a by-
word, cf. AVm., RVm., is, however, excluded here, because Sb^d with a
means always either to rule over, or to mock in or among, 2 locale, cf. Ez.
18' 12". For the reading '^•^•d as a noun, above proposed, cf. Je. 24',
S^dSi HDinS. Either the day of Yahweh interpolator or a reader, under
the influence of ch. 4 and of an allegorical interpretation of the locusts,
corrected the text so that it read that the nations should not rule m>er them.
— 18. M points correctly the impfs. with waw consecutive. Some have
thought that the impfs. should be read with waw conjunctive, and that
this verse and the foil, refer to the fut., containing prediction and prom-
ise. So, e. g., 9, AE., Ki., AV., etc., also Me., who regards the verses as a
continuation of the prayer of the priests. They pray that Yahweh may
answer and give to them all the beautiful promises which they put into
his mouth. This is altogether improbable. — nJ|"!''.i is entirely correct
and regular on our interpretation. If v. '^ were the beginning of the
narrative the 1 consecutive with impf . would have to be explained as one
of the few instances where there is nothing in the preceding with which
it is connected. It would be a sort of crystallised form for the introduc-
tion of a narrative, cf. Jon. 1'. — 19. myS, Ki.: r«^3j >-i> hy o^iyixV njj?.
— n'7i:' prtc. of imminent fut. — Note the interpretative addition in some
mss. 3j?i riDin shame of famine ; one ms. 3yi noin shows the explanatory
character of the gloss. ® also njd3 mD''n. Cf. Ez. 362'. — 20. ■•jiDsn
the northerner. The term must refer to the locusts, for the fate described
is that of a swarm of locusts and not of human armies. The interpre-
tation of human invaders from the N., e. g., the Assyrians, is excluded by
the context. If original, the term designates the locusts as coming from
the N., which is not the direction from which they usually come. That
they may, however, come from there is certain for swarms were seen by
Niebuhr between Mosul and Nisibis, by Thomson at Beirut, by John
P. Peters west of Mosul, on the Tigris. The rareness may have sug-
gested the term. But is such a designation not rather strange? Hi.,
Ew. explain uisxn, therefore, as = 6 tv<Puvik6s, Ex. 14', Acts 27" Rev.
9'-', the locust swarm is a demoniacal scourge. Cf. for this use of Tv<pw-
vik6s, e. g., the prophecy of the Egyptian potter to King Amenophis, col.
2, 1. 14, Gressmann, Texie und Bilder zum A. T., p. 208. Somewhat
differently most modern scholars believe that 'JiDsn, which was first used
2'"-" 119
by Jeremiah of the northern hosts of the Scythians and Babylonians, had
become a typical name for doom and as such might have different mean-
ings in accordance with the special need; here the terrible locust swarm
is called thus. But this does not suit the mode of the speech of Joel so
well as that of the interpolator who saw in the locusts the precursors of
the Day of Yahweh, and who evidently took -jisi'i in the eschatological
or apocalyptic sense, cf. also his understanding of v. ". There is thus
some Justification for the apocalyptic interpretation, but not for Joel
himself. With true insight Roth, regards v. *<• as due to the editor who
joined both sections together, WRS., EB., 2496, as the addition of an
allegorising glossator. But it is not necessar}' to regard the whole verse
as secondarv-. The interpolator may be responsible only for 'Ji2xn.
E. Meier suggested as the original \n2X or N^^ri; Ew. 'rsxn der Heeres-
mann \/ n^" Ar. = battle-line; Gr. ''3'>jn nn, agmen locustarum ; Che.,
EB., 2496 n., v^p-nNi idid-.-^ni and both its rear and its van, transposing
V. *= before v. ^o. Joel wrote simply a term for the locust plague. — We
should be inclined to think that the apocalytic interpretation of the lo-
custs appears also in Ci of Am. 7' Kal idoii /SpoCxos eis Tuy 6 /SocriXeiJs, if
the Gk. translators inspired more confidence in their ability than they do.
It may be that they did not reflect too much on a translation of a corrupt
or illegible text, 05 read I'^cn ju -\nn p*?' njm, fH -\'^cn vi -\nx cp'? njni.
— nccci d dcpavLu = 'ncc'w, the follo'W'ing rx was connected with it
in Heb. text of (5; one cod. v.'^-u'i. — icD is a late word in Heb. literature,
occurring only in Chronicles, Ecclesiastes, Daniel besides. It is really
Aram, i.njnx nowhere else used in Heb. Bible, cf., however, njns isj?,
Ecclus. II", a synonym of c'N3, cf. BDB. The tautology of the clauses
^VH2 nSyi and i.-ijns "ry-ii seems to show that one of them is secondary,
1C'N3 nSyi is the common expression. Am. 4'" Is. 34', and is therefore om.
by Me., GASm., Dr., Marti, et al., as a gloss on the unusual irjnx. But
the tense of '^yn, juss. with waw conj., is against the genuineness of
injnx Vjrri, We., van H. Surely, cxa needed no explanatory gloss, but did
njnx which was well known in later times need it ? Is it not more likely that
the whole difficulty is to be solved by regarding '^>."i as a corruption, say
of "iCil?, cf- Ez. 8" ? The rhythm favours this also.^In nt:';-'? Snjn ^z
the subj. must be the locusts. But this is difficult, since the phrase when
used in contradistinction to God expresses arrogance, overweening
pride. One can hardly speak of the locusts as animated by haughty
disregard of Yahweh's commands. The phrase occurs almost immedi-
ately afterward with Yahweh in the sense of doing great and wonderful
things. It is not likely that it would have the two different meanings
in such close conjunction. We should therefore read '^'IJn for ^'-ijn,
since Y'^ahweh is still speaking. Many take the clause as a doublet of
V. *"» and omit it. But it seems that it suggested the place where the
IjTical poem, w. "â– ", should be inserted, and belonged to the text in the
I20 JOEL
emended form. The editor who inserted the day of Yahweh passages and
interpreted 'jicxn of human invaders was probably the one who changed
the reading here also, interpreting our clause of the overweening haugh-
tiness with which Yahweh's agents overstepped the limits of their au-
thority. — 21. Siev. reads hni for '<Nin-'?N. — 22. i-^s ac: also Ez. 13*36=,
NB>j with no understood, Hg. 2". The parall. expressions 'is n!j';;and
^-\s fPj were used at all times. aS^n iheir strength — their fruit, Marti:
scrviel sie tragen konnen. — 23. Siev. inserts dhni at the beginning. — The
transl. of np-ixS minn = the teacher of righteousness, JU S H, is excluded
by the context, and with it all the various interpretations of this teacher
as the Messiah, or the prophets, or Joel, or any other person, e. g., Heze-
kiah. If the Messiah had been meant this would hardly have been said
so incidentally, mien must be = nivn. In the second line it is obvi-
ous that nniD should be r\y as 34 mss. read, the D is due to dittog. The
form n-iiD occurs again, Ps. 84', but if the former rain is actually meant
here we should read also in the first instance t^"};'"^. (S's translation
Ppufiara, also &'s, however, suggest that they read probably npan, 2 S.
13' Ps. 6922 (Vol.), or jitpn, 2 Ch. ii" (Me.). Hilgenfeld thought of
iniD abundance, but the other suggestions are better. Since n^v oc-
curs again in the foil, line we do not expect it here and the reading of
(6 is almost certainly orig. — The meaning of niinxS is also debated.
Those who translate nmcn by teacher take it as the teacher in righteous-
ness, or, in order to make the people righteous. Those who translate
nmcn by early rain, or who read food, take r\p-\'ih either as moderately
AV., in just measure RV., et al., in normal measure GASm.,/o>' prosper-
ity BDB.; or for righteousness or justification, Ew., We., Dav., Now.,
Marti, npix is used only in a moral or religious sense. Dr. somewhat
differently, "as His righteousness prompts Him to give it." Gr. npixa.
— In regard to the second mir it may be noted that the Talmud in quot-
ing our passage reads tfipSni mr, Taanith 5b, 6b, Shekalim 6\ Sifre,
ad Dt. ii'^ Van H. points it ^)y^, Vondee qui arrose.
26. Gr. adds HNnn before D''jtr'n. The expression eat years is strange.
Moreover, this is the only passage which regards the visitation as ex-
tending over several years. Probably we should emend and read a''jru'n
the fat, rich fruits or products, cf. Gn. 27*8. This would be beautifully
continued in v. ^^ — Siev. om, atjni S'Dnni p^^r\ as an interpolation from
I*. — TnStt', one cod. "Tinj. — '^njn iS>n appears to be an insertion by the
editor, cf. 211. — 26. S'^n, ancient word, cf. a^S''n, Ju. 9". — Me., We., Gr.,
et al., om. v. 'sb. — 27. Several Gk. mss. and ^^id. om. the whole verse.
(5153 om. v."''. — Gr. adds after ni;- either inSa or tSit, with <& &, but
cf. Is. 45'8. Me. adds ii;' after i^r'n^, with (&.
3^"'^ (eNGL. 2^*"'^) 121
Chs. 3, 4 (Engl. 2-^-^^ 3) deal with an entirely different sub-