Notes on Joel
From the Original 1599 Geneva Bible Notes

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Joe 1:1

1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.

The Argument - The Prophet Joel first rebukes those of Judah, that being now punished with a great plague of famine, still remain obstinate. Secondly, he threatens greater plagues, because they grow daily to a more hardness of heart and rebellion against God in spite of his punishments. Thirdly, he exhorts them to repentance, showing that it must be earnest, and proceed from the heart, because they had grievously offended God. And in doing this, Joel promises that God will be merciful, and not forget his covenant that he made with their fathers, but will send his Christ, who will gather the scattered sheep, and restore them to life and liberty, even though they seem to be dead.

Joe 1:2

1:2 Hear this, ye {a} old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath {b} this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?

(a) Signifying the princes, the priests, and the governors.
(b) He calls the Jews to the consideration of God's judgments, who had now plagued the fruits of the ground for the space of four years, which was because of their sins, and to call them to repentance.

Joe 1:5

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

(c) Meaning, that the reason for their excess and drunkenness was taken away.

Joe 1:6

1:6 For {d} 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.

(d) This was another plague with which God had punished them when he stirred up the Assyrians against them.

Joe 1:8

1:8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the {e} husband of her youth.

(e) Mourn grievously as a woman who has lost her husband, to whom she has been married in her youth.

Joe 1:9

1:9 The meat offering and the drink offering is {f} cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD'S ministers, mourn.

(f) The signs of God's wrath appeared in his temple, in so much that God's service was discontinued.

Joe 1:10

1:10 The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: {g} the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

(g) All comfort and substance for nourishment is taken away.

Joe 1:13

1:13 {h} 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.

(h) He shows that the only means to avoid God's wrath, and to have all things restored, is true repentance.

Joe 1:15

1:15 Alas for the day! for the {i} day of the LORD [is] at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

(i) We see by these great plagues that utter destruction is at hand.

Joe 1:20

1:20 The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the {k} fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

(k) That is, drought.

Joe 2:1

2:1 Blow ye {a} 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;

(a) He shows the great judgments of God which are at hand, unless they repent.

Joe 2:2

2:2 A {b} day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a {c} 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.

(b) Of affliction and trouble.
(c) Meaning, the Assyrians.

Joe 2:3

2:3 A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land [is] as the garden of {d} Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

(d) The enemy destroyed our plentiful country, wherever he went.

Joe 2:6

2:6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces {e} shall gather blackness.

(e) They will be pale and black because of fear, as in Na 2:10 .

Joe 2:8

2:8 Neither shall one {f} thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and [when] they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.

(f) For none will be able to resist them.

Joe 2:10

2:10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the {g} sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:

(g) Read Joe 2:31 Isa 13:10 Eze 32:7 Joe 3:15 Mt 24:29

Joe 2:11

2:11 And the LORD shall {h} 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?

(h) The Lord will stir up the Assyrians to execute his judgments.

Joe 2:13

2:13 And {i} 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.

(i) Mortify your affections and serve God with pureness of heart, and not with ceremonies.

Joe 2:14

2:14 Who knoweth [if] he will {k} return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; [even] a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?

(k) He speaks this to stir up their slothfulness, and not that he doubted of God's mercies, if they did repent. For the way in which God repents, read Geneva "Jer 18:8"

Joe 2:16

2:16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the {l} children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

(l) That as all have sinned, so all may show forth signs of their repentance, so that men seeing the children who are not free from God's wrath, might be the more deeply touched with the consideration of their own sins.

Joe 2:18

2:18 Then will the LORD be {m} jealous for his land, and pity his people.

(m) If they repent he shows that God will preserve and defend them with a most fervent affection.

Joe 2:20

2:20 But I will remove far off from you the {n} northern [army], and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the {o} east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.

(n) That is, the Assyrians your enemies.
(o) Called the Salt Sea, or Persian Sea: meaning, that even though this army was so great that it filled all from this sea to the Mediterranean Sea, yet he would scatter them.

Joe 2:23

2:23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain {p} moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first [month].

(p) That is, such as would come by just measure, and would be sent when God was reconciled with them.

Joe 2:28

2:28 And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour {q} out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream {r} dreams, your young men shall see visions:

(q) That is, in greater abundance, and more broadly than in times past. And this was fulfilled under Christ, when God's graces and his Spirit under the Gospel were abundantly given to the Church; Isa 44:3 Ac 2:17 Joh 7:38-39 .
(r) As they had visions and dreams in ancient times, so will they now have clearer revelations.

Joe 2:30

2:30 And I will shew {s} wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.

(s) He warns the faithful what terrible things would come, with the intent that they should not look for continual quietness in this world: and yet in all these troubles he would preserve them.

Joe 2:31

2:31 The {t} sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

(t) The order of nature will seem to be changed because of the horrible afflictions that will be in the world; Isa 13:10 Eze 32:7 Joe 3:15 Mt 24:29 .

Joe 2:32

2:32 And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call {u} on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the {x} remnant whom the LORD shall call.

(u) God's judgments are for the destruction of the unbelievers, and to exhort the godly to call upon the name of God, who will give them salvation.
(x) Meaning the Gentiles by this; Ro 10:13 .

Joe 3:1

3:1 For, behold, in {a} those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

(a) When I will deliver my Church, which consists of both Jews and Gentiles.

Joe 3:2

3:2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the {b} valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and [for] my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

(b) It appears that he alludes to the great victory of Jehoshaphat, whom God used without man's help to destroy the enemies, 2Ch 20:20-26 ; also he is referring to this word Jehoshaphat, which signifies pleading or judgment, because God would judge the enemies of his Church, as he did there.

Joe 3:3

3:3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have {c} given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

(c) That which the enemy received for the sale of my people, they bestowed upon harlots and drink.

Joe 3:4

3:4 Yea, and {d} what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me {e} a recompence? and if ye recompense me, swiftly [and] speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head;

(d) He takes the cause of his Church in hand against the enemy, as though the injury were done to himself.
(e) Have I done you wrong, that you will render me the same?

Joe 3:8

3:8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they {f} shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken [it].

(f) For afterward God sold them by Nebuchadnezzar and Alexander the Great, because of the love he had for his people, and by this they were comforted, as though they themselves had sold them.

Joe 3:10

3:10 {g} Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I [am] strong.

(g) When I will execute my judgments against my enemies, I will cause everyone to be ready, and to prepare their weapons to destroy one another, for my Church's sake.

Joe 3:13

3:13 Put ye in the {h} sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness [is] great.

(h) In this way he will encourage the enemies when their wickedness is completely ripe to destroy one another, which he calls the valley of God's judgment.

Joe 3:16

3:16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD [will be] the {i} hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

(i) God assures his own against all trouble, that when he destroys his enemies, his children will be delivered.

Joe 3:17

3:17 So shall ye know that I [am] the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass {k} through her any more.

(k) The strangers will no longer destroy his Church: and if they do, it is the fault of the people, who by their sins make the breach for the enemy.

Joe 3:18

3:18 And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the mountains shall {l} drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

(l) He promises to his Church abundance of graces, see Geneva "Eze 47:1", which would water and comfort the most barren places; Am 9:13 .

Joe 3:19

3:19 {m} Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence [against] the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

(m) The malicious enemies will have no part of these graces.

Joe 3:21

3:21 For I will {n} cleanse their blood [that] I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

(n) He had allowed his Church before this to lie in their filthiness, but now he promises to cleanse them and to make them pure unto himself.

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