The Chosen Key Word in this Chapter is “Locust” it comes from the Hebrew Word “arbeh” which means “locust.”
Joel describes a devastating locust plague as a call to genuine national mourning. Welcome to Bible Life Basics Chapter Reviews, I am Chris and this is Joel 1.
Joel, son of Pethuel, records the word of the Lord, asking the elders to hear this, and give ear, all inhabitants of the land, asking whether such a thing has happened in their days, or in the days of their fathers, urging them to tell their children of it, and their children another generation, describing how the “locust,” “arbeh” in Hebrew, has eaten what the palmerworm left, and what the cankerworm left, the caterpillar has eaten.
Joel urges the drunkards to awake and weep, and howl, all who drink wine, because of the new wine, for it is cut off from their mouth, describing a nation coming up upon his land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, laying his vine waste, and barking his fig tree, making it clean bare, and casting it away, its branches becoming white, urging them to lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth, since the meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord.
Joel describes the field being wasted, the land mourning, for the corn is wasted, the new wine is dried up, the oil languishes, urging the priests to be ashamed, the ministers of the altar to howl, urging a fast to be sanctified, a solemn assembly called, the elders and all the inhabitants of the land gathered into the house of the Lord their God, crying to Him, describing how the beasts groan, the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture, closing with Joel’s own urgent cry to the Lord, since the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field, this devastating agricultural crisis serving as the occasion for calling the entire nation to genuine, wholehearted repentance.
Joel’s vivid, detailed description of the locust plague’s devastating agricultural impact grounds this book’s call to repentance in a genuine, immediate crisis every listener could directly see and personally feel rather than merely abstract theological warning. His urgent call for a solemn assembly and genuine fasting demonstrates that authentic national crisis, rightly understood, should prompt sincere, communal turning toward God rather than mere passive endurance or complaint.
Visit Us At: www.youtube.com/@BibleLifeBasics
Support Us On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/BibleLifeBasics