Joel 1:1-20
In Joel’s day, the vine and the fig (Joel 1:7), the corn and the wine and the oil (Joel 1:10), palm-tree, pomegranate, and apple-tree, all are withered (Joel 1:12); and the priests and ministers are summoned to weep, and a solemn fast is proclaimed, that the elders and all the people may gather themselves (Joel 1:13-14). The services of God’s house are suspended, the meat-offering and the drink-offering are withheld (Joel 1:9), and the joy and gladness that belonged to the house is no more (Joel 1:16). The seed is rotten in the field, and the garners at home are empty (Joel 1:17). Herds and flocks share the misery of the times (Joel 1:18). The prophet himself begins to cry to God under this sore sorrow (Joel 1:19). He leads the way, as it were, in the humiliation and confessions which suit such a moment in the people’s history.