Joel 1

(Chapter 1, Verse 1) The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. The Seventy Interpreters translated Pethuel as Bathuel, which has no meaning in Hebrew. However, Pethuel is translated into our language as the breadth of God, or God opening, as we read in Mark with the Savior saying to the deaf-mute: Ephphatha, which means, be opened (Mark 7). For just as the Apostle could say: Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is widened (2 Corinthians 6:11), and he heard from the Lord: Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it (Psalm 81:11). The opening of the mouth itself is in the power of God, not of man, as Paul says: A great and evident door has been opened to me; but there are many adversaries (1 Corinthians 16:9); therefore, God is said to be the opener. When the saint always makes progress, knowing in part and prophesying in part, until what is perfect comes, generated from breadth and openness, he is called Joel, which in our language means beginning, or is God, as the Apostle says: Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it (Phil. III, 13); growing in humility, he deserves to hear with Moses: I Am Who I Am (Exod. III). For the distinction is made between those who are not, about whom we also read in Esther: Do not give your scepter to those who are not (Esther XIV, 11), to show that God and His saints exist. Let these things be briefly described about the name of Joel and his father, so that the word of God, which was in the beginning with God, may be correctly told to have been made, as John the Baptist reports: He who is coming after me has become before me, because he was before me (John 1:30). Moreover, the word is said to have been made according to his merit, to whom it is said, not according to the condition of the one who is said to be made, as we read elsewhere: The Lord has become my salvation (Psalm 118:21). But in the book of the Prophet Hosea, whom we explained at the beginning as one of the twelve prophets, the prophecy is attributed to the ten tribes under the name Ephraim, which are often mentioned as either Samaria or Israel: in the same way, in Joel, who is second according to the Hebrews, it is to be believed that everything that is said pertains to the tribe of Judah and to Jerusalem, and no mention at all is made of Israel, that is, the ten tribes. We must also consider the times in which he prophesied, which we also read about in Hosea: In the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel.

Commentary on Joel

2–3

(Version 2, 3.) Listen to this, elders, and perceive with your ears, all inhabitants of the earth, whether this happened in your days or in the days of your fathers: tell this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and let their children tell the next generation. LXX: Listen to these things, elders, and perceive with your ears, all inhabitants of the earth, whether such things happened in your days or in the days of your fathers: tell this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and let their children tell the next generation. The elderly are ordered to listen, the inhabitants of the earth to perceive with their ears. It is not said to the elderly, 'Listen, everyone'; to the inhabitants of the earth it is added, 'Perceive with your ears, everyone.' For in the holy scriptures, hearing is not that which resonates in the ear, but that which is perceived in the heart, according to what the Lord speaks in the Gospel: 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear' (Matt. 13:9). And what we have translated as 'perceive with your ears' is the same word in Greek and Hebrew, in Greek it is ἐνωτίσασθε, in Hebrew it is Eezinu, which is properly perceived not in the heart, but in the ear. And in order that we may know that hearing is more sacred than that which resonates in the ears, let us learn from the words of Isaiah: 'Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth' (Isa. I, 2). The elderly, who are heavenly, hear spiritually; those who dwell on the earth, and are called earthly, hear with their ears. And this should be noted in all the Scriptures where these two words are joined together. We also read this in the case of Lamech, a sinner, who spoke to his wives Ada and Sella: 'Hear my words, O wives of Lamech, give ear to my words, for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt' (Gen. IV, 23); he knew that what he spoke was obscure, and therefore he called his wives not only to the simple sound of his words, but also to the understanding of his hidden sayings. So if someone is an old man, and an old man chosen in the Lord of mature age, as we read in the following passages according to the Septuagint Interpreters, and he has left behind the infancy of little ones, let him hear what is being said. But whoever still dwells on the earth, and cannot say, “I am a stranger and a pilgrim like all my fathers” (Ps. 39:12), let him perceive with his ears. If it has happened, he says, in your days, or in the days of your fathers. The art of rhetoric, focused on the magnitude of things, captivates the listener: no age, he says, remembers these things, which have not happened in your time, nor in the time of your fathers and ancestors. But recognize the fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, and the sons of sons, and all the subsequent offspring, according to that Virgilian saying (Aeneid, Book III):

And the children of the children, and those who will be born from them:

And therefore, old men and inhabitants of the earth, tell your sons and posterity; let the old man teach his children the mysteries: let the inhabitant of the earth tell a simple story. Until this day, we who believe in Christ, from whom the veil has been taken away from our eyes together with Moses, and of whom it is said: The wisdom of an aged man is in his gray hairs (Wis. IV, 8), we narrate secret and wonderful things to our children. But the Jews who inhabit the land speak earthly things, and cling to the earth, of whom it is written: He who is of the earth speaks of the earth: He who comes from heaven is above all (John III, 31).

Commentary on Joel

But these same villains, vessels of wrath fitted for destruction,2 screwed up their noses and poured out, if I may say so, as from a well-head, foul noises through their nostrils and rent the raiment from Christ’s holy virgins, whose conversation gave an exact likeness of saints. They dragged them in triumph, naked as when they were born, through all the town. They made indecent sport of them at their pleasure. Their deeds were barbarous and cruel. Anyone who interfered in pity and was urged to mercy was dismissed with wounds. Ah! Woe is me. Many a virgin underwent brutal violation. Many a maid beaten on the head with clubs lay dumb. Even their bodies were not allowed to be given up for burial. Their grief-stricken parents cannot find their corpses to this day. But why recount woes that seem small when compared with greater? Why linger over these and not hurry on to events more urgent? When you hear them, I know that you will wonder and will stand with us long dumb, amazed at the kindness of the Lord in not bringing all things utterly to an end. At the very altar the impious perpetrated the very things that, as Joel had prophesied, were never heard of and had never happened before in the days of our fathers.

Ecclesiastical History 4:19

The twelve prophets whose writings are compressed within the narrow limits of a single volume have symbolic, typical meanings far beyond their literal ones. Hosea speaks many times of Ephraim, of Samaria, of Joseph of Jezreel, of a wife of whoredoms and of children of whoredoms, of an adulterous woman shut up within the chamber of her husband, sitting for a long time in widowhood and in the garb of mourning awaiting the time when her husband will return to her. Joel the son of Pethuel describes the land of the twelve tribes as spoiled and devastated by the palmerworm, the cankerworm, the locust and the blight, and he predicts that after the overthrow of the former people the Holy Spirit shall be poured out upon God’s servants and handmaids. This is the same spirit that was to be poured out in the upper chamber at Zion upon the 120 believers.

Letter 7

(Verse 4) The residue of a caterpillar is eaten by a locust, and the residue of a locust is eaten by a beetle, and the residue of the beetle is eaten by rust. In the same way seventy times. The beginning is followed by a narrative: there, to make the listener pay attention, he promised that he would say great and incredible things, which neither the ancient history nor the present age would know. Here he placed the caterpillar, and the locust, and the beetle, and the rust, so that what each one rarely experiences, all may be remembered as happening at the same time, and therefore be marvelous. The caterpillar, which is called 'gezem' in Hebrew and 'kampē' in Greek, is interpreted by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Chaldeans, who, coming from one climate of the world, devastated all the ten tribes and two, namely, the Israelite people. The locust, however, is interpreted by the Medes and Persians, who held the Jews captive after the overthrow of the Chaldean empire. The worm, on the other hand, refers to the Macedonians and all the successors of Alexander, especially the king Antiochus, who was known as Epiphanes, and who sat like a worm in Judaea and devoured all the remnants of the previous kings, under whom the wars of the Maccabees are narrated. They refer to the Roman Empire that completely oppressed the Jews during the fourth and final reign, to the extent of driving them out of their own territory. Josephus writes about this extensively in seven volumes, recounting the triumphs of Vespasian and Titus. We also read about the expedition of Elius Hadrian against the Jews, who so completely destroyed Jerusalem and its walls that he established a city named after himself, Eliam, from the remnants and ashes of the city. Zacharias writes that he saw in a vision four kingdoms that would overthrow Judah, represented by four horns, with an angel saying to him: 'These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.' (Zechariah 1:19). And again: I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots coming out from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of brass. In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second chariot black horses, and in the third chariot white horses, and in the fourth chariot dappled strong horses (Zach. VI, 1). And when the prophet had said to the angel who spoke in me, What are these, my Lord? the angel answered: These are the four winds of heaven, who come out to stand before the Lord of all the earth. And the meaning is: These are the ones who come forth from the face of the Lord, to fulfill his will. When we hear with our ears what the caterpillar, locust, weevil, rust signify to the inhabitants of the earth: now let us hear with the old men what has been said. All schools of philosophers proclaim that there are four disturbances, by which the health of souls is subverted. Two are present and contrary to each other, two are future and mutually dissenting. The present ones are sorrow and joy. We speak of sorrow of the soul, otherwise it is not sorrow of the body, but it is called illness. Therefore, we are sad and consumed by grief, and our state of mind is overturned. Hence, the Apostle warns that the brother should not be swallowed up by excessive sadness (I Cor. II). On the contrary, we rejoice and are filled with joy, and we cannot bear our blessings in moderation. It is the mark of a just and strong man not to be broken by adversities or lifted up by prosperity, but to be moderate in both. We have spoken about the disturbance of present things; let us also speak about things to come, in which there is either fear or hope. We fear adversity, we await prosperity; and what causes sorrow and joy to operate in the present, fear and hope do regarding the future, while either we fear adversity more than it is appropriate for it to be coming, or prosperity which we hope for makes us rejoice to such an extent that we cannot keep a measure, especially in those things which are uncertain, because the future is expected rather than held. The illustrious poet captures these disturbances in one incomplete verse (Aeneid, Book VI):

They fear and desire (this about the future), they grieve and rejoice (this about the present), nor do they look at the breezes, he says, enclosed in darkness and a blind prison.

For those who are enveloped in the darkness of disturbances are unable to behold the bright light of wisdom. Therefore, we must beware lest sorrow, like a caterpillar, consumes us; lest joy, like a locust, flying here and there and exulting in gladness, ravages us; lest fear and anxiety about the future, like a worm, devour the roots of wisdom; lest rust and longing for things to come desire useless things and lead us to ruin. Rather, in all things, let us govern the four-horse chariot with the four reins and the four red, various, white, and black horses, that is, navigate through both adverse and prosperous circumstances, guided by the reins of wisdom. I believe that anger is a passion that is slow and cannot be controlled, and delay itself and persistence weaken and exhaust all strength: if we do not kill it, it grows in us and flies away, and now it devours whatever it touches, now departing, it moves on to other things: and returning to its former seat, it becomes a pest, so that not only does it devour the crops, leaves, and bark, but even the very marrow with its slowness. But if it should happen, which, however, is rare, that even after the spirit of life has departed from us, rust destroys everything, so that it turns straw and worthless hay into blackness, so that they are not only useless for eating, but also for manure. Concerning these four disturbances, we will also discuss in the beginning Amos, if life is a companion, where it is written: On account of three transgressions of Damascus, and of four, I will not convert them, says the Lord (Amos 1:3). The disturbances that we have interpreted, the Greeks call them πάθη, which if we translate κακοζήλως into passions, we will have expressed the word rather than the meaning of the word.

Commentary on Joel

In a figurative manner he wants to convey to them the impending troubles; as always, the earlier ones are surpassed by those coming later. Tiglath-pileser, king of the Assyrians, came like a cutting locust, he is saying, and laid waste no small proportion of your possessions. After him Shalmaneser [came] like some kind of locust further ravaging your goods. After them Sennacherib [came] like a young locust wreaking general destruction on the twelve tribes of Israel. Like some kind of blight in addition to these came the attack of the Babylonian, who took the people of Judah as well and inflicted the evil of captivity on all in common.

Commentary on Joel 1:4–5

For although the Lord has granted strong cattle, bodily health, a successful outcome to every activity and prosperous deeds, prayer must still be offered lest, as it is written, there be “a heaven of brass and an earth of iron” and lest “the swarming locust eat what the cutting locust has left, and the caterpillar devour what the swarming locust has left, and the blight consume what the caterpillar has left.” Not in this alone does the effort of the toiling farmer stand in need of divine assistance. [His effort] must also fend off unexpected accidents by which, even if a field is loaded with the desired fruitful yield, he will not only be frustrated by waiting in vain for what he has hoped for but will even be deprived of the abundant crop that has already been harvested and that is stored on the threshing floor or in the barn.

Conference 13:3.4

We certainly know that in clouds of smoke, when some are fading away above, others rise up from below. So too in carnal thoughts, though some evil desires pass away, yet others succeed. But frequently the wretched mind beholds what has already passed but does not behold where it is still detained. It rejoices in being no longer subject to some sins but neglects to be careful and to lament because others have succeeded in their place, to which perhaps it yields more sinfully. And so it is that while some sins pass away and others succeed, the heart of the reprobate is possessed without intermission by this serpent. Therefore it is well said by the prophet Joel: “That which the palmer-worm has left, the locust has eaten; and that which the locust has left, the canker-worm has eaten; and that which the canker-worm has left, the mildew has eaten.”

Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXIII

The mashota (“cutting locust”) is similar to a larva. It is black and longer than a larva; when it falls to the ground, it does not destroy completely the plant but devours just the leaves and does not touch the rest. Through it the prophet signifies Tiglath-pileser, because the troubles that he caused to the people of Israel were mild. He calls Shalmaneser the flying locust, because the destruction that he caused was more serious than that by Tiglath-pileser. He calls zahla the crawling locust, which does not fly and feeds on everything. He signifies through it Sennacherib, because he surpasses his predecessor in the ruin caused and brings about the annihilation of ten tribes. The sarsoura creeps on the ground and is only equipped with a sting; when it strikes the roots of a tree, any tree it finds, it immediately withers. And he signifies through it Nebuchadnezzar, the cause of total destruction. He calls vines the common people, fig trees the important persons, whom the Assyrians and Babylonians deported in captivity. Hanana says “the vines” represent the ten tribes; “the fig trees” the house of Judah. When the Assyrians were about to come, Ezekiah sent some of the Levites to the ten tribes, before they could be destroyed. They blew the trumpet throughout the land and gathered men and women into the temple of Jerusalem, so that all prayers might be said in the temple; and a prayer more fervent than any other was said. And the prophet relating what they said through their prayer says: “Alas, alas, for the fateful day. The heifers have been roasted,” that is, they have been burned by an atrocious hunger as by a fire. “The fire has devoured, that is, a fierce heat, the pastures of the wilderness.” He uses [this name] for those places suitable for sowing, which many call “farms.” Others say, “fertile land or places which face the south,” that is, estates which are turned to the sun.

Commentary on Joel

(Verse 5.) Wake up, you drunkards, and weep and howl, all you who drink wine in sweetness, because it has perished from your mouth. LXX: Wake up, you who are drunk with your wine, and mourn and lament, all you who drink wine in intoxication, because it has been taken away from your mouth. Like old men and elders, we should listen: nothing intoxicates like disturbance of the mind. There is a sadness that leads to death: this detestable drunkenness is it. Anger is that which does not accomplish the justice of God, and is very close to madness, rendering the mind powerless: to the extent that the lips tremble, the teeth grind, and the face changes color with paleness. And rightly is that praised which Archytas of Tarentum said when he was angry with his steward: 'I would kill you now,' he said, 'if I were not angry.' Why should I mention about joy and pleasure, and especially love, which blinds the eyes of the heart: and it allows the lover to think of nothing else except that which he loves. Is drunkenness to be called freedom of the soul when, because of a cheap prostitute and a shameful part of the body, freedom of the soul inclines towards servile flattery? when it makes its own work the pleasure of another? when it prepares for future wealth through theft, crime, and perjury? and when it seems to everyone that it does not exist: as long as it possesses what it desires. But greed also blinds the mind of one who is never satisfied: and the fear of women, and the desire for sweet vices. Where it is said to them: Be watchful and wake up, you who are drunk, not with wine, as it is contained in the seventy alone, but with every disturbance of vices. Weep, and mourn, and repent, and take on the sorrow that leads to life, and howl, all you who drink wine in sweetness (Prov. III), or in drunkenness. For vices are sweet: because honey distills from the lips of a harlot woman: and therefore it is not offered in sacrifices to God: because the wine, drunkenness, and sweetness which deceived you, has perished or has been taken away from your mouth. For often, indeed, by the providence of God, those who have not known God in prosperous times come to know Him in adversity; and those who have abused wealth are corrected by a shortage of virtues. Let the elders listen to this meaning: let the inhabitants of the earth perceive with their ears the following instructions about that wine, in which there is luxury, and by which those who become intoxicated cannot possess the kingdom of God (Ephesians 5). Let the one who is asleep due to the intoxication of wine awaken and lament that they were drunk, and let them howl; so that afterwards their howling and weeping may turn into laughter, and let them rejoice in not having the material of intoxication, which had made them drunk and insane through its abundance.

Commentary on Joel

What a servile mentality from a crazed brain that knows how to do nothing else but gabble. We must reply to our opponents, “You are drunken men; rouse yourselves from your cups.” Why do you do such violence to the truth? Why have you twisted the sense of the divine teachings so as to have been carried off the royal road?

On the Unity of Christ

How shall we be enabled to mortify those inordinate affections that mar our soul? Only by the precious blood of Christ, if it is received with full assurance, for this will have power to extinguish every disease; and together with this the divine Scriptures carefully heard, and almsgiving added to our hearing. And then only shall we live; for now surely we are in no better state than the dead. For as long as we live, those passions live within us. But we must necessarily perish. And unless we first mortify them here, they will be sure to kill us in the other life. Even before death, they will exact of us, in this life, the utmost penalty. Every inordinate passion is both cruel and tyrannical and insatiable, and it never ceases to devour us every day. For “their teeth are the teeth of a lion,” or rather even far more fierce. For the lion, as soon as ever he is satisfied, wants to leave the carcass that has fallen. But these passions neither are satisfied, nor do they leave the one whom they have seized, until they have set one near the devil.

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew 4:17

6–7

(Verse 6,7.) For a strong and innumerable nation will ascend over my land: its teeth, like lion's teeth, and its molars, like lion cubs. It has turned my vineyard into a desert, and has stripped my fig tree bare: it has made it naked and thrown it away; its branches have turned white. LXX: For a strong and innumerable nation will ascend over the land: its teeth, like a lion's teeth, and its molars, like lion cubs. He has made my vineyard into a desolation, and my fig tree into a splinter: he has thoroughly searched and thrown it away: he has whitened its branches. The Jews believe in the days of Joel that such an innumerable multitude of locusts came upon Judea to the extent that they filled everything: and I will not say just the crops, but indeed the bark of trees and the branches of vines they would leave behind, so that with all moisture consumed, the withered branches of the trees and the dry scourges of the vines would remain. We cannot affirm with certainty whether this happened or not, for it is not a historical account of the Kings and Chronicles (3 Kings 17). If it had been, then we would never read of the three and a half years of famine under Elijah in the Scriptures. We only say that under the metaphor of locusts, the coming of enemies is described, either the Assyrians and Babylonians who were approaching at that time, or the Medes and Persians who would come later, or the Macedonians whom we only learned about much later, or finally, the Romans about whom we have already spoken. Now it seems appropriate to speak more about the Babylonians and the Chaldeans, whose cruelty and savagery towards the people of God are described. And, if I am not mistaken, I think I have found something in this Prophet. The wickedness of the enemies is narrated under the figure of locusts, and then it is said about these locusts, as if they were compared to enemies, so that when you read about locusts, you think of enemies; when you think of enemies, you return to locusts. Therefore, a swarm of locusts rises from the wilderness, or an army of Chaldeans over the land of God, powerful and innumerable. For what is more numerous and stronger than locusts, against which human industry cannot resist? Its teeth, namely the teeth of locusts (but understand everything τυπικῶς), are like the teeth of a lion; and its molars, like the cubs of a lion, are compared to locusts in strength and number, and to lions in fierceness and cruelty. This is the nation, it is said, that has turned my vineyard into a desert, which I brought from Egypt and planted, and it has stripped my fig tree, the people of Judah (or my Jewish people), to whom the Savior came to eat of its fruits, and did not find any; and he cursed it, and it withered forever (Matthew 11). But let us know all the things said under the metaphor of locusts: which devour everything so much that they strip tree barks, cast them aside, and leave behind white and dry branches after consuming all the sap. We have mentioned the history; let us now move on to spiritual understanding, so that we may hear with the elders: The nation of God ascends upon the earth, namely the human soul. For all souls are of God: just as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son. And there arose a nation of the princes of this world, and of darkness, and of spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, against whom we have a struggle and a contest, of whom it is said: If the spirit of the ruler ascend upon thee, do not leave thy place (Ecclesiastes X, 4): whose teeth are like the teeth of a lion, of whom the apostle Peter speaks: Our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter V, 8). And its molars are like lion cubs. Understand the lion cub as someone who rises up against everything called God and religion, or certainly every perverse dogma. Concerning its broken molars, which are hidden inside and not visible, so that they are not easily avoided, even the Psalmist rejoices, saying: The Lord will break the molars of the lions (Ps. 57:7). Therefore, if we allow this race to take hold in us, it will immediately turn our vineyard into a desert, from which we used to make wine that gladdens the heart of man (Ps. 103); and it will strip or break our figs, so that we do not have the sweetest gifts of the Holy Spirit within us, and our vineyard and fig tree will not provide rest for the holy man. While under them, he will not fear the attacks of adversaries. And it is not enough for this people to destroy the vineyard and break the fig tree, unless they search them thoroughly and destroy whatever vitality is in them, so that, with all moisture consumed, only white and lifeless branches remain, and it is fulfilled in us: If they do these things in the green wood, what will they do in the dry? (Luke 23).

Commentary on Joel

O wretched beings, who by going after the praises of men waste to themselves all the fruits of their labors, and while they aim to show themselves to the eyes of others, blast all that they do. When the evil spirits prompt them to boastfulness, taking them for a prey they strip bare their works, as we have said. Hence Truth, in setting forth by the prophet the rancor of our old enemies under the form of a particular people, says, “It has laid waste my vines and splintered my fig trees; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white.”

Morals on the Book of Job 2:8.82

(Verse 8.) Lament like a young woman dressed in sackcloth, over the man of your youth. (Vulgate: Lament like a young woman dressed in sackcloth, over her young husband). LXX: Lament to me over the bride dressed in sackcloth, over her young husband. The man of youth, or as the Septuagint translated, παρθενικὸς, which is commonly called virginal, because he is understood to be none other than God, who in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob betrothed himself to a pure bride untainted by any idolatrous filth. To whom and through Jeremiah it is said: You have not called me Master, and Father, and Prince of your virginity (Jer. III, 4). Hence, the Apostle speaks to believers: I have betrothed you to one man, to present a chaste virgin to Christ (I Cor. XI, 2). As long as the bridegroom is with this bride, he cannot fast (Matth. IX), nor mourn, nor indicate the longing for the absent bridegroom with tears. But when the bridegroom is taken away from her, she mourns and weeps, and girds herself with sackcloth and cilice, and is bound with a cord as a sign of mourning. We have understood who the bridegroom of the virgin is: but because this bridegroom, or husband, not only accepted the virgin as his bride, but also took a harlot as a wife in Hosea, therefore it is written in Deuteronomy: If you go out against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hand, and you take captive women among them, and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her, and would take her as a wife, you shall bring her into your house; and she shall shave her head and trim her nails and put off the clothes in which she was captured, sit in your house, and bewail her father and mother a month's time, and afterwards you shall go in to her, and be her husband (Deut. 21:10-13). Such a woman does not have a husband, that is, a master of virginity, but she has taken a prostitute from the filth of the nations as a wife. And we can say this about every believing soul. If she believed in the Lord from a young age, she has the Lord as her virgin bridegroom. But if she comes to the truth of faith, from the most unclean depths of the Jews, the Gentiles, or the heretics, and transitions from darkness to light, she will indeed have a bridegroom, but not a virgin one. And it is said about people like this: Your breasts were broken in Egypt, and there you lost your virginity (Ezek. XXIII, 3).

Commentary on Joel

9–12

(V. 9 seqq.) The sacrifice and libation from the house of the Lord have perished; the priests, ministers of the Lord, mourn. The land is laid waste, the earth mourns; for the wheat is destroyed. The wine is spoiled, the oil languishes, the farmers are confused. The vintners wail over the wheat and barley, for the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, the fig tree languishes; the pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up; because joy has been confounded among the sons of men. LXX: The sacrifice and offering have been taken away from the house of the Lord. Mourn, O priests, ministers of the Lord, for the fields are devastated. Let the land mourn, for the wheat is afflicted, the wine has dried up, the oil has diminished. The farmers have withered away. Mourn, O possessions, for the grain and barley have perished. The grape harvest is lost, the vine has dried up, and the fig tree has withered. The pomegranate tree, the palm tree, the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are dried up. The joy of mankind has been destroyed. As far as history is concerned, due to the multitude of locusts or enemies that are described under their appearance, the sacrifice and libation from the house of the Lord perished, with everything devastated and consumed. The former used to offer from flour, and the latter from wine. Therefore, the priests, who are the ministers of the Lord, mourned, since neither the sacrifices nor the libations were properly performed, especially because the tithes, which they used to receive, were not offered at all. For the entire region was populated. The earth mourned, metaphorically, because of what happened to those who work the land: wheat, wine, and oil languished. Even the tenant farmers and vine dressers were confused and wailed because not only did the wheat dry up, but also the barley, which is cheaper and more abundant. And the vegetables, which I believe are signified by what he says, the harvest of the field perished, that is, all that the earth usually produces. What can I say about the grain, wine, oil, and barley, when even the dried fruits of the trees have withered, the fig tree has languished, and the pomegranate, palm, apple, and all the trees, whether fruitless or fruitful, have been devoured by the locust? All these things have happened so that the joy of the children of men may be taken away or be confounded. We can say that the same things happened to the people of Judea after the coming of the Savior when, with equal fury, they cried out, 'Crucify, crucify him! We have no king but Caesar' (John 19:9 and 15). When Jerusalem was surrounded by an army and such great necessity came upon them of famine and pestilence that they ate the bodies of their own children who were not yet mature. And all sacrifices were abolished, and the joy of the children of men was confounded because they did not want to receive the joy that the angel announced to the shepherds: 'I bring you tidings of great joy' (Luke 2:10). According to this interpretation, after the bride, who has received the teaching of God, has been separated from her bridegroom by sins, and has clothed herself in mourning attire, that is, the garments of one in mourning, then the sacrifice will perish, of which it is written: 'A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit' (Ps. 50:19), and the libation of wine, which gladdens the heart of man, from the house of God, which is the Church, as the Apostle says to Timothy: 'So that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God' (1 Tim. 3:15). But the sacrifice and libation will be taken away from the house of the Lord, when charity has grown cold due to the multiplication of iniquity (Matt. 24): and the leaders of the people and the ministers of the altar will see that the fields and plains of the believers do not produce the fruits of virtue, but that everything is filled with vices: when the wheat and barley, vineyards and olive groves, rocket, grasshoppers, weevils, and rust have consumed everything, and we will not have the chalice that is written about: Your inebriating chalice, how preeminent it is (Ps. 23, 5)! And the oil shall perish, of which we read in Ecclesiastes: Let your garments be always white, and let not oil be lacking on your head (Eccl. IX, 8): whereby your face may shine, and your head may be anointed when you fast. Then the farmers shall be confounded, when they see that wheat does not grow in their fields, which sustains men, and barley which sustains irrational animals, and that the vineyard is in disorder, of which it is written: O vineyard of Israel, abundant in fruit (Isai. V, 2): the Lord was waiting for it to produce grapes, and it produced thorns. The fig also withered under which Nathanael was before he believed (John 1), and the pomegranate, whose cheeks are compared to the bride's cheeks in the Song of Songs (Song of Songs 6), and the palm tree that, losing its sap, withered, of which it was once said: But the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree (Psalm 92:13), and the apple tree of which we read in the same Song: As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons (Song of Songs 2:3). Why is it necessary to traverse all the trees, when everything is burned, and for joy and happiness, the sorrow and confusion of mankind will oppress and confound?

Commentary on Joel

11–12

Describing the calamity at greater length to bring to repentance those suffering from indifference, he bids even the produce to lament the failure of the barley and the wheat and the defoliation of the vine, and in general the lack of fruit on olives and figs and the other fruit trees due to their being deprived of moisture. Now it should be understood that he instructs the land and the produce to lament, not as rational creatures but in his attempt to rouse those endowed with reason through the inanimate creatures. To emphasize this, he went on, “because human beings confounded joy,” that is, the cause of the infertility is people’s lawlessness—hence the end of happiness and the onset of depression.

Commentary on Joel 1:11–12

Joel again summons us wailing and will have the ministers of the altar lament under the conditions of famine. He does not allow us to revel in the misfortunes of others. After sanctifying a fast, calling a solemn assembly and gathering the old men, the children, and those of tender age, we ourselves must further haunt the temple in sackcloth and ashes, prostrated humbly on the ground, because the field is wasted and the meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the Lord, till we draw down mercy by our humiliation.

In Defense of His Flight to Pontus, Oration 2:59

13–14

(Verse 13, 14.) Clothe yourselves and lament, priests; howl, ministers of the altar; enter, lie down in sackcloth, ministers of my God, because the sacrifice and libation have perished from the house of your God; sanctify a fast, call an assembly, gather the elders, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God, and cry out to the Lord. LXX: Clothe yourselves and lament, priests; bewail, you who minister at the altar; enter, sleep in sacks, ministers of God, because the sacrifice and libation have failed from the house of your God; sanctify a fast, proclaim healing; gather the elders, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of your God, and cry out to the Lord forcefully. Whoever is a holy priest and eats the Pascha of the Lord, let him gird himself with the belt of chastity and listen with the apostles: Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning in your hands (Luke XII, 35). But whoever is a sinner and is tormented by his own conscience, let him gird himself with sackcloth and weep, either for his own sins or for the sins of the people, and let him enter the Church from which he had departed because of his sins, and let him lie down or sleep in sackcloth, so that he may make up for the past pleasures, through which he had offended God, with the austerity of life. For those who dress in soft clothing are in the houses of kings (Matt. XV). But let the priests gird themselves and wail and howl, and sleep in sackcloth, as the prophet exhorts them to repentance, saying: O ministers of my God, how the sacrifice and libation have perished from the house of your God (Joel II), of which it has been said above. It is not enough to weep or lament and put on the attire of mourners, unless they sanctify the fast and call for a gathering. If every fasting pleased God, He would never say: 'Sanctify the fast.' And: 'I have not chosen such a fast,' says the Lord (Isaiah 58). And in the Gospel, those who make their faces appear pale, so that they may be seen by men to fast, are condemned (Matthew 6); and on the days of your fasts, you strike with fists, and oppress the poor. Therefore, now He says: 'Sanctify the fast.' Manichaeus fasts, and many heretics, especially the Encratites, of whom Tatianus is the leader, but this fast is worse because of excess and drunkenness. And let us call upon heaven, or healing, that through our repentance we may cure our sins. For it is written in Hebrew, Asara (), which Symmachus interprets as a council, Aquila as a day of gathering. Let the elders be gathered, whose age is near death, and whose mature judgment seeks more fear and reverence for God. Also, let all the inhabitants of the earth, of whom it was said above: Hear this, elders, and perceive with your ears, let both the elders and the inhabitants of the earth be gathered into the house of God, which is the Church. And when they are in the Church, with priests and people from different groups, the elderly and the inhabitants of the land, let there be one group formed, and cry out, he says, to the Lord in your hearts and say:

Commentary on Joel

If God does not desire fasting, how is it that in Leviticus he commands the whole people in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, to fast until the evening, and threatens that he who does not constrain his soul shall die and be cut off from his people? How is it that the graves of lust, where the people fell in their devotions to flesh, remain even to this day in the wilderness? Do we not read that the stupid people gorged themselves with quails until the wrath of God came upon them? Why was the man of God at whose prophecy the hand of King Jeroboam withered, and who ate contrary to the command of God, immediately smitten? Strange that the lion which left the ass safe and sound should not spare the prophet just risen from his meal. He who, while he is fasting, had wrought miracles, no sooner ate a meal than he paid the penalty for the gratification. Joel also cries aloud: “Sanctify a fast, proclaim a time of healing.” So it appears that a holy fast may avail toward the cure of sin.

Against Jovinianus 2:17

(Verse 15.) Ah, ah, ah, woe to the day, for the day of the Lord is near, and it will come like a devastation (or storm) from the Almighty. LXX: Woe is me, woe is me, woe is me on that day! For the day of the Lord is near, and it will come like misery upon misery. Because we have translated it as 'from the Almighty,' in Hebrew it is said Saddai (), which is one of the ten names of God, as we have mentioned several times, the LXX translated as misery, reading Sod () instead of Saddai. Therefore, the voice of the priests and the people crying out to the Lord is heard, so that they may say for the third time, 'Woe is me!' I believe that, because of the sins they have committed, they have offended the Holy Trinity. But that day is the day of retribution for all sins, of which all the prophets write, and especially Isaiah cries out: 'Behold, the day of the Lord, inexorable, of fury and wrath, is coming, to make the whole world a desert, and to destroy sinners from it.' (Isaiah XIII, 9). This day is rightly called incurable; because when the day of judgment comes, there will be no place for repentance, which is compared to eternity, it is near, and not far. And what follows: And as misery will come from misery, or, devastation will come from the powerful, this means that evils will succeed evils, and all affliction will be dispensed by God the judge, who is able to destroy both body and soul into hell (Matthew X). Let us now specifically refer to the time of the Jewish captivity when Jerusalem was captured and the temple was destroyed; for not long after, the captivity of the ten and a half tribes by the Assyrians and Chaldeans followed. And it is predicted that this future event will not seem to have happened by chance or by the strength of the enemies, but by the anger and threat of God, or certainly, if the people continue in their sins, it will come as a result of their repentance.

Commentary on Joel

(Verse 16) Have not the provisions perished before our eyes from the house of our God, joy and exultation? LXX: The provisions have perished before your eyes: from the house of our God, joy and delight. The provisions of sinners perish before our eyes when the expected crops are taken from their hands, and the locust precedes the harvester, so that what is stored in the barns with hope is consumed by weevils and rust. Likewise, those who dwell in the Church, according to the quality of their merits, if they have sinned, the grain of the spirit, and the barley of literacy, is taken away from them, so that they may experience the hunger of the word of God. And when the nourishment is removed, joy and gladness are also taken away from the house of God, so that those who heard before the Apostle saying: Rejoice in the Lord always, I say again, rejoice (Philippians 4:4); afterwards they hear the Lord calling them to repentance: Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matthew 5:5).

Commentary on Joel

17–18

(Verse 17, 18.) The animals have trampled in their own dung; the barns have been destroyed, the storehouses have been scattered, because the grain has been mixed up; why does the animal groan, why do the herds of cattle moo? Because there is no pasture for them; and the flocks of sheep have also perished. LXX: The calves have jumped in their stalls; the treasuries have been scattered, the wine presses have been buried, because the grain has dried up; what shall we put aside for ourselves? The herds of oxen have mourned, because there is no pasture for them, and the flocks of sheep have perished. After the provisions have perished, and the joy and delight of the house of God have been taken away, even the beasts have decayed in their own filth, or, according to spiritual understanding, have become lascivious in their mangers, and have kicked against their Creator, so that what is written may be fulfilled: If they are not satisfied, they will murmur (Ps. 58:16). The one whose god is his belly decays in his own filth, and he who says: Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die (Isaiah 22:16): to him the storehouses of future happiness are destroyed, and the storehouses of eternal abundance are scattered or destroyed. Even the winepresses are overturned, for if there are no wheat and wine, in vain are storehouses and winepresses prepared. And when everything burns, they will then lament with a mournful voice and say: What shall we restore for ourselves? And what follows according to the Septuagint: The herds of oxen mourned because there are no pastures for them, it compels us not to receive from oxen and herds what has been said; but from those, who are called oxen and sheep for their simplicity. Concerning their pastures, the Savior speaks: He will enter and go out, and will find pasture (John 10:3). But understand all these things metaphorically, as caterpillars, locusts, worms, and rust, which, with the crops removed and ravaged, have possessed everything with hunger and pestilence.

Commentary on Joel

What is a basket of dung, except the memory of sins? For the sins of the flesh are called dung. Hence it is also said through the prophet: "The beasts have rotted in their dung." For the beasts to rot in their dung is for carnal people to end their lives in the stench of luxury.

Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 31

The prophet says, “The beasts of burden have become putrid in their own dung.” For beasts of burden to become putrid in their own dung means for all those who are materialistic to end their lives in the stench of dissipation. As often as we prove a materialistic heart for its sins, as often as we draw back to its memory the wrongs it has committed, it is as if we are turning a measure of dung onto a barren tree. It is to call to mind the evils it has done and grow fertile to the gift of compunction as if from the stench.

40 Homilies on the Gospels, Homily X

19–20

(Verse 19, 20.) I will cry out to you, Lord, for the fire has consumed the beautiful things of the desert, and the flame has set all the wood of the region ablaze; even the beasts of the field, like a parched land thirsting for rain, have looked up to you; for the springs of water have dried up, and the fire has devoured the beautiful things of the desert. LXX: I will cry out to you, Lord, for the fire has consumed the beautiful things of the desert, and the flame has set all the wood of the field ablaze, and the animals of the field have looked up to you, for the streams of water have dried up, and the fire has devoured the beautiful things of the desert. The prophet cries out to the Lord, or to the people through the prophet: for the fire has consumed the beautiful things of the desert, and the flame has set ablaze all the wood of the region, the beasts and the farm animals, or the fields, look to the Lord, like a little field thirsty for rain. This, in one word, is signified by the Eagle saying, 'it has been desolated'; and they look to him, because the fountains, or the outlets of water, have dried up, and the fire has devoured the beautiful things of the desert, because indeed the caterpillar, and the locust, and the devourer have done so, and the rust, because the fire is in the straw, and the flame in the bushes. However, the beautiful places of the desert, which are called Naoth in Hebrew (), let us understand either the flat plains, or the flourishing meadows, or the green places with herbs, which provided pastures for animals. But when the prophet cried out to the Lord, fire caused the animals to look towards him, which devoured the beautiful places of the desert, and the flame that ignited all the wood of the region, so that the crops and fruits were destroyed together, and because the water sources dried up, and whatever could be found in the desert, the voracious flame consumed. At the same time, let us consider that unless because of narrowness and the taking away of pleasures, neither the prophet nor the beasts would cry out to the Lord, or look up to the Lord, which indeed can be referred to a righteous man once, who when he turns away and does evil, his former virtues will by no means benefit him; but the Lord will judge him in whatever he finds. We can call them the beautiful things of the desert, about which it is written: 'More are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband.' (Isaiah 54:1). However, the flame that sets fire to all the wood in the region is to be believed to be the one that is sent by the burning arrows of the devil, so that nothing of good fruit remains in us; but everything is consumed by fire. For all adulterers, like a furnace, their hearts; and not only the prophet, or the people through the prophet, who is a rational being (Hosea VII), but also the animals, of which it is said: You will save both humans and animals, Lord (Psalm XXXV, VII). And elsewhere: I have become like a beast before you (Psalms VII, 23). And again: I will sow them with the seed of humans and beasts (Jeremiah XXXI, 27). They looked up to the Lord and begged for the dew of His mercy; for the springs of water had dried up, which the deer desires. And of whom the Lord speaks through Jeremiah: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water (Jeremiah II, 13). But when the springs of water, which irrigate and refresh all that is dry, are dried up, whatever was beautiful in us is consumed by the heat of fire, of which the Lord speaks in the Gospel: I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven (Luke X, 18).

Commentary on Joel