The Day of the Lord #1

 

Read Joel 1

Background: The book of Joel begins with the picture of a locust invasion, destroying the whole economy.  The devastation has been so bad that it has: dried up and surpluses, denying the lazy of their luxuries; severely cut back on offerings available for temple sacrifice, including the daily offerings; brought a famine so severe it affects daily existence.  God uses this situation to warn that the coming judgement will be far worse.

Key Verses: 14 Consecrate a fast;
    call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
    and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
    and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
    and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off
    before our eyes,
joy and gladness
    from the house of our God?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods;
    the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are torn down
    because the grain has dried up.
18 How the beasts groan!
    The herds of cattle are perplexed
because there is no pasture for them;
    even the flocks of sheep suffer.

Thoughts: Situations so severe demand fasting on the part of all because it affects all - even to the animals and produce. The Israelites should have recognized the locusts as one of  the Covenantal curses prophesied in Deuteronomy 28, but instead they kept on with life as usual, ignoring the worship of God. They thought things would get better by their own methods, but they were sorely mistaken.