 |  |
The blowing of the trumpet and the sounding of the alarm are fully described in
Numb. 10: 1-9 where the context is preparation for war and the conclusion is "ye shall be
remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies". The
blowing of the trumpet has also to do with convocations (assemblies) and such is
described in Lev. 23: 23-25. At these, the people came together to "offer an offering
made by fire" and are described more fully in Exod. 29: 18 and its context.
It is perhaps unlikely that the trumpet was blown to gather the people for the "offering
made by fire" because of their inability to supply the meal offering and drink offering
which often accompanied such. More probably it was sounded to prepare them for the
news of the future and its impending battle. They had just been decimated by the
enemies drought, plague and fire, what worse enemy could lay ahead of them? Have
they much left to fear for? Could anything now cause them greater harm? Well, Joel
says:
"Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble",
and he gives the reason for such fear:
"for the Day of the Lord cometh, it is nigh at hand."
Joel 2: 2-11. Joel now moves into the future. Having painted the past in vivid terms
and being able to draw analogies from it he now focuses his attention on events which
take place during the "Day of the Lord".
From now on we shall not find these writings so easy to understand and it will be
impossible to write with much precision about many of the verses. Viewing fulfilled
prophecy in retrospect is relatively easy but to say exactly how unfulfilled prophecy will
come true, how all the different prophecies will be drawn together and completed is
above the capabilities of us all. Having just reread Joel 2: 2-11 again, the writer
wonders what can he say!?!
Moffatt
N.I.V.
[2] "a day of darkness and gloom,
[2] "a dark day in a shroud,
a day of clouds and blackness
a day of fog and cloud
Like dawn spreading across the mountains,
here comes a huge vast power,
a large and mighty army comes,
blackening the hills;
the like of it never has been,
such as never was of old
the like of it never shall be,
nor ever will be in ages to come;
for years upon years to come;
[3] Before them fire devours,
[3] before them fire devouring,
behind them a flame blazes.
behind them flames a blazing:
before them the land is
before them the land lies
like the garden of Eden,
like an Eden paradise,
behind them, a desert waste--
behind them it is a desolate desert--
nothing escapes them.
for nothing escapes them.
[4] They have the appearances of horses;
[4] They look like horses,
they gallop along like cavalry.
they run like war horses.