V. 2. Hear this, you elders.
The sermon contained in this chapter was not only preached in one place, but often in many places, for he addresses all the inhabitants of the land.
V. 3. Tell your children about it (super hoc).
Super hoc [of this) is a frequent Hebrew idiom in Scripture, which the author of the epistle to the Hebrews also made use of, since he says: ad angelos autem dicit etc., that is, "Of the angels he speaks" [Heb. 1:7, 1. Thus here super hoc ober ad hoc is as much as "of this," which the Greeks are wont to express by the preposition.
V. 4. What the Raapen leave.
He simply tells the story of the destruction he saw, by which all crops, seeds, apple trees, grapevines were destroyed; certainly an extremely harmful plague, which at the same time brings famine, and pestilence.
For the rest, 1) I do not know, nor do I dare to assert anything certain, what kind of beasts he is thinking of here, by which everything is eaten away and corrupted. Because the Hebrew interpreters bring forward so many different opinions that one can take nothing certain from it.
But about "the caterpillar" there is a certainty, because in relation to this word they agree. The Hebrew word XXX is called in Latin eruca, in German "eine Raupe". But what follows, "locust", is the Hebrew word, but this they translate quite vacillatingly, sometimes by bruchus, sometimes by locusta. These animals are unknown to us, because our country does not know them. I would like to translate locusta ["beetle"] by "the large caterpillars", but I would not dare. It is certain that we have neither locustas nor bruchum, unless we wanted to understand it, as I said, of the large caterpillars.
1) Instead of knlrn in the Erlanger and in the Weimarschen, we have adopted Midi with the Jena edition.
The harness (Rubigo).
Rubigo is what we use to call in German "the fire or the flour dew". But here it is not the same, but the prophet indicates the name of a beast, about whose name the Hebrew grammarians also quite extraordinarily argue, so that we can determine nothing certain about it. 1) But it is certain that there are four kinds of beasts of various shapes which have gnawed and spoiled the seeds, all the fruits of the trees and the vines.
V. 5. Wake up, you drunkards, and weep.
This is what I said above, that the prophet is inciting to repentance by this story of the devastated seeds and fruits. But when he says: "Wake up, you drunkards", he does not say that they are already drunk, nor does he punish them because of their present drunkenness, but he wants to say this: Wake up, you who are used to living deliciously and gloriously, who are used to having everything in abundance, so that you become drunk with this abundance: wake up now, weep, howl, repent, look at the work of God and be terrified, consider what will come over you.
[Hay, all wine drinkers, for the must.)
Instead of: Qui bibitis vinum in dulcedine [in the Vulgate) it should more correctly read thus: You who like to drink the must when it is still yeu and sweet, as if he wanted to say: O you who are accustomed to this splendid way of life, mourn, you will lack, you will suffer hunger And lack, since you see everything devastated, "the wine is taken away from before your mouth".
) Instead of the "m in this paragraph following Dietrich brings: And nevertheless, because with uncertain things free expressions of opinion are formed, so my opinion is that rudiKoHln means, "the flour dew", which falls down with the dew, and, by hanging at the leaves, if the sun shines on it, is animated and lives, as we see, so that ^7'YN is put in general for the worms, which arise everywhere in such a way and find in heaps, "a litter". Further, this is all spoken figuratively. For he indicates that the people will soon be plagued by these, soon by those enemies, the Syrians, Asfyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians 2c., so that this prophecy is, as it were, a riddle. Now he adds the interpretation, who these worms are.
V. 6: For a mighty nation is coming up to my land.
Instead of ascendet, ascendit [it is pulled up] must be read in the perfect tense. 2) Here Joel seems to speak poetically, as also Virgil in the fourth book of the Georgica. [v. 21 sqq.], in that he ascribes to the bees an extraordinary perspicacity, fictionalizes that they follow the leaders, fictionalizes that others keep watch 2c.: so he fictionalizes here that those beasts of which he has spoken, as it were in armed hosts, in some way go up, as if he wanted to say: These beasts will cause such great misfortune as hardly a mighty king could have caused. Hence the opinion: the caterpillars, the grasshoppers, the beetles, the creatures come as it were with an army of war. Since the teachers have not accepted this simple opinion, I do not know what foolish things they have, according to their usual way, dissuaded from coming peoples. Jerome agonizes extraordinarily, but in vain.
That has teeth like lions.
Because the Hebrew language is very wordy, it often repeats the same thing, which can be seen especially here, if nowhere else. It is most necessary that those who read the holy scriptures know this. So here is a repetition of the previous sentence about the power and quantity of those innumerable animals, 3) as if he wanted to say: Their number is so great that they cannot be comprehended, and they cause such great misfortune that even lions, however fierce they may be, could hardly have caused such great misfortune.
2) Instead of the following in this paragraph Dietrich has: And here he interprets which are the caterpillars and the harmful animals that devour the vineyards and the seeds, namely "mighty" enemies that God will raise against this people. I approve the opinion of the Jews, who "think" that the prophet spoke figuratively of the Juicetes as an armed army of enemies.
3) Instead of: "Thiere" Dietrich has: Feinde. - The reading of the AltenburgerHandschrift: kisxotsntia otrnuitituchnk lrkstjarurü anirnaliuna iUvrura will be hardly correct. We have assumed: dsstiarnrn innurn^"lMum illarulu, supported from the inLunwralMis in the Vulgate.
V. 7: The same devastates my vineyard.
Here the prophet takes and assumes the person of every Israelite, 1) who complains about this ruin and the destruction of the fruits and his vineyard. Therefore, this passage also serves as proof that the prophet called these beasts "nations without number. For the Assyrians (for these are taken as "the mighty people and without number") or also any other enemies would not only destroy the vines or the fields, but also the cities and their inhabitants, of which no mention is made here, but he only says that the vineyards and the fruits are eaten up, which he attributes to those animals.
And touches my fig tree.
This is badly translated [in the Vulgate: Et ficum meum decorticavit].... So the Hebrew says: my fig tree to something broken (in confractionem). Therefore I take the vineyard and the fig tree simply for 2) the natural vineyard and fig tree, which are devastated and eaten away by these animals, not for a people, as some interpret it.
Shear him and discard him.
This is a mere repetition of the same opinion. For this is the way of the Hebrew language, that it makes many words, "shew him," namely, of fruits and leaves, as also Virgil 3) in the same way attributes to winter that it robs the forest of its ornaments.
That its branches stand there white.
"White", that is, bare, without leaves.
1) Here Dietrich continues like this until the end of this paragraph: who complains about this defeat of the people. He calls the "vineyard" and the "fig tree" the people itself, which was ordered and adorned with the divine law, provided with ceremonies, courts and the kingdom of God, which they nevertheless misused everything against God Himself for their well-being.
Z) Virgil" OsorAioa, lib. II, v. 404.
V. 8. hay, like a virgin.
He leads a parable by which he makes the matter great. As if he wanted to say: Just as when a virgin who loves her bridegroom in the extreme weeps and mourns most bitterly when her bridegroom, whom she had loved so much, has died (for the love between bride 4) and bridegroom is the most fierce), so you also lament and mourn. And so he calls her to repentance, as if to say: You 5) make the greatest lamentation of all, that there can be none greater. By the way, instead of what we read (in the Vulgate): pubertatis suae should be read more correctly: juventutis suae (the man of her youth).
V. 9 For the grain offering and the drink offering are from the house of the LORD.
He makes the lamentation and the misfortune great, as if to say: 6) this plague will not only cause the destruction of the fruits, the trees and the vineyards, but also the drink offerings will fall. This glory of yours, by which you are famous before all the peoples of the earth, this worship, which is ordered by God's word, will suffer damage; the priests will not be able to offer grain offerings or drink offerings, since the fruits are so destroyed. For the firstfruits and the tithes of all fruits they gave to the Lord according to the commandment of the law Deut. 26, 2. ff. But the grain offering was that in which solid things were offered, as wheat, flour 2c. The drink offerings were given of liquid things, as of oil, wine 2c.
V. 10. The field is desolate.
According to the Hebrew it is to be read thus (instead of: [Depopulata est regio]): The field is devastated, it mourns the country, because the grain is desolate, the must stands ashamed, the oil miserable. He gives the cause why the grain offering and drink offering will perish like this, and
4) Weimarsche: sponsn instead of: sponsas; a printing error.
5) In our original: kae tibi; in the Jena one (Die-trich): tue turn; the Weimar one noted Lroturn.
says: because the field is desolate, all fruits have perished, the Weilt is gone 2c. But we see in this text clear poetic images. For the poets say that the meadows and the seeds are laughing, that is, thriving. Here, however, he says that the earth mourns, the wine stands ashamed 2c.
Confusum est mustum [The must stands ashamed].
This is a new way of speaking in this prophet, because he often speaks like this. In German we imitate this way of speaking by saying: "Der Wein stehet schändlich. Solomon also often used this word in Proverbs, speaking of a shameful child, a shameful woman.
The oil stands miserably (Languit oleum).
"The Oelsbaum) is dull", that is, it does not bear fruit.
V. 11. The peasants look miserable. 1)
It jams me of their.
Around the wheat and barley.
Instead of: Super frumento, vino et hordeo it reads) according to the Hebrew: "About the wheat and about the barley." Because in Hebrew the word "wine" is not written. That is, the husbandmen see that there will be no harvest. After all the fruits have been cut down, they see that there is nothing left but mourning and pain.
V. 12: The vine also stands miserable.
Instead of: Vinea [the vineyard) confusa [st sin the Vulgate) it should more properly read, "Der Weinstock stehet jämmerlich." This is the same repetition of the present ruin.
Joy has become sorrow (Confusum est gaudium).
You see that this is a way of speaking peculiar to the prophet, that he speaks of being put to shame (de confusione). "The joy", that is, that which they should have rejoiced over, has all perished and been consumed.
1) In both the Erlangen and the Weimar editions, these words are not highlighted as keywords, but are added to the preceding ones without a new verse number together with their interpretation.
V. 13. Gird yourselves.
This is another repetition of the same calamity, that he might provoke them to repentance. But instead of what we read [in the Vulgate]: Quoniam interiit de domo Dei ["for it is gone from the house of your GOD"] the Hebrew reads: For it is prevented (prohibitum) 2c.
V. 14. Sanctify a fast.
This is a Hebrew idiom that occurs frequently in Scripture.
V. 15: For the day of the Lord is near.
Here he seems to touch upon the prophecy of which we shall see in the second chapter and in the following. As if he wanted to say: You see the present evil, the terrible misfortune, which undoubtedly indicates that other misfortunes will come upon you. "The day of the Lord", namely another day, on which the Lord will visit, as Peter [1. Ep. 2, 12.] also calls it the day on which it will be visited, or "when it will come to the day" (visitationis == the visitation).
And comes like a ruin from the Almighty.
That is, there will be such a day, which, when it comes, will bring devastation that you will not be able to prevent. Therefore, repent.
V. 16 [Vulg.] Has not the food been taken away before your eyes?
Again he holds the present misfortune against them, so that they would not forget the future visitation. 2) As if he wanted to say: I mean, he will visit you. Therefore repent.
V. 17. The seed is rotten under the earth (Computruerunt jumenta [in stercore suo]).
Here the interpreters diverge extraordinarily far. But the Hebrew reads thus: The seed is rotten in its soil, the granaries are destroyed 2c. This is not something that they [in the Vulgate] have been fooling with from the draught cattle. 3)
2) Dietrich has instead of the following: But it is the opinion: we are devastated and miserably afflicted, we can further on no longer carouse, no longer feast^.
3) This sentence is missing in Dietrich.
But this seems to me to be the opinion: Your granaries (thesauri) are desolate, that is, what should have been put in there and stored up for use in another year or in some emergency has all gone to ruin. For the Hebrews call treasure (thesaurum) what is stored in warehouses 1) or sheds, in German "der Vorrath". 2) Likewise the seed is rotten, that is, not only has that perished which was to provide you with daily food, but also the seed will not be left for you; all this is rotten. You have no hope that you will get anything or even keep the seed.
The "Scheure" have disintegrated.
As if he wanted to say: It will not be necessary to build sheds, you will not bring in anything that serves as food; everything will even be destroyed by this plague, so that no seed will remain for you.
V. 18. O how the beast sighs! 2c.
Thus, according to the Hebrew, it reads instead: Quid ingemuit [in the Vulgate]. That is, it is to be pitied, for the cattle and the herds of plow animals lack their pasture with which they should be fed.
And the sheep pine away.
According to the Hebrew, [instead of: Et greges pecorum in the Vulgate] read: Even the flocks of sheep have been destroyed. 3)
V. 19. Lord, I call upon you.
These are words of a miserable talker, which we in German can very well apply to these
1) Instead of dvvotdeeis should probably be read spotdeeis, which the Vulgate offers.
L) In our template: "der für rath".
3) This section is missing in Dietrich. - Instead of MMD's "lunLum in the Erlanger and in the Weimarsche Msgäbe is Möge" ovr'E [surn) to be read".
In this way, we can say: "Oh Lord, have mercy, oh Lord God, how it is going on!
For the fire has burned the floodplains (speciosa) in the desert.
This word has extraordinarily different meanings in the holy scriptures. Because it means meadows, dwellings, huts and tents. Here it must be translated by the word habitations (habitacula).
The fire.
I think that "fire" is taken figuratively here, so that the meaning is this: These dwellings are so completely wiped out that one would like to think that they are devastated by fire; but nevertheless I want everyone to follow his opinion here.
And the flame has lit all the trees in the field.
I also take "the flame" figuratively, as if he wanted to say: The trees are so completely destroyed that one could believe they were burned by a flame. So there is no hope left to find food for people or cattle.
V. 20. Even the wild beasts cry out to you.
That is, even the wild beasts cry out and seek water with roaring to quench their thirst, for eS is the same word [XXX] that is in the Psalms fPs. 42, 2.].
Dem the water streams find dried up.
They find no tears; they too must perish. Thus, in this first chapter, the prophet Joel describes in the simplest terms the punishment and destruction inflicted on the land by those beasts, as we have heard.
4) Instead of the following in Dietrich: have been inflicted by the enraged enemies.
1428 L. XXV, W-"7. Ausl^ung of Joel (1.), Cap. 2, 1. W. VI, 20SI-AM. 142A