Matthew Henry on Joel 2:18-27
See how ready God is to succour and relieve his people, how he waits to be gracious; as soon as ever they humble themselves under this hand, and pray, and seek his face, he immediately meets them with his favours. They prayed that God would spare them, and see here with what good words and comfortable words he answered them; for God's promises are real answers to the prayers of faith, because with him saying and doing are not two things. Now observe,
I. Whence this mercy promised shall take rise (Joe 2:18): God will be jealous for his land and pity his people. He will have an eye, 1. To his own honour, and the reputation of his covenant with Israel, by which he had conveyed to them that good…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Joel 2:25
locust . . . cankerworm . . . caterpiller . . . palmer worm--the reverse order from Joe 1:4, where (see on Joe 1:4) God will restore not only what has been lost by the full-grown consuming locust, but also what has been lost by the less destructive licking locust, and swarming locust, and gnawing locust.
John Gill on Joel 2:25
And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten,.... Or "I will recompense to you the years" (m); give you fruitful ones, as a full compensation for those in which the locust ate up the fruits of the earth for some years running:
the canker worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer worm; of which see Joel 1:4;
my great army which I sent among you; as in Joel 2:11; the Targum of the whole is,
"and I will recompense unto you good years, in the room of the years in which the people, nations, and tongues, the governors and kingdoms of vengeance, spoiled you, my great army which I sent among you;''
and Kimchi observes, that the sense of the Targumist is, that this verse is a pr…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Joel 2:25
Joel 2:25
25. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
25. Et reddam vobis annos (pro aliis annis, subaudiendum est) quibus comedit locusta, bruchus, eruca (chsyl, alii vertunt, rubiginem: sed dixi primo capite me non adeo solicitum esse de istis vocibus, quia etiam ignotae sunt hodie ipsis Judaeis; sed certum est esse insecta, quae corrumpunt omnes terrae fruges, ut tunc diximus,) exercitus meus magnus, quem miseram ad vos.
The Prophet confirms what he had previously said, and states what is of an opposite character, -- that God can as easily restore a rich fruitfulness t…