Joel 1:13-20--A Call to Repentance

Joel 1:13-20
English Standard Version

A Call to Repentance
13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests;
    wail, O ministers of the altar.
Go in, pass the night in sackcloth,
    O ministers of my God!
Because grain offering and drink offering
    are withheld from the house of your God.

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.

19 To you, O LORD, I call.
For fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness,
and flame has burned
    all the trees of the field.
20 Even the beasts of the field pant for you
    because the water brooks are dried up,
and fire has devoured
    the pastures of the wilderness.

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The LORD calls on a public, corporate time of repentance led by the priests.  They are to put off their priestly garments and to wear sackcloth (a visible sign of their mourning and repentance over their sin).    To remove their priestly garments, they would have to stop performing their priestly duties--making sacrifices for the people  The LORD says this is more important than these sacrifices that were coming from a rebellious people that were just going through the motions.  He wanted their hearts first and foremost.

Next, a call for the political and tribal leaders to come together and call a day of fasting for all the people.  They were gather all the people together at the Temple for this day of mourning, fasting, and prayer, led by the priests and the elders of the people.

Why should they do this and do it now?  Because the Day of the LORD is at hand.  There's that theme of this entire book again.  In this context, it is speaking of the Babylonian Exile and the judgment that is going to come on the LORD's people, starting with the house of God.  However, the Day of the LORD is not something that was localized to that day and time, it is also a day that is coming in the future when the LORD will come to make war against all of His enemies and establish His Kingdom forever and ever.  His people should repent and be ready for His glorious appearing so they will not be put to shame when He appears.

All the covenantal blessing tied to the Land and given to the People are dying as a sign to the people of their spiritual state and that they are spiritually dead and disconnected from God.  They need to repent and turn back to Him before it is too late, or judgment will come upon them.  The pastures were burned with fire, the animals pant with thirst and there is no water to quench their thirst.  Even the seeds that could be used to replant for another season have been destroyed.  There is utterly nothing left.  Everything is dead or dying.