Historical chapter commentary
Verse 1. Blow. The prophets often ordered, to signify what will take place. Worthington.—The people were gathered by the sound of trumpets. The danger from the locusts was imminent; and all are exhorted to avert it, by praying in the temple, and so forth—Tremble at the sound. Amos 3:6. Calmet.—Extemplò turbati. Virgil, Æneid viii.—Lord. That is, the time when he will execute justice on sinners, ( Challoner.) and suffer affliction to fall upon them. Worthington. Calmet. 1:15.
Verse 2. Darkness. This implies great misery. verse 10. Calmet.—People. The Assyrians or Chaldeans. Others understand all this of the army of locusts laying waste the land. Challoner.—Morning; unexpectedly, ( Calmet.) and soon. Bible.—No human force can prevent the ravages of the locusts—Beginning, in Palestine. Moses says the same; but speaks of Egypt. Exodus 10:14.
Verse 3. Flame. They destroy all by their bite. Calmet. 1:12. Calmet. Theod.—Pleasure. Hebrew “Eden.” So luxuriant was Palestine.
Verse 4. Horsemen. The head of a locust bears some resemblance with that of a horse, and its flight is rapid. Revelation 9:7. Calmet.
Verse 5. Mountains. “The beat their wings so loudly, that they may be taken for other birds.” Pliny xi. 29.—They are much larger in hot climates, (Calmet. 1:6. Bible.) and may be heard at the distance of two miles, (Bochart) darkening the air for the space of four leagues. Yet this description is poetical, and perhaps an allegory is nowhere better kept up.
Verse 6. Kettle. The Jews were naturally of a dark complexion. Fear causing the blood to retire, would make them black. Isaiah 13:8. Lamentations 4:8 and 5:10. Calmet.
Verse 7. Ranks. Locusts march like a regular army. Theod.—No fortification can keep them out. Bible.
Verse 8. Brother. S. Jerom saw a cloud of them in Judea. They were not “a finger-nail’s breadth from each other.” Calmet.—The Arabs discover the military art in them. Bochart.—They invested France ( A. 874) with all the skill of an army, the chiefs marking out the place for the camp the night before. Sigebert.—Windows. They eat the wood, ( Bible.) and the windows were simple lattices or curtains. Calmet.—Hebrew “they fall upon the sword, and shall not be hurt.” Septuagint “consumed or filled.” Bible.—They are never satisfied. Theod.
Verse 10. Shining. The cloud of locusts intercepts the light; or, people in distress think all nature is in confusion. Saint Jerome Ezec. xxxii. Jer. iv. 23.—Aloysius (13) saw locusts in the air for the space of twelve miles; and among the Cossacks, clouds of them may be found six leagues in length and three in breadth. They frequently occasion a famine in Ethiopia. Calmet.
Verse 11. Voice; thunder, ( Bible.) or the noise of locusts. verse 5. Calmet.
Verse 12. Mourning. For moving the heart to repentance these external works are requisite, at least in will: if they be wilfully omitted, it is a sure sign that the heart is not moved. Saint Jerome Worthington.
Verse 13. Garments, as was customary in great distress. God will not be satisfied with mere external proofs of repentance. Calmet.—Evil. He will forego his threats if we do penance. Saint Jerome—He punishes unwillingly. Isaiah 28:21.
Verse 14. Who knoweth. Confidence in God and repentance must accompany prayer.—Blessing; plentiful crops, so that the usual sacrifices may be performed again. Calmet. 1:9.
Verse 15. Trumpet. Thus were festivals announced. Numbers 10:7.
Verse 16. Sanctify. Let all make themselves ready to appear.—Ones. Their cries would make an impression on men, and prevail on God to shew mercy. Judith 4:9.
Verse 17. Altar of holocausts. They turned towards the holy place, lying prostrate. 1 Ezra 10:1 and 2 Maccabees 10:26. Calmet.—Hither the victim of expiation was brought, and the high priest confessed. Maimon.—Over them, as they might easily have done during the famine.
Verse 18. Zealous. Indignation is excited when a person perceives any thing contemned which he loves. So God resented the injuries done maliciously by the Gentiles towards his people; though he often punished them for their correction or greater merit. Worthington.—He will resent the blasphemies uttered by infidels against his holy name, and will restore fertility to the land. Calmet.
Verse 19. Nations. This did not take place till after the seventy years captivity, nor then fully. It is verified in true believers, and after death in the glory of the saints. Worthington.
Verse 20. The northern enemy. Some understand this of Holofernes and his army, others of the locusts. Challoner.—Prot. “the northern army.” Hebrew may denote ( Bible.) wind. This often drives away locusts. Those here spoken of were drowned in the Mediterranean and Dead Seas. Calmet.—This occasioned a pestilence, (Saint Jerome Saint Augustine de Civ. Dei. iv. 31.) to prevent which the locusts were to be speedily buried. Isaiah 33:4.—Proudly. Hebrew “great things.” God, or the locusts are meant.
Verse 22. Strength; fruit, as formerly.
Verse 23. Teacher; Joel, and so forth or rather the Messias. John 1:9. Matthew 23:8. Some translate Hebrew “rain.” Septuagint “meat,” ( Calmet.) sufficient for the people. Theod.
Verse 24. Presses, or subterraneous reservoirs.
Verse 25. Host. God could have hurled his thunderbolts, or mountains, to destroy all mankind; but he chooses to shew their insignificance, ( Calmet.) by employing the vilest insects, which they cannot withstand. Saint Jerome
Verse 28. After. From this verse to the end the prophet speaks of the times succeeding the captivity, and more especially of the propagation of the gospel. The enemies of God’s people shall be destroyed, (Calmet. 3:1) which seems to refer to Cambyses. Ezekiel 38. Calmet.—My spirit. This plainly foretells the coming of the Holy Ghost. Acts 2. Worthington.—The Jews never had such a multitude of prophets after the captivity as the Church had. 1 Corinthians 14:24. What relates to them was only a shadow of what would befall true believers.
Verse 29. Handmaids. Septuagint of Saint Jerome and Saint Peter read, my handmaids. “My,” is omitted in both places in Complut. and Hebrew and the latter word in the Rom. Sept.
Verse 30. Wonders. Many prodigies preceded the persecution of Epiphanes, the death of Christ, the ruin of the temple, and more will be seen before the day of judgment. Though we cannot prove the same with respect to Cambyses, it suffices that the people were thrown into the utmost consternation (verse 2. 11) when he forebade the building of the temple, (1 Ezra 4:6) and designed to plunder them. Ezechiel (38:11) speaks of the same event, as the Jews assert. Ctesias also mentions that when he offered sacrifice, the victims would not bleed; and that his wife, Roxana, brought forth a child without a head, implying, according to the magi, that he should have no heir. His mother also frequently appeared, and reproached him with the murder of his brother. See Calmet. 3:15. Ezekiel 38:22.
Verse 32. Call. Amid these fears, those who trust in the Lord shall have nothing to suffer. Cambyses could not execute his designs. But the prophet here alludes still more to the conversion of the Gentiles. Acts 2:21. Romans 10:13. Some returned from Babylon, as a figure of this great event. Only a few Jews embraced the faith. Calmet.—Salvation. Septuagint “shall be saved, as the Lord hath spoken, and the person preaching the gospel, whom the Lord hath called.” Bible.
“Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.