Joel 2:10

10 At their advance the earth quakes, and the sky shakes, the sun and moon turn black, and the stars stop shining.

Joel 2:10 Meaning and Commentary

Joel 2:10

The earth shall quake before them
The inhabitants of it, because of the desolating judgments they bring with them, and those enemies that are signified by them: the heavens shall tremble;
being obscured by them: the sun and moon shall be dark;
the locusts sometimes come in such large numbers as to intercept the rays of the sun. Pliny ^F20 says they sometimes darken it; and though some thought they did not fly in the night, because of the cold; this he observes is owing to their ignorance, not considering that they pass over wide seas to distant countries; and this will account for it how the moon also may be darkened by them, and the stars, as follows: and the stars shall withdraw their shining;
though all this may be understood in a figurative sense of the great consternation that all sorts of persons should be in at such calamities coming upon the land, either by locusts, or by enemies; as the king, queen, nobles, and the common people of the land, signified by sun, moon, and stars, heaven and earth.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 Ibid. (Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 29.)

Joel 2:10 In-Context

8 They don't jostle each other, but stay on their own paths; they burst through defenses unharmed, without even breaking rank.

9 They rush into the city, they run along the wall, they climb up into the houses, entering like a thief through the windows.

10 At their advance the earth quakes, and the sky shakes, the sun and moon turn black, and the stars stop shining.

11 ADONAI shouts orders to his forces - his army is immense, mighty, and it does what he says. For great is the Day of ADONAI, fearsome, terrifying! Who can endure it?

12 "Yet even now," says ADONAI, "turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping and lamenting."