Joel 2:10

10 The earth shall quake before him; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall go dark; and the stars shall withdraw their 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.


FOOTNOTES:

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

Joel 2:10 In-Context

8 No one shall crowd his companion; they shall walk each one in his path: and even falling upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
9 They shall go through the city; they shall run upon the wall; they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
10 The earth shall quake before him; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall go dark; and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
11 and the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for many are his camps and strong, that execute his word; for the day of the LORD is great, and very terrible; and who can abide it?
12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn unto me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping, and with mourning:
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010