Joel 2:10

10 Before them, earth and sky shake. The sun and the moon become dark, 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 do not run into each other, because each walks in line. They break through all efforts to stop them and keep coming.

9 They run into the city. They run at the wall and climb into the houses, entering through windows like thieves.

10 Before them, earth and sky shake. The sun and the moon become dark, and the stars stop shining.

11 The Lord shouts out orders to his army. His army is very large! Those who obey him are very strong! is an overwhelming and terrible day. No one can stand up against it!

12 The Lord says, "Even now, come back to me with all your heart. Go without food, and cry and be sad."