Joel 2:10

10 The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, And the stars 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Joel 2:10 In-Context

8 Neither does one jostle another; They march everyone in his path, And they burst through the defenses, And don't break ranks.

9 They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves.

10 The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, And the stars withdraw their shining.

11 Yahweh thunders his voice before his army; For his forces are very great; For he is strong who obeys his command; For the day of Yahweh is great and very awesome, And who can endure it?

12 "Yet even now," says Yahweh, "turn to me with all your heart, And with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning."