Joel 1:11

"Be confounded, you farmers! Wail, you vineyard keepers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished."

Key Reflection

The farmers and vineyard keepers are called to mourn because their crops, specifically wheat and barley—the staples of ancient Near Eastern agriculture—have been destroyed. This dire warning echoes a severe drought or locust plague that would have been catastrophic for the community’s food supply and economic well-being. The original audience would have recognized these agricultural terms and understood the immediate threat to their livelihoods and societal stability, making the call to lament deeply personal and urgent.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

Be ye ashamed, O ye farmers -The prophet dwells on and expands the description of the troubles which he had foretold, setting before their eyes the picture of one universal dessolation. For the details of sorrow most touch the heart, and he wished to move them to repentance. He pictures them to themselves; some standing aghast and ashamed of the fruitlessness of their toil others giving way to bursts of sorrow, and all things around waste and dried. Nothing was exempt. Wheat and barley, widespread as they were (and the barley in those countries, “more fertile” than the wheat,) perished utterly.

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