Joel 1:7

"He has laid my vine waste, and stripped my fig tree. He has stripped its bark, and thrown it away. Its branches are made white."

Key Reflection

In Joel 1:7, the vine and fig tree represent the people of Israel, with their spiritual barrenness signifying a time of judgment and desolation. The stripping away of their bark and branches highlights the thorough nature of this divine punishment, leaving them vulnerable and stripped of their former bounty.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree -This describes an extremity of desolation. The locusts at first attack all which is green and succulent; when this has been consumed, then they attack the bark of trees. : “When they have devoured all other vegetables, they attack the trees, consuming first the leaves, then the bark.” : “A day or two after one of these bodies were in motion, others were already hatched to glean after them, gnawing off the young branches and the very bark of such trees as had escaped before with the loss only of their fruit and foliage.” : “They carried desolation wherever they passed.

More from Joel 1

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