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Selected Verse: Joel 2:14 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Joe 2:14 |
Strong Concordance |
Who knoweth [03045] if he will return [07725] and repent [05162], and leave [07604] a blessing [01293] behind [0310] him; even a meat offering [04503] and a drink offering [05262] unto the LORD [03068] your God [0430]? |
| |
King James |
Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| leave . . . a meat offering and a drink offering--that is, give plentiful harvests, out of the first-fruits of which we may offer the meat and drink offering, now "cut off" through the famine (Joe 1:9, Joe 1:13, Joe 1:16). "Leave behind Him": as God in visiting His people now has left behind Him a curse, so He will, on returning to visit them, leave behind Him a blessing. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Who knoweth if He will return - God has promised forgiveness of sins and of eternal punishment to those who turn to Him with their whole heart. Of this, then, there could be no doubt. But He has not promised either to individuals or to Churches, that He will remit the temporal punishment which He had threatened. He forgave David the sin. Nathan says, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin." But he said at the same time, "the sword shall never depart from thy house Sa2 12:13, Sa2 12:10; and the temporal punishment of his sin pursued him, even on the bed of death. David thought that the temporal punishment of his sin, in the death of the child, might be remitted to him. He used the same form of words as Joel, "I said, who can tell whether God will be gracious unto me, that the child may live?" Sa2 12:22. But the child died. The king of Nineveh used the like words, "Who can tell if God will return and repent and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?" Jon 3:9.
And he was heard. God retained or remitted the temporal punishment, as He saw good for each. This of the prophet Joel is of a mixed character. The "blessing" which they crave, he explains to be "the meat offering and the drink offering," which had been "cut off or withholden" from the house of their God. For "if He gave them wherewith to serve Him," after withdrawing it, it was clear that "He would accept of them and be pleased with their service." Yet this does not imply that He would restore all to them. A Jewish writer notes that after the captivity, "the service of sacrifices alone returned to them," but that "prophecy, (soon after), the ark, the Urim and Thummim, and the other things (the fire from heaven) were missing there." As a pattern, however, to all times, God teaches them to ask first what belongs to His kingdom and His righteousness, and to leave the rest to Him. So long as the means of serving Him were left, there was hope of all. Where the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ (whereof "the meat offering and the drink offering" were symbols) remains, there are "the pledges of His love," the earnest of all other blessing.
He says, "leave a blessing behind Him," speaking of God as one estranged, who had been long absent and who returns, giving tokens of His forgiveness and renewed good-pleasure. God often visits the penitent soul and, by some sweetness with which the soul is bathed, leaves a token of His renewed presence. God is said to repent, not as though He varied in Himself, but because He deals variously with us, as we receive His inspirations and follow His drawings, or no. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| He will return - God doth not move from one place to another; but when he withholds his blessings, he is said to withdraw himself. And so when he gives out his blessing, he is said to return. And leave a blessing behind him - Cause the locusts to depart before they have eaten up all that is in the land. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| Who knoweth if he will return - He may yet interpose and turn aside the calamity threatened, and so far preserve the land from these ravagers, that there will be food for men and cattle, and a sufficiency of offerings for the temple service. Therefore: - |
16 Is not the meat [0400] cut off [03772] before our eyes [05869], yea, joy [08057] and gladness [01524] from the house [01004] of our God [0430]?
13 Gird [02296] yourselves, and lament [05594], ye priests [03548]: howl [03213], ye ministers [08334] of the altar [04196]: come [0935], lie all night [03885] in sackcloth [08242], ye ministers [08334] of my God [0430]: for the meat offering [04503] and the drink offering [05262] is withholden [04513] from the house [01004] of your God [0430].
9 The meat offering [04503] and the drink offering [05262] is cut off [03772] from the house [01004] of the LORD [03068]; the priests [03548], the LORD'S [03068] ministers [08334], mourn [056].
9 Who can tell [03045] if God [0430] will turn [07725] and repent [05162], and turn away [07725] from his fierce [02740] anger [0639], that we perish [06] not?
22 And he said [0559], While the child [03206] was yet alive [02416], I fasted [06684] and wept [01058]: for I said [0559], Who can tell [03045] whether GOD [03068] will be gracious [02603] [02603] to me, that the child [03206] may live [02416]?
10 Now therefore the sword [02719] shall never [05704] [05769] depart [05493] from thine house [01004]; because [06118] thou hast despised [0959] me, and hast taken [03947] the wife [0802] of Uriah [0223] the Hittite [02850] to be thy wife [0802].
13 And David [01732] said [0559] unto Nathan [05416], I have sinned [02398] against the LORD [03068]. And Nathan [05416] said [0559] unto David [01732], The LORD [03068] also hath put away [05674] thy sin [02403]; thou shalt not die [04191].