经文研读
Joel 1:15 — The Day of the LORD Approaches
Joel 1:15 identifies the locust plague as the onset of the Day of the LORD, a day of divine destruction calling all people to repentance.
经文
- 15.哀 哉 ! 耶 和 華 的 日 子 臨 近 了 。 這 日 來 到 ， 好 像 毀 滅 從 全 能 者 來 到 。Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
这段经文的意思
Joel 1:15 is the climactic cry of the first chapter: after describing a four-stage locust invasion (verse 4) that has stripped the land, the prophet interrupts the lament with a theological verdict — the agricultural catastrophe is not merely natural, it is the arrival of the Day of the LORD. The exclamation 'Alas for the day!' marks a shift from describing the plague to interpreting it, declaring that what the people are experiencing is the dawn of eschatological judgment.
The clause 'the day of Jehovah is at hand' names the day as belonging to YHWH alone; it is not a human event but a divine self-revelation in judgment. The parallel phrase 'as destruction from the Almighty shall it come' casts the day in military metaphors — it advances 'like destruction,' resisted by none. The use of the divine title 'the Almighty' (Shaddai) emphasizes that the coming judgment is backed by omnipotent power, not merely by a swarm of insects.
Because the locust plague has already dismantled the temple offerings (verses 9, 13) and dried the people's joy (verse 12), the verse functions as a summons to the fast and assembly commanded in verse 14. The nearness of the Day is not a curiosity to be debated but a reality to be met with the corporate cry to Jehovah, making 1:15 the pivot between the description of judgment and the call to repentance that follows in chapter 2.
背景
Verses 1-14 build the case: a locust plague has destroyed vines, fig trees, grain, wine, and oil (verses 4-12), bringing agricultural and liturgical ruin. The priests mourn because the meal-offering and drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah (verse 9), pointing to the religious crisis. Verse 14 commands a fast, a solemn assembly, and a communal cry to Jehovah, and verse 15 immediately gives the theological reason: the disaster is the onset of the Day of the LORD.
Verse 15 stands as the hinge of the chapter. The lament that follows (verses 16-20) enlarges the picture to include food cut off, seeds rotting, barns broken, and beasts groaning — earthly and human misery on every side. Because the locust judgment is identified as the Day of the LORD, the chapter becomes more than a record of a plague; it becomes a prophetic window into how YHWH brings covenant reckoning, and it sets the agenda for the promises of restoration in the chapters that follow.
常见问题
Why is Joel 1:15 considered the first use of the phrase 'the Day of the LORD' in prophetic literature?
Within the book of Joel, verse 15 is the first appearance of the term 'day of Jehovah,' and it connects the immediate locust judgment to a larger divine day of reckoning. Earlier prophets had used similar language in forms that scholars debate, but in the present passage it clearly links an ongoing historical catastrophe to the Day's ultimate arrival.
Is the 'Day of the LORD' in Joel 1:15 the locust plague itself, or a future eschatological event?
Joel 1:15 identifies the locust plague as the arrival of the Day of the LORD — the day is 'at hand' and has already begun. Yet the chapter's language of cosmic reversal and its call to repentance suggest that the historical event prefigures a fuller, future completion of the Day, a tension that runs throughout the book and is debated among readers.
How does verse 15 relate to the call to fast and assemble in verse 14?
Verse 14 commands the people to sanctify a fast, gather the elders, and cry to Jehovah. Verse 15 supplies the reason: the day of Jehovah is at hand. The cry is not optional lament but an urgent response to an already-arriving judgment, giving the liturgical call its prophetic urgency.