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Prescribing Fasting and Penitence
v. 13. Gird yourselves, namely, with garments of mourning, and lament, ye priests; howl, ye ministers of the altar, whose chief duties were concerned with the sacrifices brought on the two altars of the Temple. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God, extending their exercises of mourning even through the night season; for the meat-offering and the drink-offering is withholden from the house of your God, Cf v. 9, so that all the usual sacrifices had to be discontinued.
v. 14. Sanctify ye a fast, appointing a day or a number of days for a special religious service, during which the depth of the people's grief should be indicated by their abstaining from food; call a solemn assembly, such as were held in connection with the great festivals; gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord, your God, and cry unto the Lord, with impetuous and importunate praying.
v. 15. Alas for the day! so the prophet himself laments, for the day of the Lord, the time of His stern visitation, is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come, bringing its desolating scourge upon the land.
v. 16. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes? as their food supply was destroyed by the invading hordes of locusts, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? since the various sacrifices and meals of thanksgiving were no longer possible.
v. 17. The seed is rotten under their clods, withering in the soil on account of the terrible drought; the garners are laid desolate, the granaries being empty because there could be no harvest; the barns, which otherwise harbored such rich crops, are broken down, falling to pieces for want of money to repair them; for the corn is withered.
v. 18. How do the beasts groan! since the meadows also were dried up. The herds of cattle are perplexed, the word being chosen to denote the restless hunting of hungry cattle, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate, bearing their sufferings as a consequence of the transgressions of the people of the land. All this causes the prophet to lift up his voice to the Lord in a cry for help.
v. 19. O Lord, to Thee will I cry; for the fire, the parching heat, hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness, of the great Judean steppes, and the flame, the fierce heat of the drought, hath burned all the trees of the field.
v. 20. The beasts of the field, both domestic and wild animals, cry also unto Thee, their dumb misery being a powerful appeal for help; for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness. Cf Job_38:41; Psa_104:21; Psa_145:15; Psa_147:9; Jer_14:5-6. All creation groans and travails in pain together until now on account of the burden of man's guilt. Rom_8:19-22.