(19) I will no more make you.--The reply of the Lord is directed to remove the fear that by reason of the destruction of the fruits of the land the people would be at the mercy of the invading nations.
Verse 19. - Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith. The Lord's answer comes in the shape of a promise of relief of which man and beast were so sorely in need. The promise, with deliverance from distress, couples ample abundance. The corn and the wine and the oil - the three great temporal blessings, equivalent to food, refreshment, and ornament - which the locusts had destroyed, as we read in ver. 10, God here promises to restore, and to restore not merely to the extent that was barely necessary, but in full and abundant measure, so that they would be satisfied therewith.
(1) The verbs of fulness or want, clothing and unclothing, going or coming and dwelling, govern an accusative; hence שׂבע has the accusative here; sometimes it is constructed with ב or מ.
(2) There are two constructions of a participle with a pronoun as subject - that in which the pronoun is written in its separate form in immediate connection with the participle, and that in which it is appended as a suffix.
(3) The words dagan from dagah, to multiply; yitshar from tsahar, to shine; and tirosh from yarash, to take possession of the brain, have each the article prefixed, to emphasize the products restored by the Divine mercy. The article, no doubt, is prefixed to the names of classes of objects generally known. And I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen. No more would they be a reproach or byword among the heathen, sneered at, as though God had abandoned them in his sore displeasure, or through sheer impotence had been unable to help them. All this God promised to do in answer to the prayers of his people. Such was the result of penitence, and such the power of prayer. Cherpath is a second accusative, or, more correctly, an appositional accusative to ethkem. The construction with le frequently takes the place of the second accusative, as in the seventeenth verse of the same chapter.
2:15-27 The priests and rulers are to appoint a solemn fast. The sinner's supplication is, Spare us, good Lord. God is ready to succour his people; and he waits to be gracious. They prayed that God would spare them, and he answered them. His promises are real answers to the prayers of faith; with him saying and doing are not two things. Some understand these promises figuratively, as pointing to gospel grace, and as fulfilled in the abundant comforts treasured up for believers in the covenant of grace.
Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto his people,.... By his prophets, as Kimchi: or, "the Lord answered and said" (a); while they were praying and weeping, or as soon as they cried unto him; or, however, praying to him, they might assure themselves that he heard them, and would answer them both by words and deeds:
behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil; that is, cause the earth to bring forth corn, as wheat and barley, and the vines and olive trees to bring forth grapes and olives, from which wine and oil might be made: this is, according to some interpreters, to be understood of an abundance of spiritual blessings:
and ye shall be satisfied therewith; or, "with it"; with each and every of the above things, corn, wine, and oil; they should not only have them, but have enough of them, even to satiety:
and I will no more make you a reproach among the Heathen; for want of food, and as if forsaken of God. The Targum is,
"and I will not give you any more the reproaches of famine among the people;''
(1) The verbs of fulness or want, clothing and unclothing, going or coming and dwelling, govern an accusative; hence שׂבע has the accusative here; sometimes it is constructed with ב or מ.
(2) There are two constructions of a participle with a pronoun as subject - that in which the pronoun is written in its separate form in immediate connection with the participle, and that in which it is appended as a suffix.
(3) The words dagan from dagah, to multiply; yitshar from tsahar, to shine; and tirosh from yarash, to take possession of the brain, have each the article prefixed, to emphasize the products restored by the Divine mercy. The article, no doubt, is prefixed to the names of classes of objects generally known. And I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen. No more would they be a reproach or byword among the heathen, sneered at, as though God had abandoned them in his sore displeasure, or through sheer impotence had been unable to help them. All this God promised to do in answer to the prayers of his people. Such was the result of penitence, and such the power of prayer. Cherpath is a second accusative, or, more correctly, an appositional accusative to ethkem. The construction with le frequently takes the place of the second accusative, as in the seventeenth verse of the same chapter.
behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil; that is, cause the earth to bring forth corn, as wheat and barley, and the vines and olive trees to bring forth grapes and olives, from which wine and oil might be made: this is, according to some interpreters, to be understood of an abundance of spiritual blessings:
and ye shall be satisfied therewith; or, "with it"; with each and every of the above things, corn, wine, and oil; they should not only have them, but have enough of them, even to satiety:
and I will no more make you a reproach among the Heathen; for want of food, and as if forsaken of God. The Targum is,
"and I will not give you any more the reproaches of famine among the people;''
see Joel 2:17.
(a) "et respondit", Piscator, Drusius, Burkius.