Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Book of Joel-Images

In Chapter 1 of the Book of Joel, it talks about starvation and drought. It says:
To You, O LORD, I cry;
For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness
And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.
Even the beasts of the field pant for You;
For the water brooks are dried up
And fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.
When I read this I had a vivid image in my mind of blazing fire everywhere. Wherever it goes it's consuming what's around it. It's burning pastures and trees and animals and all of the water is dried up. It's not a pretty picture to imagine, but it definitely stands out.
In Chapter 2, it talks about the Day of the Lord. It says:

"I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth,
Blood, fire and columns of smoke.
"The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood
Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
"And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD
Will be delivered;
While reading this, I imagined blood, fire, and smoke in the sky. The sun was the fire and then turned black as smoke while the moon turned red as blood. Even though this doesn't sound like a very appealing image, it's exciting because I know when this happens that the Lord has come and those who are saved will be delivered.
My favorite image is in Chapter 3 where it talks about Judah being blessed. It says:

And in that day
The mountains will drip with sweet wine,
And the hills will flow with milk,
And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water;
And a spring will go out from the house of the LORD
To water the valley of Shittim.
I imagined beautiful green mountains dripping with waterfalls of sweet, red wine. Then hills flowing with milk down its sides. And every brook that was dry was filled with the clearest and most blue water ever. And where the house of the Lord is there's the most exotic and beautiful stream that watered the deslote valley of Shittim.

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