Blow the trumpet in Zion, hallow a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly;
The trumpet sounds a second time in this chapter, but with a different message than the one in verse 1. The first blast warned of an invading army. This one calls the whole nation to fast and gather before God. What is such a gathering for, and does God answer it?
One writer sets the two calls side by side, then points to two trumpet calls in the New Testament:
The prophet Joel gives us an example of both. "Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain!" (Joel 2:1). Here a powerful adversary was in view, as the following verses show. But again, "Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly" (Joel 2:15). Here it is a matter of approaching God, as the next verses show. We find similar thoughts in the New Testament. The alarm for conflict is referred to in 1 Corinthians 14:8, so the trumpet must give no uncertain sound. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16, the trumpet of God is to sound to assemble the saints, whether dead or living, to meet the Lord at His coming again.
The two blasts point in opposite directions. One sends a frightened people shouting for help. This one gathers them to God, and it leaves nobody outside — not the bridegroom and bride, not even the priests:
It is not now "Sound an alarm," but "Consecrate a fast, call a solemn assembly." It is the gathering of the people to God, not merely their loud call on God to appear for them in their great alarm before the enemy... So the whole people are laid low, even down to the bridegroom and bride and the nursing child. The priests are included as well as the people, but not in their own place. They have to come out, and are with the people in humiliation, not apart in official dignity. It is a most admirable picture of a nation humbling itself before God. All classes of society — political, religious, and family life — give way to the sense of their sin before God. Nothing levels people like sin, or death, which sin brings. But it is a blessed thing when the gracious call of God works repentance. Repentance really means the heart owning its own evil and accepting what God then has to say to us.
Older translations read "sanctify a fast" where the ESV has "consecrate." Commenting on the same wording earlier in Joel, William Kelly explains what the word carries:
The call is not only to mourn and grieve. That was right, and it was what such a serious judgment from God was meant to produce. But there is more — "Consecrate a fast." That is more than appointing a fast. Sanctification always means separation to God... It brings God in. Without this it cannot be.
One writer lists this verse among the Old Testament promises that Israel will one day repent:
Israel rejected the Messiah, and judgments were to come on them because of it. Even so, the Old Testament plainly and fully foretold that Israel will one day repent (see Hosea 5:15; Hosea 6:1-2; Ps. 110:2-3; Ezek. 20:43-44; Joel 2:15, 18; Zech. 12:10-14, etc.). Confessing and mourning their sins, they will look with longing for Him whom they once rejected. Then He will return, forgive their iniquity, and deliver them from their Gentile oppressors.
What follows in the chapter is God acting for His people. One writer weighs what God does against what the enemy had done:
Again the trumpet is to be blown in Zion. This time it is not to "sound an alarm," but to gather the people so that they may learn how God is going to intervene for them. Though they have sinned and have suffered, they are His people, His heritage, His land, and He is jealous on their behalf. The enemy has done great things; God has allowed him to do so. But now He shows Himself to be on the side of His people. The promise is: "The LORD will do great things" (Joel 2:21 — the ESV reads, "the LORD has done great things!"). The great things He would do for them would far surpass the great things the Assyrian had done against them.
What triggers that answer is not the volume of the crying but the reality behind it:
But God hears... not for alarm merely, but because of their genuine repentance before Himself. Instead of insensibility or efforts to improve themselves, they will draw near to the LORD in the sense of their sins.
- Trumpet. One instrument, two errands. Verse 1 sounds alarm against an enemy. Verse 15 calls the people to approach God. The New Testament keeps both notes: one for conflict, one for gathering.
- Direction. The alarm shouts for God to come and rescue. The second blast moves the people toward God themselves. That is a different thing.
- Consecrate. "Consecrate a fast" is more than fixing a date for one. To consecrate always means setting apart for God — it brings God into the matter.
- Everyone. The gathering reaches from the bridegroom and bride down to the nursing child. Even the priests leave their official place and are humbled with everyone else. Nothing levels people like sin.
- Answer. God responds to genuine repentance, not to noise — and the great things He then does outweigh the great things the enemy had done. One writer sees this national turning as still ahead for Israel.
gather the people, hallow the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride from her closet.
An alarm has already warned the nation of an advancing army. Now the trumpet sounds again, and this time it calls everyone — elders, nursing infants, even a bride and bridegroom — into one gathering before God. Why must repentance be this public? And when does such a scene take place?
This trumpet blast is not the same signal as the earlier one. One writer separates the two calls by their purpose:
Then comes the second blowing of the trumpets, but this one is different. "Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly." The word is no longer "Sound an alarm," but "Consecrate a fast, call a solemn assembly." This is the gathering of the people to God. It is not just their loud cry to God to come and act for them in their great fear of the enemy.
Another writer links the call to Numbers 10, and says what the people are to do once gathered:
In verse 15 God has the trumpet sounded to gather the people together, as Numbers 10:7 directs. They are to plead with Him to turn away His wrath. They are to speak to Him directly, as the One who Himself directs His own judgments. How good it is to deal with God, and to see Him in the judgment, even though He is a consuming fire!
The verse does not only say to call the people. It says to set them apart. Older translations read "sanctify" here, and that word has a fixed sense:
It is more than appointing a fast. Sanctification always means separation to God. Since grace has sanctified us, we have the right to treat even the most ordinary things by the word of God and prayer, as 1 Timothy 4 urges us to do. It brings God in. Without this it cannot be done.
The list runs from the oldest to the youngest. It even reaches into the wedding chamber. That sweep is the point:
So the whole people are bowed down together, right down to the bridegroom, the bride and the nursing baby... It is a wonderful picture of a nation humbling itself before God. Every class of society — in political, religious and family life — gives way to the sense of their sin before God. Nothing levels people like sin, or like death, which is the result of sin. But it is a blessed thing when the gracious call of God works repentance. Repentance means the heart takes the place of owning our own evil, and accepts what God then has to say to us.
The next verse places the priests between the porch and the altar, weeping. Commentators note where that leaves them:
We can see that the humbling was to reach everyone and be complete. Even the priests are called to stand outside the sanctuary and cry to Jehovah with the people. They appeal to His faithfulness, so that the nations would not say, "Where is their God?" — as the Jews said to Jesus.
Kelly notes what the priests give up by joining them:
The priests are included as well as the people, but not in their own place. They have to come out, and they are with the people in humiliation, not apart in official dignity.
Commentators read this gathering as still future. It belongs to a coming time of trouble, and it divides the nation in two:
Here the Lord calls His people to return to Him with true repentance (compare Hosea 5:15-6:1). During that great tribulation part of the people will truly repent and turn to Him in the way this chapter describes. God will save this remnant in that day, and He will cut off in judgment the part that does not repent.
One writer sets out the order: the people repent first, then God acts.
Joel calls the Jews to repent. As soon as they do, Jehovah puts down this northern army that is oppressing them and cutting them off, while the Jews weep between the porch and the altar. Then He gives them complete blessing... and then He gives them the Spirit.
- Trumpet. The first blast warned of the enemy. This one gathers the people to God, following Numbers 10.
- Set apart. Consecrating the people is more than arranging a fast. Sanctification always means separation to God, and it brings God in.
- Everyone. Elders, children, nursing infants, bride and bridegroom all bow together. Nothing levels people like sin.
- Priests too. God calls them out of the sanctuary to cry with the people. They share the humbling instead of standing apart in official dignity.
- Then. Commentators read this as the repentance of a remnant in a coming day of trouble. When they turn, God puts down the enemy, gives full blessing, and gives the Spirit.