Joel 2:15

"Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; gather the people, sanctify the assembly, assemble the old men, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?

This passage is an elaboration of Joel 2:1 and indicates that the utmost participation in the solemn assembly must be achieved, even bridegrooms who by Jewish custom were exempted from all public duties during the first year of marriage (even war), as well as brides and infant children were required to attend. (See Deuteronomy 24:5.)

The duties of priests, even including the exact prayer they were to pray, were included. Significantly, that prayer was not for the alleviation of the locust plague, but that God should avert the delivery of Israel into the hands of "the nations that they should rule over them." If proof were needed that this 2chapter deals with a great judgment symbolized by the locust plague, and not merely with such a plague itself, it surely appears here.

"Between the porch and the altar ..." This and other related expressions in these verses have been made the basis of postulating a late post-exilic date; but as Robertson said:

"Too much is made of the references to ritual, as if they necessarily implied a post-exilic date. It is not legitimate here .... The meaning of "old men" or "elders" is no such indication. The expression everywhere in Joel means nothing more than "old men"; and, even if it had an official connotation, the official elders are an old tribal institution in Israel."[25]

"Give not thy heritage to reproach ... Wherefore should they say, Where is their God? ..." Such expressions as this "are all anterior to the earliest possible date of Joel, and prove that at an early time there was a consciousness in Israel that the fortunes of the people were bound up with the honor of God."[26] Such an idea was certainly very much older than the times of the exile. As a matter of fact, this particular idea goes back to Moses himself who used exactly this same appeal in his plea to God to avert the threatened destruction of the nation upon the occasion of their worshipping the golden calf. He said:

"Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, saying, For evil did he bring them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce anger, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants" (Exodus 32:12,13).

Also, the Book of Deuteronomy casts a great deal of light on this prophecy. Moses specifically warned the people of their becoming a "byword" among all nations, and that locusts would destroy their harvests (Deuteronomy 28:36-46); and, in the light of Moses' warning, it was actually no difficult thing to connect the present locust plague with the ultimate dispersion of Israel as a reproach among all nations as foretold by Moses.