Joel 1:8-10

The next entity called to mourn appears to be Jerusalem. The gender of "Wail" is feminine (singular), and Jerusalem is often compared to a virgin daughter in the Old Testament (e.g., 2 Kings 19:21; Lamentations 1:15; cf. Joel 2:1; Joel 2:15; Joel 2:23; Joel 2:32). This virgin (Heb. bethulah) was to weep in sackcloth, clothing appropriate for such an occasion, as though she had lost her bridegroom in death. The Hebrew word suggests that this virgin was a presently unmarried woman who anticipated union with her betrothed. The reason for Jerusalem’s mourning was the locusts’ destruction of grain, wine, and oil, blessings from God and the products needed to worship Him in the daily temple burnt offerings (cf. Exodus 29:38-42; Leviticus 2; Leviticus 6:14-18; Leviticus 9:16-17; Leviticus 23:18; Leviticus 23:37; Numbers 15:5; Numbers 28:3-8). Grain, wine, and oil represent the three major types of vegetation in Israel: grasses, shrubs, and trees. Used together, as they often are in the Old Testament, they stand for all agricultural products. [Note: Dillard, p. 262.] This appears to be a merism, a figure of speech in which selected prominent parts represent all parts, the whole. The grain offerings required flour and oil (Numbers 28:5), and the drink offerings necessitated wine (Exodus 29:40; Numbers 28:7).

"These offerings spoke of the very heart of the believer’s daily walk before God: the burnt offering, of a complete dedication of life; the meal offering, of the believer’s service that should naturally follow; and the drink offering, of the conscious joy in the heart of the believer whose life is poured out in consecrated service to his God." [Note: Patterson, p. 240.]

The result was that the priests and the whole nation mourned. It was bad enough that the people did not have food and drink for their own enjoyment, but it was worse that they could not worship Yahweh.