Joel 1:13-14 Gird yourselves, and lament, you priests: howl, you ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth… It must have been in the kingdom of Judah what the drought of Ahab's reign had been in the kingdom of Israel. It was a day of Divine judgment, a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. The harsh blast of the consecrated ram's horn called an assembly for an extraordinary fast. Not a soul was to be absent. All were there stretched in front of the altar. The altar itself presented the dreariest of all sights, a hearth without its sacred fire, a table spread without its sacred feast. The priestly caste, instead of gathering as usual upon its steps and platform, were driven, as it were, to the farther space; they turned their backs to the dead altar, and lay prostrate, gazing towards the Invisible Presence within the sanctuary. Instead of the hymns and music, which, since the time of David, had entered into their prayers, there was nothing heard but the passionate sobs, and the loud dissonant howls such as only an eastern hierarchy could utter. Instead of the mass of white mantles, which they usually presented, they were wrapped in black goat's hair sackcloth, twisted round them; not with the brilliant sashes of the priestly attire, but with a rough girdle of the same texture, which they never unbound night or day. What they wore of their common dress was rent asunder or cast off. With bare breasts they waved their black drapery towards the temple, and shrieked aloud, "Spare Thy people, O Lord!" (Dean Stanley.) Parallel Verses KJV: Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. |
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