Commentary on Joel
Latin Text from public domain Migne Editors, Patrologiae Cursus Completus.
Translated into English using ChatGPT.
Table of Contents
Prologue
The order of the twelve prophets among the seventy interpreters is not the same as the one retained in Hebrew truth. For they place Amos second, Micah third, Joel fourth, Obadiah fifth, Jonah sixth, Nahum seventh, Habakkuk eighth, Zephaniah ninth, Haggai tenth, Zechariah eleventh, and Malachi twelfth. But the Hebrews, after Hosea, who is first among both, read Joel second, Amos third, Obadiah fourth, Jonah fifth, Micah sixth, Nahum seventh, Habakkuk eighth, Zephaniah ninth, Haggai tenth, Zechariah eleventh, and Malachi twelfth, who is also the last. And since once we have listed all the prophets of one volume, it seems useful to us to briefly annotate the etymologies of each in both Greek and Latin. Hosea means 'savior', which we can call the Savior. Joel means 'beginning', that is, starting. Amos means 'bearing', which is called 'carrying' in Latin. Obadiah means 'servant of the Lord', that is, servant of the Lord. Jonah means 'dove'. Micah, from two parts of speech, a compound name, which means, 'who is like', or 'who is as if'. Naum, παράκλησις, that is, consolation. Abacuc, περιλαμβάνων, that is, embrace or struggle. Sophonia, κεκρυμμένος Κυρίου, which means, hidden of the Lord. Aggaeus, ἑορτάζόν, which we can say is festive or solemn. Zacharias, μνήμη Κυρίου, that is, remembrance of the Lord. Malachias, ἄγγελός μου, that is, my messenger. The meaning of all these should be discussed in their respective volumes. But the other four prophets, to complete sixteen, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, have these interpretations: Isaiah is called the salvation of the Lord; Ezekiel, the power of the Lord, which we can call strength or rule of the Lord; Jeremiah, the highness of the Lord, that is, the exaltedness of the Lord; Daniel, the Lord has judged me. Since things are in this state, I beseech you, my Pammachus, who fight against the devil with every art of combat, to help us overcome our adversaries by praying to the Lord, just as Moses's hands were lifted up to God while we fought against Amalek (Exod. XV), and as you overcame the enemies of Israel by your prayers, after we had recently escaped from Egypt and crossed the Red Sea with Pharaoh being submerged in it (Exod. XIV). Now, after the extensive wilderness, we must toil much in order to reach the seventy palms and the apostolic springs. The scorpion may rise up and attempt to strike with its arched wound: you are the companion of the journey, and the enchanter of venomous bites, show us the spiritual flea as promised to your holy and venerable mother Paula, pious heir, accept it and support us with the favor of a friend whatever we may lack in talent or knowledge, do not consider our strength, but our willingness.
1:1
(Chapter 1, Verse 1) The word of the Lord that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. The Seventy Interpreters translated Pethuel as Bathuel, which has no meaning in Hebrew. However, Pethuel is translated into our language as the breadth of God, or God opening, as we read in Mark with the Savior saying to the deaf-mute: Ephphatha, which means, be opened (Mark 7). For just as the Apostle could say: Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is widened (2 Corinthians 6:11), and he heard from the Lord: Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it (Psalm 81:11). The opening of the mouth itself is in the power of God, not of man, as Paul says: A great and evident door has been opened to me; but there are many adversaries (1 Corinthians 16:9); therefore, God is said to be the opener. When the saint always makes progress, knowing in part and prophesying in part, until what is perfect comes, generated from breadth and openness, he is called Joel, which in our language means beginning, or is God, as the Apostle says: Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it (Phil. III, 13); growing in humility, he deserves to hear with Moses: I Am Who I Am (Exod. III). For the distinction is made between those who are not, about whom we also read in Esther: Do not give your scepter to those who are not (Esther XIV, 11), to show that God and His saints exist. Let these things be briefly described about the name of Joel and his father, so that the word of God, which was in the beginning with God, may be correctly told to have been made, as John the Baptist reports: He who is coming after me has become before me, because he was before me (John 1:30). Moreover, the word is said to have been made according to his merit, to whom it is said, not according to the condition of the one who is said to be made, as we read elsewhere: The Lord has become my salvation (Psalm 118:21). But in the book of the Prophet Hosea, whom we explained at the beginning as one of the twelve prophets, the prophecy is attributed to the ten tribes under the name Ephraim, which are often mentioned as either Samaria or Israel: in the same way, in Joel, who is second according to the Hebrews, it is to be believed that everything that is said pertains to the tribe of Judah and to Jerusalem, and no mention at all is made of Israel, that is, the ten tribes. We must also consider the times in which he prophesied, which we also read about in Hosea: In the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel.
1:2-3
(Version 2, 3.) Listen to this, elders, and perceive with your ears, all inhabitants of the earth, whether this happened in your days or in the days of your fathers: tell this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and let their children tell the next generation. LXX: Listen to these things, elders, and perceive with your ears, all inhabitants of the earth, whether such things happened in your days or in the days of your fathers: tell this to your children, and let your children tell their children, and let their children tell the next generation. The elderly are ordered to listen, the inhabitants of the earth to perceive with their ears. It is not said to the elderly, 'Listen, everyone'; to the inhabitants of the earth it is added, 'Perceive with your ears, everyone.' For in the holy scriptures, hearing is not that which resonates in the ear, but that which is perceived in the heart, according to what the Lord speaks in the Gospel: 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear' (Matt. 13:9). And what we have translated as 'perceive with your ears' is the same word in Greek and Hebrew, in Greek it is ἐνωτίσασθε, in Hebrew it is Eezinu, which is properly perceived not in the heart, but in the ear. And in order that we may know that hearing is more sacred than that which resonates in the ears, let us learn from the words of Isaiah: 'Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth' (Isa. I, 2). The elderly, who are heavenly, hear spiritually; those who dwell on the earth, and are called earthly, hear with their ears. And this should be noted in all the Scriptures where these two words are joined together. We also read this in the case of Lamech, a sinner, who spoke to his wives Ada and Sella: 'Hear my words, O wives of Lamech, give ear to my words, for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt' (Gen. IV, 23); he knew that what he spoke was obscure, and therefore he called his wives not only to the simple sound of his words, but also to the understanding of his hidden sayings. So if someone is an old man, and an old man chosen in the Lord of mature age, as we read in the following passages according to the Septuagint Interpreters, and he has left behind the infancy of little ones, let him hear what is being said. But whoever still dwells on the earth, and cannot say, “I am a stranger and a pilgrim like all my fathers” (Ps. 39:12), let him perceive with his ears. If it has happened, he says, in your days, or in the days of your fathers. The art of rhetoric, focused on the magnitude of things, captivates the listener: no age, he says, remembers these things, which have not happened in your time, nor in the time of your fathers and ancestors. But recognize the fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, and the sons of sons, and all the subsequent offspring, according to that Virgilian saying (Aeneid, Book III):
And the children of the children, and those who will be born from them:
And therefore, old men and inhabitants of the earth, tell your sons and posterity; let the old man teach his children the mysteries: let the inhabitant of the earth tell a simple story. Until this day, we who believe in Christ, from whom the veil has been taken away from our eyes together with Moses, and of whom it is said: The wisdom of an aged man is in his gray hairs (Wis. IV, 8), we narrate secret and wonderful things to our children. But the Jews who inhabit the land speak earthly things, and cling to the earth, of whom it is written: He who is of the earth speaks of the earth: He who comes from heaven is above all (John III, 31).
1:4
(Verse 4) The residue of a caterpillar is eaten by a locust, and the residue of a locust is eaten by a beetle, and the residue of the beetle is eaten by rust. In the same way seventy times. The beginning is followed by a narrative: there, to make the listener pay attention, he promised that he would say great and incredible things, which neither the ancient history nor the present age would know. Here he placed the caterpillar, and the locust, and the beetle, and the rust, so that what each one rarely experiences, all may be remembered as happening at the same time, and therefore be marvelous. The caterpillar, which is called 'gezem' in Hebrew and 'kampē' in Greek, is interpreted by the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Chaldeans, who, coming from one climate of the world, devastated all the ten tribes and two, namely, the Israelite people. The locust, however, is interpreted by the Medes and Persians, who held the Jews captive after the overthrow of the Chaldean empire. The worm, on the other hand, refers to the Macedonians and all the successors of Alexander, especially the king Antiochus, who was known as Epiphanes, and who sat like a worm in Judaea and devoured all the remnants of the previous kings, under whom the wars of the Maccabees are narrated. They refer to the Roman Empire that completely oppressed the Jews during the fourth and final reign, to the extent of driving them out of their own territory. Josephus writes about this extensively in seven volumes, recounting the triumphs of Vespasian and Titus. We also read about the expedition of Elius Hadrian against the Jews, who so completely destroyed Jerusalem and its walls that he established a city named after himself, Eliam, from the remnants and ashes of the city. Zacharias writes that he saw in a vision four kingdoms that would overthrow Judah, represented by four horns, with an angel saying to him: 'These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.' (Zechariah 1:19). And again: I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots coming out from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of brass. In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second chariot black horses, and in the third chariot white horses, and in the fourth chariot dappled strong horses (Zach. VI, 1). And when the prophet had said to the angel who spoke in me, What are these, my Lord? the angel answered: These are the four winds of heaven, who come out to stand before the Lord of all the earth. And the meaning is: These are the ones who come forth from the face of the Lord, to fulfill his will. When we hear with our ears what the caterpillar, locust, weevil, rust signify to the inhabitants of the earth: now let us hear with the old men what has been said. All schools of philosophers proclaim that there are four disturbances, by which the health of souls is subverted. Two are present and contrary to each other, two are future and mutually dissenting. The present ones are sorrow and joy. We speak of sorrow of the soul, otherwise it is not sorrow of the body, but it is called illness. Therefore, we are sad and consumed by grief, and our state of mind is overturned. Hence, the Apostle warns that the brother should not be swallowed up by excessive sadness (I Cor. II). On the contrary, we rejoice and are filled with joy, and we cannot bear our blessings in moderation. It is the mark of a just and strong man not to be broken by adversities or lifted up by prosperity, but to be moderate in both. We have spoken about the disturbance of present things; let us also speak about things to come, in which there is either fear or hope. We fear adversity, we await prosperity; and what causes sorrow and joy to operate in the present, fear and hope do regarding the future, while either we fear adversity more than it is appropriate for it to be coming, or prosperity which we hope for makes us rejoice to such an extent that we cannot keep a measure, especially in those things which are uncertain, because the future is expected rather than held. The illustrious poet captures these disturbances in one incomplete verse (Aeneid, Book VI):
They fear and desire (this about the future), they grieve and rejoice (this about the present), nor do they look at the breezes, he says, enclosed in darkness and a blind prison.
For those who are enveloped in the darkness of disturbances are unable to behold the bright light of wisdom. Therefore, we must beware lest sorrow, like a caterpillar, consumes us; lest joy, like a locust, flying here and there and exulting in gladness, ravages us; lest fear and anxiety about the future, like a worm, devour the roots of wisdom; lest rust and longing for things to come desire useless things and lead us to ruin. Rather, in all things, let us govern the four-horse chariot with the four reins and the four red, various, white, and black horses, that is, navigate through both adverse and prosperous circumstances, guided by the reins of wisdom. I believe that anger is a passion that is slow and cannot be controlled, and delay itself and persistence weaken and exhaust all strength: if we do not kill it, it grows in us and flies away, and now it devours whatever it touches, now departing, it moves on to other things: and returning to its former seat, it becomes a pest, so that not only does it devour the crops, leaves, and bark, but even the very marrow with its slowness. But if it should happen, which, however, is rare, that even after the spirit of life has departed from us, rust destroys everything, so that it turns straw and worthless hay into blackness, so that they are not only useless for eating, but also for manure. Concerning these four disturbances, we will also discuss in the beginning Amos, if life is a companion, where it is written: On account of three transgressions of Damascus, and of four, I will not convert them, says the Lord (Amos 1:3). The disturbances that we have interpreted, the Greeks call them πάθη, which if we translate κακοζήλως into passions, we will have expressed the word rather than the meaning of the word.
1:5
(Verse 5.) Wake up, you drunkards, and weep and howl, all you who drink wine in sweetness, because it has perished from your mouth. LXX: Wake up, you who are drunk with your wine, and mourn and lament, all you who drink wine in intoxication, because it has been taken away from your mouth. Like old men and elders, we should listen: nothing intoxicates like disturbance of the mind. There is a sadness that leads to death: this detestable drunkenness is it. Anger is that which does not accomplish the justice of God, and is very close to madness, rendering the mind powerless: to the extent that the lips tremble, the teeth grind, and the face changes color with paleness. And rightly is that praised which Archytas of Tarentum said when he was angry with his steward: 'I would kill you now,' he said, 'if I were not angry.' Why should I mention about joy and pleasure, and especially love, which blinds the eyes of the heart: and it allows the lover to think of nothing else except that which he loves. Is drunkenness to be called freedom of the soul when, because of a cheap prostitute and a shameful part of the body, freedom of the soul inclines towards servile flattery? when it makes its own work the pleasure of another? when it prepares for future wealth through theft, crime, and perjury? and when it seems to everyone that it does not exist: as long as it possesses what it desires. But greed also blinds the mind of one who is never satisfied: and the fear of women, and the desire for sweet vices. Where it is said to them: Be watchful and wake up, you who are drunk, not with wine, as it is contained in the seventy alone, but with every disturbance of vices. Weep, and mourn, and repent, and take on the sorrow that leads to life, and howl, all you who drink wine in sweetness (Prov. III), or in drunkenness. For vices are sweet: because honey distills from the lips of a harlot woman: and therefore it is not offered in sacrifices to God: because the wine, drunkenness, and sweetness which deceived you, has perished or has been taken away from your mouth. For often, indeed, by the providence of God, those who have not known God in prosperous times come to know Him in adversity; and those who have abused wealth are corrected by a shortage of virtues. Let the elders listen to this meaning: let the inhabitants of the earth perceive with their ears the following instructions about that wine, in which there is luxury, and by which those who become intoxicated cannot possess the kingdom of God (Ephesians 5). Let the one who is asleep due to the intoxication of wine awaken and lament that they were drunk, and let them howl; so that afterwards their howling and weeping may turn into laughter, and let them rejoice in not having the material of intoxication, which had made them drunk and insane through its abundance.
1:6-7
(Verse 6,7.) For a strong and innumerable nation will ascend over my land: its teeth, like lion's teeth, and its molars, like lion cubs. It has turned my vineyard into a desert, and has stripped my fig tree bare: it has made it naked and thrown it away; its branches have turned white. LXX: For a strong and innumerable nation will ascend over the land: its teeth, like a lion's teeth, and its molars, like lion cubs. He has made my vineyard into a desolation, and my fig tree into a splinter: he has thoroughly searched and thrown it away: he has whitened its branches. The Jews believe in the days of Joel that such an innumerable multitude of locusts came upon Judea to the extent that they filled everything: and I will not say just the crops, but indeed the bark of trees and the branches of vines they would leave behind, so that with all moisture consumed, the withered branches of the trees and the dry scourges of the vines would remain. We cannot affirm with certainty whether this happened or not, for it is not a historical account of the Kings and Chronicles (3 Kings 17). If it had been, then we would never read of the three and a half years of famine under Elijah in the Scriptures. We only say that under the metaphor of locusts, the coming of enemies is described, either the Assyrians and Babylonians who were approaching at that time, or the Medes and Persians who would come later, or the Macedonians whom we only learned about much later, or finally, the Romans about whom we have already spoken. Now it seems appropriate to speak more about the Babylonians and the Chaldeans, whose cruelty and savagery towards the people of God are described. And, if I am not mistaken, I think I have found something in this Prophet. The wickedness of the enemies is narrated under the figure of locusts, and then it is said about these locusts, as if they were compared to enemies, so that when you read about locusts, you think of enemies; when you think of enemies, you return to locusts. Therefore, a swarm of locusts rises from the wilderness, or an army of Chaldeans over the land of God, powerful and innumerable. For what is more numerous and stronger than locusts, against which human industry cannot resist? Its teeth, namely the teeth of locusts (but understand everything τυπικῶς), are like the teeth of a lion; and its molars, like the cubs of a lion, are compared to locusts in strength and number, and to lions in fierceness and cruelty. This is the nation, it is said, that has turned my vineyard into a desert, which I brought from Egypt and planted, and it has stripped my fig tree, the people of Judah (or my Jewish people), to whom the Savior came to eat of its fruits, and did not find any; and he cursed it, and it withered forever (Matthew 11). But let us know all the things said under the metaphor of locusts: which devour everything so much that they strip tree barks, cast them aside, and leave behind white and dry branches after consuming all the sap. We have mentioned the history; let us now move on to spiritual understanding, so that we may hear with the elders: The nation of God ascends upon the earth, namely the human soul. For all souls are of God: just as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son. And there arose a nation of the princes of this world, and of darkness, and of spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, against whom we have a struggle and a contest, of whom it is said: If the spirit of the ruler ascend upon thee, do not leave thy place (Ecclesiastes X, 4): whose teeth are like the teeth of a lion, of whom the apostle Peter speaks: Our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter V, 8). And its molars are like lion cubs. Understand the lion cub as someone who rises up against everything called God and religion, or certainly every perverse dogma. Concerning its broken molars, which are hidden inside and not visible, so that they are not easily avoided, even the Psalmist rejoices, saying: The Lord will break the molars of the lions (Ps. 57:7). Therefore, if we allow this race to take hold in us, it will immediately turn our vineyard into a desert, from which we used to make wine that gladdens the heart of man (Ps. 103); and it will strip or break our figs, so that we do not have the sweetest gifts of the Holy Spirit within us, and our vineyard and fig tree will not provide rest for the holy man. While under them, he will not fear the attacks of adversaries. And it is not enough for this people to destroy the vineyard and break the fig tree, unless they search them thoroughly and destroy whatever vitality is in them, so that, with all moisture consumed, only white and lifeless branches remain, and it is fulfilled in us: If they do these things in the green wood, what will they do in the dry? (Luke 23).
1:8
(Verse 8.) Lament like a young woman dressed in sackcloth, over the man of your youth. (Vulgate: Lament like a young woman dressed in sackcloth, over her young husband). LXX: Lament to me over the bride dressed in sackcloth, over her young husband. The man of youth, or as the Septuagint translated, παρθενικὸς, which is commonly called virginal, because he is understood to be none other than God, who in Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob betrothed himself to a pure bride untainted by any idolatrous filth. To whom and through Jeremiah it is said: You have not called me Master, and Father, and Prince of your virginity (Jer. III, 4). Hence, the Apostle speaks to believers: I have betrothed you to one man, to present a chaste virgin to Christ (I Cor. XI, 2). As long as the bridegroom is with this bride, he cannot fast (Matth. IX), nor mourn, nor indicate the longing for the absent bridegroom with tears. But when the bridegroom is taken away from her, she mourns and weeps, and girds herself with sackcloth and cilice, and is bound with a cord as a sign of mourning. We have understood who the bridegroom of the virgin is: but because this bridegroom, or husband, not only accepted the virgin as his bride, but also took a harlot as a wife in Hosea, therefore it is written in Deuteronomy: If you go out against your enemies, and the Lord your God delivers them into your hand, and you take captive women among them, and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and desire her, and would take her as a wife, you shall bring her into your house; and she shall shave her head and trim her nails and put off the clothes in which she was captured, sit in your house, and bewail her father and mother a month's time, and afterwards you shall go in to her, and be her husband (Deut. 21:10-13). Such a woman does not have a husband, that is, a master of virginity, but she has taken a prostitute from the filth of the nations as a wife. And we can say this about every believing soul. If she believed in the Lord from a young age, she has the Lord as her virgin bridegroom. But if she comes to the truth of faith, from the most unclean depths of the Jews, the Gentiles, or the heretics, and transitions from darkness to light, she will indeed have a bridegroom, but not a virgin one. And it is said about people like this: Your breasts were broken in Egypt, and there you lost your virginity (Ezek. XXIII, 3).
1:9-12
(V. 9 seqq.) The sacrifice and libation from the house of the Lord have perished; the priests, ministers of the Lord, mourn. The land is laid waste, the earth mourns; for the wheat is destroyed. The wine is spoiled, the oil languishes, the farmers are confused. The vintners wail over the wheat and barley, for the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, the fig tree languishes; the pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up; because joy has been confounded among the sons of men. LXX: The sacrifice and offering have been taken away from the house of the Lord. Mourn, O priests, ministers of the Lord, for the fields are devastated. Let the land mourn, for the wheat is afflicted, the wine has dried up, the oil has diminished. The farmers have withered away. Mourn, O possessions, for the grain and barley have perished. The grape harvest is lost, the vine has dried up, and the fig tree has withered. The pomegranate tree, the palm tree, the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are dried up. The joy of mankind has been destroyed. As far as history is concerned, due to the multitude of locusts or enemies that are described under their appearance, the sacrifice and libation from the house of the Lord perished, with everything devastated and consumed. The former used to offer from flour, and the latter from wine. Therefore, the priests, who are the ministers of the Lord, mourned, since neither the sacrifices nor the libations were properly performed, especially because the tithes, which they used to receive, were not offered at all. For the entire region was populated. The earth mourned, metaphorically, because of what happened to those who work the land: wheat, wine, and oil languished. Even the tenant farmers and vine dressers were confused and wailed because not only did the wheat dry up, but also the barley, which is cheaper and more abundant. And the vegetables, which I believe are signified by what he says, the harvest of the field perished, that is, all that the earth usually produces. What can I say about the grain, wine, oil, and barley, when even the dried fruits of the trees have withered, the fig tree has languished, and the pomegranate, palm, apple, and all the trees, whether fruitless or fruitful, have been devoured by the locust? All these things have happened so that the joy of the children of men may be taken away or be confounded. We can say that the same things happened to the people of Judea after the coming of the Savior when, with equal fury, they cried out, 'Crucify, crucify him! We have no king but Caesar' (John 19:9 and 15). When Jerusalem was surrounded by an army and such great necessity came upon them of famine and pestilence that they ate the bodies of their own children who were not yet mature. And all sacrifices were abolished, and the joy of the children of men was confounded because they did not want to receive the joy that the angel announced to the shepherds: 'I bring you tidings of great joy' (Luke 2:10). According to this interpretation, after the bride, who has received the teaching of God, has been separated from her bridegroom by sins, and has clothed herself in mourning attire, that is, the garments of one in mourning, then the sacrifice will perish, of which it is written: 'A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit' (Ps. 50:19), and the libation of wine, which gladdens the heart of man, from the house of God, which is the Church, as the Apostle says to Timothy: 'So that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God' (1 Tim. 3:15). But the sacrifice and libation will be taken away from the house of the Lord, when charity has grown cold due to the multiplication of iniquity (Matt. 24): and the leaders of the people and the ministers of the altar will see that the fields and plains of the believers do not produce the fruits of virtue, but that everything is filled with vices: when the wheat and barley, vineyards and olive groves, rocket, grasshoppers, weevils, and rust have consumed everything, and we will not have the chalice that is written about: Your inebriating chalice, how preeminent it is (Ps. 23, 5)! And the oil shall perish, of which we read in Ecclesiastes: Let your garments be always white, and let not oil be lacking on your head (Eccl. IX, 8): whereby your face may shine, and your head may be anointed when you fast. Then the farmers shall be confounded, when they see that wheat does not grow in their fields, which sustains men, and barley which sustains irrational animals, and that the vineyard is in disorder, of which it is written: O vineyard of Israel, abundant in fruit (Isai. V, 2): the Lord was waiting for it to produce grapes, and it produced thorns. The fig also withered under which Nathanael was before he believed (John 1), and the pomegranate, whose cheeks are compared to the bride's cheeks in the Song of Songs (Song of Songs 6), and the palm tree that, losing its sap, withered, of which it was once said: But the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree (Psalm 92:13), and the apple tree of which we read in the same Song: As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons (Song of Songs 2:3). Why is it necessary to traverse all the trees, when everything is burned, and for joy and happiness, the sorrow and confusion of mankind will oppress and confound?
1:13-14