Chariots on the Tops of Mountains Joel 2:5

Joel declared, “the day of the LORD comes”, and he desired for the “trumpet” to be “blown in Zion” which would sound an “alarm” that the invading nation was to come against Judah. It was to be a day of “darkness and gloominess” with “thick darkness” as the “strong people” would come upon them. Their invasion would be like a “fire” and “flame” as the “nation” would see the “garden of Eden” before them and leave “a wilderness” of destruction behind. In chapter two and verse five of his prophecy, Joel gave a further description of this “nation” as he described them “like the noise of chariots on tops of mountains” where we read:

Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

The verse begins, “Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap,...” Joel began with the phrase, “Like the noise” or “voice or sound” “of chariots” which refers to “war vehicles of battle” “on the tops” or “summits, upper parts, chief and height” “of mountains” or “hill country and range of hills” “shall they leap” which means “skip about, dance, leap and make to skip”. Joel saw this destructive nation as like unto “war chariots” upon the “mountains” which would freely make their way like they were “skipping” from hill to hill.

The verse continues, “...like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.” Joel added, “like the noise” or “voice or sound” “of a flame” which means “blade or flashing point of a spear or sword” “of fire” or “flames and supernatural fire” “that devours” or “eats, burns up and feeds” “the stubble” which refers to “chaff or straw”, “as a strong” or “mighty, great, vast, numerous and countless” “people” which refers to “nation, persons, compatriots, country-men, kinsman and kindred” “set in battle” or “war or fight” “array” which means “to arrange, set or put or lay in order, prepare, ordain, handle, furnish, esteem, equal, direct and compare”. This nation would also bring ruin through “flame of fire” which easily burns through dry “chaff”, and would “array” themselves like an army set in “battle”.

When we think through these words of Joel, we see the fierceness of this attacking “nation”. Their onslaught would be ferocious, and the em-battlement against Judah was to be swift and complete. This is the way “the enemy” likes to destroy the people of God. If he had his way, satan would “steal, kill and destroy” every person on earth, but our LORD Jesus promised that He came that we might have “life, and life more abundantly”. Before the fate of our own lives and those around us becomes like Judah, let us call out unto the LORD, turn from our wicked ways, and not only hear but obey the LORD before it is too late.

Next time shares about “much pain”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.