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"Awake, you drunkards, and weep"

Text: Joel 1:5

DEVASTATION OF THE VINEYARDS

Swarms of locusts can bring great devastation on the land. Israel was essentially an agricultural nation. A plague of locusts would harm the land significantly.

“Awake, you drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine.
Because of the new wine,
For it has been cut off from your mouth”
Joel 1:5

1. Destruction of vineyards

a) Wine comes from grapes carefully tended in vineyards.

b) But what if the vineyards are destroyed because of the plague of locusts?

c) Many would be affected:

i) The owners

ii) The workers

iii) There will be a great loss for all concerned.

2. “Awake, you drunkards, and weep”

a) This word was given in sarcasm.

b) The drunkards were the consumers.

c) When people are drunk, they try and sleep off the effects of heavy drinking.

d) They would weep bitterly because the wine supply was cut off.

3. “And wail, all you drinkers of wine”

a) Not all are drunkards.

b) But all drinkers of wine would feel sad and wail because there will be a severe shortage.

4. “Because of the new wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth”

a) Some liked the taste of “new wine”.

b) But what if the vineyards had been devastated by the plague of locusts?

THE FEATURING OF THE DRINKERS OF WINE

Joel singled out the drunkards because of the problem of heavy drinking in the nation.

1. The drunkards would feel the pinch painfully.

2. They have been given to wine-drinking so much that they would weep and wail when wine was no longer easily available.

3. The effects of the plague of locusts did not bother everyone in the nation.

4. Joel took a different view! He sought to highlight the devastating effects of the plague on the land.