Joel 1:7

“He hath laid my vine waste, etc.] That is, the locust, which spoiled the vines in Judea, the singular being put for the plural, by gnawing the branches, biting the tops of them, and devouring the leaves and the fruit; and so not only left them bare and barren, but destroyed them: this may emblematically represent the Assyrians or Babylonians wasting the land of Judea, the vine and vineyard of the Lord of hosts; (see <230501>Isaiah 5:1-5); and barked my fig tree; gnawed off the bark of them; locusts are not only harmful to vines, as is hinted by Theocritus F14, but to fig trees also: Pliny F15 speaks of fig trees in Boeotia gnawn by locusts, which budded again; and mentions it as something…”

“barked--BOCHART, with the Septuagint and Syriac, translates, from an Arabic root, "hath broken," namely, the topmost shoots, which locusts most feed on. CALVIN supports English Version. my vine . . . my fig tree--being in "My land," that is, Jehovah's (Joe 1:6). As to the vine-abounding nature of ancient Palestine, see Num 13:23-24. cast it away--down to the ground. branches . . . white--both from the bark being stripped off (Gen 30:37), and from the branches drying up through the trunk, both bark and wood being eaten up below by the locusts.”

“He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree - This describes an extremity of desolation. The locusts at first attack all which is green and succulent; when this has been consumed, then they attack the bark of trees. : “When they have devoured all other vegetables, they attack the trees, consuming first the leaves, then the bark.” : “A day or two after one of these bodies were in motion, others were already hatched to glean after them, gnawing off the young branches and the very bark of such trees as had escaped before with the loss only of their fruit and foliage.” : “They carried desolation wherever they passed. After having consumed herbage, fruit, leaves of trees, they attacked…”

“1:7 The destructive power of locusts is well documented in both ancient and modern times. The insatiable insects consume annual crops such as grains and vegetables, and they destroy perennial fruit-bearing trees and vines, leaving the branches white and bare.”

“laid: Joe 1:12; Exo 10:15; Psa 105:33; Isa 5:6, Isa 24:7; Jer 8:13; Hos 2:12; Hab 3:17 barked my fig tree: Heb. laid my fig-tree for a barking Joel 1:8”