Attributed commentary excerpt
Barnes' Notes on Joel 2:32
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Notes on the Whole Bible
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · 19th-century historical commentary
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord - To call upon the name of the Lord, is to worship Him, as He is, depending “upon” Him. “The name of the Lord,” expresses His True Being, That which He is. Hence, so often in Holy Scripture, people are said to “call on the Name of the Lord,” to bless the Name of the Lord, to praise the Name of the Lord, to sing praises to His Name, to make mention of His Name, to tell of His Name, to know His Name” but it is very rarely said “I will praise the Name of God” (Psalms 69:31; Hebrew), for the Name rendered “the Lord,” expresses that He is, and that He Alone is, the Self-Same, the Unchangeable; the name rendered “God” is not the special Name of God. Hence, as soon as people were multiplied and the corrupt race of Cain increased, people “began,” after the birth of Enos, the son of Seth, “to call upon the Name of the Lord” Genesis 4:26, i. e., in public worship. Abraham’s worship, in the presence of the idolatries of Canaan, is spoken of, under the same words, “he called upon the Name of the Lord” Genesis 12:8; Genesis 13:4; Genesis 21:33; Genesis 26:25. Elijah says to the prophets of Baal, “call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the Name of the Lord” 1 Kings 18:24. Naaman the Pagan says of Elisha, “I thought that he would come out to me, and stand and call on the Name of the Lord his God” 2 Kings 5:11. Asaph and Jeremiah pray God; “Pour out Thy wrath upon the pagan that have not known Thee, and upon the kingdom (families Jerome) which have not called upon Thy Name” Psalms 79:6; Jeremiah 10:25; and Zephaniah fortells the conversion of the Pagan, “that they may all call upon the Name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent” Zephaniah 3:9. To “call” then “upon the Name of the Lord” implies right faith to call upon Him as He is; right trust in Him, leaning upon Him; right devotion, calling upon Him as He has appointed; right life, ourselves who call upon Him being, or becoming by His Grace, what lie wills. They “call” not “upon the Lord,” but upon some idol of their own imagining, who call upon Him, as other than He has revealed Himself, or remaining themselves other than those whom He has declared that He will hear. For such deny the very primary attribute of God, His truth. “Their” God is not a God of truth. But whosoever shall in true faith and hope and charity have in this life worshiped God, “shall be delivered,” i. e., out of the midst of all the horrors of that Day, and the horrible damnation of the ungodly. The “deliverance” is by way of “escape” (for such is the meaning of the word , “he shall be made to escape, slip through” (as it were) perils as imminent as they shall be terrible. Our Lord uses the like word of the same Day, “Watch ye therefore and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” Luke 21:36. Those who so call upon Him in truth shall be heard in that day, as He says, “Ask and it shall be given you; Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you” Matthew 7:7; John 16:23. : “That calling on God whereon salvation depends, is not in words only, but in heart and in deed. For what the heart believeth, the mouth confesseth, the hand in deed fulfilleth, The Apostle saith, “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Spirit” 1 Corinthians 12:3; yet this very “saying” must be weighed not by words, but by the afflictions. Whence, we read of Samuel, “An…
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