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We have observed abundance of tears shed for the destruction of the fruits of the earth by the locusts, now here we have those tears turned into the right channel, that of repentance and humiliation before God. The judgment was very heavy, and here they are directed to own the hand of God in it, His mighty hand, and to humble themselves under it.

I. A PROCLAMATION ISSUED OUT FOR A GENERAL FAST. The priests are ordered to appoint one; they must not only mourn themselves, but they must call upon others to mourn too. Under public judgments there ought to be public humiliations. With all the marks of sorrow and shame sin must be confessed and bewailed, the righteousness of God must be acknowledged and His favour implored. Observe what is to be done by a nation at such a time.

1. A day is to be appointed for this purpose, a day of restraint (marg.), a day in which people must be restrained from their other ordinary business, and from all bodily refreshments.

2. It must be a fast, a religious abstaining from meat and drink, further than is of absolute necessity. Hereby we own ourselves unworthy of our necessary food, and that we have forfeited it, and deserve to be wholly deprived of it; we punish ourselves and mortify the body, which has been the occasion of sin; we keep it in a frame fit to serve the soul in serving God, and, by the appetite's craving food, the desires of the soul towards that which is better than life, and all the supports of it, are excited.

3. There must be a solemn assembly. All had contributed to the national guilt, all shared in the national calamity, and therefore they must all join in the professions of repentance.

4. They must come together in the temple, because that was the house of prayer, and there they might hope to meet with God.

5. They must sanctify" this fast, must observe it, in a religious manner, with sincere devotion.

6. They must "cry unto the Lord." To Him they must make their complaint and offer up their supplication.

II. SOME CONSIDERATIONS SUGGESTED TO INDUCE THEM TO PROCLAIM THIS FAST, AND TO OBSERVE IT STRICTLY.

1. God was beginning a controversy with them. It is time to "cry unto the Lord,. for the day of the Lord is at hand." Either they mean the continuance and consequences of this present judgment which they now saw but breaking in upon them, or some greater judgments which this was but a preface to. Therefore "cry to God," for —

(1)  The day of His judgment is very near.

(2)  It will be very terrible.

2. They saw themselves already under the tokens of His dis: pleasure.

(1)  Let them look into their own houses, and there was no plenty there, as there used to be.

(2)  Let them look into God's house, and see the effects of the judgment there.

3. The prophet returns to describe the grievousness of the calamity, in some particulars of it.

(1)  The caterpillars have devoured the corn.

(2)  The cattle, too, perish for want of grass.

III. THE PROPHET STIRS THEM UP TO CRY TO GOD, WITH THE CONSIDERATION OF THE EXAMPLES GIVEN THEM FOR IT.

1. His own example. "O Lord! to Thee will I cry."

2. The example of the inferior creatures. When they groan by reason of their calamity, He is pleased to interpret it as if they cried to Him; much more will He put a favourable construction upon the groanings of His own children, though sometimes so feeble that they cannot be uttered.

( Matthew Henry.)

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KJV: Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

WEB: Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God's house.