He tells all of Judah or the community around Jerusalem to lament and wail (sackcloth being the preferred unfashionable attire for such). Specifically he tells priest and ministers first because they were to be the spiritual leadership. They are the ones charged with keeping the people in fellowship with God, the mediators between His holy nation and Himself and this mediation is clearly is not happening. Spiritual leadership is the last vanguard against total apostasy…even after the civil authorities and the laity mentioned later in this passage. The priests and ministers are exceptionally guilty as they should’ve seen the wrong in what they and the people were doing, yet they sat idle or actually participated in the guilty actions. Later in this unit the “elders” and all the inhabitants of the land are given the imperative to “cry out to the Lord”. I have to assume for forgiveness and to plead for restoration. A cry of intercession on their own behalf (Myers 80)
Myers, Jacob Martin. "Joel: The Effect of The Plague." The Book of Hosea ; The Book of Joel ; The Book of Amos ; The Book of Obadiah ; The Book of Jonah . Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press, 1978. 80. Print.
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