Examining The Scripture CXXVII: A Scorching Punishment With Teeth

Joel

Yahweh the righteous judge will punish evil and vindicate Israel. The majority of Chapters 1 & 2 focus on the oracle of destruction and imagery describing a plague of locust and drought that will envelope Israel. It is clear that these types of natural/divine disasters had affected Israel before. I imagine they may have happened quite often...so the threat of drought or pestilance are never far from their minds and are always sources of anxiety for the people of Israel (v. 2:6- “they turn pale”), just as flooding is always a danger near the sea. The impending disaster is described in graphic detail and done repetitively to build this anxiety in an attempt to get people to see the error of their ways...like a mantra of doom.

(1) “Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers?”
(1a) This is going to be bad

(2) “What the locust swarm has left he great locusts (young locusts, other locusts) have eaten”
(2a) Perhaps indicating wave after wave of infestation, unrelenting and merciless.
(2b) A punishment with teeth (mandibles). These are not ordinary locust like we are use to in the USA they were viciously little things that could rip and tear just about anything with their powerful mandibles…including human flesh/skin if they chose to. They could strip bark (v. 7) from trees (has the teeth of a lion). They were supposedly (Hebrew: arbeh) or desert locust that invaded in immense numbers often so thick they blocked out the sun or cover the land so that the land couldn’t be seen (powerful without number). Due to their great numbers and ferociousness they devastated areas (Brand 823). They will be like an Army (2:1 & 5)
(2c) They will move across the land like dawn spreading across the mountains.
(2d) It is the idea of a unstoppable nebulous foe like the shadow of dawn drifting over land.
(2e) They will have the appearance of horses galloping along like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots they’ll leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
(2f) It is clear the locust will be an merciless onslaught. People will probably try to hide in their homes but to no avail. What the locusts leave drought will burn off like fire.

(3) “Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips”
(3a) No wine due to destruction of vineyards “laid waste my vines”


(4) “The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up…”
(4a) When the locusts destroy the useful ground cover the intense desert sun burns off all the remaining vegetation (if there was any left)
(4b) Harvests will be destroyed, inevitably starvation follows if people hadn’t stocked up.

Joel’s initial response is to call people to mourn and then seek repentance for the sin that has caused God’s wrath. (v. 13) Put on sackcloth, priests and mourn. (v. 1:14) “Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.

When this was finally accomplished Yahweh will respond graciously. Locusts will be driven into the desert (v. 2:20) and rain will restore damage to the land (v 2:23). Repentance may not always work to totally relieve punishment instantaneously but with God it is always a good place to start. A repentant and contrite heart is what God seeks in man. The Lord declares, “return to me with all your hearts”. There is an exhortation to Israel to “rend their hearts” not their garments. God doesn’t want outward showiness He wants a true permanent heart change. If not the day will come like destruction, food will be cut off. Seeds (normally hardy will shrivel beneath clods of dirt and granaries will have dried up. Livestock will suffer due to not having silage or fields to eat from. In turn men will suffer.


In an eschatological sense the Day of the Lord is also mentioned. That means all of these descriptions of natural elements may also metaphorically refer to real armies and sufferings brought on by a real war. The Day of the Lord is also mentioned when God will judge all the nations of the earth. There is clearly a duality in meaning here. A time when the Lord will “pour out His Spirit on all people” which is a direct head nod to Acts Chapter 2 and Peter’s dissertation/sermon to the crowd.

Longman, Tremper, and David Garland. "The Locust Plague." Daniel-Malachi (Expositor's Bible Commentary, The). New Rev ed. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009. 230-234. Print.

Brand, Chad, Charles Draper, and Archie England. "Insects." Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Kiev Russia: B&Amp;H Publishing Group, 2003. 823-824. Print.