Exposition on Joel - 13 - Verses 4-6 Concluded

     Now for a few evidences that lead me to believe that the foe in v. 4 and in v. 6 are the same, and that this is an army of men that Joel equates with a plague of swarming locusts. The locust plague of v. 4 serves as an image that promoted the comprehensive nature of the effects described in the devastation inflicted by this invader. What more can we make of this rhetorical question asked by Joel back in verse 2? If Joel is referring to the invasion by a literal army of desert locusts then the people might have been tempted to answer, “Yes! We have (or our fathers have) seen such a thing in our day!” But the way the question is posed, the answer must be no. This debate is why the relationship of v. 5 to verses 4 and 6 is so important: If v. 5 is an ending for the curse of verses 2-5, then one could easily conclude that the locusts in v. 4 were literal. If v. 5 is the beginning of the description/explanation for all of chapter 1, then the figurative interpretation surfaces. The figurative interpretation would stand in line with the historical fact of God’s sending of a great and terrible nation to punish even Judah for her covenantal disobedience. One’s interpretation relies heavily on whether they regard v. 5 as an ending to a five verse section or as the preamble of the passage from verse 5-7.

      The infrequency with which the locusts are mentioned when the entire book is considered is another indicator that they are not literal. If the locusts in v. 4 are literal, assuming verses 1-5 are a separate curse, then Joel gives very little information about the happenings surrounding the 1^st curse and virtually no introduction to the army in 6-18. The only other mention Joel makes of locusts is in 2:25, which obviously refers back to v. 4. All in all, that is a negligible portion of the 1^st 2 chapters which he uses to proclaim the destructive force of covenantal judgment.

The language In the ESV lists four types or classifications of locusts are described. But if you look at the ASV or Calvin’s commentaries, they translate these stages as a variety of bugs and invertebrates: locusts, canker worms and caterpillars. One thing is for sure, Joel isn’t giving the people a lesson in entomology and the four designations are therefore not to be used to describe four types of solders or armies as has been tried by some over zealous speculators. If the locusts are figurative then this is simply a poetic declaration of the comprehensive nature of this calamity. Nothing will be left. Current scientific evidence shows that the desert locust actually has 6 stages of development. I’m not saying that this observation alone is reason enough to abandon the literal interpretation of the locusts in v. 4. Again, one’s orthodoxy isn’t won or lost there; scholars within the same theological camps tend to differ. Though it is the minority opinion, I believe Joel uses the image of locusts to describe the way an army of men would come and leave nothing but death in their path, taking the cities and fields by force. Farmers wielding hoes and axes and pruning hooks as weapons were no match for a swordsman on horse or afoot; when this army in chapter one invaded, those brave enough to try and defend their families’ lives and freedom would simply be cut down where they stood. The people in Judah who were not murdered would go into captivity as God had intended.

In conclusion, I believe it makes the most sense of the chapter 1, Joel’s first oracle, to see verses 6, 10-13 as a result of these invaders which are first illustrated in v. 4 in the image of a swarm of desert locusts. But whether these locusts were in fact an army themselves or whether they symbolized an army of men, Joel insures that this was going to be a plague of special magnificence. Just like the swarms that had ravaged the fields in the past, this army of invaders would ravage God’s Land and His people—this is the very point. In the wake of the temporal administration of God’s wrath against the nation’s covenantal disobedience, the righteous along with the wicked were subject to the pain and suffering caused by the invasion, the desolation inflicted on the Land and the exile of its people. It is interesting to note here that, just like the Devil himself, this army is God’s army. Look at 2:25 I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. To be sure, the invading army had their own evil motives and would likely be punished for their actions in the future, but I believe the same could be said of their attack and pilfering as was said of Joseph’s brothers. What they meant for evil, God meant for good (Gen. 50:20). So the horror of an enemy’s army on the horizon was described by Joel as an invasion of desert locusts, and the destruction it would leave in its path was illustrated by the prolonged destruction that would be wrought by an army of locusts.