Exposition on Joel -30- 2:6-10

This invader in verse 6 is sent to cause the people to fear and to inspire anguish in their hearts, and that is precisely what they do. It’s the feeling you get when you look at Edvard Munch’s The Scream. The two figures in the background appear to be approaching the figure in the foreground as it is overcome with anxiety. The world seems to be falling apart like in a nightmare where you are intimately affected by what’s going on but you have no power to prevail over the circumstances. Verses 7-9 describe the army like a warrior scaling the walls of the city, they are determined and cannot be stopped. They are skilled and they are organized to cause the most damage possible. Their presence is frustrating like a thief; they come in without invitation. V. 9 is the climax of the description of this invasion. As with any military occupation, it is finally considered complete when the invaders come into individual homes and take what and who they will. The army in Verse 10 brought destruction, loud and thunderous like an earthquake and the devastation is remarkable. So depressing was this event for the Jews being overrun, it was as though the Sun and Moon had fallen from the sky. We must recall here that this event foreshadows the final DotL. And on that Day, in the re-creation of the Heaven’s and the Earth, the actual light of stars, including our own, seems likely to be snuffed out in some way because by the light of Christ Himself will the New Jerusalem be lit for believers in eternity. The interpretation of this phrase that claims a swarm of locust is blocking the light of the Sun and Moon just doesn’t do the calamity justice. The purpose of these images of the Sun and Moon here and in verses 30 and 31, and in 3:15 is to depict the very reversal of natural order, like we see described in Rev. 6. We expect light from those sources, but even their light is like darkness during such a tragedy as this.