Joel 2:1-11

THE EXECUTORGOD USING NATURAL AGENTS

TEXT: Joel 2:1-11

1

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand;

2

a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither, shall be any more after them, even to the years of many generations.

3

A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and none hath escaped them.

4

The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so do they run.

5

Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

6

At their presence the peoples are in anguish; all faces are waxed pale.

7

They run like mighty men; they climb the wall like men of war; and they march every one of his ways, and they break not their ranks.

8

Neither doth one thrust another; they march every one in his path; and they burst through the weapons, and break not off their course.

9

They leap upon the city; they run upon the wall; they climb up into the houses; they enter in at the windows like a thief.

10

The earth quaketh before them; the heavens trembled; the sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdrew their shining:

11

and Jehovah uttereth his voice before his army; for his camp is very great; for he is strong that executeth his word; for the day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

QUERIES

a.

Could this particular locust plague be as unprecedented as Joel says in Joel 2:2 (cf. also Joel 1:2)?

b.

Do locusts really behave as Joel describes them here?

c.

Does God really talk to the locusts? (Joel 2:11)

PARAPHRASE

Sound the long alarm blast on the far-sounding-horn from the midst of the Holy city and from the Holy mountain. Awaken all people from their lethargy in both Judah and Israel and cause them to tremble with fear for the day of Jehovah's judgment comes. It is, in fact, upon us. His day is a day of darkness and gloom; the darkness will be so impenetrable that no one will be able to find escape. A great and powerful people is coming and they will glimmer in the sunlight all yellow like the yellow glimmering rays of dawn upon the mountains. The likes of such am invasion has never been seen before nor shall it ever be afterward like this for many generations to come. This day of God is like a fire that destroys everything. The land before was like the garden of Eden compared to the utter desolation of it now. Nothing has escaped the devastation.
These locusts look like miniature horses as they run to the attack. They rattle like chariots driven charging over the rough mountain roads. They crackle like the fire as it devours dry stubble in the field. They come upon the countryside advancing like an army equipped for battle. When they come, all the people become distraught and grow pale with fear. These locusts, they run to the attack like warriors of valor; they assault the walls like trained soldiers marching in ordered columns without even so much as breaking their ranks. They do not jostle one another but follow in orderly ranks; there is no weapon that will stop them or detour them. They leap and crawl upon everything in the city; they run up and down the walls and climb into the houses through the windows. The earth seems to sway as they run over it and the sky seems to shake and tremble as the great sweeping clouds of these locusts darken the sky so that the sun by day and the stars by night cannot be seen.
The Lord Jehovah is the Commander of this army. His omnipotent voice thunders His orders to them and they execute His word. The Day of Jehovah is great and very terriblewho can be saved from it?

SUMMARY

Joel states unequivocally and in graphic description that the locust plague came at the direct command of Jehovah God. God commanded it to stir up the people to repentance and dependence upon Him.

COMMENT

Joel 2:1 BLOW YE THE TRUMPET IN ZION. SOUND AN ALARM. FOR THE DAY OF JEHOVAH. IS NIGH AT HAND; The trumpet to be blown here is the shophar which is probably a ram's horn called the far sounding horn. Trumpets have always been associated literally and symbolically with warning (cf. Numbers 10:5 ff; Ezekiel 33:1 ff). Hendriksen, in his book, More Than Conquerors (a commentary on the book of Revelation), interprets the Seven Trumpets of Revelation chapter 8 thusly:

These trumpets of judgment, Chapter s Ezekiel 8:11, indicate series of happenings, that is, calamities that will occur again and again throughout this dispensation (the Christian dispensation). They do not symbolize single and separate events, but they refer to woes that may be seen any day of the year in any part of the globe. Hence, the trumpets are synchronous with the seals.

. these trumpets of judgment are clearly retributive in character. Terrible calamities befall the wicked in order to punish them for their opposition to the cause of Christ and for their persecution of the saints. Yet even by means of these judgments God is constantly calling the ungodly unto repentance. These woes do not symbolize God's final and complete displeasure. On the contrary, they indicate His initial judgments. They are charged with serious warning, not with final doom. The very function of the trumpet is to warn (Ezekiel 33:3).

Observe also that these trumpets of judgment affect the various parts of the universe: the land, the sea, etc.

Joel is making the same interpretation of the locust plague and drought which has come upon the land. These calamities are God's trumpet warnings to call the sinful people to repentance. God uses natural agents in every age to turn impenitent people from their rebellious ways back to dependence upon Him. If they will not turn back to Him, He sends judgments of wrath upon them. These are principles of the Divine government of the universe which are constantly in force and which God executes through secondary causes day by day, year after year, millennium by millennium. The Old Testament prophets, covering nearly a thousand years of history, give us, in their inspired pronouncements and interpretations of natural calamities as judgments and warnings of God, a divinely revealed philosophy of history.

At this point we take the liberty of quoting at length again from Dr. Hendriksen's More Than Conquerors in regard to God's judgments as the commentary speaks on Revelation 15-16.

In the history of the world a definite and ever-recurring order of events is clearly evident:
Through the preaching of the Word applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit churches are established. Again and again this happens. (With the O.T. prophets we think in terms of a faithful remnant being called out by the preaching of the Wordparenthesis ours). They are lightbearerslampstandsin the midst of a world that lies in darkness.
Again and again God's people are persecuted by the world. They are subjected to many trials and afflictions. (seals).
Again and again the judgments of God are visited upon the persecuting world. These judgments again and again fail to move men to repentance (trumpets).
. The question now arises: whenever in history the trumpets of judgment, the initial plagues, fail to result in penitence and conversion, what then? Does God permit such impenitence, such hardness of heart, to go unpunished until the final judgment of the last day? Must we conceive of God's wrath as being completely pent up until the second coming. ?
The answer in brief is this: whenever in history the wicked fail to repent in answer to the initial and partial manifestation of God's anger in judgments, the final effusion of wrath follows. Final, though not complete until the judgment day. These plagues are the last. They leave no more opportunity for repentance. When the wicked, often warned by the trumpets of judgment, continue to harden their hearts, death finally plunnges them into the hands of an angry God.

Hence, throughout the history of the world God's final wrath again and again reveals itself; now it strikes this one; then another. It is poured out upon the impenitent. Thus a very definite connecting-link is established between the vision of the trumpets, chapter 8-11, and that of the bowls, Chapter s 15, 16. Trumpets warn; bowls are poured out.

Throughout history, especially during this entire new dispensation, God is using every department of the universe to punish the wicked and impenitent persecutors of his people. Whoever refuses to be warned by the trumpets of judgment is destroyed by the bowls of wrath. For one individual a certain calamity may be a trumpet of judgment, while for someone else that same event may be a bowl of wrath. Thus, the disease which hurled King Herod Agrippa I into hell served as a warning to others.

So it was true in the days of Joel. The locust plague and the drought became a warning trumpet of God's wrath upon rebellion and sin and called those who were humble and penitent enough to hear back to God's word and His will. Those who heard and heeded became part of the faithful remnant. They would be the people through whom God would carry out His covenant promises and bring from them the Messiah. Some undoubtedly perished during the plague and drought. Those who died in sin and rebellion against God died under the judgment of God. In the wisdom of God they had had their last opportunity to repent. They rejected it. God's wrath fell upon them. Perhaps some who believed in God and were following His ways died also, but death did not harm them (cf. Zephaniah 2:3; Nahum 1:7). Those who died in the Lord were blessed (Revelation 14:13).

Joel 2:2 A DAY OF DARKNESS. A GREAT PEOPLE. STRONG. THERE HATH NOT BEEN EVER THE LIKE, The darkness here may be either literal or symbolic or both. When this great people (the locusts) came down upon them, myriads upon myriads, their coming would make the sky black. Darkness is also used to symbolize judgment or times of foreboding. The term people is a figurative way of describing the locusts (cf. Proverbs 30:25 ff). They will behave like an army and will go about their destruction with what seems to be a methodical intelligence beyond the native capacity of an insect. This would be one of the most unique disasters to happen to Judah so much so that it might be said, nothing like it has ever been or ever shall be!

Joel 2:3. THE LAND IS AS THE GARDEN OF EDEN BEFORE THEM, AND BEHIND THEM A DESOLATE WILDERNESS; Compared to what the land looked like after the locusts finished with it, it was like the garden of Eden before, The fire before and after them probably is a poetical description of the utter devastation that sweeps over the land, at their coming, overwhelming everything before it and leaving nothing behind it. In the National Geographic Magazine, 1915, from which we have quoted before, let us describe further the locust devastation. The first swarms of locusts in February, 1915, came in such thick clouds as to obscure the sun for the time being. In 1915 the sections where no eggs had been laid or where the eggs had been carefully removed by governmental orders did not suffer from the creepers, but later the full-grown locusts came and cleaned up every bit of vegetation. On a television documentary, December 1966, sponsored by the National Geographic, one was able to see motion picture film of locust plagues in the Near East. These films substantiated Joel's graphic description in every respect! The prophet did not exaggerate!

Joel 2:4 THE APPEARANCE OF THEM IS AS. HORSES; There is an old Arabian proverb which goes, The locust has the form of ten of the giants of the animal world, weak as he isface of a mare, eyes of an elephant, neck of a bull, horns of a deer, chest of a lion, stomach of a scorpion, wings of an eagle, thighs of a camel, legs of an ostrich, and tail of a serpent. Theodoret, a bishop of Syria, said, ... you will find the head of the locust exceedingly like that of a horse. In Joel 2:4, however, Joel is concerned with their behavior which is like that of cavalry horses.

Joel 2:5 LIKE THE NOISE OF CHARIOTS. LIKE THE NOISE OF A FLAME OF FIRE. John wrote in Revelation 9:9 ff, the sound of their wings was as the sound of many horses rushing to battle. They are described by the National Geographic as a loud noise, produced by the flapping of myriads of locust wings. resembling the distant rumble of waves. One who has heard them says, their noise may be heard six miles off. Others have likened their sound to all sorts of deep, rumbling sounds of torrential rivers or water-falls. One ancient wrote, ... there is a certain sharp sound, as they chew the corn, as when the wind strongly fanneth a flame. The noise of their foraging upon the vegetation crackles like a fire as it licks up the dry stubble of a wheat field.

Joel 2:6. PEOPLES ARE IN ANGUISH. FACES ARE WAXED PALE. ; One man who witnessed just such a plague wrote of the people, ... the people become as dead, saying, -we are lost, for the Ambadas (so they call them) are coming.-'. there were men, women, children, sitting among these locusts, as stupefied. they answered that they had no courage to resist a plague which God gave them for their sins. The verb translated anguish is the same verb used of women in birth travail (cf. Jeremiah 30:5-7). Their anxiety causes the color to drain from their faces and they grow pale as the dead.

Joel 2:7 THEY RUN LIKE MIGHTY MEN;. CLIMB THE WALL. MARCH. AND BREAK NOT THEIR RANKS. National Geographic: Once started on their course, nothing could stop them; walls were scaled, they rolled on like a mighty, unconquerable flood. Their ranks remain unbroken by obstacles. Man can mount a wall a few at a time, but locusts pour over a wall in a literal flood.

Joel 2:8 NEITHER. THRUST ONE ANOTHER. MARCH EVERY ONE IN HIS PATH;. THEY BURST THROUGH THE WEAPONS. They travel like a well-disciplined, regimented army in close-order-drill without jostling one another. They move in one body, giving the appearance of being organized and directed by one leader. Nothing checks or retards their attack. Nothing makes any impression upon them. Men have tried to kill them with canon fire, water-filled trenches, fire-filled trenches, insecticidessprayed from airplanes, with clubsbeating them to death by the millionsbut still they come, impervious to any weapon. Like waves they roll over one another on and on, and let themselves be stopped by nothing. Bundles of straw are laid in rows and set on fire before them; they march in thick heaps into the fire, but this is often put out through the great mass of those advancing from behind who march right on over the corpses of their dead companions. The sight is utterly appalling! On the television program referred to before it was stated that man, with all his modern scientific means of dealing out death, has not yet found a way to stop the locust.

Joel 2:9 THEY LEAP UPON THE CITY. RUN FOR THE WALL. CLIMB INTO THE HOUSES. ENTER IN AT THE WINDOWS. National Geographic: Disastrous as they were in the country, equally obnoxious they became about the homes, crawling up thick upon the walls and squeezing in through cracks of closed doors or windows, entering the very dwelling rooms. Women frantically swept the walls and roofs of their homes, but to no avail. They even fell into one's shirt collar from the walls above. A lady, after being away from home for half a day, returned with 110 of them concealed within the skirts. Whenever touched, or especially when finding themselves caught within one's clothes, they exuded from their mouths a dark fluid, an irritant to the skin and soiling the garments in a most disgusting manner. Imagine the feeling with a dozen or two such creatures over an inch long, with saw-like legs and rough bodies, making a race course of your back. Another man who experienced such a calamity in 1646 wrote, ... when the door was opened, an infinite number came in, and the others went fluttering about; and it was a troublesome thing when a man went abroad, to be hit on the face by those creatures, on the nose, eyes, or cheeks, so that there was no opening one's mouth, but some would get in. Yet all this was nothing; for when we were to eat, they gave us no respite; and when we went to cut a piece of meat, we cut a locust with it, and when a man opened his mouth to put in a morsel, he was sure to chew one of them. The television report of December, 1966, showed that airplanes flying through clouds of locusts spraying insecticides were forced to the ground because the thickness of the locusts made visibility for flying impossible!

Joel 2:10 THE EARTH QUAKETH BEFORE THEM; THE HEAVENS TREMBLE. National Geographic: When anything neared their thickened masses, it seemed as if the entire surface of the ground moved, producing a most curious effect upon one's vision and causing dizziness, which in some was so severe as to produce a sensation not unlike seasickness. The clouds of locusts caused the entire atmosphere to be in a state of commotion as if the very heavens trembled.

Joel 2:11 JEHOVAH UTTERETH HIS VOICE BEFORE HIS ARMY. HE IS STRONG THAT EXECUTETH HIS WORD; FOR THE DAY OF JEHOVAH IS GREAT AND VERY TERRIBLE; AND WHO CAN ABIDE IT? To this day the nations of the Near East speak of the locusts as Yaish Allah, Allah's army. God does use natural phenomena to execute His warnings and judgments. He uses natural elements of weather, laws of nature, wild beasts and insects, and heathen nations and leaders (Isaiah 10) to execute His vengeance upon the ungodly, even now! Hendriksen in More Than Conquerors again, on Chapter s 4-5 of Revelation concerning the Throne of God: These Chapter s do not merely give us a picture of heaven. They describe the entire universe from the aspect of heaven. The purpose of this vision is to show us, in beautiful symbolism, that all things are governed by the Throne-Occupant. All things; hence, also our trials and tribulations. That is the point. Hence, the description of the Throne precedes the symbolic prediction of the trials and tribulations which the church must experience here on earth. Behold, a Throne! The Throne is the very center of the universe. The universe of the Bible is. theocentric. Here, too, is the true philosophy of history. The newspapers and radio announcements give you the headlines and news-flashes. The magazines add the explanations. But these explanations are, after all in terms of secondary causes. The real mind, the real will whichwhile fully maintaining the responsibility and freedom of the individual instrumentscontrols this universe in the mind, the will of the Almighty God! Nothing is excluded from his dominion. And so God can use the king of Assyria as the rod of His anger and the staff of His fury (Isaiah 10) and He can stir up the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, to release the captive Jews (2 Chronicles 36:22 ff; Ezra 1:1 ff). And so the locusts are God's mighty army. When He commands that they go forth to destroy, none can stop them. If man cannot stop an army of locusts when God sends them, who can be saved from any of God's judgments? Joel will take up this question in the next section when he presents God's Plan for Repentance.

QUIZ

1.

What does trumpet signify symbolically in Hebrew literature?

2.

In what way is the locust plague a warning? a judgment?

3.

Do locusts appear and behave with such frightening appearance as Joel describes?

4.

Are they impossible to stop? Can not modern methods of insect control stop them?

5.

Does God Himself control these locusts or did this plague just happen and Joel attribute its happening to God?