Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Joel 1:4
That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.
4. The calamity to which the prophet has thus emphatically directed his hearers’ attention: a visitation of locusts, repeated for more years than one (Joe 2:25), and of unexampled severity; what had escaped the ravages of one swarm, had been speedily devoured by a succeeding one, till the crops were completely ruined, and every chance both of harvest and vintage had been utterly destroyed.
That which the shearer ( gzm) hath left, the swarmer ( arbeh) hath eaten;
And that which the And that which the
The general intention of the verse is manifestly to describe a total destruction of the herbage of the land; but as we cannot identify with certainty the kinds of locust meant, nor, if we could, should have suitable English names by which to distinguish them, it is best to translate the terms used by words expressing the ideas which they probably suggested to the Hebrew ear. Successive swarms of locusts, appearing partly, it is probable, in the same year, partly in following years, are indicated rhetorically by four distinct names, which may partly be synonymous designations of the same species (though not of the same individual insects), partly denote different species, and partly denote the ordinary locust in different stages of its development (see p. 84 f.). The gzm is mentioned besides only Joe 2:25, Amo 4:9. Arbeh is the usual name of the locust in Hebrew, and may be presumed therefore to have been the name of the species which most commonly invades Palestine, the Acridium peregrinum. The yle may have denoted the ordinary locust in its wingless larva- or pupa-stage (in which state it is not less destructive than in its mature form): in this case the second line of the verse will describe how what the fully-grown parent insects left in April or May, when they laid their eggs, was destroyed by the young larvae hatched in June. The sl is named beside the arbeh, as a plague to which Palestine was liable, in 1Ki 8:37; this, therefore, was probably a distinct species, perhaps the Oedipoda migratoria or Pachytylus, also common in Palestine [30] . See further particulars in the Excursus at the end of the Book (p. 85 ff.).
[30] The four names cannot, as Credner and (somewhat differently) Gesenius thought, denote, as they stand, locusts in four successive stages of their development, for various reasons: (1) because not more than three stages are distinguishable by an ordinary observer [yet cf. p. 90]; (2) because, upon this view, arbeh, the most usual name of the locust, would denote only the immature insect; (3) because in Joe 2:25 the four names occur in a different order; (4) because, as swarms of locusts always move onwards, a swarm in one stage of its development could not be said to have devoured what it had left in a previous stage, since it would be upon entirely new ground. (Of course the last objection does not hold in the particular case of the larvae emerging from eggs, assumed above to represent the yle.)
In illustration of the allusions to locusts, contained in this and the following chapter, numerous passages from the descriptions of naturalists and travellers have been collected by Credner ( ad locc. and pp. 261 313), and after him by Dr Pusey, a selection from which (with some additions from more recent authorities) is reprinted here. In the Excursus (p. 87 ff.) will be found also some continuous descriptions, by different observers, of the invasion of a country by locusts.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
That which the palmerworm hath left, hath the locust eaten – The creatures here spoken of are different kinds of locusts, so named from their number or voracity. We, who are free from this scourge of God, know them only by the generic name of locusts. But the law mentions several sorts of locusts, each after its kind, which might be eaten . In fact, above eighty different kinds of locusts have been observed , some of which are twice as large as that which is the ordinary scourge of God . Slight as they are in themselves, they are mighty in Gods Hand; beautiful and gorgeous as they are, floating in the suns rays , they are a scourge, including other plagues, famine, and often, pestilence.
Of the four kinds, here named by the prophet, that rendered locust is so called from its multitude, (from where Jeremiah says they are more numerous than the locust See Jdg 6:5; Jdg 7:12; Psa 105:34; Nah 3:15. It is a proverb in Arabic also)), and is, probably, the creature which desolates whole regions of Asia and Africa. The rest are named from their voracity, the gnawer, licker, consumer, but they are, beyond doubt, distinct kinds of that destroyer. And this is the characteristic of the prophets threatening, that he foretells a succession of destroyers, each more fatal than the preceding; and that, not according to the order of nature. For in all the observations which have been made of the locusts, even when successive flights have desolated the same land, they have always been successive clouds of the same creature.
Over and above the fact, then, that locusts are a heavy chastisement from God, these words of Joel form a sort of sacred proverb. They are the epitome of his whole prophecy. It is this which he had called the old men to hear, and to say whether they had known anything like this; that scourge came after scourge, judgment after judgment, until man yielded or perished. The visitation of locusts was one of the punishments threatened in the law, Thou shall carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in, for the locust shall consume it Deu 28:38. It was one of Gods ordinary punishments for sin, in that country, like famine, or pestilence, or blight, or mildew, or murrain, or (in this) potato disease. Solomon, accordingly, at the dedication of the temple mentions the locust among the other plagues, which he then solemnly entreated God to remove, when individuals or the whole people should spread forth their hands in penitence toward that house 1Ki 8:37-38.
But the characteristic of this prophecy is the successiveness of the judgments, each in itself, desolating, and the later following quick upon the earlier, and completing their destructiveness. The judgments of God are linked together by an invisible chain, each drawing on the other; yet, at each link of the lengthening chain, allowing space and time for repentance to break it through. So in the plagues of Egypt, God, executing His judgments upon them by little and little, gave them time for repentance (Wisd. 12:10); yet, when Pharaoh hardened his heart, each followed on the other, until he perished in the Red Sea. In like way God said, him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay; and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay 1Ki 19:17. So, in the Revelation, the trumpets are sounded Rev 8:1-13; Rev. 9; Rev 11:15, and the vials of the wrath of God are poured out upon the earth, one after the other Rev. 16. Actual locusts were very likely one of the scourges intended by the prophet. They certainly were not the whole; but pictured others fiercer, more desolating, more overwhelming. The proverbial dress gained and fixed peoples attention on the truth, which, if it had been presented to the people nakedly, they might have turned from. Yet as, in Gods wisdom, what is said generally, is often fulfilled specially, so here there were four great invaders which in succession wasted Judah; the Assyrian, Chaldaean, Macedonian and Roman.
Morally, also, four chief passions desolate successively the human heart. : For what is designated by the palmerworm, which creeps with all its body on the ground, except it be lust, which so pollutes the heart which it possesses, that it cannot rise up to the love of heavenly purity? What is expressed by the locust, which flies by leaps, except vain glory which exalts itself with empty presumptions? What is typified by the cankerworm, almost the whole of whose body is gathered into its belly, except gluttony in eating? What but anger is indicated by mildew, which burns as it touches? What the palmerworm then hath left the locust heath eaten, because, when the sin of lust has retired from the mind, vain glory often succeeds. For since it is not now subdued by the love of the flesh, it boasts of itself, as if it were holy through its chastity. And that which the locust hath left, the cankerworm hath eaten, because when vain glory, which came, as it were, from holiness, is resisted, either the appetite, or some ambitious desires are indulged in too immoderately. For the mind which knows not God, is led the more fiercely to any object of ambition, in proportion as it is not restrained by any love of human praise. That which the cankerworm hath left, the mildew consumes, because when the gluttony of the belly is restrained by abstinence, the impatience of anger holds fiercer sway, which, like mildew, eats up the harvest by burning it, because the flame of impatience withers the fruit of virtue. When then some vices succeed to others, one plague devours the field of the mind, while another leaves it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 4. That which the palmerworm hath left] Here he begins to open his message, and the words he chooses show that he is going to announce a devastation of the land by locusts, and a famine consequent on their depredations. What the different insects may be which he specifies is not easy to determine. I shall give the words of the original, with their etymology.
The palmerworm, gazam, from the same root, to cut short; probably the caterpillar, or some such blight, from its cutting the leaves of the trees into pieces for its nourishment.
The locust, arbeh, from rabah, to multiply, from the immense increase and multitude of this insect.
Cankerworm, yelek, from lak, to lick or lap with the tongue; the reference is uncertain.
Caterpillar, chasil, from chasal, to consume, to eat up; the consumer. Bishop Newcome translates the first, grasshopper; the second, locust; the third, devouring locust; and the fourth, consuming locust. After all that has been said by interpreters concerning these four animals, I am fully of opinion that the arbeh, or locust himself, is the gazam, the yelek, and the chasil; and that these different names are used here by the prophet to point out the locust in its different states, or progress from embryo to full growth. See Clarke on Joe 2:2.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Four sorts of insects pernicious to all sorts of trees, corn, and herbs are here mentioned, which did succeed each other, and devoured all that might be a future support to the Jews; whence ensued a grievous famine for four years together, say the Jewish interpreters, though there is no cogent reason in what they mention for proof hereof. These insects might in the same year succeed each other, the one, as is usual, might come sooner, the rest successively, each in its season, and so spoil the springing of all things, which they did (I do believe) really; and though these might be emblems of some future devastation, yet it seems most agreeable to reason, and the context, that there should really have been such caterpillars and other vermin, and that they did devour all that was green; and though this is no where else mentioned, as I remember, in the sacred history, yet it is likely it was done, as here told, and as so done was a figure of some greater devastation made by foreign powers, as by Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. This verse states the subjecton which he afterwards expands. Four species or stages of locusts,rather than four different insects, are meant (compare Le11:22). Literally, (1) the gnawing locust; (2) theswarming locust; (3) the licking locust; (4) theconsuming locust; forming a climax to the most destructivekind. The last is often three inches long, and the two antenn, eachan inch long. The two hinder of its six feet are larger than therest, adapting it for leaping. The first “kind” is that ofthe locust, having just emerged from the egg in spring, and withoutwings. The second is when at the end of spring, still in their firstskin, the locusts put forth little ones without legs or wings. Thethird, when after their third casting of the old skin, they get smallwings, which enable them to leap the better, but not to fly. Beingunable to go away till their wings are matured, they devour allbefore them, grass, shrubs, and bark of trees: translated “roughcaterpillars” (Jer 51:27).The fourth kind, the matured winged locusts (see on Na3:16). In Joe 2:25 they areenumerated in the reverse order, where the restoration of thedevastations caused by them is promised. The Hebrews make the firstspecies refer to Assyria and Babylon; the second species, toMedo-Persia; the third, to Greco-Macedonia and Antiochus Epiphanes;the fourth, to the Romans. Though the primary reference be to literallocusts, the Holy Spirit doubtless had in view the successive empireswhich assailed Judea, each worse than its predecessor, Rome being theclimax.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
That which the palmer worm hath left hath the locust eaten,…. These, with the two following, are four kinds of, locusts as Jarchi observes; though it is difficult to fix the particular species designed; they seem to have their names from some peculiar properties belonging to them; as the first of these from their sheering or cropping off the fruits and leaves of trees; and the second from the vast increase of them, the multitude they bring forth and the large numbers they appear in:
and that which the locust hath left hath the canker worm eaten; which in the Hebrew language is called from its licking up the fruits of the earth, by which it becomes barren:
and that which the canker worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten; which has its name from wasting and consuming all that comes in its way: now these came not together, but followed one another; not one one year, and another the second, and so on throughout four years, as Kimchi thinks; for though the calamity lasted some years as is manifest from Joe 2:25; yet it is not reasonable, that, for instance what the palmer worm left the first year should remain in the fields and vineyards, on the fig trees and vines till the next year for the locust to consume and is on:, but rather these all appeared in succession in one and the same year; and so what the palmer worm left having eaten up what was most agreeable to them, the locust came and devoured what they had left; and then what they left was destroyed by the canker worm, which fed on that which was most grateful to them; and last of all came the caterpillar, and consumed all the others had left; and this might be continued for years successively: when this calamity was, we have no account in sacred history; whether it was in the seven years’ famine in the days of Elisha, or the same with what Amos speaks of, Am 4:6; is not easy to say: and though it seems to be literally understood, as the drought later mentioned, yet might be typical of the enemies of the Jews succeeding one another in the destruction of them. Not of the four monarchies, the Babylonians, Persians, Grecians, and Romans, as Lyra and Abarbinel; since the Persians particularly never entered into the land of Judea and wasted it; though this is the sense of the ancient Jews, as Jerom relates; for he says the Hebrews interpret the “palmer worm” of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Chaldeans, who, coming from one climate of the world, destroyed both the ten and the two tribes, that is, all the people of Israel: the locust they interpret of the Medes and Persians, who, having overturned the Chaldean empire, carried the Jews captive: the “canker worm” is the Macedonians, and all the successors of Alexander; especially King Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, who like a canker worm sat in Judea, and devoured all the remains of the former kings, under whom were the wars of the Maccabees: the “caterpillar” they refer to the Roman empire, the fourth and last that oppressed the Jews, and drove them out of their borders. Nor of the several kings of Assyria and Babylon, who followed one another, and wasted first the ten tribes, and then the other two, as Tiglathpileser, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar, so Theodoret; since this prophecy only relates to the two tribes. Rather therefore this may point at the several invasions and incursions of the Chaldean army into Judea, under Nebuchadnezzar and his generals; first, when he came up against Jerusalem, and made Jehoiakim tributary to him; a second time, when he carried Jehoiachin and his family into Babylon, with a multitude of the Jews, and their wealth; a third time, when he besieged Jerusalem, and took it, and Zedekiah the king, and carried him captive; and a fourth time, when Nebuzaradan came and burnt the temple, and the houses of Jerusalem, and broke down the walls of it, and cleared the land of its inhabitants and riches; see
2Ki 24:1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Coming Desolation Described
Verses 4-14:
Verse 4 begins an extended description of a fearful plague of locust-insects that were to swarm over the land, bringing a scourge of hunger, annoyance, and death among men and beasts over all the land of Judah. The first or primary devastation was to be by four insects, or as thought by some to be the same insect, in four different destructive stages. They were called the palmerworm, the locust, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar. These vegetation devouring insects seem to represent progressive waves or stages of judgment that were to fall on Judah, to teach a spiritual truth. It represented in prophecy, first, the invasion of the Assyrian army, and second “the day of the Lord,” at the end of this Gentile age, Isa 7:1-14; Joe 1:13-14. It is further developed in Joel ch. 2.
Verse 5 calls upon all drunkards, and those in a drunken stupor, to arouse to sobriety and weep and howl in repentance for their wickedness that has caused the insect devastation of the land, that has destroyed their vineyards. There was no new wine, or sweet grape juice to be available, meaning no occasion for joy in the time of their nation’s calamity. Their sins have “found them out,” Num 32:23.
Verse 6 describes a nation (heathen nation), strong in number of armed soldiers, hungry for a victory as a lion with clean teeth, has swooped down on Judah for a prey, to satisfy her appetite. She is described as having the cheek teeth, meat grinding teeth of a great (male) lion. The picture suggests savage hostility that is coming upon Judah and Jerusalem.
Verse 7 describes how God’s judgment plague of locusts has stripped the land of Judah of all production of grape vines and fig trees, both highly valued for food in the days of Solomon and Israel’s glory, Num 13:23-24; Numbers 1 Kg 4:25. But they are now destroyed, Judah had not received God’s message from the locusts, Gen 30:27. Though a “fly with God’s message should choke a king.”
Verse 8 personifies Judah as a virgin, bereft of her lover, who has been taken away by a sudden stroke and has left her to lament and despair in sackcloth for the husband of her youth or for her youthful husband, Isa 24:4; Deu 22:23. Even so Israel should be grieved for God’s putting her away, Jer 2:2; Jer 3:4.
Verse 9 relates that the meat (bread) offering and the drink offering, prescribed in their law, are cut off from the house of the Lord. A cessation of temple worship came as an expression of Divine displeasure upon Judah for her sins. The plague of locusts had cut off or devoured the grape vines, the olive trees, and the wheat and small grains so that no sacrifice offerings by the people or priests were longer possible, Num 18:8-13. The priests therefore not only lost their livelihood subsidy but also the possibility of making appointed offerings to Jehovah. And the ministers mourned—more in self-pity than in repentance, for their allied relations with the idol gods.
Verse 10 describes how nature and the rich red soil mourn because of the wasted corn, dried up grape vines, and the very little olive oil possible, because of the judgment plague of waves and waves of destroying or desolating locusts, v. 4. All nature feels the physical loss of vegetation in Judah.
Verse 11 contains a direct appeal from God, through Joel, for the husbandmen of the land to mourn in genuine repentance. This is the third of three Divine appeals to men of Judah. First, the old men were addressed; Second, the drunkards were to awake; and Third, the husbandmen or vinedressers and keepers of the olive trees were to lament their people’s sins that had brought judgment upon their fields and vineyards, causing their harvest to perish, Jer 14:3.
Verse 12 affirms that all the fruit trees of the field are dried up, withered, or unproductive causing the people to be void of joy. Unfruitful were the vines, the pomegranate, the palm tree (date palms), the apple trees; And then the phrase, “even all the trees of the field,” is added. So, one may picture hunger, starvation, and howling among men and beast under such a calamitous plague, Psa 4:7; Isa 9:3.
Verse 13 offers a direct appeal to the priests and ministers of holy things in Judah to gird themselves in sackcloth, a coarse outer garment, and cry and lament aloud in repentance, publicly,. for their sins, 1Kg 21:27. They have been negligent priests and should therefore set the example for repentance among the people. Their outer garments were to reflect their inner grief, Isa 32:11; Jer 4:8.
Verse 14 recounts God’s charge to the priests and the elders to call for a sanctified fast and a solemn general assembly in all the land, to cease all manual labor, and come to or approach the house of the Lord, and to cry unto Him there in repentance for their sins, Zec 8:3; 2Ch 7:14; 2Ch 20:3-13; 1Sa 7:5-6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
He adds what that judgment was, — that the hope of food had for many years disappointed them. It often happened, we know, that locusts devoured the standing corn; and then the chafers and the palmer worms did the same: these were ordinary events. But when one devastation happened, and another followed, and there was no end; when there had been four barren years, suddenly produced by insects, which devoured the growth of the earth; — this was certainly unusual. Hence the Prophet says, that this could not have been chance; for God intended to show to the Jews some extraordinary portent, that even against their will they might observe his hand. When any thing trifling happens, if it be rare, it will strike the attention of men; for we often see that the world makes a great noise about frivolous things. But this wonder, says the Prophet, “ought to have produced effect on you. What then will ye do, since ye are starving, and the causes are evident; for God has cursed your land, and brought these insects, which have consumed your food before your eyes. Since it is so, it is surely the time for you to repent; and you have been hitherto very regardless having overlooked God’s judgments, which have been so remarkable and so memorable.” Let us now proceed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE EXTENT OF THE PLEA FOR REPENTANCE; VIVID, ARRESTING
TEXT: Joe. 1:4-12
4
That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten.
5
Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
6
For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness.
7
He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig-tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
8
Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9
The meal-offering and the drink-offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah; the priests, Jehovahs ministers, mourn.
10
The field is laid waste, the land mourneth; for the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.
11
Be confounded, O ye husbandmen, wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field is perished.
12
The vine is withered, and the fig-tree languisheth; the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered: for joy is withered away from the sons of men.
QUERIES
a.
What are the different insects described by Joel?
b.
Who is the nation come upon the land of Judah?
c.
What would the significance of the cutting off of meat and drink offering be for the people?
PARAPHRASE
What the first plague of locusts leaves after it has eaten all it wishes, others will come swarming the land and eat; what they leave others will come hopping all over the earth eating as much as they will and if they leave any, still others will come to destroy all that is left. You had better sober up from your drunken stupor you notorious drunkards and weep and howl because the fresh sweet juice of the grape has completely perished. A mighty, numberless horde of hostile enemies has invaded my land. Their teeth are as fierce and strong as lions teeth. They have ruined my vines and stripped the bark off my fig trees and left their trunks and branches bare and white. Mourn as a maiden mourns whose fiance has died. So complete is the devastation there is not enough grain or wine left to make an offering in the Temple. The priests who minister before the Lord mourn; the farm land wastes away and seems to mourn because it bears no produce at all; neither grain nor grape nor olive. Turn pale with disappointment you people and howl you vine dressers because the whole harvest is gone. Every growing plant or tree; whether it be grape vine, fig, pomegranate, palm or apple it has withered; indeed, all of mans gladness has withered and been consumed. There is no joy at all among the people.
SUMMARY
Through successive plagues of swarming locusts the grain and fruit, in fact all vegetation, is being utterly consumed. Even the land is represented as mourning over the desolation.
COMMENT
Joe. 1:4 THAT WHICH THE PALMER-WORM HATH LEFT . . .; There are some who think Joel has given us here four different stages in the development of the one species of locust. Others think we have here four different species of locusts. Palmer-word means gnawer-shearer; locust may be defined the multitudinous one; canker-worm means licker, lapper, or hopper; caterpillar means devourer, stripper. Dr. Laetsch, in The Minor Prophets, Bible Commentary, pub. Concordia, comments, Locust, would emphasize the immense masses, the other three terms, their insatiable voracity, We prefer to explain Joels use of these four terms as simply a designation of successive stages of the plague of locusts. In other words the locusts came upon the land one increment after another in immediate succession until the land was stripped of all vegetation and then the Lord caused a great drought to come upon the land (cf. Joe. 1:17-20). The use of the number four probably symbolizes completeness (cf. Isa. 11:12; Jer. 15:3; Eze. 1:5-6; Amo. 1:3 ff). Lange and Keil and Delitzsch agree that the proper name is locust while the other terms are figurative, poetic terms to describe the completeness of the work of these great hordes, one after another.
In the December, 1915, issue of The National Geographic Magazine, there is a vivid description of a locust plague covering all of Palestine and Syria, by John D. Whiting. According to this account the swarms of locusts appeared in March, coming from the northeast, going toward the southwest in such thick clouds they obscured the sun from sight. The females, about three inches long, began immediately to lay eggs, sinking a hole about four inches deep into the hard soil and depositing about one hundred eggs in a neat cylindrical arrangement (about an inch long and as large as a lead pencil) all enclosed in a glue-like substance. As many as 75,000 eggs may be concentrated in less than one square yard of soil. Once the female locust has laid the eggs, her lifes mission is done. She flies awaywhereto no one can sayand soon dies. Within a few weeks the young locusts are hatched. They resemble large black ants (having no wings) when first hatched. A few days after hatching they start their forward march of about 600 feet per day, clearing the ground of all vegetation before them. They hop forward much like fleas. At the end of May they molt, issuing forth in the pupa state, still unable to fly, standing upright. In this stage they leap only when frightened, using their two long and powerful hind-legs. In the last molt the wings emerge from their membranous sacs where they have been developing and the locust can now fly. After a few days in the flying stage the color of their bodies deepen into a pronounced red effect. We shall refer again to Mr. Whitings account as we proceed with our comments.
Joe. 1:5 AWAKE, YE DRUNKARDS, AND WEEP; The original language indicates those addressed here were in a drunken sleep so sound as to be snoring. It indicates that drunkenness was widespread and stupefying. The prophet admonishes the wine-bibbers to come to their senses, recognize the warning of God in the devastation and weep and mourn in repentance. The sweet wine, or, new wine was spoken of as being found within the grape still in the cluster (cf. Isa. 65:8) and there was great rejoicing when it was first pressed from the grape for it was considered a special blessing from the Lord. Now it was cut offthere was no new sweet wine to be found anywhere in all the land!
Joe. 1:6 FOR A NATION . . . WITHOUT NUMBER . . . TEETH OF A LION; The prophet portrays the locusts as a nation, a people, and this figure is used by the writer of Proverbs to picture ants and badgers (cf. Pro. 30:25-26). This is a figure well chosen since locusts give the appearance of being a well organized army of people. Joels graphic description of their behavior in chapter 2 illustrates why they should be called a nation. Their teeth, though tiny, are the weapons of this army. In proportion to their very small bodies, their jaws are even stronger than a lions.
Joe. 1:7 HE HATH LAID MY VINE WASTE . . . BARKED MY FIG-TREE . . . CLEAN BARE AND CAST IT AWAY; Whiting writes: Once entering a vineyard the sprawling vines would in the shortest time be nothing but bare bark . . . When the daintier morsels were gone, the bark was eaten off the young topmost branches, which, after exposed to the sun bleached snow-white. Then, seemingly out of malice, they would gnaw off small limbs, perhaps to get at the pith within. God, the Giver and Owner of the vineyards and orchards, speaks through the prophet, calling them His vines and His fig trees.
Joe. 1:8-9 LAMENT LIKE A VIRGIN . . . THE MEAL-OFFERING . . . CUT OFF FROM THE HOUSE OF JEHOVAH . . . PRIESTS . . . MOURN; Now the prophet calls upon the whole nation to mourn. This is a mourning not only because of the loss of wine and grain but because the loss of these material things have disrupted divine worship. There is not even enough grain or wine to be found to make up an acceptable offering in the Temple. The prophet calls for a godly sorrow that worketh repentance (cf. 2Co. 7:9-10)! Their sorrow is to be one of total immersionlike the sorrow of a newly married maiden who has lost her husband by death in the first few days of marriage. Gods bride, the covenant people, has been cut off from communion with her Husband. She should lament and weepher attitude should be one of heartfelt mourning. The cessation of the daily sacrifices and offerings was for all practical purposes a cessation of covenant relationa sign that God had rejected His people. Even in the last siege of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D., the sacrificial worship was not suspended till it had been brought to the last extremity; and even then it was because there were none to offer the sacrifices and not because there were no more materials to sacrifice.
Joe. 1:10-12 THE FIELD IS LAID WASTE . . . BE CONFOUNDED . . . WAIL . . . THE HARVEST OF THE FIELD IS PERISHED . . . EVEN ALL THE TREES OF THE FIELD ARE WITHERED; FOR JOY IS WITHERED AWAY FROM THE SONS OF MEN, Whiting records that in 1915 the locusts he observed in Palestine appeared in their fully developed flying stage about June 10 and began at once to complete the destruction begun in the earlier stages. They attacked the olive trees, whose tough, bitter leaves had not been to the liking of the creepers. Food becoming scarcer, both creeping and flying locusts attacked the olive trees, and between the two they stripped every leaf, berry, and even the tender bark . . . Likewise every variety of tree was attacked with the sole exception of the Persian lilac and the oleander bushes. Of the cacti they ate away layer after layer over the whole surface, giving the leaves the effect of having been jack-planed. Even on the scarce and prized palms they had no pity, gnawing off the tender ends of the sword like branches, and, diving deep into the heart, they tunneled after the juicy pith. The destruction of the present grain crops in Joels day would also mean no harvest for next year since there would be no seed with which to sow another crop. The absence of grain and all other green vegetation would also probably mean the death of many animals. The drought which accompanied this locust plague would certainly decimate animal life and many people probably starved to death also. The whole nation had fallen into the hands of a chastening God. There was plague, drought, famine and as a result the worship of God in the Temple through offerings and sacrifices has been forced to a cessation. There was both physical and spiritual starvation. Truly, joy had withered away from the sons of men!
QUIZ
1.
How do we know that Joels interpretation of what this locust plague should mean to the people is not his own?
2.
How did Joel intend the people use this unprecedented historical event for teaching purposes?
3.
Why does Joel, describe the locusts in four different terms?
4.
Why admonish the drunkards to awake?
5.
How ferocious are the locusts in their attack upon the vegetation?
6.
To what extent are the people to mourn and why?
7.
How extensive is the destruction of the locust?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(4) That which the palmerworm hath left.The picture is introduced suddenly and graphically. Behold the desolation! Note the cause. The earth is bared by locusts beyond all previous experience. There were different sorts of locusts; as many as ninety have been reckoned. The four names, palmerworm, locust, cankerworm, caterpiller, indicate different swarms of the insect. The firstGazampoints to its voracity; the secondArbehits multitude; the thirdYelekits manner of licking up the grass like cattle; the fourthChasilits destructive effect. The number enumerated, four, draws attention to the four sore judgments with which Ezekiel was instructed to threaten Jerusalem, and to the four foreign invasions by the Assyrians, Chaldans, Macedonians, and Romans.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Description of the calamity to which Joe 1:2-3 point. “The land is bare, swarm after swarm of destructive locusts have devoured the crops and the foliage.” What are we to understand by the four classes of locusts mentioned: (1) gazam, (2) arbeh, (3) yeleq, (4) hasil; The first may be rendered “shearer,” the second “swarmer,” the third “licker,” the fourth “devourer.” Of these four names arbeh seems to be the generic term for locust; it is the one used most frequently in the Old Testament. Gazam occurs again only in Joe 2:25, and Amo 4:9; in Amos the name is selected in the place of the common one because it suggests in itself destructiveness. Yeleq seems to be used in Psa 105:34, as equivalent to arbeh, and in Nah 3:15, the two are used apparently as synonyms. In a similar way hasil is used as equivalent to arbeh in Deu 28:38; Isa 33:4, etc. From these facts it may be safe to infer that gazam, yeleq, and hasil are all epithets applied to arbeh. The prophet piles up these names simply for rhetorical purposes, “to picture the work of destruction as complete and final.” So Wellhausen and Nowack, “The names are heaped up to exhaust the genus even to its last individual.” This is a more probable interpretation than that which makes the four names designations of four different kinds of locusts, or of locusts in four successive stages of development. The latter view is advocated by Credner, Wuensche, and others, but it is made impossible by Joe 2:25, where the four names occur in different order; again, the stage designated by arbeh would be an undeveloped state, which is improbable, since it is the most common term for locust; besides, it would be difficult to distinguish between four separate stages in the life of the locust. That four different kinds of locusts are meant cannot be shown from the context, and the use of the names in other passages speaks against this view. Driver’s view, also, which regards the four names in part as synonymous designations of the same species, in part as designations of different species and in part as designating the ordinary locust in different stages of development is improbable.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Joe 1:4. That which the palmer-worm hath left, &c. Bochart has given many probable reasons to believe, that the four Hebrew words here used, chasil, ielek, arbeh, gazam, signify four species of locust; which the learned reader will find in his Hieroz. tom. ii. lib. v. c. 1. See also Scheuchzer on the place.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joe 1:4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
Ver. 4. That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten ] The palmerworm hath its name in Hebrew from shaving, (because it shaveth off the fruits of the earth). In Chaldee from creeping; in Greek from crookening; in Latin from gnawing. (Zachala. . Eruca ab erodendo. ) The locust hath its name in Hebrew from multitude, wherewith the very sun is darkened; in Latin from burning places, where it spoileth, Locusts, quasi loca ustulans; in Greek from cropping the tops of grain and plants, which, as they fled, they fed upon. The cankerworm hath its name in Hebrew from licking; in Chaldee from fleeing; in Greek and Latin from feeding upon the flowers of apples and other fruits, A M . Comester some render it. Flemings call it, The preacher, a bombo quem palando edit, from the noise it maketh as it flies. The caterpillar hath its name, Chasil, from wasting, because it utterly consumeth all, not only fruits and leaves, but tender boughs and branches: Ut ita creseat oratio sicut ipsum malum, to show that as their sin increased so did their punishment. The Lord of hosts cannot possibly want a weapon wherewith to beat a rebel; neither may wicked men expect that he should lay down the bucklers first. To that bold question of Pharaoh, Exo 5:2 , “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him?” God made a large reply, by his armies of locusts, lice, flies, &c., till Pharaoh was forced to answer himself, “The Lord is righteous.” What spoil hath been made by these despicable creatures here mentioned in other countries, Pliny recordeth. Pierius testifieth that the Egyptians made the locust a hieroglyphic of famine. And although we find not expressly set down in the holy history when this particular plague was executed, yet we need not doubt but it was done according to Deu 28:38-39 . See 1Ki 8:37 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joe 1:4-7
4What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;
And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.
5Awake, drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you wine drinkers,
On account of the sweet wine
That is cut off from your mouth.
6For a nation has invaded my land,
Mighty and without number;
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the fangs of a lioness.
7It has made my vine a waste
And my fig tree splinters.
It has stripped them bare and cast them away;
Their branches have become white.
Joe 1:4 locusts It must be understood that this plague of locusts is a direct result of the Covenant people rejecting their Covenant God (cf. Deu 28:38). They are sent by YHWH! They are under His control!
Joe 1:5 awake. . .weep. . .wail The foolish people of the land are addressed in three IMPERATIVES (which symbolize a call to spiritual awakening):
1. awake – BDB 884, KB 1098, Hiphil IMPERATIVE; related to drunkenness in Pro 23:35
2. weep: – BDB 113, KB 129, Qal IMPERATIVE; related to rebellion in Jer 22:10
3. howl – BDB 410, KB 413, Hiphil IMPERATIVE, cf. Joe 1:11; Joe 1:13; used of destruction of Babylon, Isa 13:6; of Moab, Jer 48:20; of Egypt, Eze 30:2; of God’s people, Zec 11:2 (cf. Hos 7:14; Mic 1:8; Zep 1:11)
drunkards. . .wine drinkers The prophetic word is not directed to alcoholics, but to God’s people, drunk on the wine of covenant rebellion. The only cure is radical detoxification (i.e., judgment, cf. Joe 1:6).
On account of the sweet wine Many have tried to make sweet wine (BDB 779) a non-alcoholic beverage, but this verse and Isa 49:26 show that this refers to an alcoholic beverage. The Bible says that God gives wine as a gift to humans (cf. Gen 27:28 [BDB 440]; Psa 104:14-15[BDB 406]). Wine is not evil, but like all physical things, it can be abused! It is the drink of the eschaton (cf. Joe 3:18; Amo 9:13).
SPECIAL TOPIC: BIBLICAL ATTITUDES TOWARD ALCOHOL AND ALCOHOLISM
Joe 1:6 For a nation has invaded my land In Joe 2:4-11 the locusts are described as the army of God. This is why they are used as a metaphor for an invading foreign army of divine judgment (cf. Joe 2:4-11, i.e., Assyria and Babylon).
invaded The literal phrase is come up (BDB 748, KB 828, Qal PERFECT), which is used for a military invasion in Jdg 6:3 and 1Ki 14:25.
They are described in several ways:
1. mighty
2. without number
3. lion’s teeth
4. lioness’ fangs
Numbers 1, 2 are parallel, as are Numbers 3, 4 (lions and locusts were regularly compared in Mesopotamia; both symbolized armies).
Joe 1:7 It has made my vine a waste, and my fig tree splinters The prophet is speaking for YHWH, for these agriculture products were gifts from Him (cf. Hos 2:8-9). Covenant violations removed YHWH’s blessing (i.e., waste, BDB 1031 I, cf. Deu 28:37). Now they are totally taken away by the locusts (i.e., an army invasion).
It has stripped them bare This is a Qal INFINITIVE ABSOLUTE and a Qal PERFECT VERB from the same root (BDB 362, KB 359), which is a grammatical way of expressing intensification.
Their branches have become white This is an agricultural allusion to the locusts destroying (by eating the green tips) the small branches of the trees. When the sun comes out it bleaches them white.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
That which, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 28:38). Compare Joe 2:25. The English of this verse is beautifully idiomatic, but twelve Hebrew words condense the whole. See below.
palmerworm. This is named first of four different stages of the locust. English = hairy caterpiller Hebrew gazam, or the gnawer. The pupa stage.
locust. Hebrew. ‘arbeh = the swarmer. The imago stage.
cankerworm. Hebrew. yelek = the devourer.
caterpillar. Hebrew hasil = the consumer. The larva stage. Compare Joe 2:25, and Nah 3:15, Nah 3:16.
These four words show the completeness of the destroying agencies. The Heb, reads
“Gnawer’s remnant,
Swarmer eats:
Swarmer’s remnant,
Devourer eats
Devourer’s remnant,
Consumer eats. “
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Joe 1:4-12
THE EXTENT OF THE PLEA FOR
REPENTANCE; VIVID, ARRESTING
TEXT: Joe 1:4-12
Through successive plagues of swarming locusts the grain and fruit, in fact all vegetation, is being utterly consumed. Even the land is represented as mourning over the desolation.
Joe 1:4 THAT WHICH THE PALMER-WORM HATH LEFT . . .; There are some who think Joel has given us here four different stages in the development of the one species of locust. Others think we have here four different species of locusts. Palmer-word means gnawer-shearer; locust may be defined the multitudinous one; canker-worm means licker, lapper, or hopper; caterpillar means devourer, stripper. Dr. Laetsch, in The Minor Prophets, Bible Commentary, pub. Concordia, comments, Locust, would emphasize the immense masses, the other three terms, their insatiable voracity, We prefer to explain Joels use of these four terms as simply a designation of successive stages of the plague of locusts. In other words the locusts came upon the land one increment after another in immediate succession until the land was stripped of all vegetation and then the Lord caused a great drought to come upon the land (cf. Joe 1:17-20). The use of the number four probably symbolizes completeness (cf. Isa 11:12; Jer 15:3; Eze 1:5-6; Amo 1:3 ff). Lange and Keil and Delitzsch agree that the proper name is locust while the other terms are figurative, poetic terms to describe the completeness of the work of these great hordes, one after another.
Zerr: Joe 1:4. The subject that is referred to in the foregoing verses is now introduced in this. I have consulted various books on the subject of these pests as to whether they were literal or figurative, and there is left still the uncertainty among them as to the true answer. However, the purposes of the lesson to be derived will be the same, whether the literal or figurative view be taken. We know from Deu 28:38-39; 1Ki 8:37; Lev 26:16 and such other passages, that the Lord did afflict the land with literal pests at times as a chastisement of the people. And we also know that the country was short of being as true to God as it should have been when Joel lived, and was deserving of some kind of judgment from the Lord for the same, It was also true that God intended to punish his people by the hand of a foreign army, and the pests could have reference to that. Or, the locusts and other insects could have been literal, and then used by the Lord as a type of the invading army that was to be let loose upon the land to take away all its wealth. I shall leave this question to the consideration of the reader, and proceed to comment on the several chapters and verses in their order, explaining the various terms as they are used.
In the December, 1915, issue of The National Geographic Magazine, there is a vivid description of a locust plague covering all of Palestine and Syria, by John D. Whiting. According to this account the swarms of locusts appeared in March, coming from the northeast, going toward the southwest in such thick clouds they obscured the sun from sight. The females, about three inches long, began immediately to lay eggs, sinking a hole about four inches deep into the hard soil and depositing about one hundred eggs in a neat cylindrical arrangement (about an inch long and as large as a lead pencil) all enclosed in a glue-like substance. As many as 75,000 eggs may be concentrated in less than one square yard of soil. Once the female locust has laid the eggs, her lifes mission is done. She flies away-whereto no one can say-and soon dies. Within a few weeks the young locusts are hatched. They resemble large black ants (having no wings) when first hatched. A few days after hatching they start their forward march of about 600 feet per day, clearing the ground of all vegetation before them. They hop forward much like fleas. At the end of May they molt, issuing forth in the pupa state, still unable to fly, standing upright. In this stage they leap only when frightened, using their two long and powerful hind-legs. In the last molt the wings emerge from their membranous sacs where they have been developing and the locust can now fly. After a few days in the flying stage the color of their bodies deepen into a pronounced red effect. We shall refer again to Mr. Whitings account as we proceed with our comments.
Joe 1:5 AWAKE, YE DRUNKARDS, AND WEEP; The original language indicates those addressed here were in a drunken sleep so sound as to be snoring. It indicates that drunkenness was widespread and stupefying. The prophet admonishes the wine-bibbers to come to their senses, recognize the warning of God in the devastation and weep and mourn in repentance. The sweet wine, or, new wine was spoken of as being found within the grape still in the cluster (cf. Isa 65:8) and there was great rejoicing when it was first pressed from the grape for it was considered a special blessing from the Lord. Now it was cut off-there was no new sweet wine to be found anywhere in all the land!
Zerr: Joe 1:5, The leaders of the nation were selfish and indulged themselves in the luxuries of the land to the detriment of the people. Weep . . . because of the new wine means for them to weep because It was to he cut off from their mouth. This would have been true whether literal pests were to destroy the products of the land, or they were to be cut off by an invading army.
Joe 1:6 FOR A NATION . . . WITHOUT NUMBER . . . TEETH OF A LION; The prophet portrays the locusts as a nation, a people, and this figure is used by the writer of Proverbs to picture ants and badgers (cf. Pro 30:25-26). This is a figure well chosen since locusts give the appearance of being a well organized army of people. Joels graphic description of their behavior in chapter 2 illustrates why they should be called a nation. Their teeth, though tiny, are the weapons of this army. In proportion to their very small bodies, their jaws are even stronger than a lions.
Zerr: Joe 1:6, The language of this verse is a strong indication that the Lord means an army from a heathen country, for the descriptive terms certainly apply to such.
Joe 1:7 HE HATH LAID MY VINE WASTE . . . BARKED MY FIG-TREE . . . CLEAN BARE AND CAST IT AWAY; Whiting writes: Once entering a vineyard the sprawling vines would in the shortest time be nothing but bare bark . . . When the daintier morsels were gone, the bark was eaten off the young topmost branches, which, after exposed to the sun bleached snow-white. Then, seemingly out of malice, they would gnaw off small limbs, perhaps to get at the pith within. God, the Giver and Owner of the vineyards and orchards, speaks through the prophet, calling them His vines and His fig trees.
Zerr: Joe 1:7. The grammatical form of this verse is in the past or present tense, but that is a common thing to find among prophetic writings. As the fruitbearing plants would be rendered barren by being treated as it is here described, so the invasion by a foreign army would destroy the products of the land as far as their moral and political usefulness was concerned.
Joe 1:8-9 LAMENT LIKE A VIRGIN . . . THE MEAL-OFFERING . . . CUT OFF FROM THE HOUSE OF JEHOVAH . . . PRIESTS . . . MOURN; Now the prophet calls upon the whole nation to mourn. This is a mourning not only because of the loss of wine and grain but because the loss of these material things have disrupted divine worship. There is not even enough grain or wine to be found to make up an acceptable offering in the Temple. The prophet calls for a godly sorrow that worketh repentance (cf. 2Co 7:9-10)! Their sorrow is to be one of total immersion-like the sorrow of a newly married maiden who has lost her husband by death in the first few days of marriage. Gods bride, the covenant people, has been cut off from communion with her Husband. She should lament and weep-her attitude should be one of heartfelt mourning. The cessation of the daily sacrifices and offerings was for all practical purposes a cessation of covenant relation-a sign that God had rejected His people. Even in the last siege of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D., the sacrificial worship was not suspended till it had been brought to the last extremity; and even then it was because there were none to offer the sacrifices and not because there were no more materials to sacrifice.
Zerr: Joe 1:8. The nation of Israel has always been compared to a companion in the marriage relation. The word virgin might seem to be contradictory of a woman who is supposed to be a wife. The word is from BICTITUWLAH, which Strong defines, Feminine past participle of an unused root meaning to separate; a virgin (from her privacy); sometimes (by continuation) a bride. The idea is to compare Israel to a woman who was put away from her husband in their early married life, and compelled to live alone as if she were a virgin. The fulfillment of it was to be when Israel was sent away from the husband’s home (Palestine) and made to live among Btrangers. A young woman in such a situation would follow the custom of the day and clothe herself with this coarse materia! which we know as common sacking. Joe 1:9. It was true that the services of the altar had been literally neglected and abused, but as a prophecy the time was coming when such practices would be stopped altogether, for God would not permit his people to attempt them in a heathen country.
Joe 1:10-12 THE FIELD IS LAID WASTE . . . BE CONFOUNDED . . . WAIL . . . THE HARVEST OF THE FIELD IS PERISHED . . . EVEN ALL THE TREES OF THE FIELD ARE WITHERED; FOR JOY IS WITHERED AWAY FROM THE SONS OF MEN, Whiting records that in 1915 the locusts he observed in Palestine appeared in their fully developed flying stage about June 10 and began at once to complete the destruction begun in the earlier stages. They attacked the olive trees, whose tough, bitter leaves had not been to the liking of the creepers. Food becoming scarcer, both creeping and flying locusts attacked the olive trees, and between the two they stripped every leaf, berry, and even the tender bark . . . Likewise every variety of tree was attacked with the sole exception of the Persian lilac and the oleander bushes. Of the cacti they ate away layer after layer over the whole surface, giving the leaves the effect of having been jack-planed. Even on the scarce and prized palms they had no pity, gnawing off the tender ends of the sword like branches, and, diving deep into the heart, they tunneled after the juicy pith. The destruction of the present grain crops in Joels day would also mean no harvest for next year since there would be no seed with which to sow another crop. The absence of grain and all other green vegetation would also probably mean the death of many animals. The drought which accompanied this locust plague would certainly decimate animal life and many people probably starved to death also. The whole nation had fallen into the hands of a chastening God. There was plague, drought, famine and as a result the worship of God in the Temple through offerings and sacrifices has been forced to a cessation. There was both physical and spiritual starvation. Truly, joy had withered away from the sons of men!
Zerr: Joe 1:10, This verse is a prediction of the condition to come upon the land after the invasion of the Babylonian army. Joe 1:11. The leaders of the nation are likened to husbandmen and vinedressers. But they had abused their position in the Lord’s vineyard and hence were destined to be deprived of all their privileges. Be ye ashamed is a prediction of the humiliation that was to be imposed upon them by the power of a foreign army. Joe 1:12. There is nothing new in this verse, but it is a repetition of the devastation awaiting the unfaithful nation to be effected by the hand of Babylon.
Questions
1. How do we know that Joels interpretation of what this locust plague should mean to the people is not his own?
2. How did Joel intend the people use this unprecedented historical event for teaching purposes?
3. Why does Joel, describe the locusts in four different terms?
4. Why admonish the drunkards to awake?
5. How ferocious are the locusts in their attack upon the vegetation?
6. To what extent are the people to mourn and why?
7. How extensive is the destruction of the locust?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
palmerworm
The palmerworm, locust, etc., are thought to be different forms, at different stages of development, of one insect. The essential fact is that, according to the usual method of the Spirit in prophecy, some local circumstance is shown to be of spiritual significance, and is made the occasion of a far-reaching prophecy (e.g.) Isa 7:1-14 where the Syrian invasion and the unbelief of Ahaz give occasion to the great prophecy of Joe 1:14. Here in Joel a plague of devouring insects is shown to have spiritual significance Joe 1:13; Joe 1:14 and is made the occasion of the prophecy of the day of the Lord, not yet fulfilled. (See Scofield “Isa 2:12”). This is more developed in Joel 2, where the literal locusts are left behind, and the future day of Jehovah fills the scene.
The whole picture is of the end-time of this present age, of the “times of the Gentiles” Luk 21:24; Rev 16:14 of the battle of Armageddon; Rev 16:14; Rev 19:11-21 of the regathering of Israel. (See Scofield “Rom 11:26”) and of kingdom blessing. It is remarkable that Joel, coming at the very beginning of written prophecy (B.C. 836), gives the fullest view of the consummation of all written prophecy.
The order of events is:
(1) The invasion of Palestine from the north by Gentile world-powers headed up under the Beast and false prophet Joe 2:1-10 “Armageddon,” (See Scofield “Rev 16:14”).
(2) the Lord’s army and destruction of the invaders Joe 2:11; Rev 19:11-21.
(3) the repentance of Judah in the land Joe 2:12-17 (See Scofield “Deu 30:3”).
(4) the answer of Jehovah Joe 2:18-27
(5) the effusion of the Spirit in the (Jewish) “last days” Joe 2:28; Joe 2:29.
(6) the return of the Lord in glory and the setting up of the kingdom Joe 2:30-32; Act 15:15-17 by the regathering of the nation and judgment of the nations Joe 3:1-16
(7) full and permanent kingdom blessing Joe 3:17-21; Zec 14:1-21. (See Scofield “Mat 25:32”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
That which the palmerworm hath left: Heb. The residue of the palmer-worm, Joe 2:25, Amo 4:9, The learned Bochart, and others, are of the opinion that the four Hebrew words, gazam, yelek, arbeh, chasil, respectively rendered the palmer-worm, locust, canker-worm and caterpillar, denote four different species of locusts. See note on Exo 10:4
the locust eaten: Exo 10:12-15, Deu 28:38, Deu 28:42, 1Ki 8:37, 2Ch 6:28, 2Ch 7:13, Psa 78:46, Psa 105:34, Amo 7:1, Rev 9:3-7
the cankerworm eaten: Nah 3:15-17
the caterpillar: Isa 33:4, Jer 51:14, Jer 51:27
Reciprocal: Exo 10:5 – the residue Deu 28:16 – in the field Deu 28:39 – for the worms 1Sa 6:5 – mice Pro 30:27 – The locusts Joe 2:3 – and behind Joe 2:20 – remove
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Joe 1:4. The subject that is referred to in the foregoing verses is now introduced in this. I have consulted various books on the subject of these pests as to whether they were literal or figurative, and there is left still the uncertainty among them as to the true answer. However, the purposes of the lesson to be derived will be the same, whether the literal or figurative view be taken. We know from Deu 28:38-39; 1Ki 8:37; Lev 26:16 and such other passages, that the Lord did afflict the land with literal pests at times as a chastisement of the people. And we also know that the country was short of being as true to God as it should have been when Joel lived, and was deserving of some kind of judgment from the Lord for the same, It was also true that God intended to punish his people by the hand of a foreign army, and the pests could have reference to that. Or, the locusts and other insects could have been literal, and then used by the Lord as a type of the invading army that was to be let loose upon the land to take away all its wealth. I shad leave this question to the consideration of the reader, and proceed to comment on the several chapters and verses in their order, explaining the various terms as they are used.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joe 1:4. That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten A succession of noxious creatures hath perfectly destroyed the fruits of the earth; which makes this judgment so strange and remarkable. It is usual with the prophets to speak of things which were certainly about to take place, as already come to pass; and it is likely that the prophet speaks thus here; and that the sense is, That which the palmer-worm shall leave the locust shall eat. Bochart hath assigned many probable reasons to show that the four Hebrew words here used signify four species of locusts.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Several waves of locusts had consumed all the agricultural produce of the land. What one wave of these voracious insects had left uneaten, other subsequent waves had destroyed. The devastation of the land had been complete (cf. Amo 4:9). God had threatened locust plagues as punishment if His people proved unfaithful to Him (Deu 28:38; Deu 28:42).
Four different words for "locusts" appear in this verse (and in Joe 2:25), but a total of nine occur in the Old Testament. These words have led some interpreters to conclude that four types of locust are in view or that locusts in four stages of their maturity are. [Note: E.g., J. A. Thompson, "Joel’s Locusts in the Light of Near Eastern Parallels," Journal of Near Eastern Studies 14 (1955):52-55; idem, "Translation of the Words for Locust," Bible Translator 25 (October 1974):405-11.] It seems better, however, to view the locusts as coming in waves, gnawing, swarming, creeping, and stripping as they devoured the vegetation. [Note: See H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos, pp. 27-28; and Keil, 1:181-82. For eyewitness accounts of devastating locust plagues, see S. R. Driver, The Books of Joel and Amos, pp. 40, 89-93; G. A. Smith, The Book of the Twelve Prophets, 2:391-95; and John D. Whiting, "Jerusalem’s Locust Plague," National Geographic, December 1915, pp. 511-50. For more detailed discussions of locusts and locust plagues, see Stanley Baron, The Desert Locust; L. V. Bennett, "Development of a Locust Plague," Nature 256 (1975):486-87; Lev Fishelson, Fauna Palestina: Insecta. Vol. 3: Orthoptera, Acridoidea; Ovid R. Sellers, "Stages of Locust in Joel," American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 52 (1935-36):81-85; and Z. Waloft and S. M. Green, "Regularities and Duration of Regional Locust Plagues," Nature 256 (1975):484-85.] Four waves of invasion picture a thorough devastation (cf. Jer 15:3; Eze 14:21). Though the prophets sometimes used locusts as a figure for horses (e.g., Jer 51:27), most interpreters have concluded that Joel described a real locust invasion rather than a military invasion by soldiers on horses.