Joel 1:1-2:17
Dear RTB’ers,
Joel. Locusts! It’s hard to read this passage without wincing at the devastation brought on by these insects. Many months ago we read about the locusts plague in Exodus 10:1-20 and probably smiled at the plight of the Egyptians as Pharoah was refusing Moses’ requests to let the Israelites go. But when we read about this locust plague in Joel, it’s much different. It’s like we’re reading it in present personal time instead of as a third-party observer: …gnawing locust…swarming locust…creeping locust…stripping locust… It has made my vine a waste and my fig tree a stump. It has stripped them bare and hurled them away; their branches have become white. (Joel 1:4,7, NASB)
Some scholars argue that this locust plague is metaphorical, that it actually relates to invading armies from Assyria or Babylonia, but it seems much more real to me that the Lord is judging His people, Israel: The LORD utters His voice before His army; for His camp is exceedingly great; He who executes His word is powerful. For the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it? “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” (vv. 2:11-13)
It really struck me – what a powerful passage it is that we read today! Yet even now … rend your hearts and not your garments.
Blessings!
See also: October 2 (2023) / Joel.