Joel saw terrible, terrible destruction coming in the form of swarms of locusts. So certain was the coming judgment that he was able to use the “prophetic perfect” past tense; that is, he was able to speak of a future event as if it had already occurred: “What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten” (1:4). In judgment because of the nation’s great sinning, the swarms were a picture of great numbers of troops that would come against the land with terrible destructive force: “For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness” (1:6).
This is a frightening future, one of destruction and woe. Yet, hear this: “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.’ Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster” (2:12,13). And: “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. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you (2:25-26). And: “The Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel” (3:16). How gracious is our God! We should pray:
God the all-terrible! King, who ordainest
great winds thy clarions, lightnings thy sword,
show forth thy pity on high where thou reignest;
give to us peace in our time, O Lord. -- Henry F. Chorley (1842)
Comments