Day 175 – Joel: The day of the locusts
“A vast army of locusts has invaded my land, a terrible army too numerous to count. Its teeth are like lions’ teeth, its fangs like those of a lioness.” Joel 1:6 NLT
Read Joel 1:1 to Joel 2:27
Like a destroying army of locusts, God’s punishment for sin is overwhelming, dreadful, and unavoidable. When it comes, there will be no food, water, protection, and no escape. The day for settling accounts with God for how we have lived is fast approaching. One day, we will have to reckon with God – not nature, the economy or foreign invaders. We can’t ignore or offend God forever. We must pay attention to this message now, or we will feel His anger later, just like the prophesied locust plague is only a foretaste of the judgment to come on the Day of the Lord. Here we find a timeless call to repentance with the promise of blessing. Just as the people faced the tragedy of their crops being destroyed, we also will face tragic judgment if we live in sin. But God’s grace is still available to us as we wait for that coming day.
Joel describes these locusts four times: “gazam”, “’arbeh”, “yeleg”, and “chasil”, which do not point to any specific locust species. Most commentators accept that this refers to the four different stages of development and would presumably be the swarming adult locust, the resident adult locust, the wingless hopper, and the crawling nymph. It is an interesting study to compare these stages to the four sections of the great human image in Daniel 2, pointing to the armies of the nations and great empires of the world.
Prayer: Father, please give us a deeper understanding of Joel’s prophecies. Not just for what it meant for Israel, but for the future and Your coming Day too. Allow us to recognize the plagues of this world as the signs that Your Day is near. Amen.
