Joel 1

Joel 1:1

I. DESCRIPTION OF THE LOCUST PLAGUE (Chap. 1) A. Its Unprecedented Severity (1:1-4)1:1-4 Under the figure of a locust plague, Joel the son of Pethuel here describes the impending invasion of Judah by an army from the north. This prophecy received a partial fulfillment in the Babylonian invasion, but in the future, the invader will be the king of the North (Assyria). The severity of the locust plague was such that the elders could not remember anything like it. The plague was in four stages, the four stages in the growth of the locust: the chewing locust, the swarming locust, the crawling locust, and the consuming locust. These may refer to the four world empires which ruled over God’s peopleBabylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.

Joel 1:5

B. Its Effect Upon: (1) Drunkards (1:5-7) (2) Priests (1:8-10, 13-16) (3) Farmers (1:11, 12, 17, 18)The nation is called upon to repent, fast, and prayfrom the drunkards to the farmers (vv. 11, 12, 17, 18), and the priests (vv. 8-10, 13-16). The locusts had so stripped the land that there was nothing left with which to make offerings and sacrifices to the LORD (vv. 8-10). The prophet saw this as the day of the Lord and destruction from the Almighty (v. 15). This expression refers to any time when God steps forth in judgment, putting down evil and rebellion, and triumphing gloriously. In the future, the Day of the Lord includes the Tribulation Period, the Second Advent, the Millennial Reign of Christ, and the final destruction of the heavens and earth with fire. The prophet, speaking for the people, cries to the LORD for mercy, because fire has devoured both pastures and trees. Even the beasts of the field cry out to God because the brooks are dried up.