Chapter 24

excepting where the locusts are viewed in this capacity. (Besides the passages already quoted, compare Is. xxxiii. 4.)

The following also may be considered. The description of the ravages of the second brood is, according to _Credner_, to begin in chap. ii. 4. But the suffix in ver. 4 refers directly to the winged locusts spoken of in vers. 1-3; and in the verb ירוצון they are the subject.

And now, every one may judge what value is to be attached to a hypothesis which has everything against it, and nothing in its favour, and the essential suppositions of which--such as the departure of the swarms, their leaving their eggs behind, their death in the Red Sea--are, as the author of the hypothesis himself confesses, passed over in silence by the prophet.

We may now proceed to the solution of our proper problem. There are no general reasons, either against the figurative, or against the literal interpretation; neither of them has any unfavourable prejudice which can be urged against it. A devastation by real locusts is threatened, in the Pentateuch, against the transgressors of the law, Deut. xxviii. 38, 39; against the Egyptians, the Lord actually made use of this, among other methods of punishment; and a devastation in Israel by locusts is, in Amos iv. 9, represented as an effect of divine anger.--[Pg 308]On the other hand, figurative representations of that kind are of very common occurrence. In Isaiah, _e.g._, the invading Assyrians and Egyptians appear, in a continuous description, as swarms of flies and bees. The comparison of hostile armies with locusts is very common, not only on account of their multitude (from which circumstance the locusts received their name in Hebrew), but also on account of the sudden surprise, and the devastation: compare Judges vi. 5; Jer. xlvi. 23, li. 27; Judith ii. 11. Several times a hostile invasion also is represented under the _image_ and _symbol_ of the plague of the locusts. In Nah. iii. 15-17, the Assyrians appear in the form of locusts,--and that this is not only on account of their numbers, but also on account of the devastations which they make, is shown by the comparison with the ילק in ver. 15;--and just in the same manner are the enemies described who accomplish their overthrow. And,--what is completely analogous,--in Amos vii. 1-3, the prophet beholds the approaching divine judgment under the image of a swarm of locusts, just as, in ver. 4, under that of a fire, and in ver. 7, under that of a plumb-line. All these three images are in substance identical; their meaning is expressed in ver. 9 by the words: "The high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be destroyed." The locusts denote destroying hostile armies; the fire denotes war; and the plumb-line, the destruction to be accomplished by the enemies. It was so much the more natural to represent the divine judgment under the image of a devastation by locusts--as is done also in Rev. ix. 3 ff.--because, formerly, it had actually manifested itself in this way in Egypt. The figurative representation had therefore a significant substratum in the history of the past. But it is, throughout, the custom of the prophets to describe the future under the image of the analogous past, which, as it were, is revived in it.--It ought to be still further remarked, that we must, _a priori_, be the less indisposed to admit a detailed symbolical representation in Joel, as the two prophets, betwixt whom he is placed, have likewise such symbolical portions.

The decision depends, therefore, upon the internal character of the description itself. An allegory must betray itself as such, by significant hints; where these are wanting, it is arbitrary to assume its existence. Following the order of the [Pg 309] text, we shall bring together everything of this kind which we find in it.

The words, even, of the introduction,--"Hath any such thing happened in your days, and in the days of your fathers? Of it you shall tell your sons, and your sons to their sons, and their sons to the succeeding generation,"--scarcely permit us to think of a devastation by locusts in the literal sense. It could only be by means of the grossest exaggeration--which, if it were far from any prophet, was certainly so from the simple and mild Joel--that he could represent, as the greatest disaster which ever befell, or should ever befall the nation, a devastation by locusts which was, after all, only a transitory evil. For it is the greatness of the disaster which is implied in the call to relate it to the latest posterity; no later suffering should be so great as to cause this one to be forgotten.

We must not overlook the expression in ver. 6: "_For a nation_ (גוי) has come up over my land." "Nation," according to most interpreters, is thought to signify the mere multitude; but in that case, עם would certainly have been used, as is done in Prov. xxx. 25, 26, concerning the ants. In גוי there is implied not only the idea of what is hostile--this _Credner_ too acknowledges--but also of what is profane. This, indeed, is the principal idea; and, on this account, even the degenerate Covenant-people several times receive the name גוי. That this principal idea is here likewise applicable, is evident from the antithesis: "Over my land." It is true, that the suffix cannot be referred to Jehovah, as is done by _J. H. Michaelis_ and others, although the antithesis would thus most strikingly appear; but as little can we refer it, as is done by modern interpreters, to the prophet as an individual; for, in this case the antithesis would be lost altogether. The comparison of vers. 7 and 19 clearly shows that, according to a common practice (compare the Introduction to Micah, and the whole prophecy of Habakkuk), the prophet speaks in the name of the people of God. A strange, unheard-of event! A heathen host has invaded the land of the people of God! The antithesis is in ii. 18: "Then the Lord was jealous for His land, and spared His people." We do not think that the prophet loses sight of his image. He designates the locust as the heathen host; but he would not have chosen this designation, which, when literally [Pg 310] understood, is very strange, unless the matter had induced him to do so. If it be understood figuratively, Amos vi. 14 entirely harmonizes with it.--In the same verse (Joel i. 6) it is said: "His teeth, the teeth of a lion, cheek teeth of a lion to him;" on which Rev. ix. 8 is to be compared. This comparison is quite suitable to figurative locusts, to furious enemies (compare Is. v. 29; Nah. ii. 12, 13; Jer. ii. 15, iv. 7, xlix. 19; Ezek. xxxii. 2; Dan. vii. 4), but not to natural locusts; for the lion cannot possibly be the symbol of mere voracity.

It is remarkable, that in the description of the locusts in this verse, and throughout, their flying is not mentioned at all. It is only in chap. ii. 2, "Day of darkness and gloominess, day of clouds and thick darkness," that _Credner_ supposes such an allusion to exist. The darkness is, according to him, in consequence of the swarm of locusts coming up in the skies. But the incorrectness of such a supposition is immediately perceived, upon a comparison of chap. ii. 10. Before the host, and before it arrives, the earth quakes, the heavens tremble, sun and moon cover themselves with darkness, and the stars withdraw their shining. It is only after all this has happened, that the Lord approaches at the head of His host. It is not from this host, therefore, that the darkness can proceed. On the contrary, the darkening of the heavens, as is quite conclusively shown by the numerous almost literally agreeing parallel passages (compare the remarks on Zech. xiv. 6), is the symbol of the anger of God, the sign that He approaches as a Judge, and an Avenger. But in what way could the omission of every reference to the flying of the locusts, in a description so minute, be accounted for other than this: that the reality presented nothing corresponding to this feature?

It is only the heaviest and most continuous suffering, and not a transitory plague by locusts, which can justify the call in i. 8: "Howl like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth." This verse forms the transition to ver. 9, where the sacrifice in the house of Jehovah appears as cut off, and connects Joel with Hosea, in whom the image, of which the outlines only are given here, appears finished. Zion has also lost the friend of her youth--the Lord; compare Prov. ii. 17: "Who forsaketh the friend of her youth, and forgot the covenant of her God;" Is. liv. 6; Jer. ii. 2, iii. 4.--Of great [Pg 311] importance for the question under consideration are ver. 9: "The meat-offering and drink-offering are cut off from the house of the Lord;" and ver. 13: "Gird yourselves and lament, ye priests, howl ye ministers of the altar, come, spend all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God; for the meat-offering and drink-offering are withholden from the house of your God." It is quite inconceivable that the want of provisions, resulting from a natural devastation by real locusts, could have been the reason that the meat-offering and drink-offering, which, in a material point of view, were of so little value, should have been withheld from the Lord; inasmuch as the cessation of it appears in these passages as the consummation of the national calamity. During the siege of Jerusalem by Pompey, the legal sacrifices existed, according to _Josephus_ (_Arch._ xiv. 4, § 3), even amidst the greatest dangers to life, during the irruption of the enemies into the city, and in the midst of the carnage. It is true that, during the last siege by the Romans, when matters had come to an extremity, _Johannes_ ordered the sacrifices to be discontinued. But this was done, not from want of materials, but because there were none to offer them--from ἀνδρῶν ἀπορίᾳ, as _Josephus_ says (_Bell. Jud._ vi. 2, § 1; compare _Reland_ in _Havercamp_ on this passage)--and to the great dissatisfaction of the people in the city, ὁ δῆμοσ δεινῶς ἀθυμεῖ. The national view is expressed in what _Josephus_ says on this occasion to Johannes, to whom he had been sent by Titus on account of this event: "If any man should rob thee of thy daily food, thou, most wicked man, wouldst certainly consider him as thine enemy. Dost thou then think that thou wilt have for thine associate in this war, God, whom thou hast robbed of His eternal worship?" But the sound explanation readily suggests itself, as soon as it is admitted that behind the locusts the Gentiles are concealed. In that case, Dan. ix. 27, where the destroyer makes sacrifice and oblation to cease, is parallel. The destruction of the temple is also announced by the contemporary Amos in chap. ix.; compare