sg. nr.n3, or uipn for Jnyn, 2« favours the latter. — Jip only here and
twice in '/' 42' where it is used of the hind and of the soul. (S avi^Xe^av,
Aq. iirpa<Ti(I)dr], B quasi area sitiens imhrem suspexerunt, this is intended
as the transl. of uiyn in accordance with Aq. ; Jer. explains hoc enim
uno verba signifcat A quila discens, iirpaa-nlidri. The vb. has usually been
connected with J-\>', from which nj'n;^', garden terrace or bed, is derived,
and it has been compared with the Ar. and Eth. root Jij; to ascend,
and then been explained as = to ascend (with longing and desire) =
to long for, CS imirodei, B desiderat 4^ 42', to pant, AV., RV. But it
would seem as if this Jij? had nothing to do with njnjj, and the meaning
given to it by &, the Rabbis, Luther, Cal., et al., to cry or cry aloud is
much more fitting both here and in \p 42', cf. also ^ 104^'. Ehr., Psalm-
en, ad 42', connects it with Ar. 'agga, to cry aloud. — nis' nicna the wild
animals, cf. i S. iy^\ elsewhere mtrn n^n. — Du. appears to omit T''^n,
but the parall. in v. "» argues for its genuineness. — cd ip'SN also ^ 42',
CS d<p4(Teis vddruu. Ace. to Deissmann this was the technical term for
irrigation-ditches in Egypt in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods. — V.2<"> 3
= V. '9bn, ^96- !"• 163. 184. 240 Qm. it, Hghtly, for it is only a doublet, Siev,,
cf. Gr., Marti.
THE INVASION OF THE LOCUST ARMY (2^-").
This address places us in the midst of the excitement over tlie
approach of the locust swarm. The alarm-horn is to he sounded
on the temple hill to warn the people of the imminent danger, v. '^.
Already a htige army of locusts, the like of which has never been
seen, has settled on the mountains, v. ^^P^, and has begun its de-
structive work, which is so awful that it looks as if a fire had swept
2}' ^ 93
(foer the country wherever they Jtave been, v. ^. Vividly, Joel de-
scribes the appearance of the locust army and its speed, v. *, the
noise it makes when it marches and when it forages, v. ®*, its well-
ordered and irresistible advance, w.^^- '• *, and its attack upon
the city, v. ^. Then after this graphic and rapid description he
calls to repentance; erven now it is not too late to implore Yahweh
for mercy for He is gracious and may yet be prevailed upon to
leave enough at least for the daily sacrifices, vv. ^^"".
The interpolator had explained the locusts in i*^ as the vanguard
of the day of Yahweh whose approach they heralded. In this ad-
dress, 2'-", he has again inserted several verses C^- ''^*- "■'"• ")
which connect the locust plague with the day of Yahweh. See
p. 50.
The two addresses, i^-^° and 2*"", are complete in themselves and
independent of each other; and it is certain that they were not de-
livered at the same time. In ch. i the locusts had already come,
swarm after swarm, and the basis of the appeal to Yahweh is the
awful condition of the country due to the locusts and the drought.
Ch. 2 presents a different phase of the plague. The drought is not
mentioned, but the locusts are advancing and have begun their
destructive work, quickly reducing the fruitful landscape to a
desolate wilderness. It appears thus to have been the first swarm
of the several that succeeded each other. The visitation seems
to Joel altogether unprecedented and he takes pains to describe
the appearance and the march of this strange army in detail. The
swarm here described cannot have come after the situation had
become as depicted in ch. i. In view of this it is most reasonable
to see in v."*' an expression of the hope that by Yahweh's gracious
intervention enough may yet be left for the daily sacrifices whose
performance Joel sees threatened, while in ch. i they had already
been suspended. In point of time 2^"" was therefore delivered
earlier than i^'^°, but whether Joel himself or an editor is responsi-
ble for the present arrangement cannot be decided. Possibly the
wrong interpretation of 2*^^^ as part of the address of 2^'" had
something to do with it, see on 2^^'^. There can, however, be no
question that from a purely literary point of view ch. i serves as
a better introduction than ch. 2.
94 JOEL
WARNING OF AN UNPARALLELED LOCUST INVA-
SION AND ITS RAVAGES (2^-^).
•• Blow the horn in Zion,
sound the alarm on My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble!
["For the day of Yahweh comes, for it is near,
*• A day of darkness and gloom,
A day of clouds and deep darkness/"] •
For black on the mountains is scattered
a great and powerful people.
Its like has not been from of old,
nor shall be again after it,
For years of generation upon generation.
»• Before them the fire devours,
and behind them burns a flame!
Like the garden of Eden is the land before them,
but a desolate desert behind them.
And nothing whatever escapes them!
Four strs., of which the second is an insertion, (i) consists of a hexameter + a
trimeter, (2) of a trimeter + a hexameter (or if read more rapidly a tetrameter),
(3) and (4) of two hexameters followed by a trimeter, each. The trimeter in (3)
and (4) may be secondary.
1-2. One sometimes has the feeling that Joel was a priest, for
his interest in the priests and in the temple services was very great.
But there is nothing to prove this. — 1. Again he addresses the
priests, though he does not mention them by name, Sound the horn
in Zion, and give the alarm in My holy mountain! From the
height of the temple hill the alarm is to be sounded, by the blast
of the horn and perhaps also by shouting, so that Jerusalem and
the surrounding parts may be warned of the impending danger.
It is not necessary to suppose that the people who were to be warned
lived all in Jerusalem or so near by that they could all hear the
sound of the alarm-horn, for the signal was doubtless passed from
place to place, beginning on the temple hill. Of course, it is only
the land of Yahweh that is to be thus warned. The inevitable re-
sult of the alarm is expressed here by a further jussive, let all the
inhabitants of the land tremble! CJ. Am. 3', Shall the alarm-horn be
2' - ' 95
sounded in a city and the people not be afraid? The people would
usually flock to the fortified cities, here Jerusalem, cf. Je. 6'^, to es-
cape the threatened danger. The reason for calling them together
to Jerusalem is not stated, but it is clear from 2'^^- i^\ The
alarm-horn, shdphdr, was the curved horn of a cow or ram used as
a musical instrument. The prophet speaks this summons in the
name of Yahweh, for he says in My holy mountain. This is a slight
indication of the secondary character of v. *''â– "^", where Yahweh is
referred to in the 3d pers. For other arguments see p. 50. The
interpolator gives the approach of the day of Yahweh as the reason
for sounding the alarm and for the fear of the people,/or the day of
Yahweh comes, for it is near! Cf. 1^^ 4". He continues with a
literal quotation from Zp. i*'.~2. A. day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and deep darkness, cf. for the latter part also Ez.
34". This is the prophetic conception of the day of Yahweh, cf.
Am. 5^* - ". Darkness and gloom are figurative for disaster and de-
spair. In Zp. i^' the phrases had nothing to do with locusts. And
indeed the terms are too strong for a locust swarm. Observers
speak frequently of the eclipse-like hiding of the sun by a locust
swarm, but never in this exaggerated manner of thick darkness.
It need nevertheless not be denied that the interpolator may have
used these particular phrases because "a flight of locusts, as it ap-
proaches, presents the appearance of a black cloud, which, as it
passes, obscures the sun, and even sometimes darkens the whole
sky" (Dr.). But this alone does not explain the use of these strong
terms. The writer took them from the prophetic vocabulary. Un-
fortunately, by inserting his interpolation at just this point he has
created the impression, as if he identified the day of the locusts
with the day of Yahweh, which he clearly does not according to i^''.
— Joel thought only of the locusts and not of the day of Yahweh
and he meant to warn the people of the approach of their terrible
army, as blackness, darkness, a great and powerful nation is spread
out on the mountains. They are so numerous that the mountains are
black with them. In Ex. 10" there were so many "that the land
was darkened" as they covered the face of the whole land. Cf.
Thomson, The Jjind and the Book, p. 416/., "The whole face of the
mountain [Lebanon] was black with them." The point emphasised
96 JOEL
here is the great multitude. This seems a much better reading than
the transl. as daun spread on the mountains, though the descriptions
by travellers of the shining yellow brightness caused by the reflec-
tion of the rays of the sun on the wings of the locusts have often
been adduced for the lifelikeness of this comparison. GASm.,
e. g., says, p. 404, "No one who has seen a cloud of locusts can
question the realism even of this picture: the heavy gloom of the
immeasurable mass of them, shot by gleams of light where a few
of the sun's imprisoned beams have broken through or across the
storm of lustrous wings. This is like dawn beaten down on the
hill-tops, and crushed by rolling masses of cloud in conspiracy to
prolong the night." But this is a description of a flying locust
swarm, here they are on the ground, on the mountains, see
also V. ^ On the mountains defines the place where the locusts are
spread out, not where the dawn is. It is such an awful swarm that
it has no parallel in history, cf. i^- ^ the like 0/ it has never been be-
fore, nor shall be any more afterward (lit. after it) all through (lit. to)
the years of generation after (lit. and) generation. The parallel to
the first part of this in Ex. 10'* shows that this is merely a strong
and common way of expressing the extraordinary and unique char-
acter of the visitation. Joel did not think of the Exodus passage
when he wrote this.— 3. He likens the destruction caused by the
locusts to a fire which precedes and follows them on their march :
Afire devours before them, and aflame burns after them. This figure
is so appropriate for the devastation of the country by the locusts
that travellers have frequently employed it.* Joel describes the
locusts as an invading army in vv. ^- ^ ^- and the figure must have
been present in his mind also in v. ^ As a host of barbarians in-
vades the country, burning, destroying and pillaging everything,
so also these locusts. Quickly the fertile fields disappear, like
* " Wherever they come, the ground seems burned, as it were with fire." " I have myself observ'ed
that the places where they had browsed were as scorched as if the fire had passed there." " They
covered a square mile so completely, that it appeared, at a litde distance, to have been burned and
strewn over with brown ashes." (Quoted by Pu.) Of the locust plague in Palestine on June
15-15, i83s, an observer remarked," the trees are as barren as in England in \vinter, but it looks
as if the whole country had been burnt by fire" (Ectles. Gazelle. 1865, p. 55, quoted by Dr.).
"Bamboo groves have been stripped of their leaves and left standing like saplings after a rapid
bush fire, ... and grass has been devoured so that the bare ground appeared as if burned"
(.Standard, Dec. 25, 1896, quoted by Dr.).
2' ' 97
the garden of Eden the land was before them, but after them it is a
desohile wilderness! The two extremes of wonderful fertility and
absolute barrenness are used quite effectively. For the garden of
Eden, with its proverbial fruitfulness, cf. Gn. 2^ for the same com-
parison see Ez. 36^^ and Gn. 13^'' (the garden of Yahweh), Is. 51^
(the garden of Yahweh parall. to Eden) ; for the trees of Eden, cf.
Ez. 31^- ^''- *^ Again observers vouch for the accuracy of the de-
scription of the destruction.* It is clear that Joel meant here the
devastation caused by the locusts, and not the drought which ace.
to ch. I accompanied and accentuated the plague. The drought
cannot yet have set in at the time of the appearance of this swarm,
which must have been the first of the series, if we are to take Joel's
words at all seriously. And nothing whatever escapes them is again
true to life.f
THE ADVANCE AND ATTACK OF THE LOCUST
ARMY (2"-').
<• Their appearance is as the appearance of horses,
and like war-horses they run.
6- Like the rattling of chariots (it sounds)
(as) they leap on the tops of the mountains.
Like the crackling of a flame of fire
that devours stubble.
(They are) like a powerful nation,
set in battle-array.
[8- Nations are in anguish before them
all faces grow crimson.']
* "Evcrj'where, where their legions march, verdure disappears from the country, like a curtmn
which is folded up; trees and plants stripped of leaves and reduced to their branches and stalks,
substitute, in the twinkling of an eye, the dreary spectacle of winter for the rich scenes of spring."
"Desolation and famine mark their progress, all the expectation of the husbandman vanishes;
his fields, which the rising sun beheld covered with luxuriance, are before evening a desert."
(Quoted by Pu.)
t " They ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees w hich the hail had left : and there
remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt" (Ex.
io'5). " Where these destructive swarms alight, not a leaf is left upon the tries, a blade of grass in
the pastures, nor an ear of com in the field." " On whatever spot they fall, the whole vegetable
produce disappears. Nothing escapes them, from the leaves of the forest to the herbs on the plain."
(Quoted by Pu.)
98 JOEL
'• Like warriors they run,
like soldiers they advance.
They march each in his own way,
and do not entangle their paths.
*• None pushes the other.
each goes on his own track,
They plunge through the weapons
and are not held back.
They rush upon the city,
they run upon the walls.
They climb into the houses,
through the windows they enter.
Five strs., (i) consists of a hexameter + a pentameter, (2) of two tetrameters;
V. 6 is an inserted hexameter, (3) of a tetrameter + a hexameter, (4) of a hexameter
+ a tetrameter, (5) of two tetrameters (staccato style).
4. Now this army is described more in detail, and first of all, the
appearance of the single locusts. The head of a locust looks so
much like that of a horse that Joel says their appearance is as the
appearance of horses. "If one carefully considers the head of the
locust," says Theodoret, "he will find it exceedingly like that of a
horse." The Arabs use the same metaphor to this day, cf. Tris-
tram, Nat. Hist. Bib., p. 314, and the Germans call the locust
Heiipferd, the Italians cavallette. Note also the description in
Rev. 9', "and the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses pre-
pared for war." But not only their appearance but also their
speed is likened to that of horses, and like war-horses they run. In
Jb. 39^" the swiftness of the horse is compared to that of the locust,
Jiast thou given the horse his might, . . . hast thou made him to leap
as a locust? There are a number of archaic imperfect forms in
this and the foil, verses. They are used purposely to bring out the
whole weight and power of the attack, they deepen the impression
of terror and awe. — 5. The noise made by the flight of a vast locust
swarm is compared to the rattling of swiftly moving chariots.
Like the rattling of chariots (it sounds as) they leap on the tops of the
mountains. The same comparison is made in Rev. 9®, And the
sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses
rushing to war. Modern observers have also been impressed by
2- 99
the great noise the advancing swarm makes* It is, of course, the
locusts that leap on the tops of the mountains, where Joel had seen
them in v. ^, and not the chariots, which do not leap on or over
mountain tops. The noise the locusts make when feeding is com-
pared to the crackling of a fire: (// sounds) like the crackling of a
fame of fire that devours stubble. The same comparison is made by
ancient and modem observers.f Now they approach and they ap-
pear like a strong nation — set in battle array, ready for the attack.
— 6. This verse interrupts the description of the march of the
locusts which began in v. ^ and is continued in v. ''. The mention
of the nations suggests that it was inserted by the day of Yahweh
interpolator. See p. 50. The interpolator connects the locust
plague so closely with the day of Yahweh, cf. also vv. ^''' ", that
he can speak of nations as writhing in terror at the approach of the
awful army, while Joel would have thought only of Judah. If the
verse should, however, after all be genuine, we must read with a
slight change, before them hearts are in anguish, — all faces grow
crimson, and the impression of great terror caused by the locusts
would be portrayed. We may then compare the words of Pliny,
Nat. Hist., XI, 35, "they overshadow the sun, the nations looking
up with anxiety, lest they should cover their lands," and of Burck-
hardt. Notes, II, 91, "the Bedouins who occupy the peninsula of
Sinai are frequently driven to despair by the multitude of locusts
which constitute a land plague" (Pu.). — 7. The description of the
march of the attacking host is now continued. Like warriors they
run, as they charge, like soldiers they advance. In perfect order, like
a regular, disciplined army, they march, every one in his own way,
and they do not entangle their paths. There is no confusion in their
ranks which would impede their rapid advance. They move in
straight lines, none crossing the other's track. The locusts have
no king, yet go they forth all of them in bands, says Pr. 30^^. — 8.
* ' ' What strikes every one as they approach is the strange rustling of millions on millions of crisp
wings." — C. Home, in Hardwicke's 5ctf»<:e Gossip, 187 1, p. 80 (Dr.). Foskal compares it to the
sound of a great cataract, Descript. animal., p. 87 {wm H.). Thomson, /. c, p. 416 /., wrote, "The
noise made by them in marching and foraging was like that of a hea\T shower falling on a distant
forest." G.-\Sm. speaks of it as "less like the whirring of wings than the rattle of hail or the crack-
ling of bush on fire," p. 399.
^ E.g., by Cyril, dum proslralas fruges dentibus commolunl,ceti flammis venlo difjundente crepi-
tanlibus ; by Riley, Riverside Nat. Hist., II, p. 107, who likens it to " the crackling of a prairie fire";
by Newman Hist, oj Insects, V, i, who says, "The sound of their feeding, when in swarms, is as
the rushing of flames driven by the wind" (Dr.).
lOO JOEL
There is no crowding, none pushes the other, lit. his brother, each
goes in his own track. This remarkable order and regularity in
their march with its soldier-like precision have often been ob-
served.* To this regularity they add a sheer irresistible power of
attack: and they thrust themselves, or plunge through the weapons
with which the people try to check their advance. All efforts
are vain, they are not stopped.] — 9. They rush upon the city, they
(scale and) run upon the walls, they climb up into the houses,
they enter through the wi7idows.X The Eastern windows have no
glass, they are at most latticed. So "they flood through the
open, unglazed windows and lattices; nothing can keep them
out," GASm., p. 403. § The staccato character of the rhythm
is evidently intended, it brings out the movement of the advanc-
ing and attacking hosts with great realism. The rhythmic tone
corresponds exactly to the graphic description and heightens its
effect.
* Jerome wrote, "This we have seen lately in this proWnce (Palestine]. For when tlie hosts of
locusts came, and filled the air between heaven and earth, they flew, by the disposal of God's or-
daining in such order, as to hold each his place, like the minute pieces of mosaic, fixed in die pave-
ment by the artist's hands so as not to incline to one another a hair's breadth." Morier, I. c,
pp. gS ^., described them thus, "They seemed to be impelled by one common instinct, and
moved in one body, which had the appearance of being organised by a leader. . . . They seemed
to march in regular battalions, crawling over everything that lay in their passage, in one straight
front" (Pu.). Another observed, "The roadswerecovered with them, all marching and in regular
lines, like armies of soldiers, with their leaders in front," Jotirn. Sacr. Lit., Oct., 1865, pp. 235 /.
(Dr.). GASm. saw that "though they drifted before the wind there was no confusion in their
ranks. They sailed in unbroken lines, sometimes straight, sometimes wavy," p. 399.
t "All the opposition of man to resist their progress was in vain. . . . Though our men broke
their ranks for a moment, no sooner had they passed the men than they closed again, and
marched forward through hedges and ditches as before," Journ. Sacr. Lit., Oct., 1865, pp. 235 /.
(Dr.). Thomson, /. c, pp. 296 f}., gives this vivid description, "Toward the end of May we heard
that thousands of young locusts were on their march up the valley toward our village: we accord-
ingly went forth to meet them, hoping to stop their progress, or at least to turn aside their line of
march. . . . Their number was astounding: the whole face of the mountain was black with them.
On they came like a disciplined army. We dug trenches and kindled fires, and beat and burnt
to death heaps upon heaps, but the effort was utterly useless. They charged up the mountain
side, and climbed over rocks, walls, ditches, and hedges, those behind coming up and passing over
the masses already killed." Shaw, Travels in Barbary, pp. 256 f}., wrote of similar endeavours
to stop the progress of the locusts. But " the trenches were quickly filled up, and the fires put
out by infinite swarms succeeding one another ; whilst the front seemed regardless of danger, and
the rear pressed on so close that a retreat was impossible" (Pu.).
t " We have seen this done," says Theodoret, " not by enemies only, but by locusts also. Fornot
only flying, but creeping up the walls also, they enter the houses through the openings for light"
(Pu.). And Bar-HebrKus similarly, " a.d., 784, there came the flying locust, and wasted the com
and left its offspring ; and this came forth and crawled, and scaled walls and entered houses by
windows and doors" (Pu.).
§ "They entered the inmost recesses of the houses, were found in every comer, stuck to our
clothes, and infested our food," Morier, I. c, p. 100.
2*-» lOI
1. ncir alarm-horn, cf. Dr.'s note and illustrations on Am. 2". — y;>-\n'
some mss., (SB om. i conj.— lui' juss., <S iuim, (gBXQ» ^ai ffi;7xv6li7TW(Tav,
(gA KoJ <ri;»'ax^'5TW(rov, so &" ™"s , the same confusion in 2'°. — xa
prtc. not pf., the day is near, but has not yet arrived. Du. transposes
D«?i 3T Dj? of V. s after n3 •'3, which is attractive but arbitrary. — 2. Fol-
lowing Abulwalid and Tanchumi, Gr., Du. point more correctly inra as
darkness, blackness, cf. La. 48.— The reading of one cod. nnn ^j? B-no
seems to be due to Ho. 5'.— For juss. 1?^' read np>', Mas. pointing is per-
haps due to scripHo defectiva, or it e.xpresses the wish that it may not occur
again. Siev. om. — T111 nn ^iV ij; is not absolutely necessary, but the
parall. a'l'iy^-p argues for its genuineness.— 3. rh-in pf. is used because
of the following. It is not necessary to punctuate nSpN. r\-a-''^a is often
the technical term for those who have escaped the great judgment, cf. Is.
42, and on that account, probably, Du. om. the whole clause as part of
the day of Yahweh interpolation of w. >b. 2. QJ also connects it with the
day of Yahweh N^ycn^ na n-'S 3n;i:'-ini. But it is not necessary to
take r\-c'f^B in that sense here.— iS refers back to D>', v. ', nothing has es-
caped them. Gr. suggests ^i^, but that gives a different shade of meaning.
iS has the force of i:?c here, Ki., AE. The pf. nn>n is used with refer-
ence to the preceding, aji used for emphasis, and nothing whatever
escapes them; cf. German, und da ist auch nichts, das. — 4. s^-^'-^d (B
iirireis, B equites, AV., RV. horsemen, RVm. war-horses. The latter
is preferable, parall. B'Did. Note the solemn archaic endings, cf.
Holz., p. 120. — pxn^ € Karadiw^ovrai, in v. ' dpaiMvvrai; Je. 491' 50**
iKdiwKeiv, (S = iH.— Siev. om. j:.- 5. For masnn Sipo Gr., Me. read
ri23-\C2, but this is awkward, for chariots do not leap on mountain tops.
— SIX? D>3 05 & add } ai.from v. =.— l"i;, the usual pointing would be