Locust Cavalries

Last Updated on February 25, 2023 by GMC

Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.
For gracious and merciful is he,
slow to anger, rich in kindness,
and relenting in punishment.
Perhaps he will again relent
and leave behind him a blessing,
Offerings and libations
for the LORD, your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion!
proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the people,
notify the congregation;
Assemble the elders,
gather the children
and the infants at the breast;
Let the bridegroom quit his room
and the bride her chamber.
Between the porch and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,
And say, “Spare, O LORD, your people,
and make not your heritage a reproach,
with the nations ruling over them!
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?'”

Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land
and took pity on his people.

Joel 2:12-18

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Rend Your Hearts

Envisioning the “day of the Lord” as a catastrophic invasion of locusts, Joel warns Israel to return to the Lord. Galloping locust legions with “lions’ teeth” descend on Judah and Jerusalem like war horses.¹ Ruthlessly scorching the country, they ravage the once Edenic land into a barren wilderness.

In cosmic agony, the land mourns; vines wither; fruit trees languish. Drunkards, cut off from wine, wail. Starving beasts, cattle, and sheep groan in bewilderment. Terrorized inhabitants pale as the warriors scale walls, climb into houses, and enter through windows like thieves. Apocalyptic signs in the sky signal the day of the Lord with blackouts from the sun, moon, and stars over a quaking earth.

Yet all is not lost. Everyone—priests, elders, children, infants, bridegrooms and brides—must gather before the Lord. Restoration rests on repentance.

Even now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart,
with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;
Rend your hearts, not your garments,
and return to the LORD, your God.

Joel 2:12-13a

The Lord, who is gracious and merciful, zealously guards his land and people.² Humans and the earth (adam and adamah) are one under God’s providential care, harmonized by humble and contrite hearts.

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 References

¹ Joel 1:4, 6; 2:1-11. The image of horse-like locust legions with lions’ teeth reappears in Revelation 9:7-10.

² Joel 2:18.

Definitions

cavalry: (n.) horsemen; troops trained to fight on horseback

calvary: (n.) any experience that causes suffering; cross; trial; tribulation; affliction; adversity; hardship; martyrdom