![]() The quick and best cure for alcoholism is to remove the source of the drink – this God did!Īlcoholism is a downfall to any nation. They are called to lament the cutting off of their source of wine. weep and wail, all ye drinkers of wine,” (v. First, God calls the drunkard to awaken from his stupefying intoxication to see the destruction coming upon the land. The message of the plague is directed to five groups in Judah. Their appetite is never satisfied they devour all the vegetation in their path (Unger’s Bible Dictionary, pp. Nothing stops them – not ditch, fire, wall, door, or window (Joel 2:7-9). Their vast number can blot out the sun bringing a temporary darkness over the earth (Joel 2:2, 10 Ex. 46:23), covering an area up to ten miles in length and five miles wide, and have been known to fly seventeen hours at a time, covering over fifteen hundred miles. Those in the Middle East call locusts “the army of God.” As an army, they march in a regular order, camp in the field at night, and in the morning rise with the sun, dry their wings, and fly in the direction of the wind (Prov. They have stripped both grapevine and fig tree clean, even eating the bark until the branch stood white in its nakedness (v. The palmerworm gnaws off or shears away the locust swarms in mass, destroying everything in its path the cankerworm licks off and the caterpillar devours or consumes by stripping away (v. Like the lion, locusts have a strong bite and great power, grinding their food, completely destroying whatever they eat. Their teeth are compared to those of a lion. The locusts are pictured as a huge army swarming upon the land (v. 3), says Joel, in order that they might learn to be obedient to the Lord. and their children another generation” (v. 4:9 6:6-7) for two reasons: first, so they might remember the goodness and mercy of God toward them in times of their disobedience second, to remind them that God will judge sin if they become disobedient (Lev. Moses had instructed Israel to rehearse the works of God to their children (Dt. Open your ears, hear every word, compare the stories of your forefathers for l will tell you of a devastation more awesome than you can imagine. ![]() Yet, nothing of this dimension, duration, or destruction had been known to the elders. Very vivid in the Israeli mind were the plagues which centuries before descended on the Egyptians. Stories of plagues, calamities, and wars were rehearsed over and over from generation to generation – with every detail memorized. The elders and inhabitants of Judah were well versed in the past. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?” (v. Joel prefaced his prophecy with a question to the inhabitants of Judah. Insect plagues were nothing new to the Middle East, and it was no less so in Judah. 1) concerning an awesome plague which is about to totally devastate Judah. Nor is he speaking about a nation destroyed by the ravages of war, but in a sense something worse! He is prophetically sounding out a message from God (v. Joel is not swapping war stories with the elders of Judah. He watches masses of humanity slaughtered and made refugees, buildings leveled, land denuded of its life, and a ghostly gray haze hovering over the ravaged area – an awesome sight indeed! Hours are spent by retired soldiers swapping stories of war-torn countries in which they have served. The twentieth century man can sit comfortably in his home and watch the devastation which war leaves in its wake – via television documentaries. Series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8 Joel 1:1-20
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