The Book Of Joel. Day 5, An Army, Part Two

We are studying the second part of the first segment of Chapter 2 in which Joel is speaking of an army that strikes fear in the heart of everyone. There are some elements of this army that appear to indicate a plague of locusts and there are some references that may indicate that a literal army (like that of the Assyrian Empire) was threatening the nation. There may also be a prophetic element to Joel's references to an army because when we arrive at the end of the chapter we will find him speaking of a future "day of the Lord", which is the day also known as "the great tribulation" or "the apocalypse". 

Prophecies in the Bible are often two-fold and will contain something that's going to happen in the very near future and something that's going to happen in the far off future, for the test of a prophet was that he had to be able to accurately predict something that would happen in the lifetime of his listeners. Only then were they to trust something he said about the more distant future. (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)

In Joel's day the Assyrian Empire was a great threat not only to Israel and Judah but to other nations as well. One of Assyria's kings had already defeated the army of Babylon and had made the ancient Babylonian Empire subject to Assyria. The Neo-Babylonian Empire will later rise and throw off the shackles of Assyria but for now the plan of several successive Assyrian kings is to conquer and dominate that entire region of the world. This is why some scholars think these words of Joel's are about the enemy army: "At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale." (Joel 2:6) On the other hand, Joel speaks of this threat not so much as if it is an army but that it is like an army. "They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers." (Joel 2:7a)

Earlier in our study of the book of Joel we looked at a verse from the book of Proverbs that said: "Locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks." (Proverbs 30:27) This passage of Proverbs deals with the creatures of the natural world doing exactly what God designed them to do. When the Lord created locusts He programmed them to do the things He intended them to do on the earth. They don't need a human king riding out ahead of them in the way a human king rides out ahead of his forces into battle; they obey the King of kings who created them according to His will. What Joel says in Chapter 2 lines up well with there being a plague of locusts in the land. "They all march in line, not swerving from their course. They do not jostle each other; each  marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks. They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows." (Joel 2:7b-9)

"Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine." (Joel 2:10) People who have witnessed massive locust invasions say it's like an enormous black cloud that darkens the sky.

Whether the calamity of Joel's day was a plague of locusts or whether it was repeated invasions and threats by the Assyrian army, the calamity is something the Lord has allowed for the purpose of turning the people's hearts away from the things that have taken His place in their hearts. Joel makes that very clear to us when he states that this thing is happening under the Lord's direction. "The Lord thunders at the head of His army; His forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys His command. The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it?" (Joel 2:11) 

Who can endure the wrath of the Lord if they have lived in unrepentant rebellion toward Him and if they are insisting on continuing to live in their sins in spite of everything He's done? No one can stand before the Lord and make a successful case against the charges against them, for no one has lived a perfect and sinless life. But the one who has committed himself or herself to the Lord, and who has made Him the Lord of their life, and who depends on Him to forgive them when they fail and to impute His righteousness to them, does not have to face His wrath. So the Lord reasons with the people. Even though hardship has come into their lives, the purpose of the hardship is to help them get back on track. It's being used as corrective discipline, not for their destruction. They can turn this this around by turning to Him! "'Even now,' declares the Lord, 'return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.'" (Joel 2:12)

All is not lost. He has not cast the people aside. He has not said, "I've had enough! You've messed up too many times. I'm done with you." Instead He says, "Return to Me. I will take you back."