In Joel 2:4-6 we have a description of this mighty army of God, and of the alarm caused by its appearance among all nations. Joel 2:4. "Like the appearance of horses is its appearance; and like riding-horses, so do they run. Joel 2:5. Like rumbling of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, like the crackling of flame which devours stubble, like a strong people equipped for conflict. Joel 2:6. Before it nations tremble; all faces withdraw their redness." The comparison drawn between the appearance of the locusts and that of horses refers chiefly to the head, which, when closely examined, bears a strong resemblance to the head of a horse, as Theodoret has already observed; a fact which gave rise to their being called Heupferde (hay-horses) in German. In Joel 2:4 the rapidity of their motion is compared to the running of riding-horses (pârâshı̄m); and in Joel 2:5 the noise caused by their springing motion to the rattling of chariots, the small two-wheeled war-chariots of the ancients, when driven rapidly over the rough mountain roads. The noise caused by their devouring the plants and shrubs is also compared to the burning of a flame over a stubble-field that has been set on fire, and their approach to the advance of a war force equipped for conflict. (Compare the adoption and further expansion of these similes in Revelation 9:7, Revelation 9:9). At the sight of this terrible army of God the nations tremble, so that their faces grow pale. ‛Ammı̄m means neither people (see at 1 Kings 22:28) nor the tribes of Israel, but nations generally. Joel is no doubt depicting something more here than the devastation caused by the locusts in his own day. There are differences of opinion as to the rendering of the second hemistich, which Nahum repeats in Joel 2:11. The combination of פּארוּר with פּרוּר, a pot (Chald., Syr., Jer., Luth., and others), is untenable, since פּרוּר comes from פּרר, to break in pieces, whereas פּארוּר ( equals פּארוּר) is from the root פאר, piel, to adorn, beautify, or glorify; so that the rendering, "they gather redness," i.e., glow with fear, which has an actual but not a grammatical support in Isaiah 13:8, is evidently worthless. We therefore understand פּארוּר, as Ab. Esr., Abul Wal., and others have done, in the sense of elegantia, nitor, pulchritudo, and as referring to the splendour or healthy ruddiness of the cheeks, and take קבּץ ekat dn as an intensive form of קבץ, in the sense of drawing into one's self, or withdrawing, inasmuch as fear and anguish cause the blood to fly from the face and extremities to the inward parts of the body. For the fact of the face turning pale with terror, see Jeremiah 30:6.

Amos 7:1 Parallel Commentaries

shewed.

Amos 7:4,7 Thus has the Lord GOD showed to me: and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep...

Amos 8:1 Thus has the Lord GOD showed to me: and behold a basket of summer fruit.

Jeremiah 1:11-16 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what see you? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree...

Jeremiah 24:1 The LORD showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD...

Ezekiel 11:25 Then I spoke to them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had showed me.

Zechariah 1:20 And the LORD showed me four carpenters.

he.

Amos 4:9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased...

Exodus 10:12-16 And the LORD said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt...

Isaiah 33:4 And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run on them.

Joel 1:4 That which the palmerworm has left has the locust eaten; and that which the locust has left has the cankerworm eaten...

Joel 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm...

Nahum 3:15-17 There shall the fire devour you; the sword shall cut you off, it shall eat you up like the cankerworm...

grasshoppers. or, green worms. {Govai,} in Arabic {gabee,} locusts, probably in their caterpillar state, in which they are most destructive. This is supposed to have been an emblem of the first invasion of the Assyrians.

mowings. Or rather, feedings or grazings, as the people of the East make no hay. This was probably in the month of March, which is the only time of the year that the Arabs to this day feed their horses with grass.