An Invasion of Locusts
That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. Joel 1:4
That which the... The 1st section of the prophecy of Joel (Joel 1:4-14, fulfilled). Next, Joel 1:15.
Twenty-two Predictions—Fulfilled:
1. The palmerworm will eat your crops (Joel 1:4).
2. Locusts will eat what the palmerworm leaves.
3. Cankerworms will eat what the locusts leave.
4. Caterpillars will eat what the cankerworms leave.
5. The new wine will be cut off (Joel 1:5).
6. A nation will come up upon My land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are as the teeth of a lion, and his jaws like those of a great lion (Joel 1:6).
7. He will lay waste My vine (Joel 1:7).
8. He will mark My tree.
9. He will make them clean bare.
10. He will cast it away.
11. The branches will be made white.
12. The meat and drink offerings will be cut off from the temple (Joel 1:9, 1:13).
13. Priests will mourn (Joel 1:9).
14. The fields will be wasted (Joel 1:10).
15. The land will mourn.
16. The corn is wasted.
17. The new wine is dried up.
18. The oil languishes.
19. The wheat and barley will perish (Joe_1:12).
20. The vine will be dried up.
21. The fig tree will languish.
22. The pomegranate, palm, apple, and other trees of the field will wither.
the palmerworm--Four Stages of the Locust
1. Palmerworm... Hebrew: gazam, the gnawer. This is the worm stage—just from the egg and without wings.
2. Locust... Hebrew: ’arbeh, the swarmer. It is still in the first skin. The word is used of little ones without legs or wings.
3. Cankerworm... Hebrew: yeleq, the devourer. The third stage when it casts off its first skin and develops little wings so it can leap a little, but not fly.
4. Caterpillar... Hebrew: chaciyl, the consumer. The locust fully matured, with long wings and legs, and able to devour all before it.
hath the locust eaten... These 4 words express the completeness of the destroying agencies. The Hebrew reads: "Gnawer’s remnant, Swarmer eats; Swarmer’s remnant, Devourer eats; Devourer’s remnant, Consumer eats." Thus, 12 Hebrew words condense the whole thought, which is the complete and immediate destruction of Judah and Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon (Joel 1:4-14)—a foretaste of the latter-day destruction of Israel in the day of the Lord (Joel 1:15-3:21).
The 4 kinds of locusts refer to their species or their stages of development (2:25), where the writer mentions them in different order. The total destruction caused by their voracious appetites demands repentance (Deut. 28:38; Isa. 33:4; Amos 7:1).
This verse describes the devastation of the locust plague. Moses prophesied that God would use locusts to punish His people if they were disobedient (Deut. 28:38, 42). The language may express the four stages in the development of a single type of insect.
The palmerworm (Hebrew gazam, to gnaw), is the stage at which the locust is first hatched and is characterized by its gnawing activity.
The locust (Hebrew arben, to be many), is the most common name for the locust, and is the second stage, in which the locust gets its wings and flies.
The cankerworm (Hebrew yeleg, to lick off), is the stage in which it does its destructive work.
The caterpillar (Hebrew chasil, to devour or to consume), is the final stage, in which the locust reaches its full growth and devours everything in its path.
This speaks of a famine of tremendous magnitude. This is speaking of locusts that devour the entire crop. The palmerworm, cankerworm, and caterpillar are all types of locusts.
The event in view was a massive invasion by locusts which completely destroyed the land’s vegetation. Four terms are used for locusts here (locust swarm, gāzām; great locusts, ’arbeh; young locusts, yeleq; and other locusts, ḥāsı̂l). Some have proposed that the four terms correspond to the locust’s phases of development from the pupa to full-grown stages (e.g., Thompson, “Joel’s Locusts in the Light of the Near Eastern Parallels,” pp. 52-5). However, several problems attend this position (see Wolff, Joel and Amos, pp. 27-8). More likely, the terms are synonymous, used for variety’s sake and to emphasize the successive waves of locusts in the invasion.
The threefold reference to the leftovers of one wave of locusts being devoured by the next emphasizes the thorough nature of the destruction. (For records of eyewitness accounts of locust plagues, see Driver, The Books of Joel and Amos, pp. 40, 89-93; George Adam Smith, The Book of the Twelve Prophets, 2:391-5, and John D. Whiting, “Jerusalem’s Locust Plague,” National Geographic Magazine 28. December 1915, pp. 511-50.)
