Joel 1:4

"What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten."

Key Reflection

This passage depicts a cycle of destruction, symbolizing the increasing severity of judgment or sin. Each successive creature represents greater devastation, illustrating how unchecked wickedness progressively corrupts and destroys what was left unharmed by previous calamities.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

That which the palmerworm hath left, hath the locust eaten -The creatures here spoken of are different kinds of locusts, so named from their number or voracity. We, who are free from this scourge of God, know them only by the generic name of locusts. But the law mentions several sorts of locusts, each after its kind, which might be eaten . In fact, above eighty different kinds of locusts have been observed , some of which are twice as large as that which is the ordinary scourge of God . Slight as they are in themselves, they are mighty in God’s Hand; beautiful and gorgeous as they are, floating in the sun’s rays , they are a scourge, including other plagues, famine, and often, pestilence.

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