Joel 2:4

"A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them."

Key Reflection

This passage contrasts starkly with the beauty and fertility that precede the destructive force, symbolizing how the judgment of God is both relentless and transformative, leaving destruction in its wake where there was once abundance. The image of fire consuming everything in its path emphasizes the thoroughness of divine retribution.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

The appearance of them, is as the appearance of horses - “If you carefully consider the head of the locust,” says Theodoret, a Bishop in Syria, “you will find it exceedingly like that of a horse.” Whence the Arabs, of old and to this day , say; “In the locust, slight as it is, is the nature of ten of the larger animals, the face of a horse, the eyes of an elephant, the neck of abull, the horns of a deer, the chest of a lion, the belly of a scorpion, the wings of an eagle, the thighs of a camel, the feet of an ostrich, the tail of a serpent.”

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