Daily Thoughts from Joel: What the Locusts Have Eaten (2:18-27)

Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.  The Lord answered and said to his people, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.

“I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard into the eastern sea, and his rear guard into the western sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things. 

“Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things!  Fear not, you beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit; the fig tree and vine give their full yield. 

“Be glad, O children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given the early rain for your vindication; he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the latter rain, as before. 

“The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.  I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. 

“You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you.  And my people shall never again be put to shame.  You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God and there is none else.  And my people shall never again be put to shame.  (Joel 2:18-27, ESV)

Joel’s cry for repentance was heard by the people and because they acted upon it Yahweh’s reproach against the land stopped and He promised to send them rains that would make for a bounteous harvest even as He destroyed the locusts in the seas of Galilee and the Mediterranean.

Israel may rejoice in Yahweh their God.  And God promises to make up for the losses caused by the locusts.  Many have attested to how the Lord has not only forgiven them for their sins but has even given them more back than they could ever have expected.  That is what God did for Israel in this time period.

Most importantly, Israel, if she will give the praise due to Yahweh and continue to affirm that He is the one who blesses them from within their midst (only Yahweh declared that He lived among His people), and if she will affirm that Yahweh alone is God, Israel will never again be put to shame like this.  This is a place, unfortunately, that Israel to this day has yet to arrive at.  But when she does…!