forsaken, and
everything referred to external reality, the calamity described in the
preceding context must likewise be viewed as one already entirely past,
and the salvation as already actually existing. It can be proved,
however, [Pg 303] from the contents, by incontrovertible special
reasons, that the reference to the future is alone the correct one. The
day of the Lord is several times spoken of as being at hand, which may
be explained from the circumstance, that God's judgment upon His Church
is a necessary effect of His justice, which never rests, but always
shows itself as active. When, therefore, its object--the sinful
apostasy of the people--is already in existence, its manifestation
must also of necessity be expected; and although not the last and
highest manifestation, yet such an one as serves for a prelude to it.
The day of the Lord is, therefore, continually coming, is never
absolutely distant; and its being spoken of as _at hand_ is a necessary
consequence of the saying, "Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the
eagles be gathered together,"--a declaration founded upon the divine
nature, and therefore ever true. (Compare my _Commentary on the
Apocalypse_ i. 1.) This designation is first found in i. 15: "Alas! for
the day, for the day of the Lord is _at hand_, and as a destruction
from the Almighty does it come." Here, two expedients for evasion have
been tried. _Justi_ maintained that "the day is at hand" was equivalent
to "the day is there,"--an opinion which does not deserve any further
refutation. _Holzhausen_, _Credner_, and _Hitzig_ suppose that, by "the
day of the Lord," we are not to understand the devastation by the
locusts, but some severe judgment, to which that served as a prelude.
This supposition is, however, opposed, first of all, by the verbal
parallel passage in Isa. xiii. 6: "Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is
at hand; it cometh as a destruction from the Almighty,"--where the day
of the Lord cannot be any other than that which is described in the
preceding context. But this opinion is further opposed by the
circumstance, that, in the subsequent context, there is not the
slightest trace of any other judgment than that of the devastation by
the locusts; on the contrary, with its termination, the whole period of
suffering comes to an end, as regards the Covenant-people, and the time
of blessing upon them and of judgment upon their enemies begins. But
the necessity for understanding, by "th