e day of the Lord at hand," the
devastation by the locusts, and hence, for viewing the latter as still
future, is even more clearly seen from the second passage, chap. ii. 1,
2: "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy
mountain; let all the [Pg 304] inhabitants of the land tremble, for the
day of the Lord _hath come_, for _nigh at hand_, a day of darkness and
gloominess, a day of clouds and fogs, as the morning-red spread upon
the mountains, a people numerous and strong; there hath not been the
like from eternity, neither shall there be any more after it, even
through the years of all generations." That, by "the day of the Lord,"
which the prophet, from the standing-point of his inward vision, here
speaks of as having already come, and as being in reality nigh at hand,
we must understand the same day as that which is minutely described in
the preceding and subsequent context, viz., the devastation by the
locusts, appears, in the first place, from the verbal parallel passage,
Ezek. xxx. 2, which likewise speaks of one day only: "Thou son of man,
prophesy and say. Thus saith the Lord, Howl ye, woe for the day! For
the day is near, a day to the Lord, a day of clouds, the time of the
heathen it shall be." But what places the matter beyond all doubt are
the words: "A people numerous and strong." These words, by which,
according to what follows, the locusts only can be understood, form an
explanatory apposition to "the day of the Lord," "the day of darkness,"
etc. To this we may further add, that, by the last words, this judgment
is represented as the most formidable, and the last by which Judea
shall be visited; so that we cannot by any means think of a subsequent
later day of the Lord. 2. Are the different names of the locusts
designations of various species of locusts, or are these, beside the
common name of the locusts, only poetical names, which denote the
qualities coming into consideration? _Credner_ has attempted to prove
the former. He maintains that Joel's description has to do with two
generations of locusts,--the first belonging to the end of one
year,--the second, to the beginning of the year following. The latter
he thinks to be the offspring of the former. In accordance with this
hypothesis, he explains the different names, [Hebrew: gzM] is,
according to him, the migratory locust, which visits Palestine chiefly
in autumn; [Hebrew: arbh], elsewhere the general name of locusts, here
the young br