alth, and prosperity; compare remarks on Rev. viii. 10.

Chap. ii. 2 is to be considered as indicating the reason which induced
Joel to choose this figurative representation. The words, "There hath
not been anything the like from eternity, neither may there be any more
after it, even to the years of all generations," are borrowed, almost
verbally, from Exod. x. 14. The prophet thereby indicates that he
transfers the past, in its individual definiteness, to the future,
which bears a substantial resemblance to it. What was then said of the
plague of locusts especially, is here applied to the calamity thereby
prefigured. From among all the judgments upon the Covenant-people (for
these alone are spoken of), this judgment is the highest and the last;
and such the prophet could say, only if the whole sum of divine
judgments, up to their consummation, represented [Pg 315] itself to his
inner vision under the image of the devastation by locusts. The
absurdities into which men are led by the hypothesis of a later origin
of the Pentateuch, are here seen in a remarkable instance--viz., in the
assertion of _Credner_, that the passage in Exodus is an imitation of
that of Joel. The verse immediately following, "As the garden of Eden
(_i.e._, Paradise) the land is before him," has an obvious reference to
Genesis, not only to Gen. ii. 8, but also to xiii. 10, where the vale
of Siddim, before the divine judgment, is compared to the garden of
Jehovah--to Paradise.

In chap. ii. 6 it is said, "Before him nations tremble." That the
mention of the _nations_ here is but ill adapted to the literal
interpretation, appears from the circumstance, that while _Credner_
understands by the [Hebrew: emiM], Judah and Benjamin, _Hitzig_
attempts to explain it by people. But if, by the locusts, the heathen
conquerors are designated, the [Hebrew: emiM] is quite in its place.
When the powerful heathen empires overflowed the land, Israel always
formed only a part of a large whole of nations; compare i. 19, ii. 22.
Amos describes how the fire of war and of the desire of conquest raged,
not only in Israel, but among all the nations round about, and consumed
them. In addition to Amos chap. i. compare especially Amos vii. 4, 5,
where, as objects of hostile visitation, are pointed out, first, the
sea, _i.e._, the world, and then, the heritage of the Lord. According
to Is. x. 6, the mission of Asshur was a very comprehensive one. In
Habakkuk and Jer. chap. xxv.