The Pulpit Commentary — Joel — Section 24

nothing "'"s to be soon but a desolate wilder- wind B<'nttering flamo." Thue Thomson ness. Yea, and nothing ■hall eaoape them. aleo says, " 'l'ho noise me.de in marching (l) Thn1. is, oithor nothing she.II eeca.pe \he a.nd foraging wae like that of a hcnvy ehower locusts; or (2) Keil !'ontenile that the mean- on 11. diemnt forest." A■ a 1trong people ing is thnt "even that which esraped did aet in battle array. Their progre~s is thua not remA.in to it," and refers Ill t.o the land. described: " '!'heir steady though swift Ver~. ·l-6.-Those verse• describe the advo.nco and regular order resomblod an Rflf'{'Rmnce of the locusts anrl the alarm army well equipped and in battle 1may on which their presence onuses. its line of me.rob." Cyril says of them, Ver. 4.-The appearance of them is aa " Dy ree.eon of tl1cir innumerable multitudo, the appearanoe of horse■. They are so.id not on.sy to be encountered, but rnthor very to resemble hol'808 in the Bhape of the head; de.ngeroue to be met with." .Ago.in he ea.ye, hrncc the Germans eall them Heupferde, or " They aro an inosistible thing, o.ud alto- hay-horses, and the ltA.linns r,aTJalette. Thie gether invincible by men." Here age.in resemble.nee had been noticed long ngo by the prophet's description is confirmed by Theorloret, who says, "If a.ny one should the obscrvo.tion of intelligent eye-witnesses. examine accurately the head of the locust, Referring to Solomon's statement, "The he will find it exceedingly like that of a. locusts have no king, yet go they forth all horse." And a.a horsemen, so shall they of them by bo.nds," Dr. Thomson says, l'llll. In rapidity of motion they resembled '' Nothing in their habits is more striking running horses (parashim). Like the noise than the pertinacity with which they o.11 of cha.riots on the tops of mountains shall pursue the ea.me line of march, like e. dis- they leap. This is the next circumstance oiplined army. .As they have no king, n!lticed about them, viz. the 'IIOise of their they must be influenced by some common motion. Their motion was peculiar; it was instinct." springing or leaping, and, wheu they sprang Ver. 6.-Before their fe.oe the people shall or lcape<l, tbe noise they me.de resembled be muoh pained: all faces shall gather ble.ok- the rattling of e. jerky two-wheel~d war- neBB. Peoples or nations writhe in pain or chariot over e. rough mountain-rood. tremble at the eight of them, lest they should Y<'r. 5.-The first clause may be under- settle on their fields and gardens, destroy- stood (1) according to the .Authorized Ver- ing the " golden glories " of the one, and the sion, whereby the lea.ping is attributed to the "leafy houours" of the other. In the locusts. or (2) asper may be understood after second member the word ,1,11& is (1) gene- dUJ.riotB, and tLen the lee.ping i.e predicated rally connected with ,,,~, e. pot, rad. ,,!l, t.o of the chariots. The le.st clause of the se.me break in pieces, and translated accordingly. verse is capable of three constructions, Thus the Septuagint: " Every face is e.s namely (1) "They shall leap (yeraqq'dim the ble.ck:ness of a pot ; " the Syrie.c also : being supplied) as e. strong _people set in •• Every face shall be ble.ck as the blackness battl<: array;" or (2)" The nolSO (qol under- of a. pot ; " in like mo.nner the Che.ldee : stood) shall be as the noise of e. strong people ".All faces a.re covered with •oot, so that set in battle array;" or (3) " They a.re as e. they a.re black as e. pot." (2) But .Aben strong people set in battle array." Kimchi Ezra. connects the worcl with ,!!~, to beau- interprets uccording to (2), "As e. strong tify, glorify, e.dom, and tro.nslo.tes, "They people that is set in array to fight with the withdraw (gather to themselves) their red- people who is opposed to them, who me.kc e. ness (ruddiness);" that is, they become h'Tea.t noise and shouting in order to strike pale. The • Speaker's Commentary' adopts terror into their enemies." Like the n.oiae this view of the expression, and illustrates of a. flame of fire that devoureth the stubble . . it by Shakespeare's fancy of the, blood being This we.s the noise me.de by them, not when summoned from the face to help the heart they were properly in motion, but when in its death-struggle- alighting on e. district they devoured every grc,e[l thing in plant, or shrub, or trce-:the " Being all descondcd to the labouring bee.rt; noise, in fa.et, which they made when feechng. Who, iu the conflict that it holds with It resembled the crackling of fie.me over a death, field of grain or stubble set on fire. S~ch .Attracts the sam1J for a.ids.nee 'gaiust the was the noille they made when mazchmg, enemy: 1Lll<l such the noise they made when foragmg WLich with the heart there cools and no'er -the one was like the ra.ttling of e. chariot, returneth tbt: other the cre.ckling of fire. Cyril notices To blush and beautify the check o.go.iu.'' thi.B peculiarity as follows: " They say that their alighting in tho fields is etr~ted n_ot The parallel usually cited in favour of asaph without noise; but that a. certain shnll bei11g e1nployecl in the sense of withdrawi11f1 noi,,c is produced by their teeth, while they iH, " .And the etars ehall witl1draw their cht:w into piecee the prostrate grain, u of ~hiuing '' (eh, ii. 10; iii. Ui). '-l'hi• 11roceet1,  THE BOOK OF JOEL. 21