The Pulpit Commentary — Joel — Section 25

on tho suppoeitlon the.t asar,h a.ad ')abhata moue with Vll!l, to wound ; or (2) tho.t they he.ve the so.me mee.ning of 'ge.thenng"- do not cut ofl', bree.k oft", or interrupt their go.thering up, go.thering in, withdrawing. coarse. No force of arm• ce.n stay their But D. Klmchi quotes hie fe.ther (Joseph progress or stop their advance. On this Kimchi) e.s objecting t,o this rendering, on olA.ule Kimchi remarks, "Thie army i• nnt the ground of the distinction which ho like ..,the7 enemies, which you may hinder asserts to prevail between them. Asaph, by the sword from coming upon you ; hut he says, "is used of gathering together, or these light upon the sworcle, and a.re not in, the.t which is dispersed, or not present; wounded by reason of their lightnees." He but qabliata is not BO used." also remarks on i:Jl, "Becauee he C/lm- Vora. 7-9.-The prophet, he.ving men- pares them with m~~ and heroes, he oses tioned the consterne.tion e.nd terror occa- '1:Jl, although this word does not apply sioned by the e.pproa.ch of locusts, proceeds except to the sons of men." to compare them to e.n o.rmy well equipped Ver. 9.-They 1he.ll run to and fro in the o.nd overcoming all impediments. oity (or rush to the aeeault of the city. Ver. 7.-They shall run like mighty men. Wiinache, and so LXX., "They shall seize This either refers to their extremo nimble- upon the city"); they shall run upon the ness or rapidity of motion (compare the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; Homeric 1r&6cu C:,,cbs 'Ax,>..>-.,6,, 1r0Bt!.p,c71s, they shall enter in at the windows like a and the like), or describes their running to thief. In the first clause the comparison an assault with intrepid valour and un- with an army still continues. The attack ha.a wee.ried vigour. They shall olimb the we.ll suoceeded, the city has been taken by assault, like men of war. Thie marks the success the victorious troops are running to and fro of their e.ese.ult; they scale the walls o.nd in the city; so far the locusts are fitly repre- me.ke good their e.ttack. And they shall sented by an army vigorous in its advance, maroh every one on his ways, and they she.ll steady in its march, reeistlese in its assault, not break their ranks. Their march is as victorious in its attack, and masters of the irresistible as it is orderly. In their on- captured city. 'l.'he remainder of the ninth ward march each ·pursues his way, allowing verse is not equally applicable to the fignre no obstacle to arrest or retard his course ; and the fact in common, bat belongs exclu- while in e. collective body t!Jey proceed e.nd sively to tha locusts themselves; they creep maintain their serried ranks unbroken. The up the wall, climb np upon the houses, and verb l!l::IJI is probably cognate with n::i)I, to find ingreBB even at the winaows. "There twist, e.nd thus to turn a.side. Thus the is no road," says Jerome, "impassable to LXX. : "They sba.ll not turn a.side their locusts ; they penetrate into fields, ancl crops, tracks ; " so e.leo the Syrie.o e.nd Jerome and trees, and cities, and even the recesses translate it; but the Chaldee compares it of the bedchamber&;" while Theodoret re- with l!l1::IJI, a pledge, and, as the deposit is marks of locusts that" not only when flying, detained till the pledge is redeemed. te.kes but by creeping along the walls, they pass in the meaning of delay. Rosenmiille:r ex- through the windows into the honses them- plains it in the sense of change or ex- selves." Thus there was no spot to which ohange,.from the Qal, signifying" to :receive they could not find access, and no place on loan," and the 'Hiph., " to give on loo.a." secure from their assault. Yashnqqu. Aben Otherwise it is to" interweave" (equivalent Ezra and Kimchi boih connect this word to ii::iv), "change." The sense of the whole with shoq, a leg. The latter says, " It has is their not diverging to either side, nor the siguitication of slioq, a. leg, and he men- straggling out of re.nk. tions this word in respect to tile locust, Ver. 8.-N either shall one thrust another; because its legs are long; and further, be- they shall walk every one in hie path. "And cause it is c<,ntinually going o.nd seldom not one shall stand aloof from his brother." resting; and thus he (Isaiah) says, 'As tbe This is either the sequence of their not break- running to and fro of locusts shall he run ing rank, or perhaps it is a. oo-ordinate par- upon them,' as if he so.id, 'a continual going ticulo.r in the detail. They neither etre.ggle up and down.' " away from ea.eh other, and so fall out of rank, Vers. 10, 11.-These verses picture the nor do they crowd e.nd crush and press each dreadful consequences of t!Je tben present- other while keeping rank. The order of and temporary visitation of the locusts, and their march is perfect, every one keeping of the future and final judgment of which his proper place o.nd in the proper path. it was a type. The ee.rth shall quake before And when they fall upon the sword (margin, them; (1) the locusts. The heaveILB tremble. dart), they 1he.ll not be wollilded. The The a.lighting of the locusts on the earth meaning is either (1) that the weapons shall would make it quake, and their flight not wound them, or intransitively, as in the through the heavens would mo.ke it tre- tex.t, they shall not be wounded, JIJ:a>, to mulous. As o.pplied to the visitation ol out, or break in pieces, being here synony- locusts, the langual'e would be hyperbolica.I,  22 'I'HE BOOK. OF ,JOEL.