Joel 1:2-3

A Locust Plague Foreshadows the Day of the Lord

1:2 Listen to this, you elders; ¹ 

pay attention, ²  all inhabitants of the land.

Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life ³ 

or in the lifetime ⁴  of your ancestors? ⁵ 

1:3 Tell your children ⁶  about it,

have your children tell their children,

and their children the following generation. ⁷ 

Exodus 10:6

10:6 They will fill your houses, the houses of your servants, and all the houses of Egypt, such as ⁸  neither ⁹  your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since they have been ¹⁰  in the land until this day!’” Then Moses ¹¹  turned and went out from Pharaoh.

Exodus 10:14

10:14 The locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and settled down in all the territory ¹²  of Egypt. It was very severe; ¹³  there had been no locusts like them before, nor will there be such ever again. ¹⁴ 

Daniel 12:1

12:1 “At that time Michael,

the great prince who watches over your people, ¹⁵ 

will arise. ¹⁶ 

There will be a time of distress

unlike any other from the nation’s beginning ¹⁷ 

up to that time.

But at that time your own people,

all those whose names are ¹⁸  found written in the book,

will escape.

Mark 13:19

13:19 For in those days there will be suffering ¹⁹  unlike anything that has happened ²⁰  from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, or ever will happen.

¹ sn Elders here refers not necessarily to men advanced in years, but to leaders within the community.

² tn Heb “give ear.”

³ tn Heb “days.” The term “days” functions here as a synecdoche for one’s lifespan.

⁴ tn Heb “days.”

⁵ tn Heb “fathers.”

⁶ tn Heb “sons.” This word occurs several times in this verse.

⁷ sn The circumstances that precipitated the book of Joel surrounded a locust invasion in Palestine that was of unprecedented proportions. The locusts had devastated the country’s agrarian economy, with the unwelcome consequences extending to every important aspect of commercial, religious, and national life. To further complicate matters, a severe drought had exhausted water supplies, causing life-threatening shortages for animal and human life (cf. v. 20). Locust invasions occasionally present significant problems in Palestine in modern times. The year 1865 was commonly known among Arabic-speaking peoples of the Near East as sent el jarad, “year of the locust.” The years 1892, 1899, and 1904 witnessed significant locust invasions in Palestine. But in modern times there has been nothing equal in magnitude to the great locust invasion that began in Palestine in February of 1915. This modern parallel provides valuable insight into the locust plague the prophet Joel points to as a foreshadowing of the day of the Lord. For an eyewitness account of the 1915 locust invasion of Palestine see J. D. Whiting, “Jerusalem’s Locust Plague,” National Geographic 28 (December 1915): 511-50.

⁸ tn The relative pronoun אֲשֶׁר (’asher) is occasionally used as a comparative conjunction (see GKC 499 §161.b).

⁹ tn Heb “which your fathers have not seen, nor your fathers’ fathers.”

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew construction מִיּוֹם הֱיוֹתָם (miyyom heyotam, “from the day of their being”). The statement essentially says that no one, even the elderly, could remember seeing a plague of locusts like this. In addition, see B. Childs, “A Study of the Formula, ‘Until This Day,’” JBL 82 (1963).

¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Heb “border.”

¹³ tn This is an interpretive translation. The clause simply has כָּבֵד מְאֹד (kaved mÿ’od), the stative verb with the adverb – “it was very heavy.” The description prepares for the following statement about the uniqueness of this locust infestation.

¹⁴ tn Heb “after them.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “stands over the sons of your people.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “will stand up.”

¹⁷ tn Or “from the beginning of a nation.”

¹⁸ tn The words “whose names are” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

¹⁹ tn Traditionally, “tribulation.”

²⁰ sn Suffering unlike anything that has happened. Some refer this event to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. While the events of a.d. 70 may reflect somewhat the comments Jesus makes here, the reference to the scope and severity of this judgment strongly suggest that much more is in view. Most likely Jesus is referring to the great end-time judgment on Jerusalem in the great tribulation.