NOTES for Joe 1:1-9
The pictures of the devastated land make us wonder what is being described here: an actual invasion of locusts, or images of an enemy invasion passing before the prophet's eyes? Famine and devastation can equally result from either disaster.
But if the locusts can be an image of an enemy invasion, and the invasion an image of retribution for sins and lawlessness, could the picture of physical hunger be an expression of spiritual hunger, and the very description of the consequences of the locust invasion a spiritual portrait of a considerable part of the people? And if offerings in the Temple have ceased, is it only because the fruit of the earth has run out? Is it not to an even greater extent because the resources of the soul have run dry and people have turned away from God?
We are accustomed to the enemy coming from outside, but how often do we ourselves become enemies both to God and to ourselves; how often do the depths of our own hearts prove to be the source of hostile actions.