Joel Lesson 3 Joel 1:1-2:25 Sometime between 841 BC to 835 BC

Transcription

1 Sometime between 841 BC to 835 BC It took us the previous two last lessons to prepare the ground for the study of Joel 1. In the first lesson, we established that the Book of Joel was written about 840 BC. It was during that time that the line of David, out of Solomon, was thought to have been extinguished. This was critical because that was the presumed line of the son of David who was to be the Messiah of God s promise. This had been accomplished by four great slaughters. First, Jehoram, Jehoshaphat s son and successor, killed all seven of his brothers plus other members of the royal family. Second, all of Jehoram s sons were kidnapped and then killed by the Philistines. Third, forty two members of the Royal family were killed by Jehu after he had killed Ahaziah, son of Jehoram. Fourth, when Athaliah, Ahaziah s mother and Jehoram s queen, heard that her son was dead, she killed all of her grandchildren (she thought), and any surviving members from Solomon s line who might conceivably claim rightful succession to the throne. In the second lesson, we saw how David had obstinately decided that the son of David who would build the LORD s Temple and reign on the throne of Israel and over His Temple forever would be the second son of Bathsheba, who he named Solomon. We saw that this was in clear contradiction of what the LORD had told David. David then not only told Solomon that this was his destiny, but he also told the people of Israel that Solomon was the anointed one of God. When Solomon became King, he confirmed to the people of Israel that this was so. David s first proclamation occurred in about 975 BC. At the conclusion of the second lesson we studied the vision of Ezekiel 4. The first part of the vision spoke of a great sin of Israel which took place 390 years before the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 585 BC. This matched the date that Solomon was falsely proclaimed the Messiah and accepted. We then saw that the second part of the vision spoke of a great sin of Judah which would culminate forty years later in a second destruction of Jerusalem. We saw that exactly forty years, to the day, after the Jews had rejected their true Messiah and had Him crucified, the Romans laid the siege on Jerusalem which led to its destruction. With that summary, we are finally ready to begin the study of Joel. Joel 1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel. [a] 1 / 12

2 [e] As we have already established, Joel wrote this in about 840 BC, during the eight year reign of Queen Athaliah. His name, Joel - lae/y meant Jehovah (Yahweh) is God. Joel 1:2 Hear this, you elders; listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your days or in the days of your forefathers? Through Joel, the LORD was addressing all the people of Israel. He referred to something that had happened that had never occurred since the days of their forefathers. For the people of Israel, this would refer all the way back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob well over a thousand years before. What could it have been? Joel 1:3 Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. The lesson coming out of this event was to be a lesson from the LORD for all the coming generations of Israel. Joel 1:4 What the locust swarm [b] has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts [c] have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts [d] have left other locusts have eaten. The event had been an attack by what was called locusts. The words translated locust swarms, great locusts, young locusts, and other locusts are four completely different words which are apparently related to locusts. The words are µz:g: {gä zäm'}, hb,r a {ar beh'}', ql,y <{yeh' lek}, and lysij; {khä sēl'}. Now the question has to be: Was the episode which was to be remembered by every generation in Israel referring to literal insects that ate vegetation and destroyed the crops of a single season? The destruction of a single season s harvest was not uncommon in those days. It was not uncommonly accomplished by insects, invasion, drought or even rain (2 Samuel 17-18). If this was something so remarkable that it was to be remembered by every generation, the locusts had to stand for something more significant and more precious than a season s crop. In Amos 4:9, there is a mention of the first category of locusts along with both drought and mildew, but this was a hundred years later. 2 / 12

3 No time in the whole history of Israel in the land, and in particular, no time during the life of Joel, does the Bible history describe a literal plague of locusts which had the literal effect described in this chapter. In 2 Chronicles 6:28 and 1 Kings 8:37 there is a mention of both the second and fourth categories of locusts, but this was when the LORD was telling the people of Israel the different kinds of disaster which might come upon them, including pestilence, drought, mildew, sickness, or war. The third category is used in Psalms 105:34 to speak of the plague of locusts sent on Egypt 600 years before Joel, but every other place it appears it is used to attribute metaphorically the destructive aspects of locusts to other things. My conclusion is that these were not literal locusts, but metaphorical locusts. They devoured something more precious than literal wine or grain. They had devoured the hope of Israel. My conclusion is that the four locust swarms were the four events that happened within a decade which had destroyed the royal line out of Solomon. It had seemed to have destroyed the promise of the LORD s Messiah and redeemer. These disasters had happened just before the time of the writing of Joel. Joel 1:5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips. In the New Testament, new wine refers to the coming of Christ. Matthew 9:14-17 Then John s disciples came and asked him, How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast? Jesus answered, How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved. See also Mark 2:22, Luke 5:37 Also, in the Old Testament, new wine is used to speak of the days of the Messiah. Amos 9:11-15 In that day I will restore David s fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name, declares the LORD, who will do these things. The days are coming, declares the LORD, when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman and the planter by the one treading grapes. New wine will drip from the mountains and flow from all the hills. I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them, says the LORD your God. See also, later in this Book, in Joel 3:18 the association of new wine with the days of the Messiah. Joel 1:5 seems to describe what should have been the reaction of the people of Israel to the news of the destruction of the royal line of David. Instead, many of them had been drunk and asleep to the significance of what had happened. Joel 1:6 A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. Particularly, in Psalms 22, Satan is described as a lion that stands against Christ. Perhaps the feminine term lioness refers to the part that Athaliah, the wicked daughter of Jezebel had in three of the four slaughters. 3 / 12

4 [f] It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white. If the LORD was speaking in metaphors, it is easy to discover the meaning of vines and fig trees. Israel was spoken of as being both the Lord s vine and fig tree. Israel was spoken of as a vine in: Psalms 80:8, 14b-15 You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. --- Watch over this vine, the root your right hand has planted, the son you have raised up for yourself. John 15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. See also: Isaiah 3:14b, 5:1-5, 27:2, Jeremiah 2:21, and Hosea 10:1. The Lord used the fig tree as a metaphor for Israel in Luke 13:6-9, and Matthew 21:19. The main destiny of Israel in the world was to bring forth the Messiah, the son of David. If they could not, they were ruined. Joel 1:8 Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth grieving for the husband of her youth. This speaks of an older woman who was still a virgin, because the husband to whom she had been espoused had died before the marriage was consummated. Metaphorically, this paints the picture of Israel, who was to be the bride of the Messiah. However, if His line was dead, the marriage could never be completed and she could never have her child. This clearly connects the metaphorical locusts to the destruction of the hope of the Messiah. Joel 1:9 Grain offerings and drink offerings are cut off from the house of the LORD. The priests are in mourning, those who minister before the LORD. If the hope of the Messiah was gone, the true meanings of the grain and drink offerings in the Temple were meaningless, since the grain offerings and drink offerings always spoke of the birth and death of the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. In the same way, the bread and the wine speak of it in the communion for the Church. Thus, if the Messiah couldn t come, the offerings were cut off. Joel 1:10-12a The fields are ruined, the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails. Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed. The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree-- all the trees of the field--are dried up. Joel 1:7 It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. 4 / 12

5 The whole purpose of the people of Israel was to be the ground upon which the Messiah, the son of David would come. The passage is talking about a lot more than mere physical food. There are things that are more important: Psalm 4:7 You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound. Joel 1:12b Surely the joy of mankind the sons of Adam is withered away. The word translated mankind here is µdâ: a;ynýeb] {bāne ä däm'} which literally means the sons of Adam. This clarifies that the disaster of the locusts was far more important in scope than the mere destruction of a year s crop for the people of Israel. It was significant to every generation (verse 3) and to every people who were the sons of Adam. Joel 1:13 Put on sackcloth, O priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from the house of your God. This again refers to the fact that without the actual Messiah, the merely symbolic grain and drink offerings of the Temple were meaningless. Joel 1:14 Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD. If the promise of the Messiah had failed, they should be in great distress and cry out to the LORD. Joel 1:15 Alas for that day! For the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. If the LORD s promise of a savior had failed, the day when He would come in judgment would be terrible. That Day of the LORD encompasses the Tribulation period of seven years. In the LORD s view of time, that Day is near now, just as it was 2900 years ago. Joel 1:16 Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes-- joy and gladness from the house of our God? If there was to be no atonement, there could be no joy and gladness, because it is based on the promise of the atoning work of the Messiah. Joel 1:17 The seeds are shriveled beneath the clods. The storehouses are in ruins, the granaries have been broken down, for the grain has dried up. 5 / 12

6 There could also be no production for the LORD because all the seeds were lifeless. That was because there is only one seed from which all the other seeds take life: John 12:23-24 Jesus replied, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Joel 1:18-20 How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering. To you, O LORD, I call, for fire has devoured the open pastures and flames have burned up all the trees of the field. Even the wild animals pant for you; the streams of water have dried up and fire has devoured the open pastures. These passages, talk about a severe lack of water. The Messiah, Jesus was to be the water of life: John 7:37-38 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. Revelation 21:6 He said to me: It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. These verses also remind me of Romans 8:19-22 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Joel 2:1a Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy hill. Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming. The coming of the Day of the LORD in judgment is already in view from Joel 1:15. The trumpets probably refer to the beginning of the Tribulation. The Bible seems to indicate that the Day of the LORD (or Tribulation) will be closely preceded by the Rapture of the Church which will occur on the Feast of Trumpets at which time there will be a heavenly trumpet as indicated in: 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable incorruptible, and we will be changed. 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 According to the Lord s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 6 / 12

7 Joel 2:1a-2 It is close at hand-- a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come. This paints picture of the land covered in darkness. When dawn comes, it comes from the East and spreads light across the land! When the Lord comes at the end of the Tribulation to destroy the armies of the beast who have covered the land He will come with the host of heaven, a large and mighty army as per Isaiah. Isaiah 13:3-10 I have commanded my holy ones; [g] I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath-- those who rejoice in my triumph. Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The LORD Almighty is mustering an army for war. They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens-- the LORD and the weapons of his wrath-- to destroy the whole country. [h] Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty. Because of this, all hands will go limp and every man s heart will melt. Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame. See, the day of the LORD is coming --a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger-- to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. [i] He will come from the East as per Ezekiel and Zechariah. Ezekiel 43:1-2 Then the man brought me to the gate facing east, and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory. Zechariah 14:4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, [j] and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. Joel 2:3 Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the Garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste-- nothing escapes them. This paints utter destruction. Joel 2:4-5 They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. Remember, this is a vision, meant to communicate to Israel in imagery they can understand. In that day, horses (cavalry) and chariots were irresistible in battle. This is the LORD s army. It is not modern helicopters and tanks as some have asserted. Joel 2:6 At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale. 7 / 12

8 The armies of heaven will come with Christ to strike down the nations. Revelation 19:12-15a His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. Joel 2:7 They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course. They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks. They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows. I can t help thinking of the third movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King, when the spirit army charges out of their ships without breaking ranks. They charged right through the solid bodies of their enemies, killing them as they passed through them. I suspect that J.R. Tolkien had this passage in mind. Joel 2:10 Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. This confirms what the Lord said in Matthew about His second coming. Matthew 24:29-30 Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky [k], and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. Joel 2:11 The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? Only those who believe in the LORD will survive the Tribulation. Joel 2:12 Even now, declares the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Here, the LORD returns to the people of Joel s time, almost 2,800 years ago. They had been struck with what seemed to be the destruction of the LORD s promise. They were living in an evil time, with few committed believers. It was time for Israel to return to the LORD. Joel 2:13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. 8 / 12

9 This is a principal which is good for all people at all times. Joel 2:14 Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing-- grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God. This is saying to the people of that day: Who knows? The Lord may yet have rescued His promise of a Messiah from the line of David ( grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD ). That seemed impossible to the people of that day. However, there were two things they didn t know. First, Joash, the infant son of Ahaziah had been rescued from the slaughter, and second, the biological line of the promised Messiah would come out of David through Nathan, not out of David through Solomon. Joel 2:15-16 Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. The LORD had good news, so the people should be gathered to be told. Joel 2:17 Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, Spare your people, O LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, Where is their God? The people of Israel would yet fulfill their destiny. God would not fail them. Joel 2:18-19 Then the LORD will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people. The LORD will reply to them: I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations. The LORD would still send His Messiah, who was symbolized by the grain, new wine and oil in the Temple. He would bring in all fullness. Ephesians 1:22-23 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. 9 / 12

10 Joel 2:20 I will drive the northern army far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land, with its front columns going into the eastern sea and those in the rear into the western sea. And its stench will go up; its smell will rise. Surely he has done great things. The focus here goes back to the Day of the LORD at the end of the Tribulation. At that time, the LORD would bring perfect deliverance from the armies of the Beast on the Day of the LORD. According to scripture, the western sea is the Mediterranean (Deuteronomy 11:24, Deuteronomy 34:2, Zechariah 14:8), the eastern sea is the Dead Sea (Ezekiel 47:18, Zechariah 14:8). Geographically, the scenario is clear, the disposition of the army of the North will extend from the Valley of Jezreel / Armageddon (Ezekiel 39:11, Revelation 16:16) east of the western sea (Mediterranean) down the Jordan Valley to the Valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:1, Joel 3:12) east of Jerusalem and west of the eastern sea (Dead Sea), a parched and barren land. The smell of the dead bodies will be horrendous. Joel 2:21-22 Be not afraid, O land; be glad and rejoice. Surely the LORD has done great things. Be not afraid, O wild animals, for the open pastures are becoming green. The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches. Neither mankind nor nature has any reason to fear that the LORD s promise of a redeemer will fail. This was what Joel 1:3 was referring to when it said Tell it to your children, and let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation. Joel 2:23 Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before. The LORD would not fail to give us His righteousness through the water of life. Joel 2:24 The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. As a consequence, Israel will produce what it was meant to produce. Joel 2:25 I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten-- the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm -- my great army power [l] that I sent among against you. Here we see the connection to our study of Ezekiel 4 last week. Remember, the great sin of Israel was related to the acceptance of Solomon as the promised son of David. He was made King of Israel in about 971 AD. As the promised son of David, Prince of Peace, and righteous King of Israel, Solomon was a complete and utter failure. The years of his reign were the first of the years the locust had eaten of the promise of the Messiah. So were all the years that followed it as all the Kings of Israel, and the Kings of Judah failed to live up to the mark. After the fall of Jerusalem in 585 BC there was never again a King of the Jews who was even from the line of David. The Maccabean kings (from 142 BC to 63 BC) were from the Hasmonean line which was from the tribe of Levi. All of those years were years the locust had eaten. Finally, on Palm Sunday in 30 AD, the true son of David, seed of Abraham, seed of the woman, and Messiah came and was proclaimed as King. The years the locust had eaten were over. It had been a thousand years. Of course, as the LORD had foreseen, the Jews had Him crucified three days later. However, as Revelation promises, He will return and reign. Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. 10 / 12

11 So, after all the thousand years that the locusts had eaten of the promise of Jesus as King of the Israel, He will reign during the Millennium for a thousand years. Literally, the LORD would repay Israel for the years the locust had eaten. So if we understand locusts as standing for the attack of the LORD s promise of a Messiah, we are also now in position to understand that strange remark made about John the Baptist who came proclaiming that the Lord s promise was about to be fulfilled. Matthew 3:4 John s clothes were made of camel s hair, and he had a leather belt [m] around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. John came eating locusts. In other words, he came to proclaim that the years of the locust were about to finish. [a] Pethuel laewtp] means God s opening. [b] 2 Chronicles 21:1-4 (Circa 848 BC) [c] 2 Chronicles 21:16-17 (Circa 844 BC) [d] 2 Chronicles 22:5-8, 2 Kings 9:27, 2 Kings 10:12-14 (Circa 841 BC) [e] 2 Chronicles 22:9-10, 2 Kings 11:1(Circa 841 BC) [f] Zechariah 3:10 [g] Zechariah 14:5b Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 11 / 12

12 [h] This describes the scene at the end of the Tribulation described in Revelation 19:11-19 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great. Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. See also Ezekiel 38-39, Daniel 11:36-45, Joel 2:1-11, 3:1-21, Zechariah 12:2-9, 14:1-13. [i] This will be fulfilled during the tribulation. It did not occur during the fall of historical Babylon. Revelation 8:12 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. See also Ezekiel 32:3-10. [j] Note that Jesus ascended from this spot outside of Bethany on the Mt. of Olives where He was first given a welcome into Jerusalem as King. He will return to the very same spot on His return to begin His 1,000 year reign. [k] There is an indication in Josephus that a star in the shape of a cross appeared over Jerusalem at the time of the fulfillment of the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem. It is interesting that a similar sign seems to be indicated here. [l] The Hebrew word here is lyij&' which can also be translated power, or might. This is not another description of the locusts, which are enumerated in Joel 1, but a description of the power of the Lord which we see in Joel 2:11. This adds to the list of promises which will be redeemed. [m] 2 Kings 1:8 Elijah wore this uniform. It was the uniform of a prophet. 12 / 12