The decision depends, therefore, upon the internal character of the description itself. An allegory must betray itself as such, by significant hints; where these are wanting, it is arbitrary to assume its existence. Following the order of the [Pg 309] text, we shall bring together everything of this kind which we find in it.
The words, even, of the introduction,--"Hath any such thing happened in your days, and in the days of your fathers? Of it you shall tell your sons, and your sons to their sons, and their sons to the succeeding generation,"--scarcely permit us to think of a devastation by locusts in the literal sense. It could only be by means of the grossest exaggeration--which, if it were far from any prophet, was certainly so from the simple and mild Joel--that he could represent, as the greatest disaster which ever befell, or should ever befall the nation, a devastation by locusts which was, after all, only a transitory evil. For it is the greatness of the disaster which is implied in the call to relate it to the latest posterity; no later suffering should be so great as to cause this one to be forgotten.
We must not overlook the expression in ver. 6: "_For a nation_ ([Hebrew: gvi]) has come up over my land." "Nation," according to most interpreters, is thought to signify the mere multitude; but in that case, [Hebrew: eM] would certainly have been used, as is done in Prov. xxx. 25, 26, concerning the ants. In [Hebrew: gvi] there is implied not only the idea of what is hostile--this _Credner_ too acknowledges--but also of what is profane. This, indeed, is the principal idea; and, on this account, even the degenerate Covenant-people several times receive the name [Hebrew: gvi]. That this principal idea is here likewise applicable, is evident from the antithesis: "Over my land." It is true, that the suffix cannot be referred to Jehovah, as is done by _J. H. Michaelis_ and others, although the antithesis would thus most strikingly appear; but as little can we refer it, as is done by modern interpreters, to the prophet as an individual; for, in this case the antithesis would be lost altogether. The comparison of vers. 7 and 19 clearly shows that, according to a common practice (compare the Introduction to Micah, and the whole prophecy of Habakkuk), the prophet speaks in the name of the people of God. A strange, unheard-of event! A heathen host has invaded the land of the people of God! The antithesis is in ii. 18: "Then the Lord was jealous for His land, and spared His people." We do not think that the prophet loses sight of his image. He designates the locust as the heathen host; but he would not have chosen this designation, which, when literally [Pg 310] understood, is very strange, unless the matter had induced him to do so. If it be understood figuratively, Amos vi. 14 entirely harmonizes with it.--In the same verse (Joel i. 6) it is said: "His teeth, the teeth of a lion, cheek teeth of a lion to him;" on which Rev. ix. 8 is to be compared. This comparison is quite suitable to figurative locusts, to furious enemies (compare Is. v. 29; Nah. ii. 12, 13; Jer. ii. 15, iv. 7, xlix. 19; Ezek. xxxii. 2; Dan. vii. 4), but not to natural locusts; for the lion cannot possibly be the symbol of mere voracity.