Locusts

Joel 2:25
“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.”

It comes as quite a surprise to discover that the word locust does not actually indicate any separate species. Locusts are really just grasshoppers, but the term refers to their well-known swarming behavior. Under normal conditions, locusts are solitary insects. In normal times, they cause little or no problem to agriculture. But sometimes, conditions are not normal.

After times of drought, the locusts seem to produce far more nymphs than would be normal. These then begin to swarm as the insects suddenly become gregarious. These swarms of locusts cause terrible problems for agriculture. In swarming conditions, the insects turn to eating crops and can devastate whole fields in short order. The transformation seems to be caused by increased body concentrations of serotonin, and this, in turn, is produced when there are multiple touches of the hind legs by other locusts, caused by overcrowding. Towards the end of 2019 and into 2020, large swarms of locusts affected parts of Africa and Asia, and these were so large that they brought to mind the plague of locusts in Egypt, mentioned in Exodus.

For these reasons, locusts were, in the Bible, a symbol of destruction. In Joel 2:25, we read: “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you” (Joel 2:25). The destruction caused is to be reversed by the blessing and favor of God.

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, for Your wonderful promises of healing, deliverance, and restoration. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Ref: Envyclopaedia Britannica, < https://www.britannica.com/animal/locust-insect >, accessed 1/25/2020.

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