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--color-end: var(--bgcolor-content-end);" ><div class="content"> <div class="label gradient-to-tr" style="--color-start: #96445a; --color-end: #6f637e;">Question</div> <div class="sponsor-sidebar"><div class="desktop-show" align="center"><div class="adManager-placeholder"></div></div></div> <h1><span itemprop="name headline" property="og:title">Why did God use a locust swarm to punish Israel (Joel 1:4)?</span></h1> <div class="actions-wrap"><div class="actions"> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="INTL/locust-swarm.html" onClick="gtag('event', 'click', {'event_category':'engagement', 'event_label':'intl'});"><img src="img/translate-icon.svg" alt="translate"></a> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://printer.gotquestions.net/GeneratePF?articleId=3057" onClick="gtag('event', 'click', {'event_category':'engagement', 'event_label':'print'});"><img src="img/print.svg" class="questionInteract" alt="locust swarm"></a> <span class="audio-icon"><img src="img/volume.svg" alt="audio" class="questionInteract"><audio controls preload="none" style="width:300px;height:25px"><source src="audio/locust-swarm.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"></audio></span> </div></div> <div itemprop="articleBody"> <div class="label gradient-to-tr" style="--color-start: #29a699; --color-end: #749c5a;">Answer</div><br><br> A locust swarm has the potential to devastate all vegetation in its path and can cause economic disaster in a region. Ancient Israel was predominantly an agricultural society. As such, threats to the nation’s crops were one of the main concerns of its citizens. At times, God used a locust swarm as a judgment to call Israel to repent of their sins (Joel 1:4).<br><br> The following verses detail the extent of this <a href="Joel-locusts.html">locust swarm in Joel’s time</a>:<br><br> – Loss of grapes for making wine: “The sweet wine . . . is cut off from your mouth” (Joel 1:5).<br> – Destruction of figs: “It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree” (Joel 1:7).<br> – No grain or wine for offerings at the temple: “The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the LORD” (Joel 1:9).<br> – Destruction of grain, which would result in no bread: “The fields are destroyed, the ground mourns, because the grain is destroyed” (Joel 1:10).<br> – Destruction of wheat and barley: “The wheat and the barley . . . has perished” (Joel 1:11).<br> – Loss of the fruit from trees: “Pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up” (Joel 1:12).<br> – Loss of olives: “The oil languishes” (Joel 1:13).<br> – No food for the livestock (Joel 1:18).<br><br> As a result of the locust swarm, every major food source except meat and seafood had been destroyed for the year. The prophet Joel called the priests to repent (Joel 1:13) and urged them to call the people to fast and pray (Joel 1:14).<br><br> Insightful readers, especially the priests addressed in Joel 1:13, would have been aware that the invading locust swarm was a fulfillment of prophecy. Moses had warned Israel of the results of disobedience in Deuteronomy 28:37–38: “You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule . . . . You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it.”<br><br> While tragedies such as a locust swarm are not always a sign of God’s judgment on a community, Joel said that, in Israel’s case, the invasion of locusts was a call for God’s people to repent in fasting and sackcloth.<br><br> Still today, when tragedy strikes, it can be a reminder to turn to God. God can use tragedies and the loss of material things to cause people to <a href="seeking-God.html">seek Him</a>.<br><br> </div> <section class="homepage-sponsor desktop-hide"> <div class="desktop-hide" align="center"><div class="adManager-placeholder-mobile"></div></div> </section> <div class="related resources"><h4>For Further Study</h4> <a target="_blank" rel="sponsored noopener" onClick="gtag('event', 'click', {'event_category':'engagement', 'event_label':'amazon'});" href="https://amzn.to/3E0K6T9">Holman Old Testament Commentary: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah by Trent Butler</a><br><br> <a target="_blank" rel="sponsored noopener" onClick="gtag('event', 'click', {'event_category':'engagement', 'event_label':'logos'});" href="https://www.logos.com/?utm_campaign=logossubxlaunch-phase1&utm_source=gotquestions&utm_medium=advertising_display&utm_content=logossubxlaunch-phase1-gtlink">More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free!</a> </div> <div class="related topics"><h4>Related Articles</h4> <a href="Joel-locusts.html">Is Joel 1:4 referring to literal locusts? When was this prophecy fulfilled?</a><br><br> <a href="restore-years-locusts-eaten.html">How does God restore the years that the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25)?</a><br><br> <a href="valley-of-decision.html">What is the valley of decision (Joel 3:14)?</a><br><br> <a href="rend-your-heart.html">What does it mean to rend your heart (Joel 2:13)?</a><br><br> <a href="sun-darkness-moon-blood.html">Will the sun really be turned to darkness and the moon to blood (Joel 2:31)?</a> </div> <center><strong class="return">Return to:<br><br> <a class="button-link box-shadow" href="questions-about-Joel.html">Questions about Joel</a><br><br> Why did God use a locust swarm to punish Israel (Joel 1:4)?</strong></center> </div> </section> <section class="subscribe gradient-to-br" style="--color-start: #153c59; --color-end: #1b537c"> <div class="grid"> <div class="gradient-to-br box-shadow" style="--color-start: #2c6482; --color-end: #64547b"> <h5>Subscribe to the</h5> <h3>Question of the Week</h3> <p>Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox!</p> <iframe src="scommon/qotw.htm" title="question of the week" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="100%"></iframe> </div></div> </section> </main> <footer-element></footer-element> <center> <div itemprop="dateModified" content="2022-01-04">This page last updated: January 4, 2022</div></center> <script src="scripts-2025.js"></script> <div style="display: none;" itemprop="publisher" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Organization"><meta itemprop="name" content="GotQuestions.org"><div itemprop="logo" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject"> <img src="https://www.gotquestions.org/img/GQlogo.png"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://www.gotquestions.org/img/GQlogo.png"><meta itemprop="width" content="400"><meta itemprop="height" content="79"> </div></div> </body> </html>