HEBREW WORD STUDY – LOCUST – RAVAH  רבה  

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

Very little is known about the prophet Joel.  He is mentioned only once, in the first chapter of the Book of Joel. The style of writing and events of the Book of Joel would tend to make him a contemporary of Habakkuk, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. The name Joel is a word which combines the name of God Jehovah “Ya” with the word God “El.”   It is depicting the feminine and masculine nature of God or His role as a disciplinarian and as a loving parent. Indeed this book speaks of both the judgment of God in the catastrophic loss of their food supply through a locust invasion 1:1-2:17 and the promise of restoration 2:18-32.   

The book is written in a poetic style and is meant to be an allegory as well as a description of actual events.  There is debate as to whether such an event occurred in Judah and many scholars simply accept this as an allegory. Still, for us, the allegorical nature of this book allows us to make numerous personal applications to our own lives. The message is one which teaches that what God must allow to be removed from our lives to bring about correction, He will one day restore. 

This is clearly the message of Joel 2:25 and many who are going through a time of loss have embraced this as a promise of future restoration. This loss occurred from an invasion of locust which devoured their crops. God also names the cankerworm or the inchworm which is the larva of a moth, the caterpillar which is the larva for the butterfly and the palmerworm which is the larva for a beetle. These insects are noted for their destruction of trees and other plant life. 

A locust invasion of 2,500 years ago means little to me but I am all about spiritual applications and here is mine. The word locust comes from the root word ravah which literally means to multiply into a multitude.  It is spelled Resh, Beth, and Hei.  These letters and their order indicate that when a multitude of difficulties come upon us, it drowns out that still small voice of God.  The cankerworm is yalak which is spelled Yod, Lamed, and Qop and literally means to lick or lap.  These letters and their order indicate a loss of hope.  The cankerworm literally licks away your hope. The caterpillar in Hebrew is chasel and means to devour.  This is spelled Cheth, Samek, and Lamed and indicates fear.  The caterpillar devours you with fear.  The palmerworm in Hebrew is gazem which means to cut off.  The word is spelled Gimmel, Zayin, and Mem and indicates sorrow or grief.   The palmerworm is pictured as filling you with grief and cutting you off from the joys of life. 

God is promising in this verse that he will restore us. The word restore is the word shalom meaning peace. However, there is a wide range of usages for the word shalom other than peace.  The word is used to describe peace, completeness, healing, restoration, and retribution or repayment among a few of its usages.   He will restore the years that these insects have destroyed.  The word years is shanah which literally means to repeat, to change, to disfigure, or to alter.   It can also mean “again and again.”  

There is a literal meaning to this verse, which is that God will restore the land that the insects have destroyed. But I also detect a personal message in this verse.  It is the reason why each insect is named. The enemy may use the locust against us and try to drown out the still small voice of God. He may send the cankerworm to discourage us and cause us to lose hope, or the caterpillar to devour us with fear and the palmerworm to fill us with such grief and sorrow that we are cut off from all the good that life has to offer.  Yet, Joel prophesies that if we repent God will bring his shalom his restoration, peace, and healing to change all that was disfigured by the enemy.