Albert Barnes Commentary Joel 2:7

"They run like mighty men; they climb the wall like men of war; and they march every one on his ways, and they break not their ranks." — Joel 2:7 (ASV)

They shall run like mighty men - They are on God’s message, and they do not linger, but rejoice to run their course (Psalms 19:5). “The height of walls cannot hinder the charge of the mighty; they enter not by the gates but over the walls,” as if a city were taken by assault. People can mount a wall a few at a time; the locusts scale much more steadily, more compactly, more determinedly, and irresistibly. The picture unites the countless multitude, condensed march, and entire security of the locust with the might of warriors.

They shall march every one on his ways - There is something awe-inspiring and majestic in the well-ordered flight of the winged locusts, or their march while still unwinged. “This,” says Jerome, “we have seen lately in this province (Palestine). For when the hosts of locusts came, and filled the air between heaven and earth, they flew, as God ordained, in such order that each held its place, like the minute pieces of mosaic fixed in the pavement by the artist’s hands, so as not to deviate from one another by a hair’s breadth.”

“You may see the locust,” says Theodoret, “like enemies, both mounting the walls and marching on the roads, and not allowing itself to be dispersed by any violence, but making the assault by a sort of concert.” “It is said,” says Cyril, “that they go in rank, and fly as in array, and are not separated from each other, but attend to one another, like sisters, nature infusing into them this mutual love.”

Other accounts relate: “They seemed to be impelled by one common instinct, and moved in one body, which had the appearance of being organized by a leader.” Also: “There is something frightful in the appearance of these locusts proceeding in divisions, some of which are a league in length and 200 paces in breadth.” And: “They continued their journey, as if a signal had been actually given them to march.”

So, of the young brood it is related: “In June, their young broods begin gradually to make their appearance. As soon as any of them were hatched, they immediately gathered, each group forming a compact body several hundred yards square, which, marching afterwards directly forward, climbed over trees, walls, and houses, ate up every plant in their way, ‘and let nothing escape them.’” It is also said: “They seemed to march in regular battalions, crawling over everything that lay in their passage, in one straight front.”

So the judgments of God hold their course, each going straight to that person for whom God, in the awe-inspiring wisdom of His justice, ordains it. No one judgment or chastisement comes by chance. Each is directed and adapted, weighed and measured, by Infinite Wisdom, and reaches just that soul for which God appointed it, and no other, and strikes it with just that force which God ordains. As we look on, God’s judgments are like a heavy sleet of arrows; yet as each arrow, shot truly, found the mark at which it was aimed, so, and much more, does each lesser or greater judgment, sent by God, reach the heart for which He sends it and pierces it just as deeply as He wills.