Charles Ellicott Commentary Joel 1:6

"For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the jaw-teeth of a lioness." — Joel 1:6 (ASV)

A nation. —It was not uncommon with Hebrew writers to apply the name people or folk to animals, as, The ants are a people not strong; The conies are but a feeble folk (Proverbs 30:25–26); but the word used by Joel is different from that in the Proverbs. He selected a word indicative of foreign nations, suggestive of attack, including both the irrational invader and the foreign conqueror. The surpassing strength of the nation is indicated by the extraordinary power of the locust’s teeth, compared to that of the lion’s jaws. The same comparison is made by St. John (Revelation 9:8): Their teeth (the locusts) were as the teeth of lions.