The locusts are like war horses (Joel 2:4-2:5)

“They have the appearance

Of horses.

They are

Like war horses.

They charge.

As with the rumbling

Of chariots,

They leap

On the tops

Of the mountains,

Like the crackling

Of a flame of fire,

Devouring the stubble.

They are

Like a powerful army

Drawn up for battle.”

This swarm of locusts had the appearance of charging war horses. They were like rumbling chariots leaping to the tops of the mountains. They were like a crackling flame in a fire devouring the grass stubble in front of it. They were like a powerful army ready for battle. These were the dangerous grasshoppers.

The locust plague (Joel 1:4-1:4)

“What the cutting locust left,

The swarming locust

Has eaten.

What the swarming locust left,

The hopping locust

Has eaten.

What the hopping locust left,

The destroying locust

Has eaten.”

The big event that Joel was talking about was a locust plague. Apparently, there were a series of locust attacks, a fairly common event in the ancient world. The mild-mannered grasshoppers would suddenly join in groups during times of drought and then attack the growing grain fields in droves. There must have been three separate attacks. Joel called them cutting locusts, swarming locusts, and hopping locusts. One came right after the other to destroy the field crops.