Sin vs Restoration

Joe 1:4 That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.
Palmerworm: Larva on white oak. the larva of any one of several moths, which destroys the foliage of fruit and forest trees. The larva of (Ypsolophus pometellus), which sometimes appears in vast numbers. devouring herbage, and wandering about like a palmer.
Locust: the Mosaic Law locusts were reckoned "clean," so that he could lawfully eat them they are straight-winged. They are of many species. The ordinary Syrian locust resembles the grasshopper, but is larger and more destructive. "The legs and thighs of these insects are so powerful that they can leap to a height of two hundred times the length of their bodies. When so raised they spread their wings and fly so close together as to appear like one compact moving mass. The invasions of locusts are the heaviest calamites that can befall a country. "Their numbers exceed computation: the Hebrews called them the countless, and the Arabs knew them as the darkeners of the sun.
Their flight obscures the sun and casts a thick shadow on the earth. It seems as if a great mid-air mountain, many miles in breadth, were advancing with a slow, unresting progress. Woe to the countries beneath them if the wind fall and let them alight! They descend unnumbered as flakes of snow and hide the ground.
At their approach the people are in anguish; all faces lose their color. No walls can stop them; no ditches arrest them; fires kindled in their path are forthwith extinguished by the myriads of their dead, and the countless armies march on. If a door or a window were open, they enter and destroy everything of wood in the house. Every terrace, court, and inner chamber is filled with them in a moment. A strong north-west wind from the Mediterranean swept the locusts into the Red Sea." The English word may denote either a caterpillar, which wanders like a palmer or pilgrim, or which travels like pilgrims in bands, the wingless locusts, or the migratory locust in its larva state.
Cankerworm: Two species of cankerworms occur. Both attack early in the spring just as the leaves are beginning to appear, or they sometimes attack the buds before the leaves open. The spring cankerworm is the more common species in Kansas. Adult females of both species are wingless moths. The fall cankerworm adult emerges in October and November, whereas the spring cankerworm adult does not emerge until late February and March. The females of both species crawl up the trunk of the tree to deposit eggs. Eggs of both species hatch in April or early May and the young devour the developing leaves. Dispersal is accomplished when the small caterpillars are blown from one tree to another. Large numbers of larvae may annoy passersby because the often hang from a strand of silk. Upon maturity, larvae descend to the ground on a silk thread. They then burrow into the ground, spin a cocoon and pupate.
Caterpiller: The eastern tent caterpillar over winters as an egg, within an egg mass of 150 to 400 eggs. These masses are covered with a shiny, black varnish-like material and encircle branches that are about pencil-size or smaller in diameter. The caterpillars’ hatch about the time the buds begin to open, usually in early March. These insects are social; caterpillars from one egg mass stay together and spin a silken tent in a crotch of a tree. Caterpillars from two or more egg masses may unite to form one large colony. During the heat of the day or rainy weather, the caterpillars remain within the tent. They emerge to feed on leaves in the early morning, evening, or at night when it is not too cold. The larvae are hairy caterpillars, black with a white stripe down the back, brown and yellow lines along the sides, and a row of oval blue spots on the sides. As the larvae feed on the foliage, they increase the size of the web until it is a foot or more in length. In 4 to 6 weeks the caterpillars are full-grown and 2 to 2-1/2 inches long. At this time, they begin to wander away individually from the nest in search of protected areas to spin a cocoon. The cocoon is about 1 inch long and made of closely woven white or yellowish silk and is attached to other objects by a few coarser threads. The adult moth emerges from the cocoon about 3 weeks later. The moth is reddish-brown with two pale stripes running diagonally across each forewing. Moths mate and females begin to lay eggs on small branches. The eggs will hatch next spring. There is just one generation per year.
Four species or stages of locusts, rather than four different insects, are meant (compare Leviticus 11:22). Literally,
(1) The gnawing locust; is that of the locust, having just emerged from the egg in spring, and without wings.
(2) The swarming locust; is when at the end of spring, still in their first skin, the locusts put forth little ones without legs or wings.
(3) The licking locust; when after their third casting of the old skin, they get small wings, which enable them to leap the better, but not to fly. Being unable to go away till their wings are matured, they devour all before them, grass, shrubs, and bark of trees: translated "rough caterpillars" (Jeremiah 51:27).
(4) The consuming locust; forming a climax to the most destructive kind. The last is often three inches long, and the two antennas, each an inch long. The two hinder of its six feet are larger than the rest, adapting it for leaping. The fourth kind, the matured winged locusts.
Joe 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
locust . . . cankerworm . . . caterpiller . . . palmer worm - the reverse order from Joel 1:4, where by the full-grown consuming locust, but also what has been lost by the less destructive licking locust, and swarming locust, and gnawing locust.
They are enumerated in the reverse order, where the restoration of the devastations caused by them is promised. The Hebrews make the first species refer to Assyria and Babylon; the second species, to Medo-Persia; the third, to Greco-Macedonia and Antiochus Epiphanies; the fourth, to the Romans. Though the primary reference be to literal locusts, the Holy Spirit doubtless had in view the successive empires which assailed Judea, each worse than its predecessor, Rome being the climax.
Restore - Make up to you. Restoration is not the original but is an improvement and the reward of obedience. After the land was devastated the insects leave and the land is in perfect shape for replanting no weeds left and now you get a pure crop in abundance.
Nah 3:15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.
[There - in the very scene of thy great preparations for defense; and where thou now art so secure.
Fire - even as at the former destruction; Sardanapalus perished with all his household in the conflagration of his palace, having in despair set it on fire, the traces of which are still remaining.
Eat thee - As easily as the cankerworm eats the green herb.
Cankerworm - "the licking locust".
Make thyself many as the locusts - "the swarming locusts"; that is, however "many" be thy forces, like those of "the swarming locusts," or the "licking locusts," yet the foe shall consume thee as the "licking locust" licks up all before it. They are countless; be thou so if thou canst; all will be to no purpose.[
Nah 3:16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and flieth away.
Multiplied thy merchants - (Ezekiel 27:23, 24). Nineveh, by large canals, had easy access to Babylon; and it was one of the great routes for the people of the west and northwest to that city; laying on the Tigris it had access to the sea. The Phoenicians carried its wares everywhere. Hence its merchandise is so much spoken of.
The cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away - that is, spoiled thy merchants. The "cankerworm," or licking locust, answers to the Medo-Babylonian invaders of Nineveh. "Thy merchants spoiled many regions; but the same shall befall them as befalls locusts, they in a moment shall be scattered and flee away.” "The licking locust puts off (the envelope in which his wings had been folded), and teeth away" (Nahum 2:9; compare Joel 1:4). The Hebrew has ten different names for the locust, so destructive was it. So these are like the cankerworms, which spoil wherever they come, and when no more is to be gotten, flee away.
Sin verses Restoration
(1) The gnawing locust; which is the Palmerworm (larva) that destroys the foliage of fruit and forest trees and devouring herbage.
(2) The swarming locust; which is the Cankerworm that devours the developing leaves and eats the buds before the leaves open.
(3) The licking locust; translated "rough caterpillars" (Jeremiah 51:27). They are social and stick together and they devour all before them, grass, shrubs, and bark of trees:
(4) The consuming locust; forming a climax to the most destructive kind it is the fourth kind, the matured winged locusts; they are considered clean and can be eaten. Unable to guide their own flight they are at the mercy of the wind, which bears them as blind instruments to the doomed region given over to them for the time. Nothing can stop the consuming before it eats every green thing, and stripping the trees, till the land was bared of all signs of vegetation.
The locusts and caterpillars are here called G-d’s great army, which he sent among them, as a judgment to sin and each was worse than its forerunner.
After they have been through the land is bare, striped and naked leaving it perfectly clean to start over again.
This is a not a story about the insects but a lesson to be learned about obedience and sin:
Sin like the palmerworm starts out slow and destroys the foliage devouring as it goes.
Once sin starts it grows and you become a swarming locust that attracts the buds. Once tasting the forbidden fruit you are like the licking locust and stick together with like kind devouring more and more. Until you became a full blown consuming locust given over to be blown by the wind, you have now lost control of yourself being strip and naked.
But there is hope for you if you repent and turn away from sin back to obedience to G-d: