2:20 the northerner. Some interpreters have understood this to be a reference to the locusts of ch.1. More likely it refers to a large and mighty army that becomes the Lord’s instrument of judgment. Unlike most locust invasions (which came from the east or south), foreign military invasions often came from the north. Cf. the references to the enemy from the north in Jer. 1:14, 15; 4:6; 6:1, 22; Ezek. 38:6, 15; 39:2.