They invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again. The superlative — never before, never again — echoes the description of the hail in 9:18. The plagues are not comparable to anything in natural history; they exist in a category of divine action that has no parallel. Joel 2:2 uses identical language about the locusts he sees as the army of the Lord: never has there been anything like it, nor will there be again. Joel's locusts are explicitly the army of God marching in formation. What Moses sees in physical reality, Joel sees as the pattern of eschatological judgment. The never-before-never-again framing places the Exodus plagues in the category of unique historical events — unrepeatable, unreplicable, and for that very reason permanently authoritative as testimony.

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