The locusts symbolize the enemy’s army (Joel 1:4 and note Joel 1:4¹).

Some of the punishments ordained by God have not taken place because some of God’s loving ones, the prophets, prayed for Israel, warning God that Israel might not endure (vv. 2-3, 5-6).

The Lord was holding a plumb line to measure Israel in order to determine what part had to be destroyed and what part had to be retained (vv. 7-8).

The high places were the places where Israel worshipped the idols on the mountains. The expression sanctuaries of Israel refers not to the sanctuary in the city of Jerusalem but mainly to the sanctuaries in Bethel in the northern kingdom of Israel (1 Kings 12:31; 13:32).

Amaziah the priest of Bethel was a false priest. In Bethel, in the northern kingdom of Israel, the people had built a temple and had their own priests (1 Kings 12:31).