Joël 2:3

Fire consumes before it—They destroy everything as though a fire consumes before them and a flame blazes after them.

like the Garden of Eden—was the land before it came, and, after it goes, it leaves the land like a desert wasteland.

(3)-And remembering the destruction that the Babylonians wrought in the land of Judah and Jerusalem, the prophet describes it as "a consuming fire goes before it and afterwards a lit flame" meaning that what came first in their camp was like a fire burning the land and what was at the end of their camp, which, as in the normal way of war, was the women, children and elders that are more weak that can't make war. But in the case of the Babylonians they did not have this weak stragglers to the army because the end of the army was also like a flame that lights the land up. In that the land was like the Garden Eden previously. Meaning that before they came it was the Garden of Eden and all that was left afterwards was a desolate desert. And it says there was no remnant. This is a hint in my opinions to the matter of Gedalia the son of Achikan and those who remained in the land with him after the exile that the king of Bavel allowed to stay there as a remnant. Then Yishmael ben Netanya and his conspirators came and killed Gedalia and destroyed the remnant. The pasukim continue to describe the might of the Babylonian army in (4)- like a vision of horses was it's appearnance. This means that the men were strong and powerful like a warhorse. And the prophet already describes the might of horse in battle when it says (Iyov 39:20) "do you give the horse its' might and clothe his neck with a man". And (Mishlei 21:31) "the horse is prepared for a day of war". These quotations show the might of a horse. And the earlier ones already wrote about the Greek centaurs who are half man and half horse. This mythology may trace back to the early days when they first began to ride horses in a valley and they would use them to garnish spoils of war and the others in the valley would flee from them and thought the men on horses were different creatures and the man and the horse were like one body. And only once tthey were defeated and killed and searched it became clear that they were only men riding on horses. And maybe this is what the prophet was speaking of. Like the appearance of horses was its appearance. that they were horse riders or that they had large faces and bodies that were powerful like horses and even the foot soldiers were swift as horses when running.