Joel Commentary

When disaster strikes, we usually respond in one of two ways. We either turn to God and enter a renewed relationship with him shaped by a fuller understanding of his nature and character, or we turn away from God and blame him or others for our troubles. Some even deny God’s existence. The people of ancient Israel experienced disaster and were faced with this same decision. Would they turn away from God in their time of trouble or turn to him and seek his blessings?

Setting

Joel prophesied to the people of Judah and Jerusalem in the midst of a catastrophe that threatened their very existence. A locust plague of unprecedented proportions had struck the land. Millions of voracious insects arrived in wave after wave to consume every green plant—vegetable gardens, grain crops, grapevines, fruit trees, and even the grass upon which their sheep and goats grazed. In the face of such a disaster, all human and animal life was at risk. In the ancient world, there were no insecticides to kill the locusts, no stocks of nonperishable food for emergencies, and no relief agencies to bring in food supplies. Such a plague brought with it the specter of death for thousands upon thousands, especially the very young and the very old.

During such a perilous time, it was only natural that the people of Judah and Jerusalem would ask hard questions about the justice and mercy of God. Is God truly in charge of heaven and earth? Is he good? They also looked inward at their own sin and moral responsibility for the plague. Has God sent the locust plague to punish us for our failure to live in right relationship with him? Will God be merciful to us? Do we have a future? In response to such questions, the prophet Joel delivered the word of the Lord to his people.

Summary

The book of Joel consists of two nearly equal parts. In the first section (1:1–2:17), the prophet describes the devastating locust plague that afflicted Judah and Jerusalem. The plague was so severe that it laid waste to the entire land, destroying grains, vines, and trees. The effects of the plague were further compounded by a drought that left the land parched and burned. As a result, both humans and animals groaned with hunger, and the people had nothing left to bring to the Temple as an offering to the Lord. Therefore, in 2:12-17, Joel calls on the people to repent and throw themselves on the mercy of their compassionate God. (Other commentators have understood this passage as an apocalyptic description of the coming day of the Lord, using the language of a locust plague to describe an invading human army.)

In the second part of the book (2:18–3:21), the Lord promises to take pity on his people and restore their land following the locust plague. In 2:18-27, Joel describes how God will restore their material lives in the immediate future, replenishing their fields, orchards, vineyards, and flocks. In 2:28–3:21, Joel turns his attention to the more distant future when God will restore their spiritual lives. At that time, God will pour out his Spirit on all people who respond to him in faith. God will also render judgment on the peoples and nations that refuse to acknowledge his lordship.

Date of Writing

We do not know when the prophet Joel lived and prophesied. Joel does not list the kings under whom he ministered (cp., e.g., Amos 1:1; Mic 1:1), nor does he provide any other clear historical information. For this reason, scholars have proposed many different dates for Joel.

In the Hebrew and English Bibles, Joel is placed between Hosea and Amos, who prophesied during the 700s BC. This has led some to propose that Joel was an early prophet who may have lived even before Amos and Hosea. Because the book makes no mention of a king and regards the priesthood favorably, these interpreters believe that Joel prophesied while Joash (835–796 BC) was still a child, when the kingdom was under the oversight of Jehoiada the priest (see Joel 2:17; see also 2 Kgs 12:1-21).

On the other hand, several considerations seem to point to a much later date for Joel. Joel never refers to the northern kingdom of Israel or to its capital city, Samaria, suggesting that the prophet lived after their destruction in 722 BC. Likewise, Joel never mentions Assyria or Babylon, Israel’s great enemies from the 700s to 500s BC, leading many to argue that these two empires were already long past for Joel. Because the monarchy ended with the Exile in 586 BC, many scholars locate Joel in the postexilic period, after the Jewish people began returning to their own land in 538 BC.

Finally, there are numerous passages in which Joel could be seen as drawing upon or directly quoting the words and ideas of prophets such as Amos, Zephaniah, Obadiah, and Ezekiel. Although it is possible that Joel ministered before these prophets and that they were borrowing from him, it is also possible that Joel adapted the earlier prophetic words to speak God’s word to people who faced an entirely new situation.

These observations do not prove that Joel lived and prophesied after the Exile, but they are convincing enough that the majority of biblical scholars accept a postexilic date. Fortunately, knowing the exact time in history that Joel prophesied is less important in his case than it is for other prophets. Joel’s message concerns issues that are relevant to every age.

Meaning and Message

Throughout the book of Joel, we clearly see God’s sovereignty over all creation. He is Lord of both the natural world and human civilization. The locust plague was not merely a natural event; the army of insects came at God’s command (2:11). The Lord controls rain and drought, fertility and famine, blessing and destruction. All peoples, both Israelites and non-Israelites, are subject to his sovereign judgment, but divine sovereignty does not negate human responsibility.

Because human sin has so negatively affected the natural world, Joel calls the people of Judah and Jerusalem to repentance. Joel can offer the Israelites the opportunity to repent because he knows that God is merciful and compassionate. It is God’s nature to forgive those who repent rather than to judge them, to restore rather than to destroy. Quoting an ancient text (Exod 34:6-7), Joel extends God’s gracious invitation to the Israelites: “Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love” (Joel 2:13).

For Joel, the proper way to express repentance was through the official Temple worship presided over by the priests. This may seem surprising because several other prophets denounce the official worship because of widespread corruption among the priests and leaders (see Isa 1:10-18; Amos 5:21-24), but Joel recognized the value in worship when it is performed with a sincere heart that is fully open to God (an attitude characteristic of postexilic prophets—see Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi). In worship, invisible eternal realities are represented by physical objects and actions. However, the prophet reminds the Israelites that religion is much more than outward display; true worship is founded on inward transformation (Joel 2:13). The solution to corrupt worship is not to abandon worship, but to worship God in spirit and in truth (see John 4:23-24).

To a people who faced disaster, Joel brought the message that their God was fully in control of the future. He assured them that on the day of the Lord, God would intervene in the world to judge the wicked and to establish peace and justice (Joel 1:15; 2:1). Then he will pour out his Spirit on people of every class, gender, and age, making it possible for his people to live in accord with his law. The wrongs that all too often dominate our fallen world will only be righted when God fully and finally comes into his creation (Joel 2:28–3:21; see Matt 16:27; Acts 2:16-40; Col 2:13-22; Rev 21–22).

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Book of the Prophet Joel

We are altogether uncertain concerning the time when this prophet prophesied; it is probable that it was about the same time Amos prophesied, not for the reason that the rabbin give, "Because Amos begins his prophecy with that wherewith Joel concludes his, The Lord shall roar out of Zion," but for the reason Dr. Lightfoot gives, "Because he speaks of the same judgments of locusts, and drought, and fire, that Amos laments, which is an intimation that they appeared about the same time, Amos in Israel and Joel in Judah. Hosea and Obadiah prophesied about the same time; and it appears that Amos prophesied in the says of Jeroboam, the second king of Israel, Amo 7:10. God sent a variety of prophets, that they might strengthen the hands one of another, and that out of the mouth of two or three witnesses every word might be established. In this prophecy, I. The desolations made by hosts of noxious insects is described, ch. 1 and part of ch. 2. II. The people are hereupon called to repentance, ch. 2. III. Promises are made of the return of mercy upon their repentance (ch. 2), and promises of the pouring out of the Spirit in the latter days. IV. The cause of God's people is pleaded against their enemies, whom God would in due time reckon with (ch. 3); and glorious things are spoken of the gospel - Jerusalem and of the prosperity and perpetuity of it.

JOEL (meaning "one to whom Jehovah is God," that is, worshipper of Jehovah) seems to have belonged to Judah, as no reference occurs to Israel; whereas he speaks of Jerusalem, the temple, the priests, and the ceremonies, as if he were intimately familiar with them (compare Joe 1:14; Joe 2:1, Joe 2:15, Joe 2:32; Joe 3:1-2, Joe 3:6, Joe 3:16-17, Joe 3:20-21). His predictions were probably delivered in the early days of Joash 870-865 B.C.; for no reference is made in them to the Babylonian, Assyrian, or even the Syrian invasion; and the only enemies mentioned are the Philistines, Phœnicians, Edomites, and Egyptians (Joe 3:4, Joe 3:19). Had he lived after Joash, he would doubtless have mentioned the Syrians among the enemies whom he enumerates since they took Jerusalem and carried off immense spoil to Damascus (Ch2 24:23-24). No idolatry is mentioned; and the temple services, the priesthood, and other institutions of the theocracy, are represented as flourishing. This all answers to the state of things under the high priesthood of Jehoiada, through whom Joash had been placed on the throne and who lived in the early years of Joash (Kg2 11:17-18; Kg2 12:2-16; Ch2 24:4-14). He was the son of Pethuel.

The first chapter describes the desolation caused by an inroad of locusts—one of the instruments of divine judgment mentioned by Moses (Deu 28:38-39) and by Solomon (Kg1 8:37). The second chapter (Joe 2:1-11): the appearance of them, under images of a hostile army suggesting that the locusts were symbols and forerunners of a more terrible scourge, namely, foreign enemies who would consume all before them. (The absence of mention of personal injury to the inhabitants is not a just objection to the figurative interpretation; for the figure is consistent throughout in attributing to the locusts only injury to vegetation, thereby injuring indirectly man and beast). Joe 2:12-17 : exhortation to repentance, the result of which will be: God will deliver His people, the former and latter rains shall return to fertilize their desolated lands, and these shall be the pledge of the spiritual outpouring of grace beginning with Judah, and thence extending to "all flesh." Joel 2:18-3:21 : God's judgments on Judah's enemies, whereas Judah shall be established for ever.

Joel's style is pre-eminently pure. It is characterized by smoothness and fluency in the rhythms, roundness in the sentences, and regularity in the parallelisms. With the strength of Micah it combines the tenderness of Jeremiah, the vividness of Nahum, and the sublimity of Isaiah. As a specimen of his style take the second chapter wherein the terrible aspect of the locusts, their rapidity, irresistible progress, noisy din, and instinct-taught power of marshalling their forces for their career of devastation, are painted with graphic reality.

Next: Joel Chapter 1