Joel is difficult to date,
but he could have prophesied any time between 445 and 343. My study will depend
on Hans Walter Wolff in Hermenea, John
D. W. Watts, Roland Murphy in Interpreters.
Wolff advocates a dating of 445-343.
Murphy presents the idea that he lived in Jerusalem and was probably a
cultic prophet. He seems to be dependent upon earlier prophets, even Obadiah,
as well as Malachi. He presents evidence
that confirms a post-exilic date.
Suggesting a post-exilic date are the role of elders in the community in
1:2, 14, 2:16, concern with ritual and sacrifice in 1:13, 2:12, 14, the
relatively small size of the community in 2:16, the reference to Israel
scattered among the nations in 3:2, and acquaintance with the Greeks in 3:2. Wolff
defends unity of authorship, seeing 2:17-18 as a turning-point and that there
is a symmetry between the lament portion and the divine response portion. Murphy accepts unity of authorship except at except
at 3:4-8, 18-21. Because of this balance presented, it is primarily a literary
work rather than a compilation of speeches. Though Joel uses liturgical forms,
he is not among those who believe in conformity to Torah and worship forms is
enough. By studying previous prophecies,
he believed in new acts of God. His major concern is the Day of the Lord. The
event prompting the prophecy is a locust plague devastating the land. He urges repentance, offering a lament in
1:2-2:27 that call forth a religious ceremony and prayer. Yahweh replies by promising a cessation of
the plague and return to prosperity. He
views the event as an image of the Day of Yahweh. They are
a penitential liturgy, ending with a prophetic promise of forgiveness. Thus, Joel may have been a cult prophet,
though it may also be an imitation. The second section is a time of salvation,
apocalyptic judgment on the nations and final triumph of Yahweh and of Israel. 3:1-5
is the answer to Moses' prayer in Numbers 11:29. See Acts 2:16-21. He is a prophet of repentance, exhorting to
fasting and prayer. Thus, in one of the shortest books in the Hebrew Bible
(three chapters), the prophet Joel presents a picture of both judgment and
redemption that encapsulates centuries of Israelite religious thought. With the
insight peculiar to the prophetic imagination, Joel interprets natural and
political events as manifestations of both Yahweh's judgment and Yahweh's
compassion. It is to awaken his contemporaries to Yahweh's magnificent and
terrible activity in their world
Klaus Koch[1]
offers an alternative view to the post-exilic date. If toward the end of the
sixth century, the day of holy war against the nations at the valley of
Jehoshaphat near Jerusalem is also aimed at the Assyrians. For Joel, the day of the Lord is a sinister
war-like event. A plague of locusts is
the background for the book as complaint, petition, and assurance. There becomes a connection between that
plague and the day of the Lord. The
problem with a post-exilic date is that the "day of the Lord" does
not occur anywhere else in post-exilic literature! It is a term for seventh and ninth cent
prophets. The day of the Lord was a new
development in Israel, making them cease looking back at salvation history and
look forward to a future act of God.
Thus, the work of Yahweh has still to be perfected.
Joel 1:1 is the title. It
says simply that the word of the Lord came to Joel, name means "Yah[weh]
is God/El," son of Pethuel (Vision of El). Today, we know nothing about
this family.
Joel 1:2-2:27 is a lament
around the event of a plague of locusts. Joel invites the elders and the people
to listen. Has such a thing happened their days or that of ancestors? The
question implies that it has not. The devastation is so great that they are to
tell their children of it, and so is each successive generation. He notes what
the cutting and swarming locust has eaten. Drunkards are to wake up and weep.
The fruit of the vine is cut off from them. A nation has invaded the land,
powerful and innumerable. Its teeth are that of a lion and it has the fangs of
a lioness. It has lain waste the vines and fig trees. It has stripped off their
bark and burned their branches. He invites them to lament as a virgin
child-bride dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth. One cannot even
offer a grain or drink offering in the house of the Lord. Priests mourn as
ministers of the Lord. Workers will weep, suggesting they will have no work.
They have devastated the fields. Trees have dried up. Joy withers among the
people, suggesting no reason for the joy of harvest. Then, the priests are to
put on sackcloth and lament. As ministers of the altar, they are to wail. They
are to pass the night in sackcloth, “ministers of my God.” Grain and drink
offering do not come into the house of God. They are to sanctify a fast and
call a solemn assembly. They are to gather the elders and the people to the
house of the Lord and cry out to the Lord. They are to express their “Woe,” for
the day of the Lord is near and destruction from the Almighty comes, for which
see Amos 5:18-20, Zephaniah 1:7, 14-16, Mark 1:15, Matthew 3:2. Joel borrows the
notion of the day of the Lord from the prophetic tradition and applies it to
his present circumstance. Food does not come to the house of the God, nor does
joy and gladness. The seed shrivels. The storehouses and granaries are empty.
The animals groan. Cattle and sheep have no pasture. Yet, Joel turns his cry to
the Lord. The fire has devoured the pastures and trees. Wild animals cry to the
Lord because water has dried up. Then, in 2:1-11, Joel refers to a formal
community lament. He describes the invading locusts as an invading army. The
text seems to rely upon Isaiah 13. They are to blow the trumpet (shofar) in Zion
and sound the alarm. Trumpet blasts regularly accompany liturgical action
(e.g., Exodus 19:19; Leviticus 23:24; 2 Samuel 6:15, etc.) Sounding the trumpet
was used both for summoning the people to action (especially military action,
e.g., Joshua 6:5; Judges 3:27; 6:34; and 2 Samuel 2:28 and 18:16, where it
signals the end of the assault). Israel also used it for announcing information
of widespread significance. For example, I Samuel 13:3 Saul used a trumpet blast
to announce Jonathan's defeat of the Philistines at Geba. II Samuel 15:10 Absalom
used the trumpet blast to announce his kingship at Hebron. I Kings 1:34 shows a
similar use of the trumpet for announcing a legitimate king, Solomon. In this
context, sounding the trumpet was used to raise an alarm, and this is one of
the most common uses of the sound of the trumpet in prophetic literature (e.g.,
Jeremiah 4:19, 21; 6:1, etc.). As the prophet continues, the people are to
tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming and is near, a day of darkness (Amos
5:18), gloom, and clouds. Joel raises the alarm not for the usual reasons, such
as preparation for battle, but to announce the impending arrival of the
"day of the LORD," an important concept found only in the prophetic
writings of the Old Testament. The idea forms one of the central themes in
Joel, occurring here and at 1:15; 2:11, 31; and 3:14. Only the prophet
Zephaniah uses the image more frequently than Joel (six times: 1:7, 8, 14, 18; 2:2, 3). As the prophet
continues, a powerful army comes. No one from of old has seen anything like
this, nor will it be again in the future. Fire devours in front of them. Behind
them, a flame burns. Before them is a land like the Garden of Eden, but after
them is a desolate wilderness. Nothing escapes them. They have the appearance
of war-horses. As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the
mountains. A fire devours like a powerful army drawn up for battle. The people
are in anguish. The prophet is impressed with the discipline of the locusts.
Thus, like warriors, they charge. Each keeps to its course. They do not jostle
one another. They burst through the weapons. No one can halt them. They leap
upon the city and run upon the walls. They climb upon houses enter through the
windows like a thief. The earth quakes before the heaven and the heavens
tremble. The sun and moon darken. The stars do not shine. The voice of the Lord
is at the front of the numberless army. They obey the command of the Lord. The
day of the Lord is great and terrible, who can endure it? In fact, not even
Israel can endure it, for this day is bringing judgment upon Israel. Then, in
2:12-17 is the theme of true repentance. The people are to return to the Lord
with all their hearts, with fasting, weeping, and mourning, for they had turned
their backs on God. They are to rend their hearts and not their clothing, the
latter being only an external sign of repentance. They are to return to the
Lord, for the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in
steadfast love, relenting (repenting) from punishing. In fact, who knows
whether the Lord will not turn and relent (repent) and leave a blessing, a
grain and drink offering, for the Lord. Thus, repentance now will make worship
and praise possible in the future. They are to blow the trumpet (shofar) in
Zion and sanctify a fast, calling a solemn assembly and gather the people. This
time, the shofar summons people to the temple rather than warns them of
impending doom. They are to sanctify the congregation and assemble the aged,
children, and infants. The bridegroom is to leave his room and the bride her
canopy. Between the vestibule and the altar, the priests, ministers of the
Lord, are to weep, keeping a physical distance as a symbol of their separation
from God. The priests are to accept the role of interceding for the people,
asking the Lord to spare the people of God, not making these people a mockery
and byword. In fact, if the Lord does not respond, the nations will ask where
their God might be. The concern here is that they will not fulfill their
responsibility of being a light to the nations. 2:18-20 is the turning point of
the book, reversing 1:6-7. It promises spiritual and material blessing. The
alteration in the message of this prophet depends on a change in the mind of God.
The Lord has a unique claim in this people, and therefore, the Lord became
jealous for the land that belongs to the Lord, and had pity on the people who
belong to the Lord. In response to the people, the Lord sent grain, wine, and
oil, stressing the covenant relationship and the deeds that make it real. They
will not be a mockery among the nations. The Lord will remove the northern army
(could be a nation but it would fit locusts as well) far from them, its front
into the eastern sea and its rear into the western sea. Its stench will become
strong. Truly, the Lord has done great things. 2:21-27 is a call for a response
from those who benefit from the goodness of the Lord. Reversing the conditions
to which Joel refers in 1:6-7, 10-12, and 19-20, the soil is not to fear, but
be glad and rejoice, for the Lord has done great things. The animals are not to
fear, for the pastures are green. The trees and vines yield their fruit.
Children of Zion occurs only here, Lamentations 4:2, and Psalm 149:2, Zechariah
9:13, Zion being the ancient Jebusite stronghold that David captured that
symbolized the chosen quality of the city and the people. Joel, who has
described the disaster and calls for the people to repent, has also described
an announcement of divine pity and deliverance. In an appropriate response,
these children of Zion are to be glad and rejoice in the Lord their God, not
just for the blessings they shall receive, for the Lord has given early rain
(from the end of October to the first of December) to vindicate them as in the
past. The drought referred to earlier shall end. Threshing floors will be full
of grain and vats overflow with wine and oil. In the ancient world, the chief
duty of deity was to provide the natural resources on which an agricultural
society depended. Failure to do so meant the divine had rejected the people,
had punished the people, or had become weak. The Lord will repay them for the
years that the locust has eaten, thereby healing the effects of the locusts.
They had become a great army of the Lord, recognizing here that the Lord is the
source of evil, rather than some other malevolent force of which we read in
Genesis 3, I Chronicles 21:1, Job 1-2, Zechariah 3:1-12, Matthew 4, and
Revelation 12. Especially among those influence by the Deuteronomistic school,
as we learn in 11:26-28, 28:15, 45, misfortune is a sign of divine displeasure.
Job challenges this view, as does John 9. They shall eat in plenty and
experience satisfaction. They are to praise the name of the Lord, who has dealt
wondrously with them. The Lord will not allow “my people” to experience shame
again, referring to exile. They shall know that the Lord is in their midst,
that the Lord is their God and there is no other. The people of the Lord shall
never again be put to shame. The statement reminds us of Exodus 20:2, stressing
that restoration means meeting physical needs, genuine worship, and true
knowledge.
Joel 2:28-3:21 is a vision
of the outpoured Spirit of God. 2:28-32 stresses that God will make the next
period better than before. “Afterward,” the Lord will pour out the spirit of
the Lord on all flesh. The Spirit will flow without measure. This is
life-power. God will shower the Spirit upon all humanity, establishing a new
way of life. There will be a new awareness of God in immediacy. Thus, their
sons and daughters (think Deborah in Judges 4:4, Hulda in II Kings 22:14,
Noadiah in Nehemiah 6:14, the wife of Isaiah in Isaiah 8:3) shall prophesy. Old
men shall dream. Young men shall see visions. “In those days” the Lord will
pour out the Spirit of the Lord on slaves, reminding us that prophets among
slaves would be rarer than among women. Joel envisions a universal religious
revival unlike anything seen before in Judah, part of the apocalyptic end he is
describing. Such prophets were part of the religious establishment in ancient
Israel, even while they could challenge it. The vision, far from repudiating
prophets, envisions the divine spirit that gives rise to prophecy overflowing
to everyone. Pannenberg[2]
says Jewish hope expected the outpouring of the Spirit of God on the people of
God, as we see here. This entire final section is an anticipation of the final
consummation. The point of this outpouring of the Spirit is the imparting of
prophetic inspiration to all members of the covenant people. As the prophet
continues, he uses apocalyptic imagery, such as we also find in Ezekiel 32:7-8,
Amos 8:9, and Isaiah 13:8-10. The Lord will show portents in the heavens and earth, blood, fire, and
columns of smoke. The sun shall turn to darkness; the moon shall turn to blood.
All of this will happen before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.
Nature is part of the drama of salvation. At that time, focusing on Israel, the
Lord will save everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. In Mount Zion some
shall escape, among the survivors are those whom the Lord calls. 3:1-3 supports
the proclamation of salvation just given. “In those days and at that time” the
Lord will restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, suggesting the post-exilic
period. Judgment had been upon Israel, but that time is past, as they enter
into a new phase of blessing and peace. The Lord, being in charge, will gather
all the nations, bringing them to the valley of Jehoshaphat, a valley that will
become a courtroom, and enter into judgment with theme, because of the people
of the Lord, because the nations have scattered them among the nations,
referring to Assyria and Babylon. They have divided the land that belongs to
the Lord and cast lots for the people of the Lord, traded boys for prostitutes
and sold girls for wine. [3:4-8, for some scholars a later addition, has the
Lord asking Tyre (destroyed in 332), Sidon (destroyed in 343), and Philistia
(Gaza destroyed in 332) what they are to the Lord. Alexander the Great
(356-323) was active in the area. Are they paying the Lord back for something?
If they are, the Lord will turn their deeds back. The first charge is that they
have taken the silver and gold and have carried the rich treasures of the Lord
into their temples. The second charge is that they have sold the people of
Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their borders. The
Lord will arouse the people of God to leave these places and turn their deeds
back upon their heads. The Lord will sell the children of these nations into
the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans.] 3:9-14 is a summons to the nations. The
prophet returns to the theme of judgment. The nations may declare war on the
Lord and march on Zion, as we also read in Ezekiel 32, 38-39, Zechariah 12:3-4,
14:2, but there is the Valley of Decision where they will meet their judgment
and final defeat. The prophet proclaims that the nations are to prepare
(sanctify, war regarded as a sacred undertaking) for war. In a reversal of the
paradise described in Isaiah 2:4, 11:6, Joel urges them to beat their
plowshares into swords and pruning hooks into spears. The weakling is to say he
is warrior. Nations are to gather quickly and bring their warriors. The Lord will
bring angels, heavenly champions, to carry out judgment. The nations are to
rouse themselves to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for the Lord will sit to judge
all neighboring nations. The harvest is ripe. Tread, for the wine press is full
the vats overflow, for wickedness is great. Multitudes will be in the valley of
decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. 3:15-17
returns to the theme of the Day of the Lord. The sun, moon, and stars darken.
The Lord roars from Zion (Amos 1:2) and his voice comes from Jerusalem. The
heavens and earth shake. Yet, the Lord is a refuge and stronghold for the
people of the Lord. In this, they shall know that the Lord is their God, who
dwells in Zion, the holy mountain of the Lord. Jerusalem shall be holy, a
sanctuary inviolable, for them. Strangers shall never pass through it. [3:18-21
describes the glorious future of Israel in a way that suggests to some a later
addition. “In that day” the mountains shall offer sweet wine, hills shall flow
with milk, streams overflow with water, a fountain shall come from the house of
the Lord and Wadi Shittim. Egypt and Edom shall become a desolate wilderness,
because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they have
shed innocent blood. However, Judah shall be inhabited forever. The Lord will
avenge their blood, for the Lord not clear the guilty, for the Lord dwells in
Zion.]
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