Joel 1 Study Notes
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1:1 Nothing more is known of this man Joel.
1:2-3 Joel addressed both the elders and the inhabitants of the land with a question designed to arrest their attention. A unique locust plague had come to the land. It was so unusual that it served as a warning of two future events: a coming war and the day of the Lord.
1:4 The use of four different Hebrew words for “locusts” in this verse emphasizes the totality of their destruction.
1:5 Joel addressed a third group—the drunkards. Their wine-induced stupor kept them from realizing what was happening around them. Now out of wine, they sobered up and faced the devastation.
1:6-7 Grapevines and figs were two of the principle crops of the land. They were damaged during wars or plague, impacting the food supply and the economy.
1:8 The proper response to this catastrophe was grief, symbolized by donning sackcloth, a rough, uncomfortable fabric that chafed and irritated the skin.
1:9 The priests lamented the fact that offerings were cut off not just because the temple would lack its sacrifices, but also because they would lack the food portion they took from these offerings. Empty altars also meant empty stomachs.
’arbeh
| Hebrew pronunciation | [ar BEH] |
| CSB translation | locust |
| Uses in Joel | 3 |
| Uses in the OT | 24 |
| Focus passage | Joel 1:4 |
’Arbeh is the common term for locust, used of Moses’s plague against Egypt (Ex 10:4). It is the mature swarming locust (Nah 3:15). Human armies are compared to the ’arbeh (Jdg 7:12). ’Arbeh stands in figures about people shaken off like locusts (Ps 109:23) or horses leaping like them (Jb 39:20). Joel 1:4 mentions either varieties of locust or stages of locust life. Chasiyl (6x) may indicate the caterpillar stage (Ps 78:46). It is also translated locust (Is 33:4) and grasshopper (2Ch 6:28). Yeleq (9x) is young locust (Jl 2:25) or locust (Jr 51:14). These could hop but not yet fly. Gazam (3x) is the devouring locust (Jl 1:4) or locust (Am 4:9); this was a particularly destructive stage. Gobai (2x) means swarm of locusts (Am 7:1). Gob (Nah 3:17), translated cloud, seems a synonym. Sol‘am may indicate katydid, and chargol suggests cricket (Lv 11:22).
1:10-12 The farm workers were to mourn and wail because the agricultural economy had been ruined. The crops that sustained both humans and animals were gone. Even the fruit trees were destroyed. Starvation was imminent.
1:13-14 The priests were to take the lead in mourning rituals by dressing in sackcloth and spending the night at the temple. The whole assembly was to gather together and cry out to the Lord, an expression of their corporate guilt before God.
1:15-20 The people gathered at the temple for a communal lament. These verses give the content of their prayer. The major theme of the book is the day of the Lord, and the people were terrified as they considered that coming day. It would be a time when the Lord punished sin and judged the nations. The people knew they were sinners. They were out of food and could not offer fellowship offerings to commune with God. The storehouses for grain were empty. The plague appears to be compounded with a drought and perhaps with a fire, so the pastures were ruined. Even sheep and goats that could survive in barren lands were suffering. The speaker in v. 19 expressed the community’s complaint and petition for mercy. The animals, domestic and wild, also joined in crying out to the Lord, who controlled the elements. Without water, death would soon come to man and beast.