CIRCUMSTANCES OF WRITING

AUTHOR: Joel (“Yahweh is God”) is identified as the son of Pethuel. He is not easily identified with the other Joels of Scripture (1Sm 8:2; 1Ch 4:35; 6:33; 11:38; 15:7; Ezr 10:43; Neh 11:9), leaving us only to know him by his book, his calling from God, and his work. The book itself gives no biographical information other than his father’s name.

BACKGROUND: Dating the book of Joel has always been difficult and mainly conjectural, with suggestions ranging as widely as premonarchial Israel to the postexilic period, sometimes well into the Hellenistic period.

MESSAGE AND PURPOSE

What is striking about the book of Joel is that it has no indictment section listing the offenses of the people. The only clue as to what sins called forth the prophet’s message is found in the instruction of 2:12-13 to repent, that is, to “turn to me with all your heart” and “tear your hearts, not just your clothes.” All the other prophets (except Jonah, who does not use the prophetic genre) have at least some explicit indication of what behavior needed to be changed. Joel was concerned mainly with motivation, with messages of judgment and hope.

There are many exhortations in the book, but they are almost all formal rather than ethical or moral. Joel calls readers to hear (1:2-3), to war (2:1; 3:9-13), to lament (1:5,8,11,13-14; 2:15-16; though some interpreters understand these as indirect calls for repentance), and to celebrate (2:21-23). The only true instruction message in Joel occurs in 2:12-13, the call to repent.

Joel’s message was concerned primarily with motivating repentance by proclaiming the day of the Lord, which is “at the same time one event and many events” and “refers to a decisive action of Yahweh to bring his plans for Israel to completion” (Duane A. Garrett). The locust plague is understood as judgment from God and a harbinger of the day of the Lord (1:2-20, esp. v. 15). Then Joel announced that a worse judgment was coming through a human army (2:1-11). This is also called the day of the Lord (2:1,11).

Joel insisted that the only hope for God’s people was through repentance (2:12-17). He assured Judah that repentance would be rewarded with physical (2:18-27) and spiritual (2:28-32) restoration associated with the day of the Lord (2:31). He concluded by promising a day of the Lord that would bring judgment against the nations opposing Yahweh and his people (3:14).

LOCUSTS: The book of Joel contains four specific words translated as “locusts” in English. In both 1:4 and 2:25 “locust” is modified by four different adjectives: “devouring,” “swarming,” “young,” and “destroying.”

Interpreters have long asked what relationship exists between the locusts and the army that is mentioned later in Joel. Are they distinct from each other? Is one a metaphor for the other? Or are they two aspects of God’s judgment against Israel and the nations? Are the locusts actual, metaphorical, or typological?

It is important to note that both the army of invading locusts and the foreign army came as judgments of God. Also, locusts can be described as an invading army, and an army of men could aptly be called a plague of destructive locusts.

THE DAY OF THE LORD: The phrase “day of the Lord” figures prominently in the book of Joel. This describes the judgment day of God. That judgment could be directed both against the nation of Israel and against the “nations”; (see Is 13:6,9; Ezk 13:5; Jl 1:15; 2:1,11; 4:14; Am 5:18,20; Ob 15; Zph 1:7,14; Mal 3:2). The concept itself may also be found in Jr 46:10 and several other passages.

The “day of the Lord” has several adjectives attached to it: “darkness and not light” (Am 5:18,20), “great and terrible” (Mal 4:5), “great and glorious” (Ac 2:20). Associated with it are cosmic calamities; the sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood (Ac 2:20; Rv 6:12).

Extended descriptions of the day of the Lord are found in Isaiah 13; 34; Ezekiel 7; and Joel 2. In Ezekiel 7 we find that the Lord will send his anger against the land of Israel and judge it according to its ways. He will punish it for all its abominations. Disasters are coming, one after another. The judgment theme is prominent in Joel, as is the idea that the day is near when God will make himself known through his judgments. In a move that shocked the Hebrews, God brought the most evil of nations to take possession of Judah and Israel.

CONTRIBUTION TO THE BIBLE

The book of Joel shows us the Creator and Redeemer God of all the universe in complete control of nature. Joel made clear that the God of judgment also is a God of mercy who stands ready to redeem and restore when his people come before him in repentance. Joel points to a time when the Spirit of God would be present upon all people. On the day of Pentecost, Peter proclaimed that the new day of Spirit-filled discipleship, foretold by Joel, had arrived (Ac 2:17-21).

STRUCTURE

Joel’s use of repetition gives the book the appearance of a series of folding doors, in some cases doors within doors. As Garrett has shown, the overall structure balances the section on God’s judgment through the locust plague (1:1-20) with a section on the land’s physical restoration (2:21-27). The prophecy of an invading army (2:1-11) is balanced by a prophecy on the destruction of this army (2:20). In the center is the highly prominent call to repent and the promise of renewal (2:12-19). But this balanced structure overlaps with another. The prophecy of the destruction of the invading army (2:20) is also balanced with the final prophecy of the Lord’s vengeance against all the nations (3:1-21). Finally, the assurance of the land’s physical restoration through rain (2:21-27) is balanced by the promise of the people’s spiritual restoration through the outpouring of God’s Spirit (2:28-32).

OUTLINE

I.The Locust Plague (1:1-20)

II.An Invading Northern Army (2:1-11)

III.Repentance and Renewal (2:12-19)

IV.Northern Army Destroyed (2:20)

V.Physical Restoration of the Land (2:21-27)

VI.Spiritual Revival of the People (2:28-32)

VII.Vengeance on the Nations (3:1-21)

750-700 BC

Alliance between Syria and Israel collapses with the fall of Damascus (732) and the fall of Samaria (722).

Joel’s prophecy likely occurred between 722 and 605 or after the Babylonian exile. (See events under 450 for possible later date.)

Greeks establish trading posts in Philistine territory along the Mediterranean coast. 700

700-600 BC

Philistines and Phoenicians sell the people of Judah and Jerusalem as slaves to the Greeks (3:6). 700

God delivers Jerusalem from the Assyrian forces. 701

Ashurbanipal (668-631) rules over a declining Assyrian Empire that experiences revolts in 642, contributing to the assassination of Amon of Judah (641) and the rise of his son Josiah. 641-609

Josiah killed by the Egyptians at Megiddo 609

Babylonians defeat Pharaoh Neco of Egypt at Carchemish. 605

600-450 BC

Second temple construction begins under Zerubbabel’s and Joshua’s leadership. 536

Haggai and Zechariah encourage the people to finish rebuilding the temple. 520-518

Second temple is dedicated. 515

Events in Esther 486-465

Greek victory over Persians in Battle of Salamis, 480, and Plain of Plataea, 479, thwarted Persian expansion into Europe and were keys to Greek hegemony in the Mediterranean Basin and Europe.

Ezra goes to Jerusalem. 458

450-400 BC

Joel’s prophecy occurred sometime after 445 when Jerusalem’s walls had been rebuilt. (See events under 750 for a different view of when Joel prophesied.)

Events in Nehemiah 445-430

Nehemiah’s ministry 445-420?

Nehemiah in Jerusalem 445-432

Jerusalem’s walls rebuilt 445

The Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens 431-404