Joel

There are no explicit references in the book to datable persons or events, and scholars have assigned a wide range of dates to the book. As outlined by Leslie C Allen (The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah, 1976), the main positions are

·         ninth century BC, particularly in the reign of Joash – a position especially popular among nineteenth-century scholars (making Joel one of the earliest writing prophets)

·         c.630–587 BC, in the last decades of the kingdom of Judah (contemporary with Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Habakkuk)

·         c.520–500 BC, contemporary with the return of the exiles and the careers of Zechariah and Haggai.

·         the decades around 400 BC, during the Persian period (making him one of the latest writing prophets)

Evidence produced for these positions are allusions in the book to the wider world, similarities with other prophets, and linguistic details. Other commentators, such as John Calvin, attach no great importance to the precise dating.

1

A plague of locusts upon Judah: what the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; and what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten. Weep, drunkards, for the nation of locusts has laid waste the vine. All has withered, and Judah must lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. There can be no grain or drink offering now. Repent with wailing, sackcloth and a fast. The brroks have dried up, and the animals suffer in the drought.



2

The day of the Lord is coming – a day of darkness and gloominess, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A fiery, destroying nation comes – before them is like the Garden of Eden, behind them a desolate wilderness. The army are disciplined; the earth quakes before them. The Lord gives voice before His army. Command to gather the people in repentance. Rent hearts are better than rent garments. The Lord is gracious and merciful, and slow to anger. The Lord will be zealous for His land, and pity His people, removing the northern army to a barren and desolate land. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied. The Lord will pour out His Spirit on all flesh – many shall prophesy and see visions. Blood and fire and pillars of smoke will be seen; the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the Lord. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. In Jerusalem there shall be the deliverance of the remnant.


3

All nations, who have scattered and cast lots for the Lord’s people, will be gathered in the Valley of Jehoshaphat and judged. (There is no such place, but ‘Jehoshaphat’ means ‘the Lord judges’.) God warns the nations that He will retaliate against those (Tyre, Sidon, Philistia) who have mistreated His people, and looted His gold and silver. The nations must prepare for war, beating their plowshares into swords and their pruning hooks into spears (in a reversal of the imagery of Isaiah 2). The winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. The day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon will grow dark, the Lord shall roar, but protect his people. ‘I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion My holy mountain.’ Egypt and Edom shall be a desolation, but Judah will be fertile and rich, flowing with wine, milk and water. Judah shall abide forever, and those guilty of bloodshed will be acquitted; for the Lord dwells in Zion.