Bible Overview: Joel

Author: Joel

Joel 1:1 ESV

1 The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:

Joel means “Yahweh is God”

Appears to be a literal name and not just a title, since he gives his father’s name, Pethuel.

There are several Joels mentioned in 1 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, but this Joel probably is not any one of them.

Date: Unknown

Until recently, many scholars placed this prophecy during the reign of the boy king Joash, who ruled under the guidance of the priest Jehoiada, which would put it around 830 B.C. Probably the main reason for this is Joel’s placement in the canon as the 2nd of the minor prophets. (But we’ve seen that the other ones are not all in chronological order either)

If Joel is one of the first prophets, his prophecy is quoted by several other prophets, including Isaiah, Amos, and Micah.

If Joel is one of the last prophets, it means he is quoting from or alluding to other prophets and acting as a summary of all the prophetic messages. (I think this is more likely)

More recent scholarship leans toward a later date:

Potentially around 600 B.C. if 2:1-11 is referring to the coming of the Babylonians

Potentially between Haggai / Zechariah and Malachi (515-490 B.C.)

Potentially as late as 400-350 B.C.

Evidence for a late date

References only Judah and Jerusalem, no mention of northern kingdom

No specific sins are mentioned (all other prophets who prophesied to Israel mentioned specific sins of the people); only a general call to repentance, concerned mainly with heart motives and not specific external actions

Priests and elders are mentioned, but no king is mentioned. This is most consistent with a time-frame after the exile (515-490 or 400-350 B.C.)

Temple services and sacrifices (grain offerings and drink offerings) were in place (so not DURING the exile)

Joel 3:2-3 seems to refer to the exile or scattering of Israel among the nations as a past event

The mention of the Greeks as recipients of Jewish slaves in 3:6 favors a later date

Joel mentions Sidon’s destruction in chapter 3 as still future, which means it was written before 345 B.C., when Sidon was destroyed.

My best guess: around 500 or 400 B.C. — one of the last, or perhaps the very last of the OT books written; if so, Joel is serving as a summary of all of the prophets’ messages — a warning of God’s coming judgment, a call to repentance, and promises of future blessings for those who trust in the Lord.

Audience: Judah, Jerusalem (Zion), elders (1:2), priests (1:13)

Theme: The Day of the LORD

“The Day of the LORD” seems to refer to events of the recent past (locust plague, exile), near future (another locust plague?/other political oppression), distant future (1st coming of Christ), and far distant future (2nd coming of Christ and other end-time events).

Summary

Lament over past and future judgment from God (1:1-2:17)

God’s response to the lament (2:18-3:21)

(2:28-32 are 3:1-5 in Hebrew Bible, and 3:1-21 are 4:1-21 in Hebrew Bible)

Key verses:

Joel 1:13–16 ESV

13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. 14 Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. 15 Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes. 16 Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Joel 2:1–3 ESV

1 Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. 3 Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.

Joel 2:12–14 ESV

12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. 14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?

Joel 2:17–18 ESV

17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ” 18 Then the Lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.

NT Fulfillment: Peter quotes Joel 2:28-32 in Acts 2, and he says in 2:16 that God was fulfilling the prophecy of Joel at Pentecost.

Joel 2:28–32 ESV

28 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Application:

God’s judgment is coming, and we must personally draw near to him and call others to do so as well, so that we may receive his mercy instead of judgment.

God is just and will judge evil, but he is also merciful and will forgive any who trust him and come to receive his mercy.