Introduction to Joel

Authorship and Date

Joel 1:1: “The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.”

His name “Joel” combines a shortened form of YHWH and “El,” and likely means “YHWH is God.”

Because it lacks historical references, this book is exceedingly difficult to date. Scholars are all over the map—from the ninth century to the second century BC. The evidence is inconclusive, but most scholars favor a post-exilic date, from the late sixth to the mid-fifth century BC.

This is supported by possible allusions to the exile and the conquest of Jerusalem as past events (3:2–3, 17).

The book seems to be a liturgical text used as a national lament during a natural or military disaster (1 Kings 8:37–40). This would explain why it has so few historical references.

“The less specific a liturgical text is, the wider the range of its applicability.” —Raymond Dillard

Outline

ESV Study Bible

1. The Judgment Against Judah and the Day of the LORD (1:1–2:17)

   1. Locust Invasion: Forerunner of the Day of the LORD (1:1–20)
   2. Army Invasion: The arrival of the Day of the LORD (2:1–17)

2. The Mercy of the LORD and Judgment Against the Nations (2:18–3:21)

   1. Mercy: The LORD responds by restoring his people (2:18–32)
   2. Judgment: The LORD’s judgment against the nations and his dwelling with his people (3:1–21)

Themes and Typology of Joel

The Locust Swarm

Chapter 1 describes an actual locust swarm as a prophetic forerunner of the Day of the LORD.

Chapter 2 is ambiguous. Either an actual army invasion is being pictured as if it were a locust swarm, or an actual locust swarm is being pictured as if it were an army invasion:

“The locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank.” —Proverbs 30:27

It is possible that there is deliberate ambiguity, which is fitting for a liturgical text designed to be usable in a variety of situations. In any event, the swarm or invasion is a picture of “the Day of the LORD.”

• There are thousands of species of grasshoppers. In 1921, Russian entomologist Boris Uvarov proved that locusts are not a distinct species of grasshopper but simply grasshoppers in a swarming mode.
• For a swarm to occur, the right moisture and temperature conditions must exist, causing a large hatch. The crowding, jostling, and physical contact of the nymphs then cause an increase in serotonin released in their nervous systems, producing changes in color, metabolism, and behavior.
• Locusts go through six phases in their life cycle, molting each time, from newly hatched, non-flying nymphs to full adults. See the different Hebrew words used in Joel 1:4 and 2:25.
• Swarms are nomadic. They eat all the vegetation in an area and then move on in search of more food.
• Swarms can travel long distances—hundreds of miles in a day.
• A swarm of Rocky Mountain locusts in 1875 is the largest ever observed and recorded. It covered approximately 198,000 square miles, an area larger than California, which covers approximately 163,000 square miles. The swarm contained trillions of insects.
• A single locust can eat the equivalent of its own weight in a day.
• Locust swarms can wipe out a small nation’s total crops and cause dire famine.

Key Themes

1. The Day of the LORD — five occurrences: 1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14
2. Repentance — 1:13–14; 2:12–13
3. The LORD in Their Midst — 2:27; 3:17, 21
4. The Promise of the Future Outpouring of the Spirit — 2:28–29

New Testament Quotations of Joel

Joel	New Testament
2:28–32	Acts 2:17–21—Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost
2:32	Acts 2:21; Rom 10:13—“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”

Compare those who “call on the name” of the Lord in Acts 9:14, 21; 22:16; and 1 Corinthians 1:2.

1. The Eschatological Context of Salvation

See the context of Joel, which concerns the Day of the LORD. We must flee from the wrath to come (Matt. 3:7).

In Joel’s context, the wrath associated with the Day of the LORD was a temporal judgment involving locusts. Salvation was deliverance from the locusts and the resulting famine. But these temporal realities are pictures of the ultimate wrath and the ultimate deliverance (1 Thess. 1:10).

If you were under attack from a locust swarm, you would call upon the Lord for deliverance. How much more should you call upon him for deliverance from the coming wrath of God?

2. The Final Revelation of the Identity of YHWH

In Joel 2:32, the people are to call on the name of YHWH. In Paul, they are to call on the name of the Kyrios—that is, the exalted Lord Jesus (Rom. 10:9).

Kyrios is the Greek translation of YHWH in the Septuagint. The identity of YHWH is now revealed in Jesus. Jesus is included within the identity of YHWH as YHWH’s exalted Son.

This is proof of the deity of Christ. See Philippians 2:9–10. God has bestowed upon his exalted Son the name “Lord.”

3. The Redefinition of the People of God

“All” includes Gentiles (Rom. 10:12; 11:26).

Just as the people of God in the Old Testament are defined as all those who call upon YHWH, so the people of God in the New Testament are defined as all those who call upon the Lord Jesus—those who confess that Jesus is Lord, whether Jew or Gentile.

4. The Characteristic Identity of Christians

The old covenant people of God were described as those who “call upon the name of the LORD”:

• Gen 4:26: “To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD” (ESV).
• Psalm 99:6: “Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called upon his name” (ESV).
• Psalm 105:1: “Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name” (ESV).
• Psalm 116:13, 17: “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD … I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD” (ESV).

Likewise, the new covenant people of God are “those who call upon the name of the Lord”:

• Acts 9:14, 21: “And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name … Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name?” (ESV).
• 1 Cor 1:2: “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours” (ESV).
• 2 Tim 2:22: “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (ESV).

Faith is not a one-time act but the characteristic identity of Christians.

It is not merely a matter of believing in your heart, but of believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth (Rom. 10:9–10). The inner and the outer belong together.