Joel

Joel writes about the Day of the Lord, a dramatic intervention by God in human history that brings both catastrophic judgment upon sin and ultimate salvation for those who return to God.

God had promised His people that if they diligently obeyed, He would bless them agriculturally; but if they violated their covenant with Him, their farms would fail¹. God’s people alternated between times of faithfulness and times of apostasy.

In Joel’s day, a time of great sin led to repeating plagues of locusts, which destroyed their crops, leaving them hungry and destitute.

The Unprecedented Plague

Joel starts his account of current conditions by pointing out that it is worse than anything they could remember.

Hear this, you elders,
And listen, all inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this happened in your days,
Or in your fathers’ days?
Tell your sons about it,
And have your sons tell their sons,
And their sons the next generation.

– Joel 1:2-3

What was this unprecedented problem? Wave after wave of locusts, destroying one crop after another.

What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten;
And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten;
And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.

– Joel 1:4

This was as awful as if foreign invaders had destroyed their land.

For a nation has invaded my land,
Mighty and without number;
Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
And it has the jaws of a lioness.
It has made my vine a waste
And my fig tree a stump.
It has stripped them bare and hurled them away;
Their branches have become white.

– Joel 1:6-7

In a land that depended upon agriculture for its survival, this was an existential threat:

The field is ruined,
The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine has dried up,
Fresh oil has failed.
Be ashamed, you farm workers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

– Joel 1:10-11

The plague deeply affected farm animals; the people of Judah were excellent shepherds.

How the animals have groaned!
The herds of cattle have wandered aimlessly
Because there is no pasture for them;
Even the flocks of sheep have suffered.

– Joel 1:18

Each wave of locusts brought fresh desolation.

A fire consumes before them,
And behind them a flame devours.
The land is like the Garden of Eden before them,
But a desolate wilderness behind them,
And nothing at all escapes them.

– Joel 2:3

The noise of the approaching locusts alarms those who hear them coming.

With a noise as of chariots
They leap about on the tops of the mountains,
Like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble,
Like a mighty people drawn up for battle.
Before them the people are in anguish;
All faces turn pale.

– Joel 2:5-6

The Reason for the Plague

The loss of crops was no accident, no random occurrence. There was a reason for it. God brought this plague in response to the sins of His people. The “day of the Lord” refers to a time when God punishes His people’s sins.

The Lord utters His voice before His army;
His camp is indeed very great,
For mighty is one who carries out His word.
The day of the Lord is indeed great and very awesome,
And who can endure it?

– Joel 2:11

God’s punishment comes with an invitation to repentance.

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“Return to Me with all your heart,
And with fasting, weeping, and mourning;
And tear your heart and not merely your garments.”
Now return to the Lord your God,
For He is gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger, abounding in mercy
And relenting of catastrophe.

– Joel 2:12-13

If you do,

Then the Lord will be zealous for His land,
And will have compassion for His people.
The Lord will answer and say to His people,
“Behold, I am going to send you grain, new wine, and oil,
And you will be satisfied in full with them;
And I will never again make you a disgrace among the nations.

– Joel 2:18-19

Years of crops had been lost, years of hunger and desperation. But God knows how to give those years back.

“Then I will compensate you for the years
That the swarming locust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust—
My great army which I sent among you.
You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied,
And you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
Who has dealt wondrously with you;
Then My people will never be put to shame.

– Joel 2:25-26

Are there years you have lost to sin? God knows how to give them back to you.

Prophecies for Later

Up till now, Joel has been talking about his own time. Now he shifts to the future. He looks forward to a time when

“It will come about after this
That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;
And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
Your old men will have dreams,
Your young men will see visions² …
And it will come about that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
Will be saved³”

– Joel 2:28, 32a

Joel continues to a time when God will restore His people to their homeland:

“For behold, in those days and at that time,
When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem…”

– Joel 3:1

In order to do that, He will need to judge the nations who have oppressed them:

“I will gather all the nations
And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
Then I will enter into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
And they have divided up My land.”

– Joel 3:2

After expanding on their offenses, Joel talks about how the judgment will proceed.

Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
Come, tread the grapes, for the wine press is full⁴;
The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
The sun and moon have become dark,
And the stars have lost their brightness.
The Lord roars from Zion
And utters His voice from Jerusalem,
And the heavens and the earth quake.

– Joel 3:13-16a

But for those who trust God, the judgment will bring relief.

But the Lord is a refuge for His people,
And a stronghold for the sons of Israel.
Then you will know that I am the Lord your God,
Dwelling on Zion, My holy mountain.
So Jerusalem will be holy,
And strangers will no longer pass through it.

– Joel 3:16b-17

And the relief will not be merely a reprieve, but permanent.

But Judah will be inhabited forever,
And Jerusalem for all generations.

– Joel 3:20

Epilogue

In Joel’s day, persistent sin had brought severe judgment and suffering. God, through Joel, invites His people to repent. If they do, God promises the judgment will end, and His people’s fortune will be restored.

And those who repent will be included in God’s permanent home, a place where plagues and invaders cannot enter.