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 his book to know him, his calling from God, and his work. The book itself gives no biographical information other than his father’s name.
Dating the book of Joel has always been difficult and mainly conjecture, with suggestions ranging as widely as premonarchial Israel to the postexilic period, sometimes well into the Hellenistic period.
The book of Joel shows us the Creator and Redeemer God of all the universe in complete control of nature. Joel made it 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).
Joel’s use of repetition gives the book the appearance of a series of folding doors, in some cases doors within doors. 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).
Who can make the all-devouring locust restore his prey? No one, by wisdom or power, can recover what has been utterly destroyed. God alone can do for you what seems impossible. And here is the promise of his grace: “I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust ate.” By giving to his repentant people larger harvests than the land could naturally yield, God could give back to them, as it were, all they would have had if the locusts had never come. And God can restore our lives that have up to now been blighted and eaten up with the locust and sin, by giving us divine grace in the present and in the future. He can yet make it complete and blessed and useful to his praise and glory. It is a great wonder, but Jehovah is a God of wonders; and in the kingdom of his grace, miracles are common.
1The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel:
2Hear this, you elders;
listen, all you inhabitants of the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?
3Tell your children about it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children the next generation.
4What the devouring locust has left,
the swarming locust has eaten;
what the swarming locust has left,
the young locust has eaten;
and what the young locust has left,
the destroying locust has eaten.
5Wake up, you drunkards, and weep;
wail, all you wine drinkers,
because of the sweet wine,
for it has been taken from your mouth.
6For a nation has invaded my land,
powerful and without number;
its teeth are the teeth of a lion,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7It has devastated my grapevine
and splintered my fig tree.
It has stripped off its bark and thrown it away;
its branches have turned white.
8Grieve like a young woman dressed in sackcloth,
mourning for the husband of her youth.
9Grain and drink offerings have been cut off
from the house of the LORD;
the priests, who are ministers of the LORD, mourn.
10The fields are destroyed;
the land grieves;
indeed, the grain is destroyed;
the new wine is dried up;
and the fresh oil fails.
11Be ashamed, you farmers,
wail, you vinedressers, A
over the wheat and the barley,
because the harvest of the field has perished.
12The grapevine is dried up,
and the fig tree is withered;
the pomegranate, the date palm, and the apple —
all the trees of the orchard — have withered.
Indeed, human joy has dried up.
13Dress in sackcloth and lament, you priests;
wail, you ministers of the altar.
Come and spend the night in sackcloth,
you ministers of my God,
because grain and drink offerings
are withheld from the house of your God.
14Announce a sacred fast;
proclaim an assembly!
Gather the elders
and all the residents of the land
at the house of the LORD your God,
and cry out to the LORD.
15Woe because of that day!
For the day of the LORD is near
and will come as devastation from the Almighty.
16Hasn’t the food been cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17The seeds lie shriveled in their casings. B
The storehouses are in ruin,
and the granaries are broken down,
because the grain has
withered away.
18How the animals groan!
The herds of cattle wander in confusion
since they have no pasture.
Even the flocks of sheep and goats suffer punishment.
19I call to you, LORD,
for fire has consumed
the pastures of the wilderness,
and flames have devoured
all the trees of the orchard.
20Even the wild animals cry out to A you,
for the river beds are dried up,
and fire has consumed
the pastures of the wilderness.
2Blow the horn in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the residents of the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming;
in fact, it is near —
2a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and total darkness,
like the dawn spreading over the mountains;
a great and strong people appears,
such as never existed in ages past
and never will again
in all the generations to come.
3A fire devours in front of them,
and behind them a flame blazes.
The land in front of them
is like the garden of Eden,
but behind them,
it is like a desert wasteland;
there is no escape from them.
4Their appearance is like that of horses,
and they gallop like war horses.
5They bound on the tops of the mountains.
Their sound is like the sound of chariots,
like the sound of fiery flames consuming stubble,
like a mighty army deployed for war.
6Nations writhe in horror before them;
all faces turn pale.
7They attack as warriors attack;
they scale walls as men of war do.
Each goes on his own path,
and they do not change their course.
8They do not push each other;
each proceeds on his own path.
They dodge the arrows, never stopping.
9They storm the city;
they run on the wall;
they climb into the houses;
they enter through the windows like thieves.
10The earth quakes before them;
the sky shakes.
The sun and moon grow dark,
and the stars cease their shining.
11The LORD makes his voice heard
in the presence of his army.
His camp is very large;
those who carry out his command are powerful.
Indeed, the day of the LORD is terrible and dreadful —
who can endure it?
12Even now —
this is the LORD’s declaration —
turn to me with all your heart,
with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
13Tear your hearts,
not just your clothes,
and return to the LORD your God.
For he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger, abounding in faithful love,
and he relents from sending disaster.
14Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave a blessing behind him,
so you can offer grain and wine
15Blow the horn in Zion!
Announce a sacred fast;
proclaim an assembly.
16Gather the people;
sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged; A
gather the infants,
even babies nursing at the breast.
Let the groom leave his bedroom,
and the bride her honeymoon chamber.
17Let the priests, the LORD’s ministers,
weep between the portico and the altar.
Let them say:
“Have pity on your people, LORD,
and do not make your inheritance a disgrace,
an object of scorn among the nations.
Why should it be said among the peoples,
‘Where is their God? ’ ”
18 Then the LORD became jealous for his land and spared his people. 19 The LORD answered his people:
Look, I am about to send you
grain, new wine, and fresh oil.
You will be satiated with them,
and I will no longer make you
a disgrace among the nations.
20I will drive the northerner far from you
and banish him to a dry and desolate land,
his front ranks into the Dead Sea,
and his rear guard into the Mediterranean Sea.
His stench will rise;
yes, his rotten smell will rise,
for he has done astonishing things.
21Don’t be afraid, land;
rejoice and be glad,
for the LORD has done astonishing things.
22Don’t be afraid, wild animals,
for the wilderness pastures have turned green,
the trees bear their fruit,
and the fig tree and grapevine yield their riches.
23Children of Zion, rejoice and be glad
in the LORD your God,
because he gives you the autumn rain
for your vindication. B
He sends showers for you,
both autumn and spring rain as before.
24The threshing floors will be full of grain,
and the vats will overflow
with new wine and fresh oil.
25I will repay you for the years
that the swarming locust ate,
the young locust, the destroying locust,
and the devouring locust —
my great army that I sent against you.
QUOTE 2:25
We cannot have back our time. But in a strange and wonderful way, God can give back to us the wasted blessings, the unripe fruits of years where we mourned.
QUOTE 2:25
It is a great wonder, but Jehovah is a God of wonders; and in the kingdom of his grace, miracles are common.
26You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied.
You will praise the name of the LORD your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
My people will never again be put to shame.
QUOTE 2:26
He dealt with them by way of wonders when he struck them and by way of wonders when he returned to them in his mercy.
27You will know that I am present in Israel
and that I am the LORD your God,
and there is no other.
My people will never again be put to shame.
28After this
I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity;
then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
your old men will have dreams,
and your young men
will see visions.
29I will even pour out my Spirit
on the male and female slaves in those days.
30I will display wonders
in the heavens and on the earth:
blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
31The sun will be turned
to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.
on the name of the LORD will be saved,
for there will be an escape
for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
as the LORD promised,
among the survivors the LORD calls.
2:25 “I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust ate, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust—my great army that I sent against you.” The locust year was particularly a year of great disappointment. The people looked for a harvest. In fact, they seemed to see it spring up, and then it was devoured before their eyes. Even so, the ungodly person—the one who has no faith in Christ—is often charmed with the prospect of a happiness that he never reaches. A little more and he will be content. He gets a little more. And this increases his thirst for yet another drink from the golden cup. Run as we may, when the heart shoots with its far-reaching bow, still the arrows are beyond us. The student must know a little more. The ambitious must climb a little higher up the ladder of honor, and then he will be at ease. He learns, he reaches the honor, but the ease is still as distant as ever—perhaps it is even further off.
Lost years can never be restored literally. Time once past is gone forever. Let no one make any mistake about this or trifle with the present moment under any notion that the flying hour will ever wing its way back to him.
So the meaning of the restoration of the years must be the restoration of those fruits and of those harvests the locusts consumed. We cannot have back our time. But in a strange and wonderful way, God can give back to us the wasted blessings, the unripe fruits of years where we mourned. It is a pity that they should have been eaten by our folly and negligence. But if they have been so, we should not be hopeless concerning them. Jesus said to the man with the demon-possessed son, “‘If you can’? Everything is possible for the one who believes” (Mk 9:23). There is a power that is beyond all things and can work great marvels.
Who can make the all-devouring locust restore his prey? No one, by wisdom or power, can recover what has been utterly destroyed. God alone can do for you what seems impossible. And here is the promise of his grace: “I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust ate.” By giving to his repentant people larger harvests than the land could naturally yield, God could give back to them, as it were, all they would have had if the locusts had never come. And God can restore our lives that have up to now been blighted and eaten up with the locust and sin, by giving us divine grace in the present and in the future. He can yet make it complete and blessed and useful to his praise and glory. It is a great wonder, but Jehovah is a God of wonders; and in the kingdom of his grace, miracles are common.
2:26 “You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied. You will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. My people will never again be put to shame.” The nation of Israel had grievously gone astray, and therefore they were visited by a remarkable chastisement. An unusual plague of locusts devoured all the fruit of the field, and the people were vexed with a severe famine. The day of the Lord was terrible, and none of them could endure it. The prophet Joel was commissioned to exhort them to repentance; and if, indeed, they listened to his earnest entreaties, their later history was bright with mercy. By God’s good hand on them, they were brought to repentance; they wept and cried to God. And then the same God, who with his left hand had been wonderful in chastisement, was, with his right hand, equally wonderful in blessing and enriching them. He loaded their floors with wheat, made their baskets overflow with wine and oil, and restored to them the years the locust had eaten so that they ate in plenty and were satisfied and praised the name of the Lord, who had dealt wondrously with them. He dealt with them by way of wonders when he struck them and by way of wonders when he returned to them in his mercy.
2:32 “Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved, for there will be an escape for those on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the LORD promised, among the survivors the LORD calls.” In the worst times that can ever happen, there is still salvation for people. When day turns to night and life becomes death, when the staff of life is broken and the hope of all has fled, there still remains in God, in the person of his dear Son, deliverance to all those who will call on the name of the Lord.
We must call on the true God, not on an idol or an image or an impression of our minds. We must call on the living God—call on him who reveals himself in the Bible—call on him who reveals himself in the person of his dear Son. For whosoever will call on this God will be saved.
This way of salvation—calling on the name of the Lord—glorifies God. He asks nothing of us but that we ask everything of him. We are the beggars and he is the benefactor. We are in trouble and he is our deliverer. All we have to do is trust him and beg of him. This is easy enough. This puts the matter into the hands of the Lord and takes it out of our hands.
3Yes, in those days and at that time,
when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
2I will gather all the nations
and take them to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. A
I will enter into judgment with them there
because of my people, my inheritance Israel.
The nations have scattered the Israelites
in foreign countries
and divided up my land.
3They cast lots for my people;
they bartered a boy for a prostitute
and sold a girl for wine to drink.
4 And also: Tyre, Sidon, and all the territories of Philistia — what are you to me? Are you paying me back or trying to get even with me? I will quickly bring retribution on your heads. 5 For you took my silver and gold and carried my finest treasures to your temples. 6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks to remove them far from their own territory. 7 Look, I am about to rouse them up from the place where you sold them; I will bring retribution on your heads. 8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, B to a distant nation, for the LORD has spoken.
9Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for holy war;
rouse the warriors;
let all the men of war advance and attack!
10Beat your plows into swords
and your pruning knives into spears.
Let even the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”
11Come quickly, C all you surrounding nations;
gather yourselves.
Bring down your warriors there, LORD.
12Let the nations be roused
and come to the Valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit down
to judge all the surrounding nations.
13Swing the sickle
because the harvest is ripe.
Come and trample the grapes
because the winepress is full;
the wine vats overflow
because the wickedness of the nations is extreme.
14Multitudes, multitudes
in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near
in the valley of decision.
15The sun and moon will grow dark,
and the stars will cease their shining.
16The LORD will roar from Zion
and make his voice heard from Jerusalem;
heaven and earth will shake.
But the LORD will be a refuge for his people,
a stronghold for the Israelites.
17Then you will know
that I am the LORD your God,
who dwells in Zion, my holy mountain.
Jerusalem will be holy,
and foreigners will never overrun it again.
18In that day
the mountains will drip with sweet wine,
and the hills will flow
with milk.
All the streams of Judah will flow with water,
and a spring will issue from the LORD’s house,
watering the Valley of Acacias. A
19Egypt will become desolate,
and Edom a desert wasteland,
because of the violence done to the people of Judah
in whose land they shed innocent blood.
20But Judah will be
inhabited forever,
and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21I will pardon their bloodguilt, B
which I have not pardoned,
for the LORD dwells in Zion.
3:21 “I will pardon their bloodguilt, which I have not pardoned, for the LORD dwells in Zion.” A great truth of God lies at the foundation of the gospel system, that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s dear Son, cleanses us from all sin. When someone is washed in the sacred laver that is filled with the blood of the atonement, he is not partially cleansed; he is thoroughly cleansed.