Ronald A. Simkins
Nothing is known about the prophet Joel or his father Pethuel, and little is known about the historical context of the book that bears his name. On this all scholars agree; on other interpretive issues regarding the book of Joel, there is little unanimity. The date of the book has been assigned to a range from as early as the ninth century BCE to as late as the Maccabean period for its final compilation. A fifth-century-BCE date, putting it in the mid-Persian period, has attracted many scholars due to the vocabulary and expressions that Joel shares with other late books, such as its emphasis on the role of the temple and cult, and the scribal activity evident from Joel’s citation of other biblical texts and references to biblical ideas.
The composition and structure of the book of Joel are also unsettled, though the dividing lines are much clearer. Following Bernhard Duhm, most scholars before the middle of the twentieth century argued that the book was composed in two distinct parts or with multiple layers: 1:1–2:27 represent the oracles of the prophet Joel in response to a past and present catastrophe, and 2:28–3:21 are later apocalyptic oracles addressing a future eschatological hope. The day of the LORD passages in the first part of the book were also interpreted by some as later editorial additions to connect the two parts of the book. Most recent commentators, however, have argued for the unity of the book, noting the symmetry between the two parts (e.g., Wolff), or emphasizing repetition and development of themes, such as the day of the LORD, between the two parts (e.g., Simkins). John Barton continues to support Duhm’s division of the book. Regardless of how the composition of the book is understood, the two parts of the book demonstrate a shift in tense and tone. Joel 1:1–2:17 is written in the past and present tenses and is descriptive and prophetic in tone. Beginning in 2:18, the book shifts to the future tense, and by 2:28 the tone becomes eschatological.
The book has an anthological character, with the prophet drawing on numerous prophetic themes. Moreover, the prophet cites many other prophetic texts or traditions, suggesting that Joel was perhaps a learned scribe and an interpreter of the prophetic tradition (see Crenshaw, 26–28, 35–39).
The book of Joel appears to have been occasioned by an unprecedented catastrophe, which is described in 1:1–2:11, and the meaning of the book is shaped by the interpretation of the nature of the catastrophe, the role of the cult in response to the catastrophe, and the relationship of the catastrophe to the proclamation of the day of the LORD.
Joel 1:1–20: Locust Plague and Lamentation
THE TEXT IN ITS ANCIENT CONTEXT
The book of Joel begins with the proclamation of an unprecedented catastrophe: locusts have devoured everything in the land (1:2–4). How this locust plague differs from previous plagues is not stated; the text only emphasizes the locusts’ voracious appetite. The four terms for locusts in verse 4 have often been interpreted as denoting developmental stages of the common desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria)—though only three distinct stages of the locust’s metamorphosis are apparent to the casual observer—but the terms elsewhere are used interchangeably. Here the terms are used rhetorically to emphasize the complete destruction caused by the locusts.
Scholars debate the nature of the catastrophe. The references to locusts and their destruction may describe a literal plague, or they may be interpreted metaphorically, referring to an invading enemy army. A few passages (1:12, 19–20) elicit images of drought, which is generally incompatible with locust infestations. Although multiple interpretations are possible, it is unlikely that the locusts are metaphors for an invading army when they are compared to an invading nation (1:6) or an army (2:6–9). The drought imagery may refer to the normal dry conditions of summer, whose effects are intensified by the locusts’ devastation, or it may be stock poetic imagery used to emphasize the totality of the natural catastrophe.
The remainder of chapter 1 can be divided into a call to lamentation (vv. 5–14) delivered by the prophet to the people, and the lament (vv. 15–20) that the people should cry to God. The call to lamentation can be divided into four strophes (vv. 5–7, 8–10, 11–12, and 13–14), each beginning with an imperative call (v. 5: “wake up,” “wail”), followed by a vocative designating those addressed (v. 5: “drunkards,” “wine-drinkers”), and then a substantiation clause giving the reason for lamentation (v. 5: “for [the sweet wine] is cut off from your mouth”). The first three strophes then continue with additional lines describing the devastation, but the final strophe concludes with a series of imperatives directed to the temple priests.
The first strophe (vv. 5–7), which begins by calling for drunkards to awake, perhaps suggests for many that Joel’s audience has been complacent or foolish in not giving attention to the significance of the locust plague. Other scholars simply note that drunkards, coupled with wine-drinkers, are those who have experienced the consequences of the locusts’ devastation firsthand. Similarly, in the third strophe (vv. 11–12), the farmers and vinedressers are called to lament. Both the first and the third strophes emphasize the agricultural devastation caused by the locusts. The second strophe (vv. 8–10) lacks an explicit addressee in the vocative, but the feminine singular imperative and the reference to the temple in verse 9 perhaps implies a personified Jerusalem. The call to lamentation reaches its climax in the fourth strophe (vv. 13–14), where the priests, the ministers of the altar, are addressed. In both the second and fourth strophes, emphasis is placed on the consequences of the agricultural devastation for the temple liturgy: namely, that the grain and drinking offerings to God at the temple have come to an end.
Joel’s call to lamentation demands a liturgical response to the catastrophe. The priests should summon all the people to fast and to assemble at the temple to cry out to God. Verses 15–20 are perhaps the words of the lament that the people should cry. They should bewail that “the day of the LORD is near,” or better, that it is “now at hand.” The lament identifies the devastation of the locust plague with the day of the LORD, which since the time of Amos has been associated with YHWH’s judgment, both on Israel and on the nations. Although in 2:31 and 3:14 Joel perhaps refers to the final day of the LORD, in which YHWH will bring an end to human history, inaugurating the eschatological era, in 1:15 (and also 2:1, 11), Joel is only referring to a day of the LORD—a present but limited day of God’s judgment. As a day of the LORD, the locust plague has not only destroyed the agriculture but also threatens the community of living creatures. Thus the people should cry out to God as even the cattle and wild animals do (vv. 18, 20).
THE TEXT IN THE INTERPRETIVE TRADITION
Although the four terms used for locusts in Joel 1:4 refer to a literal locust plague, the interpretive tradition has generally understood the terms metaphorically. One Greek translation, for example, renders them as Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Greeks. The Targum interprets the terms to be peoples, tongues, governments, and kingdoms. Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373) and Isho‘dad of Merv (c. 850) take the locust terms as metaphors for Tiglath Pileser III, Shalmaneser V, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar.
THE TEXT IN CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSION
By identifying the locust plague with the day of the LORD, the book of Joel raises questions of theodicy and the role of God in natural disasters, even today. Can God’s activity or will be discerned in such catastrophes? Many today seem to be willing to identify natural disasters as God’s judgment on one corporate sin or another, but such diagnoses demonstrate little more than the prejudices of the interpreters. Joel too thought a natural catastrophe signaled God’s activity, the day of the LORD, but his reasoning and response are instructive to us. Joel’s diagnosis is not simply based on the destruction caused by the locust plague, but on its effect on the temple: the grain and drink offerings, the daily sacrifices, were brought to an end. In a world in which such events were not explained scientifically (or through natural causality), such a calamitous event was surely an act of God. Joel does not, however, respond with a moral diagnosis to explain God’s actions; he does not blame the catastrophe on the people’s sins. He calls instead for a fast and the self-abasement of lamentation. As Joel will articulate in the next chapter, God is merciful and gracious (2:13) and will hear the humble cry of his people.
Joel 2:1–11: Invasion by the Army of YHWH
THE TEXT IN ITS ANCIENT CONTEXT
Although the first chapter presents the catastrophic locust plague as a past event, a present and ongoing catastrophe is heralded in chapter 2. Through multiple metaphors, Joel 2 describes the invasion of YHWH’s army on a city, presumably Jerusalem and its environs. Scholars disagree on the nature of this second catastrophe and on its relationship with the locust plague lamented in chapter 1. This catastrophe has been understood in three different ways: (1) the invasion of a historical enemy of Judah, such as the Babylonians; (2) the invasion of an apocalyptic army; and (3) a locust plague that is compared to an invading army. Joel’s use of metaphor makes option 1 the least likely interpretation; the catastrophe is compared to an invading army rather than being a historical army. According to the second option, the locust plague of chapter 1 becomes a metaphor for an eschatological enemy from the north on the day of the LORD. The enemy army would thus be compared to locust-like apocalyptic creatures (compare the apocalyptic army in Rev. 9:1–11). The difficulty with this interpretation is that the description of the invasion in verses 3–9 has a this-worldly orientation and reflects the activity of real locusts; apocalyptic language is not otherwise evident in the first part of the book. (Whether it is characteristic of the second part of Joel is debated.) Thus most scholars interpret Joel 2:1–11 as referring to a locust plague that was presently “assaulting” the environs of Jerusalem.
The relationship between this locust plague and the plague whose destruction was lamented in chapter 1 is uncertain. The use of perfect verbs in chapter 1 and primarily imperfect verbs in chapter 2 indicates only the temporal orientation of the oracle in relation to the speaker, not the temporal relationship between the oracles. The locust plague in chapter 2 may thus refer to the same event that is lamented in chapter 1. Nevertheless, because locust plagues in the Middle East often occurred over several years (such as the 1915 plague documented by John Whiting) and because Joel 2:25 refers to the “the years that the swarming locust has eaten” (NRSV), the locust invasion described in chapter 2 may also be interpreted as a continuation of the previous year’s infestation.
Verses 3–9 describe the onslaught of a locust plague consisting of innumerable hoppers marching in array. Their destruction is compared to that of fire; their appearance, to that of horses. Their assault on the people is likened to an army attacking a city whose defenses are ineffectual. Although these metaphors present a realistic portrait of a locust plague, verses 1–2 and 10–11 signal the uniqueness of this plague because of its supranaturalistic qualities. The locust infestation is YHWH’s own army, whose march heralds the day of the LORD. Using traditional theophanic language, the prophet describes the cosmic convulsions that accompany the locust plague as YHWH the divine warrior marches to battle.
THE TEXT IN THE INTERPRETIVE TRADITION
The Christian tradition has generally interpreted 2:1–11 to be referring to the future, to the second coming of Jesus, when he will come on the day of the LORD to judge the world. This understanding is already apparent in the book of Revelation, where Joel 2 appears to be the inspiration, based on numerous similarities, for the apocalyptic locust army unleashed by the fifth angel (9:1–11). The differences are striking, however. Whereas Joel’s locusts act like typical locusts, the locusts of Revelation do not consume the vegetation, as would be expected, but rather torture humans with their scorpion-like tails.
THE TEXT IN CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSION
Joel sees in the locust plague a theophany of YHWH—a visible intensification of God’s presence. Biblical theologians have often noted that the Bible portrays God to be actively involved in human affairs, and the prophets discern God’s activity in relation to human conduct (most often in terms of the covenant). But this is not the whole story. As Joel makes clear, God’s activity and presence are discernible also in the natural world. Indeed, most biblical descriptions of God’s theophany emphasize the natural forms of God’s appearance. Although God is transcendent, God does not remain outside of the natural world, and it is through creation that God is known. For Joel, the locust plague was as revelatory of God as a divinely spoken oracle.
Joel 2:12–27: Appeal to and Response from YHWH
THE TEXT IN ITS ANCIENT CONTEXT
This unit consists of two parts: an appeal to YHWH, which consists of a call for the people to return to YHWH (vv. 12–14) followed by a call to lamentation (vv. 15–17) and YHWH’s response to the people’s appeal (vv. 18–27). The transition between the two parts in verses 18–19a, using converted imperfect verbs, presumes that some time has elapsed since Joel’s appeal and that the people heeded his call to return to YHWH and to lament.
The prophetic call to return in verse 12 is presented as an oracle of YHWH, and so YHWH addresses the people in the first person (“return to me”), but by verse 13 Joel is again the speaker and YHWH is addressed in the third person. “Return to YHWH” is often interpreted as a call to repent from sin, but Joel enumerates no such sins. Joel’s emphasis is not to blame the people (and perhaps no blame could be assessed), but to simply to call the people to turn to “the national God in the hope that YHWH would save the people” (Barton, 77). Joel’s confidence that “even now” YHWH can save his people is expressed through Joel’s use of a well-known creedal confession in verse 13. Found elsewhere, in Exod. 34:6–7; Num. 14:18; Neh. 9:17; Pss. 103:8; 145:8; Nah. 1:3; and Jonah 4:2, Joel cites a version, also found in Jonah, that underscores YHWH’s mercy and eliminates the reference to God’s justice or judgment (see Crenshaw, 136–37).
The call to lamentation (vv. 15–17) explains how the people should return to YHWH—through a national assembly of mourning. All should attend, from children to the elderly, even those who would otherwise be celebrating. The people should rend their hearts, and not only their garments (v. 13)—the ritual lamentation should also have an inward motivation. And the priests should bring the people’s case to YHWH: YHWH should deliver his people for the sake of his own reputation (v. 17).
YHWH’s response to the people’s lamentation is a salvation oracle that is characterized by both YHWH’s jealousy and compassion. YHWH’s jealousy on behalf of the people is an expression of YHWH’s passionate commitment to them. No longer will God allow the people to become a mockery to the nations; no longer will the people be put to shame. Compassion is YHWH’s response to the people’s suffering as a result of the locust plague. Thus YHWH will destroy the locust plague—called the “northerner” in reference to the “enemy from the north” tradition—and YHWH will restore the land from all the devastation caused by the locusts. Similarly, in response to the drought lamented in 1:19–20, YHWH promises to bring the rains in their seasons.
THE TEXT IN THE INTERPRETIVE TRADITION
In part because Joel does not enumerate the sins of the people or otherwise denounce their behavior, Joel 2:11–17 plays a prominent role in the Christian liturgies of Ash Wednesday at the beginning of Lent. The general nature of Joel’s call to return to YHWH enables the text to be used as a generalized invitation to enter into the period of contrition that prepares Christians for celebrating Christ’s redemption.
THE TEXT IN CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSION
It is significant that in the face of the devastating locust plague, Joel does not enumerate the sins of the people. He does not blame the people for the catastrophe nor, in Deuteronomic fashion, link the catastrophe to the people’s infidelity to the covenant. Joel is also not interested in the question of theodicy; he seeks neither to explain nor justify God in the presence of the destructive plague. Instead, Joel simply asks the people to turn to God in supplication. Openness to lamentation with God is the proper response to such catastrophes. In the shame of their suffering, the people had turned away from YHWH. Joel’s call to return is not to indict the people for their sins but to renew their faith in God through visible acts of devotion.
THE TEXT IN ITS ANCIENT CONTEXT
The final unit of the book consists of five oracles (2:28–32; 3:1–3, 4–8, 9–17, and 18–21), which take on a future-oriented, eschatological tone that has occasioned many early twentieth-century interpreters to conclude that these final oracles are later additions to the book. Following in this tradition, Barton characterizes this unit as a collection of miscellaneous oracles whose predictions do not amount to a coherent set of expectations (2001, 92). Most recent scholars, however, continue to attribute these oracles to Joel, even though the focus of their utterance no longer seems to be the locust plague. The literary style and scribal character of these oracles is similar throughout the book. What unite these oracles thematically to the first part of the book are references to the day of the LORD. Indeed, in the first part of the book, Joel sees in the unprecedented locust plague the advent of the day of the LORD. In these final oracles, Joel explains in scribal fashion how the day of the LORD will unfold.
“Then afterward” (NRSV), which begins the first oracle in 2:28–32, connects the final oracles temporally to what precedes them. “These things” may refer to YHWH’s restoration of the locust devastation described in 2:18–27, or to Joel’s call for the people to assemble and lament in 2:12–17. If the latter is the case, then the events predicted in the oracles of this unit are amplification on the events of YHWH’s salvation oracle in 2:18–27.
The first oracle, Joel 2:28–32, envisions the outpouring of YHWH’s spirit and the cosmic convulsions that will take place on the day of the LORD. In this context, the spirit is associated with prophecy and divine communication (see Num. 11:29), and hence the emphasis on dreams and visions, rather than on empowerment (cf. Judg. 6:34). YHWH will pour out his spirit on “all flesh,” which generally refers to everyone, irrespective of gender or ethnicity, but the context limits it to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. In the prophetic tradition, the democratization of YHWH’s spirit is characteristic of the coming period of salvation, when God’s people will be free from oppression, the righteous will live in peace, and justice will reign on the earth. It is also accompanied by the regeneration of the natural world (see Isa. 32:9–14; 44:1–5; Ezek. 39:25–29), and so corresponds with the agricultural bounty promised in 2:18–27. Although the day of the LORD will bring cosmic upheavals (vv. 30–31) and destruction of the nations (3:1–17), Joel echoes the royal or Zion theology when he declares that YHWH’s people—those who call on his name (v. 32)—will remain safe in Jerusalem (see Psalms 46; 48).
As Joel 2:18–27 promised the restoration of the land destroyed by the locusts, 2:28–32 promises salvation for the people who “return to YHWH.” Similarly, just as YHWH will destroy the locust army (2:20), so also will YHWH punish the nations who have oppressed his people (3:1–17). In chapter 3, Joel develops the consequences of the day of the LORD for the nations, connecting them to the salvation of God’s people in the preceding oracles with the adverbial phrase, “in those days and at that time.” The oracles in chapter 3 may be interpreted in reference to the divine warrior hymns, which are attested in early Israelite and royal hymns (Exod. 15:1–18; Judges 5; Psalms 2; 24; 29; 68; 89; 97) but are revived in a number of late eschatological prophecies (Isa. 59:15b–20; 66:14b–16, 22–23; Ezekiel 38–39; Habakkuk 3; Zechariah 14). Based on a mythic pattern of divine conflict, such as found in the Enuma Elish, the divine warrior hymns celebrate YHWH’s battle and victory over Israel’s enemies (see Hiebert, 875–76). In Joel 3, the first two oracles (vv. 1–3, 4–8) describe how the nations have challenged YHWH’s sovereignty by oppressing his people. In the third oracle (vv. 9–17), YHWH declares war on the nations, and the natural world convulses as YHWH marches out to battle. No actual battle is described; YHWH’s victory is assured. Then YHWH is enthroned in Zion, which becomes an eternal sanctuary for his people. The fourth oracle (vv. 18–21) concludes the hymn with a description of the rejuvenation of the natural world and a reaffirmation that YHWH will indeed render justice on behalf of his people (see further, Simkins, 219–41).
Although the oracles in Joel 3 in their final form correspond to the structure and themes of the divine warrior hymns, this is probably a consequence of Joel’s scribal activity. Joel drew on common prophetic traditions to interpret the coming day of the LORD. Scholars have usually noted that verses 4–8 are different in style from what precedes and follows it, they disrupt the flow from verse 3 to verse 9, and thus should be viewed as a later addition. However, if chapter 3 is viewed as a scribal composition, nothing precludes verses 4–8 from being added by Joel as an amplification of the crimes spelled out in verse 3.
THE TEXT IN THE INTERPRETIVE TRADITION
Because this unit relies so heavily on existing prophetic traditions for defining the day of the LORD, it is not surprising that later writers drew on Joel for interpreting eschatological events. As Joel interpreted the events of his day in light of known traditions, so also later prophets and writers interpreted their current events in light of Joel’s prophecies. Thus, on Pentecost, Peter quotes Joel 2:28–32 to explain the outpouring of the Spirit on the followers of Jesus (Acts 2:17–21). According to Peter’s speech in Acts, this happened in the “last days,” and rather than YHWH, it is Jesus of Nazareth who pours out the spirit. Although Joel seems to limit the outpouring of the spirit to those in Judah, and indeed Peter addresses the men of Judea, perhaps following the text of Joel, the context of Peter’s speech extends the outpouring of the Spirit to the Diaspora, all of whom hear the followers of Jesus speaking in their own languages. The tendency to universalize Joel’s “all flesh” is complete in Paul, who quotes Joel 3:5, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,” to emphasize that there is no distinction between Jew and gentile (Rom. 10:12–13).
THE TEXT IN CONTEMPORARY DISCUSSION
This unit presents two conflicting voices. On the one hand, Joel 2:28–32 speaks with an inclusive voice, as Paul recognized in Romans. Even though the context of Joel might limit the scope of “all flesh” (v. 28) and “everyone” (v. 32), the reappropriation of the text in new contexts cannot ignore its inclusive tendencies. The mercy of God is available to the one who calls on the name of the LORD. On the other hand, Joel 3:1–21 speaks with an exclusive voice. The inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem stand in opposition to all the nations, whom YHWH will judge through war. The justice of God is not itself the difficult issue, for YHWH applies the lex talionis as the justification for the nations’ punishment: The nations will be treated in the same way that they have treated God’s people. What is missing, however, at least from our perspective, is the role of the individual. Both Judah (God’s people) and the nations are treated as singular collectives; there is no exception for individual choices. The conflicting inclusive and exclusive voices of the text can only be resolved when both voices are heard in tension, giving due weight to both God’s mercy and justice, individual and collective.
Barton, John. 2001. Joel and Obadiah. OTL. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.
Crenshaw, James L. 1995. Joel: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. AB 24C. New York: Doubleday.
Duhm, Bernhard. 1911. “Anmerkungen zu den Zwölf Propheten.” ZAW 31:184–88.
Hiebert, Theodore. 1992. “Joel, Book of.” In ABD 3:873–80.
Simkins, Ronald A. 1991. Yahweh’s Activity in History and Nature in the Book of Joel. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen.
Whiting, John D. 1915. “Jerusalem’s Locust Plague.” National Geographic 28:511–50.
Wolff, Hans Walter. 1977. Joel and Amos. Hermeneia. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.