An Army of Locusts and God’s Call to His People (2:1–27)

My holy hill (2:1). Various mountains were given religious veneration in the ancient Near East.28 In fact, the idea of a divine residence on a mountain is common in ancient Near Eastern and Aegean mythology. Mount Zion is often mentioned in Scripture as the place that God has chosen as his dwelling place (see Joel 3:18; cf. Ps. 46; 48; 76). Similarly, Mount Saphon was the home of Baal in Ugaritic texts, where it is also described as “my mountain.”29 In addition, Mount Olympus is well known as a divine residence in Greek literature.

Day of the Lord (2:1). Many scholars have attempted to equate this expression with ancient Near Eastern sources. Mowinckel attempted to trace it to the Babylonian Akitu festival.30 Although some have connected it to cultic origins and without a time context, von Rad has seen it as a great annual feast in which God judged humanity.31 Jeremiah used the expression for the destruction of the Egyptian army at Carchemish (Jer. 46:10).

The Assyrians and Babylonians had an annual enthronement festival (Akkadian, akītu) for the crown and the gods. One of the purposes of the akītu festival was to reestablish world order, as had been done by Marduk (or Ashur in the Assyrian case) when the forces of chaos (under the direction of Tiamat) were defeated, as commemorated in the creation account Enuma Elish. Marduk was thus elevated to the head of the Mesopotamian pantheon at this point. Though this is not called the Day of Marduk, it appears to have some similarities to the Day of Yahweh, at least in how it is expressed in Jeremiah 4:23–26, where the world is depicted as turned on its head, with Yahweh reestablishing order.

It is certainly possible that the Israelites took the mythical festival, historicized it, and applied it to Yahweh. But there is no evidence that the Day of Yahweh was celebrated annually. Furthermore, the biblical concept of the Day of Yahweh is diverse, representing historical (i.e., military) and apocalyptic episodes.32

Between the temple porch and the altar (2:17). In context, this passage refers to the entrance area of the temple, where access was limited to priests; this area thus served as a buffer between the people and the Holy Place itself. The entrance hall to Solomon’s temple measured ten by twenty cubits (1 Kings 6:3). Since this area was sacred, it was particularly sacrilegious that twenty-five priests of the Lord worshiped the sun there (Ezek. 8:16) and that a priest named Zechariah was murdered there (2 Chron. 24:20–22).

Akitu tablet

Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY, courtesy of the Louvre

The northern army (2:20). The northern army here no doubt symbolizes the locust plague. The previously mentioned Assyrian Nanaya hymn is similar in that it requests that the goddess command that the locusts disappear, similar to God’s removing them from the midst of Israel (“Verily Ellil listens to you, and Tutu is before you–may by your command it be turned to nothing”).33

Autumn and spring rains (2:23). Echoing the promises of Leviticus 26:3–4 and Deuteronomy 11:13–15, Joel describes God’s lovingkindness toward Israel in regards to bringing rain. In contrast, the withholding of rain was seen as a sign of God’s disfavor (see Jer. 3:3; Hos. 6:3). The former rain described here is probably the early rain, which usually began in November (or sometimes late October) and went through February; these rains soaked and softened the ground before the plowing and sowing season.34 Over two-thirds of the annual rain came during the fall/winter, with the wettest month being January. Grapes and olives were harvested in this period. The latter rain (March or April) helped to bring the crops to their full maturation. Wheat and barley were harvested in the spring, while the summer was for threshing and winnowing. For agricultural societies, it was not simply the rainfall that was crucial, but the timing (see Jer. 5:24).

However, the rainy season in Palestine is unpredictable, especially in its distribution. The lack of rain at the end of the dry season would spell disaster for the potential crops. Conversely, if rain came too late in the spring, it could easily devastate barley, which was susceptible to rain during harvest.35