TEXT [Commentary]

  I.   Joel’s Present Instructions (1:1–2:27)

A.   Lessons from the Locust Plague (1:1-20)

1.   The prospect: the locust invasion (1:1-4)

1 The LORD gave this message to Joel son of Pethuel.

2 Hear this, you leaders of the people.

Listen, all who live in the land.

In all your history,

has anything like this happened before?

3 Tell your children about it in the years to come,

and let your children tell their children.

Pass the story down from generation to generation.

4 After the cutting locusts finished eating the crops,

the swarming locusts took what was left!

After them came the hopping locusts,

and then the stripping locusts,[*] too!

NOTES

1:1 The LORD gave this message. Joel announces at the outset that what he has to say was given to him by the Lord. Joel has been commissioned to deliver a divine message to his countrymen.

Joel son of Pethuel. Like Hosea, Micah, and Zephaniah, Joel identifies his family lineage. The LXX renders Pethuel as Bathouel, a reading followed by the Syriac and Old Latin. This was the name of Rebekah’s father (“Bethuel,” Gen 22:23) and others (cf. Josh 19:4; 1 Chr 4:30). Joel’s name (meaning “Yahweh is God”) attests to a family commitment to Israel’s covenant God.

1:2 Hear this. Joel’s message begins with an imperative. The subgenre of this opening prophecy is often debated. Thus, for example, Crenshaw (1995:82, 84) opts for an invitation to pay attention to Joel’s summons to lament and return to Yahweh; Stuart (1987:239) decides for a call to communal lament; and Allen (1976:46-48) thinks it is a summons to national lament. All of these bear an element of truth and fall loosely under the rubric of instructional prophecy, containing warnings and exhortations (Patterson 1993:303-304). Such prophecies typically begin with an imperative and are followed by the reason for the warning, which is frequently introduced by the Hebrew particle ki [TH3588, ZH3954] (“for” or “because”).

leaders. This word (zeqenim [TH2205, ZH2418]) can refer either to those of old age (Crenshaw 1995:86, “old timers”) or those civil leaders who enjoyed an official role in communal life. The NLT follows the latter. Allen (1976:48) remarks, “The elders were ever a force in Israelite government, whether in the context of the local, tribal, or national community.”

Listen. Joel turns from the elders to the general populace (lit., “all who dwell in the land”).

has anything like this happened before? This rhetorical question is to be answered with a firm “No!” The calamity Joel is about to describe is unparalleled in anyone’s memory. Crenshaw (1995:86) points out Sumerian literary parallels, citing unprecedented events or activities, so the motif itself is not without parallel.

1:3 Tell your children. So extraordinary and significant are current events that the account of them is to be passed on to subsequent generations. The preservation of significant events was a normal Hebrew tradition (see Exod 12:24-27; Deut 4:9; 6:6-8, 20-23; 32:7; Esth 9:20-28).

1:4 locusts. The nature of the locust plague is often debated. Some (e.g., Kapelrud, Sellers, Thompson) think that the four words for locusts here represent successive stages in the development of the locusts. Most scholars point out that the four nouns do not exhaust either the stages of the locusts or the various names assigned to locusts in the Scriptures (the OT has several others) or elsewhere in Hebrew literature. Therefore, the four words here are taken to reflect successive waves of attack, thus pointing to the intensity of the infestation and the total devastation of the land. Keil (1954:181-182) observes, “The thought is rather this: one swarm of locusts after another had invaded the land, and completely devoured its fruit.”

There is disagreement also as to whether the locusts are to be understood literally or figuratively. While most take the text at face value as referring to actual locusts, some (Stuart 1987:232-234) follow a different approach, viewing the locusts as depicting an enemy invasion. Andinach (1992:441) treats the locusts as “a metaphor that clarifies and enforces the characteristics of a human army in its action against the people and the land.” Amos also refers to locust plagues, pointing out that God’s people had failed to respond to divinely sent locusts by returning to the Lord (Amos 4:9), and that on occasion his intercession had staved off God’s renewed sending of the locusts (Amos 7:1-3).

Helpful discussions as to the nature of locusts together with examples of locust invasions can be found in J. D. Whiting, “Jerusalem’s Locust Plague,” National Geographic 28 (1951):511-550; Driver 1915:84-92; Pusey 1953:161-162.

COMMENTARY [Text]

Joel begins his prophecy by pointing out that what he had to say was not born of his own wisdom but had come from God himself. As with the other prophets, Joel clearly believed in divine revelation. The eternal God and covenant Lord of Israel had chosen to communicate himself to his people through his prophet. Thus, the basic nature of prophecy as being the proclamation of God’s message is underscored.[28]

Joel then begins his instructions to the populace. He invites all the people to hear his words. Could anyone recall such a locust devastation? It was the kind of event that should and would be retold by the succeeding generations. A series of locust infestations had swept across the land destroying all the crops. The mention of four types of locusts may indicate that the locusts had appeared in a series of four waves. If so, Joel’s notice coincides with other prophets who spoke of God’s judgment in terms of four types of punishment (cf. Jer 15:3; Ezek 14:21). If, as has been argued in the Introduction, Joel prophesied in the eighth century BC, it is of interest that Amos, Joel’s contemporary, also mentioned a severe locust plague (Amos 4:9).

These opening verses are a reminder, not only to God’s people in Joel’s day but also to believers of succeeding generations, that God takes note of sinful behavior and will take serious measures to chastise his people so as to bring them back to himself. Therefore, all who read Joel’s words ought to bring themselves to self-examination and so live as to reflect the standards of a holy God in their lives. To be sure, not all disasters in the natural world can be viewed as cases of divine judgment. Yet the fact that God does use such methods (cf. Lev 26:15-16; Deut 28:20-24; Amos 4:9; 7:1-3) to bring correction to people should cause them to examine their spiritual condition when they do occur. Such instances may be opportunities for sinners to repent and seek God’s face and for saints to renew their spiritual commitment.[29]