Joel

Part One: Introduction to Joel

The Prophet

Joel, "the son of Pethuel" (1:1), prophesied to Judah and Jerusalem. His name means "the LORD is God." Nothing else is known about his life, but his message shows a close concern for the temple, the priests and the offerings (1:9, 13-14; 2:17), and great familiarity with the land and its harvests.

Date

The book gives no date, and scholars hold two main views:

• An early date (around 835-800 BC), during the boyhood of King Joash, when the priest Jehoiada effectively governed (2 Kings 11-12). This would explain why no king is mentioned and the elders and priests lead the people. The enemies named are Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Egypt and Edom (3:4, 19), not Assyria or Babylon, which fits the ninth century. Joel's place between Hosea and Amos in the Hebrew order may also suggest an early date. Many conservative scholars hold this view.
• A late date (after the exile, around 500-400 BC), because there is no king, the temple is functioning, and the Greeks are mentioned (3:6).

Whatever the date, the message is timeless.

The Occasion

Joel's prophecy was prompted by a devastating plague of locusts, worse than anything in living memory (1:2-4), followed by severe drought (1:17-20). The crops, vines and fig trees were destroyed, the grain offerings and drink offerings for the temple were cut off, and even the animals groaned. Joel saw in this disaster a warning of a far greater judgment to come: "the day of the LORD."

Theme: The Day of the LORD

"The day of the LORD" appears five times in Joel (1:15; 2:1, 11, 31; 3:14), more often in proportion to its length than any other book. In Scripture this phrase describes any time when God intervenes directly in history to judge sin and vindicate His people, and supremely the final day when He will judge the world and establish His kingdom.

The book moves from judgment to repentance to restoration, and from a local disaster to the end of history:

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart... And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness

Joel 2:12-13

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh

Joel 2:28

The Locusts

"That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten" (1:4). These four names may describe different kinds of locusts, or the successive stages of the locust's life cycle, or successive waves of a swarm. Together they picture total destruction. A locust swarm can contain billions of insects, darken the sky, and strip every green thing over vast areas.

Note on Chapter Numbering

In the Hebrew Bible, Joel 2:28-32 is chapter 3, and the English chapter 3 is chapter 4. This study follows the King James Version's numbering.

Outline of Joel

Part Two: Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis

Chapter 1 — The Day of the Locust

The Unprecedented Plague (1:1-12)

"Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation" (1:2-3). This disaster was to be remembered and its lesson passed down. The four kinds of locusts had devoured everything (1:4).

Joel addresses one group after another:

• The drunkards (1:5): "Awake, ye drunkards, and weep... for the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth." Those who lived for pleasure lost it first.
• The nation as a whole (1:6-8): the locusts are described as "a nation... strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion" (1:6). They had stripped the vines and the bark of the fig trees, leaving the branches white (1:7). "Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth" (1:8).
• The priests (1:9): "The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD'S ministers, mourn." Without grain and wine, the daily offerings could not continue. The disaster struck at worship itself.
• The farmers and vinedressers (1:10-12): "The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth." The wheat, barley, vine, fig, pomegranate, palm and apple trees withered, "because joy is withered away from the sons of men" (1:12).

The Call to Fast and Cry Out (1:13-20)

"Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar" (1:13).

Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD, Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Joel 1:14-15

The right response to national disaster was not merely to mourn the crops but to turn to God. The seed rotted under the clods, the barns were broken down, and the cattle groaned and wandered without pasture (1:17-18). Joel himself prayed: "O LORD, to thee will I cry: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness" (1:19). "The beasts of the field cry also unto thee: for the rivers of waters are dried up" (1:20). Even the animals looked to God (Psalm 104:21, 27).

Chapter 2 — The Day of the LORD, Repentance and the Spirit

The Great Army (2:1-11)

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness

Joel 2:1-2

An army approaches "as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like" (2:2). "The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness" (2:3). They look like horses and run like horsemen, with a noise like chariots and crackling fire (2:4-5). They march in perfect order, break no ranks, climb walls, run through the city, and enter houses through the windows "like a thief" (2:7-9). The earth quakes, the heavens tremble, and the sun, moon and stars grow dark (2:10).

And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Joel 2:11

This army may be a further, worse wave of locusts described as an army, or a human invading army (from the north, 2:20) foreshadowed by the locusts. Either way, it is "his army": God Himself leads the judgment. Revelation uses Joel's imagery for the demonic locusts of the end times, with faces of men, teeth of lions and the sound of chariots (Revelation 9:7-9), and asks the same question: "the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Revelation 6:17).

Rend Your Heart (2:12-17)

Yet even now, it is not too late:

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Joel 2:12-13

Tearing one's clothes was a traditional sign of grief, but God wanted inward repentance, a broken heart (Psalm 51:17), not mere outward show. The basis of hope is God's own character, revealed to Moses (Exodus 34:6-7). "Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?" (2:14; compare Jonah 3:9). The blessing God would leave behind would make it possible to worship Him again.

Everyone was to gather: "Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet" (2:15-16). No one was exempt, not even newlyweds. Then the priests' prayer:

Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

Joel 2:17

The plea appeals to God's own honour among the nations (compare Exodus 32:12; Daniel 9:19).

The LORD's Answer: Restoration (2:18-27)

"Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people" (2:18). God promised grain, wine and oil (2:19), the removal of "the northern army" into a barren land (2:20), and joy for the land, the animals and the people:

Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.

Joel 2:21

"Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain" (2:23). (The KJV margin notes that "the former rain moderately" can be read "a teacher of righteousness," and some have seen in this a hint of the Messiah.) The threshing floors would be full of wheat and the vats overflow with wine and oil (2:24).

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

Joel 2:25-26

God can restore what sin and judgment have destroyed, even lost years. "And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else" (2:27).

The Outpouring of the Spirit (2:28-32)

Then Joel looks far beyond the harvest to a greater blessing:

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

Joel 2:28-29

In the Old Testament, the Spirit came on particular individuals, such as prophets, judges and kings, for particular tasks. Moses had longed, "would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!" (Numbers 11:29). Joel promised exactly this: the Spirit poured out on all kinds of people, without distinction of sex ("sons and daughters"), age ("old men... young men") or social status ("servants and... handmaids").

And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

Joel 2:30-32

On the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and they spoke in other languages, Peter stood up and declared, "this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel," quoting the whole passage (Acts 2:16-21). He explained that the risen Jesus, exalted at God's right hand, "hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear" (Acts 2:33), and invited all to repent and be baptized, "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call" (Acts 2:39), echoing Joel's "the remnant whom the LORD shall call."

Christians understand the fulfillment in slightly different ways. Many Baptist and dispensational interpreters see Pentecost as the beginning or a pattern of the fulfillment, with the cosmic signs of verses 30-31 and the complete outpouring on Israel still to come at the end of the age (Zechariah 12:10; Matthew 24:29; Revelation 6:12). Others see the whole "last days" period from Pentecost to Christ's return as the fulfillment. All agree that the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost as Joel foretold, and that "whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved," which Paul applies to calling on Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9-13).

Chapter 3 — The Valley of Decision

The Nations Gathered for Judgment (3:1-8)

"For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land" (3:1-2). "Jehoshaphat" means "the LORD judges." Some connect it with the valley where King Jehoshaphat saw God destroy an invading army (2 Chronicles 20); others see it as a symbolic name for the place of God's final judgment, often associated with the Kidron Valley beside Jerusalem.

The nations would be judged for how they treated God's people: they cast lots for them, traded a boy for a prostitute and a girl for wine (3:3). Tyre, Sidon and the Philistines had plundered God's treasures and sold the people of Judah as slaves "unto the Grecians" (3:4-6). God would repay them in kind: their own sons and daughters would be sold (3:7-8). Ancient historians record that when Alexander the Great conquered Tyre and Gaza, he sold many of their inhabitants into slavery.

The Battle and the Harvest (3:9-16)

God summons the nations to war with irony:

Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.

Joel 3:9-10

This reverses the famous promise of peace in Isaiah 2:4 and Micah 4:3, where swords will be beaten into plowshares. Before the final peace comes the final war. "Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great" (3:13). Revelation uses this same imagery of the harvest and the winepress of God's wrath at Christ's return (Revelation 14:14-20; 19:15).

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

Joel 3:14

The "decision" here is God's verdict, His judgment on the nations, rather than a choice people make. The sun, moon and stars are darkened (3:15).

The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

Joel 3:16

The same voice that shakes the universe is the refuge of His people (Amos 1:2; Hebrews 12:26-28).

Blessing for God's People (3:17-21)

"So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more" (3:17).

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

Joel 3:18

The locust-stripped land of chapter 1 becomes a land overflowing with abundance. The fountain from God's house matches Ezekiel's river (Ezekiel 47:1-12) and Zechariah's living waters (Zechariah 14:8), fulfilled in "the pure river of water of life" (Revelation 22:1). Egypt and Edom, which shed innocent blood in Judah, would become desolate (3:19). "But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion" (3:20-21).

Part Three: Christ in Joel

The Giver of the Spirit

Joel promised that God would pour out His Spirit; Peter declared that the risen and exalted Jesus is the One who poured Him out: "Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear" (Acts 2:33). John the Baptist had said Christ would "baptize you with the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 3:11), and Jesus promised the Spirit to all who believe in Him (John 7:37-39).

The LORD on Whom We Call

"Whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered" (2:32). In Joel, "the LORD" is Jehovah. Paul quotes this verse about Jesus: "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus... thou shalt be saved... For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:9-13). The New Testament identifies Jesus with the LORD of the Old Testament, a powerful witness to His deity.

Pictures and Prophecies of Christ

Part Four: Fulfilled Prophecies

Part Five: Key Passages in Depth

Joel 1:14-15 — Responding to Disaster

When disaster struck, Joel did not explain it as mere chance. He called everyone, from the priests to the elders to the farmers, to gather before God in fasting and prayer. National and personal calamities are calls to seek God (Luke 13:1-5).

Joel 2:12-14 — True Repentance

God calls for repentance "with all your heart," not outward show. The basis is His character: gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abundant in kindness. "Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him?" True repentance is grief over sin that turns to God, trusting His mercy (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Joel 2:25 — Restoring the Lost Years

God promised to restore what the locusts had devoured. Many believers testify that God has redeemed years lost to sin, foolishness or suffering. This does not mean consequences vanish, but that God can bring fruitfulness and joy out of loss (Romans 8:28).

Joel 2:28-32 — The Promise of the Spirit

This passage is the Old Testament foundation of Pentecost. The Spirit is given not to a select few but to all God's people, regardless of gender, age or status. Salvation is offered to "whosoever" calls on the Lord. It is both a promise of blessing and a warning of the great and terrible day to come.

Joel 3:14 — The Valley of Decision

History is moving toward a day of reckoning when the nations will stand before the Judge. The multitudes in the valley await God's decision. The time for people to make their own decision about the Lord is now (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Part Six: The Major Teachings of Joel

1. The Day of the LORD

God intervenes in history to judge sin and save His people, and will do so finally at the end of the age (1:15; 2:1-11, 31; 3:14).

2. God Is Sovereign over Nature

The locusts were "my great army which I sent among you" (2:25). God uses natural disasters as warnings and judgments (Deuteronomy 28:38-42).

3. The Call to Wholehearted Repentance

God wants torn hearts, not torn clothes (2:12-13).

4. The Character of God

He is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, and ready to relent (2:13).

5. Corporate Prayer and Fasting

The whole community, from elders to infants, was called to seek God together (1:14; 2:15-17).

6. Restoration and Abundance

God restores what judgment has taken and gives more than was lost (2:19-27; 3:18).

7. The Outpouring of the Spirit

God promised His Spirit on all His people, fulfilled at Pentecost (2:28-29; Acts 2).

8. Salvation for Whosoever Calls

"Whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered" (2:32).

9. The Judgment of the Nations

God will judge the nations for their treatment of His people (3:1-16).

10. God Dwelling with His People

The final goal: "the LORD dwelleth in Zion" (3:17, 21).

Part Seven: Connections — How Joel Links to the Rest of the Bible

Joel in the New Testament

Joel in the Old Testament

Themes That Run from Joel Through Scripture

Part Eight: Practical Lessons

• Tell your children what God has done, including His judgments (1:3).
• See disasters as calls to seek God (1:14).
• Cry to the LORD in trouble (1:19).
• Take God's warnings seriously (2:1, 11).
• It is not too late to return (2:12).
• Rend your heart, not your garments (2:13).
• Trust God's gracious and merciful character (2:13).
• Gather God's people to pray together (2:15-17).
• Intercede for God's honour among the nations (2:17).
• Believe God can restore the lost years (2:25).
• Praise God for His wondrous dealings (2:26).
• Be filled with and led by the Spirit God has poured out (2:28-29; Ephesians 5:18).
• Call on the name of the Lord Jesus to be saved (2:32).
• Remember that God will judge the nations justly (3:2).
• Make your decision for the Lord now, before the day of His decision (3:14).
• Make the LORD your hope and strength (3:16).

Part Nine: Key Verses to Memorize

Conclusion

Joel is the prophet of the Day of the LORD. A devastating locust plague stripped Judah bare, cut off the offerings in the temple, and withered the joy of the people. Joel saw in it a warning of a greater day, a day of darkness when the LORD would lead His army in judgment, and asked, "who can abide it?" Yet God's call came even then: "Turn ye even to me with all your heart... rend your heart, and not your garments," for He is gracious and merciful. To a repentant people He promised to restore the years the locust had eaten, and then promised something far greater: to pour out His Spirit on all flesh, so that whosoever calls on His name will be delivered. That promise was fulfilled when the risen Christ poured out the Spirit at Pentecost, and it is still offered to all who call on the Lord Jesus. The book ends looking to the final day, when the nations will be judged in the valley of decision, the LORD will roar from Zion, and He will dwell for ever among His people, with a fountain flowing from His house.

And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered

Joel 2:32