Only three chapters long, Joel is quoted by Peter, and his insights are mentioned by many other Old Testament prophets.
Read Joel in the NLT
I found myself wondering when Joel wrote. Since this is a chronological reading of the Bible, you might assume that he wrote after Ezekiel, which would mean either during or after the exile. However, no one really knows when Joel wrote. It could have been before the Jews were ever exiled in the first place, and it might have been close to the end of the time of the prophets. I tend to think that it was before the exile, when God was sending troubles upon Jerusalem in hopes that they would repent and turn to Him.
Some reference the locusts in Joel with the locusts in Revelation 9 and claim that Joel was speaking end times prophecy. However the locusts in Revelation 9 are told to leave the trees and plants alone and only afflict the people. In Joel’s prophecy the locusts attack the plants and trees, and there is no mention of harming the people. I think they are two different events, and Joel was probably referring to a blight that overtook his country before the exile occurred.
Locusts are a kind of grasshopper, they generally live alone but in rare instances there is a population explosion and they consume large amounts of vegetation. There is another kind of bug that eats everything in sight, it lives in the ground dormant for years and then awakens to eat. There isn’t a set time for their dormancy, it could be as long as 14 years, or as short as 1. There are some crazy bugs out there that God has created. We don’t know which of these bugs were the ones that Joel saw. Some people have even speculated that the locusts were a metaphor for an invading army that would strip the land of all produce. If that’s true, then the prophecy about them heading into the Dead Sea and the Med never happened. So we might say “this is an end times army that will invade”…but the locusts there don’t eat the plants…that’s problematic.
The easiest way to frame this passage is as a plague of locusts sometime before the exile, with the purpose of making the people miserable enough to cry out in repentance to God.
It seems clear to me that God wanted His people to repent, and He had a plan to bless them mightily as soon as they did. The images of bounty and surplus are here: overflowing wine and stacks of grain, trees bending over heavy with fruit. All of this is promised to the nation that repents and becomes obedient. The problem is just as clear: history tells us that the people did not repent, so none of the blessings here were ever realized.
It also seems to me that God wanted to come and rescue the people and pour His Spirit out upon them hundreds of years before it actually happened. Peter claims this passage fulfilled at the time of Pentecost, when God’s “Spirit was poured out on all people”. Sadly, I think it could have happened much earlier.
God wants to bless us, to make us more sensitive to His presence and more insightful into His character. He wants our lives to overflow with good things…not because we are sooooo special…but because when He does it, He is praised. What’s happening to us, and through us…is so good that it couldn’t possibly be because of our skill. God reveals Himself by blessing us.
Chapter 2:32 is a key verse for all ages. “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”. Trials will come and go, prosperity will come and go. Kingdoms will come and go. What should we make of it all? None of earths events will either save or defeat us. It’s what we do with the name of God that counts. If we accept that He is eternal, the Creator and the Judge as well as the Lover of our souls and the Supreme Sacrifice for sins….we will be saved. Heaven will become our reward.
One stray thought today: The valley of Jehosaphat caught my eye. We don’t know where it is for sure, or if it’s really an actual place. It could simply mean what the word means literally “the valley of decision” or “God judges”. Some have adopted the belief that the Kidron valley is the valley of Jehoshaphat, and that a great battle will one day be fought there. Maybe so, but whether there is or isn’t doesn’t really change anything doctrinally. It could be a metaphor for the idea that “one day God will judge us all”. As long as we can accept that much, and live our lives in obedience, we will experience fullness of Spirit here, and much more in heaven.
Faithfully,
PR