Joel 1
There are no indications in the prophecy of Joel of the time in which he wrote, but it is believed that he prophesied during the latter part of the long reign of Azariah, or Uzziah, who was king of Judah from B. C. 810 to B. C. 758 (2 Chronicles 20). Joel’s name means “Jah is God”, which may be translated, “The Supreme Being is God.” Hosea was concerned chiefly with the 10 tribes of Israel, and Joel, about the same time, with the 2 tribes of Judah.
A series of calamities had recently come upon the land, the like of which had not been known before, First came the palmer-worm, then the locust; next appeared the canker-worm, and lastly the caterpillar, as they are here called; it is supposed that all four belonged to the locust or grasshopper family, the first one being a sort of grub or caterpillar, and the others flying or leaping insects; between them everything that grew out of the ground was devoured.
The theme of Joel is the yet future day of the Lord, and the prophet was used to arouse the people of Judah to consider it, taking, in chapter 1, the locust invasion for an illustration of it. As to the time then present, the unprecedented scarcity was of God, and was meant for Judah’s warning. He had given them a good land, a land where they were to eat bread without scarceness, where they should lack nothing; but He had also told them that such calamities as the drought that had now overtaken their country would be theirs if they did not hearken to His voice (Deuteronomy 8:7-9; 28:15, 38, 39, 427For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; 8A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 9A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. (Deuteronomy 8:7‑9)
15But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: (Deuteronomy 28:15)
38Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. 39Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. (Deuteronomy 28:38‑39)
42All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume. (Deuteronomy 28:42)). In verses 6,7, the locusts are spoken of as a nation, come up on Jehovah’s land; no doubt this was in view of the destructive enemy of the last clays, spoken of in chapter 2, and for this, verses 15 to 20 of our chapter prepare the hearers of the prophecy. It was Jehovah’s land, His vine and fig tree (verses 6 and 7); and His people should never forget their relationship to Him, their debt to Him, whether they be Israelites under the law, or believers of the present dispensation of grace.
Thus verses 13, 14 present a call for the deepest lamentation because what was clue to God (verse 9) was withheld. A fast was to be appointed, a holy day; a solemn assembly was to lie proclaimed, and old and young were to be gathered to the house of Jehovah their God, to cry unto Him. Would that there were more of the spirit of this today!
In verse 15 the day of the Lord, or day of Jehovah, is first spoken of, and what follows to the end of the chapter gives something of the character of that day. Nearly all of the Old Testament prophets speak of that day; it is the period in which the world will be judged by God, when He will no longer work unseen, but will take it in hand openly, and put down evil, afterward, establishing and visiting with His blessing what has His approval on earth. The second and third chapters develop the subject.
ML 12/13/1936