3 Things You Should Know About Joel

What most people know about the book of Joel is the great prophecy in Joel 2:28–29, where God promises to pour out His Spirit on all flesh so that all members of the community of God’s people prophesy. But the meaning of those verses cannot be understood apart from the message of the book. There are three things you should know about the book of Joel that will help you understand its message.

1. The date of the book of Joel is uncertain.

First, the historical context of most prophetic books is important to the message of the book, but the date of the book of Joel is uncertain. The temple is functioning, which means it could be the pre-exilic temple of Solomon (destroyed in 586 BC) or the temple that is dedicated after the return from exile (516 BC). No king is mentioned, and none of the major enemies of Israel or Judah are mentioned. Scholars have offered a variety of options for its date, but no one date has carried the day. The book seems to reflect a pre-exilic perspective that relates to events surrounding the destruction of the first temple, such as the sacrifices being cut off (Joel 1:9), the threat from a northern army (Joel 2:20), and a future deliverance described (Joel 2:23–29). Some think the book is hard to date because it became a liturgical text to be repeated during a time of national disaster.

2. The occasion of the book is a locust plague.

The second thing that you should know about the book of Joel is that the occasion for the book is connected to the message of the book. The occasion of the book is a locust plague. Chapter 1 is a call for a communal lament because of a locust plague that was so devastating that nothing like it had ever happened before. The plague is described in Joel 1:4, where swarms of locusts have destroyed everything that is edible. Different groups are called to mourn because of the results: Drunkards are to mourn because the vines have been destroyed (Joel 1:5–7), the priests are to mourn because the sacrifices are cut off (Joel 1:8–10), and the farmers are to mourn because there will be no harvest (Joel 1:11–12). The priests are also called to lead God’s people in a service of mourning made up of weeping and fasting (Joel 1:13–14).

The chaos of a locust plague becomes a description of the day of the Lord. It will be a day of judgment for those who reject God and a day of blessing for those who return to God. The locust plague introduces the coming judgment of that day, first mentioned in Joel 1:15:

Alas for the day!
For the day of the LORD is near.

The destruction of the day is described in Joel 1:16–20 with an urgent call to alarm in Joel 2:1–2, which culminates in an emphasis of the character of that “day” as “a day of darkness and gloom” and “a day of clouds and thick darkness!” This darkness is spread upon the mountains, pointing to a great and powerful army drawn up for battle with warriors that cannot be stopped. People are in anguish at the thought of facing this army, for it is more than an earthly army; it is the Lord’s army. The Lord utters His voice before this army and creation itself quakes and the sun and moon are darkened (Joel 2:10–11). No one can endure it because “the day of the LORD is great and very awesome” (Joel 2:11).

In Joel, the day of the Lord is more than simply one historical event; it describes an eschatological event that brings history to an end. Joel uses the coming devastation of God’s judgment on the day of the Lord to call God’s people to repentance (Joel 2:15–17). He promises them material blessings in a reversal of the destruction of the locust plague (Joel 2:21–27) and spiritual blessings that would come with an outpouring of His Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28–32).

3. The Apostle Peter quotes Joel to explain the events on the day of Pentecost.

The third thing you should know about the book is that Peter quotes from Joel 2:28–32 in Acts 2:17–21 to explain the events on the day of Pentecost. The spiritual blessings Joel had prophesied were being fulfilled as God poured out His Spirit on all flesh so that everyone who called on the name of the Lord would be saved.

In addition, the prophetic function of speaking the word of God expanded to include all classes of society, including gentiles, who were speaking with understanding to each other in their own languages as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4). Instead of the final judgment against God’s enemies occurring at that moment (Joel 3:1–8), along with the full restoration of God’s people (Joel 3:17–21), God’s purposes of salvation were being worked out through the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ to all the world. As a result, we have experienced in Jesus Christ the down payment of our salvation. We wait for the fullness of our salvation when our Savior will return to this world to complete the day of the Lord in the final judgment of God’s enemies and the full restoration of His people. At that time, we will experience for all eternity His full presence and the abundant spiritual and physical blessings that come with His presence.