the second of the twelve lesser prophets. It is impossible to ascertain the age in which he lived, but it seems most probable that he was contemporary with Hosea. No particulars of his life or death are certainly known. His prophecies are confined to the kingdom of Judah. He inveighs against the sin’s and impieties of the people, and threatens them with divine vengeance; he exhorts to repentance, fasting, and prayer; and promises the favour of God to those who should be obedient. The principal predictions contained in this book are the Chaldean invasion, under the figurative representation of locusts; the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus; the blessings of the Gospel dispensation; the conversion and restoration of the Jews to their own land; the overthrow of the enemies of God; and the glorious state of the Christian church in the end of the world. The style of Joel is perspicuous and elegant, and his descriptions are remarkably animated and poetical.
Jo´el (worshipper of Jehovah), one of the twelve Minor Prophets, the son of Pethuel. Of his birth-place nothing is known with certainty. From the local allusions in his prophecy, we may infer that he discharged his office in the kingdom of Judah. But the references to the temple, its priests and sacrifices, are rather slender grounds for conjecturing that he belonged to the sacerdotal order. Various opinions have been held respecting the period in which he lived. It appears most probable that he was contemporary with Amos and Isaiah, and delivered his predictions in the reign of Uzziah, between 800 and 780 B.C.
This prophet opens his commission by announcing an extraordinary plague of locusts, accompanied with extreme drought, which he depicts in a strain of animated and sublime poetry under the image of an invading army. The fidelity of his highly-wrought description is corroborated and illustrated by the testimonies of Shaw, Volney, Forbes, and other eminent travelers, who have been eye-witnesses of the ravages committed by this most terrible of the insect tribe. In the second chapter, the formidable aspect of the locusts—their rapid progress—their sweeping devastation—the awful murmur of their countless throngs—their instinctive marshalling—the irresistible perseverance with which they make their way over every obstacle and through every aperture—are delineated with the utmost graphic force. There is considerable diversity of sentiment as to the point whether these descriptions are to be understood literally or figuratively. The figurative interpretation has, it must be allowed, the support of antiquity. It was adopted by the Chaldee paraphrast, Ephrem the Syrian (A.D. 350), and the Jews in the time of Jerome (A.D. 400). Ephrem supposes that by the four different denominations of the locusts were intended Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar. The Jews, in the time of Jerome, understood by the first term the Assyrians and Chaldeans; by the second, the Medes and Persians; by the third, Alexander the Great and his successors; and by the fourth, the Romans. Grotius applies the description to the invasions by Pul and Shalmaneser. Holzhausen attempts to unite both modes of interpretation, and applies the language literally to the locusts, and metaphorically to the Assyrians. It is singular, however, that, if a hostile invasion be intended, not the least hint is given of personal injury sustained by the inhabitants; the immediate effects are confined entirely to the vegetable productions and the cattle.
The prophet, after describing the approaching judgments, calls on his countrymen to repent, assuring them of the divine placability and readiness to forgive (Joe 2:12-17). He foretells the restoration of the land to its former fertility, and declares that Jehovah would still be their God (Joe 2:18; Joe 2:26). He then announces the spiritual blessings which would be poured forth in the Messianic age (Joe 3:1-5, Hebrew text; Joe 2:28-32, Auth. Vers.). This remarkable prediction is applied by the Apostle Peter to the events that transpired on the day of Pentecost (Act 2:16-21). In the last chapter the divine vengeance is denounced against the enemies and oppressors of the chosen people, of whom the Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Edomites are especially named.
The style of Joel, it has been remarked, unites the strength of Micah with the tenderness of Jeremiah. In vividness of description he rivals Nahum, and in sublimity and majesty is scarcely inferior to Isaiah and Habakkuk.
The canonicity of this book has never been called in question.
One of the minor prophets, of whom nothing is known beyond the few hints furnished in his brief but valuable prophecy. He lived in the kingdom of Judah, and at a time when the temple and temple-worship still existed, Joe 1:14 2:1,15,32 3:1. Different authors assign to his prophecy different dates, but the prevailing opinion is that he prophesied in the reign of Uzziah, nearly 800 B. C.\par The BOOK of JOEL opens with a most graphic and powerful description of the devastation caused by swarms of divers kinds of locusts, accompanied by a terrible drought. The plague of locusts, one of the most dreadful scourges of the East, (see LOCUSTS,) is highly suggestive of an invasion of hostile legions such as have often ravaged Judea; and many have understood, by the locusts of Joel, the Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, or Romans. The prophet, however, adheres to his figure, if it be one; depicts the land as stripped of its verdure and parched with drought, summons the stricken people to fasting and penitence, and encourages them by promising the removal of the divine judgments and the return of fertility. While describing this returning plenty and prosperity, the prophet casts his view forward on a future still more remote, and predicts the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the signs and wonders and spiritual prosperity of the Messiah’s reign, Joe 2:28 . This passage is quoted by the apostle Peter in Mal 2:16 . The style of Joel is exceedingly poetical and elegant; his descriptions are vivid and sublime, and his prophecy ranks among the gems of Hebrew poetry. It is well fitted to cheer the church militant in all ages.\par
Jo’el. (to whom Jehovah is God).
1. Eldest son of Samuel, the prophet, 1Sa 8:2; 1Ch 6:33; 1Ch 15:17, and father of Heman, the singer. (B.C. 1094).
2. In 1Ch 6:36, Authorized Version, Joel seems to be merely, a corruption of Shaul in 1Ch 6:24.
3. A Simeonite chief. 1Ch 4:35.
4. A descendant of Reuben. Junius and Tremellius make him, the son of Hanoeh, while others trace his descent through Carmi. 1Ch 5:4. (B.C. before 1092).
5. Chief of the Gadites, who dwelt in the land of Bashan. 1Ch 5:12. (B.C. 782).
6. The son of Izrahiah, of the tribe of Issachar. 1Ch 7:3.
7. The brother of Nathan, of Zobah, 1Ch 11:38, and one of David’s guard.
8. The chief of the Gershomites, in the reign of David. 1Ch 15:7; 1Ch 15:11.
9. A Gershonite Levite, in the reign of David, son of Jehiel, a descendant of Laadan, and probably the same as Joel, 8. 1Ch 23:8; 1Ch 26:22. (B.C. 1014).
10. The son of Pedaiah, and a chief of the half-tribe of Manasseh, west of Jordan, in the reign of David. 1Ch 27:20. (B.C. 1014).
11. A Kohathite Levite, in the reign of Hezekiah. 2Ch 29:12. (B.C. 726).
12. One of the sons of Nebo, who returned with Ezra, and had married a foreign wife. Ezr 10:43. (B.C. 459).
13. The son of Zichri, a Benjamite. Neh 11:9.
14. The second of the twelve minor prophets, the son of Pethuel, probably prophesied in Judah, in the reign of Uzziah, about B.C. 800.
("Jehovah is God".)
1. Samuel’s oldest son (1Sa 8:2; 1Ch 6:28 (read "the firstborn (Joel) and the second (Vashni) Abiah"), 1Ch 6:33; 1Ch 15:17). Father of Heman the singer. He and his brother Abiah were judges in Beersheba, when their father was too old to go on circuit. Their bribery and perversion of justice occasioned the cry for a monarchy.
2. Joel, a corruption of Shaul (1Ch 6:24; 1Ch 6:36).
3. Of the twelve minor prophets. Son of Pethuel. The many (Joe 1:14; Joe 2:1; Joe 2:15; Joe 2:22; Joe 3:1-2; Joe 3:6; Joe 3:16-21) references to Judah and Jerusalem and the temple imply that his ministry was in the southern kingdom. "Israel," when mentioned (Joe 3:2), represents the whole twelve tribes. Date. The position of his book in the Hebrew canon between Hosea and Amos implies that he was Hosea’s contemporary, slightly preceding Amos who at Tekoa probably heard him, and so under the Spirit reproduces his words (Joe 3:16, compare Amo 1:2). The sentiment and language of the three prophets correspond. The freshness of style, the absence of allusion to the great empires Assyria and Babylon, and the mention of Tyre, Sidon, and the Philistines (Joe 3:4) as God’s executioners of judgment on Israel, accord with an early date, probably Uzziah’s reign or even Joash’s reign.
No mention is made of the Syrians who invaded Judah in the close of the reign of Joash of Judah (2Ki 12:17-18; 2Ch 24:23-25), but that was an isolated event and Syria was too far N. to trouble Judah permanently. The mention of "the valley of Jehoshaphat" (Joe 3:12) alludes to Jehoshaphat’s victory (2 Chronicles 20), the earnest of Israel’s future triumph over the pagan; though occurring long before, it was so great an event as to be ever after a pledge of God’s favor to His people. Chap. 1 describes the ravages caused by locusts, a scourge foretold by Moses (Deu 28:38-39) and by Solomon (1Ki 8:37; 1Ki 8:46).
The second chapter makes them symbols of foreign foes who would destroy all before them. So Rev 9:1-12; Amo 7:1-4. Their teeth like those "of lions" (Joe 1:6), their assailing cities (Joe 2:6-9), and a flame of fire being their image (Joe 1:19-20; Joe 2:3; Joe 2:5), and their finally being driven eastward, westward ("the utmost sea," the Mediterranean), and southward ("a land barren," etc.), whereas locusts are carried away by wind in one direction only, all favor the symbolical meaning. They are plainly called "the pagan" (Joe 2:17), "the northern (a quarter from whence locusts do not come) army" (Joe 2:20), "all the nations" (Joe 3:2), "strangers" (Joe 3:17). Their fourfold invasion is to be the last before Jehovah’s glorious deliverance (Joe 2:18-20, etc.) in answer to His people’s penitent prayer (Joe 2:12-17).
ARRANGEMENT.
I. Joel 1-2:17 the fourfold invasion answering to the four successive world empires, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome. Each of the four species of locusts in Hebrew letters represents the exact number of years that each empire oppressed, until they had deprived the Jews of all their glory (J. C. Reichardt). Gazare, the first, "the palmerworm," represents the 50 years of Babylon’s oppression, from the temple’s destruction by Nebuchadnezzar (588 B.C.) to Babylon’s overthrow by Cyrus (538 B.C.). Arbeh, the second, "the locust," represents Persia’s 208 years’ sway over the Jews, from 538 to 330 B.C., when Persia fell before Alexander the Great.
Yelequ, the third, "the cankerworm," represents 140 years of the Graeco-Macedonian oppression, from 330 to 190 B.C., when Antiochus the Jews’ great enemy was defeated by the Roman, Lucius Scipio. Chasil, "the caterpillar," the fourth, represents the 108 years of the Romans’ oppression, beginning with their minion Herod the Great, an Idumean stranger, 38 B.C., and ending A.D. 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. The whole period thus comprises that between the destruction of the first and the second temple; and the calamities which befell the Jews by the four world empires in that period are those precisely which produced the ruin under which they are still groaning, and form the theme of their Kinoth or songs of lamentation. This first portion ends in a call to thorough and universal repentance.
II. Joe 2:18-29. Salvation announced to the repentant people, and restoration of all they lost, and greater blessings added.
III. Joe 2:30-3:21. Destruction of the apostate nations confederate against Israel on the one hand; and Jehovah’s dwelling as Israel’s God in Zion, and Judah abiding for ever, on the other, so that fountains of blessing from His house shall flow, symbolized by waters, milk, and new wine. References to the law, on which all the prophets lean, occur: Joe 2:13, compare Exo 34:6; Exo 32:14; Exo 2:28, compare Num 11:29, fulfilled in the pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit in part (Act 2:16; Act 2:21; Act 21:9; Joh 7:39), but awaiting a further fulfillment just before Israel’s restoration, when "the Spirit shall be poured upon all flesh" (of which the outpouring on all classes without distinction of race is the earnest: Act 2:28; Act 2:38; Rom 10:12-13; Zec 12:10; Joe 2:23). Also Joe 3:19-21, compare Deu 32:42-43, the locusts, of which it is written "there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be" (Joe 2:2, compare Exo 10:14).
Pusey translates Joe 2:23 ("the former rain moderately") "He hath given you (in His purpose) the Teacher unto righteousness," namely, who" shall bring in everlasting righteousness" (Daniel 9). This translation is favored by the emphasis on
4. 1Ch 4:35; 1Ch 4:41-43.
5. 1Ch 5:4.
6. 1Ch 5:11-12.
7. 1Ch 7:3-4.
8. 1Ch 11:38; in 2Sa 23:36 IGAL.
9. 1Ch 15:7; 1Ch 15:11-12; 1Ch 23:8; 1Ch 26:22.
10. 1Ch 27:20.
13. Neh 11:3-4; Neh 11:9.
Joel, Book of. It may be divided into two parts: I. 1-2:17 describes a sore judgment which is to come upon the land, and is used as a call to repentance. II. 2:18-3:21 contains the blessings which Jehovah will confer upon the chosen people, and announces when the Messiah has come, the outpouring of the Spirit and the complete conquest of Judah over her foes, resulting in absolute and unbreakable peace. The second chapter contains a prophecy of a terrible plague of locusts, but a symbolical use is made of the incursion to foretell the attack of Judah’s foes. Joel’s style is classical; "it is elegant and perspicuous, and at the same lime nervous, animated, and sublime."—Ayre. The fulfillment of his Messianic prophecies is noticed in the New Testament. Act 2:16-21; Rom 10:13.
[Jo’el]
1. Eldest son of Samuel: he and his brother Abiah acted as judges; their corrupt practices were the plea upon which Israel demanded a king. 1Sa 8:2; 1Ch 6:33; 1Ch 15:17. Apparently Joel is called VASHNI in 1Ch 6:28; but it is possible that the word Joel has dropped out: the passage would then read "the firstborn Joel, and ’the second’ Abiah," as in the R.V.
2. Prince in the tribe of Simeon. 1Ch 4:35.
3. A Reubenite, father of Shemaiah, or Shema. 1Ch 5:4; 1Ch 5:8.
4. A chief man among the Gadites. 1Ch 5:12.
5. Son of Azariah, a Kohathite. 1Ch 6:36.
6. Son of Izrahiah, a descendant of Issachar. 1Ch 7:3.
7. One of David’s mighty men. 1Ch 11:38.
8. A chief of the sons of Gershom. 1Ch 15:7; 1Ch 15:11.
9. Son of Jehieli, and descendant of Laadan, a Gershonite. 1Ch 23:8; 1Ch 26:22.
10. Son of Pedaiah, of the tribe of Manasseh. 1Ch 27:20.
11. Son of Azariah, a Kohathite of Hezekiah’s time. 2Ch 29:12.
12. One who had married a strange wife. Ezr 10:43.
13. Son of Zichri, and overseer of the Benjamites in Jerusalem. Neh 11:9.
14. Son of Pethuel: the prophet. Joe 1:1.
By: Victor Ryssel, Emil G. Hirsch, M. Seligsohn
—1. Biblical Data:
The superscription of the second book of the so-called Minor Prophets names as the author of the book "Joel, the son of Pethuel." Further historical record is wanting. It is even impossible to get an idea of the prophet's personality from the contents of his book, because, in correspondence with its partly oratorical, partly visionary style, all personal traits have been omitted. Only this can be concluded from his writing, that he was a Judean and that at the time of his prophetical activity he lived in Jerusalem. On the other hand, imaginative suppositions try to prove from passages like Joel i. 9, 13; ii. 17 that he belonged to the tribe of Levi.
—Critical View:
The name "Joel" was quite common, being borne by the first-born son of Samuel (I Sam. viii. 2), and by prominent Levites of the time of David (I Chron. vi. 18 et seq.) and of Hezekiah (II Chron. xxix. 12). "Joel" means "Yhwh is God" (comp. Ps. l. 1; Jer. xxii. 24); it is, therefore, the transposed form of 
. In the face of this clearly recognizable and wholly appropriate meaning of the name, it is not necessary to suppose (with Baudissin) that it is the jussive of 
(= "may He [i.e., God] prove"); nor (with Nestle) that it is the participle of 
, which, corresponding to the proper names 
or 
(Arabic, "wa'il") occurring often in the Sinaitic inscriptions, is supposed to mean "strong-willed." The fact that 
is found also as a Phenician proper name (see "C. I. S." 132), proves nothing against the most natural interpretation of the name.
What non-Biblical sources tell of the prophet belongs to the realm of fable. According to pseudo-Epiphanius (ii. 245), Joel was from the town Bethor of the tribe of Reuben; but according to the Syrian pseudo-Epiphanius, the true reading is "Bet Me'on" (to be read instead of 
), the place mentioned in the Mesha inscription (line 9) as Moabitic, but which, according to Josh. xiii. 17, originally belonged to Reuben.
Bibliography:
See bibliography under Joel, Book of.
V. Ry.
2. Eldest son of Samuel and father of Heman the singer (I Sam. viii. 2; I Chron. vi. 18 [A. V. vi. 33]). His name is omitted in I Chron. vi. 13 (A. V. vi. 28); the word 
(= "and the second one"), corrupted into 
, is erroneously supposed to be the name given by the chronicler to the eldest son of Samuel. Joel and his younger brother Abiah, or Abijah, were made judges in Beer-sheba when Samuel was old and could no longer make his usual circuit (comp. I Sam. vii. 16, 17). They disgraced their office by taking bribes and perverting judgment; and their misdeeds provoked the people to ask for a king (ib. viii. 5 et seq.). For the different opinions of the Talmudists with respect to the sins of these two judges see Abijah in Rabbinical Literature.
3. An ancestor of Samuel who is mentioned in I Chron. vi. 21 (A. V. 36), and who in verse 9 (A. V. 24) is called "Shaul." 4. A Simeonite prince (ib. iv. 35). 5. A Reubenite; father of Shemaiah (ib. v. 4, 8). 6. A Gadite chief (ib. v. 12). 7. A chief of Issachar (ib. vii. 3). 8. One of David's mighty men, indicated as the brother of Nathan (ib. xi. 38). In the parallel list of II Sam. xxiii. 36 he is called "Igal, the son of Nathan." 9. A Gershonite Levite, a prince in the time of David (I Chron. xv. 7, xxiii. 8, xxvi. 22). 10. Son of Pedaiah; a Manassite chief in the time of David (ib. xxvii. 20). 11. A Kohathite Levite in the time of Hezekiah (II Chron. xxix. 12; comp. No. 2, above). 12. One of those who married foreign wives (Ezra x. 43). 13. Son of Zichri; a Benjamite overseer after the Exile (Neh. xi. 9).
JOEL.—1. The prophet (see next article). Regarding his personal history we know nothing. 2. A son of Samuel (1Sa 8:2, 1Ch 6:28 [RV
(Hebrew: Jehovah is God)
Second in the list of the twelve Minor Prophets. No definite information about his life has been trans.mitted to us. We may conclude that he was a Judean by birth, because his ministry seems limited to Juda and Jerusalem. The time when he exercised his ministry is a matter of much dispute. The dates assigned range from 837 BC to 400 BC. The most probable theory attaches his work to the reign of King Azarias, 789-738 BC, relying on the place traditionally assigned to him in the list of the minor prophets, where he stands between Osee and Amos. The opening verses of both these books name Azarias as the king under whom they preached. Besides which some passages are so identical in Joel 3, and Amos 1, as to appear evident citations; after weighing the peculiarities of the context it seems that Amos borrows from Joel. Hence Joel was a contemporary of Osee and Amos, but a little in advance of them. The book of Joel consists of four chapters in the Hebrew; but only three in the English Bible. The Hebrew adds no material; it merely divides our second chapter into two. It opens with a magnificent description of the dreadful havoc wrought by a plague of locusts (1:1 to 2:11), then invites all to repent and implore God’s mercy (2:12-17), whereupon the Lord promises fertility and victory (2:18-27); and for a later period, He adds the prospect of the abundant pouring out of the spirit of God on His people, while judgment will be visited upon the hostile nations in the Valley of Josaphat (2:28 to 3:21). All but a few admire the literary unity of the composition, and infer that the prophet committed his message to writing at the close of his life. His style is almost classic; his thoughts are gracefully woven together; his language is clear, fluent, elegant. The interpretation, however, is quite difficult; not in consequence of the language, but of the things expressed. For instance, whether the plague of the locusts is to be taken in an historical or a metaphoric sense. Joel is the prophet of repentance in view of the Lord’s Day. The canonical authority of Joel is proclaimed in the New Testament by Saint Peter who quotes Joel 2:28 and 32 (Acts 2); and by Saint Paul who quotes Joel 2:32 (Romans 9). Portions of the Book of Joel are used in the Office, Tuesday and Wednesday of the fourth week of November, and in the Mass, Ash Wednesday; antiphon, 2:13; response, 2:17; lectio, 2:12-19; Friday in Ember Week of Pentecost, lesson, 2:23-24 and 26-27; Saturday in Ember Week of Pentecost, first lesson, 2:28-32.
The son of Phatuel, and second in the list of the twelve Minor Prophets. Nothing is known of his life. The scene of his labours was the Southern Israelite Kingdom of Juda, and probably its capital Jerusalem, for he repeatedly refers to temple and altar. The frequent apostrophes to the priests (1:9, 13-14; 2:17) also lead to the inference that Joel himself was of priestly descent. CONTENTS OF JOELThe seventy-three verses of this small book, in the Massoretic text of the Old Testament, are divided into four, and in the Septuagint and Vulgate into three, chapters, the second and third chapters of the Massoretic text forming one chapter, the second in the Septuagint and Vulgate.The contents of the Prophecy of Joel may be regarded, taken altogether, as a typical presentation in miniature of the chief themes of prophetic discourse: sombre warnings of the judgment of Jahweh, intended to rouse the people from the existing moral lethargy, and joyful, glowingly expressed tidings of Jahweh’s work of salvation, designed to keep alive the faith in the coming of the Kingdom of God. These two fundamental thoughts seem to be united, as the misfortunes of the judgment are a process of purification to prepare the people for the reception of salvation, and are in reality only one aspect of the Divine work of redemption. In the first main division of the Book of Joel (1:2-2:17) the prophecies are threatenings of the day of judgment; the prophecies in the second division, which embraces the rest of the book (2:18-3:21), are consolatory descriptions of the day of grace. The first section is further divided into two discourses on the judgment: Chapter 1:2-20, describes a terrible scourge, a plague of locusts, with which the Prophet’s land had been visited; these pests had so completely devoured the fields that not even the material for the meat- and drink-offerings existed. For this reason the priests are to utter lamentations and to ordain a fast. Chapter 2:1-17, repeats the same thought more emphatically: all these plagues are only the forerunners of still greater scourges in the day of the Lord, when the land of the Prophet shall become a wilderness. The people must, therefore, return to Jahweh, and the priests must entreat the Lord in the holy place. the prophecies in the second section are also divided into two discourses: in 2:18-32, the Lord is appeased by the repentance of the nation and gives the blessing of bounteous harvests. Just as in the earlier part the failure of the harvests was a type and foreshadowing of the calamity in the day of judgment, so now the plenty serves as an illustration of the fullness of grace in the kingdom of grace. The Lord will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, and all who call upon His name shall be saved. In chapter 3:1-21, the redemption of Israel is, on the other hand, a judgment upon the heathen nations: the Lord will take vengeance, in the four quarters of the earth, upon those who tyrannized over His people, upon the Philistines, Phoenicians, Edomites, and Egyptians, for the nations are ripe for the harvest in the valley of Josaphat. LITERARY AND THEOLOGICAL CHARACTER OF JOELExamined as to logical connexion, the four discourses of Joel show a closely united, compact scheme of thought. In regard to form they are a Biblical model of rhetorical symmetry. The law of rhetorical rhythm, which as the law of harmony regulates the form of the speeches, also shows itself, particularly, in the regular alternation of descriptions in direct or indirect speech, as in the sections given in the first or third person, and in the apostrophes in the second person singular and plural. The first two speeches are alike in construction: 2:1-11 resembles 1:2-12, and 2:12-17, is like 1:13-20. Also in the latter two speeches there is a verbal similarity along with the agreement in thought; cf. in 3:17 and 2:27, the like expression. The language of Joel is full of colour, rhetorically animated, and rhythmic. The passages from 1:13 sq., and 2:17, are still used in the Liturgy of the Church during Lent. His prophecy of the pouring out of the spirit upon all flesh (2:28-32) was afterwards adopted as the first Biblical text of the first Apostolic sermon (Acts 2:16-21). Joel’s discourses of the day of judgment, and of the abundance of grace which Jahweh in the fullness of time shall bestow from Sion form one of the most beautiful pages in the eschatology of the Prophets. Some of his fiery pictures seem even to have been borrowed by the writer of the Apocalypse of the New Testament (cf. Joel 3:13, and Apocalypse 14:15).The swarm of locusts, which has so frequently received a symbolical interpretation, is no apocalyptic picture; neither is it a description of the progress of a hostile army under the figure of the imaginary advance of locusts. The passages in 2:4-7, "They shall run like horsemen . . . like men of war they shall scale the wall", make it absolutely certain that a hypothetical swarm of locusts was not taken as a symbol of a hostile army, but that, on the contrary, a hostile army is used to typify an actual swarm of locusts. Consequently, Joel refers to a contemporary scourge, and in the rhetorical style of prophecy passes from this to the evils of the day of judgment. DATE OF THE PROPHECY OF JOELThe most difficult problem in the investigation of Joel is the date, and the many hypotheses have not led to any convincing result. The first verse of the book does not convey, as other prophetic books do, a definite date, nor do the discourses contain any references to the events of the period, which might form a basis for the chronology of the Prophet. General history took no notice of plagues of locusts which were of frequent occurrence, and it is an arbitrary supposition to interpret the swarm of locusts as the Scythian horde, which, according to Herodotus (I, 103 sqq.; IV, i), devastated the countries of Western Asia from Mesopotamia to Egypt between the years 630-620 B.C. The Book of Joel has been variously ascribed to nearly all the centuries of the prophetic era. Rothstein even goes so far as to assign the discourses to various dates, an attempt which must fail on account of the close connexion between the four addresses. The early commentators, in agreement with Jerome, placed the era of composition in the eighth century B.C.; they took Joel, therefore, as a contemporary of Osee and Amos. In justification of this date they pointed out that Joel is placed among the twelve Minor Prophets between Osee and Amos; further, that among the enemies of Juda the book does not mention the Assyrians, who were anathematized by each Prophet from the time they appeared as a power in Asia. However, in a book of three chapters not much weight can be attached to an argument from silence. Those also who agree in placing the book before the Exile do not agree in identifying the king in whose reign Joel lived. The assignment to the period of King Josias is supported by the fact that Joel takes for his theme the day of the Lord, as does the contemporary Prophet Sophonias; to this may be added that the anathema upon the Egyptians may be influenced by the battle of Mageddo (608 B.C.). Later commentators assign the book to the period after the Exile, both because chapter iii assumes the dispersal of the Jews among other nations, and because the eschatology of Joel presupposes the later period of Jewish theology. It is, however, impossible for Joel to have been a contemporary of the Prophet Malachias, because of the manner in which the former looks upon the priests of his period as perfect leaders and mediators for the nation. None of the chronological hypotheses concerning Joel can claim to possess convincing proof.----------------------------------- See the introductions to the Scriptures of CORNELY, VIGOUROUX, GIGOT, DRIVER, CORNILL, and STRACK. For special questions: PEARSON, The Prophecy of Joel (Leipzig, 1885); SEBÖK, Die syrische Uebersetzung der XII kleinen Propheten (Leipzig, 1887); KESSNER, Das Zeitalter des Propheten Joel (Leipzig, 1888); SIEVERS, Alttest. Miscellen (Leipzig, 1907). Commentaries on Joel.--Catholic: SCHOLZ (Würzburg, 1885); KNABENBAUER (Paris, 1886); VAN HOONACKER (Paris, 1908); Protestant: SMITH (London, 1897); DRIVER (Cambridge, 1898); ADAMS (London, 1902); NOWACK (2nd ed., Göttingen, 1903); MARTI (Tübingen, 1904); EISELEN (New York, 1907); ORELLI (3rd ed., Munich, 1908). Further bibliography in commentaries. MICHAEL FAULHABER Transcribed by Thomas J. Bress The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VIIICopyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
(1) The firstborn of Samuel (1Sa 8:2; 1Ch 6:33 (Hebrew 18), and supplied in the Revised Version (British and American) of 1Ch 6:28, correctly).
(2) A Simeonite prince (1Ch 4:35). (3) A Reubenite chief (1Ch 5:4, 1Ch 5:8).
(4) A Gadite chief, perhaps the same as (3) (1Ch 5:12). He might be the chief of “a family or clan whose members might be reckoned as belonging to either or both of the tribes” (Curtis, Chronicles, 122).
(5) A Levite ancestor of Samuel (1Ch 6:36 (Hebrew 21), called “Shaul” in 1Ch 6:24 (Hebrew 9)).
(6) A chief of Issachar (1Ch 7:3).
(7) One of David’s mighty men (1Ch 11:38), brother of Nathan. 2Sa 23:36 has “Igal son of Nathan,” and the Septuagint’s Codex Vaticanus has “son” in 1 Chronicles, a reading which Curtis adopts. See IGAL.
(8) A Levite (1Ch 15:7, 1Ch 15:11, 1Ch 15:17), probably the Joel of 1Ch 23:8 and 1Ch 26:22.
(9) David’s tribal chief over half of Manasseh (1Ch 27:20).
(10) A Levite of Hezekiah’s time (2Ch 29:12).
(11) One of those who had married foreign wives (Ezr 10:43) = “Juel” of 1 Esdras 9:35.
(12) A Benjamite “overseer” in Jerusalem (Neh 11:9).
(13)
(ἸùÞë)
Joel is proved by internal evidence to have been one of the latest of the Hebrew prophets. The prominence in his writings of priests and ritual at home, and of a diaspora abroad, his reference to the distant sons of Greece, his use of Aramaic words, and the lurid apocalyptic colouring of his prophecies, clearly point to the Persian period. But Joel has not the wide outlook of some of the other prophets. He is not fascinated either by Isaiah’s visions of Israel as the light of the Gentiles, or Malachi’s of the heathen waiting upon Jahweh. He has not the humanitarian feeling of the author of Jonah, who may have been his contemporary. He is a rigid and exclusive Israelite. In his view the heathen, as being apparently beyond redemption, are to be destroyed, not to be won to the knowledge of God. But if he is narrow, he is intense; and while he cherishes the priestly ideals, his hope for Israel lies rather in such a diffusion of the prophetic spirit as shall create an inspired nation. Nothing less will satisfy him than the fulfilment of Moses’ wish: ‘Would to God that all Jahweh’s people were prophets.’ For him the goal of Hebrew history, the Divine event to which all things move, is that God shall, by the mighty working of His Spirit, so enlighten and control His people, so adapt them to share His confidence and receive His revelations, that the thrilling experiences which have hitherto been confined to the prophets shall then be shared by all Israel. ‘Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit’ (Joe_2:28-29).
This particular prophecy wins for Joel a prominent place in the NT. St. Peter at once recognized its fulfilment in that outpouring of the Spirit, that baptism of fire, that Divine intoxication, which was experienced on the day of Pentecost. He quoted the prophet’s words, and the question naturally arises how he interpreted ‘upon all flesh.’ Was he, like the prophet himself, still a particularist, extending the promised blessing to all the Jews of the Diaspora, but limiting it to them, and so making the old distinction of lsrael from the heathen more marked than ever? Or did he there and then change his standpoint so as to include the nations in his purview? Did he in that hour of inspiration read into Joel’s words the later universalism of St. Paul? Probably the issue did not become clear to his mind so soon. It was not a day for correct definitions but for overwhelming impressions. Enough that to the effusion of the Spirit there was meantime no limit of sex (‘your sons and your daughters’), of age (‘your young men, your old men’), or of condition (‘my bondmen and my bondwomen’). Time would also show that there was to be no limit of race (Jew or Gentile); for however men (even prophets) may limit ‘all flesh,’ to Christ and His Church it means ‘all humanity.’
James Strahan.
Unlike most of the other prophets, Joel does not state the period during which he preached. This is no great hindrance to the reader, for the book is largely concerned with just one incident, a severe locust plague. The setting appears to be Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside.
Background and meaning
One possible date for the book is about 835-830 BC, during the reign of the boy-king Joash. This would explain why there is no mention of oppressive enemy nations such as Syria, Assyria and Babylon, which are constantly mentioned in the other prophets, for at that time those nations had not begun to interfere in Judean affairs. It would also explain why Joel makes no mention of the reigning Judean king, for the government was largely in the hands of the priest Jehoiada (2 Kings 11; 2Ki 12:1). The prominence of Jehoiada could partly account for Joel’s interest in the temple and its services (Joe 1:9; Joe 1:13; Joe 2:12; Joe 2:15-17).
An alternative suggestion is that the book belongs to the period after Judah’s return from captivity. On this theory the most likely time of writing is either 520-510 BC, after the ministry of Haggai and Zechariah and the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple (Ezr 5:1-2; Ezr 5:15), or about 400 BC, a generation or so after the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah (Neh 8:1-3; Neh 8:9; Neh 13:30).
Joel interpreted the locust plague as God’s judgment on Judah for its sin. He urged the people to repent, confident that God would renew his blessing upon them. God would not only renew their crops but also give them a greater knowledge of himself (Joe 2:12-14; Joe 2:23-27).
According to Joel’s view, these events were symbolic of God’s future blessing upon all his people and his judgment upon all his enemies. In New Testament times Peter saw a fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy in the events that resulted from Jesus’ death and resurrection. A new age had dawned, the Spirit had come upon all God’s people, and judgment had become certain for all God’s enemies (Joe 2:28-32; Act 2:14-21).
Summary of contents
In very lively fashion, Joel describes the devastating effects of the locust plague, firstly upon the farmers and other country people (1:1-20), then upon the citizens of Jerusalem (2:1-11). He calls the people to gather at the temple and repent (2:12-17), and offers hope for renewed productivity in their fields and vineyards (2:18-27).
A far greater blessing, however, will be the gift of God’s Spirit, enabling the people to know and obey him better (2:28-32). The locust plague and its removal picture the greater judgment and greater blessing yet to come (3:1-21).