Reading: Joel 1-3, Psalm 125
When I was a child, my mother read the Little House series of books to me, which recount the adventures of a late 19th century pioneer family through the eyes of one of their daughters, Laura. At one point in the story, the family appears to be on the edge of having the independent farm they have been searching for, when the country is struck with a horde of millions of grasshoppers. They eat the crops, then the trees and grasses, leaving nothing that grows. Then they lay eggs, so the family knows there will be another plague the next year. In the end, the plague’s consequences are so severe they have to leave the country and move to South Dakota. Sounds like exile to me.
The book of Joel opens with the story of a grasshopper, or locust, plague, and it’s really bad. The four kinds of locust in 1:4 are probably the maturity cycle of the insect. As locust grow, they consume more and more until the whole country is barren. This may be a lament after a specific locust plague, or it could have been illustrative. Locust were a known phenomenon in the ancient world, and they still plague the region today. The point is that Joel describes terrible calamity. There will be no wine, no crops, no fruit, no oil, no celebrations. The temple worship will grind to a halt for the lack of offerings. Planned marriages will be put off, the joy of the wedding denied. Gladness will dry up from the children of man. Joel is describing a catastrophe.
In the middle of chapter 1, in the best prophetic tradition, Joel issues a call to action. Put on sackcloth and lament, O priest! He calls for an assembly of the elder of Israel and the priests to lead the nation in repentance, though he has not made any specific accusations of national wrongdoing. At the beginning the second chapter, he describes another coming plague, but this one much worse. Where before the land was devastated by insects, now there is another kind of “locust” coming: an army on horses and chariots. Joel calls this the “Day of the Lord,” a day of judgment that will figure prominently in several of the minor prophets. The imagery of destruction is intense: the land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness. The army is described as unstoppable, going over walls and through windows, like locust would. In verse 11 the captain of this army is identified as none other than God himself.
The first half of Joel tells us that judgment both has come and is coming. He tells us of the prior judgment and makes a first call to repentance to the leadership, to the priests and elders. Then he predicts the coming judgment and calls a greater assembly of repentance. In 2:16 we see him call even the nursing mothers and those about to be married to come with all the people to national mourning and repentance. God has called the people to return to him. Joel does not give us specifics as to the people’s departure from the worship of the God of Israel, but his call to return and his preoccupation with the temple worship gives us a pretty good idea that things had gone sideways in Judah and he sees nasty consequences coming. Why? Joel has been reading the books of Moses. The image of locust in no accident. God promised to strike his people with the plagues of Egypt if they abandon his covenant.
Things are looking pretty bad, but Joel isn’t done. Look at his second call in 2:13. Rend your hearts, not your garments. Joel understands the God looks on the heart. His call is to go beyond formalism and show, and to actually repent. Joel doesn’t give us a story of that repentance taking place, though. Between the call to repentance that ends at 2:17 and the switch to God’s declaration of restoration that begins in 2:18 there is no indication that the people have actually done what they were called to do. Joel leaves it as an open question: will the people repent? Will the reader repent?
While that question remains open, the character of God is known. Again, Joel has been reading the books of Moses. He knows God will restore. The last half of chapter 2 is an unworking of the locust plague in chapter 1, and the promise of a glorious future for those who who call on the name of the Lord. Those who accept God as God will survive and thrive following the coming “Day of the Lord.” Some well known words appear near the end of chapter 2, with the promise of God to pour out my Spirit on all flesh, which is quoted by the apostle Peter at Pentecost. In the New Testament, we come to understand this is the coming of the Holy Spirit on those who accept Jesus as king and God. In Joel it is tied to God’s act of judgment on the “Day of the Lord,” and leads into the third chapter, which describes the terrible fate of those who persist in rejecting God’s rule.
As in Hosea, Joel describes the unworking of the curse and the fulfillment of Jerusalem’s destiny to be the throne of God as inseparable from justice being done upon the wicked. In 3:3 slave traders appear, who have so reduced the value of human life that they are gambling for God’s people. They are trading slave boys for the service of prostitutes, and selling girls for wine and getting drunk. These are people partying on the proceeds of child slavery. And they are doomed. In the prophets we see that God will punish the wicked. There is no universal forgiveness. This kind of behavior from the unrepentant will have horrific consequences, as it should.
Joel is a prophet of repentance, and offers hope to those who listen. He understands the God will restore because God said he would, but makes no bones about evil returning on the heads of those who persist in it. As we see fulfilled at Pentecost, God will pour my Spirit on all flesh. We should not forget that he will also avenge the blood I have not avenged.