A Prophecy of Locusts and the Final Judgment

Yoel, meaning perhaps "Jah (Jehovah) is El (God)."

He was probably an inhabitant of the southern kingdom for he makes no mention of the northern tribes, and shows a great familiarity with the priests and the sacrifices.

Structure of Joel

Chapters 1 -to- 2:17. He describes an invasion of locusts, and urges repentance since this is a divinely-sent plague.

Chapters 2:18 -to- 3:21. Immediate and remote effects of this repentance:

2:18-27. God answers the repentant people; He will at once make up to them their losses from the locusts.

2:28-32. But in Messianic days He will pour out His spirit upon them and will especially protect those who call upon His Name,

3:1-21. Why this calling upon His Name will be necessary, and when.

It has long been disputed whether we are to understand the locusts figuratively or as an historical fact. But since in 2:18-19, the Prophet declares the divine answer to the repentant people, and, in 2:25, says that God has promised to make good their losses at the hands of the locusts, it seems to follow that the locusts were an historical and real plague. For if they had but prefigured the wrath of God, the answer to the prayers of the people would rather have been a promise that the plague thus prefigured should not be sent. But, at the same time that the locusts are historical, they are also prefigurative of the enemies whom God will assuredly send if penance is not done; and, as is so often the case with the Prophets, there is constant transition from the type to the thing signified. This may explain such passages as 2:20-25, etc., which have led some to see in the locusts only a figure and not a reality.

The Date of the Prophecy

(1) Amos 1:2, begins, abruptly, with Joel 3:16a. Further, he closes with words, Amos 9:15 taken from Joel 3:18. Amos 4:9 may possibly refer to the failure of the plague of locusts to bring about a permanent repentance, note that the word for locust used there only occurs in Joel 1:4 and 2:25.

(2) Jeremiah 25:30 may quote either Joel 3:16, or Amos 1:2.

(3) The Day of the Lord in Zephaniah 1:14-15 and Isaiah 13:6-10, may perhaps be a reminiscence of Joel 1:15, 2:10-11.

Since, then, Amos lived in the days of Ozias and Jeroboam II, i.e. about 800 B.C., it is a legitimate conclusion that the prophecy of Joel was written before that time. There are, however, certain difficulties in the way of accepting this date, and modern critics have assigned every century from the ninth to the fifth as the date of the Prophecy; it is usual nowadays, however, to refer the prophecy to the post-exilic period:

(a) There seems to be an allusion to a recent captivity in 3:1-2.

(b) In accordance with this we should notice the silence regarding the Ten Tribes; the absence of allusion to any king, we seem to be in the presence of a hierarchy only. Note also the absence of reference to idolatry or to the High Places.

(c) Note also the significant reference to "the Greeks" in Joel 3:6.

There can be no question that these arguments are weighty, especially the reference to the captivity. But it is questionable whether they can be allowed to outweigh those in favor of an earlier date. Thus:

(a) Obadiah (Abdias), Zephaniah (Sophonias), and Habakkuk (Habacuc) are equally silent regarding the Ten Tribes. Similarly, Jonah (Jonas), Nahum, and Habakkuk (Habacuc) are silent with regard to a king though the two former certainly lived under the monarchy.

(b) So also with regard to idolatry: Zephaniah (Sophonias) never mentions it; the High Places, too, are only mentioned by Hosea (Osee), Amos and Micah (Micheas), of the Minor Prophets.

(c) The reference to the Greeks is startling, but there is nothing to compel us to see in these Ionians (Javan) the people of classical Athens; these Ionians are mentioned in Genesis 10:2, the oldest chapter, possibly, in the Bible; they are also mentioned in the inscriptions of Sargon, 721-705 B.C. And the allusion to the Sabeans in the same passage of Joel must be taken into account; they are only mentioned in Job 1:15, and in Isaiah 45:29.

(d) Finally, it should be borne in mind that the prophecy of Joel is exceedingly brief; also that it is concerned with one solitary occasion, namely a plague of locusts. The only real parallel would be an isolated burden of Isaiah or Jeremiah.

We have already indicated certain affinities between this prophecy and those of Amos, Jeremias, and Zephaniah (Sophonias). It should further be pointed out that all through there is a remarkable similarity to Ezechiel, thus note 1:8, 1:18, 2:27, 3:17; according to the early date which we should feel inclined to assign to Joel, Ezechiel would be the borrower.

The main feature of Joel is his insistence on the final Judgment; to him, 3:2 and 3:12, we owe the idea that it will take place in the Valley of Josaphat. The great Messianic Prophecy of Joel is quoted by St. Peter in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost.

The Theocratic language in 2:1, 2:18, 2:26-27, 3:2, 3:16-17, 3:21, should be noted; also the frequent references to Sion as a Holy Place. That Joel was, like Amos, a husbandman, has been argued from such passages as 1:17-18, 2:22, 1:19-20.

by
Very Rev. Hugh Pope, O.P., S.T.M.
Doctor in Sacred Scripture,
Member of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, and
late Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Collegio Angelico, Rome.