03/08/2024 – Day 251 – Joel – Chapters 1 – 3 / “Joel prophesied about the future Day of the Lord in terms of a locust plague and the specific events that would accompany it. He spoke about God’s judgment of all the nations but also promised a renewed blessing in the land of Judah.” Intro – “The Apologetics Study Bible”
“The first chapter begins with : “A Plague of the Locusts”. This could have been an actual historical event or a symbolic foreshadowing of end times – “The Day of the Lord.” Our first cycle post of this reading, dated 01/23/2021, utilized “Halley’s Bible Handbook” summary commentary on this book. The 2nd cycle post, dated 11/05/2022 covers the concluding section 2:28 through the end of the book in 3:21. You can find this posts quickly by using the search tool on the respective post dates, or all in one if you search on: “Day 251”.
Today, I am going to share the rich commentary of this short book from : “The Apologetics Study Bible.”:
“1:15. Joel had a terrifying view of what he called “the Day of the Lord”. He used terms like ‘Woe!’ and ‘great and awe-inspiring’ (2:31) to describe it. The expression ‘Day of the Lord’ is know from other prophets, Also may have been the first to use it. He spoke of a time that the Israelites longed for without realizing its negative consequences for them. Apparently they thought it would be a time of ‘light’ and ‘brightness,’ whereas actually it was to be ‘darkness’ and glook’ (See Amos 5: 18-24). Both Joel and Amos mention a time of resoration after a period of judgment (Joel 3; Amos 9), so that some will be saved from God’s wrath. Joel emphasized the salvation aspect with his proclamation that ‘everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be saved’ (2:32).
For Joel the locust plague was so severe that he compared it to the coming Day of the Lord. Only complete repentance on the part of the people could give the nation any hope that the Lord might turn back from the judgment it represented. The plague could bring about a destruction that, for all practical purposes, would seem like the final judgment.”
“2:1. Pronouncements about the Day of the Lord often speak of its imminence – it will come soon., it is impending. Three times Joel declared that the day of the Lord was ‘near’ (1:15; 2:1; 3:14), and most of the other prophets who referred to the Day of the Lord also spoke of it as ‘near’ (Isaiah 13;6; Ezekiel 30:3; Obadiah 15; Zephaniah 1: 7-14). Zephaniah added that the day was ‘rapidly approaching.’ Since well more than two millennia have passed since these prophets wrote, it may seem strange that they used such an expression for an event that is yet to occur.
Christian interpreters who have pondered this biblical phenomenon have arrived at different explanations for it. One consideration is that , because the prophets who spoke of the imminence of the Day were themselves widely separated in time (spanning a period of 350 years or more), they did not mean that it would have to arrive within a few years. Their unified witness to the coming of the Day speaks not to its timing but of its certainty, and the foreboding associated with it. The devastating judgment could come at any time; this urgency was what they sought to convey.
The tension between the imminence and delay of the Day of the Lord is a question taken up in the New Testament. Peter pointed out that God’s timing may differ from human expectations, and that a delay in His timetable for judgment is due to His grace. He wants to afford every possible opportunity for people to repent before bringing the judgment (2 Peter 3: 8 – 10).”
“2: 18 – 27. The Lord responded to the people’s repentance, spared the land, and promised a new era of prosperity. After speaking of the ‘great army’ of destruction that the Lord had sent against Judah (v. 25), Joel turned to His promise of restoration (see 3:3). Many of the Minor Prophets stress that the Lord personally brings disaster for the purpose of punishment or judgment (e.g., Hosea 5:14; Joel 2:25; Amos 1:4; Micah 1:12; Nahum 1:2; Zephaniah 1:7; Haggai 2:17; Zechariah 8:10). In the prophetic worldview, God is ultimately behind everything that takes place, orchestrating the course of history, even when injustice is seemingly allowed to prevail.
An objectionable as such a view of history may appear to people with a modern Western worldview, the Bible clearly presents it. But lest that understanding of history be thought to attribute injustice to God, the Bible also recognizes more immediate causes could be the natural operating conditions of global life (severe weather, earth tremors, the cycles of living creatures such as locust(s) with which God would not interfere without disrupting the stability of His creation. Or they might be the cultural effects of human disregard of God’s directives for conduct and worship (e.g. social disintegration and inequality, violence, crime, international conflict). For Joel, both of these immediate causes combined to present a foretaste of divine judgment, which only God’s gracious purpose in the ultimate establishment of His kingdom can override.”
Soli Deo Gloria!