THE IMAGE: Joel starts right off the bat by introducing us to the image that will serve as the plot for his prophecy. As we’ve pointed out time and time again, many of these prophetic voices will have a picture or an image that they like to use to communicate their message. Joel introduces us to the plot of God’s people by using the metaphor of a locust plague. In their day, locusts could migrate in these incredibly destructive waves that would blow in with the changes of the seasons. Unfortunately, these massive migrations of locusts have the potential of blowing through prior to the land’s harvest. If this took place, these armies of locusts could leave your entire nation barren and picked clean, destroying the produce of the land for that year’s harvest. Joel uses this image of destruction (maybe a literal image from current events — there’s no way to know for sure) to talk about what the Babylonians have done to the land of Israel.
Hear this, you elders;
listen, all who live in the land.
Has anything like this ever happened in your days
or in the days of your ancestors?
Tell it to your children,
and let your children tell it to their children,
and their children to the next generation.
What the locust swarm has left
the great locusts have eaten;
what the great locusts have left
the young locusts have eaten;
what the young locusts have left
other locusts have eaten.
THE INVITATION TO REPENT: After setting the stage and introducing the plot of Judah's demise, Joel then invites the people to respond with an appropriate amount of introspection and repentance. Pretty straightforward, not a whole lot to add.
Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn;
wail, you who minister before the altar.
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
you who minister before my God;
for the grain offerings and drink offerings
are withheld from the house of your God.
Declare a holy fast;
call a sacred assembly.
Summon the elders
and all who live in the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
A METAPHOR CONTINUED: Whether the return to the metaphor is simply a literary tool of poetry or whether the author is trying to imply that the people are not as responsive as he thinks they should be, Joel returns to the image of the locust plague to continue to make his point about God’s discipline among His people. Only this time, it’s becoming a little fuzzy — are we talking about armies of locusts or Babylonian armies?
At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
every face turns pale.
They charge like warriors;
they scale walls like soldiers.
They all march in line,
not swerving from their course.
They do not jostle each other;
each marches straight ahead.
They plunge through defenses
without breaking ranks.
They rush upon the city;
they run along the wall.
They climb into the houses;
like thieves they enter through the windows.
Before them the earth shakes,
the heavens tremble,
the sun and moon are darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.
The Lord thunders
at the head of his army;
his forces are beyond number,
and mighty is the army that obeys his command.
The day of the Lord is great;
it is dreadful.
Who can endure it?
THE PLEA: Again, the prophet pleads with the people to take what they can from this horrible situation. If they would consider their ways and consider their past actions, what would they find? If they would humble themselves, would it change their perspective?
“Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the Lord your God.
THE HOPE: The situation with God’s people is bad — horrible — but it is far from hopeless. God has not left their side and is not planning on deserting them in their future. In fact, God is at work in the midst of this locust plague. There’s something redemptive to be found in the destruction that the Babylonians have left behind. Joel insists on this throughout the rest of the book.
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—
the great locust and the young locust,
the other locusts and the locust swarm—
my great army that I sent among you.
You will have plenty to eat, until you are full,
and you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has worked wonders for you;
never again will my people be shamed.
Then you will know that I am in Israel,
that I am the Lord your God,
and that there is no other;
never again will my people be shamed.
“And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.”
This is how the message of the prophet generally functions. The problem and the plea to repent all couched in a metaphor to powerfully and poetically communicate the plot of God’s people. The crescendo into a glorious future if they will weather the storm of God’s discipline well. If they will walk forward humbly and overcome, resisting the urge to give up, on the other side they will find the LORD’s redemptive plan still at work among them and in the world.
The prophecy of Joel is bookended with the symbol of new wine. At the beginning of the work, Joel speaks of a people who were about to enjoy the fresh taste of new wine, only to have it snatched from their lips at the last moment. The prophecy will end with the vision of new wine dripping from the mountains and a river flowing from the temple and watering even the desert acacias. And we find ourselves confronted yet again with images that began our journey out of Egypt so long ago.
And that is what the woes of the prophets and the discipline of God are asking us.
Will we remember?
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