PROPHET; HIS BOOK NAMES NO KING · TWO KINGDOMS

Joel. He called Judah to fast after the locusts, and spoke of the Spirit poured out on all flesh.

SCRIPTURE CALLS

Prophet

ERA

Two kingdoms 930–586 BC

IN THE DAYS OF

No ruler named beside him

BOOK

Joel

HOW THE WORD CAME

“The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.”

THE CALL

How the word came

  • “The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.” The book gives no date and no king. Joel 1:1
  • He calls the priests and the people to a fast and a solemn assembly in the house of the LORD. Joel 1:13–14 Joel 2:15–17

THE MESSAGE

The word in its main themes

The locusts

“Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation”

Joel 1:3 (KJV) →

The day of the LORD

“for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?”

Joel 2:11 (KJV) →

Rend your heart

“And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God”

Joel 2:13 (KJV) →

The years restored

“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten”

Joel 2:25 (KJV) →

The Spirit poured out

“I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy”

Joel 2:28 (KJV) →

The nations in the valley of decision

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision”

Joel 3:14 (KJV) →

THE WORD TO …

To whom the word was spoken

TO THE PRIESTS

“Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar”

Joel 1:13 (KJV) →

TO TYRE, ZIDON AND PHILISTIA

“Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine?”

Joel 3:4 (KJV) →

TO EGYPT AND EDOM

“Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness”

Joel 3:19 (KJV) →

WHAT CAME OF THE WORD

As Scripture reports it

THE WORD

SCRIPTURE REPORTS

THE BOOK

The book of Joel

  • 1 Locusts, drought, and the call to fast Joel 1:1–2:17
  • 2 The LORD's answer: the years restored Joel 2:18–27
  • 3 The Spirit poured out on all flesh Joel 2:28–32
  • 4 The nations judged; Judah for ever Joel 3:1–21

WHERE THE NEW TESTAMENT QUOTES IT · 2

Each band joins a chapter of Joel to the New Testament books quoting it (2 books).

COMPANIONS AND OPPONENTS

Who stood with him, and against him

Pethuel

His father

HOW THE STORY ENDS

Scripture says, tradition says

SCRIPTURE SAYS

  • From the textScripture says nothing of Joel beyond his father's name and his book. Joel 1:1

TRADITION SAYS

No tradition is recorded here.

OPEN QUESTIONS

Where readers have differed

Early, before Amos (in the reign of Joash or soon after)

K. A. Credner (1831), as reported by Driver (1891); E. B. Pusey (1860); A. F. Kirkpatrick (1892, “on the whole”), as reported by G. A. Smith (1898)

Pusey reasons that Amos opens with Joel's words (“The LORD will roar from Zion”) and ends with his promise of the mountains dropping new wine, so Joel's book was finished before Amos gathered his. Driver reports that Credner placed Joel in Joash's early reign, when the priest Jehoiada led and no king is named, and that “most scholars until recently acquiesced in his conclusion”. Amos 1:2 Joel 3:16 [8][1][7]

After the exile, in the Persian period

S. R. Driver (1891); G. A. Smith (1898)

Driver: Joel names no king, no Assyria or Babylon, and no northern kingdom, and speaks of Israel “scattered among the nations”; these features “turn the balance of evidence somewhat strongly in favour of the later date”. Smith places him among the prophets of the Persian period, “writing towards 400 B.C.”. Joel 3:2 [1][7]

The date cannot be proved

Kessner (1888), as reported by G. A. Smith (1898)

Smith notes that Kessner “deems the date unprovable”; Driver too says the date depends “entirely upon internal evidence”.[7][1]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 5

Joel 1 Joel 2 Joel 3 Acts 2 Romans 10

PASSAGES · 3

Joel 1:1–3:21 Acts 2:16–21 Romans 10:13

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • The book names no king and gives no date.
  • Scripture does not say where Joel lived, though his words centre on Zion and the house of the LORD.
  • Scripture does not record Joel's death; no tradition of it was found in the sources read.

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament (1891), pp. 203, 214–215 (Isaiah 36–39), 219–223 (Isaiah 40–66), 219 and 229 note 4 (the Servant), 282–283 (Hosea's heading), 287–292 (Joel).
  • J. A. Alexander, The Earlier Prophecies of Isaiah (1846), p. 23 (Isaiah 2:2–4 and Micah 4:1–3); pp. 114, 116, 121 (Isaiah 7:14); pp. 161, 166 (Isaiah 9:6); pp. 588–589 (Isaiah 36–39).
  • J. A. Alexander, The Later Prophecies of Isaiah (1847), Introduction, p. xix.
  • G. A. Smith, The Book of Isaiah, vol. I (The Expositor's Bible) (1888), pp. 115–117, 133–135, 140–141 (Immanuel and the Prince of the Four Names).
  • G. A. Smith, The Book of Isaiah, vol. II (The Expositor's Bible) (1890), ch. I, “The Date of Isaiah xl.–lxvi.”, pp. 3–13.
  • G. A. Smith, The Book of the Twelve Prophets, vol. I (The Expositor's Bible) (1896), pp. 236–239 (Hosea's marriage); pp. 365–366 (Micah 4:1–5).
  • G. A. Smith, The Book of the Twelve Prophets, vol. II (The Expositor's Bible) (1898), Preface; pp. 375–377, 439–440 (the date of Joel).
  • E. B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets, with a Commentary (1860), Introduction to the Prophet Joel.
  • C. F. Keil, tr. J. Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Minor Prophets, vol. I (1868), introduction, and on Hosea 1:2–3 (read on Bible Hub).
  • B. Duhm, Das Buch Jesaia, 2nd edition (first edition 1892) (1902), Einleitung (Tritojesaia, chapters 56–66).
  • G. L. Robinson, “Isaiah”, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. III (1915), §5, p. 1496 (his martyrdom); §9, pp. 1504–1508 (the critical problem; Ecclesiasticus and “the Holy One of Israel”).
  • R. H. Charles (tr.), The Ascension of Isaiah (1900), Introduction pp. xi–xii, xliv–xlvi; text 5:1–14, p. 40.
  • Justin Martyr, tr. M. Dods and G. Reith, Dialogue with Trypho (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1) (1885), chs. 43, 67, 77, 84, 120.
  • Tertullian, tr. S. Thelwall, Scorpiace (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3) (1885), ch. 8.
  • Origen, tr. F. Crombie, Letter to Africanus (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4) (1885), §9.
  • Origen, tr. F. Crombie, Against Celsus, book 1 (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 4) (1885), 1.55.
  • E. G. Hirsch, T. K. Cheyne, I. Singer and I. Broydé, “Isaiah”, Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 6 (1904), pp. 635–636.
  • K. Budde, K. Kohler and L. Ginzberg, “Amos”, Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 1 (1901), pp. 530–533.
  • E. G. Hirsch and V. Ryssel, “Hosea, the Prophet”, Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 6 (1904), p. 473.
  • I. Singer, M. Seligsohn, S. Schechter and E. G. Hirsch, “Micah”, Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (1904), pp. 533–534.
  • D. D. Luckenbill, The Annals of Sennacherib (Oriental Institute Publications 2) (1924), pp. 32–34 (Oriental Institute Prism, col. III).

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