Joel – Message 1

Joel 1:1-15

Lamenting a National Catastrophe

Joel introduces his book with a description of a locust invasion and the trauma and suffering it caused. It is a lament about a national catastrophe but there are hints also, that this is to be taken as a metaphor that anticipates the trauma and suffering Yahweh’s people are going to experience from an invading army.

You may find it helpful to have an overview of the poetic layout of this message while reading through the following. Use the link to print (single A4 page) or view on a separate screen: Joel message 1 – overview.

A 1 The word of Yahweh
        that came to Joel son of Pethuel.		Yahweh speaks and provides his perception
of what the key issue of the day was about.
B2 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 forefathers?		Yahweh’s word is for both leaders and all the
people. It highlights that what is happening is
an unprecedented catastrophe (yet locust
invasions were not uncommon).
C3 Tell it to your children,
        and let your children tell it to their children,
and their children to the next generation.
4 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.		Parents, the guardians of the future generations,
must ensure their children grow up knowing this
message.
D5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep!
        Wail, all you drinkers of wine;
   wail because of the new wine,
         for it has been snatched from your lips.
6 A nation has invaded my land,
          powerful and without number;
   it has the teeth of a lion,
          the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vines
          and ruined my fig trees.
   It has stripped off their bark
          and thrown it away,
          leaving their branches white.		A special call to those who are wrapped up in their
own selfish and wasted lives.
X8 Mourn like a virgin in sackcloth
          grieving for the husband of her youth.
9 Grain offerings and drink offerings
           are cut of from the house of Yahweh.
The priests are in mourning,
     those who minister before Yahweh.
10 The fields are ruined,
           the ground is dried up; the grain is destroyed,
     the new wine is dried up,
           the oil fails.		A young woman who loses her husband before they
complete their marriage ceremony is used as an
example of a tragic loss that affects everyone and
not just the ones most significantly affected.
D111 Despair, you farmers,
          wail, you vine growers
    grieve for the wheat and the barley,
         because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
12 The vine is dried up
            and the fig tree is withered;
      the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree –
            the trees of the field – are dried up.
      Surely the joy of mankind
            is withered away.		A special call to the farmers, the core workers and
backbone of the economy and the army.
C113 Put on sackcloth, O 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.
14 Declare a holy fast;
              call a sacred assembly.		Priests, the guardians of the faith must set an
example and lead the people in worship and
repentance.
B1     Summon the elders
             and all who live in the land
     to the house of Yahweh your God,
             and cry out to Yahweh.		Yahweh’s calls both leaders and all the people to
gather at his place of worship and cry out to him.
A115 Alas for that day!
              For the day of Yahweh is near;
              it will come like destruction from the Almighty.		Yahweh’s word about the current destruction is a
forewarning of what is yet to come. It will not be
pleasant, it will involve destruction but Yahweh
the Almighty is in charge.

Notice how, in strophes C to D1 after the introduction, each strophe features a different aspect of the locust invasion and strophe D hints about the threatening army invasion.

Link to Joel – Message 2

Written: 16 February 2025

Published: 22 April 2025