1. Joel’s messages are powerfully relevant in our day as we face personal and local calamities (locust storms) while fully aware that there are bigger and even more traumatic personal, community, national and even international traumas ahead (invading armies).
2. These Messages are beautifully crafted poetically and that enhances their spirituality that is as relevant to Yahweh’s people in our day as much as it has been throughout the generations and in all cultures and circumstances. The Messages though, do need to be expanded and explained before they can be related to the different situations Yahweh’s people face today. That relating, however, needs to be in the form of discussions so hearers ‘own’ the messages and understand them. Then they will be equipped to put those messages into practice in their personal and communal lives and circumstances.
3. The extensive use of figures of speech, especially metaphors, that are set in a poetic structure are tools that enable Joel to express something of the feelings, attitude and expectations of the ordinary people living in the same times and circumstances of the apostate rulers that feature in the narrative sections of OT. See ‘Window 3 – Metaphors’ in Introduction to Psalm Insights.
4. I think it likely that these Messages as presented by Joel, were something like a ‘handout’ or resumé that preachers and Bible teachers sometimes use today. Joel set them in a traditional Hebrew poetic, memorisable form, just as the psalms are, to facilitate recollection, review and discussion.
5. I think it is reasonable to believe that Joel and probably teams of other prophets spread out to visit communities throughout the nation sharing Message 1, discussing its meaning and implications, answering questions and then leaving with them a copy of Joel’s poem so they could continue to reflect on what they had heard. Further visits would convey Messages 2, 3 and finally 4.
6. It is interesting to discover that a varied poetic structure is used in each Message though the underlying principles are the same. This adds to the body of knowledge about Hebrew poetry that is available from the study of the Psalms and even other OT Scriptures.[1]
7. The name Joel means, ‘Yahweh is God’ and is quite common. It occurs 20 times in OT referring to maybe 11 different men but they all appear in lists only, so nothing is known of any of them. All we know of the author of this book is that his father was Pethuel, and he is the only man to bear that name. This lack of information I take to be by Yahweh’s inspiration as Yahweh does not want us to focus on learning about and understanding ancient history. Rather, Yahweh wants us to take the experiences and learning of Yahweh’s people of old and apply them to our own situations without any distractions.
8. Joel’s ministry cannot be linked to that of other prophets nor to specific biblical incidents but he undoubtably lived in the era of the divided kingdom that is covered in 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
9. The use of both ‘Judah’ and ‘Israel’ to refer to the nation (see Message 3, notes 37-38) suggest he lived in the later years of this period.
10. Then, if the ‘northern army’ really is Assyria that suggests a date of 900-720 BC for the setting of Joel’s messages but that can only be a presumption as Assyria is not actually named by Joel. If the assumption that Joel’s message was widely distributed and studied throughout the nation and, as other nations are named, perhaps it was prudent not to name Assyria for fear of repercussions if copies came to the notice of hostile authorities.
11. Throughout the centuries from Solomon’s reign, starting about 970 BC, to the Babylonian captivity in 720 BC the narrative in Kings and Chronicles focuses on political and national issues and especially the spiritual failures of those in power and leadership. Judah had 20 rulers that included one queen while Israel had 19 kings. Only 7 kings of Judah and none of Israel are recorded as being godly and having Yahweh’s approval. Virtually the only glimpses into the lives of ordinary citizens are in the ministry of the prophets Elijah and Elisha but even there, the focus is primarily on the out-of-the-ordinary miracles that were performed.
12. Though set somewhere in this same period, Joel is different. There is no mention of national concerns nor of kings and rulers. In Joel, leadership is in the hands of ‘elders.’[2] Joel focuses on the situation, needs and hopes of the general population. This was life as it was really lived by ‘the man in the street,’ though ‘man in the field’ would suit better the subsistence farming communities of Joel’s era. It is about the people’s concern about survival – and in particular – did they have enough crops to stave off starvation and enable their families to flourish? It is evident in Joel that religious observances were an important part of their lives. There is no hint of the apostacy and worship of foreign gods that preoccupies royalty and the ruling elite in the narrative in Kings and Chronicles. Joel makes no complaint about sinfulness either personal or national.
13. The spirituality and Yahweh-fearing concerns of ‘ordinary’ folk as featured in Joel do, however, feature in some psalms, see for example:
Psalm 91, for example, seems to have been written by an older subsistent farmer who reflects on the way he coped with the many stresses and potential catastrophes he lived through knowing that Yahweh was always with him, guiding and helping. It is a powerful testimony of a godly man who accepted he therefore had a role in training younger generations in a similar style of life.
Psalm 13 recounts the faith of someone who has been through severe suffering and feels totally let down by Yahweh – but still trusts.
Psalm 66 reveals an amazing work of God when followers of Yahweh reached out to immigrant foreigners to show them that Yahweh could be their God too.
14. In 1 Kings 19, Elijah complained to Yahweh, ‘I am the only one left!’ (verses 10 and 14) but Yahweh informed him of, ‘seven thousand in Israel – all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him’ (verse 18). I suspect that they were not the only such group. Perhaps there were in every generation similar groups of committed followers of Yahweh. The absence of any details cannot be taken as evidence they did not exist.
15. We do have though, the story of Elkanah and Hannah, the parents of the prophet Samuel, set in an earlier time, around 1100 BC. They demonstrate spiritual awareness and devotion, and this was at a time when the priesthood was in the hands of men who abused their role (1 Samuel 1:1-2:25).
16. And Obadiah, evil King Ahab’s palace steward, was a ‘devout believer’ who put his life at risk in hiding and feeding 100 prophets of Yahweh (I Kings 18:1-14).
17. That was necessary because Jezebel, Ahabs’ wife, was allowed by the King to orchestrate the murder of Yahweh’s prophets in favour of Baal the god she worshipped. If Obadiah saved a hundred prophets without arousing suspicion, it suggests there were many hundreds of prophets in the country.
18. Approximately 25 individual prophets are mentioned in OT, though not all are named and there was even a ‘school of prophets,’[3] that numbered 50 and 100 on occasion.
19. Further evidence of a significant body of devoted Yahweh followers is, I believe in the very existence of the OT Scriptures. The individual books would have been written independently for the needs of the original recipients. Only the ten commandments were written on stone (Exodus 31:18, 32:15-16, 19, 34:1-4, 27-28), unlike other contemporaneous civilisations, as the primary role was not preservation for future generations. All the OT documents were ‘working documents’ needed and wanted by those of Yahweh’s people who sought to live out Yahweh’s teaching such as Deuteronomy 6:6-7, 18-20:
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Do what is right and good in Yahweh’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that Yahweh promised on oath to your ancestors, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as Yahweh said. In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws Yahweh our God has commanded you?’ tell him…
20. Scrolls made of papyrus reeds were used but as such scrolls, with regular use, would have a life of a few decades at best, there would have been something of an industry copying and distributing them throughout the nation. There is plenty of internal evidence that written records were kept – see for example Deuteronomy 17:18-20, 31:19-32:47, Joshua 18: 3-10, Ezra 1:1-4, 4:6-6:12, 7:11-26, Esther 3:12-14, 8:8-10, Job 13:6, Isaiah 8:1, 10:19, 30:8, 44:5, Jeremiah 30:1-2, 36:1-32, Ezekiel 37:15-16, 43:10-11, Habakkuk 2:2. So, with the natural and widespread ability to hear and accurately recall verbal messages that pertained prior to the development of printing one copy of such a document for a family or even a local community would be adequate.
21. This was the time when the narrative texts such as Kings and Chronicles and many of the books of the prophets came into being and all the earlier Scriptures had to be preserved. This was all done by hand. Texts were written on papyrus scrolls. These precious documents were meticulously copied and distributed throughout the nation.
22. It seems unlikely that the largely apostate kings and their entourage would have taken any interest in this. In support of this understanding there is the story recorded in 2 Kings 22-23 about the unexpected discovery of a copy of ‘the Book of the Law’ in the Temple during the reign of Josiah. This supports the understanding that there was a significant divide between the idol-worshipping, degenerate and self-centred rulers and their entourage and the common people that included pockets of deeply spiritual people and their guides/teachers (the prophets) who avidly studied Scripture and did their best to live by its teaching so valued their collections of scrolls.
23. Many of the Psalms and the prophetic books refer to godly people who valued highly the Scriptures that were available to them. Psalm 119, for example, has 176 poetic lines and all but a few – less than 10 but the actual number varies between translations – refer to Yahweh’s Word using about 15 different expressions such as precept, command and promise and Psalm 19 revels in a reflection on how both creation and Scripture are Yahweh’s revelation of himself to his people.
24. The very fact that these psalms were written, distributed and preserved surely is evidence of the high regard there was for Scripture throughout the generations, amongst some of the people at least.
25. Such godly people are the reason such texts have been preserved. We can, very likely, discount the role of the kings (even though they were supposed to write out personally their own copy of the law and read it daily (Deuteronomy 18:18-19).
26. So, we are left with the common people. The evidence in Scripture as listed above strongly suggest that there were groups of spiritual people who valued highly the Scriptures and who followed the religious practices that were promoted in the Pentateuch.
27. I believe that in the book of Joel we are privileged to have insight into their lives, their faith and their lived experiences of Yahweh’s presence, guidance and help. The primary focus in these studies therefore, is to try to understand Joel’s messages as the original audiences would have received them.
28. That will then enhance our understanding and avoid, hopefully, any misunderstanding.
29. In our Western, ‘advanced’ culture it is so easy to take Scripture for granted, devalue it and listen to louder voices blaring into our souls. We do that, though, at our spiritual peril.
30. OT books that relate to this time relate primarily to what was happening with Yahweh’s people, Israel. They were written for the people of the day so much of the background information that we need was understood and did not need to be referenced. However, if we wish to understand books like Joel as the author intended them to be understood we need to take such background information into account. I have highlighted what I perceive to be relevant.
31. This is a basic concept of biblical interpretation. To appreciate Scripture in any depth it must be understood in its context before it is related to our own particular circumstances. This context includes comparing one text with another but also each part of Scripture needs to be understood in the context in which it was written: Who wrote it? What was its purpose? What were the historical and cultural circumstances in which it was set?
Endnotes
[1] For example, see Gordon J. Wenham, Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 1: Genesis 1-15, (Bungay, Word Publishing, 1987), pp. 155-157, where he demonstrates the poetic structure of the flood narrative; and Kenneth E. Bailey, The Good Shepherd: A thousand-year journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament, London, SPCK, 2015).
[2] This was the traditional leadership in local communities (Exodus 3:16). Their role is illustrated in texts such as Deuteronomy 19:12, 21:1-7 and Ruth 4:1-12. On occasion some had a national role (Exodus 18:12, 24:1, Numbers 11:16-17 and 1 Samuel 8:4). This role might be connected to the establishment of judges chosen to help Moses (Exodus 18:17-26)
[3] ‘School of prophets,’ or a similar descriptor are mentioned in 1 Samuel 10:5, 10, 19:18-24, 2 Kings 2:3-15, 4:38-44.
Written: 7 October 2026
Published: