We don’t really know when Joel lived. Tradition places him at the time of Hosea and Amos, just before the Assyrian conquest. However, his emphasis on the priesthood instead of the monarchy makes some believe he lived during the Persian Empire (100-200 years later). There are no archeological references to him and no clues inside the book itself except the mention of a plague of locusts, something that happened several times in the Old Testament time period. I tend to lean to the traditional time frame because that has been set in place since 100BC and I think they had a better chance of knowing when Joel lived just because they were closer in time than we do some 2200-2500 years later.
Joel means “Yahweh is God.” He lived in Judea and Jerusalem.
Chapter 1- The Locust are Coming
1 The word of the I AM that came to Joel the son of Pethuel.
The only other place a Pethuel is mentioned in scripture is Samuel’s son. Whatever the date of Joel, he was too far away to be Samuel’s grandson.
2 Listen up you old men, and give ear, everyone who lives in the land! Has this ever happened before, either in your life time or that of your ancestors?
God is fixing to send events to the land of Judah unlike any in the memory of any of the people.
3 Tell your children about it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
God has always commanded parents to teach their children history. Now He is fixing to bring a new chapter and He wants to make sure they include it in their teaching. It won’t be a pleasant set of events, but ones they would much rather forget.
However it is important that we include the bad with the good when teaching our children. They learn what NOT to do from the bad stories, as much as what TO do from the good.
4 Whatever the Cutting Locusts left, the Swarming locusts ate. And then came the Hopping locusts, followed by the Stripping locusts!
5 Wake up, you alcoholics! Cry and howl, those who drink wine! Because the new is gone from your mouth!
You can’t make wine without grapes and the locusts will eat the grapes and vines.
6 Because a strong nation is coming up into My land, a nation that is so big it can't be counted, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and they have the cheek teeth of a great lion.
7 He has destroyed My vine, and taken the bark off My fig tree. He has made it clean bare, and thrown it away. Its branches are made white.
God is calling the “locusts” a nation in the same way Solomon calls the ants and conies a “people” in Proverbs 30. Locusts have very strong teeth, and like the lion, they are their major weapon.
The land is going to be as devastated as it would be if an army marched in and burned the whole land.
8 Mourn like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
Betrothal was a binding contract as strong as the marriage contract. It required a divorce to break it. If a man died before he could marry his fiancé, she would be called a widow, though she would still be a virgin.
He tells them to begin to repent and morn like a woman would if her fiancé was killed.
9 The food offering and the drink offering is ended from the house of the I AM. The priests, the I AM’s ministers, mourn.
Even the priesthood will suffer. People just won’t have anything to tithe so the priests will starve.
10 The fields are ruined, the land is stripped bare. The grain is destroyed, the grapes have shriveled, and the olive oil is gone.
11 Be ashamed, you farmers husbandmen! Howl, you vineyard keepers, for the wheat and for the barley! Because the harvest of the field has been destroyed.
12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree is wasting away. The pomegranate tree, the palm tree, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field have withered, because joy has withered away from all of mankind
To any society, a locust swarm is devastating. It totally destroys the entire food supply. Today we try to stop such swarms with insecticides and can always trade with other countries for food if we need to, though that would make the prices go through the roof.
In the days before refrigeration, though, trade would have been limited to those things that wouldn’t spoil during transport (wheat, wine, raisins, etc) and would have necessitated having a treaty with the producing country. Those countries were Israel’s enemies at this time.
13 Dress yourselves in mourning clothes, and cry. Howl you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, because the food offering and the drink offering is kept from the house of your God.
14 Purify a fast for you. Call a solemn meeting. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the I AM your God, and cry to the I AM,
God’s people are told to begin to beg Him for mercy. They are to pray;.
15 Alas for the day! For the day of the I AM is near, and it will come like a destruction from the Almighty.
“The Day of the Lord” is a term that means “God has appointed a certain day for a certain event.” There are many “Days of the Lord” throughout scripture, not all referring to the same physical 24 hour period of time.
16 Isn't the food cut off in front of our eyes? Yes, and joy and gladness from the house of our God?
All the plants will be eaten and without grass all the cows, sheep, goats and deer will die too.
17 The seed is rots away under the dirt. The crops all fail. The barns are crumbling because they stand empty.
This tells Israel that not only will the locusts eat all the plants, but there won’t be rain either. They will sow their seed, but they will wither and dry up instead of sprouting.
18 Oh, how the animals groan! The herds of cattle are confused, because they don't have any pastures. Yes, the flocks of sheep are bleating in misery.
19 O LORD, to Thee will I cry because the fire has eaten up all the pastures, and the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.
This would either be literal fire started by the dried out plants, or the intense heat of the drought, which would have the same affect. It may also be referring to the effects of the locusts; they will consume the land as if a great fire swept through it.
20 The wild animals are crying to Thee also, because the rivers are all dried up, and the fire has eaten up the grass in the wilderness.
Nothing will be spared from this devastation.