JOEL: JEHOVAH IS HIS GOD

God had chosen David and his people to be the rulers of Israel. But they took it upon themselves to depart from God's choice, deciding instead to chose their own kings after their wicked hearts.

The Hebrew name Yoel means "Yahweh, or Jehovah, is God." Like the name "Micah", it may mean that the parents made a confession of faith .

Joel (3:13-14) is like Zephaniah, a book of the coming judgement and also like Revelation, the earth's harvest (Revelation 15:15-16).

The second of the twelve minor prophets. Son of Pethuel. Only known personal history is recorded in this Book.

The son of Pedaiah (IChronicles 27:20), and a chief of the half-tribe of Manasseh west of Jordan, in the reign of David (B.C. 1014). The second of the twelve minor prophets, the son of Pethuel, probably prophesied in Judah in the reign of Uzziah, about B.C. 800. The book of Joel contains a grand outline of the whole terrible scene, which was to be depicted more and more in detail by subsequent prophets. The proximate event to which the prophecy related was a public calamity, then impending on Judah, of a two-plague of locusts --and continuing for several years. The prophet exhorts the people to turn to God with penitence, fasting and prayer; and then, he says, the plague shall cease, and the rain descendent in its season, and the land yield her accustomed fruit. Nay, the time will be a most joyful one; for God, by the outpouring of his Spirit, will extend the blessings of true religion to heathen lands. The prophecy is referred to in Acts 2.

There are thirteen other "Joel's" in the Old Testament, this prophet can't be identified with any of them. His message is mainly related with Jerusalem and Judah. As seen in these scriptures: "Zion," 2:1, 15 & 32, "children of Zion," 2:23, "Judah" and "Jerusalem," 2:32; 3:1, 16, 17, 18 & 20, "children of Judah" and "Jerusalem, 3:6, 8 & 19, he was a resident of Jerusalem. He knows a lot about the temple, 1:9-17, along with the personnel and services,2:14 & 17. But the way he tears the priests the apart indicates he was not among their class.

Joel, the book, does not give a time frame. The time is generally accepted as either being during the time of Joash (about 830 B.C.) or during Uzziah's reign (about 750 B.C.). This book is considered to be one of the earliest of the prophets of Judah.

As often happens, scholars aren't in agreement over the date of the writings of Joel. There are two main suggestions for the date. The first, early date during the reign of Joash or Jehoash in Judah, about 830 B.C. About 400 B.C., during the Persian period, a post-Exilic date. There are reasonable thoughts to suggest a later date. There is no mention of a ruling king in the title verse, 1:1 as there is in other pre-Exilic prophets. Samaria, the Northern Kingdom, is not mentioned, which probably means it has long been extinct. Israel is used for Judah by Joel, which would not have been done by any pre-Exilic prophet. That was a term used only for the ten northern tribes prior to 722 B.C., the fall of Samaria. In the post-Exilic society the priests were the leaders and not kings or nobles. Chapter 3:1, 2 & 17, Joel indicates the captivity had already happened.

As for this the second suggestion, the leadership of the priests instead of the kings and nobles are due to Jehoiada the high priest ruling the boy king, Joash. No mention of Samaria, above, doesn't have a great meaning, because Joel wasn't all that concerned with what was going on with the Northern Kingdom. Israel could be used for Judah as the rightful heir of the spiritual blessings of Jacob. Chapter 3:1 bring back the captivity, is simply saying "restore the fortune." There is nothing in Joel 3 that would not fit pre-Exilic times. Obadiah described the same events as stated in Joel 3.

God's blessing to each of you,
LJG

SOURCES: King James Bible, H H Halley's Bible Handbook, Smith's Bible Dictionary, Easton's Bible Dictionary