Yo`el
(An Apocalyptic Approach)
An apocalyptic view is one where history unfolds itself to a definite point or event. People may find it difficult at the time, but events are moving inexorably to a pre-determined climax under divine control (Bailey p.114).
יוֹאֵל #H3100 Yo`el is derived from יְהֹוָה #H3068 Yah and אֵל H410 `el God. His name means the Covenant name Yahuah is Sovereign: what He promises He is able to fulfil.
The overarching theme of this Book is of covenant hope, and the sub-theme of the Day of Yahuah, hence the importance of studying the language of the original documents.
Although no specific period can be attributed to this Book because of the lack of internal and external evidence, there are allusions to it being dated during the post-exilic period around 515-500 B.C.E. (Allen p.23). Yahudah is mentioned and would refer to the Southern Nation as opposed to the tribe only and Yisra`el is not mentioned other than for a time of future restoration. If this dating of Yo`el is correct, then it would be written after the Babylonian exile. The Jews were dispersed by both Sanhedrin persecution of Believers post-resurrection, and by the Romans post-68 C.E. During these times, the Jews left ‘voluntarily’ but were never taken into exile en masse as per the Assyrian ad Babylonian exiles.
To what, then, can we attribute the references of the armies of the enemies of Yahuah coming against Yerushalayim and the people consequently being taken into exile?
Yahudah, Locusts and Yahuah (1:1-2:17) (Allen p.42)
(i) National lamentation (1:1-20) – a national catastrophe has fallen upon the land of Yahudah in the form of a plague of locusts, usually instigated by drought conditions. The mention of the four differing types of locusts is probably a reference to enormity of the swarm and its utter destruction of all aspects of provision. The extent and severity of the plague could only be due to a judgement of Yahuah falling upon the nation (Exod. 10:12-20; Deut. 28:21). The swarm of locusts of this magnitude were not an immediate disaster as it not only removed all food, but left no provision for the Temple offerings of grain and oil. It also took away the food for the animals. What meagre provisions left untouched would be destroyed by the drought. Therefore, what was considered the normal route for repentance, sacrificial offerings of meat and grain would now be impossible.
It was also a disaster for future years. Unlike the Shemittah and Yobel years, there would be no provision to sow for the next harvest and all the trees would take a few years to recover sufficiently to bear fruit again. All this points to several years of famine.
(a) Call to the nation (1:1-12) – such a national disaster could have been brought about because of the corporate sin of the nation. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the nation to seek repentance.
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(b) Call to the priests and prayer (1:13, 14) – Yo`el asks of the priests what their role was now that the sacrifices had ceased. “Let my prayer be set before you like incense; The lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.” (Psa. 141:2). Although this was only of a temporary nature, there would be a time (70 C.E onwards) when this would be permanent. With the destruction of the Temple, there could be no atonement for sin under the Levitical sacrifice until the new Sanctuary could be built.
(c) The Day of Yahuah – in the sub-theme of this Book, the Day of Yahuah, the motif is commonly uttered against the nations invading Yisra`el, and notably Yerushalayim (cf Isa. 13:6; Eze. 30:2, 3; Amos 5:18). However, Yo`el is warning the people individually and as a nation that judgement has been passed by Yahuah because of their sin. “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Saduccees coming for his immersion, he said to them, ‘You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?… Do not think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that `Eloakh is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. Even now the axe lies at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.’” (Matt. 3:7-10). Therefore, it would be of no use to say that they are Yahuah’s people in order to avoid the wrath to come.
(ii) Divine judgement and human repentance (2:1-17) – it does not appear that Yo`el’s warning is taken up with any sense of urgency and so Yo`el intensifies his warning.
(a) Yahuah’s army of locusts (2:1-11) – When an army attacks a city, the watchmen must sound the shofar. This is meant to be an alarm call to warn all the inhabitants that the enemy attack is imminent. Thus Yo`el warns Yahudah that the Day of Yahuah’s wrath is at hand (Joel 2:1 cf Isa. 13:6; Eze. 30:3; Zeph. 1:7, 14, 15; Oda. 1:15; 1 Thess. 5:2).
“The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, And as horsemen, so do they run… At their presence the peoples are in anguish. All faces have grown pale.” (Joel 2:4, 6). The second passage referring to locusts, obviously depicts something other than the swarm of insects mentioned in Ch.1. “Then out of the smoke came forth locusts …They were given power not to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a person. In those days people will seek death, and will in no way find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them. The shapes of the locusts were like horses prepared for war. On their heads were something like golden crowns, and their faces were like people’s faces.” (Rev. 9:3-7).
(b) Call to national repentance (2:12-17) – In the immediate future, Yo`el calls the nation of Yahudah to repent, in order to turn away Yahuah’s chastisement in the form of the locusts. Nevertheless, in the future, there is to be a reckoning whereby Yahuah will bring a swarm of armies against Yerushalayim/ Yahudah.
Divine oracles (2:18-4:21)
(i) Material and spiritual promises (2:18-3:5) – The repentance of the people, turning back to Yahuah and His Torah, is based upon the Covenant Yahuah made with Abraham. As with the Golden Calf incident in the wilderness, Yahuah is wanting to punish the people.
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However, Moshe reminded Yahuah of this Covenant and the ridicule of the surrounding nations (Deut. 9:24-29). For His own name’s sake, Yahuah relented. This then reverses the curses of Deut. 28 into the blessings, not for the people’s sake, but for that of Yahuah.
(a) Immediate blessings (2:18-27) – the immediate consequence of the people’s repentance and turning back to His Torah, is the promise of Yahuah to relieve the drought and restore the crops, “If you walk in my statutes, and keep my mitzvot, and do them; then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.” (Lev. 26:3, 4; cf Deut. 11:13-15 Allen p.87). Further to this is the promise that the locust hoard would be destroyed. The reference to the ‘northerner’ may indicate the unusual aspect of this swarm. Generally, the locusts naturally come from a southerly direction and those from the north may indicate a more divine cause to the swarm. However, on the Day of Yahuah, the armies that are to amass against Yerushalayim traditionally coming from the north (cf Jer. 6:1-26) will be destroyed in a similar manner to the locusts.
The Covenant-keeping `Elohiym assures the Covenant-keeping people that there will be a time when the Covenant land and people will be restored to a state of great material abundance, prosperity and peace. Yahuah will be made known throughout His land and acknowledged by His people, and by HaRuach will more over the land.
(b) Supernatural blessings (3:1-5) – following the period of material prosperity, there will come a time of spiritual blessings when Yahuah will make His presence known to all people’s by HaRuach moving among in a new and more powerful way. Yo`el ministered at the end of the prophetic period that would usher in a period of divine silence. It was though Yahuah was forewarning Yisra`el through Yo`el that there was coming a period in which He may not seem to be with or at work for His Covenant people. This was to emphasise the apostasy of the people under the guidance of unrighteous leaders, “The child Sh`mu`el ministered to Yahuah before `Eli. The word of Yahuah was scarce in those days; there was no frequent vision.” (1 Sam. 3:1).
Nevertheless, this time will come to an end with a spectacular visitation of `Elohiym, first in the person of the Son, Yahusha (John 1:14) and then by HaRuach (Acts 2:4). The current situation is not very different from that of Sh`mu`el and Yo`el, where both religious and secular leaders are drawing people away from Yahuah, where it seems that Yahuah is allowing evil to flourish, “But they did not listen nor turn their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward…You shall tell them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of Yahuah their `Elohiym, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth…yet they did not listen to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers’…For the children of Yehudah have done that which is evil in my sight, says Yahuah: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.” (Jer. 7:24-30).
Is it not time for `Elohiym in the person of the Messiah Yahusha to return?
For an `Elohiym that is, and His ways are, unchanging (Heb. 13:8), the judgement He brought to bear will be the same under the same circumstances, “Therefore, thus says Yahuah `Elohiym: ‘Behold, my anger and my wrath shall be poured out on this place, on
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man, and on animal, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.’… ‘Cut off your hair, Yerushalayim, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahuah has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’” (Jer. 7:20, 29).
The terrible Day of the Wrath of Yahuah will happen, exactly as He has promised through His prophets (Joel 3:4, 5) and His Apostles (Acts 2:19, 20; Rev. 6:12).
Who can escape this outpouring of wrath?
καὶ ἔσται πᾶς ὃς ἐὰν ἐπικαλέσηται τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου σωθήσεται
kai estai pas hos ean epikalesētai to onoma Kyriou sōthēsetai
(Joel 3:5 LXX; Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:13)
yimmalet Yahuah b`shem yiqra aser kol wehayah
saved be shall Yahuah of name the upon calls whoever [that] anyone (ii) Judgement of the nations (4:1-21) – Yahuah draws the nations to HaEretz, although
the nations consider that it was their joint decision to attack Yisra`el not knowing that it was all part of Yahuah’s plan. Where they thought that they were bringing judgement down upon the Covenant people, they were bringing down judgement upon themselves.
(a) Charges and summonses to judgement (4:1-12) – The valley in which the 2 Chron. 20 massacre took place was just outside of Yerushalayim (#H3092 יְהוֹשָׁפָטYeh-ho-sha-fat –Yah has judged). Indeed, Yahuah had judged the nations. This valley, Emek (ay-mek) Yehoshofat, was not a geographical name but named after Yahuah’s decision and help.
This could well be Nahal Qidron (Kidron or Cedron Valley) that separates the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives. “I will gather all nations, And will bring them down into the valley of Yehoshafat; And I will execute judgment on them there for my people, And for my heritage, Yisra`el, whom they have scattered among the nations.” (Joel 4:1).
“On the fourth day they assembled themselves in the Valley of Berakha; for there they blessed Yahuah: therefore, the name of that place was called the Valley of Berakha to this day.” (2 Chron. 20:26). Whatever the original name of the valley was, it was renamed by the people עֵמֶק בְּרָכָה Emek Berakha (#H1294 בְּרָכָה be-ra-kar blessings).Sometime after King Yehoshafat’s death, this area was to become known as Emek Yehoshofat.
What was and will be a valley of blessings (בְּרָכָה עֵמֶק Emek Berakha) for the people of Yisra`el, was and will be a valley of judgement (עֵמֶק יְהוֹשָׁפָט Emek Yehoshafat) for the Nations.
(b) The nations’ fate and Yahudah’s fortune (4:13-21) – “Behold, the Day of Yahuah comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners of it out of it.” (Isa. 13:9). “The great Day of Yahuah is near…That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress…a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness, a day of the shofar…and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.” (Zeph. 1:14-17). “As the days of Noach were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man… and they did not know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matt. 24:37, 39). In the account of Noach, the unrighteous were all swept away as punishment for their sins. Noach’s Ark is a type of the Messiah and all those
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who did not make use of the safety promised by Noach were killed. Likewise, all those who did not ‘make use’ of the safety promised by Yahuah through His Messiah, will also be wiped out. “…and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of His wrath has come; and who is able to stand?” (Rev. 6:16b, 17). This day of wrath is the day when the Messiah returns and it is my belief that all the enemies of Yahuah’s people will be annihilated in one twenty-four hour day.
“Behold, the days come, says Yahuah, that I will punish all those who are circumcised in their uncircumcision: Mitzrayim (Egypt), and Yahudah, and Edom, and the children of `Ammon, and Mo`av, and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Yisra`el are uncircumcised in heart.” (Jer. 9:25, 26). “since there is one Messiah who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.” (Rom. 3:30). All non-Believers perish because ultimately, they all rebelled against Yahuah and ignored His warnings throughout all the ages. It will not benefit non-believing Yisra`elites to try to claim salvation through Abraham.
If Bailey is correct in the definition of ‘apocalyptic’ as history reaching a climax, to what does the covenant of hope refer?
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed (זֶרַע zeh-rare) and her seed (זֶרַע zeh-rare). He will bruise your head, and you will bruise His heel.” (Gen. 3:15). This forms part of the covenant of hope. No matter how long it tarries, there will be a reckoning when haSatan will be destroyed. This does not take place at Golgotha but, “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of `Eloakh was revealed, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8). The power and thus the works of haSatan were destroyed, but the Adversary was not.
The ultimate destruction came “… after the thousand years, Hasatan will be released from its prison…The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Rev. 20:7, 10). This is the fulfilment of the covenant of hope that finally ushers in eternity.
Yahuah bless you and keep you
Yahuah make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you,
Yahuah lift up His face toward you and give you peace.
All glory be to Yahuah,
Ameyn.
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References and Credits
In using these references, it is in no way agreeing to or condoning the theological viewpoint of the authors.
Allen L.C. (1976) The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah, Wm. B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michgan.
Bailey K.E. (2008) Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, SPCK, London.
Harris R.L., Archer G.L., Thoelogical Wordbook of the Old Testament, Moody, Chicago, Waltke B.K. (1980) Il. (Denoted by *).
Strong J. (1994) Strong’s New Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, World Bible Publishers Inc., Madison (Denoted as #H or #G).
Strong J. (1996) The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary of Bible Words, Thomas Nelson, Nashville. (Denoted as #H or #G).
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First Generation Assembly 