The book of Joel

At a glance

Chapters

3

Author

Joel

Written

Uncertain; proposals range from the ninth to the fourth century BC

Written for

A community that has just lost a harvest

Themes

locusts, the day of the Lord, repentance, the Spirit

What it is about

Joel opens with a description of a locust invasion so total that the priests have nothing left to offer. Whether the locusts are literal, an image for an invading army, or both, the book treats the catastrophe as a summons.

Its call is to return with fasting and weeping, and specifically to rend your hearts and not your garments — a line aimed directly at the performance of repentance.

The third chapter turns to promise, and one paragraph of it became the text Peter preached from at Pentecost: the Spirit poured out on all flesh, sons and daughters, old and young.

Where to start

Chapter 2, which contains both the call to return and the promise Peter later quotes.

The chapters worth knowing

• Joel 1 — The locust devastation, described in terms that leave the priests with nothing to offer.
• Joel 2 — Rend your hearts and not your garments, and the promise Peter quotes at Pentecost.
• Joel 3 — The judgement of the nations, and the reversal of the swords-into-ploughshares image.

What people get wrong about it

That it is only about locusts. The insects occupy the first chapter; the book's subject is what a community does when something arrives that it cannot fix.

Questions