Joel
Joel was a prophet of Judah.
He was the first of the great prophets to speak the message of God to the
southern kingdom.
To understand the prophets
we must know the historical setting of their prophecies. The prophet speaks to
the people of the time from the standpoint of existing conditions as well as
from the standpoint of future events. Other predictions regarding the coming of
Christ, the Messiah, kept before the people of God the great central purpose of
their national existence.
Following the reign of Jehoshaphat
the southern kingdom rapidly fell into sin as the good effects of the
reformation disappeared in the apostasy of his sin. He married the daughter of
Jezebel. Judah was plunged into iniquity, which by the way, continued until the
days of Hezekiah. It was in this state of things that Joel lived and it was to
a people hardened by sin that he spoke the word of God.
It was at this time that
Judah was visited by a plague of the most devastating nature. The land was
covered with swarms of locusts that destroyed all the vegetation. Added to this
was a drought and the people faced starvation.
Joel points out that these
things symbolized "the day of the Lord," a day of judgment. He took
the existing condition beyond itself. It was a remarkable opportunity for the
prophet to hold up before the people something of a far greater importance than
their present affliction. Often in the life of the people of God, severe
judgments were used to bring them to acknowledge their own sinfulness. Thus
they were brought back to God.
They were not allowed to
look at these calamities and dismiss them by a wave of the hand, saying it was
a result of nature, something over which we have no control and carries no
divine or eternal significance. Too often we forget God and ignore His claims
until some calamity sweeps over us.
With these vast clouds of
locusts darkening the sun, swarming upon the earth, and devouring every green
thing in sight, the people were brought to their knees. God heard their cry,
removed the locusts, and promised an era of prosperity. The people had been
brought to a state of response.
They were ready to listen
when Joel declared that it was time for prayer, fasting, repentance and to get
right with God. God's answer met their immediate needs; there was abundant rain
and a full harvest. The marks of devastation disappeared under the gracious
hand of God.
The passage pictures the
time of Christ, in which God's word, embodied in the Gospel of Christ, and born
by the gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit to all mankind, would be the sickle
in a grand harvest of souls. It is clear that those who reject the message
bring upon themselves a judgment more terrible than the plague of locusts.
In his great sermon on the
day of Pentecost centuries later, with the Holy Spirit resting on him in full
control, Peter declared that the marvelous works of God that they were
beholding was what was spoken by the prophet Joel (Acts 2:14‑21).
How wonderful that the
Apostle had such a grasp of the Word of God that he was able to quote to the
people this passage from the prophet of old.
© Copyright
2002, LeRoy Eims