Year 3, Day 213: Joel 1

Background for Joel

We don’t know much about Joel.  Given that he focuses so much on Judah and Jerusalem, it is assumed that he spent most of his time around Jerusalem.  As for the date of the writing of the book, many scholars fix the date somewhere in the ninth to the sixth century B.C.  However, there are some scholars who date the book as late as the second century B.C.  In the comments, I will go into greater detail about why the dating for this book is so difficult.  The truth is, we just don’t know.  As a blogger, I will take the assumption that this book was written after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians and probably even after the return of the captives from Babylon under the Persians.  However, I fully confess that I could be flat-out wrong about this date.  It is an assumption; I acknowledge that.

Locust Plagues

We open Joel in the aftermath of a devastating locust attack.  Wave after wave of locusts have attacked the land of the Hebrew people.  What the first wave left behind, the second wave consumed a portion.  What that wave left behind, a third wave consumed a portion.  What the third wave left, a fourth wave ultimately consumed.  The crops failed.  They utterly failed.  The people had never seen or heard of such destruction.

The Call to Mourn

Having spoken of the literal plague of locusts, Joel begins to weave the reality together with the symbolic.  This is one of the sections that makes me believe that the book was written with the destruction of Jerusalem under the hand of the Babylonians in mind.  As I read through Joel 1:5-12, I cannot help but think of these verses speaking to the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem.

A nation has come up against God’s people.  That nation was powerful and beyond number.  That nation was ferocious as a lion.  That nation laid waste to God’s vine – a metaphor for His people.  That nation splintered the fig tree – another metaphor for God’s people.  These are comments that make the most sense with respect to the Babylonian invasion and conquest of Israel.

Because of what that nation did, the priests mourn.  When did the priests mourn – truly repent – except after they were exiled under Babylon?  Because of what that nation did, the fields are destroyed.  The harvest is gone – nay, it has perished.  God’s people are no longer able to produce a harvest because they have been devoured by that nation.

Gladness dries up.  The ultimate moment of gladness drying up for the people of Israel would have been the moment of captivity.  When they were pulled from the land and humbled before the nations.  That is what it means for gladness to dry up.  When we as people fall so blindly into our sin that we are overtaken by our consequences, our gladness dries up.  Humbleness is a valuable place to go.  But it not usually easy.

Call to Repentance

Joel tells us that the grain and drink offerings are withheld from the temple.  There is something very profound here.  In a literal sense, the locusts have eaten everything.  The offerings cannot happen because there is literally nothing to offer.

I wonder how often this is true about my life.  How many times does my rebellion lead me to a place where I literally have nothing to offer to God?  I know I’ve been there before.

Then we see the effects of the plague.  When the farmers take their shovels and dig into the ground, they see seeds that had not germinated.  Can this be any greater symbolic statement other than God demonstrating to the people how their faith had not germinated into the world?  As their seed failed to produce a literal harvest, so the people’s faith failed to bring about God’s harvest.

Not only did the seeds fail to germinate, but now the storehouses were empty.  A lack of grain meant a lack of storage.  A lack of storage meant that cows in the field were starving.  Not only were the people themselves threatened, but the herds were threatened as well.  How often does the effect of our sinfulness leach out into the world?  How often does our sinfulness help to deteriorate God’s creation around us?  Sin is not something that happens and is done.  Sin is like water.  It flows through our whole life, touching almost everything as it passes along.  The ripples, waves, and currents of sin reach out well beyond the range that we think capable.

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