Joel 1:1-20

Joel 1:1-20.  Joel starts of his message to the people of Judah by calling to everyone to listen.  Notice that he mentions the “elders” in particular.  Elders were responsible to be leaders in Israel.  If you read the “Intro to Joel” you will realize that the leaders had done more following of their evil queen that actual leading.  Joel points out that what they are experiencing is pretty unique, neither they nor their fathers had ever seen anything quite like it.  Finally Joel pushes them to share what they have learned with their sons and grand-sons.  Israel was supposed to be about making sure what they knew about God was taught to their children and grand-children (Deuteronomy 6:1-16; especially 2,7).

In verses 4-7 we find out just what has happened that was so terrible, their land has been devastated by locusts.  Joel describes four different types of locusts which have passed through the land and have left nothing to eat.  I especially like the description of the branches in verse 7, white.  It reminds me of pictures of cow skulls in the desert, completely dry and white.

Verses 8 and 13 both contain a similar phrase, “girded with sackcloth” or “gird yourself with sackcloth”.  Scholars call this layout and “enclusio”.  The two similar phrases form a sort of envelope with all the stuff in between being related.  You might think of it as an information sandwich.  It is interesting theat what is in between is a mixture of more descriptions of the destruction done by the locusts some hints at spiritual problems going on in the kingdom.  Verse 8 tells the people to cry like a bride who’s husband has been killed before they even went on their honeymoon.  Why?  Not just because there is no food to eat in the kingdom but because there is nothing to offer as an offering to God (v. 9).  Verses 10-12 pretty much focus on the lack of food but verse 13 again focuses on the fact that they don’t have anything to offer as an offering.

There is one thing the people can offer, they can turn their attention toward God.  Joel tells them to “dedicate a fast” in verse 14.  The word dedicate of consecrate means to “set apart” and fast means to not eat.  So they need to decide not to eat, I’m not sure they had much choice.  But here the idea is that they need to turn their attention to God.  Instead of focusing on the trouble they need to focus on the only hope they have, God.  Just like verses 8-9 and 13 started to turn the attention of the people toward God verse 15 does the same thing.  It is interesting that verse in verse 15 that Joel tells them that there is a day coming which will be a day of destruction from God.  Wow!  I’m sure they were thinking, “haven’t we seen enough destruction?”  Verse 16 moves backward from a more spiritual focus back to the physical destruction that their land has suffered.  It looks like not only have they suffered a locust invasion but also a drought and possibly some wild fires.  This may be an example of another way Hebrew authors would make a point, they would arrange some of their material as sort of a reflection they might say “A” then “B” then “C”.  Then have an idea that was like “B” and then another that was like “A”.  so their idea would be A-B-C-B’-A’.  In this sort of arrangement C or the idea in the middle would be the focus.  In this case turning their  attention to God would be the main idea.

Not all trouble in life comes as a direct action from God.  Since the day Adam disobeyed God the world has been messed up.  We help it along when we disobey God too.  But the world is just messed up and life with it.  The thing we need to do is focus on God and on honoring him with whatever we have.  Someone once said, “If life gives you lemons make lemonade.”  When life is full of trouble and need we need to use that as an opportunity to put more trust in God and let hem worry about the rest. .  The “day of the Lord” mentioned in verse 15 though is not part of this general trouble the world is in but is a reference to a specific time when God is going to actively deal with the problems of sin and evil in the world.  This “day of the Lord” is going to be the main theme of the rest of the book.  The idea is also found in other prophetic writings.  As one of the earliest writing prophets it is fitting that Joel is encouraging the people to turn to God in times of trouble and is using the fact that God is going to deal with evil eventually as part of that encouragement.  E need to remember that God is not slow about the promises he has made but is waiting for people to turn to him (2 Peter 3:1-10).  God really is a god of love and forgiveness but he is also pure and fair and he will deal with disobedience and evil.  In the mean time we need to turn back to him and be ready for that day.

Thank you God for making a way back to you (through Jesus).  Thank you for being a patient God.  Thank you for sending your servants to keep reminding us to return to you.  Thank you for trouble in our lives, trouble that makes us remember our need for your help.  God help me remember.  Help be turn the lemons of life into sweet lemonade to enjoy with you now. Help me remember to thank you for both when you return and fix our world forever.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.
Home / Joel 1:1-20