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Joel

Joelchapter 2

32 verses · BSBJoel book hub →

Speaks with:Joel 1×6Acts 2×4Joel 2×3Revelation 9×2Isaiah 13×2Joel 3×2

Summary

Chapter summary

'Blow ye the trumpet in Zion', the locust army becomes the army of the day of Jehovah, a day of darkness and gloominess, of clouds and thick darkness. Before them the land is as the garden of Eden, behind them a desolate wilderness; they climb the wall and enter the windows like a thief, while sun and moon darken and the stars withdraw their shining. Then the great summons: 'rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God; for he is gracious and merciful' (2:13). God answers: 'I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten' (2:25), and then, 'I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh' (2:28), the prophecy Peter reads over Pentecost.

Context

Prophecy · Joel — Joel overview

  • A. 1–11 Blow the trumpet: an army spread like dawn on the mountains
  • B. 12–14 Rend your heart and not your garments
  • C. 15–17 Let the priests weep between the porch and the altar
  • D. 18–27 Restoring the years the locust has eaten
  • E. 28–32 I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh

The outline

  1. A.Blow the trumpet: an army spread like dawn on the mountainsvv. 1 to 11

    Read vv. 1 to 11 →

  2. B.Rend your heart and not your garmentsvv. 12 to 14

    Read vv. 12 to 14 →

  3. C.Let the priests weep between the porch and the altarvv. 15 to 17

    Read vv. 15 to 17 →

  4. D.Restoring the years the locust has eatenvv. 18 to 27

    Read vv. 18 to 27 →

  5. E.I will pour out my Spirit upon all fleshvv. 28 to 32

    Read vv. 28 to 32 →

Threads

Each of these runs on past this chapter. The passage you have just read is marked.

The Spirit poured out on all flesh

Pattern

Joel promised that the Lord would pour out his spirit upon all flesh, and that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered. At Pentecost Peter stands up and says plainly, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. Paul carries the same whosoever to the nations in Romans.

Pentecost is not an accident explained afterward; Peter names its text. The promise runs on the widest word Scripture has, whosoever, and it names sons and daughters, servants and handmaids, prophesying alike. The church's endowment of the Spirit begins here as a promise kept.

  1. Joel 2:28-29 you are here

    I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh

    Sons and daughters, old men and young men, servants and handmaids: the promise reaches every rank.

  2. Joel 2:32 you are here

    Whosoever shall call shall be delivered

  3. Acts 2:16-17

    Peter at Pentecost: this is that

    Peter stands and names the prophet: this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.

  4. Acts 2:21

    Whosoever, preached in Jerusalem

  5. Romans 10:13

    Whosoever, written to the nations

The world behind this chapter

Joel 2
When
The aftermath of the locust year, read as a warning of the day of the LORD · Same contested setting as chapter 1 — early monarchy or post-exilic; the text itself gives no king
Where
Zion, with the horn sounding and the whole population summoned between the porch and the altar
Who first heard it
A people being told the swarm was a rehearsal

The history

The horn blown in Zion is the alarm, the same instrument a watchman used when an army was sighted. Sounding it from the temple mount meant everyone in the city and the surrounding villages heard it at once.

The army described in the middle is a swarm seen closely, and the details are accurate. A locust's head really is shaped like a horse's — Arabic and Italian folk names for the insect say so — the sound of a swarm's wings over dry brush is a crackling roar, they climb walls and go in at windows because nothing stops them, and the sun genuinely dims behind a dense swarm.

The assembly is described by who must come, and the list is the point. Elders, children, nursing infants, and even the bridegroom out of his chamber and the bride out of her room — a wedding was the one occasion that excused a man from every public duty, including military service. Nothing is excused here.

The place named for the priests is architectural. In the temple courts, the porch of the sanctuary stood behind the great altar of burnt offering, and the strip of pavement between them was where officiating priests stood. Weeping there put them exactly between the people and the presence.

What it meant to them

Rend your heart and not your garments is aimed at a culture where tearing your clothes was the visible, expected sign of grief. Joel does not forbid the gesture; he says the gesture is worthless if the heart underneath it is intact.

Then the promise: the years the locust has eaten will be restored, the early and latter rains will come as before, and God will pour out his Spirit on all flesh — sons and daughters, old and young, male and female servants alike. Peter stood up on Pentecost and said the crowd was watching this happen. Read forward, the same chapter runs on to the day of the LORD, when the sun is darkened and the moon turned to blood before the Lord returns to reign — events the church still awaits.

Sources cited

  • John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
  • Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services

Every work MannaFest builds on →

The text of this chapter

This page carries no textual note on Joel 2. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →

Connections from this chapter

v. 16 · A rare word, used again

chuppah 'canopy/chamber' (H2646, 3x) - the sun 'as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber' / the bridal canopy; a rare nuptial word coloring the sky-poetry of Ps 19 (poetry, not encoded prophecy).

Psalms 19:5→

Like a bridegroom emerging from his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course,

STEPBible TAHOT

v. 25 · Written to them

Restore years that the locust hath eaten

topics/restoration→

MannaFest topical index

v. 32 · The Greek Old Testament reads it this way

Joel promises that “whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered”: the name is YHWH (H3068). The Greek Old Testament renders it kyrios, Lord, and Paul takes that verse up and applies it to Jesus: “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom 10:13).

Romans 10:13→

for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

LXX Joel 3:5 (Swete, PD); Rom 10:13; Hurtado 2014; Rosel JSOT 2007

Where scholars push back(1)

Romans 10:13. Whether the oldest Greek copies already read kyrios or kept the Hebrew name in the text is argued. Pietersma and Rösel say kyrios, Tov and Shaw say the divine name.

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.

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