Joel - Introduction and Joel 1:1
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Author and Date
The author is 'Joel,' "Jehovah is God;" and the only distinguishing
personal fact presented is the name of his father, 'Pethuel.' Conservative
scholars date Joel circa 835 to 800 BC. Others assert that Joel is definitely
post-exilic and place the date as late as the 4th century BC. However,
this sort of incoherence, at once engaging and suggestive of a deeper wisdom,
cannot be supported; indeed, the dissemination of such nonsense denies the
interior distinctions, the very eschatological references of the book, and
demotes the prophecies of the book to historical hindsight.
What is definitely known about the book of Joel is: Joel was the earliest
of the prophets, a contemporary of Homer. And while Homer wrote about the
past, the Trojan Wars of the 12th century BC, Joel wrote to his day and
to the future. The immediate problem of his day was an infestation of locusts;
the future problems were those of 200 years later, i.e., the Assyrians,
and the undated/unknown time of the Tribulation and the King of the North.
The outline of the book is as follows:
A. Symbols of the Day of the Lord (chapter 1)
1. Plague and drought (1:1-14)
2. Starvation and fire (1:15-20)
B. Events of the Day of the Lord (chapters 2,3)
1. The army from the north (2:1-10)
2. The army of the Lord (2:11)
3. The remnant's repentance (2:12-17)
4. The remnant's acceptance (2:18-27)
5. The remnant's blessing (2:28-32)
6. The restoration of Israel (3:1)
7. The judgment of the nations (3:2-16)
8. The establishment of the kingdom (3:17-21) [1]
Joel 1:1
"The word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel."
To summarize Joel 1:1: Joel's name means 'Jehovah is God' in the Hebrew,
and is specifically a reference to Jesus Christ as the Shekinah glory, the
revealed member of God. Other than his father's name, Pethuel ('graciousness
of Jehovah'), we are given no information about Joel. However, both Isaiah
and Amos quote him and almost all of the prophets use his technical-prophetical
vocabulary. Thus, the emphasis is placed on the message of Joel, and not
on the person of Joel. And the principle is this: God does not need Joel
to sustain His Plan, but Joel needs God to sustain anything. [2]
Again, Joel was the earliest of the prophets and the only prophet who was
pre-Assyrian. Joel's prophetic ministry was to the southern kingdom, Judah,
during the regency period ascribed to Joash, 837-800 BC. In Joel's day
a national and world-wide catastrophe took place: a locust plague. The
locusts then became the foundation of Joel's prophecies, i.e., Joel used
the attack of the locusts as an analogy to the forthcoming attack of Assyria,
and the Tribulational attack of the King of the North. The principle is
this: according to Leviticus 26:14ff., God uses national disasters to warn
apostate nations. [3]
In Joel's time, circa 800 BC, the disaster was an economic/agricultural
famine. Two hundred years later it would be the aggression of the Assyrian
Empire (Deuteronomy 28:15,17,18,23-26).
Evidence that the book of Joel is pre-exilic is found in the quotations
in Amos and Isaiah.
Amos 1:2 quotes Joel 3:16; Amos 9:13 quotes Joel 3:18; Isaiah 13:6 quotes
Joel 1:15. And as scholars date Amos' ministry to the northern kingdom
as 810-745 BC, the quotations necessarily place Joel as prior to Amos.
Additionally, no reference to a king in Judah during Joel's ministry parallels
the infancy/regency period of Joash. This, too, sustains the date ascribed
above to Joel.
Assyria
Assyria was a country located east of the Tigris River; the capital was
Ashur (Assur, Asshur, Ashshur), from which the entire country derived its
name. The Assyrian Empire encompassed a large mass of land. The Assyrians
were an ethnic blending of Hurrians, Sumerians, and Semites. And the Assyrian
culture fused elements of the Babylonians, the Hittites, and the Hurrians.
From approximately 1950 BC to 1850 BC Assyria was ruled by the Babylonians.
Then in circa 1800 BC, the area came under Amorite rule, then successively
under the hegemony of the Hittites, the Egyptians, and the Hurrians. However,
Assyria proper began to assert and consolidate itself in 1380 BC, and in
1280 BC Shalmaneser I established his capital at Calah (Kalhu), a few miles
south of Nineveh. Shortly thereafter a period of weakness took place, but
Assyria eventually regained military and political pre-eminence under Ashur-dan
I, circa 1150 BC. And during the reign of Tiglath-pileser I, circa 1110
BC, Assyria attained greatness through foreign conquests and internal reforms;
and under Tiglath-pileser I the capital city was once more Ashur.
For the next two centuries, from 1100 to 900 BC, the nation of Assyria faded
almost to extinction; and it was during this decline that David and Solomon
ascended. Around 900 BC Assyria again began to revive itself. Tulkulti-Ninurta
II, then Ashur-nasir-pal (who was cruel beyond imagining), then Shalmaneser
III, each in succession made Assyrian larger and stronger. The latter king,
Shalmaneser III, was the first Assyrian to come in contact with Israel as
a nation. Shalmaneser III forcefully impacted history: he invaded Urartu
(Armenia), captured Carchemish and in 853 BC fought the battle of Karkar,
where he encountered the axis of Ben-hadad of Damascus, his allies, and
Ahab, king of Samaria. Ten years later Shalmaneser III received tribute
payments from both Tyre and Sidon and king Jehu of Samaria. Shalmaneser's
son, Shamshi-adad V married Semiramis, who ruled so successfully as regent
for her son Adad-nirari III. Finally, in 782 BC, Assyria once more suffered
reversals.
Then, in 746 BC, after the ministry of Jonah, Pul or Tiglath-pileser III
came to the throne and the period of the Second Empire began. Pul was followed
by Shalmaneser V, Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esar-haddon and Ashurbanipal.
The last ruler of Assyria was Shin-shar-ishkun; he died when Nabopolassar,
king of Babylonia, and Cyaxeres, king of the Medes, destroyed Nineveh in
612 BC. And after 605 BC, the Assyrians ceased to exist.
[1] Unger, Merrill F. Unger's Survey of the Bible.
[2] Thieme, Robert. Joel, from notes. This is a paraphrase of a principle
propounded by Robert Thieme.
[3] Robert Thieme. Ibid.
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