An Introduction to the Book of Joel
By: David Malick
I. TITLE OF THE BOOK
A. In Hebrew the title comes of the prophetic author, lway
, the combination of two names of God--Yahweh & Elohim.
The affirmation is probably "Yahweh is God." This is
the reverse of Elijah ("God is Yahweh")
B. In Greek the title is simply a transliteration of the
Hebrew IWHL
II. AUTHOR: Joel
A. Nothing is know about Joel other than his being the son
of Pethuel (who is also unknown) 1:1
B. He was from Judah
C. Perhaps references to Jerusalem indicate that he was
from Jerusalem
III. CANONICAL PLACEMENT
A. In the Hebrew Canon Joel is placed among the minor
prophets after Ezekiel & Hosea and before Amos
B. In the Greek canon Joel is placed after Daniel and
Hosea and before Amos. Our English order matches the
Greek placement of the book.
IV. DATE: Although it is not possible for one to be certain, it
seems that a late preexilic date is the best choice for the
time of Joel (609-586 B.C.)
A. Early Preexilic (Ninth Century, 835 B.C.):1
1. The early placement of Joel in the Hebrew Canon
(second minor prophet after Hosea); but this is
inconclusive to chronology--especially since the
LXX places the book in a different place (e.g.,
after Daniel).
2. The enemies of Judah are her earlier enemies of
Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Egypt, and Edom (Joel 3:4,
19); but this is inconclusive since even a prophet
like Ezekiel pronounces prophecies against these
life long enemies of Judah (Ezek 25--32; cf. also
Jer 46--49; Zeph 2:4-7).
3. The type of government described in the prophecy
(the rule of elders [1:2; 2:16] and priests [1:9,
13; 2:17]) supports the time when Joash became
king at age seven; but these arguments will also
be used to support a late date for the book (when
there was no king).
B. Late Preexilic (Seventh-Sixth Century, 609-586 B.C.):2
1. Joel 2 seems to picture the Babylonians vividly
enough that he did not need to specifically
identify them in the chapter; their presence is
imposing.
2. Joel 3:2b which speaks of Judah having been
"scattered," and "divided" may have reference to
the deportation of 597 B.C. (2 Kings 24:10-16);
this also allows for Joel's reference to the
temple (1:9, 13; 2:17) which stood until 586 (cf.
2 Ki 25:9)
3. Joel 1:15 and 2:1-11 are anticipating the final
destruction of Judah in 586 B.C. (2 Ki 25:1-21)
4. Joel's "Day of the Lord" is referring to the
coming destruction in 586 B.C. (cf. Jer 5:17)
5. The slave trade between the Phoenicians and Greeks
fits with this historical period (cf. Ezk 27:13)
6. Chisholm argues that 2:18-19 "seems to recorded
God's mercy to Joel's generation, implying they
truly repented .... If so, such a sequence of
events is difficult to harmonize with the
historical record of Judah's final days."3But need
one conclude from 2:18-19 that Judah did repent,
or that they were being exhorted to repent. If the
latter is the case, and Judah did not repent,
there would be no problem with the historical fall
of Jerusalem which followed.Moreover, if one
understands chapter two to be still describing the
same historical plague as chapter one as a "local"
Day of the Lord which then jumbs into the
eschaton, the mercy experienced in 2:18-19 would
not have to refer to the fall of Jerusalem.
C. Postexilic (Sixth to Fourth Century, 515-350 B.C.):4
1. The references to the temple in 1:9, 13; and 2:17
must refer to the second temple since Joel 3:1-2,
17 refer to the destruction of Jerusalem; but this
could refer to the late preexilic period (see
above)
2. The king is not the leader of the community, but
the elders are which matches a postexilic period
(cf. Ezra 10:14); but this is an argument from
silence. Elders were prominent before the fall of
Jerusalem (cf. 2 Ki 23:1; Jer 26:17; Lam 5:12,
14)5
3. Joel seems to quote other prophets like Ezekiel
(cf. Joel 2:3 with Ezek 36:35; Joel 2:10 with Ezek
32:7; Joel 2:27 with Ezek 39:28-29); but it is
difficult to determine who is referring to whom.
In addition Ezekiel would be a contemporary of
Joel if he wrote during the late preexilic period
4. The reference to Greek slave trade in 3:6 more
closely aligns with the postexilic period, but
this also existed during the late preexilic
period6
D. Conclusion:
1. Therefore, while the early preexilic and
postexilic periods are both possible, the evidence
seems to align itself more favorably with the late
preexilic period than the other two possibilities
2. Thankfully, the answer to this question is one of
"historicity," and does not determine the
"meaning" of the book, even though the referent is
affect by historical setting.
V. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND7
A. Josiah brought about the final spiritual revival for
Judah when he came to the throne in 622 B.C.
B. The Assyrian Empire Fell
1. The Assyrian power rose with Ashurnasirpal II (884-
859 B.C.) and Shalmaneser II (859-824 B.C.)
2. Tiglath-pileser III (Pul in the Scriptures) began
a group of conquerors who took Syria and Palestine
including Shalmaneser V (727-722 B.C. who began
the deportation of Samaria), Sargon II (722-705
B.C. who completed the deportation of Samaria),
Sennacherib (704-581 B.C. who attacked king of
Judah, Hezekiah [Josiah's father]), and Esarhaddon
(681-669 B.C. who led campaigns against Egypt)
3. Esarhaddon's son, Ashurbanipal (669-631) ruled
much of the upper Egyptian city of Thebes, but his
decline and that of Assyria's soon followed
4. Nineveh, the capital, was destroyed in 612 B.C.
5. Assyria's army was defeated in 609 B.C. at Haran
6. What was left of Assyria's army went to Carchemish
(just west of the Euphrates River and north of
Aram)
C. The Neo-Babylonian Empire Arose
1. Merodach Baladan was a Chaldean and father of
Nabopolassar and grandfather of Nebuchadnezzar.
Merodach Baladan sent ambassadors to Hezekiah (Isa
39; 2 Ki 20:12-19)
2. In October 626 B.C. Nabopolassar defeated the
Assyrians outside of Babylon
3. In 616 B.C. Nabopolassar expanded his kingdom, and
in 612 B.C. he joined with the Medes and destroyed
Nineveh
D. A Realignment of Power in 609 B.C. and later
1. Judah: When Assyria fell and Babylon arose Judah,
under Josiah, removed itself from Assyria's
control and existed as an autonomous state until
609 B.C. when it lost a battle with Egypt on the
plain of Megiddo
2. Egypt:
a. Attempted to expand its presence into
Palestine with Assyria's troubles
b. Egypt joined with Assyria to fight the
Babylonians at Haran
1) Judah tried to stop Egypt's (Pharaoh
Neco II) alliance but was defeated on
the plain of Megiddo with the loss of
their king, Josiah (cf. 2 Chron 35:20-
24)
2) The Assyrians lost their battle with
Babylon (even with the help of Egypt)
and disappeared as a power in the world,
and Egypt retreated to Carchemish as the
dividing line between Egypt and
Babylonian
3) Egypt ruled Judah:
a) Egypt (Necho) replaced Josiah's
son, Jehoahaz, after three months
with Jehoiakim (who was another son
of Josiah) as a vassal king (2 Ki
23:34-35)
b) Egypt (Necho) plundered Judah's
treasuries
c) Egypt (Necho) took Jehoahaz into
captivity in Egypt
E. In 605 B.C. other changes of power occurred:
1. Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians at
Carchemish
2. Judah's king, Jehoiakim, changed his loyalty to
the Babylonians rather than the Egyptians and
became Nebuchadnezzar's vassal king (2 Ki. 24:1)
3. Nebuchadnezzar had to return to Babylon with the
death of his father, Nebopolassar
4. Nebuchadnezzar solidified his rule by appointing
vassal kings and taking hostages; Daniel was taken
as a part of this deportation (Dan 1:1-6)
F. In 601 Egypt defeated the Babylonians
1. Judah's king, Jehoiakim, switched loyalty from
Babylonia to the Egyptians (2 Ki 24:1)
2. On December of 598 Babylonia made an attack on
Jerusalem leading to Jehoiakim's death and the
surrender of the city by his successor,
Jehoiachin, in March of 597
3. Nebuchadnezzar, replaced Jehoiachin after only
three months of reign, deported him and 10,000
other leaders8 from the city, looted the city, and
placed Zedekiah Judah's vassal king (cf. 2 Ki
24:12-16)
G. Zedekiah was a weak king who repeated the errors of
those before him; he was convinced by Egypt to revolt
with a coalition of other states (Tyre and Ammon)
against Babylon (588 B.C. against the advise of
Jeremiah) and Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in
586 B.C.
VI. Audience for the Book: The southern nation of Judah
VII. PURPOSES FOR THE BOOK:
A. To warn Judah of the coming Day of the Lord when
judgment will get worse for Judah and the nations of
the world
B. To urge Judah to repent of their sins
C. To proclaim a future time when complete restoration
will come to the nation
___________________________
1 Gleason L. Archer, Jr. A Survey of Old Testament
Introduction, 311-14; John A Martin, "An Outline of Joel,"
unpublished class notes in 304 preexlic and exilic prophets,
(Dallas Theological Seminary, Fall 1983), 1.
2 Homer Heater, Jr., "Notes on the Book of Joel,"
unpublished class notes in seminar in the preexilic Old Testament
prophets [Dallas Theological Seminary, Fall 1990], 163; Andrew E.
Hill and John H. Walton, A Survey of the Old Testament, 438-39;
Arvid S. Kapelrud, Joel Studies, 19ff, 154-58.
3 Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., "Joel," The Bible Knowledge
Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary
Faculty: Old Testament, 1410. See also Robert B. Chisholm, Jr.,
Interpreting the Minor Prophets, 53-54.
4 Leslie C. Allen, Joel, Obadiah, Johan, and Micah, 19-25;
Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., "Joel," The Bible Knowledge Commentary:
An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty: Old
Testament, 1410; Interpreting the Minor Prophets, 51; Andrew E.
Hill and John H. Walton, A Survey of the Old Testament, 365-55;
R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, 876-79.
5 See Arvid S. Kapelrud, Joel Studies, 19ff, 187-89.
6 Arvid S. Kapelrud, Joel Studies, 154-58.
7 This was adapted from Charles H. Dyer, "Jeremiah," The
Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures by
Dallas Seminary Faculty: Old Testament, 1125-27, and Homer
Heater, Jr., "Notes on the Book of Jeremiah," unpublished class
notes in seminar in the preexilic Old Testament prophets (Dallas
Theological Seminary, Fall 1990), 101-105.
8 Perhaps Ezekiel was one of those deported during this
second deportation. He would have begun his prophetic ministry
five years later.
