About This Book
Joel uses a devastating locust plague as a backdrop to prophesy about the coming Day of the Lord, calling for repentance and promising both judgment and restoration. The book opens with an unprecedented locust invasion that has stripped Judah completely—what one stage of locusts left, the next devoured. Drunkards awaken to find vineyards destroyed, grain offerings have ceased, and priests mourn because the temple service is interrupted. Joel calls for sacred assembly, fasting, and genuine repentance.
The locusts serve as an immediate crisis but also as prophetic symbol of coming invasion by foreign armies on the Day of the Lord—that future time when God directly intervenes in history to judge the wicked and vindicate His people. Joel describes the Day of the Lord as darkness and gloom, with an invading army like nothing ever seen, the earth quaking and heavens trembling. Yet even now, God offers hope if people return to Him with all their hearts, not merely outward repentance but genuine heart transformation. God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, relenting from sending calamity.
Joel calls for sacred assembly—everyone from elders to nursing infants, even bridegrooms from their chambers—to pray for God's mercy. God responds with promises of restoration: the land will be renewed, grain and wine will be abundant, the years the locusts destroyed will be restored. Beyond material restoration, God promises unprecedented spiritual blessing—He will pour out His Spirit on all people, regardless of age, gender, or social status. This prophecy is partially fulfilled at Pentecost, with complete fulfillment awaiting the future.
Joel prophesies that God will judge the nations in the Valley of Jehoshaphat for their treatment of His people. The book concludes with promises of permanent blessing: Judah will be inhabited forever, God will pardon their sins, and the Lord will dwell in Zion.