| 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. |
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
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.”
But 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.): |
| |
|
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) |
| |
|
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
period |
| |
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
BACKGROUND |
| |
|
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 leaders
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 |