Joel: Biblical proportions

The book of Joel is short; only three chapters. Scholars aren't sure if it was written in the 9th century or 6th century B.C., but that doesn't matter very much. The overarching message is that Yahweh is about to rain down judgment on Israel as well as other nations for their wickedness, on the coming Day of the Lord. But if the people will repent, He will restore and bless Israel.

There's a famous, comforting passage in Joel, referring to the Day of the Lord: "And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved, for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls" (Joel 2:28-32).

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of Joel is his description of an invasion of locusts. Scholars believe he was talking about a real event, although it could be construed as a metaphor for God's wrath and/or for the devastation from invasions of foreign armies--Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, or Romans.

As with the other minor (and major) prophets, Joel's message is scary and disturbing because it can be applied across the ages: God will not tolerate wickedness forever; He certainly could and perhaps will unleash His wrath.

For me, though, the book of Joel makes my thoughts wander to a couple of my favorite pieces of American literature.

First, the description of the invasion of locusts makes me think of On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. The chapter "The Glittering Cloud" describes one of the devastating infestations of locusts in the 1870s on the American prairie. It's horrifying, and a scene right out of Joel. When people say "Locust swarms of biblical proportions," they're talking about Joel (or possibly the plague of locusts in Exodus 10).

The other link to a favorite book is Joel 3:14: "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!" (My NIV text note says this would refer to a valley where God passes judgment on the people.) In the 1951 World War II novel The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk, one of the characters, Thomas Keefer, publishes a novel about the war that he entitles Multitudes, Multitudes. There's not really any explanation about why that title is used. Wouk was a Jewish biblical scholar in his own right, so it's fun to speculate. I suppose it was used by the character, and by Wouk, to illustrate that all the multitudes of people involved in the war were subject to God's judgment.

The two images tie together for Joel's readers and for us today. We must remember that we are all in the Valley of Decision--subject to God's judgment; and God's judgment can be as horrifying and devastating as an invasion of multitudes and multitudes of locusts.

And, friends, that is a vision of biblical proportion.