We are using our Friday Daily Droplets to peer into the message of Joel the prophet. Open your Bibles to Joel 2 and let’s consider his preaching for a few moments.
Chapter two begins with another imperative with an allusion to the assembly theme from 1:14. This call to alarm is sounded on “Zion,” the “holy mountain,” a reference to the city of Jerusalem (Psa 48; Isa 11:9). The call from Jerusalem anticipates that this invasion or “day of the Lord” has religious significance. The alarm is sounded because the day of the Lord is coming. In verse 2, Joel describes the day as “darkness, gloom, clouds, thick darkness” and portrays it as involving “a great and mighty people,” (cf. 1:6) which is as overwhelming as the dawn that spreads over the mountains.
Again, Joel pictures this event as something never seen before (cf. 1:2). This invasion involves people and their target is the city, Jerusalem. References to clouds (cf. Exo 14:19-20) and darkness are typical metaphors used for the “day of the Lord.” The invaders are an “invincible army of God” (Keil & Delitzsch, 194).
This invading people in preceded by a fire (2:3). The land is pristine, like Eden, in front of them but behind them, a desolate wilderness (cf 1:18-19). A “scorched earth policy” was typical of ancient armies. The appearance of this invading army is that of horses, war horses, with an accompanying noise of chariots (2:5; cf Rev 9:7, 9). They appear on the mountains so suddenly, it seems they have jumped there, and their noise reminds one of crackling fire. The peoples who are being invaded feel anguish and their faces turn pale (2:6). The invaders run like soldiers, climbing the walls, marching in line, not deviating (2:7). These soldiers are highly trained and disciplined (2:8) and penetrate every nook and cranny of the city and its houses, even slipping into houses undetected (2:9; cf. Exo 10:6).
Signs of the Day of the Lord (2:10-11)
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These two verses conclude this paragraph in the call to prepare for the day of the Lord. But here, we see the “great and very awesome” day having cosmic implications. The earth quakes. The heavens tremble (cf Nah. 1:5-6; Jer 10:10). The lights of the night become dark. Even the stars lose their luminosity. Garrett writes, “When the prophets asserted that heavens were shaken, they implied that creation was being undone and that the world the people knew was ending.”
Verse 11 declares that Jehovah utters His voice at the head of His army. The army camp is huge. The one who carries out the word of Jehovah is strong. This is the case because the day of the Lord is “indeed great and very awesome.” Verse 11 ends with a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer: “Who can endure it?” No one, of course. We’ll consider the day of the Lord more in-depth later. Here, we quote the thoughts of Allen: “God is present indeed among his people, but for bane and not for blessing. Nor was this a normal chastisement from the Lord of history, but the first telltale signs of the End” (75).
We are leading up to a famous prophecy of Joel (2:28-32) which is quoted by Peter in Acts 2 and said, then, to be fulfilled. What else might have been fulfilled from Joel’s preaching in the Messianic Age?
Paul Holland
