JOEL
CHAPTER ONE
OBSERVATION
STAGE
TABLE
OF CONTENTS
The purpose of
the observation stage is to maintain focus on the text at hand within the
normative rules of language, context and logic 
which limits the observer to the content offered by the book of Joel. This
will serve to avoid going on unnecessary tangents elsewhere; and more
importantly, it will provide the framework for a proper and objective
comparison with passages located elsewhere in Scripture.
Remember that
something elsewhere may be true, but in the text at hand it may not be in
view.
I)
[Joel 1:1-20]:
A)
(1:1-12) THE BOOK OF JOEL BEGAN WITH THE DECLARATION THAT IT WAS THE
WORD OF THE LORD WHICH CAME TO JOEL, SON OF PETHUEL. JOEL ADDRESSED THE
ELDERS AND ALL THE INHABITANTS OF JUDAH WITH A RHETORICAL QUESTION
RELATIVE TO AN UNPARALLELED AND DEVASTATING LOCUST PLAGUE WHICH HAD
RECENTLY OCCURRED IN THE LAND OF JUDAH: "HAS ANYTHING LIKE THIS
HAPPENED IN YOUR DAYS, OR EVEN IN THE DAYS OF YOUR FATHERS?"
WHEREUPON THE PROPHET JOEL PROVIDED A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE
UNPARALLELED DEVASTATION CAUSED BY THE PLAGUE TO SERVE AS A WARNING TO
THE PEOPLE OF JUDAH AND THEIR FUTURE GENERATIONS OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF
TURNING AWAY FROM THE LORD. THE PEOPLE WERE TO WEEP AND WAIL FOR THEIR
DEVASTATION AND GREAT LOSS OF CROPS AND VINEYARDS - FROM DRUNKARDS, TO
THE PRIESTS, TO THE FARMERS AND VINEDRESSERS. AND THE PRIESTS WERE TO
CONSECRATE A FAST, AND CALL FOR A SACRED ASSEMBLY IN THE HOUSE OF THE
LORD SO THAT ALL ISRAEL MIGHT REPENT, CRYING OUT TO THE LORD FOR MERCY
TO BE SAVED FROM FURTHER HARM
B)
(1:13-15) JOEL'S ACCOUNT OF THE LORD'S DEVASTATING, UNSURPASSED LOCUST
PLAGUE UPON JUDAH; FOLLOWED BY HIS EXHORTATIONS TO THE PRIESTS AND TO
ALL THE PEOPLE OF JUDAH TO GIRD THEMSELVES WITH MOURNING SACKCLOTH,
CONSECRATE A FAST, CALL A SACRED ASSEMBLY AND CRY OUT TO THE LORD, IS
IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY HIS EMPHATIC DECLARATION, "ALAS FOR THE
DAY! FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND; IT SHALL COME AS DESTRUCTION
FROM THE ALMIGHTY!!" THIS IMPLIES THE NEED FOR ALL OF ISRAEL TO
TRUST IN THE LORD'S TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL SALVATION TO BE PROTECTED FROM
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ALMIGHTY AND RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE IN THE ETERNAL
KINGDOM OF GOD. JOEL'S DECLARATION, "THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT
HAND," REFERS TO A UNIQUE - ONE OF A KIND - AND IMMINENT WORLDWIDE
CALAMITY FOLLOWED BY THE COMING OF THE LORD TO ESTABLISH HIS ETERNAL
KINGDOM ON THE EARTH - TO BE ELABORATED UPON IN SUCCEEDING CHAPTERS.
NOTE
THAT THE ARRIVAL OF THE DAY OF THE LORD IN THE TIME OF JOEL WOULD IN NO
WAY CHANGE ANY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECIES, ESPECIALLY THOSE OF THE
SON OF GOD ATONING FOR THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD. FOR THERE WOULD BE
NO HINDRANCE TO THEIR PERFECT FULFILLMENT BY THE ARRIVAL OF THE DAY OF
THE LORD AT ANY TIME IN THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL AS GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE. ON
THE OTHER HAND, THE ETERNAL KINGDOM OF GOD WOULD THEN HAVE ARRIVED
BEFORE THE OCCURANCE OF THE TIMES AND EVENTS - NOT THE
UNFULFILLED PROPHECIES - PORTRAYED IN THE "NEW TESTAMENT"
BOOKS - A HISTORY THAT WOULD THEN NOT HAVE OCCURRED AS STIPULATED.
C)
(1:16-20) BEFORE PROCEEDING IN CHAPTER TWO TO THE DETAILS OF THE DAY OF
THE LORD, THE PROPHET JOEL PROVIDED FURTHER DETAILS OF THE DEVASTATION
OF THE COUNTRYSIDE OF JUDAH TO EXHORT THE PEOPLE TO RETURN TO GOD IN
NATIONAL REPENTANCE. THIS WAS A PREREQUISITE TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF DAY
OF THE LORD. SINCE THE AFTERMATH OF THE LOCUST PLAGUE HAD CAUSED FURTHER
DEVASTATION, (DROUGHT, FIRE, DEAD SEEDS, ETC), SUCH THAT MASSIVE
CALAMITY WAS IMMINENT, JOEL HIMSELF CRIED OUT TO THE LORD FOR MERCY ON
BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE. NOTE THAT THE LOCUST PLAGUE IN JUDAH WAS NOT THE
DAY OF THE LORD, AS SOME CONTEND. FOR IT WAS NOT A WORLDWIDE JUDGMENT OF
THE LORD AS PORTRAYED IN JOEL CHAPTERS TWO AND THREE. IT WAS ONE OF THE
MANY JUDGMENTS AT VARIOUS TIMES THAT THE LORD PUT UPON HIS PEOPLE - EACH
ONE OF WHICH WAS TO BE PRE-IMMINENT TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE JUDGMENT
OF THE DAY OF THE LORD HAD ALL ISRAEL REPENTED AT ANY OF THESE TIMES.
LATER ON IN HIS WRITING - IN CHAPTERS TWO AND THREE - JOEL WOULD
REITERATE THAT THE COMING OF THE DAY OF THE LORD WAS PREDICATED UPON ALL
ISRAEL'S REPENTANCE - THAT IF ALL ISRAEL WOULD RETURN IN FAITH TO THE
LORD AND ACCEPT THE COMING OF HER MESSIAH / SAVIOR TO PROVIDE SALVATION
FROM HARM AND UNTO ETERNAL LIFE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD, THEN THE DAY OF
THE LORD WOULD COMMENCE
Joel
chapter 2
