JOEL
675
if used as in the case of other books of prophecy, seems to the present writer more favourable to a pre-exilic than to a post-exilic date.
v. Doctrine. — Joel contains a comprehensive summary of prophetic teaching. The calamities of life are the fruit of sin. 'fhe punishment of sin cannot be escaped without repentance. Sin- cere repentance will secure forgiveness, and the restoration of the divine favour. Further, such a calamity as Joel describes is severe enough, and deliverance from it a great blessing ; but there is a linal judgment and deliverance of which these are but types. Joel uses a grave occurrence of his own (lay as a basis for a prediction concerning the last times, when, on the great day of the Lord, the cycle of judgment shall close, and the deliver- ance of the people of J" shall be complete. To that day of tlie Lord the prophet sees all things tending. The locust invasion appears to be a harbinger of that day ; hence the earnestness of the prophet's appeal to the people. Such, gener- ally, is the teaching of the book — the day of the Lord being the most important subject.
It is quite surprising how much of the imagery and thought of Joel appears in other books of Scripture. If the date is early, later writers lie under very special obligations to the author of this short book. The .nost striking part of the imagery is that connected with the locusts, which ajipear as agents in divine judgments from the time of the exodus from Kgypt down to the close of the present dispensation (cf. Ex lU*"-, Hev 9^"). For the plienomena connected with the day of the Lord, the speedy approach of which is supposed to be indicated by the locust invasion, cf. Ex 10-'"-, Is 13«', Ezk Bi'*^, Am 8», Mt 24-=», Mk 13-^'-, Lk 21="-, Rev 6'=f-. In ch. 3 [Heb. 4] " two figures occur which appear elsewhere, especially in the Bk. of Kev. The first is that of the harvest (cf. Ho8 6", Jer Sl^*, Mt n^. Rev 14'«-). The second is that of the wine-press (cf. Is 63^, La 1'°, Rev 14"" ). Noteworthy also is the figure of the fountain proceeding from the house of J", when His people are restored to His favour, and water- ing the dry acacia-wady (ch. 3 [He 4] " ; cf. Ezk iV"', Zee 13' 14*, Rev 22'). In the promise of the outpouring of the Spirit, Joel seems to have given expression to a glimpse into NT times, with which he was specially favoured. His words have been taken up by the NT Church, and will be used, to the end of our NT dispensation, to express the sum of blessing bestowed by God on II is true people (cf. Nu II»-^, Zee 12'», Ac 2'«»-, Jn le'").
Not less important are the two closely allied truths regarding the remnant and the called (2*-) [Heb. y]. For the former, cf. Ob " (where the language is the same as in Jl), Is 6" (and variou« other ptissages), Mic 5'-'» [Heb.»-»-n, Jer 31"'-, Rolls"-. For the latter, cL Ro 9'"-. It is worthy of note that, in this OT book, the truth is distinctly laid dovATi that (as Ewalil puts it) ' no man mav boast of a right to redemption' (Prophet* of Of, Eng. tr. i. 137).
This investigation might be pushed further, but enough has been stated to show that the Bk. of Jl and other books of Scripture have a great deal in common.*
The style of Joel la clear and of * high order, and the languags oomparativoly pura. One of his words tor the locusts (CiJ) oocun
• Is 13« (cf. Jl 1"), Am 1» (cf. Jl 3 [Heb. 4) 1»), Am 0" (cf. Jl 8 [Heb. 4] '«), raise din-ctly the question of quotations. This i>oint has not been discussed, t>ecause, in the case of such ft Inx^k a« the OT, an argiiment founded on quotations is extremely pre-
carious. That qiic)tj\lion» occur in the )>assa|^<s Just mentioned is scarcely doulitlul. The question is, 'Who quotesT' The words of Jl 3I« occur quite naturally In a highly poetic ivas.«a(,-o.
The same words In Am 1' seem to be chosen as ft sort of text for the prophet's iliscmirse. And the reasonftble view is tbfth In this cose, Jl is the original ftouio*.
576
JOELAH
JOHN
•Itcwhen only tn Am 4'. ThU, partly, lid Bleck to the con- clusion tha; Uie locust invasion ao8crilK-<l in Jl was the same as that referred to in Aiu, and that the two prophets belonged to the same period — Joel beiuj; the earlier. If tliis view is acceptt<l, the perplexing expression 'jiEjtn (lh.> nurtli. rn. •i'") admits of a comparatively easy explanation. A north wind is all that is rcoviired to bring the locusts from the northern kingdom into Judoh.
LiTsaaTtms. — Pocock, Com, on Jofl, Oxford, 1001 ; Credncr, Jorl ubfrt. u. erkl., llalle, 1S31 ; Wiinacho, Wtigaag. d. J'roph. Jwt, Leindg, 18"i; ilerx. Die Proptutie d. Joft u. i/ire Awl- teaer, liaUe, 1879 (specially valuable on account of the detoitrd history of the exjiosiliun); Pusey, ilinvr rrophett, lck;0; Driver, iOT" S07fl., also ^off on-i Amoi in Comb. Bible, IbUT ; Hitzig, Ki. Prvfih.*, 1831; Comill, EiiileilA l"<f., Der itrwi. ProfTutUmut, 103; Wildeboer, AT LiL 31511. ; Oustav Preuss, Jwt, unter bettoiuierer liUd:vi<ht der ZeU/rage, llalle, ISsy ; Kirkpatrick, Doct. oj Pruphfti, 4(111.; Kindluy, Dkt. oS the Proyheti, 1. 94 0.; NVellbuusen, Klein. Proph. MIT., 207 IT. ; W. K. Smith, art Joel in CLh cd. of Eric. Bnt.; Farrar, ilinor Prtt/iheH, lisn. ; Ewald, Prophete, Eng. tr. L 107 IT. ; Ueuss, AT, ii. 47 0. ; Nowack, Kl. J'ruph. 1897 ; O. A. sjmilli, Twelue PropheU, vol. 11. 18118; Chcj-ne, Foundert of OT frit. 312; A. B. navidson in Hxjiositor, March 1888; Gray, ibid. Sept. isns; Kuenen, Uitt.-Cril. Uiul.^ ii. 68 ; Oort in Th. Tijd. (187(i) 302 IT. ; Matthes in TK Tijd. (Iti65) 34-06, 129-160, (1887) 367-381; HoUinger in Z.^rir(188S)) 89-131. G. G. CAMERON.