them e.lone. 4. Hie whole prophesy is derived from the writings of previous prophets. 5. There is no order or method in hie book, because ho merely compiled "e,n eschatologice.l edifice" from the study of other authors, without any attempt at logioa.l arrangement. How false and frivolous are most of these allegations is apparent from whe.t has been already ea.id, but they may be answered seriatim. 1. Nothing oa.n. be inferred froQl Joel'a mention of the call of the trumpet, except that, being in Jerusalem, he summons the inhabitants to assemble. Besides, the summons may ha.ye extended much further; as in Lev. xxv. 9, the trumpet is bidden to sound "throughout all the land." The priests are described merely a, mi.n_ietejl'.s. of the sanctuary, whose duty it was to take the lead in the offices of religion. No especial authority is attributed to the elders; they a.re simply bidde12. to join with the others ; and the king is not mentioned, either beca-use. he was then a minor, or because his special interferenoe was not necessary at this agricultural crisis. The calamity was accompanied with ch:ought, and the devastation of the locusts would destroy the future crop, so. that national scarcity might well be expected for some time to come. 2. The prophet is careful to bid the people not to be content with outward signs of penitence. "Rend your heart," he says ( eh, ii. 13), "and not your garment~, . . . turn to me with all your heart." The very exhortation to turn to God implies the leaving sins, whatever they a.re. No special mention of idol.a.try was needed at other times besides the .post-exilian era;· and there were earlier periods of reformation of religion in Judah, when the Law was carefully observed. 3. This is already partly answered bJ (2). The externe.l act.s enjoined are intended to express the fervour and reality, of the repentance, with due regard to the position of the priests e,s inter- cessors for the people. Far from restricting God's blessing to the Jews alone, the prophet foretells the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh, and proclaims that "whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be delivered" (eh. ii 32). 4. Joel certainly founds, himself ,up,on' the history and enactments and warnings of the iP.e11tateuch; 1111 ~o4's revelations occur in orderly development, he would have been np·; tr_u,~ prophet if he had not done so. But he nowhere 1shows tral)8s Qfi p.er;ivjpg anything from Ezekiel, or Jeremiah. or Isaiah; ~ather, e,s we. h~ve seen above, and as we note further on, some of these writers probably,.m_ade UJ!e, of him. 5. We have already shown tlmt the book' is one whole, m:etho~ dically arranged, and capable of logical distribution. We are, therefore, quite safe in refusing to assent to the theory of a post-exilian date for the prophecy of Joel No date that is given is without difficulties, nor is it allowable to dog- matize in a matter so uncertain; but on the whole it seems safest to. assign to Joel a period antecedent to Amos, and, if we must fix the time more precisely, we may offer our adherence to ihe opinion which has the greatest weight of authority, that he exercised bis ministry during the minority of King Joash, and aided Jehoia.da in re-establishing and in maintaining the TIJI~ nfJOK OF ,J(JEL. IJ
pure worship of Jehovah in the southern kingdom. We may account for the indefiniteness of ,Toel'e prediction by remembering that he is first of all comforting his people under e. certain material calamity, and 11howing them how to avert and remedy it; and that, in hie prophetic foresight seeing in this visitation a. token of God's judgment, he gives a sketch of wha.t was in store, lea.ving to other hands the details. This is just what might be expected from e.n early prophet, and is in exact concordance with the orderly development of revelation.
§ III. GENERAL CHARACTER.
All competent critics agree in assigning to Joel a very high rank among the Hebrew prophets, placing him but little below Isaiah and Habakkuk, who are confessedly first in sublimity and elevation of style. For vivid- ness.of description and picturesqueness of diction he is, perhaps, unequalled. It would be difficult to find passages surpassing in vigour or colouring the account of the invasion of the locust-army and the desolation wrought by it, and the gl!,thering of all nations in the valley of judgment. As we read these verses we feel that we are in the presence of an accomplished poet, one who was a master in the art of language, and understood rhetorical effect. The style is pure and clear; the meaning it1 expressed simply and distinctly; there is no ambiguity, there are no dark riddles to solve. Brief as Joel is at times, expressing much in a very few words, he is always intelligible. Even where he uses only pairs of words to delineate his picture, he is not obscure. See, for instance, oh. i. 10, "The field is wasted, the ground mourns; the corn is wasted: the new wine is spoiled, the oil decays." What a scene of desolation I yet how briefly and forcibly depicted! We see it all; we want nothing more to present it to our eyes. He is very touching amid all his energy and awfulness. The tenderness of his nature shows itself in many an unexpected hint. He has a. feeling for family affection when he bids the bridegroom go forth from his chamber a □ d the bride from her closet, to come before the Lord in sorrow and penitence, or when he summons Israel to mourn like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. He sympathizes with the very cattle in their sufferings from scarcity and drought; in the prospect of better times he cries to them, "Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field." Of the prevalent sins which have called down the judgment, he says little or nothing. This one important element in prophetic addresses is absent from Joel's utter- ances. He speaks of chastisement, of repentance, of pardon and reconcilia- tion, of a grand future in store for his people; but he refrains from dwelling upon past misconduct; in the face of the present visitation he is gentle and merciful in rebuke and complaint. As for hie language, it is pure and, as we may call it, classical. He sometimes introduces uncommon words (see oh. i. 16), but generally the diction is such as was used in the best ages of Hebrew composition, and has in many respects served as a. model for I:--TRODUCTTON TO Tirn nOOK OF JOEL.