Joel is warning a of a terrible plague as never seen before in Judah that will destroy the entire country's crop causing a total destruction of the country. watercourses are dried up, the herds of cattle wonder about because there is no pasture for them. Joy withers away among the people. He is calling the priests, and elders to repentance, fasting, and prayer. He is primary warning the priests, and ministers of the altar (elders) to put on the sackcloth and to gather the inhabitants of the land to lament the desolation of the land as if a fire has devoured the land.
Chapter 2 & 3
The day of the Lord is coming, it is near. A day of darkness, a great powerful army comes, the earth quakes, the sun and the moon are darkened. (Joel 2:12) In the midst of all of this God still can change the course of the destruction if only they return to God with all their hearts and God will show them how gracious, and merciful He is. There is hope for the inhabitants that everything will be re-establish for them if they repent and turn back to God. Joel never reveals the evil that existed within Judah only starts by warning the priest, and elders that they must gather the people and turn to God with all their hearts. At the end God says "I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat and I will enter into judgment with them there, on account of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations. They have divided my land, and cast lots for my people, and traded boys for prostitutes, and sold girls for wine, and drunk it down." Joel 3:2-3
Summary:
The prophet Joel showed up in Israel during a time of the most terrible plague of locusts in the nation's history. Joel came and prophesied to the land of Judah before the plague came. He warned the people of Judah that the devastation was going to sweep across the land very soon. He called for a season of fasting, mourning, and repentance. He warned them of God's judgment in the imagery of the impending invasion of locusts. He called the people of Judah and Jerusalem to weep over the sins, and to fast and repent because the day of the Lord is approaching. Soon the plague came and devastated the whole land and its effects were clearly seen and felt. The locusts came like a storm, they darkened the skies and every green thing was left barren. There was no hope of escape and they left utter decimation in their path. Joel seized upon the imagery of the locusts as a type of the greater judgement that would come on "the Day of the Lord" in the last days: Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty . . . The LORD gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it? Joel 1:15, 2:11. Joel also gave a message of hope and prophesied of great blessings that would follow and the glories of the Messiah's kingdom. Israel will be re-established with green pastures and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass though it. (Joel 3:17)
Credits:
Created with images by 70154 - "tree winter desolate" • aloshbennett - "Imagine a world without trees" • vperez - "skeleton bones animal" • Thelonious Gonzo - "Moon Rise" • Pexels - "sun sunset moon" • Jordi Bernabeu - "Syrian girls, carrying school bags provided by UNICEF, walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings on their way home from school on March 7 in al-Shaar neighborhood, in the rebel-held side of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. (IZEIN ALRIFAI/AFP/GImages)" • aneejohn - "london palace statue" • pooch_eire - "sheep lamb spring" • Colliefreund - "cereals agriculture pasture" • maxlkt - "theravada buddhism homage faithfully"