JOEL (Heb. Yôʾēl "Yahweh Is God"). - Prophet, son of Pethuel (1:1). Since in his book he speaks only of Judah, of Jerusalem and of the Temple, one may deduce that he carried out his ministry in Judah and perhaps in the capital itself.
Many exegetes (from Credner onward) assigned J. to the time of King Joash (836-797); thus, among recent ones, König and Theis. But the data offered by the book favor the position of modern exegesis (from Merx onward), which places J.'s activity after the exile, between 500 and 400. Some place J. immediately after Malachi: the priests in J. appear as pious intercessors (1:13 ff.; 2:15 ff.). J. does not allude to the Kingdom of Samaria, to Damascus, to Assyria, to Babylon, to the monarchy of Judah, to the sins of idolatry; he speaks only of priests; the people of Judah represents all Israel (2:17-27; 3:2-16 = Heb. ch. 4, as in Chronicles); he alludes to the accomplished ruin of Jerusalem, to the dispersion of Israel among the pagans; to the occupation of the country by neighboring nations. J. depends on the earlier prophets (Driver), and particularly on Ezekiel (Merx, Scholtz). The enemies of Judah are the Phoenicians, the Philistines, the Edomites, the Egyptians (3 [Heb. 4]:4-8, 19; cf. Ez. 35-36; while vv. 9-17 recall Ez. 38-39; and v. 18 Ez. 47:1-12). We are therefore, it seems, after the return from exile.
In the Vulgate there are 3 chapters; in the Hebrew editions, however, 4: 2:28-32 are in the Hebrew 3:1-5, and ch. 3 (Vulg.) - ch. 4 (Heb.).
The starting point of J.'s prophecy is a terrible invasion of locusts, which has devastated the country (1:1-12); the prophet exhorts to repentance (1:13-20). In ch. 2 he takes up the same theme; the scourge, described with vivid images and strong metaphors, is considered as a type of the "day of Yahweh" (2:1-11); J. again exhorts to repentance (2:12-17). Then follows the Lord's answer: cessation of the scourge, promise of great temporal blessings (2:18-27) and spiritual ones (2:28-32; Heb. 3:1-5). Judah will be freed from the enemies who will attempt to stifle it: their punishment and divine protection for Israel (3, Heb. 4).
The text is well preserved. The style is dazzling and generally pure. The literary unity of the book is recognized against the few attempts (Rothstein, Marti, Sellin) made to the contrary.
The central idea of J.'s prophecy is the assurance that the prophecies concerning the perpetuity of the new Israel, reborn after the exile, and its passage into the kingdom of the Messiah will be fulfilled.
The exegesis that in the description of the locusts saw only an allegory of the enemy attacks of ch. 3 (Heb. 4) (St. Jerome, Calmet) was long ago buried. An eschatological exegesis was attempted instead by some (Schegg, Merx, van Hoonacker, Tobac). The invasion of the locusts would not have taken place; we would have only the description of one of the future calamities that will announce the day of the Lord: the end of the world or something similar.
In reality it is a matter of historical description and prophecy, with some of the descriptive elements that would later pass into the apocalyptic genre. "Day of Yahweh," in the prophets, is the name given to a particular manifestation of his justice; here, for example, against the nations that will attack Judah. It is the future of the new Israel (or of the theocracy) that the prophet announces with its struggles and its triumphs, having the messianic kingdom in the background. To the latter refers the famous oracle (2:28-32; Heb. 3:1-5) fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-21; cf. Rom. 10:12 ff.).
The prodigies of nature described here are already traditional images (cf. Is. 13:10; Ez. 32:7 ff.), and indicate the grandeur of the divine intervention in the outpouring of the Spirit, without reference to real cosmic changes and to the end of the world. The name of the valley (cf. 3, Heb. 4), where God will judge the nations hostile to Judah, is symbolic (Jehoshaphat = "Yahweh judges," cf. Ez. 39:11 ff.). Only from the 4th century A.D. onward was this name given to the valley of the Kidron (H. Vincent, Jérusalem, II, Paris 1926, pp. 849-82).